Unwrapped presents

Romans 15:7-13

          Perhaps it's a predominantly Roman Catholic or American thing to let the secular nature of Christmas overshadow the true meaning of Christmas so if you can't understand the next sentence or two, try to imagine the scene.  A child runs from their bedroom on waking Christmas morning to find a mind numbing array of presents that has appeared miraculously beneath the Christmas tree.  Without much delay, the family gathers and the child or children make no haste in laying into the presents almost ignoring who they are for and wrapping paper, bows and ribbons fly through the air. I'm not making this up.  Inevitably, a child opens a present that is so foreign and so unwanted that it seems to fall out of their hands as if it was a toppling ice cream cone except there is no regret. The item is summarily tossed aside. Either it holds no interest, is not what they asked for or what they wanted.  Aside from all the other problems with this scene, I'd say the present was not appreciated. Even if it was simply a scarf, they didn't care. The caring might be recognized on an intensely cold day, when only then is the lowly scarf appreciated. Then and only then it might actually rise from recognition to appreciation to love. 

            As the Christmas season comes to a close for most I started to think about some of the unwanted, unexpected or even unrecognized gifts I might have received.  I am not quite the religious zealot I once was and so the holidays were filled with a calmness, peace, love, family and a modicum of worship. We escaped the insanity so many experience. We had the best of the best and there was no ribbon throwing, no morning madness.  But still, did I recognize the magnitude of the presents I have received? Did I discard a thought or two that would help me realize how sweet and loving my life truly is?  I like to think I am pretty attentive to life but I also think some things may have escaped me. I am quite certain things escaped the people who did not escape the insanity. That is, buying things for people that don't need them; for people we don't like and with money we don't have. That's a description of the insanity a good parish priest once preached on. That's yet another good definition of the insanity.

          How present ( pun intended ) am I to the fact that Jesus is God and became man for me? Not only did God purpose build me, he allowed himself to be fully human for me ( us ) in a truly vulnerable and innocent way.  Every moment of our life, He would live through. Yesterday I wrote about sexuality but that is far from the totality of our existence.  We love, we feel pain, we suffer, we trip, we fall, we get up again, we learn, we share and so Jesus did as well. Jesus came to us as a baby to grow and live like we did. How great a gift to us? Can we appreciate it? Do we toss such a fact blithely aside like an unappreciated gift? 

            Whatever else we may have unwrapped on Christmas, let us not to forget the greatest present we have been given and let us keep that present in our pockets and in our hearts all year long.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,

   and sing praises to your name’; 

and again he says,

‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’; 

and again,

‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

   and let all the peoples praise him’; 

and again Isaiah says,

‘The root of Jesse shall come,

   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;

in him the Gentiles shall hope.’ 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Horny sexy Jesus?

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

        It's not that I am particularly horny and I certainly hope you'll not focus on that word, because you should not. It seems pretty normal and human for anyone, just not perhaps in a scriptural reflection. But maybe it is.  One of the many points of this passage dwells on the humanity of Christ. It seems  juxtaposed to Jesus' divinity. In fact Jesus was fully God and fully human. Human, yes fully human. Horny? I am sure at times. Blasphemous? No. Jesus was fully human. Think about that.

         Somewhere in this passage it speaks of Jesus in the flesh. Flesh might not be a comfortable expression for some either.  I am conjuring pictures of "flesh" and some prissy southern gal 'getting the vapors'.  Some of us may not be comfortable of the thought of our own flesh but nothing seems more natural. Jesus was natural. The body He himself had a hand in designing is what He embraced when He became human. No bad. All good.

          How often do we look at, embrace as holy and good our very own flesh and all that it means. We are sexual, physical beings and yes, God created us that way and God knows how that feels because Jesus embraced humanity to the full. Wow. Shocking perhaps but certainly more enlightening and more exciting I think.

          There are many books out there that embrace the sexuality of Jesus. It is a movement as certain as embracing the Bible for liberation theology, reclaiming the Bible to condemn slavery and a male dominated world. The movement to reclaim (Biblically) the sexuality and humanity of Jesus. How powerful and uplifting with possibility for us. Perhaps something to think about and say thank you for.

        Thank you God. Thank you Jesus.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being

in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.

He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.

He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,

who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

(John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'")

From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

Transgressors of the law

Luke 13:10-22

     Confession time. I went into the big city yesterday for the first time in  quite a while. I usually don't need much prompting. I love the city as much as I love the quaint life here on our little island - each has its own merits. The only problem that has arisen is how I react to some of the other drivers both in the city and on the extraordinarily long ride home.  It's almost as if I am transformed when I drive through the tunnel into the city. And then there is dealing with the crazies racing along the interstate at the speed of light who weave in and out of traffic as if they were weaving an intricate tapestry. My reaction to these crazies and the dynamic it sets up in our car can get tense. After our last trip I had some good introspection about how I can't change others, only how I react to them.  I am happy to report that the drive yesterday was uneventful and I stayed quite out of harms way. It was peaceful and pleasant. 

