An unearthly shade of green

      In the musical Wicked, one of the songs notes 'The baby's coming'. It is the impending birth of Elpheba, who as it turns out is an unearthly shade of green. Uck! But like Jesus two thousand years ago, the message is being retold and re-imagined in this play. Forget about what you expect, what you have been taught and the correct place to play, pray or find redemption and goodness. Elpheba is no wicked witch at all.

         I really love this passage of Scripture. It is chock full of so many revelations about what Jesus' message is really about. The message of a real radical. Speaking with a Samaritan (say it isn't so!) Speaking with a woman! (a woman?? a harlot??) Not just speaking, but speaking as an equal, a conversation, a discussion (what could she possibly have to say?). And then Jesus drops the real bomb. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. As if to say, all the "holy places" and all the rules and rubrics and traditions are all bull shite! God wishes his children to worship in spirit and truth. Wow indeed. 

          I am not trying to diminish holy places. I will say that there are many thin places that are not holy places or places so designated. In fact, the religious elite by some of their actions make some so called holy places an ugly contortion of what God really intends.  Those rules and rubrics do little to foster faith but rather are designed to control.  Jesus knew as much two thousand years ago. 

         We are reminded of it again now. Elpheba, that wicked witch is not the evil we all believed she was. What surprises await us if we open our eyes to faith and love? Who will we find ourselves talking to? What unholy places will we find ourselves in that sheds the light of wisdom and God's love for all? 

John 4:1-26

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

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

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

Increasing and decreasing

       I swear that there is a switch that is tripped when people become parents. They become more focused, more loving, unselfish and all giving. Let's face it, parents would do anything for our kids. It may be biological but it calls to mind the expression used by John, He must increase, but I must decrease. 

        As we get older and hopefully also as we get more faithful, we realize what is more important in life. This is the stuff of midlife crisis, realizing what we 'have' is not as fulfilling. We come to see that 'stuff' is not making us happy.  People come and go that we see are really the most important things in life. Love trumps 'stuff'.  So short of being parents, many of us come to the conversion moment as we get older that people are more important, moments are more important and God is ultimately the most important.

This is a natural and gradual progression akin to 'he must increase, and I must decrease.

         There are those that have the realization that material goods don't make me happy but a new set of toys will....or a new wife, or any range of "new" things. This is an aberration that sadly those individuals may never realize until it is too late. Too much love wasted, misspent or hoarded.

         The notion that He must increase is a guiding principle to life. Generally we all get it when we see our friends die off or we see people 'taken' too early in life.  Appreciation of what we have is a natural response. We realize our own mortality and faced with that, we see He ( God ) must increase and we decrease.

          In the sphere of faith alone, if we are proceeding correctly ( in my mind ), we grow into the knowledge that He must increase and we must decrease. Our faith tells us we are conduits of God's abiding and generous love and not the gods we may perceive ourselves to be or even the gods of the things we own.

         How do you see your life going? Who is number one? Who is increasing and who is decreasing?

John 3:22-36

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

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

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

Mutual exclusivity

       I never had any doubt that being gay and being a Christian were not mutually exclusive. This is in spite of the fact that I have heard all sorts of condemnations about what gay people "do" , how immoral they are, all about their "lifestyle" and perhaps worst of all, that my own church would label me as "intrinsically disordered". Really, it's right there in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  That's not the point though. After much soul searching and therapy and prayer, I found the courage to accept who I am, whom God made me, a gay man. So when I heard of a gay Bishop in the Episcopal church my ears went up like in Scooby-Doo!  I read all about him (Bishop Gene Robinson that is, not Scooby Doo ), saw a movie he was mentioned in and read a book he wrote called In The Eye Of The Storm. To me, this man showed just how well a life of faith and being gay can be integrated. He was one of my early heroes and a muse. So it is no surprise that when I heard he was going to appear at The Center in the Village, I had to see him.

        That was long winded, eh? The fact is, when someone touches you in your heart or soul, you would do anything to go and see that person. In the secular world it might be a musician or a band whose songs really appeal to you. It could be a poet or a painter or, a person of faith. So it is no surprise that when the Apostles really started to get going, slow starters that they were, people came out into the streets in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them. The message of Jesus, his love, touches our very soul because he was human like us. God, yes. Human too. It is not so very hard to understand that people clamored to him and his message that being Godly and human are not mutually exclusive.

