Fog horns and baseball bats

Philippians 4:13

     Part of my Lenten plan this year is to use the meditations from my parish community. We have printed a compilation of meditations for each day of Lent taken from within our community. The author of todays' meditation ( anonymous ) brought in the scene of Jesus praying in the garden and how the Apostles, Peter, James and John kept falling asleep.

     I wondered if I am not asleep some times and perhaps that is indicative too of where I am in Lent at this point in time. I am not sure of the progress I want to make in my Lenten journey. I am not sure I am doing enough and aware that I have a tendency to focus a great deal on all the 'stuff' , worldly, seemingly non-spiritual 'stuff' that goes on in my life, our lives, each and every day as routine.

     If however God is present all around us, She is present in all of that 'stuff' as much as a blade of grass, a glacier, a magnificent animal in the woods or a rainbow.  To my way of thinking God is present in all the nitty gritty of our lives. So how do we stay awake for it without falling asleep on God as the Apostles seemed to do?

     First of all it is comforting to know that they shared in my frailties and my weaknesses as anyone else. Sometime we tend to think that the holiest people, the most decorated or the people with the high positions in the church are not susceptible to everything that we have to deal with. We are all on that journey of life together and we are all can fall asleep on God. That is, distracted by minutiae, self absorbed, taking God for granted, preoccupied with 'stuff'.

     I know that what I have to do is make a conscious decision to be present at every moment of the day. Even those little things that seem mundane are elevated by God in how we respond to them. 

      I often say that when God wants us to do something, she will tap us on the shoulder to make us aware of what we are being called to do. If we fail to respond, I note that God will come back to remind us with a baseball bat or a 2x4 to make her calling a little less subtle that the original tap on the shoulder.  I hope I don't need a 2x 4 or a fog horn to wake me up to what I am being called to do by God. I know at the very least I am being called to stay awake and listen for her voice. 

The "H" word

Isaiah 64:8  

 Reflecting on my life and holy Scripture I have had several visions rolling around in my head recently. One is from Isaiah ( God as potter ) and the other is the hate that is surrounding the politics of the United States.

     First of all, I so dislike the word hate. The word should be banished from civilized use as much as the "N" or the "C" word. There is no need for any of them. They are just wrong.  But I have found myself in the realm of that "H" word so frequently. I presume that it is not unlike how so many of the 'rabid' Republicans felt while President Obama was in office.  Sadly, hate is something that drives us to blind and irrational actions.  The 'haters' of Obama now are running around Washington, if not the entire country, trying to undo every single thing he tried to accomplish even if really was in fact something very good. It is as if the haters wish to deny his very existence. No thought, analysis or reason involved, undo every last thing that "Obama" had his hands in or on.  The hate is irrational and ruinous.  Is that where I want to be? Is that what I want to become? It seems a pretty easy choice to hate in the face of rational reviews of the mindless decisions being made by our President. His anti-American, pro-business cronies seem hellbent on ruining the country and placing it in the hands of Russian Oligarchs. It is quite possible to even rise to the level of treason. Is this a reason to hate? I mean, HATE? Is it? What does that say for our faith? Is hate now considered faith in action?

     I once wrote a reflection on this blog about allowing ourselves to be malleable in the potters hands, that is God's hands. When we become too dry, too unworkable or simply refuse to be molded we become hard and brittle, easily broken. Then we become shards of useless pots. In my case, the actual shards were the base for a path on a labyrinth I had been walking. Seems pretty ironic or appropriate.

       It would seem pretty sad if we cannot find a way to integrate our outrage at the politics with our faith. Can we avoid hate, remain faithful and try to love and fight for change?  It may seem a difficult line to walk but since when was being faithful and loving an easy task? Hate is the easy route but it is self consuming, destructive. How can we get the haters to not hate?

        Not hating ourselves is the best start. Listening and loving and standing firm in love is our best recourse.

     

Lent, human sexuality and gay sex.

