No redemption required

John 14:1-7

           Perhaps it is a peculiarity of Christian denominations that the phrase No one comes to the Father except through me carries more weight than words found in the very same reading that says In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places.

          Once that first line is accepted, it becomes the lens for all that follows. That is, arrogance, self righteousness and indignance that any one should question an idea or person outside the officially saved realm. Indeed, the vision of the officially accepted becomes the lens for official conversion, repentance and salvation. No other views need apply. It all becomes self perpetuating and self supporting. 

            I ran across the following drawing on FaceBook the other day and posted a comment that someone should forward it to the local Roman Bishop. Said Bishop had accused me not too long ago of "attempting to marry another gentlemen".  From his view and belief my soul was in danger by attempting such a "union".  

                                                                                   

I would note that I not only attempted it but had in fact succeeded. Not only was ours a legal success but it also was consecrated in a ritual ceremony rich in both Jewish and Christian tradition. Yes, I had even married a "nice Jewish boy". 

My only further comment, had I felt a need to reply, was that not only was I not in danger from attempting such a "union" but no repentance or redemption was required (outside of those normally associated with humans ). 

One of joys of getting older is having the wisdom to see the true importance of this passage is the sentence about God having many dwelling places. To my mind, Jesus' life was a constant example of showing us just how wide God's love is, embracing all sorts of people that the power holders of the day seemed to think were not worthy, doomed and needed redemption. Alas the true message of Jesus and of God's abiding love is still lost in rules, theology,righteousness, power, rhetoric, purity and clubs.

          One of the joys of being separated from the (Roman) church is the freedom to challenge and see that they are in fact, not "all that".  Any system that is self perpetuating by it's own 'powerful' design and depends on myopic views and circular logic cannot be a true vision of God's love. I can see that now. Perhaps I always did and hoped there was room for internal dissension and questions. It isn't true. there is no room for anything in Rome but arrogance, self righteousness and hypocrisy of the highest order.

          We can look at Jesus as a rebel, we can emulate his anti-authority stances, his penchant for deriding and chastising the religious leaders and for his warm and wide embrace to all of the marginalized and sinners of his day. However, the best and most extraordinary way to be a Christian is to embrace and love all those margins, include everyone and see that everyone has a valid perspective, something to bring to the table if you will. There are many paths and there may be one gate, but that gate is incredibly wide and there is enough room for everyone. There is a room for everyone.

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

Men of action

Matthew 21:12-17

           Each morning I get a little pearl of wisdom or a thought provoking quotation via e-mail. It is meant to encourage me, to empower me to act, to be the best I can be. It might say 'the only way to surely fail is not to move at all'. Of course, said much more eloquently. Today's was actually this quote of Anthony Robbins.  "In life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action. "  Action is the key to life. Movement, growth and change are all the hallmarks of real life. Those who have stopped thinking and stopped moving have already died even if their bodies still breath and sit around years longer.

          There are examples out there in the real world, men ( and women ) of action that we usually see as heroes and leaders. I think of people like Martin Luther King Jr. I think of people like John Boswell.  Mother Theresa is another person of action!

          Today Jesus enters the Temple and gets angry. They say emotions aren't bad, it's what you do with the emotion that can get you in trouble. Still, Jesus is so angry ( so human ) he overturned tables and drove the merchants out. Bravo! A true man of action, our hero in so many ways. Yes?

          So often we fail to act. We passively stand by. I recall a time in a food store where I watched a woman berate and verbally abuse her mother. I said nothing, I did nothing. I still bear the guilt of non-action. How often do we see something we know is wrong and we just do not do anything. Afraid of getting involved, happy that it does not involve us. But in fact it does involve us. WE are all brothers and sisters. This goes to something I call social sin. I may not have berated that elderly woman but in failing to act as a fellow human being I am guilty of letting it happen. I was not the man of action I want to be and that I now strive to be.

           Of course we can't stand up for every cause and every single thing we see going on around us or in the world that has gone awry. But I caution all of us and am reminded of that quotation of the Protestant pastor Martin Niemoller (1892–1984) that rings as true today as did back in the 1940's .

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

        What we need to remember is that no matter how we differ, we are all children of God.

