A re-examining

Matthew 13:47-52

          When anyone reads this passage I can only presume that they think that they are not one of the fish judged as 'bad'. This kind of passage is used to identify and justify whole groups as the ones that are going to be saved. Maybe even, already saved (noses raised). At the same time, it intentionally or not, is used to denigrate whole other groups as 'not saved', not preferred or not being in agreement with what 'we beleive'.

          There is a passage of scripture though in Matthew (15:27) and also in Mark (7:28) in which a woman reminds Jesus that even the dogs eat the scraps set out for the children (of God, presumably). At this statement , Jesus notes the woman's faith and heals her daughter of whatever demon has possessed her. Salvation for one of the 'bad' fish?

           We read scripture and live our lives often seeing the world as we want to see it. We take solace in others opinions especially if it means we are saved or if we don'tt have to think for ourselves. We scarcely note, if at all, that in the process we may be demeaning others or treating them as unworthy. In fact, some people read scripture and will forcefully admit and profess that "they" are not saved, whoever "they" happen to be. The forcefulness of scripture and the way we read it or the way it was interpreted becomes our battle cry and our weapon for self justification and for bashing others. Yet this is the furthest from what Christ intended.

          From careful reading, re-imagining and careful re-examination of translations we feel comfortable with, we may find God's love is much expansive and inclusive that we might have imagined. This kind of effort can be quite challenging in the exam itself and perhaps more so in the execution ( what we are ultimately called to do and how t act). Are you willing to embrace the person you thought was anathema?

          

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’

Wiaitng in line

Mark 5:21-43

          When Jesus is told that Jairus's daughter has died, I fully expected Jairus to complain. Jesus should not have aided the hemorrhaging woman. I could imagine Jairus complaining that Jesus should have tended to his ill daughter first.

          This is the kind of world we live in now. There is little room for patience. There is an expectation of immediate gratification. Heaven forbid we would relinquish our place 'in line' to let someone else go first, especially if our daughters' life was hanging in the balance.

          I was speaking about Las Vegas with a coworker and she relayed the scenario where she got up from a gambling machine only to have someone else sit down where she'd been and almost immediately hit the jackpot. "That's my money" she retorted.  We have that sense that everything should be in order or in our time, no one else's. 

          Save for those who may see the cosmic wisdom of how things unfold, we often have a keen sense of entitlement, of getting our due in the correct order and not letting anyone "cut" in front of us.

There is little wisdom, no sense that God is in control and just perhaps, maybe even know better. We are never eager and most of the time not even willing to let our faith lay in the hands of anyone else, some cosmic force and certainly not God. 

          In today's passage things may not have played out as people expected but it all turned out ok and the loving hand of God prevailed. There are so many lessons in this passage but that is the one that strikes me today. I hope I will remember that when I get cut off on the highway or someone cuts into the line in front of me. Forget about the cosmic for the moment, let's think practical.

         Do we let God's plan unfold in our everyday ordinary existence? Do we demand our place in line whether it is at work, food shopping or even in church? How do we acknowledge God's plan in our lives in the ordinary things of life?

         

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

No scruples for the scrupulous

John 5:2-18

         There is a story in the news, still playing out, about a man in Colorado who was commissioning a cake from a bakery. All was going well until the customer asked to have several foul anti-gay remarks written atop the cake. The baker refused. The customer sued. This is no doubt payback for several "good Christians" who have decided it is against their faith to make wedding cakes for gay couples. And so it goes. 

          First, and in case no one noticed, this is not a theocracy. We may be approaching an Oligarchic Theocracy but we are a democracy and one that holds separation of church and state as foundational. So, if it is against your religious beliefs to makes cakes for certain groups or any group of people because it is against your religion, don't enter the public domain and offer cakes for sale to the public at large. You simply cannot mix your public service with your personal religious beliefs. The converse however is that a person who denies making a cake because it has derogatory and demeaning statements on it is not based on religion. It is based on yet other standards of law. It is not infringing on someones freedom of expression. If they wish to express such statements, let them make the cake themselves or buy a cake and write such epithets on it themselves.  We really should be requiring a more substantial eduction to people these days. Logic and good thought processes seem to have eluded so many, especially in the far flung right. And so it goes.

          The people that were most upset about Jesus in today's passage were clearly not the one who was cured. Clearly the cured man, the one loved and forgiven for whatever sins he may have committed, the man who walked away carrying his mat, was not upset. He was thrilled beyond measure.  So where's the beef, so to speak?  Jesus cured on a sabbath?  A man carried his mat on the sabbath? Really?? 

           Those that wish to put limitations on God's love ( as if they know or have such right ) almost universally do so by creation of some law that must be adhered to scrupulously without the slightest infraction. In other words, these scrupulous men actually have no scruples at all.