     I was going to sift through some web sites this morning for some pictures of beautiful men, hunky, glorious, examples of the beautiful male body to adorn this blog entry.  In many it would engender disgust, some lust, others simply a beautiful appreciation of what God has created. I'd confess I might lean towards a combo but disgust would not be among them.

      We tend to see things in black and white. We love to make decisions and judgments that make our own life easier. Perhaps more accurately, easier to navigate if we put things into an order that we like or that coincides with an agenda we align with.  Still there are other situations where someone would be heavily disgusted and say, "but let me see that pictuer again" perhaps hiding an inconvenient truth about themselves.  There are all sorts of things that go on in our brains. We do whatever we can on the surface to make things easier, to deny,  to capitulate to the status quo.  Sex is probably one of the big ones for us as humans.

     I refer to a section of Leviticus that is often used for gay bashing. It involves the townsmen of Sodom and Gomorrah who want to "know" ( that is: rape ) two visitors to the home of Lot. The two visitors are Angels of the Lord and Lot sets himself up as their host to protect them. The potential rape of these angels is set forth as an injunction that homosexuality is a sin. Certainly rape of angels would be a sin.  But then the most curious of things happens for those who do not cherry pick scripture. Lot hands over his two daughters to the townsmen for them to have their way with. That seems to me as much an example of rape as the previous one and yet we do not have anyone who admonishes us from this passage that heterosexual sex is a sin.  That's because a healthy normal sexual, committed sexual relationship is completely different that the act of sexual aggression that rape is. You can see how the interpretation of this passage has been totally miscast. In fact, the "sin" of Sodom and Gomorrah was forever known to be the sin of selfishness, self indulgence and arrogance.  Then came along groups of religious ( with considerable power ) who determined to alter the exegesis of the passage to make homosexuality a sin. Rape and homosexuality are not synonymous just a rape is not a part of any good relationship of any kind, gay or straight.

     The differences in the way we see and read things often has to to do with what we want to see or helps our own agenda. Today's passage speaks about sins of the flesh and fornicators. This is not an injunction against healthy normal sexual relations or relationships. The definition of fornication involves extramarital sex, extramarital relations, adultery, infidelity and unfaithfulness.  It doesn't argue against decent loving relations with mutual respect and consent, it argues against unhealthy, non-consensual, 'loose' sexual relations.

        I think I would be ok to place that picture of an absolutely beautiful naked man here for all to see. What would you do with that image?  Would your mind run from appreciation and respect or to lust or an unhealthy  fulfillment of one's urges.

       During Lent I promote special attention to owning up to who you are, an attempt to a greater realization of your humanity and of course a deeper spirituality all consistent with the person God created us to be. I believe that part of that is the respect for our sexuality, not perverting the blessed gift of sexuality God has graced s with. We need to look deeply into passages and not cherry pick or interpret Holy Scripture as a means to our own ends and agenda. A healthy sexuality is as much a part of the realization of our humanity as anything else is.  Perhaps another time we can look at the sexuality of Jesus himself. Food for thought.

         

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

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

Obeying, not straying

         Several of the Scripture passages today note how we stray and in some cases the course of action God may let loose as a result of our straying. I myself began to think of Blue Laws. They were religious inspired laws that made it illegal for certain business, if not all businesses, to be open on Sundays as that was determined by God to be a day of rest. Then there is that separation of church and state thing and I think in most instances blue laws have fallen by the wayside. I'm not advocating a theocracy at all but I wonder if we are not straying too far ourselves.

        The Pharisees and religious elite of Jesus' time had strict prohibitions about the sabbath.   If such rules were adhered to today, perhaps hospitals would be closed for the sabbath. 

         How do we determine in our righteous minds and hearts of faith where to draw the line over working on the sabbath not to mention all other religious practises? As our day of rest, could we turn on a TV. Is that too much work? What wold become of football games? I'm not even going to mention the porcine prohibitions, how can one legitimately touch a pigskin, worse so perhaps on the sabbath! What if you wanted to serve at a post religious service coffee clotch? Is that too much work? Or could you volunteer for Habitat for Humanity on the Sabbath? Heavy work.  What is it that draws the line of work and no work? 

