Health, wealth, poverty and pain

John 15:12-27

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

   There seems to be limitless ways in which we humans can err in our thought. There is always some new way to misinterpret scripture and life. Today I was thinking about a philosophy going around about the poor, both in wealth and health. The philosophy goes something like this, if you are rich God made you so, and if you are blessed with good health, God is responsible for that. I am the first one to be thanking God for everything I have been graced with. I have had some truly serious health issues that prompted a good look at my own mortality. I have also been blessed with richness in family and I have had  enough money to live a comfortable life here on this long rural farming island.

     There is a real problem though when those ideas of wealth and health are translated to the converse. Does God intentionally make some people poor? Is poor health intentionally visited on a person for living a bad life or the sin of their ancestors?  It seems like privilege to easily dismiss others when you are healthy and wealthy. It really seems an errant form of thought to think God visits pain and poverty on people with intention. Some people actually think that they alone are responsible for their own wealth and so called success.

     Jesus said we would always have the poor. Is that because avarice and deceit will always be a sin we are prone to as humans? And what is the point of this?

     Today's passage, as do so very many of Jesus' commands, is to simply love one another. If I could quantify love, what level is shown when we indulge and act smug when our brothers and sisters are struggling, poor and in pain?  What do we make today of the fact that in Acts of the Apostles, those Apostles lived in a commune like setting in which all wealth was shared. Everyone contributed and shared equally.

     For sure, we must be grateful for everything we have been graced with. Know however that we have ownership of nothing. Everything can be gone in an instant and there are no hearses with luggage racks. If we have been somehow graced with stewardship of a talent or treasure, it is up to us to use it wisely in love. We are to love one another. And when and if we understand the lengths we are to go to love our brothers and sisters, can we know that God loves everyone else at least as much as God loves me? There are no exceptions and no limits on God's love  nor is there supposed to be limits on whom we love and share or gifts.

Healthy vines

John 15:1-2

     ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes^* to make it bear more fruit.
     So I can eat chocolate again, eh?  What was your Lenten offering that you are now able to indulge in? Sweet. Truly. Lent is over. Finally we can get back to normal and if you are a church goer, not quite ordinary time but sort of. So then, what was is it we did in Lent? Was this a great exercise? A 40 day program to last us the rest of the year perhaps?










      I don't think that is the idea at all. Our road to wholeness and holiness is a life long journey, not a 40 day boot camp. I hope to think we set ourselves up with some good habits and a life long exercise regimen that will serve us well as we move forward every day.  In today's simple passage from John, perhaps we can view God as our personal exercise coach. Someone who not only wants to see us move forward to our greatest potential but someone who in fact loves us and almost worships us.  Crazy though, huh, God worshiping us?  I think that is a stretch but I do know, at the very least from Easter, that God loved me so much he was willing to put out his arms out and die for me. That's a whole lot of loving if not worship. 
     Moving forward though we have to be committed to our lives and not be complacent. I think we have to have a mindset of continuity and a willingness to be pruned by God. Become a healthy fruit bearing vine, always pruning. Maybe a visual of a fruit bearing bonsai tree with every so meticulous and caring prunings. Oh my, another vsual just popped into my head, God as Mr. Miyagi.  Ok, now, sand the floor! 




      

 
     

Like loving

John 14:18-31

We live two lives: we live life in our thoughts and we live life as our experience of the present moment. Freedom comes as our life in thoughts diminishes and our experience of the present moment predominates. Freedom comes through learning how to balance thoughts and the present moment.

     If you are sharp, you'll know right off that this is not a quotation form John. This isn't even a Christian scripture but i feel it ties in to today's reading from John. It speaks to me today as a Christian that has just come through Easter and also as someone who is still in mourning for the loss of a loved one.

      I recall hearing someone say that the beloved never dies if we keep them in our hearts and thoughts.  I know it is meant to make us feel better but I think it has a wrong twist. When we think about a beloved or anything too much, we lose track of the present. We may hold onto a memory of a loved one but in so doing we are not living in the present, we are not moving forward.

