Gee Donny old boy, I don't think so, you are not the chosen one.

       After considerable therapy, I sat down with my wife, explained as best I could that I am gay. This involved a lifetime journey of internal turmoil, self loathing, self doubt and sublimating who I was. I was born again and in all love and honor for her, it was not fair that she be saddled with someone who could not be fulfilled nor, fulfill her. We both are owed a chance at fulfillment and happiness in who we are. For me to try and live as a heterosexual man with the self knowledge I held, it would be a lie of enormous proportions. It would be totally counter to who I am, it would disrespect the creation of God that I am.

          I suppose God can be anything she wishes to be. God being God though, the everlasting defined by total love, I can't comprehend the vengeful, hateful God that some seem so willing to embrace.  The concept of an evil God is more a result of our definitions and justifications placed on God by us than what is really true. God is love. I guess it goes back to that idiotic philosophical question, can God create a box so large she can't lift it?  God's nature is pure love. God cannot act in an evil way. And no, Donald Trump is not the chosen one.

          When Jesus became incarnate, the Jewish nation such as it was, was expecting a warrior leader and conqueror more so than any spiritual leader. They sought a warrior leader slash King with the wisdom perhaps of David but still a warrior leader. It is no wonder that the feathers flew when Jesus came not as a military leader but a man that spoke in the Temple, who spoke of love, acted against prevailing religious law and exemplified, inclusion, forgiveness and embraced everyone. Again, the Jews ( and all of us ) run afoul when we try to define God as we want God to be, a God who falls in line with our own beliefs and agenda. God cannot be defined or pigeonholed by our beliefs. It is we who should be amending our own behaviours and beliefs according to the love and message of God. 

           Jesus as much as says so when he points to the crowd with swords and clubs when they came to arrest Him. That is not what Jesus was ever about, violence, the military or exclusion. If that is what we believe today, we are far astray from The Word and The Way.

           There is a meme on FaceBook that suggests that we will find perhaps a lifetime of happiness if we don't try to mold the future or live lamenting or ruminating over the past. Our best shot is to accept and live the now, joyfully and with presence. How much more true is it to find peace and joy with who we are created to be. Acceptance in love of who we are is much more fulfilling and in accord with God's plan than any other way of life.

        Rather than seek our own agenda or placing our agenda on others and even trying to foist it on God, let us love ourselves and love others as they are. This is what I pray for today.

Mark 14:43-52

Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’ So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. Then they laid hands on him and arrested him. But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.’ All of them deserted him and fled.
A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.

Tertullian and mocassins

       Think about a political discussion today. YOU are WRONG! You are willfully ignorant my friend, do your research, blah, blah and blah, you need to wake up! Sound even remotely familiar? I guess in many ways each side is relying on 'their side' to provide accurate data or information in which they develop their agenda or answer to any given problem or issue. Then too, there are those that base their opinion on spurious sources. Each side will tell you the other one's is using 'fake news' as a resource. It really is astounding, frightening, scary and sad how we have all fallen down this rabbit hole. I hope we can all find our way out.

       In today's passage from Mark, we see two totally different stories but each one involves people looking to support their view from a different vantage point. Perhaps it is not too different from today really. 

       Recently, my husband and I had a bit of a kerfuffle as spouses sometimes do.  Funny thing, we were both right. Because we have no interest in abandoning our relationship, we are convinced of each others sincerity and good will, we talk it out explain where we were coming from and voila, an aha moment!  We begin to see that my way is not the only way to look at things. Indeed, my way is not the only 'right' way to handle a given situation in spite of the fact that we joke that there is 'my way and the wrong way'!  Frank open discussion is key.  A willingness to listen and not merely a pause until your opponent runs out of breath so you can quickly rattle on with your own pseudo response. All that becomes is mutual turns at screaming with no real listening involved.

         In the early times of Christianity, the 'church' such as it was, was very conscious of heresy. That is, they wanted to maintain true beliefs and fight some "fake" ideas and errant though processes. This was serious business. Losing your faith was more serious than losing . . . your i-phone! I only say that because I just helped a fellow passenger here at the airport. She was simply frantic, distraught and on the verge of panic that someone may have  taken or that she lost her phone, she asked me to ring her phone. When you think about the data in your phone - maybe panic was in order - it was serious!  That's a digression perhaps but those early Christians  were serious about fake ideas ( heresy ). I believe it was Tertullian, an early church father that thought the best way to counter heresy was to fully embrace and understand the position of your opponent.