           Being the rebel that He is, Jesus throws questions into just about every aspect of existence. In the Gospel reading today He cures on the Sabbath. That was apparently a really big non-no.  Hard to imagine or believe? 

         Jesus throws a wrench into almost everything. Obeying rules did not guarantee salvation.  He supplemented or clarified the Ten Commandments with the Great Two.  Things become much harder. Perhaps easier for those who want plenty of wiggle room to stray, much much more difficult for those who have to use their brains and heart and mind to be believers and followers of the law.  Disrespecting people and demeaning them is as much 'killing someone' as taking a knife or gun to them.  Life using your heart and mind is a challenge. Anyone can simply obey all the laws with mindless adherence.

        As faithful people we are callled to much higher and more difficult standard. We are called to use our faith but also our minds, our hearts of love and our entire humanity in fulfilling laws and our faith.

         The Scriptures are full of stories of a vengeful God for people who stray. How can we be faithful and balance our faith and our actions on a daily basis? Just one more thing to think about during Lent

John 5:1-18

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew^* Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.” ’ They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in^* the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

Unlikely places and right under our nose

       I think we all know who 'the suffering servant is'. If you don't you can find it "on the google" as my father-in-law would say. I have another phrase of my own invention, "the unlikely servant".  Nothing special because it applies to so many of the prophets and faithful throughout all of Scripture.

        It seems almost everyone starts out at the very least by saying "who me?" The whole reason Jonah winds up in the whale is that he is trying to avoid what God is calling him to do. Such is the story with many, many prophets. 

        The stories go much deeper than that though. It's not just that people feel reluctant, God picks the most unlikely as his messengers.  Paul seems the most unlikely I suppose as he was a tormentor and persecutor of Christians.  There were arguments aplenty when Paul was presented to the faithful as  a convert, nay, as a leader.  Where do you think you would stand if someone vouched for him and said, trust him, he's seen the light. Yikes, tough call, eh?

         But Jesus' whole ministry and witnesses are those that would seem to be the least likely. The sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes?  What of the Centurion?  A leader of an occupying army coming to Jesus and bearing witness to His power and authority?  It's even more astounding when it is the Centurions 'pais' that Jesus is being asked to cure.  That word has been translated in many different ways, servant, slave but the most stunning and most accurate translation is actually that is that a 'pais' is a junior male lover ( that Roman soldiers often had ).  A very unlikely witness indeed and with no rebukes or judgement from our Lord. If you go through Scripture you find the most amazing people being called as servants, prophets and followers of "the Way".

         I am not shy to relate the story of the 'Italian stallion' I came across during a round of jury duty many years ago. Complete with gold chains, coiffed hair and gold Trans Am parked outside that he kept his eyes on from our vantage point in our waiting room. It turns out he was not a superficial soul but instead a deeply faithful servant, a man with a truly good heart and served as a volunteer weekly in the poorest sections of Manhattan offering food to the needy. I never would have seen this apostle right under my own nose if I had simply passed judgment and moved on. 

         It seems faithful servants, all of us perhaps, are unwilling, unlikely and all around us. That is, if we choose to open our eyes and are willing to see.

          The Psalms and Gospels all point to a cornerstone that is Christ. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The cornerstone, the part of the building always seen, out in the open and plain to see. Again, if you are willing to open your eyes and notice, see, learn and love. 

Romans 1:1-15

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, ⁶including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel^* of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish — hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

A good foundation is crucial

         The passages today speak to me about foundations. More critically, what is it that gives us the basis for who we are and what we have to offer the world?