        One sure thing I noticed amidst the intense crowds of the city was that the people often seem like barriers to cars in the more congested areas. So when I had waited longer than perhaps most people might feel acceptable and faced with a "no turn" sign when I simply needed to turn and get to my desired location ( in easy sight line ), I made the turn without a flinch. I broke the law!

        I know, I could go on forever but to what point? PLEASE, get to the point! I was thinking this morning about Jesus breaking the 'law' about curing on the sabbath. I was thinking about Jesus not abolishing the law but fulfilling the law. So, what laws are we to adhere to? Are we free to disobey laws? Are the crazies on the road the ones who are correct, perhaps faithful people who feel exempt from the law? Have I been the vile one, the transgressor for reacting and thinking they are lawless savages? Have I been the transgressor all along?

         It is quite impossible to know the hearts and minds of people passing you at the speed of light on an expressway. It is equally impossible to tell the hearts and mind of someone shuffling along the sidewalk in the city next to you or even a person passing you in the hall at work. 

      So after last night's delightful ( if not long ) ride home I have come full circle and today's passage seems to re-enforce that with me. We cannot change how other people act, we can only change how we react to them. This is true for driving of course but also for how many other of life's situations? Can we know what is in someone elses' hearts or minds when they transgress the law or act in any way n which we disagree? Is it my job or yours to intercede and condemn anyone? As I realized before and realized yet again, I cannot change them, I can only change how I react. The only rule or 'law' that is always and most assuredly there for us to obey is..... LOVE. 

        

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. 

He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’

And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

Vision check

Luke 9:46-50

          I work in a facility that might seem to thrive on the alphabet soup that appears after a persons name or title. The more letters, the more respect I suppose is due you.  You are judged perhaps more intelligent or have more responsibilities.  I know when I needed major surgery recently, one of the things I looked for was someone who was experienced and well educated. The translation might be this: a person with the most alphabet soup after their name. Still, an equally valuable skill is one who has a good bedside manner, is down to earth and can speak volumes in terms I can understand. 

There was someone I used to know quite well who practiced in the cancer field. She was brilliant at what she did and yet, had asked me at one time what day Thanksgiving was on.  Just to be clear, it was not the date, it was which day of the week it fell on. Brilliant at one thing and clueless on a practical matter that almost everyone else seems to grasp.

            The ways in which we judge each other runs  the gamut from the alphabet soup, the clothing one wears, the schools attended, the cars we drive or perhaps simply who we associate with or the neighborhood we live in or come from. How about what one does for a living or what religion one practices? Or that they don't believe at all.

          I would suggest that whatever we use as a basis for judgement, right or wrongly in your mind, take the absolute least person you could imagine and know that God views them as first. Quite an epiphany , eh?

          What we use as judgements is clearly not what God uses as a judgement.  In no matter what realm of life, Gods' view is not even close to what our view is. 

          The answer is not to convince God to see as we do. I am sure our 'vision' is not even close to the all encompassing and understanding view that God has. Among other things, our job in life is to try and align our vision with that of Gd, not the other way around. No matter how we justify our petty and misguided beliefs, ours is the poorer view.

          I am eagerly yet cautiously optimistic when I see Pope Francis trying to herd his faithful, both elite and 'ordinary' , into what is truly important and what beliefs and systems are essentially sinful. Our vision is not be aligned with a dogma per se or rubrics that are man made. Our vision and our completeness is to be found in trying to emulate the Christ and God, our loving and all embracing creator. 

      

An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’

John answered, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you.’ 

It's New Year, are we there yet ?

John 16:23-30

          So here's a bit of a comical story. A wronged woman is sitting on a beach. She' is trying to forget and move forward from having been cheated on by a lousy spouse who left her for a much younger woman. Sitting on the beach she comes across a bottle, rubs it and of course a Genie pops out. Of course in her anger, the woman's first wish is to 'dispense' with the soon to be ex husband. The genie informs her that he is not permitted to do that. Secondly, as a product of his own time any wish he would grant to her, her 'master' (the soon to be ex-husband) would get twice as much. The woman asks for a million dollars, the louse gets 2 million. The woman asks for a 2 carat diamond ring, he gets a 4 carat diamond ring. The genie says "you have one wish remaining". The woman carefully ponders her options and says to him "I'd like you to scare me half to death. Oh the things we ask for!