      Can you imagine what the world would be like if actually tried to understand our opponents position? I mean really listening to understand and not simply tolerating someone's speech.  It might be miraculous!

     Mary T. Lathrap wrote a poem in 1895 about walking a mile in someone else's shoes. This was later subsumed and accepted erroneously as an Native American aphorism. The fact is though, it is wonderful thing to empathize and try to understand what another person is going through.  How is it to be Black in America? A cop? A gay man? A trans person? An LGBTQ memeber trying to come to terms with the fact that God loves them?  If we could all just try to listen, understand and empathize, the world would be a much better place.

       Many years ago, before the world went bonkers with fundamentalist Christianity and Islam, my Dad did a great deal of reading. It was a passion he held until his death. I recall him reading all about Islam. His intent was to understand this relatively unknown ( to us ) religion that was making news in Afghanistan with Russia trying ( and failing ) to intercede.  Have we done any better by the way??  Has anyone else been reading or listening to the 'oposing side?'

           Somehow I think we will never get out of our rabbit hole unless we start listening more and trying to really understand. Selectively and surgically using Scripture as a means to justify our own ends is not acceptable. I believe it is an affront to God, whether it be The Holy Bible or the Quran.

         We may all need our eyes washed, our ears cleaned and try very hard to see what it is like for 'the other guy' to live. We need to try and understand. That is what we need and that is what I pray for.

       

                

Mark 12:13-27

Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?’ But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.’ And they brought one. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were utterly amazed at him.
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.’
Jesus said to them, ‘Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.’

The power of our innate divinity and faith

       If today's passage tells us anything, it is just how human Jesus was. There are two occasions here when Jesus got angry, a very human reaction. I have heard that anger is not a sin, it's what you do with that anger that can get you in trouble ( sin ).  Yet, here too Jesus shows his humanity in going beyond anger into perhaps justified rageint overturning the tables of those buying and selling in the Temple. Very human indeed.

        Along with Jesus' humanity, there is his total and unabashed Divinity.  That power can be used to move mountains into the sea or have fig trees wither and die. Who can say what else we are capable of? Jesus is quick to point out the power of our own faith ( our own divinity ? ) if we ask, say it and truly believe.

        All this brought to mind a hillbilly religious politician who apeared regently in the news. He as much as said that the only way to 'cure' the stigma of homosexuality is to kill them all.  Could that willfully ignorant man, with an ounce of faith, have all the avowed homo'sexuals wither and die like that fig tree?

       One of the things that amazes me so about us homosexuals is our tenacity. No matter how we have been demeaned, maligned, lied about, tortured and killed, you can't get rid of us. Further, history reveals we have been around perhaps as long as the worlds oldest profession. That is, that straight profession that shall go without name. Bear in mind that I am talking about relationships of love ( a la Jonathan and David , 1 Samuel 18 ) and not rape as in Genesis 19.  It's almost funny how that Genesis passage has itself been maligned, mistranslated and abused for a so called religious agenda. That is the crux of that religious politicians problem. It is the problem with any of us that have the faith to move mountains but lay that faith out for personal gain, a personal agenda or even a so called religious agenda.  The faith to move mountains it seems only works if it is in concert with God's plans of love, inclusion and forgiveness. 

          So why have "the gays" been around for eons? It is part of God's plan of  a diverse and glorious creation. The created world gives witness to a diverse and rainbow universe, not just as a gay community but in the entirety of creation. The world is not black and white no matter how you wish to look at, no matter how comfy and cozy that might make some people feel.

            I contend that we all have the divine power of faith to move mountains, so long as it acts in concert with God's plan. So we shall not have any more witherig fig trees, only God Himself can do that at will. We also will all have to soldier on with the joys of the gay community, that special love and all the incredible gifts bestowed on mankind by those homosexuals throughout history. It's God's plan.

        Let's use our faith for better purposes than hate, it won't work anyway, God didn't give us that kind of power in faith. The power is in love.

Mark 11:12-26

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard it.
Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”?
   But you have made it a den of robbers.’ 
And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Then Peter remembered and said to him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
‘Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.’ 