           One of my Deacon buddies who was concerned that the church was too loose and did not enforce all the rubrics said that he felt the rules should be enforced even if it meant there would be a smaller church. It would be a smaller church but a purer church he said. Oyveh!  The"church" is only as small as the population of the planet, no smaller. What this chap means is doctrinal purity and really has almost no connection to the life and love of God's holy people, His church. The arrogance of rule makers and disciplinarians is flaunted by Jesus who summarily dismisses laws and says that HE is the fulfillment of the law. The law is gone. Blasphemers unite, we are free at last for Jesus made it so by his death and resurrection.  It is not the law that rules, it is God's love. Jesus gave us two great (and I mean truly great) commandments that are generic enough so as to stupefy the rules guys and generic enough to challenge the human mind and make conscience our supreme guide. 

             It is s sad testament to the state of affairs in the United States that religion has been hijacked by arbitrary and capricious rules makers, the antithesis of scriptural exegesis and mercy as shown to us today in scripture.  The pseudo zealots of today are as self righteous as any pharisee and feel free to assert their lame and misguided agenda on any who are weak enough to listen. 

             Let us pray for guidance and hope and most of all, the strength to love with all the power and to the extent that God intended it to have. Boundless, all embracing love.

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.

Re-membering

Galatians 3:23-28

          I have been thinking of my cat. He was rescued (or we were rescued) when he was just a small kitten. He is a joy, he is smart, he is loving and I adore him. I clearly see the love of God's creation in him. I am fascinated sometimes by how he reacts to the birds feeding outside our windows. We feed the birds simply because we love his reaction to the birds. He also knew instinctively how to handle the lone mouse that managed to penetrate our vermin free kingdom. These behaviours of his come without any teaching, they are a natural instinct apparently. There is a common book of knowledge that cats apparently possess.

             I am wondering if there is no such book for humanity. I would say killing is instinctively wrong and engrained in us but so many people of the earth seem to thrive on hate and killing. There is a history and knowledge that we seem too quick to dismiss. There is so much history that we just seem to forget or dismiss.

             The former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was a total Holocaust denier. How is that even possible?  That is a glaring example of our short mindedness.  We seem to be able to think only in the present. If we look at marriage equality, we look only at how things were viewed for the last century or so and then paint the whole issue with that brush. History tells us so much about marriage equality that so many are willing to deny or dismiss. From the work of John Boswell to 'hidden' gay relationships in Hebrew scripture, the message is there. Even simply the knowledge of gay relationships is clearly evident within nature but that knowledge goes out the window and is denied by so many wingnuts. It is all too scary. We seem capable of dismissing anything. I have even heard there are people that think the earth is the center of the universe. Yikes? Massive fail!

              I have frequently noted that the same thing happens when Holy Scripture is looked at only from our present frame of reference. Their words cannot easily be defined by our words, our culture or our philosophies. So much was different, so much needs to be understood. Scripture speaks clearly of women in church leadership, perhaps even Apostolic. These roles existed in Christian scripture yet this is seemingly denied today in the Roman church. The zeal with which an agenda for male domination in God's church is not consistent with God's love or message or history. Joyfully today we remember the Anglican church's first woman Priest, Florence Li Tim-Oi (ordained 1944). But imagine the gap in our collective memory and the denial of God's plan that woman are full participants in His plan between the early church and 1944. Astounding time gap isn't it? Imagine that there are still (men) who would argue against the ordination of women in the Anglican communion. I hate to say it, let us 'forget' the Roman church altogether. This is all about history and remembering and denying the full message of God's love and creation.

              I once heard a funeral sermon where the Priest spoke about remembering the deceased. He emphasized Re-member-ing. That is bringing us all back together. That is what thinking about the person does.  We cannot move forward unless we try to understand and appreciate our past and our history.  In a related note, it seems so counterproductive to cut short eduction and philosophy courses as a mandate to a full and complete education. Education is a lifelong process for sure and for sure, it does not end with the fundamentals of the three R's. If we are to move forward as humanity we need more than that, we need a full education that embraces our history and focuses on thought, history, philosophy. If we do not, we foster denials of who we are and where we come from, we foster ignorance and downright stupidity.

           If there is to be no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, we must embrace who we (all) are, where we (all) have come from and where our brothers and sisters have come from. Respect, knowledge and equality for all.

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Sins and sackcloth

Jonah 3:1-10

         I often say it's all about the journey but I was thinking about a twist on that. Sometimes we are on a journey or a path that could well lead to very bad things.   I can think of a drug addict for example, you can see where that path will lead. Closer to home I could think about my own Dad who drank too much hard liquor and smoked filterless cigarettes for over 5 decades. The result? A massive heart attack and 67 years old. If you think about it, it may have been surprising that it didn't happen sooner.  Someone else I cared a great deal for followed a similar path, bad food habits, cigars, cigarettes, alcohol and an apparent aversion for any exercise and he died of at 53. No surprise really. I suppose you could easily see that unprotected sex could lead to any number of STD's or AIDS. Things don't have to be that dramatic but you can still expect certain outcomes from certain paths.

