Darkest dawn

Luke 4:40-44

          So I was reading this hokey little face book post abut a guy having a really bad day. This young guy is lamenting all the things that have happened to him. To give you an idea of where it went, one of the things that this guy complained about (and subsequently discussed with Jesus) is that he lost his car keys and was late for an appointment. The posting has Jesus tell the kid that the reason he (Jesus) 'arranged' for his keys to be lost is so that the kid would not be on the road where a drunk driver surely would have creamed him. So, sure the kids 'lost' his keys and was late but he was alive.  There were quite a few other examples in this face book posting. I am not so sure how much credence I give to the notion that God is working behind the scenes in our life so actively, key word being actively. This is something I struggle with. Does this affect our free will?

            But the idea that I focus on is when we think something is bad and something really good comes of it. Countless expressions are made from this type of scenario. Making lemonade when life gives you lemons; As one door closes, another opens and that it's always darkest before the dawn.

            It's this latter expression that I actually had in mind from this scripture passage. The passage begins, as the sun was setting. In many ways good things actually do happen just when we think things are horrible or couldn't get any worse. In this scripture the end of the day, the dark portion of the day, sick people were being healed by Christ.

             When I had a suspicion that my 'problems' was the fact that I was gay, the world seemed to come crashing down on me. I was married, had kids, I was a religious, I had some form of status, that is, a good and respected job, a respected position in a church community. Coming out and asking for a divorce was a major hunk of darkness looming in my life. There were not a lot of horribly bright spots looming. I had the interest of a good friend with no guarantees of a future with him, I could fully expect a bad outcome from the church, my wife and kids. In retrospect the ones that failed me the most were the religious and some of the family that professed for decades to love me. Of course entering the darkness, actually meant walking into the light. As I came out of the closet I entered a great life of light filled with self respect, new friends, turns out a most wonderful husband and also that God still loved me even though "the church" abandoned me. It is all terribly ironic. I have since been rewarded by the light of an even deeper faith and a magnificent faith community and friends.

             I have no great promises to make except to note that darkness is merely a human vantage point. It is a manufactured reference we use. The scripture here uses it to show that this is so. As the sun  set, new life and hope was given to sinners and sick people. It is a lesson we need to remember. It is something we need to know that no matter what, light, dark, happy, sad, keys lost, losing a job, whatever, God is always with us making everything filled with light and hope.

As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them. Demons also came out of many, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah.

At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’ So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.

Scrubbing clean

Hebrews 10:1-10

          They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Perhaps humanity was a bit insane then, offering burnt bulls, shedding blood and all kinds of offerings in hopes that we would please God and cleanse ourselves. This passage says this is not pleasing to God, no more than throwing a virgin in a volcano to please him. 

          As an example from something that is very serious, it is said that a rape victim often winds up taking repeated showers, often scrubbing themselves raw in the process of trying to cleanse themselves of what has happened. The cleansing they need and that we all need as victims and sinners, is not something that can be accomplished by scrubbing or retribution (an eye for an eye), or a sacrifice in the name of justice or righteousness. We are past the point in time where humanity can argue or make sense of cleansing through sacrifice, revenge or an eye for an eye.*

            

            The best example I can give is the symbol that is used in the Catholic church of wearing white. In sacramental style, white is worn as a symbol of purity (no, not necessarily virginity) and a donning of Christ's purity and a cleansing from sin. Christ was the one and final sacrifice for our redemption. The donning of a white Christening dress, a white suit for communion or a white wedding dress is symbolic of the purifying salvation of Christ. No amount of sacrifice on our part will purify us. Purity and salvation come only through the supreme sacrifice and act of love by God to us in the life and death of Jesus Christ. This is given by God freely, all we need do is accept.

            Our attempts at justice by capital punishment, revenge are so impotent and never truly cleanse the acts of sin of us or others. Killing for justice or killing for peace are acts that must be repeated over and over for whatever theoretical good they do, it does not last because it is false from the get go.  Trying to scrub clean society in this manner is a fallacy.  

            True introspection, self awareness, acceptance of our own faults, realizing self worth, respecting others and knowing our value as children of God are all means to accomplish our own purity.  

* As I have drawn on such a horrific subject as rape, I feel obliged to add that justice in this case must be served. While a victim trying to 'scrub' themselves clean is sad, prayer and faith alone will also not be the answer for the victim. Counseling and professional care are needed to overcome the trauma from this crime.  Googling "resources for rape victims" will yeild  myriad resources. And first and foremost, this crime must be reported to authorities.

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshippers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
   but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings
   you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God”
   (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).’
When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The Cockeyed Optimist

Matthew 6:19-23

         I've been accused of seeing a silver lining in everything. I am probably aligned quite well with that song from South Pacific, The Cockeyed Optimist.  Some people might think I am too stupid to see the truth, and that perhaps it's true "I hear the human race  Is fallin' on its face And hasn't very far to go". For all practical purposes, an easy argument could be made for all the bad in the world and there is always something one could complain about - but I don't. It isn't that I don't think anyone would listen as some say. It's simply that no matter what 'happens' in life, I believe life is fundamentally good and I see much more good than I see bad. The cockeyed optimist? perhaps.

            I am aware of what others might think but I have such a good and happy disposition about life and love that I honestly don't see much of the stuff that other people ruminate over, complain about and use as evidence that the world is falling on it's face.

             I see abundant love, coming and going, all around, from God to us, from within my family, between people at work every day. It's all around. It all may harken back to that statement about life being less about what happens to you and more about how you react to what happens around you.

             There is not need to complain, not because no one is listening but because there really is nothing to complain about. How blessed am I ? How blessed are we? The history of the faithful are filled with saints whose disposition was to find love and the fullness of humanity in situations that the world would judge as bad and even horrific. These people we often called saints, heroes and role models.