I did it all by myself

       The rule is, there are two things you cannot discuss at work, religion and politics. You can imagine my surprise when a coworker caught me in the staff lounge and decided to bring up one of the hottest topics in both politics and religion: abortion. I already knew that this chap leaned very far to the right.  He may not have recalled but he asked me many years prior about my thoughts on gay marriage. This was before I had even an conscious thought about myself. I argued vehemently for marriage equality. I seem to recall ending my position with a joking statement that suggested , why should the gay community be deprived of all the heartache and agony straight couples have? I know I walked away thinking that he was a stooge for someone else's religious diatribe against marriage equality. He had puppeted several of the more blatant and patently false arguments against equality.

         So, on to abortion. Bear in mind that I was working very much in a fog. I went to work not as an obligation but more as a means to occupy my time, mind and emotions as my father-in-law died the previous day. We would not be flying out for the services for a few more days. Occupying my brain was a good idea even if I did not present myself at full capacity. So, I engaged this chap in a spirited and yet cordial debate.  I debunked several of his more emotional points.  I confessed that I too dislike abortion. I quickly added though that I will never be in a position where I would have to decide about having one.  My point of view is that that decision should always be in the hands of a woman and perhaps her doctor ( as advisor ). It should not be in the hands of religion or politicians.  Further, I probably went more ballistic lamenting the hypocrisy of the myopic right and religious wing nuts that are not in fact pro-life but merely, pro-birth. The fact that the question is about abortion and not about the respect for the entirety of life is telling. What about pre-natal care? Child care? Day care?School lunches? Senior living? Simply, how do we respect the entirety of life if a person is so "pro-life"?  I finally suggested that instead of legislation the religious right might find better support by showing how they actually live out being pro-life , not how they parade around and picket. OK, yes, I was fully engaged a this point but we still were having a respectful discussion, even if I spoke rather enthusiastically.

         Afterword's I thanked my friend for bringing me back to reality. I had been wallowing in my grief a bit and I told him he was the hand of God that brought me back to focus. I then told him, because he had no way of knowing, that my father-in-law had died the day before and that I really meant it when I said he was an agent of God reaching out to me.

          That all seems a bit nauseating to some I know.  I still believe religion and politics should be left out of the workplace. We only survived because we have a mutual respect born I believe of how we see the other leading decent and holy lives even while we seem at different ends of the political spectrum. This is a rarety.

         What is the point. Well, this is what came to mind from reading the passage from John this morning. ‘I can do nothing on my own'. We like to hold up 'the self-made man', we like to think of how we did it all ( by ourselves ), handled it all by ourself or that our successes are our very own. We laud our accomplishments and wealth as if we alone were responsible.  My point is that there are always someone else who helped, contributed and perhaps even bore most of the grunt work. Angels abound as well as friends, family and lovers. We are all co-conspirators in each others accomplishments, growth and foibles. We are willfully ignorant and arrogant at best if we think we do anything alone. God's presence is all around in every person you come across, every friend, every family member, coworker and lover.

           Soon I will be offering a eulogy for my beloved father-in-law. I will speak of a life well lived. I will note the importance he placed on family, note a few of the relationships that made this man a 'success' and made life a dream come true. He did not do it alone and he certainly cooperated with the will of God in love and acceptance. He knew intimately the twists and turns of life and how so many varied people touched and affected his life. There are so many amazing stories there and I am sure it is true for all of us.

          No, it is for certain, we do nothing alone. We may find it wise to realize just how many people touch and have touched our lives and how rich our lives are for it.  God's hand is always near and at work in some of the least expected and varied ways we could think of. Think of the people you come across every second of your day and know God is there. Also know, they may not always be there.

     For recognition and appreciate of 'the others' in our lives, I pray this day.

             

John 5:30-47

‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved.He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.
‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’

A gay transfiguration?

       Dozens of years ago, my daughter and I invented a word to describe a phenomena we noted. The object was a young man driving ( poorly ) in a hot car , usually a Camaro or Firebird. This was the typical stance of driver: seat reclined, driver slunk low in that seat with his left arm draped ( hands free ) over the steering wheel. The driver invariably canted toward the passenger seat where a 'babe' was seated. We called the driver a "schmookula". It was all so stereotypical. I was terribly guilty of leading my daughter astray into judgment and seeing only the surface of things and people.