         A spiritual director on a retreat I went on many years ago suggested a different way for me to walk the labyrinth on the grounds of the retreat house. I would enter at today and at every corner or turn I would go back in time and think about a moment of my life, blessed, troubled, joyful. Eventually I would regress to the time I was a child, The center of the labyrinth was to be that moment in time in God's existence, in God's presence, before my earthly birth or even conception that God decided that what the world needed was me. God would grace the world with me. Izzy and Bob would have a new child who would be just what God decided the world needed.  Needless to say when I was at the center of the labyrinth in that moment, I was shaking, overcome with the sanctity of the moment, afraid of and in the presence of God at an intensely graced moment for me. So when I read ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you (Jeremiah 1:5) I can only think of that moment in the Labyrinth. I cannot help but know that each and every one of us is intentionally created by God, special and unique. As they say "God don't make junk".

         When I say that God created me, it encompasses so much we might simply gloss over. What are the many facets of who we are? What are our gifts, our penchants, our talents? We are all fascinating beings. If part of our Lenten journey is to discover and embrace our humanity, it is to discover as much as we can about ourselves, who we are and who we were created to be by a living and loving God. Accepting all the 'stuff' of who we are is the foundation God set down. We will never be whole or happy until we acknowledge who we are and embrace it, God's gift to us and God's gift to the world.

            

Mark 3:31-4:9

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’ 

Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

Forever my rebel

       I do so love reading this passage. Jesus chatting away with a woman, a Samaritan woman. That in itself is quite telling. We might think nothing of it ourselves. Jesus speaking with a woman, so what?  But that would be looking through a lens from today. Put everything in context and we have one heck of a good story. Jesus is a profound social rebel. I'd bet it has to do with his Godly notion that all people are created equal, are due complete respect and should not be judged as we humans almost always do. 

        Let's break this apart a bit. First of all, woman were not in any way considered an equal in the ancients time. Woman were chattel. Woman were considered to be just a step up from a slave and in many cases were sold into marriage and used as much as slaves were. But the story reveals even more. This particular woman was a Samaritan. Jews did not consort with any Samaritans. Samaritans were the low end of the social and religious spectrum to Jews. This is why the story of the 'good Samaritan' holds such weight. But the story reveals even more about this woman. This woman is going to well at noon for water. That as you might guess is the worst time to do so. The hottest part of the day. Most woman or slaves would go early in the morning when the air is still cool.  So our Samaritan woman is not welcome even with the other woman or slaves. She must be the lowest of the low.  In fact, Jesus is able to go through a litany of her 'sins' and how she has been married so many times and was even at the that moment living in sin.  Wow, Jesus has a live one.  What does Jesus do? Cast her out? Condemn her? Tell her to repent? In fact it does not mention Jesus doing any of those things.

         What we have is a loving, embracing Jesus and to the least expected person. Not only does Jesus carry on a conversation with this woman but he opens the truth of salvation to her. What can we possibly derive from such reckless social behaviour and interactions?

           I feel bad for people who love to take snippets of Scripture out of context to condemn and demean people. This passage is quite clear about the level and depth f God's love and inclusiveness and this is but one example of so many. Jesus was a rebel of the highest order. He was not the military messiah that the Jews awaited but His power is no less profound or earth shattering. Jesus shakes the norms we try to live by. Jesus rocks the foundation of how we judge and treat people opening love to every single human being and without the judgment to pre-approval we so often seem to require.

          I try to think of the people I seem to dislike the most. The people whom I have so graciously and  righteously judged ( on God's behalf of course! ) and try to let it soak in that God loves that person at least as much as God loves me. 

John 4:1-26

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’— although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

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.’

The not so straight line

     

There is a wonderful story, perhaps now called a meme, about footprints in the sand. In this story two pair of footprints represent the path of one's life walking along with God. Then a singular pair of prints have you wondering why God has abandoned this poor soul at a given point and then at others the footprints are all jumbled, seemingly going in circles. What gives? 

          If you have not heard this, the singular path, during your worst times in life (when God supposedly abandoned you) is when Jesus actually carried us. The period of wandering is actually the footprints of joyous dancing. We don't always see things as they really are. It's all in perspective and journey, things we are not always the best judge of from our vantage point in life.

      This scripture passage brought that meme to mind especially our life's journey viewed as footprints in the sand walking along.  