        This notion of duality is not something we always recognize. In fact, it is something we often hold in contempt.  As long as history has been written down, humans have tried to decide that you cannot be a Samaritan and good; you cannot be a native American and have a soul, you cannot be Black and be smart , you cannot be of Islam and be for peace or any other number things people often believe are mutually exclusive. I think Jesus may have been one of the first to point out that most of life's exclusions are not mutually exclusive at all.  Maybe it was something Jesus discovered as he lived his human existence. Maybe he was letting us know gently and by example. But Jesus was a rebel of the highest order and he lived a life of all embracing non-exclusivity.

            The plan then is to look at the news today, listen to neighbors, relatives and friends, read some radical Christian Scripture, and see in what areas or ideas I might find some things that I find are mutually exclusive. Can you accept that you are Godly and fully human yourself for example?  What would Jesus say?  Hint: The answer always involves love and understanding.

Today's spiritual exercise for Jesus' posse.

        

Acts 5:12-26

 Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.

 Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, ‘Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.’When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.

When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison; so they returned and reported, ‘We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.’ Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on. Then someone arrived and announced, ‘Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!’ Then the captain went with the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

Anything you can do, I can do better

       Woe is me, woe is me. That is every one's lament. I am reminded of that song from Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat, Anything you can do, I can do better.  My tasks are worse than your tasks. The road I travel is much tougher than the road you travel. We are a nation of one-upmanship in every respect. If keeping up with the Jones' was all there was to it. No, we compete in houses, schools, cars, boats, towns and villages, clothes, phones, and heaven knows it doesn't even stop there. Even if we try to focus on legitimate problems, "Black lives matter", someone steps forward to say yeah, but police matter and this matters more, or that matters more.  Sometimes I think we are on a sinking ship and we are all arguing who has the best seat to see and experience the big plunge.

          My wise and sainted father-in-law, who recently lost his beloved wife of 65 years, noted that if we all sat around a table and placed our problems face up for everyone to see, we would very likely say, "I'll keep my own" , thank you very much. Instead of us realizing we are all in the same boat with problems and empathizing or taking comfort in some kind of shared agony, we beat each other up and demean others so we look like we are somehow better ( or worse if you will ).

           There is an old idiom Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. If we could only practice that just a wee bit more we'd all be in a better place. Instead of demeaning others or instead of embracing the tragedies of our own lives, take heart and know that such troubles are not to be embraced or boasted over. Better you should hand them over to God and move forward in love, empathy and compassion.

2 Corinthians 11:21-31

To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea;on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he for ever!) knows that I do not lie.

Democratic socialism and the willful ignorance of the religious right

     You can almost always count on me to go on a bender over 'Christians' who cherry pick passages and suborn the faithful into making them believers of their own political or religious agendas. And then, the arrogance with which these individuals purport that they are the true faith. It angers me to no end the evil that is perpetuated in the name of Jesus.

         I'll try to reign myself in here while I contemplate today's passage. What do these modern Pharisees think when they read this? Or, do they only read the passages that serve their own agendas? Whatever, this passage seems to reek of socialism or some 'commie' commune of the 60's.  Not only does it point to some kind of socialist organization, it calls out someone who tries to keep something for themselves. The accused both die, presumably of guilt and shame.  How is it that some people seem to bifurcate their faith and the rest of their lives, making nether particularly decent in the process?  

         A prime example is the religious right who claim that their actions towards immigrants is lawful and faith based. That argument is quickly shot down. It might be lawful but even for the nation that they purport as a "Christian nation", it is horribly immoral. The scripture passages they use to support their actions are laughable and quickly exposed.  

     Once again the judgment of a person's faith is their actions.  If we are claiming to be true followers of Christ and are trying to emulate his actions, how do we act the way we do? It is willful ignorance of the highest order. 

      We are called to make a society that is equal, loving and filled with justice for all. As Christians ( and many others faiths ), that means the realization that everyone is our brother and sister.  We are called to foster a society that is closer to socialism than many want to hear. Our task is not to look back to Socialist states that were evil and contriving, lead by madmen. Our goal is a just democratic socialist state. And that is based in Scripture. Stop the cherry picking already.

Acts 4:32-5:11

 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property; with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.‘Ananias,’ Peter asked, ‘why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!’ Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it. The young men came and wrapped up his body, then carried him out and buried him.