        So we have expressions like 'turning your life around'. Personally I do not believe that God sends anyone to Hell (if there even is one). I believe we turn our back on God, go down our own path and God respects that choice. In essence, we would send ourselves to hell (and I believe God weeps as we do so). So there is a spiritual journey which may need 'turning around' as well.

        Today's passage is all about turning around and repenting. Maybe a bit early for Lent but it gives us pause to think how important repentance is. I still have trouble with the notion of God destroying  Ninevah but as I mention in the 'sending ourselves to hell' idea, there are actions and paths for which the consequences are quite foreseeable. God may not have had to destroy Ninevah, they may have been doing a fine job themselves. Ninevans may have been destroying themselves by their actions and the results may have been quite foreseeable and God would still weep at their deaths even if from their own choices.

       Again, I don't think things have to be so dramatic. Their are many ways in which we depart from the journey of love we are called to live. Our actions betray our destiny in ways big and small all day, almost every day. This is the purpose of daily introspection, self awareness, self assessment and hopefully repentance.

       Today's passage speaks of ancient civilizations putting on sackcloth and ashes much like Christians do on Ash Wednesday. The idea of repentance being a not wholly original idea at all. As long as humanity exists and has free will, there will be need for repentance. We are not perfect but we are called to a perfect life of love none the less. (or all the more).

        Repentance comes in all shapes and sizes, great and small, involving major life changes and small daily routines. It is up to us to search our soul, our heart and our mind to determine what we are called to do. Sometimes God may tap you on the shoulder and give you an idea. Jonah was asked twice before he answered the call. But be forewarned, I have noted that when we ignore God's call, he may easily come back again tapping you on the shoulder with the equivalent of a two by four.

        Repent thy evil, and not so evil ways.

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

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

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

Even the hairs on your head

Luke 12:4-12

           There have been several times in my life when I have faced traumatic or life threatening events. Not counting accidents when my life flashed before me, there are two events that stand out. One is when I came out at the ripe age of 50. I had a well established life and family, a wife, children, I was an ordained minister of the Roman church. Part of the trauma was even the mere thought that I was gay. That thought and the increasing possibility and awareness seeping from my subconscious was wreaking havoc on me. No matter what choice I made I knew I would be in trouble so to speak. It seemed like a lose lose situation. In the end, with good therapy and the knowledge that God loved me, I was able to move forward with positive and life giving decisions. One thing I realized at that time was what is truly important. I often joke that I left my wife with nothing more than a Scrabble board and an Armoire of clothes.  I realized then that not even those are things are what is truly important. 

           Another more recent event was the discovery of a particularly nastily placed aneurysm on my aorta. Ripening with each passing day and at the point where it required attention, I became keenly aware that I could meet my maker at any moment. Even with the surgery, scheduled for 8 hours with the most skilled of surgeons in a major university setting, I could be meeting my maker. It makes one, again, realize what is truly important. You are not so gently reminded how fragile life is and what is really counts in life.

           In today's passage I am reminded of all of this. It is amazing what we fear, the silliest of things really. Most things, while perhaps truly practical in this world are of minimal importance in the grand schema of things. 

           What really counts is love in it's broadest terms. Did I love? Do I love? Am I loved? The resounding answer to that last question is yes, even the hairs on your head.  God so loves each one of us, each of us so purpose built so to speak.  A person who nurtures and cuts a Bonsai does so with extreme patience, each cut meticulous, specially designed, planned and executed.  Each one of us was conceived by God, specially designed, planned and executed. Our existence and who we are is no accident, it is crucial to God's plan. 

             

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

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

Gay love

Song of Solomon 2:10-13

            Does anyone recognize what this passage is speaking to? I mislead you you a bit. It's not about gay love, it's about love. How many people will read this passage and say, 'this is how I feel' about my beloved. Gender will have no place in it. In fact, you may be in love with God. Your relationship with God may be so profound that you could have penned this song to God.

            So how does it feel to be in love?  Whatever troubles have occurred, whatever came before, it is lost in the present, in the presence of love. Leave the past behind, what matters is the now and our future. 

            You may have lived day to day, merely surviving and all of a sudden your eyes are open to the joys of the world. You see flowers. You hear birds singing. Life seems to be bursting forth all around you with optimism and possibility. Life seems sweet. Is that a description of love? I think so.

I certainly feel that way about my life, my husband, my God.

            And if you are living in that 'mere existence' of living, this affords you a glimpse of what can be like. It holds hope that "it gets better'.  This 'song' sings to the truth of life. It does not specify love of a man and a woman. It speaks to relationship and it is not gender limited and it is not restricted to humanity but also to our relationship with God. The truth of humanity is relationship and love, t is what we are called to and it is when we are at our best. 

            Blessed are those that smell the flowers, hear the birds and love to the full.

            

My beloved speaks and says to me:

‘Arise, my love, my fair one,

   and come away; 

for now the winter is past,

   the rain is over and gone. 

The flowers appear on the earth;

   the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtle-dove

   is heard in our land. 

The fig tree puts forth its figs,

   and the vines are in blossom;

   they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one,

   and come away.