       When many people say they are 'born again' that is often viewed as thee answer. I am saved. It is as if your footprints now go in a straight line from now on until infinity with our creator. You would be hard pressed to convince me though that life is still a straight line. First of all, if I agreed at all, we'd be moving gayly forward and never in a straight line. 

        When John says "He must increase, but I must decrease" it is also a sign for our own lives. If we are people of faith or 'born again' if you will, the journey takes on a new meaning. It is not a straight line. We never know where our journey will take us. Rarely is that a linear path. We will be carried, we will need to be carried. We will struggle, falter, dance in circles of joy and perhaps take a few side trips. 

           As I grew up with that gnawing knowledge that I was different, I never imagined what life would be like 30 or 40 years on. Life on this island has been a springboard for life and growth that have seen me travel, volunteer in foreign countries, raise a family I never thought I would have at all, come to terms with my sexuality, be blessed with a truly magnificent husband and on and on.  Perhaps it would be an interesting personal exercise or meditation to draw my very own vision of my  footprint journey. It probably would be wild looking! How about yours?

        The one thing I do know is journey's a seldom linear but they should always move forward in thoughtfulness and faith.    

John 3:22-36

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized— John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. They came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.’ John answered, ‘No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.” He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.’

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

Death and dying in Lent, a reflection

          It is a central tenet of Christianity that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human. One of the very early Councils of the church hammered out this central belief that we profess in the Apostles Creed.  Some people tend to stress the Divinity of Jesus over his humanity when in fact he was both. I find it particularly comforting to note all the things I know and feel were so familiar to our Lord because he walked dusty roads with dirty feet as thinking, feeling human.

         Whether it is anger, sexuality, love or the need for friends and family, Jesus experienced it all. In Lent Jesus ran the gamut. One situation we may not have thought about is Jesus having the absolute realization and need to say goodbye to his loved ones in a purely human way when he realized where his journey to Jerusalem would lead. He had to say goodbye to his friends who he'd be leaving in the human way that we know only too well ourselves.  Jesus had to steel himself to say goodbye to his Mom. It may sound odd but wouldn't his mother-son bond be just strong as any of ours? When I preside at a wake I have tried to evoke this emotion so people will realize that their God too is intimately aware of their feelings of loss and separation.

          This past week I learned an old friend had lost her husband to a protracted battle with cancer. No sooner had this news begun to settle in when I found out my friend herself had passed days after her husband. Lent seems like a time for passing. It was Lent when my own father passed and my Lenten journey was marked by the loss, feelings of separation and a loop of memories that had me on the verge of tears at any given moment. There was also the time our beloved priest friend Father Donald was transferred in Lent. Feelings of loss and unfairness abounded. Of course it was not Christ suffering in the cross but we sure caught a soulful glimpse of having to say goodbye.
        Another point in our humanness is dealing with death. I think we dissociate the death of our own loved ones with any comparison or knowledge that Jesus went through it too, knows how it feels and ached as we ache.  But Jesud embraced it, 'manned up' so to speak. I might simply say embrace our humanity.  It is the Lrnten thing to do.

       

  

Swatting the Holy tuchas

      Today's passages to me seem to all be connected by the concept of time, talent and treasure,  a concept I was introduced to many years ago. One of the hallmarks of this idea is that everything we have is from God and that we are really only stewards of everything we are graced with. We really do not own anything. Not houses, not things, not  kids or even spouse. At the same time we need to realize that whatever we are graced with gives us a unique responsibility to maintain and build the kingdom of God.

        This resonated with me because I had always held this concept in my heart, long before someone had solidified the ideas and packaged into a program of church renewal. When my spouse showed an interest and talent for the medical field I did everything I could to encourage and nurture that gift from God.  I always believed that to not cooperate with your gifts was a form of sin.  If God gives you a gift / talent, you should use it to best of your ability. The community thus gained a talented practitioner whose talents worked on cancer patients and affected the lives of many thousands of people in a most positive, professional and loving way.