        I cannot help but think that when we are passive and inactive we could all be accused of complicity. That is my ( our ) social sin. Jesus was far from the redeemer and messiah that most Jews expected. Jesus was a rebel and far from ordinary. He bucked all of the accepted social norms, so much so his life story reads like an ancient heretic and yet he was all about love. Jesus was a man of action!

        On this Palm Sunday the Jews laid palm branches to welcome the Messiah to Jerusalem but yet were eerily quiet as he was tortured and hung on a cross. Not just our brother, but our Messiah. Where is our passion, our action our determination and decision to love and seek justice?

        This week, people of decency have been standing up against a heinous law in Indiana that is the furthest thing from Christian. Many will say how horrible it is. Even though someone may not be an overt LGBTQ "ally", they say how sad it is. How could it happen (again)? Haven't we learned this lesson already?  People who think, see the implications of this law and shake their heads.

         What kind of action should you take? Will you be passive and complicit? What wrongs are you called to right? Or will we stand by as Jesus is paraded in the streets, dressed as a gay man or women, tortured, rejected, denied humanity and the freedom we say we stand for? 

Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written,

“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;

   but you are making it a den of robbers.’

The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, they became angry and said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read,

“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies

   you have prepared praise for yourself”?’ 

He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Grindr anyone?

Mark 8:31-9:1

           Todays passage reminds me of the time when my Mother was very sick, she was trying to recover from having had a stroke. A small procedure was needed to help her and she was aware enough to say no, she did not want the procedure. When it was pointed out that the alternative would likely be death,  she confessed that she was quite ready to meet her maker. That to me was a stunning revelation and an admission that goes to the heart of today's passage.

          Perhaps it is a stream of consciousness about my Mom but it also brought me to a time in the 70's when it seemed a common practice in our area to indulge one's children with hot cars as graduation or even 16th birthday presents. Muscle cars were still all the rage so I suppose the mix of affluence and society in general made it logical jump for some. I am sure my own Dad could have indulged me so too but I think he had a good grasp on what is truly important and what lesson such extravagant gifts give.  I do know that I read in the paper many, many incidences where the "child" so gifted went out and almost immediately wrapped the car around a tree and died making the gift one with an extreme lesson. 

          It's not that I am against the finer things of life in any way. With the correct intent, with a proper and mature understanding, I am sure God would wish us all to have 'the finer things in life'. But those things are not guarantees of happiness by any means. Those things can become the misguided focus of one's life thereby missing what we are really called to do, what we are really called to be.

           If I was actually preaching this morning, I mean in an actual church I would have to ask the congregation right now to raise their hands. Who has used Grndr? Who uses Grindr? Is there anything wrong with it?  With limits I don't think there is anything wrong with seeking out love and companionship. This is what we are called to as human beings.  Right from the get go in Genesis we are called to companionship and the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of such a union. Heck everyone knows I think Sex is a gift from God to be enjoyed and revelled in.

          But what does it have to do with surgical procedures, hot cars and telling Satan to get behind us? I am sure there are people that spend way too much time focused on Grindr or some other internet networking sex site. It's all well and good as a tool (no pun intended) but if it becomes more important than the actual people, than actual relationships, it becomes no different than racing around aimlessly and carelessly in a hot rod car. The end result is often tragedy and loss of life.  

         The stakes are too high for us in this life to place the importance of living all in material things or earthly physicalities.  Gifts from God, but ones that can be misused, misunderstood, vilified or become tortured desires. All of this can take our focus away from the happiness and goal of our life.

        We are not to focus so much on the sufferings of this life, they will come and go. We are not to focus so much on the material or the carnal, they too will come and go. What is not fleeting, what is eternal and fulfills our purpose is the love of God and the love we live.

         

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’

Write and live and love

John 6:1-15

          And Jesus said that 'if you had the faith the size of a mustard seed that mountain would be thrown into the sea'. We fail to realize the extent of the power we hold. But not like the Jews in Jesus' time who were expecting a warrior hero messiah, we too may have a wrong idea about our power. Perhaps we think if we have power we could actually move a mountain into the sea, or some other fete of magic. Perhaps we could lay our hands on someone and remove their cancer. Perhaps we could be an empath like Gem in Star Trek.