            I am none of those things but I have a leg up perhaps. I know how wonderful God's creation is. I can see the love all around. Can you?

‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Let your fabulosity out girl.

Genesis 15:1-11,17-21

          I have never been to a gay bar. It might have been interesting but when I came out at at age of 50, the desire for quick pickups and random sex didn't seem that interesting to me. And of course, I really am not a big drinker. Don't get me wrong, I like a nice drink once in a while and I love sex but I was never into random, meaningless sex. Like a friend says, there is casual sex but no sex is really casual.  Still, I can picture the scene, I have seen movies, where there are the hottest of guys and the normal every day Joe's. The A list hunks rarely mix with the B list guys. I would ask why?  What really is occurring is the idea that someone is not worthy. That holds us back from a lot of really good things.

           I talk about how much God loves us but there has to be a switch in your head (and heart) that goes off and says "I am worthy" of such love.  How many times do we think we couldn't do something or couldn't date someone because deep inside we are saying we aren't worthy enough. If you accept how truly beautiful and worthy you are inside, great things will happen. Let your fabulosity out!

          In this passage  God tells Abram to look towards the heavens and count the stars. Let God into your life, allow yourself to believe and know how worthy you are and the joys you will experience will be as numerous as the stars in heaven. It all hinges on knowing God loves you and knowing you are worthy of that love. I can't tell you all the things that will happen, all the joys you'll experience, that would make it like predestination. I do know that you will be filled with joy, peace and contentment. That's what God wants for all of us. There are no exclusions. 

           Accept your fabulosity, let it out, let yourself be loved by God and others and don't forget to love yourself!

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’ But the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’ He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord  reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Then he said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.’ But he said, ‘O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.’ He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’

More church basics

Luke 8:1-3

          Yesterday I used a line that some might have taken offense at. In relation to what became of the faithful in the early church, I noted that some of his followers bastardized, contained, codified and 'intrpreted' his ( Jesus' ) teachings. Straying from the original message and moving towards yet another form of religion like Judaism based on myriad laws, rules and rubrics. There have been repeated calls these last 2000 years to return to the roots of our faith. So doing would run the risk of diminishing the influence of the power elite and the euro-centric power base and tradition. Francis seems to be walking a fine line in running that risk.  But what are he roots of Christianity?

            First of all one needs to look not at the rules and rubrics but at the fundamental message I wrote about yesterday that Jesus preached 2000 years ago and lived so well. Love is at the heart of it all of course.

             But the early church was not a top heavy bureaucratic Roman church. Far from it. Today we get a hint of what that church looked like. Today we honor Lydia, Dorcas and Phoebe as well as Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna. There certainly was no shortage of woman in the early church. Their roles may be somewhat in doubt but it is clear that some were Deacons, even Priests and certainly very active and supportive one and all. This vision of the church has disappeared into that male dominated euro-centric church I mentioned earlier. It would be a just honor to return the church to those routes. While many churches have done so, amazingly the mere idea causes consternation in others. So today we honor another vision of the original church. Besides a foundation on love there was a strong female presence. This was true in spite of the commonly held idea at the time that women were chattel, possessions if you will. Woman were a versatile part of society insofar as they could be used as a tool to  be married off for the betterment of kingdoms, families and businesses. Jesus did not treat women this way and his fledgling church gave evidence of it.

          There is no shortage of faithful, loving and brilliant women who could lead any church today. The fact that so many are stifled by a suffocating church is in itself blasphemous to the Spirit of God and the life Jesus showed us.

           Besides love, let women step forward and demand their rights to serve and love God equally alongside men. It is a paradigm evidenced by Christ's life and a recognition of the equality of all of God's creations.

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Division and common ground

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

          What strikes so deeply about this passage is the admonition to be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. When I look around, all I see is division. There is the worst kind of division among nations. Whether it is the theocracies that think the rest of the world are infidels, the nations that have "God on their side" and brand other nations as the "axis of evil".  However justified in the minds of leaders, there is no arguing how divided we are. How about within our own country?  The blue states, the red states, the liberals, the conservatives. The right to lifers, pro-choice advocates, marriage equality and boatloads of anti gay rhetoric. We seem divided at every turn. I am sure your mind conjures up countless others too. My mind spins at the thought of how divided we are. Religions find 'justifiable' divisions as well. The Jews, the Muslims, those Roman Catholics and firebrand Pentecostals, reformers, Quakers and queer churches.

               That all seemed a bit too much to handle. I began to think about people are divided even within themselves. We all learned growing up how differently we may have needed to act with our parents and family versus our friends. We are dividing ourself.  The other extreme are those that have true mental illness and they may have a severely separated personality.   Within the middle is another kind of bifurcated personality, one that I could easily have fallen into. As a gay man, as a gay religious and family man, I could have divided my life as so many religious do. Live two separate lives. This is a horrible and unhealthy division that sadly some religions perpetuate by their own sick dogma.

            What are we to do? How can we solve these divisions of self, of community, of church, state and world? There once was a man named Thomas Merton, a very holy man. He was Catholic monk. Yet this man found acceptance in a diverse array of the worlds religions. It would be worth your time to delve into some of his readings. The reason that I believe he was so accepted is that he found that foundational basis we all can agree on. He had once said that if we argued on dogmas, we would never be able to agree on anything. So what was his foundation that all seemed to agree upon? It is not anything new really, Christ preached as much himself before some of his followers bastardized, contained, codified and 'intrpreted' his teachings. 