           We are told we can ask for anything and it will be granted. When I think of all the things we ask for, simply as questions or for actual things or miracles, we do ask for a great deal. We ask and ask and ask. We want it all. We start as children being naturally inquisitive with why, why, why and are we there yet? Are we there yet?  As adults we sometimes simply want to understand. Why is there such evil in the world? Why does God allow it?  We want to get into other peoples heads and hearts and know the why of everything. We ask for miracles that are sometimes as unreasonable as a child asking for real hippopotamus for Christmas or a real Abrams M-1 tank. We ask and ask and ask.

              In my own life I have done an enormous amount of asking. I suppose you could start when I was younger, much younger. I was as happy as a lark inside. My neighbors could see me skipping down the street, singing and whistling and they knew I was a happy child. Heck, I knew God loved me and even though my parents were divorced, I knew I was loved and special. What I found difficult to navigate was why I felt so different than other kids, Why did I fit in in marginal ways and still feel so outside?  Most of that was me being gay even if I had no idea what that was or even what it meant at the time.  I asked God over and over and over for help over the years. It wasn't till countless years later that I received my answer, my help, my guidance and my courage. Ok, perhaps I had the courage but I surely did not have a grasp of who I was. Once I did it was glorious but I waited decades. Shifting decades, recently I asked for help as I had health issues. This last year is not something I will soon forget. It's not just omnipresent because I have been meditating on this past year either. Burst appendix, an aortic aneurysm make for challenging and thought provoking internal discussions. Certainly there were many questions and a rich discussion between me and God during the ordeal.  This last week our beloved cat was very sick. The cause was unknown and the symptoms baffling. Off to the vet he went and we had a whole host of questions for the vet. Of course I had questions and requests for God as well. I want to understand.  I was granted what I asked for in that 'the cat' is fine now, recovered. Do I understand it all ? No.

          The news carried a story the other day of a virtual baby that reached into its' Moms pocket book while in a shopping cart , pulled out her gun and wound up killing her while they shopped in WalMart. I have so many questions and I want to understand. Can anyone tell me? God, can you help me understand?

           There was a story recently of a girl who was trapped inside the body of young man. She tried to deal with it and society and her family was far less than helpful, far less than compassionate and in fact the torture meted out by people led here to commit suicide. I so want to understand. Why? WHY?  Some might not understand the girl in the body of a boy thing and ask why. I don't fully understand it myself but I do not dismiss it and I don't understand why people of faith especially cannot find the love and compassion to simply love and try to be compassionate. Again, why?

            It seems to me that our lives are filled with questions of why to God. Not only do we have this desire, if not demand, to understand, there is a whole host of issues and 'things' that we want and are not shy to ask for. In one respect, perhaps that's a good thing, we know we are loved and worthy so we feel free to ask.  What we cannot seem to grasp sometimes or appreciate is that we are not entitled to anything really. Further, we are not capable of understanding everything even when we are told.  How many people of faith are there, in any of myriad religions who profess love and yet cannot seem to comprehend what that means in practical terms even when laid out on paper, from the pulpit or in the media?  As for 'things', they are the least important items on any agenda.  Happiness and love are key and integrally bound together along with compassion and forgiveness.

             So where do we go and what do we do with with all our questions? It's a new year and hopefully a new perspective or a new commitment to do good and be more God centered. One key for me will be to simply ask for less and say thank you for more. I will not worry about the destination as much I will try to embrace the journey. Being present and loving is my new years resolution. Asking fewer questions is also on that list of resolutions for sure.

On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

‘I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.’

His disciples said, ‘Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.’

The simplicity of truth

Colossians 2:2-10

         Today the church remembers a person who arguably is the one responsible for a large chunk of my mature faith. At the very least, Thomas Merton seemed able to write and synthesize the thoughts and beliefs in my own heart and soul. Thomas Merton was a mentor and a kindred spirit.

         As I started to write this blog entry (yesterday) I was overcome by the quality of the day. I am once again on the bridge of the SS ManFish here in the North Atlantic. The rain is pulsing against the windows and the seas seem as if they will swallow what little stands between us and the frigid waters below.  It seems a limbo-like state of being. Stand firm at the helm, do not go out , just stay put. It's not like I have much a choice as I still am recuperating from major surgery 3 weeks ago. I have already been in a kind of limbo. 

         This limbo though acts as lens for me to view my life. What makes me a faithful person? What gives life meaning and purpose? Right now it certainly is not any kind of significant communication or actions on my part, I am very limited indeed.  Walking if not pacing, is my primary means of exercise and movement.  So, infirmed and in limbo, what do I have to say about my faith and God's love?  This is where today's passage and Thomas Merton call to me louder than the howls of wind and driving rain pelting the windows.