          We have such expectations and some of those expectations may be realistic but I think we fail to see the power we already exert. There is an old commercial for some hair product that shows a person and relates 'if you tell two people' (the screen divides in three) and they tell two people and then they tell two people... The screen splitting exponentially and simply having started by telling two people. It sounds like a good business model but for me it shows the power we have in our hands. Not unlike the ripples in a lake from throwing a rock, the waves reach to all four corner of the pond.

          We might poo poo the result of our actions because of their simplicity. The truth is that even a small act of love can have a profound effect. We are accustomed to thinking about doing something 'big', some grand gesture when a simple act of love can be immensely profound. The result can be exponential.

          As an out and proud man, I am called to live a good and decent life. Oh that's right, we are all called to do that, straight or gay, no matter who we are. Somehow though the eyes are on me and every other gay person. Already vilified by so many, my life and my love becomes a beacon to all those who see how I live. Unfairly or not, my community is judged by my actions, how I love and how I live. The results of my love can be exponential for the gay community. I write this blog and I see a few hits from far away places. I don't hear from anyone, the few responses I have ever gotten are from my spouse and a friend or two here and there. I see hits from every country but I hear nothing. Yet I don't know who it is that's reading from so far away. I don't know what influence or role I play with my challenging or uplifting words. I pray to help simply one person but I know that if I can reach just one person with love and hope the results can be profound. So I write and live and love.

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.  A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

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'Do you not understand?' ( !!! )

Mark 8:11-21

          Easter is fast approaching and I feel overwhelmed. If only I could feel simply 'whelmed'. I seem as busy as ever. Perhaps this is the excuse we give ourselves or others when we 'don't get it'.

           The Pharisees don't get it, the disciples 'didn't get it' and so often the people that we think are the one's that should understand, simply don't get it. How frustrating it is when even the ones closest to us do not seem to understand what we are saying or doing. I know the simple confusions of a relationship like my husband and I is frustrating at times. This is part of simple daily living. I can only imagine how Jesus felt when his own disciples, his hand picked crew, could not grasp the meaning of some of the things he was saying.

           I can give the Pharisees a pass of sorts. They are so steeped in rules and the proper way to act that they can barely see beyond their own noses. The Pharisees, if not all Jews of the time, expected a redeemer who would be a conqueror, a military leader who would repel and overcome the Romans. How could they see or understand the Christ who welcomed the outcast, fraternized with sinners, spoke to Samaritan women, blessed gay couples (The Centurion and his 'pais') and who may have actually been gay himself (The 'beloved disciple' resting his head on Jesus' chest). All these things are enough to cause sufficient a stir that they could obscure your vision - even today. 

          We are accustomed to viewing almost everything in the light of our own beliefs, how we ourselves live and are comfortable. When someone different comes along, acts differently or has a different frame of reference, we simply can't seem to see how they see. In fact, we are trained not to see what they see. Our way of life bolsters our belief systems and how we see everything. The idea of a gay Jesus goes against almost everything some of us believe and have been taught but the evidence is there making it a possibility. What difference would it make? 

           For another week here perhaps, as we try to enter our Lenten journey more fully, the challenge may be to look beyond everything we are comfortable with. Perhaps we could try to understand the things we just simply cannot grasp the meaning of. I know how frustrating it is to understand or be patient with those that 'don't get it'. Jesus certainly did. God surely weeps at how we treat each other here on earth. We really don't get it most of the time. 

           Perhaps we could hold up some notion that we have, perhaps a not so popular belief and try to either let people see it and deal with the almost certain fallout of misunderstanding or, perhaps we could try our hardest, by listening and perhaps even research, to understand something we simply 'don't get'.

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ They said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’ 

Tastes salty

Mark 9:42-50

          My husband says that some of my best reflections are ones in which I bring in real life stories. When I make it personal and 'real' I succeed in bringing my message across. Every writer, every preacher succeeds only to the extent that they can transport the reader or listener into the scene they are creating.  Imagery is often employed but most often you have to use material the people are already  familiar with. Jesus used parables using references the people of the day could understand, fishing, bread, dirt, disease, death.