            The basis of universal agreement is love. Pretty simple. All the worlds religions, no matter how proclaimed or professed explain the fact that God created the world in love. God created each one of us and God wishes us to nothing more than love each other, ourselves and have a loving relationship with him.  Can we agree on that ? I think so.  We may explain it differently. If we are not arrogant, we can see that we all have a path to wholeness God wishes for each and every one of us.

         Perhaps we can meditate on the sadness of division and the joy of the love our creator gives us.

Share the love. 

             

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.

For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.

What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ."

Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,

so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.

(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The least likely

Acts 9:1-22

           It is my fervent desire that everyone know how much God loves them. Through this blog and in preaching, I have always tried to convey just how unique each and every one of us are and how God made each one of us purpose built. God loves each of us with such devotion and care. Each hair on our head is numbered as scripture says. This mission is one that I am willing do for the rest of my life even if only one person comes to this realization.

          The thing is though, so many people have been convinced through others, by the church itself or by some of their very own actions, that they are not worthy. Truth be told, we are capable of so many stupid actions if not down right vicious lies and acts of deceit. So the question arises, does God love these people too? Are these people with poor self images and/or feelings of profound guilt ( whether earned or not) capable or even welcome to God's limitless love?

       This passage has a great deal to say about it so if you you have ears to listen, listen up! Look at Paul, the biggest persecutor and killer of Christians. His reputation preceded him. And yet, God chose him to be one of the biggest disciples. How loved is he? And after what he did too. Amazing. If this passage tells me anything it reaffirms how much God loves everyone and calls whomever he wishes.  Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of Christians and many Apostles who were more than just a bit wary of Paul. How convenient that the man who persecuted the Christians is now claiming to be one of them.  Paul had a great many hurdles to overcome in the Christian community. But Paul prevainled. That is, God prevailed.

        Paul goes down in history as one of the greatest conversions ever. This was simply not just his own doing. It was not just a decision he came to on his own. God chose him, God revealed himself to Paul.  Paul goes down in history as one of the greatest disciples who proclaimed  the Good News far and wide which included the gentiles. Where would we (gentiles) be had it not been for God embracing the least likely to be embraced.  Of course when I say 'least likely', that is a human term, a human judgement.

         If we read this passage and live our lives with open hearts, open minds and open ears, we may come to know what I want everyone to know deep in every fiber f their being. That is just how much God loves you no matter who you are by human standards or judgement. God created us all, God calls us all. 

        You are worthy, you are loved.

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ The men who were travelling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ He answered, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ The Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.’ But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ All who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?’ Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.

Stable traditions or static growth

John 4:16-26

          How much time do you think passed from the Time of Adam and Eve to the time of Jesus? If you take it literally, it probably would be about 2000 years from what I have been told. Of course if you take Genesis and all the stories and books that followed until the time of Christ less literally, the time could be immense.  But lets just say for about 2000 years the Jewish nation, however it was constructed was bound by all the laws and rubrics of Jewish tradition. This wasn't just a religious context, it encompassed a whole social structure and traditions held close to the heart. This Jewish people lived in tough times, among hostile peoples. This Jewish people had strict rules and a way of life that was meant to save them from outside influences, to keep them pure and Godly. They were the chosen people, no one else.

        What a shocker it must have been for the people of Jesus' time. You can understand their dismay and this passage puts it all out there. Jesus is carrying on a conversation with a woman. Not only a woman but a Samaritan woman. This alone would seem blasphemous. Then Jesus is laying out the master plan to her. Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. What is this guy saying?? Jerusalem IS the holy city. That is where Jews worship. Jerusalem is the focal point of Jewish culture. That is where the temple is. That is where the High Priest is.  What could this be, Jesus telling a Samaritan woman that Jerusalem will no longer be the center?  Almost everything Jesus said in this passage shows his true intentions. Jesus was counter cultural, almost a mystic of sorts. Jesus was a revolutionary. Jesus spoke to woman and in such a way that they were equal enough to hear and digest the message he came to bring mankind. All rather heady, all of it contrary to the 2000 or more years of history that was the Jewish people.

          Jesus speaks of love, knowledge, truth and Spirit. The Spirit, the living, moving entity of God, the third person of the Trinity.  The Spirit, that moves us to love, fills our hearts and moves us to deeper revelations that we could not bear to hear at one time. We were too young as humans to comprehend. How much have we come to know and to grow from the Spirit in the 2000 years since Jesus walked the earth?  The sciences, human nature, that slavery is a sin, that woman are equal and beloved creatures of God, certainly equal to any man, perhaps more so. All that we discover and learn shows us how much we do not know. The more intricate physics gets, the more I am filled with wonder of the creator who imagined all this and made it come into existence.

        Things in life are not the rigid rules and life of texts written perhaps 4000 years ago. We have the Spirit. The Spirit who loves, reveals, inspires. Life seems to change and grow. More accurately, truths are revealed and we move forward in love.  Jesus showed us how to live, embrace change and move forward in love. He never said than in any parable but this passage shows it is true.

        Just some things to think about.

Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he, the one who is speaking to you.’

Repent ! Repent !

Jonah 3:1-10

          What a wonderful thought. We might see our evil ways and repent.  Usually I think this is associated with some good self reflection; some honest self assessment. Whatever the reason, in this passage God relents and does not cause whatever calamity he supposedly had in store.

         I say supposedly because this vision of God from ancient scripture is one of a punishing and vengeful God that I am unfamiliar with and frankly, don't believe in. A God of love has better things to do than to strike people down, people he created and loves. He has better things to do than micromanage or pick sides in a battle between his beloved children and help one group to mow down another group. It's all in the scriptures there but I don't believe it. I do believe that was the belief of this group of people who wanted to be faithful and wanted to see God's positive influence in their lives. So, that's what they wrote. It still pays homage to God, it still recognizes his power even if they didn't understand God methods.