         I was quite amused to read the passage of the wedding feast at Cana.  We recall it most perhaps for Jesus turning water into wine. This did not happen though until a need was identified  and pointed out by Jesus' mother, Mary.  Further,  Jesus responds by saying ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?'  Women were considered chattel in that time and society.  But a Jewish mother being who she is called to be, you find Mary as much as telling Jesus, 'you know who you are just do what I'm telling you to do'. I can even imagine Mary perhaps giving Jesus a gentle swat on his holy behind to drive the point home. The video of this in my mind is amusing.

       The bottom line though, as with Jesus' entire life, is to be fully human and to be everything he was incarnated to be. And Jesus does it perfectly for our benefit.

         Do we cooperate with all we are meant to be? Do we nurture our talents and gifts? Do we appreciate them and the source? There is a strain of Christianity these days which is has some silly name like 'wealth theology'.  The notion that wealth is a sign you are blessed by God. That might not be too bad (except that the converse is totally false) except it also seems to be accompanied by an arrogance and snootiness that does not call you to use that gift to help your fellow man at all.  It even seems to encourage the incredible idea that it is by our own hands that you were graced. It actually makes a God out of money and people. I cannot think of a much worse bastardization of the Jesus' Gospel message.

          So the questions remain. In our journey to wholeness, to be a human fully alive and engaged, cooperating with the gifts and talents God has graced  us with, how  are you doing?

John 2:1-12

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

1After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days.

Rules and rubrics of religious rubbish

     I have an old friend who grew up in a very conservative Catholic home in a time when rules and rubrics were everything. As a young man supporting his growing family he worked long hours. Returning home after 11pm his wife had dinner waiting which he promptly devoured until the stroke of midnight lest he commit a Mortal sin, he had to fast for communion the next morning. Midnight was the magic cut off.  Such was life then.

    
 Another example of strictness in how we approached fasting is the no meat in Fridays rule. Of course things have changed except for Lent. Fasting on Fridays in Lent is still the rule. 

       I noticed the calendar this year had St. Pat's day falling on a Friday in Lent. What will become of the Corned Beef ? As has happened before, there will likely be a dispensation. Heaven forbid you might go to hell simply by having one's corned beef & cabbage.

       This might be the long way to cover a conversation my father-in-law and I have quite often about what he calls, and I embrace, "happy horse shit" in reference to religious practises. It's all about accommodation he'd add. He Jewish, me raised Roman Catholic, we are well accustomed to ridiculous man made religious rules, no matter how well intentioned.

       Jesus runs across a similar issue in today's Gospel passage though I am sure he'd never utter the phrase "happy horse shit". 

       What is the intent and reason for fasting? What is real fasting and not the bastardized version so many adhere to these days. When I explained what the rules are today for Catholics to my husband he rightfully just rolled his eyes and shakes his head.

        I poke fun at all the rules and rubrics rubbish of religion but not as some anarchist or anti-Christ. Why do we do the things we do?

       Perhaps it's time we find out lest we become like some pharisee who thinks they are justified and saved by puppeting some odd religious practises. Shouldn't our praise, honour and worship of God, now more than ever, be filled with knowledge, sincerity and meaning?

Mark 2:18-22

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.

God's justice in these troubling times

     One of my practises this Lenten season is to read a variety of passages before I take time to write and relay whatever it is I have to impart. Hpefully with the Spirit in the lead role. Today I took a passage that my parish had in their own Lenten reflection guide. The author of the reflection is a parishioner who labelled her commentary "Blessed are the Merciful".

     I am well aware of how at odds my idea of justice may be with that of God. Sometimes I am convinced (as many seem to be these days) that my idea of justice is right in line with that of God, as in one in the same.  At the same time I know that just ain't so. God's idea of Justice is far beyond my simple human mind and far beyond the greatest and most compassionate of human minds.