           One of the images in today's passage is salt. Salt was probably one of the first preservatives and a flavour enhancer.  To this day, while we have an array of preservatives used in our foods, it is salt that is added as a final touch. "Salt to taste", the last step in any recipe. Salt is the essence of who we are, a stabilizer of life. The beginnings of life as we know it here on earth started in a 'normal saline' (salty) stew of sorts.  So salt is an intimate part of our lives and if you don't have salt, things are bland at best, worthless, tasteless and without any pizazz.

             Our lives and faith are like that too. What is the salt of our life? What makes us tick? What makes each one of us in our own unique way, salty, maybe even peppery so to speak? It is our life goal to find our own salt. The challenge I have placed before us in Lent as believers in Jesus Christ is to find how we relate to everyone and find ourselves fulfilled (saltiness) as humans. The challenge is not so much in how we express our faith, I presume we are faithful people. The challenge is to find out how we are salty by ourselves, in how God created us in our own unique and special way as a human. Everyone is different. Our faith hopefully encourages us to find our answers and helps give ritual thanks for the gifts we know we have and have been graced with. Religion, our faith, should always cooperate with our own personal journey while enriching everyone as a community.  We say thank you and we enrich everyone by our presence, our own saltiness.

               If we don't find our own unique brand of saltiness and offer that freely to the community to which we belong, life will just be a bland and tasteless journey. We need to seriously season our lives with the saltiness that is each and every one of us. 

           

‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.^, And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

‘For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’

Material girl

John 7:37-46

           We all know that Jesus would sometimes go off to pray alone. I think the 40 days in the dessert was an extreme example. Jesus' life is a guide for us and I always encourage people to set aside some legitimate quiet time for themselves. We need time to reflect, time for self assessment and time to speak with our creator or to simply listen. All of this is not very worldly, not really about material things.

           But we all like our night out on the town, the good meal, time with friends, good love and yes, perhaps even some good sex. Is this going against Jesus' message? I don't think so. Jesus was fully human like us and as such lived in a material world. Jesus experienced all we experience and while he did set time aside to pray for sure, he also enjoyed life for sure. Jesus also drew most of his parables from his lived life and observations. In fact, Jesus quite often railed against the very strictures religion put on material things. Jesus seems very judgemental of what religion said about some pointed material things.

        Let's look at Jesus' firs reported miracle, the water into wine, and fine wine it was if scripture holds true. How much more earthy and material can one be than to indulge in 'spirits' at a wedding? This is no Bible Belt temperance leader. Jesus made wine  and I assume for drinking.  Very worldly, very material ( the "best wine" ).

        When you look at the people Jesus associated with, the hemorrhaging woman, the leper, the marginalized, the lame, the sick, the poor, the sinners, all looked down on by the religious of the day but Jesus dove right in. At the risk of being labelled a sinful person himself he delved into the most very human of situations, sick and sinners all. Not very ascetic but perhaps prayerful in a different way.

        When I think of Jesus and his humanity, I cannot help but think about the people he loved as well. We have the disciples of course but also people he was friends with, Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Did not Jesus weep when he was told Lazaraus was dead? Is this a detached response or a deeply personal human and earthly response. Perhaps even more so, what of "the disciple whom Jesus loved"? This speaks of a deep emotional attachment if not more. Was not the "beloved disciple" laying his head on Jesus' chest at the last supper?  This does not preclude Jesus' spirituality and his need for 'time away' but it speaks of his humanity, his foundation in his real and true humanity. Jesus did not speak from the theoretical. Jesus was both spiritual, the holiest of course, but also very material, very human.

        So many religions and churches, even today, speak against the material, against sex, against living a passionate life. Passionate living was all about Jesus and Jesus quite often took to task those that tried to vilify human action, human love and human thoughts. No more. They say that money is the rot of all eveil but that is not true. The love of money is the root of all evil. I think Jesus would be one of the first to enjoy money, enjoy eating, drinking, maybe even loving a person in a most intimate of ways, whether that involves sex or not. Who knows. 

        As much as we are called to completeness in our creator, we are here to live a fully human lives as God created us with the material things we have been graced with.  So long as we respect everything and everyone, so long as we are free to love and be loved and as long as we do not let anything own us, we are doing quite well I think. I think Jesus would approve and it is His life that we should emulate.

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’^* But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ So there was a division in the crowd because of him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’