       We know God gave us free will.  God's interference in our lives  makes a mockery of free will and would tend more to support some kind of predestination. That's another ancient idea that has been debunked.

         What I think is more likely, is that we make our own calamities.  On a grand scale you could say that if the world goes down the tubes because of global warming, it will be at our own hands, not God's. God allows us full reign and gave us the earth as stewards. If we screw it it up, we will pay at our own hands. In a similar way, if thousands die due to starvation in some sub Saharan country it will be our doing because we have the capability to alleviate such pain and suffering. We can feed everyone It is by our collective lives and how we live them that such calamities occur. 

         This is not a far fetched idea. How often do we see a friend or family member come to a sad and untimely end, perhaps prison or some other calamity and the words uttered are "they brought it on themselves".   I am not a believer of God zapping people. I am a firm believer that we zap ourselves and could wind up zapping the planet by our collective actions.  Think about us having enough nuclear warheads to destroy the planet many times over.  

         What I do believe and I absolutely love is the idea of repentance. No big fanfare required. Simply make a change. "Just do it" as the slogan goes.  Exert an effort to influence life on a global scale. The expression,"act locally, think globally" comes to mind. Stepping up to the plate doesn't have to be on  grand scale unless you have the means and the calling to do so. Far more likely is influencing the small world you live in. Your family and friends, teaching your children, helping a neighbor, supporting a cause with some time and or money. Repentance is not that difficult. God may not zap you if you don't but I do know God will smile if you do.

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

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.’

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

My choice of weapon: love and compassion

Luke 12:4-12

          Several years ago some of the family were heading into the big city by train. At the train station was a sidewalk preacher admonishing anyone who would listen about how much of a sinner they were and to repent. My family, knowing my preaching background were just itching for me to give his cumupings. They were disappointed that I did not take this Bible thumping preacher on. I am not one to do that at will even though I find it a rather poor way to proselytize. That is, telling everyone how bad they are. I would opt for recognition of how much God loves them. Their sins being being between themselves and God, letting them know (if the circumstances presented itself) that God is infinitely loving and compassionate.

               I usually don't do well in spot on debates anyway. I am certainly not the good debating, quick thinking lawyer that my Dad was. For me there is a much better way than planning an attack and reducing someone with verbal assaults.  Not that my Dad did that but he was a good talker. But I digress.

             I don't need to plan. The best ammunition for anyone, the best lessons taught are born of love and compassion. So, my plan is to go on loving and being the best example I can be. Come to think of it, that the best anyone can do. If you are so inclined, study, read and learn as much as you can. In that way when you are questioned or asked to defend yourself there will be no need to plan your words. The truth and knowledge will pour out of you. The Spirit may provide the exact words but the knowledge will be in you. That's what I try to do.

      Rather than pick a fight or start a debate you can win most battles with love and compassion. 

‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority^* to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’

Lights in the darkness

Matthew 18:1-6

          Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night and wind up hitting your toe on something in the dark? Man does that smart. And what seems to make it worse is that you have to stifle your normal outburst of a reaction so you don't wake anyone up. It hurts! The logical solution would have been to turn on a light. Now a days I don't go anywhere when I wake up without my trusty phone to use as a small torch.

           My first reaction when I read this was about stumbling blocks. How many stumbling blocks do we have in our life to greater knowledge or greater faith? I have noted before about those who are those acts as stumbling blocks. Woe to them.  But like waking up in the darkness, isn't it simply better to turn on the lights?

             Shedding some light on the situation is always a good idea. Like glasnost or Vatican II, the idea of a fresh light or letting in a new breeze is quite warranted. This is especially true of ourselves. As Roman Catholics we had always been encouraged not to read the Bible for fear we might misinterpret or take messages out of context. Of course that is no longer the case but t is still amazing how many people read  without light.

              The amount of people who stumble around in the dark by misreading scripture or worse, using someone else's 'certain' interpretation is astounding. Once again I harken back to the Westboro Baptist church. Their interpretation is scripture is appalling, sad and dangerous. Certainly this is a stumbling block for anyone in that church. That might be bad enough. Sadly, they feel compelled to share their ignorance, vitriol and message of hate with the rest of the world. This now becomes a stumbling block for many, many more. As I said, sad and dangerous.

              The other day I heard a quote from Vladimir Putin about having gay athletes and visitors in his country. He said something like 'gays are welcome, just leave the children alone'. It is astounding to me the ignorance in that statement. What a stumbling block to love and acceptance of God's children, young and old. I'm not sure what is scarier, that he might actually be so ignorant on his own or that as a major leader in the world he has accepted as fact some gross misinformation about a large group of God's creation based on some one else's slanted view. It's just scary. And yet, he felt free to just say it out loud, proclaiming ignorance and encouraging misinformation, hate and perpetuating violence against innocents.

              Everything I have been speaking of is about ignorance and our apparent propensity or willingness to shout our own ignorance from the rooftops.  I think it would be much better if we were a bit more silent and loving. Listening is always a very good beginning. Knowledge and good scholarship about issues is another great starting point. Those who rail against others show an amazing amount of intolerance and a fundamental lack of love. They just don't get the Good News.  Jesus' message was not about hate, violence or exclusivity.

              So if you pick up a bible to read or feel the urge to get on your soap box, be sure there is plenty of light.  Search God's created world for knowledge and speak with true love and compassion.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Dead, dead and dying.

1 Corinthians 15:31-36,44-49

           I have shared in the experience of death in so many ways. I have never killed anyone, at least not in a physical way. I never shot anyone or strangled anyone. I will confess that I may have killed a spirit or two, much to my dismay. It saddens me what I have may have done in my youth. But I have experienced death in the way we are accustomed to death. My grandmother, my parents, friends.  It is a

troubling time even for the faithful.