     In Jewish Scripture we might read an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We can read justification for stoning someone who committed adultery and also for someone who wore garments of two different fabrics.  Abominations and justice of the sword and stone seem right at home with the ancients. Then Jesus comes along and changes almost everything. Don't forgive seven times but seventy times seven! If God's justice is to be seen in the land owner, God paid the workers who worked a small fraction of a day the same wage he paid those who labored hard all day long. Justice?  If someone slaps your right cheek, turn and offer him your left.  What is going on here? When will the lunacy stop!  If the Spirit is alive and well and continually revealing the love and mercy of God, what will be the next level of God's crazy justice will we be called to?

      These days, almost everyone seems embroiled in the political upheavals of electing a bigot, an idiot and his horribly unqualified team into high offices. Did you catch that? Was that a Godly moment on my part and are my calls, or any one's calls for political justice in these times even remotely close to what God would call us to do? How does God call us to act?  Dose "give to Rome" have any meaning here?

      Perhaps it will be a particularly good Lenten season then, what with the extreme challenges we face to align our vision of justice to that of God's in these troubling times. At the same time we are focusing on our personal growth and spiritual journey this Lent, like it or not we are living in a time when we cannot simply stick our head in the sand. If you have any concept of the Gospel and it's relevance to social equality and call to treat everyone fairly (as beloved children of God, one and all)  or if you know what Liberation theology is all about, we have to integrate our personal faith and our call to love and serve our fellow citizens (nationally and globally) especially in these traumatic political times.

       This will come under the heading of wow, what are we supposed to do? As children of God, we are called to, at the very least,  think about these issues and not to simply ignore them as we smile and go on with our daily lives. Perhaps we can meditate on that a bit this season. 

  

Luke 7:36-39

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

Bearing witness to God's create world for Lent

     It seems to me that Jesus came to call every one of us, all of God's creations, not just the sinners and not just the righteous. God's intricate and magnificent design is seen in every created thing. Everything God created is a witness to the 'music' that stirs in her essence.  Everything and everyone is a facet of the diamond that God has created.

     Yesterday I was noting that part of our Lenten journey might be to embrace our humanity and to discover it, appreciate it, even revel in it, maybe even get all pruny with it.  At the same time as we are appreciating ourselves and the unique being God created and sent into the world, it might also be a great idea for Lent to appreciate everything in God's world.

     I have had a lifelong love of bicycling. Whether it was riding the 5 lonesome miles to work on a little red folding bike compliments of my Dad or riding on my first Schwinn 10 speed the 30 miles back from the bike shop when I had finally saved up money to buy it. These days I cycle around our little island on virtually the same roads you find me driving on each day. What is very different as you ride along a farm country lane though is you notice so much more. There are smells and sights you just don't get driving. The sights and the smells are all part of God's creation that I think I appreciate just a bit more because I am riding along with no particular agenda in mind. There is a mindfulness to my riding. In many ways it is the same reason we enjoy hiking so much.  You really get in tune with God's creation.

       I have a friend named Paul Kimmerling who, among his many talents, is a gifted photographer. I love seeing his perspective and gift to capture a frame of reference for something that  you might not always see as one hurries along on our daily routines. I suppose it is not just his eye but his ability to still himself (no pun intended) and capture a moment, a facet of the world.  It is no wonder that Paul routinely gives spiritual retreats involving photography.

       I mention Paul and my cycling because they are ways in which we can come closer to God's world, to see Creation in a more intimate way. Besides appreciating ourselves during lent, it behooves us to appreciate everything that God has created. Each and every leaf, rock, animal or person is a creation of God that gives witness to the glory of her creation. I think it is safe to simply say "God so loved the world". Period. You can add more and it would be true and perhaps necessary to note but it is also important to note that God speaks not just through his Son and through us but also through the created world.

       Take the time to see what is all around you.

   

Matthew 9:10-13

And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

Denying thyself

     'Tis the season to deny thyself, eh? Facebook seemed to be full of people requesting what one was giving up for Lent. They ran the gamut from chocolates, cookies and sweets  to 'giving up always trying to be right' and giving up Lent itself. Interesting ideas you might expect on Facebook.