        A few years later while I was on jury duty, there was, lo and behold a Schmookula amongst us. Gold clad, open shirt and regularly checking on the status of his car from our window - yes, a Firebird, parked across the street. During the countless down time and lunches I got to see that this Schmookula was really quite a decent chap. He spent weekends in Manhattan collecting left over Friday night food from selected restaurants and delivering that food to homeless people all over the city.  That was a transfiguration.

       When I note that God loves everyone with reckless abandon or that that God loves everyone as a beloved creation, I believe God can sees through the stuff we envelope ourselves with. God can see the essence of us in all our glory - no need for a transfiguration with God. But we who are so involved with worldly stuff, trappings and concerns often have poor vision when it comes to God's other beloved creations. We see what we want to see. We fail to see the goodness in others. We barely get a transfiguration of how wonderful and beautiful our fellow creatures are. It isn't easy because we entrap ourselves, we put on blinders and let's face it, it is easy to categorize and compartmentalize.  How wonderful the world would be if we could see the magnificence of how God sees all that She created.

           Switching gears a little here, we are told as members of the gay community that we should all be out and proud, living our routine normal and decent lives wherever we are, work, neighborhood, church etc. When people come to see that we are just like everyone else, same joys, pains, concerns and interests, we will be more accepted. People will realize we are no different than anyone else is. We will not be defined by those few that rail on wrongly about rampant sex, inability to have real relationships and generally minimalize and demonize the gay community. When people see a gay person who is just like everyone else, they will see a transfiguration of sorts also. If they don't see a complete transfiguration, they will at least see that we are no different than they are.

        The question at hand is do we allow ourselves to see others in a different light? Are we able to see the transfiguration of our fellow creations?  Can we see that we are all Beloved by God? It is easier to compartmentalize, categorize and marginalize others. Can you imagine the awesome power and glory of Jesus being transfigured?

        For our ability and willingness  to see beyond the facade and see the transfiguration of all mankind, each and every one of us. I pray. 

Mark 9:2-13

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, ‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ He said to them, ‘Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.’

Love in the moment and a delicate dance

       As a man on the precipice of full retirement, I have to wonder, will I have enough money and means to last the rest of my life? Practical questions abound including the merits ( or demerits? ) of collecting Social Security before my full retirement age of 66+ or 70? You get less money in SS if you start collecting earlier but much more if you wait. Should I wait for money and find out the 'very night that my life will be over?' There has always been a delicate balance played out in things wanted or needed; do now and damn the future? or wait and enjoy the rewards later. Will I be around to enjoy them?

       Most people are planners of one sort or another. People who plan on the here after, their eternal reward. Their actions in this life are intended to insure there imperishable inheritance. There are others that plan scrupulously in this life. Every detail planned and carefully orchestrated. I think they are both wrong.

          I have had enough personal medical scares, seen enough human horrors in the halls of hospitals and on the roads, I've seen people taken way too early in life to the agony of those left behind that thought they had years to spend together.

           If this passage has any intent, it is to see that the time we are given, short or long, every moment, is graced and should not be taken for granted or wasted. That may mean a bit more of that delicate dance of spending now and planning for later simultaneously. I know that's how I think. I am convinced though that such planning is born of doubt about whether God will  provide. Such planning also convinces us that we have to take a given path and that we should support that path to the detriment of everyone else. That means we will demean others and defend our own path as the one true path. I see way too much disrespect and nary a single acknowledgment that there are many paths and no one's particular path is the absolute right one. That is, save for that particular individual. Even then, it would have to be an amazingly aware and faithful person that knows what God's journey is for them. Life changes, the Potter may make you an urn when you though for sure you'd be a plate.

       Our arrogance in planning is highlighted in this Sunday morning passage from Luke. It seems like a much better idea to live and love in the moment than to plan for a time or place we are not even guaranteed.  God will be our judge, not any of us, certainly not ourselves and certainly not ourselves judging others.  Do your best now, love your best now. Plan if you must but always know nothing is guaranteed, let no time be wasted.

         For loving in the moment, I pray

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

The Johnson list - long but not distinguished.