            Jesus did not wish to die, especially as he did. He prayed that if this cup could pass...

Jesus had numerous friends with whom he broke bread, cried and undoubtedly laughed with as well. As an human being, he knew he was saying good bye in our earthly way to his very own mother, his friends, disciples. It must have been heart wrenching. Most of us have experienced this agony. Even when you know they are at peace, may no longer be suffering and are in the presence of our creator, you miss the human touch, the interaction and the relationship of a loved one who has passed on. I know a man right now who is suffering this loss.  They had been together about 45 years or more. Only allowed to marry recently, they enjoyed a full life and now one is gone. The suffering is immense. Death however is a part of life and is never welcome.

         Yet death is a part of our life all the time. What characterizes the faithful Christian over a non-believer is that death in any form as a Christian is followed by new life. This is a hallmark of our beliefs.

This death, whether it is physical, intellectual or emotional happens to us all the time. Perhaps we don't really think about. When we learn something, expand our horizons to something new about ourselves or others, we are dying to our old self. The concept of self improvement is a form of dying to ones old self. We experience forms of death and dying every day.  Living in an area with 4 distinct seasons gives me an excellent reminder of death and dying and again new life and rising. It is much more difficult of course when a relationship is involved.

              What is problematic for us is that the physical, which is what we experience life through as humans, what we are accustomed to and rely on, is not what our ultimate destiny is. What transcends the physical is the spiritual and that does not have the same limits as our physical world. By embracing the spiritual, we can continue our relationships with those that have gone before us.  In not relying as much on the physical, we can see hope and the possibility of new life in our physical world. It does diminish what we have had, it only moves us forward in love and in the Spirit of God.

              

      

I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,

‘Let us eat and drink,
   for tomorrow we die.’
Do not be deceived:
‘Bad company ruins good morals.’
Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Patience

Psalm 40:1-11

          I certainly can't be proud in any way. If anything, perhaps more than a bit embarrassed. Looking back, the signs were all there. I prayed. I tried my best and knew something was wrong. That's not to say life was bad.  But I knew something was wrong. I was patient only by virtue of the fact that I didn't know any better. 

         So there I was at the age of 50 emerging from a closet I did not know I was in. Age 50. Speaking of patience? Wow.  But once I made that connection and said it out loud to myself, I was on solid ground. No more miry bog, I was upon a rock. 

         So I wonder about patience. I don't think it is my strong suit. Perhaps, had I known I was gay I would have been so impatient I would have burst. I shudder to think what I would have done. As it was, a married man, father and prince of the church realizing I was gay left me with the feeling that no matter what decision I came to it would be bad. I understood why people contemplate suicide. Perhaps my ignorance of who I really was was indeed a blessing. 

         But again, about patience. I can't help but think of how many other people, especially young people who know they are gay and want so badly to  make sense of their lives, to live out and proud, to be loved and live life is not always that easy. People are not always that nice. Perhaps that's an understatement.  Sometimes young people have to be patient and it is so difficult when there is such turmoil and hatred around them. There are so many excellent programs and websites and people who are willing to help and so that is hopeful and a sign of God's love alive in the world. But patience. It is so difficult at at times. 

         I thank God for all that I have been graced with, the patient God has had with me, the graces and gifts he has entrusted to me. All I can pray is that we all try to do our part to help those who are difficulty being patient. It does get better, i know, I swear. 

     Let us all do the best we can to help and ray for patience and trust.

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

Happy are those who make the LORD their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

Then I said, "Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.

I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.

I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.

Doctor Arragonto

Ezekiel 34:11-16

            There is a scene in The Big Bang Theory in which the guys are discussing super powers. Sheldon is accused of being arrogant. Raj says that if Sheldon's super power was arrogance he'd be called Capt Arrogance. Sheldon whips back that he would really be Doctor Arragonto.

            From this little snippet, I want to draw on an almost universal tendency toward arrogance. Rather than be open, listening and willing to learn, we often take our fixed position as the penultimate opinion and look down on everyone else. This is certainly true of the religious right wingnuts. It is also true however of scientists who are willing to stake everything on what they perceive as a total truth. They look down on other's theories or beliefs. Everyone can get into the act. I even see it in Israel where the ultra religious would have everyone think that the Holy Land is only their holy land.
Here in the states, the religious right think their translation of the bible is the correct one or worse, that their translation and interpretation is the correct one. I may be wrong but I think the gay community is the only one who may have it right. If you don't believe in gay marriage don't marry someone of the same sex. It's not a religious issue per se, it is a civil issue. ( although personally, I do think it is also a religious issue.

           How can we get away from all this arrogance? I think a careful open and loving interpretation of this passage yields the view that God seeks out all of his sheep. God will gather from everywhere. There is no limit on God's love and certainly Jesus walking this earth and dying for each one of us is an indication as to what lengths God will go to help us reach our wholeness and holiness. Perhaps that's redundant.

         The trick I think is to know that we are all sheep and all being called. There are no qualifiers. If there were, Jesus seemed to act to the contrary by his life and who he reached out to.

         So let's say au revoir to Doctor Arragonto, let's just be lovers and superheroes to each other. What do ya say?

          

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

The Almighty Insurance Company

1 Peter 5:6-10

         This passage reminds me that we are not immune from all sorts of evils, sadness and tragedy. Someone once said that life is not about what happens to you by how you react to what happens to you. Sometimes we may think that if we are faithful enough and prayerful enough we will be spared from, well......life. Life is full of both sadness and seemingly wonderful things as well. Being graced is not based on having all of one and none of the other.