     Perhaps today's passage gives us an idea of where the idea came from to 'give things up' for Lent.  I always thought it was a the idea of some kind of self denial or an infinitesimal participation in the suffering that Christ so willingly entered into on our behalf. All good reasons.

      But to what extent do we deny ourselves?  Should we deny who we are? That is almost suggested here as Jesus admonishes his disciples not to tell anyone who he is. But there is something much deeper here because Jesus clearly did not hide who he was. If he had, we would not be saved and Jesus might not have been crucified or have died for us.

        I'd like to stay with that notion of denying oneself though.  If you read the first line, Jesus is praying. To who? himself? God praying to God? Even Jesus in all his glory submitted himself to the Father. One part of the Trinity having so much love that he would submit himself to the Father and even to us, all the while not denying the greatness and totality of who he was. 

        As a gay man and a follower of Christ, should I deny who I am? For Lent? at all?  It might be argued that the trials, mischaracterizations and marginalization, if not hate, from acknowledging being gay might be enough alone to appreciate the sufferings of Christ in some way. Simply for being who we are as created by God. Are we not also "beloved" in every sense of the word?

         To that person who suggested giving up Lent, how about giving up simply giving something up? What that leaves you with is embracing who you are in it's totality. Totally human and to what extent divine I'd leave that for you to ponder. In general though, embracing your humanity and who you are as a person is still an excellent way to embrace Lent and to enter into the experience of Jesus. Jesus after all embraced his humanity to the full, shouldn't we?

       Never, ever deny who God made you to be.

Luke 9:18-25

Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’ 

He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’

Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?

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Alt-control-delete for the soul

      Looking at today's passages I wonder how easy it is to convince ourselves of things. I wonder what the process of self reflection is, or lack thereof, that allows us to believe things we do or how we see ourselves in a certain light.

       I can think of several examples right off where I saw myself in certain light without flinching. I recall reading a psychology text in college with a whole host of aberrations listed. I thought I had many of the symptoms listed and that perhaps I was crazy. Well, perhaps I am crazy but I seem to be a highly functioning nut whoever I am. 

       I think another example I have come across of this phenomena is reading a patient package insert for medication. There are soooo many side affects and adverse reactions that if you didn't come away thinking you had one of them, you might easy just stop taking the medication. Sometimes the list is frightening. Sometimes it seems the side affects are the exact thing you are attempting to cure!

         Perhaps a more timely example comes from a recent segment of NPR.  They were discussing fake news and in regard to news in general I suppose and what people seem to believe. We are predisposed it seems to see facts in certain ways.  In other words, two people can hear the same news item and each one will come away thinking that their 'side' has been bolstered. I am not sure how much critical thinking one can do during a given day without falling down in exhaustion but I think critical thinking should be something that is right up there in importance with the requisite, reading, writing and 'rithmatic. 

           The big problem here is how often we are swayed and convinced or easily we convince ourselves we are right about this , that or the other thing. I see it in religion and I see even more of it these days it politics. I am certainly not immune. I wish we could actually see the problem and press some kind of reset for ourselves. Perhaps some new kind of glasses so that when we put them on, we see things about life and ourselves more clearly. An alt-control-delete for our hearts and minds - our souls.

          Perhaps that is one of the purposes of Lent. I always loved Baptizing babies because I could remind the parents and congregation just what a new beginning it was. How a clean slate was before us, how this child was the beginning of what we would like the world to be. Lent is our Baptism, a new beginning, a fresh start, an alt-control-delete for our soul. A period of some critical thinking for ourselves, how we see things, what we are convinced of about ourselves and others.  This is a great opportunity folks!

          I am not certain of how you actually set out on this journey, there is no real road map. Perhaps the road maps are are as varied as each one of us. For me, I think I need to assess my guilt. Without degrading myself, asses my flaws, recognize them, try to understand them a bit more and then hopefully come to an appreciation for everyone else out there who is on the same journey of life as I am and may have the same or worse problems. 

Luke 18:9-14

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’