       Once again we find Jesus railing against the Temple elite, the pharisees and the self righteous leaders that seem fit to make us twice as fit for hell, as they are themselves. Jesus speaks about empty traditions and religious laws that circumvent God's intent of love. It's all right there in this passage. Way down at the bottom of today's passage from Mark is a list of sins that we might want to be especially mindful of. They all seem quite timely. This list seems like a recipe to cure our present dilemmas of how to live. Perhaps more precisely, how we should repent from our current political and moral morass.

fornication - Right up front, this is isn't about being celibate or even non-sexual. This is about mindless fucking and one night stands. This is about disrespecting our gift of sexuality, using it as means for immediate gratification without love even entering into the equation.

theft - I'd say there are very few of us that hide a secret that we routinely go out and steal things. We are not car jackers. We don't break and enter to steal someone else's flat screen TV;  we don't pocket jewelry while browsing, con the elderly out of money. Sure that happens, but for most of us we can feel confident we are not abrogating the 8th commandment, at least not in the most literal of terms. Have we perhaps though become so numb to what we as society allow that we may steal something as in the same vein we might tell a 'white lie'?  Stationary from work? a refund we are not entitled to? Someone's mistake we don't fess up to that benefits us? Returning an item to a store after we have used it?  That all seems like stealing to me. Are we willing to look closely at ourselves and our lives?

murder - This is a good one ( 6th commandment ). How many of us have actually taken a life? Do you think Jesus mentioned this because He thinks that people go around just 'offing' people?  I often say that having the two great commandments makes the Ten much, much harder to follow. Sure we haven't put a gun to someones head or gut but have we demeaned anyone? Killed someones reputation? Belittled and called someone a bad name? In essence, we are fully capable of killing someones spirit and that to my way of thinking is still killing. This, I believe, is what Jesus spoke of.  Do you have any soul searching to do in this regard?

adultery - another classic, the seventh commandment. Most of us are not like our current President who is perhaps a serial cheater and who had extramarital affairs while his third wife was pregnant; or who cheated on #2 by starting up with #3. Most of us find that amoral even if somehow we rationalize it to all as President. ( I cannot ). Adultery is an abrogation of the intimate relationship of marriage. It isn't just physical, it also pertains to the emotional and even spiritual aspects to marriage. So perhaps we have not been as continuously and totally faithful as we could have been, eh? We like to focus on just a physical act as adultery but it  really is so much more. Jesus said that even looking and committing adultery in your mind is just as bad as actually entering into a physical relationship. Personally I don't carry this to the extreme that I cannot look at a guy and not say 'mighty fine' or 'Very nice'. But I do not allow myself to enter into a mental scenario  where I am visualizing what that nice body might be good for. Then I am not only approaching adultery but also a sense of fornication. 

Look, we don't get credit for not doing what we are not supposed to do in the first place. We have to know that we can lead ourselves astray by errant thoughts or musings that we run with. That gets us into dangerous territory no matter that we may not have 'sealed the deal'.

avarice - perhaps a sign of the times. How do we live in a time that seems to be run by Madison Avenue? How much do we want? There is a big difference between want and need. That's a great lesson that my Dad taught me. Is it a want? Is it a need? So, how about that tenth commandment then? Let's go further. As a person on the precipice of full retirement, how do I view the stock market? I am always cheering for the market to go up, up, up! Is this a form of avarice?  It is certainly something to be aware of.  Being faithful is not something we enter into only on Saturdays, Sundays or holy days. We are called to holiness every day and with every act we engage ourselves with.

wickedness -  There is a term that was popularized by the show Avenue-Q and that is the German word Schadenfreude, happiness at the misfortune of others. I don't see most people going out of there way to see people suffer or to actually cause someones pain. That is wicked. I do however know that I  myself get a bit of pleasure when I see someone get their comeuppance.  Of course that is based on my judgment of what justice is, not God's. Perhaps that's the rub here. I am certainly willing to be happy at your pain if I think you deserve it.  But is that right? Isn't that a bit wicked? Or is that wicked with a sly smile that we might invoke?  Where do we end though with such wickedness?  Again, food for thought.