         When I was asked to speak to my church on tithing, I did so along with many other people. The pastor only asked 2 things. Speak from the heart and speak with conviction so that the parishioners honestly consider putting the church into their household budget. One person who spoke however conveyed that they found that when they gave good things happened to them. I cringed. NO!! But it was out there for everyone to hear. Giving is from a heart full of thankfulness and generosity. Giving is not an insurance policy with the Almighty. No one is immune from life's ups and downs. Being monetarily wealthy does not necessarily make you happy.

          About 10 years ago I was asked on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. I spoke no Spanish so I was sent more as an observer and to help in any way I could.  The huge take home message was seeing how very happy and joyful these people were. They lived in huts with dirt floors, barely livable by our standards. And yet, they shared what they had and were joyful, faithful, thankful people. It was a punch in the stomach indicting the way most Americans live and are still not happy.

            The message that I hear today in this passage is that we should remain humble and alert to God's love no matter what we have and no matter what happens. Since a vast majority of people reading this, especially in the USA are living luxuriously compared to the rest of the world, the caution is to be to humble for sure and absolutely thankful, but more so, do not think you are better than anyone else because of what you have. We are all equally loved as God's beloved children. 

          Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Material things and money can give you a sense of being better, it is a temptation to think you are better than someone else or that it buys you happiness or can buy you larger piece of God's undying love.  

        Keep alert. Be thankful. Be happy!

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.

Spiritual but not religious

1 John 4:7-12

          This is the quintessential message. Last evening I attended my usual LGBTQ spirituality meeting. There were old faces and some new faces so went went around the room saying who we were and added any history or comments that one felt moved to share.  Being a Cristian is not a requisite for being there and last night the diversity was clearly present. What was also present was a sense of the commonalities of our history and needs as a person.

Without any talk of transubstantiation, the Nicene Creed or the dogmatic demand that one's attends church for one reason or another, there was a foundational commonality.

           As recent as yesterday morning I read an article about a growing trend or a growing group who define themselves as spiritual but not religious. That is, they will not identify themselves with any religion at all but still maintain that they are spiritual people. In a time where religions take a heavy hit for not living up to their core values, this fundamentalist or simple view has gained wide popularity. Jews who see dietary laws in only a historical text or see them as necessary for the lives of the community then, but clearly not now. Catholics so appalled at the child abuse scandal, the scandal of the cover ups and the deals and dealings of the church feel free to take away an essential message and discard the pomp, circumstance and dogmas. Perhaps this is all too valid.

       Today's reading cuts to the chase. What is it that God asks of us? What is the fundamental message that Jesus wished to impart? Here it is folks in this one passage.

       It's all about love. It certainly seemed foundational in a room full of queer folk last night. Gay, straight, allies, bisexuals all spoke the same message. There is a fundamental need for love. There is a fundamental need to love oneself, to know you are loved and then to love others. Everything else seems to be important fluff. 

       While many people last night  started with well, I was raised Catholic, there was a deeper message. In many instances the church that seemed to condemned them for who they are based on dogmatic stances or the philosophy of their religion, others spoke of the a core value of love that had been ingrained in them by the church. Many found such core values in other traditions.

       The core value is, was, and always will be LOVE. Here it is in this passage and it is what we are called to do. Love ourselves, love God and love others. I can't think of a better creed.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

The Mark

Genesis 4:1-16

          It was unusual for my dad to tell me about a book he was reading, he read so many. He had a ravenous appetite for books of all kinds. Later in life, when we became friends, he shared more about books that spoke of the meaning of life, holiness and wholeness. Although my siblings might disagree, he was a good man, perhaps scarred by life's experiences and disappointments but he was a good man.

          One book we spoke of was a book that concerned this very passage. It involved what 'the mark' was that God put on Cain.  I do not recall the name of the book and I haven't been able to find any good Google results but here is the essence. The mark is that Cain was made white, as in Caucasian. This theory begins with the premise that we were all created as black men and women.  This is quite amazing that my dad would even convey this. His time was one of racial inequality and bigotry. I am sad to say my dad was cursed by his own brand of bigotry. Had he lived longer, perhaps he would have seen the light. Be that as it may, the mere mentioning of this possibility to me shows his mind was opening and functioning. Again, a good man.

           As evidence that this theory has merit, the author presented all the evils that have occurred in the world where the white man travelled. What happened to indigenous peoples in the Americas after the white man came? What diseases were foisted on poor unsuspecting Polynesians when the white man arrived?

           It is an interesting theory, the idea of a mark being a total change of color.  It hearkens back to that Star Trek episode of Bele and Lokai. I think the fact is when we harm one another in any way, we do mark ourselves. It is like a stain on our soul. It really may be totally invisible to others but somewhere deep inside we know we have damaged ourselves. We have not acted in concert with what we were created for.  This mark inside makes us unhappy and dark and eventually we become something we ourselves may not even recognize. I suppose the idea of confession is a way to cleanse the soul. God really wants no harm to come to us in any way, his love for each one of us so intense. But the stain of sin however invisible is still there. We need to exercise caution and introspection in how we act, how we have acted.

        Introspection, prayer, humility, forgiveness and forgiving ourselves are ways to take the 'mark' away. It needs to be done. To do this well, you might look at Ignatian spirituality. There are many paths to  wholeness and perfection but walk the walk we must and hopefully, prayerfully, mark free.

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.’ Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’

Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’ Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.’ And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

To hear, to see, to do

Hebrews 2:1-10
  

           I suppose it could be argued that I never shut up. I having something to say every day. Every morning, in the middle of the night, I get up and write this blog.  For 541 days so far. I feel blessed to be able to do it and blessed that my husband says nothing when I roll out of bed at 3am to meditate, write and eventually prepare for work.