 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter said to her, ‘Tell me whether you and your husband sold the land for such and such a price.’ And she said, ‘Yes, that was the price.’ Then Peter said to her, ‘How is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.’Immediately she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.

Assertive faith versus assertive heresy.

       As I am sitting here a bit under the weather today so I have some extra time to which I can devote to praise, thought and thankfulness. In the Scripture passage below how can I help but notice the  enthusiasm and assertiveness of Peter when answering the  religious leaders. Gone are the denials of the past. Peter is out and proud as a Christian, full of knowledge, zeal and the Spirit!

        I could not however not let my mind wander to the religious right zealots of today's American pseudo-religious political scene. Their righteousness and arrogance could be labelled as assertive and bold as Peter when he spoke to the temple elite. These modern zealots are so self assured that they are right and yet a quick review of Scripture shows them wrong, incomplete and jaundiced. The arbiter of all good things and faith, love, is far from their ministrations and show their beliefs to be hollow and empty. They are faux Christians. The are a living heresy of the Christian faith.

       It reminds me of the old saying, 'better that people should think you are stupid than to open your mouth and prove them correct'.  Once again as always, actions speak louder than words. If there is a take away message from the assertive authority of Peter it is that we can be wrong but we can change course. Peter  learned and changed. We can make errors of judgment and still remain loved in God's eyes. God still puts everything in our hands. We do not have to remain a living heresy of Christian faith if that is what our lives have come to.

        There is always an opportunity for redemption with God. Peter is just one example.  We pray for all of us in the same way.

         

Acts 4:1-12

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.

 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.This Jesus is
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
   it has become the cornerstone.” 
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’

Dominicans: Order of Preachers

       For my entire life I have had the blessing of instruction by men and women of religious orders. Of those, the most predominant by far were Dominicans. From grade school with Dominican sisters on to the Seminary when I had a Dominican priest as a spiritual director. What did this lifelong indoctrination yield?  Did I stray away from their commitment to "logic and persuasion, not force"? What have I learned? What can anyone glean from a life of direction and a life of example set by such holy women and holy men? How did that affect the fact that I am a gay man?

       A major realization is the importance of knowledge. Ignorance is no one's friend.  It offers nothing, it cannot even offer friendship because the knowledge and wisdom of consent is not there. Yes, knowledge is key, knowledge of self, knowledge of others and knowledge of God's created world. However, if I were to add to that I'd have to confess that knowledge must be tempered with wisdom, another key.  It is spurious logic and rationalizations that have caused evil in the world, that allowed even the Dominicans to partake in the Inquisition. Yes, knowledge is key.

         Perhaps the best and most precious gift anyone can offer is to try and teach and nurture our giftedness from God. "God don't make junk" as they say in a Cursillo. To know that God loves you with the certainty of what your name is, that is a gift to offer, and so they did.

          While no religious had ever blatantly tried to acknowledge or suppress my being gay, it was a hidden social agenda of the church and society. My formative years were in a time that being gay was not generally acknowledged, it was hidden and seen as an evil. It wasn't until later in life that I realized the Church (formal, Roman) actually enlisted their official documents by the way of their Catechism to note that gays were "intrinsically disordered".  Where in all this does the real church fit, especially what might be considered the sensus fidelium? Perhaps I am taking liberties with that term but I would suggest that most intelligent people, dare I say 'majority' of the faithful do not see being gay as an intrinsic disorder.

      So it came to be that a faithful person struggled so ardently with the mere possibility that I was gay.  At 50 years old I struggled out of a cocoon with the strength of faith ( taught and nurtured that I am unique and loved ) and therapy. I was able to utter the phrase " I am gay " and a rainbow butterfly emerged.  I fly high in wisdom, knowledge, faith and love. Let's not ever forget that knowledge and faith without love is a empty vessel.

         Praise God for all those religious and especially today, the Dominicans who helped me know that the uneducated phrases like "intrinsically disordered" pale in comparison the knowledge of faith in our all embracing, loving God, who reveals in every breath and in every molecule of the world the diversity and love that she is.  Ignorance will not prevail, love, knowledge and wisdom will. Thank you God, thank you for your 'preachers', the Dominicans.

        

DOMINIC, PREACHER, FRIAR, MISSIONARY (8 AUGUST 1221)