deceit - I am loving this list from Jesus. Don't you think that someone today could have come up with this list today? and yet it is from Him. Deceit is not merely a lie. This is lying with purpose. I tried to to convey to my own children as they were growing up that half truths are not the truth. That's sort of where deceit lies. You tell someone else ( or even yourself ) a half truth ( a lie by any other name ) to suite your purpose. In typical kid fashion, it's telling me that 'Johnny threw a rock at me' while omitting that you threw a rock at Johnny first.  How often do we engage that kind of behaviour or self justification of a lie.? 

licentiousness -  it is amazing to me how many items on this list seem to come back to our President but that probably makes me just a guilty of just another item on this list myself. Be that as it may, this goes onto adultery and fornication.  It really goes to the heart of sexuality and I have to note that all these references seem to be toward the straight community. Just say'n. Heterosexuals seem to need a great deal of supervision if God sees it necessary to add so many notices of what bad sexual behavior is.  This stricture if you will, goes beyond what most might consider normal sexual expression. I personally find it acceptable for almost anything that both parties are willingly enter into that is not dangerous or harmful. So, this goes beyond 'normal' and I think this enters into the territory of usury of others, non-consensual. Perhaps a better way of saying that might be inducing  someone to do things that are beyond the norm and that they might not be willing to do if it were not for some emotional need to satisfy the other.   I wouldn't no want to get into a litany of what is an approved or non-approved list of sexual practises. I do think we need to be aware of the intimate nature and psycho-sexual ramifications of our most intimate of gifts from God. Sexuality is an area of our being that has always been ripe for abuse and players use that to their advantage. Caveat emptor seems like a mild warning against licentiousness. 

envy - I remember someone who always asked where my husband and I went on vacation only to follow it with " I wish I could do that". As someone who is rather frugal and whose travels are not really indicative of spending a lot of money, I would always note that you can do it too. It all depends on how you spend your money. We all have choices and we really can't have it all. Should we even try? Can't we be happy with what we have? Isn't everything graced by virtue of how we use and live with what we have?  Envy is so anti-God.  God is all about  using the tools we have, not just who we are, to build the kingdom. We are witnesses and ambassadors.  That's a difficult task to undertake when you are always looking at what someone else has.  It can't be done if you are not satisfied, happy and thankful for who you are and what you have.

slander - I recall someone saying once that "I hate to gossip . . . . so listen carefully, I am only going to say this once!" Last night at a cocktail party in my neighborhood a fight broke out. True story. There were words, a hurled drink and then punches flew. You could almost wish a little old nun would appear, grab them both by the ears and march them off for a serious talking to. I did not witness the actual confrontation. What I did witness was the slander after the fact from both 'sides'.  Wow, if an event could split a gathering this was it. When we disagree with someone or simply their position, political, religious or whatever, why must we resort to bad mouthing people?  We can't seem to agree to disagree, we don't even attempt to understand or listen. We 'listen' long enough to interject our own next point that has to be made. In other words we don't listen at all really. We simply wait for the other to need a new breath of air and use that opportunity to go off on our own.  This isn't about listening at all, this is about rejecting the other because we feel rejected or disrespected.  This is such a common and horrific dynamic. We should never feel the need to demean as a means of supporting our position or opinion. Adolescents do this by making up names for people that disagree with them - oh yeah, that's our President again. He has nicknames galore and all because someone disagrees with him. How can this man be of God, let alone the chosen one? I digress. Let's not slander or demean, eh?

pride -  they say it is not boastful ( or prideful ) if what you say about yourself is true. There should be great pride in who we are. God made us, purpose built, a created being from a vision of God for what the world needs now - you.  Of course we should have pride in who we are, gay , straight whomever we are, whatever gifts and talents we are graced with. What happens though when we think we are 'better than'? That is the sin of pride.  To say that my gifts or talents or being is better than yours is disrespectful and against God Herself. We are all magnificent creations but not better, just different, diverse, a rainbow of people straight and gay and everything in between and around.  

folly - the definition of folly is a lack of good sense; foolishness. Perhaps the biggest folly is to think we know everything or that we are aways right. In our myopic vision of the world, we judge that we are thee way, the correct way and the only way.  It is a sin of epic proportions because it negates everything that God wishes for us all. I'll say no more.

      For this long list of sins and our thoughtfulness, introspection and repentance, I pray. 

Mark 7:1-23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me; 
in vain do they worship me,
   teaching human precepts as doctrines.” 
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’

Then he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God)— then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’

When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’