            Actually, I like to shut up and listen. I like to think I do it better than many although my husband might disagree. It is only in listening with our eyes and ears that we can sense what really is going on around us. People speak with their bodies all day long and the words often convey deeper truths.

          For these reasons, I felt compelled to note that we are born with two eyes, two ears and two hands. But note, only one mouth. As Judge Judy would say, put your listening ears on! The world would be a much better place if we all would listen more, really use our eyes to see what is going on. That is, really seeing things, beauty , sadness etc. Finally, use our hands to help. If all we do is speak we are like that proverbial gong that does nothing.

         Spend a day listening at least twice as much as you speak. Listen to the words, look at the posture, the intonation, the joy or the sadness. Once you have really listened and have really been looking, then open your mouth and use your hands. If we do this, if I do this, my words and actions are more likely to be compassionate and loving. Just a thought.

           

Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty, how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. ⁶But someone has testified somewhere,
‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   or mortals, that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
   you have crowned them with glory and honour,
subjecting all things under their feet.’
Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Family, marriage, brothers and sisters.

John 1:1-18

           But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God . When I studied scripture throughout the years, the question arose as to whom Jesus' brothers an sisters were.   This question has never been settled although the passages of Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55-56 seem clear,  just name just a few. Should it matter if Jesus had siblings? Should we look at this question as I did when one of my fellow Deacons fell ill in the Dominican Republic and I responded to "who is this man to you?" and my response was, he is my brother. I meant it too.

           I think in this passage the reference to brothers and sisters and who children of God are has quite a broad meaning. Many would have you believe that family is of blood with a mom and dad. Recent history, say from the 1960's forward, show that the idea of family is forever changing. The concept of a nuclear family is coming more around to what perhaps God had intended. If we are all brothers and sisters and God is our father, what limits are there then to family? With the increase in divorces and the decline of 'traditional' families, we have come to know a wide variety of family dynamics that are no less valid and in many cases, far more loving and nurturing. Is it any wonder that same sex couples, stepping into the light of day and into God's embracing love feel, nay, know that they too can be a loving, nurturing honest to God real family. After all, the 'traditional' family, at least biblically speaking, was most often one of betrothals for sale,  bartering for better livestock and property; concubines were everywhere. The construct of the perfect man-woman marriage is a fantasy that has never been reality - ever. 

          Marriage, family, brothers and sisters are all born of love, concern, mutual respect and dignity. It is not specifically born of law but born of God. With God, we are all children , all brothers and sisters . What marriage becomes is an attraction of souls, a mutual respect and a commitment to love and each other.  

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. 

God's love bursting in on us

Matthew 3:13-17

          There are two specific occasions when I recognized an epiphany in my own life.  I find it quite telling that in both cases the information or the knowledge was in plain sight all the time.

           I have attended over twenty years of Catholic school. In spite of my rantings sometimes against the hierarchy or the their outdated beliefs, the church has done me enormous good. That is, based on the people of the church and God himself. Somewhere in my 17th year (my 10th of Catholic schooling), I attended a retreat called a Cursillo or Christian awakening. This awakening is an epiphany of sorts. Everything I had been taught and perhaps did not take to heart came to bear completely on me. I knew after that weekend how much God loves me. It wasn't because of some good deed I had done, it wasn't because He was hedging his bets that I would do something big at some time in the future either. (He already knows all that). God loves me because he created me and he loves every sinew and fiber of my being. He loves me! What a profound realization to know that on such a personal and intimate level. I still know that and I still make sure I tell everyone that they too are loved in a very special way because they were purpose built with love by God. God don't make junk as they say.  Since I was already in my tenth year of Catholic school, I am sure the nuns and priests and my family tried to help me realized this but this Cursillo was an epiphany for me. It was the first of two that I'll make note of.

            The second epiphany was probably more astounding and when I look back on it all, I am amazed I did not know but I managed to hide myself from the person that mattered most - myself.
I used every weapon in the arsenal of self denial. Sublimating, rationalizations, but just knowing something was not right with me.  Then it happened, I was ordained and it's as if I came springing out of the water and God said, this is my beloved son - my gay son. What started to emerge was not the machinations of the devil trying to keep my from my ministry as I was told. After therapy, prayer, and intense introspection, I came to the epiphany that I am gay. Wow! Hidden in plain sight, having been married for 30 years ( to a woman ) and with two children. I am gay. I am not sure in today's world that such an astounding realization can be fully appreciated.  Kids growing up with Will & Grace, Glee and some excellent role models in media, sports, politics and the church should find coming out a bit easier even though I know there is still bigotry and hatred out there. As a good Catholic boy of 50, I was stunned. Even so, the knowledge and freedom of saying it aloud made me joyful, a true epiphany.

            These might be two big examples but I know if I spent an hour or less of time thinking about it, we have epiphanies all the time. The realization someone loves you, considers you a friend, is an ally and that you are in fact a beloved child of God just as you are, just as God created you.

          Epiphanies do not have to be about being gay or how much in fact God does love you. They are truly important if you happen to be gay. It is critical that you absolutely know how much God loves you personally and without reservation. We do need to be open to the realizations of life that elevate us and God. Epiphanies can happen to any one of us at any moment and at any time of our lives. Epiphanies are God bursting int our consciousness.

          

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Know the law but live love

Galatians 3:23-29, 4:4-7

           If you were to read a book of American folklore it might include a silly story of a couple who were travelling in their motor home, set it on cruise control and then want aft to have a cup of tea together! More to my point, there is another story of parents who went away for a romantic weekend leaving their teenage son home alone for the first time. They come home and everything looks suspiciously clean only to find the guest bath painted all jet black, toilet, sink, walls, shower door, floor, everything! Clearly something happened while the cats were away. Lastly, and I don't know if this is a peculiarly American phenomena, what happens to a young man or women who head off to a distant college only to return home after a wasted semester filled with booze, drugs and rampant sex. It happens all too frequently.