         Merton spoke to me in more than any treatise or a pattern of logic and arguments set forth by a doctor of the church or any ancient philosopher.  Arguments can be made, remade, falsified and bastardized for almost any belief. One need only look outside at some of the horrific uses of Holy Scripture ( in almost any faith ) to justify condemnation, hate and killing all of which seem to me to be anathema to the fundamentals of God.  This is one of the things that Merton spoke of, not rules and rubrics as I say but of core beliefs and the fundamentals that God reveals in the varied religions and faiths of the world. He had said that if we were to compare religions on a tenet by tenet basis we would never find solidarity or common ground. But the fundamentals that God reveals to us can be seen in every religion and those fundamentals are our common ground, the facets of God's love that we can all see and agree on. This vision allowed Merton to be accepted by the Buddhist, the Trappist, the Jew and the Muslim all at the same time. How simply beautiful, ahhh, the simplicity of truth.  There are no false arguments, no twisting of logic, no minutia that needs to be fulfilled in order for salvation or love to be offered or accepted.

           So today, sitting here atop the stormy seas of limbo, I know that it is not all those rules and rubrics that saves me or guarantees the love of my God, my creator. Nor do the small acts of faith or personal acts of piety make me holy. These things can help one's faith and bring us closer to God but these are certainly not guarantees. In the simplest form we are loved into existence by God and we are loved as we exist. Our goal is to accept that love and mirror that love back to God by loving others as God created them. That is, as uniquely as God created us. 

        I suppose I look at life like a labyrinth. It is a journey towards God. When people make like overly complicated they replace the labyrinth  (or mistake the labyrinth) for a maze. A maze is the surest way of getting lost, filled with twists and dead ends. So I would say settle in on the journey and do not let rules, rubrics and false logic make your life into a maze. Enjoy the simplicity of faith and life and allow life to be the joyful journey to God that it is meant to be. Uncomplicated, simple truth.

          Thank you Thomas. 

I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

Good, Godly and genuine truths

Mark 16:15-20

          I can understand the arrogance of some believers as they feel they have thee answer to humanity set forth by God. The faithful are commissioned to go forth and tell all of creation. How valuable must this word be if they are to proclaim it to all? And then the problems began.

           How often do we hear words, any words, not just the word of God, and come away with assurety that what they have seen and heard is thee way?  Like a bull in the china shop then, they surge forward taking no prisoners. We know the right path, we know the truth. It becomes our way or the highway. Isn't that so often the truth? Whether it is in church, in our homes with our families and our relationships, in our entire lives?

           One of the things that I tend to rail about here is about the sins of humanity that have been perpetuated in the name of God, in the name of "the state" or in the name of our religion.  Today is the feast of St. Francis Xavier. He wrote a letter to the King of Portugal because the Portuguese soldiers were brutal in their treatment of the natives. Francis was compelled to inform the King that we could easily be held accountable for this, no doubt based on this very scripture passage and that God is the creator ( and lover ) of all.  God loves "them" at least as much as God loves us. I have found from history that churches and religions have not acted according to the very beliefs they profess. The Roman Church is notorious in their actions towards native Americans and Africans who were viewed as less than human and even without souls. 

          Part of any journey to proclaim the Good News to humanity, whether it is an individual journey or some kind of crusade, ( though I dislike that word), is to open one's eyes and to hear what the rest of God's creation says.  We can proclaim the Good News of life and in our lives but what is the Good News God proclaims through others? We, as a person or as a faith, may have truths to convey, good, Godly and genuine truths, but what truths does the rest of God's creation have to convey to us?

         A case in point is Genesis. It conveys the truth that God is our creator.  This book is not scientific and does not profess to be. It explained fundamental truths to a people in a way they could comprehend. They certainly would not have understood atomic particles or the big bang. Moving forward though, it took thousands of years for humanity to grasp some other fundamental truths. For example, the Earth was not the center of the universe. It is almost funny how the world revolved and accepted same sex relationships for so long and without specific names only to be bastardized by fundamentalists in a revisionist histroy way, again using Genesis as their guide.  What needs to happen is for 'the truth' to be tempered by cultures, existing history (accurately portrayed) and acknowledging God's revealed world which also speaks to us loudly. There are in fact scores of examples in God's creation of same sex attraction and relationships in the animal kingdom.  In our arrogance can we deny the messages God gives us from his very creation? Whether it is the movement of the planets and atomic particles or the reality of how we have been created, animals one and all, there are truths there as well that guides and compliments truths of Scripture. 

         All this this speaks sternly against our own arrogance and argues for listening, looking and learning with earnestness and zeal about all of God's creation. We are not smart enough, wise enough or holy enough to make proclamations for God. We simply cannot comrehend it all.  It seems the only message we can truly run rampant proclaiming is God's unending and unfathomable love for each one of us. 

And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 

The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.