          Before Jesus became incarnate, the Jewish people were subject to a whole array of rules and laws.  Many observant Jews still subscribe to a host of dietary laws and we'd say they are strictly 'kosher'. But for the ancient Jews, the laws were much more than dietary laws. In many instances they were rules for survival. They lived among warring, hostile peoples and many laws were for the preservation of the community who experienced great outside influences.  We do the same today with our own children. We make rules, laws and curfews so that we can control our children until such time that they are capable of making their own decisions.  Of course you can't just teach the children rules, you have to give them freedoms little by little so that you don't wind up with a child who goes out of control the first chance they get. This is how you wind up with a black bathroom.

            When Jesus became incarnate, he said he did not come to abolish the law, he came to fulfill the law. Once he gave the two great commandments, the original ten were much harder to follow. It required thought and maturity. It still does and being a good Christian is not as simple as following a subscribed set of rules even though some think it is that easy. It's as if humanity was having a bar mitzvah when Jesus came. God was telling us we were coming of age. We had the maturity as humans to now go beyond strict laws and we could now use judgement, compassion and love to make decisions and live.

          As faithful people, we are bound by laws to guide us but not to rule us. Love, compassion, charity and faith all transcend laws, religious and perhaps otherwise as well. I'm not advocating breaking civil law but our history as humans and as Christians are replete with examples of conscientious objectors and people who broke the letter of the law because they answered to a higher authority. Think, the underground railroad for one.

               Know the law but live love  

             

            

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Turning away from the One who loves you

Matthew 10:32-39

            In almost any gay movie that involves someone coming out, there seems to be a requisite scene. A young man who has 'been with' someone meets them at some later point in public. The other person offers a sincere gesture of recognition to the person only to be rebuffed, often in a very harsh way, almost as if to say, OMG you're gay??, get away from me! The person is not quite ready to come out yet.

             There is a very hurtful feeling that is elicited when you think you are friends with someone and you are turned away.  I suppose it's the same with straight people when you fall in love and at some point one party or the other falls out of love. You approach the person and are summarily slammed down. Your  are shocked, your world is rocked - and not in a good way.

              One of the visions of what sin is that I learned as a youth was that you are turning away from God. Venial sins were a movement away while Mortal sin was a wholesale turnaround if not a sprint away from God.  Either way though you are rebuffing God. Whatever action it is that denies your holy essence or makes the worldly more important than God, you are rebuffing God. I find this concept somewhat useful even if it is simple.

               The question arises, will God look upon you at your death or perhaps before and say I don't recognize you?  Would God rebuff us even when we turn away from him? An interesting question for sure. I found great solace in a book called Good Goats, it speaks of this very question.

               The question eventually comes down to what is more important though. While God recognizes family and relationship and wants them honored, if they become more important than the love of self and God, they can be placed aside. Our eternal salvation , in the end, is not from family, spouses, lovers or friends. Salvation does not come from being a member of a specific church or religion either.

              Ultimately, we must turn toward God and if not perfect in doing so, at least make the effort to constantly try to make turns toward God. While God is loving and loves us enormously, I wonder if our wishes to be separated from him (by our turning away - sinning if you will), will be honored. Perhaps that is the essence of Hell if there is one. It is God's sad recognition that we can turn away from Him and he cries as he acknowledges our choice. Basically, we send ourselves to Hell if that is what have chosen. We condemn ourselves.

          In the meantime, I have no desire to seek God and hear him ever say to me Who are you? I will always try to make my choices in concert with God's love and will.  How about you?

‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Banish the "H" word

Romans 12:6-13

             I have a wide array of rubber bracelets in my closet, each has a statement or message. If I wore them all at once I think it would very much give away the fact that I am gay, so wide is the rainbow of colors. One of my favorites though is the band that says Erase Hate from the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Hate is a word that should be erased from the human vocabulary. It is so strong and so toxic.  So once again I am wondering about translations and what the original text says because right here in today's passage it says to hate evil. I wonder what word appears in the actual text and in what precise cultural context it was used and what it meant. 

            Hate is a word that conjures up the evil one just by it's mere use and yet we use it almost without thought. I hate so and so, I hate brussel sprouts,  I hate fags! That latter statement and worse have been justified by statements in scripture that are mistranslated and/or taken out of context. There are a great number of people who claim to be Christian and spew misinformed, bigoted and vitriolic dung about gays and the gay community. They feel justified by rabid preachers who espouse hate in the name of God. They don't see the irony nor do they know what Jesus actually preached and lived, otherwise they would not act so. Apparently theirs is a vengeful God but God is love pure and simple.  Luckily, there is a growing movement among real Christians, very often moved by the Spirit outside the bounds of some organized religions that recognize that love is love no matter who it is and that Gods' created world is much more diverse than narrow minded religious zealots care to admit. Sadly it is the vocal minority like the Westboro Baptist church, Fundamentalist whackadoo's and the Roman Catholic Church that are asked to respond to questions about homosexuality and marriage equality. All any of them do is spout hateful rhetoric, circular logic and outdated ancient theorems about the world. One is not surprised that they have argued against racial equality, that indigenous peoples have no souls and that a woman's place is at home, apparently barefoot and pregnant. It would almost be believable should they return to their long ago abandoned belief that the world is flat and that the sun revolves around it. 

          No. The admonishment to hate evil leaves too much up for judgement and bigotry. The only true measure of being a good Christian, or a good Jew or Muslim or person, is how we love. Again, leave the bad translations and ancient beliefs aside.

          They will know we are Christians by our love, not hate.

We have gifts that differ according to the grace   given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.