        However, if we love as our departed loved and translate the love of that person into action as we live our daily lives, that dearly departed will stay part of the living and we stay very much a part of the present. I think that is as true for a loved one as it is for Jesus.  It is as if to say it is not enough to go to church each Sunday at relive the last Supper. To  be a Christian and move forward, to be a true disciple, we can and should go to church but a critical part is to move forward in and through the love of Christ.  Showing a person is alive through like loving.

Word becomes flesh

Jesus, in whom “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), was fully human, even as he was fully divine, with both body and spirit operating as one. Jesus even returned to the “flesh” after the Resurrection; so, flesh cannot be bad, as it is the ongoing hiding place of God.                          - Richard Rohr

     Today is the feast of the annunciation. It might be hard to even think of a connection of the birth of Jesus and Christmas so early in the year and with Easter so close in our hearts.
To me Christmas and Easter are so intimately linked and not simply because they are involve our Lord. The message is much deeper and Richard Rohr has nailed it. The Annunciation and Easter and Christmas all involve humanity in the most intimate of ways.

     The Word became flesh speaks to an intimate duality which we share. God made us not spirit, not human, but both. We are in His image and we are not so much two natures in opposition but our humanity that is a hint and part of our spirituality. I recall being taught as a child that our bodies were temples of the Holy Spirit. I think it goes much deeper than that. Our bodies are active participants. How we handle that is a matter of our destiny, our entire being and our cooperation with what God has made us to be.

      In trying to reconcile these two natures in one, many have arrived at the notion that the body is bad and the Spirit, obviously, good. But our bodies contribute to the glory of God, our bodies are the vehicles by which we worship in practical ways ( kneeling, meditation ) but also in intimate ways. From simple hugs to our sexuality, we catch a glimpse of the magnificence of God. In our sexuality we see that God is neither male nor female, that our sexuality is a gift to us that we share in the most intimate ways to another. Not to be taken lightly, it is so intimate it speaks to the love of God, the unique mingling of body and spirit that God created within us. Wow. In this view, making sex an act or separating it from our spirit almost seems blasphemy.   It is like anything, moderation is key. The equilibrium is the answer. Rampant sex seems as bad as abstinence and all things have a time and place.

    Today we celebrate the announcement to Mary that she will be the God bearer. God taking human form in the same intimate ways we live our lives every day from birth, childhood, adolescence and into adulthood. Jesus is embracing it all and showing us that body and Spirit are not two opposing entities but one.

        Today, and probably for many days, I will be meditating and thinking about our sexuality and our spirituality together. Our lives , lived well for the glory of God in all its fullness. 

Communes and common ground

Acts 4: 32 - 35

     

     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.

     If Jesus was not the rebel, then this passage from Acts smacks of hippies and socialism. What do Christians today make of this passage? How is it dismissed or embraced? It seems pretty clear it is what we are to emulate. The Acts of the Apostles clearly shows them living in some kind of commune setup.

     Rather than stoke the fires of political upheaval which I have already been accused of doing, what can we make of this? Today's passage speaks of being of one heart and soul. Could we at least find common ground in Christ if we claim to be Christian?  On the one hand you may have Christians who seek inclusiveness and equality at every turn, men, women, gay, or whatever. On another front you have the Christian equivalent ( in my eyes ) of the Pharisees, hypocrites one and all, wishing to take us back to 'the good old days' of rules, rubrics, men are in charge of everything and a woman should be silent, ready and perky in waiting for their man. I do not see a common ground here. As long as some think they are entitled and others are not; as long as some shout respect when it is not in any way mutual or meaningful, there is no common ground. The battleground has been laid.

       Here's the rub, there can be no cooperation with or apologetics for evil. No common ground.  There is no middle ground for evil, no negotiating. It is their way or the highway.  Yes, Jesus consorted, dined and hung out with 'sinners'. Have you ever wondered if it is us who labelled them sinners and that to Jesus they were just people?  So maybe, Jesus did not in fact have so called 'sinners' for friends, just people like you and me who have occasion to sin on their journey to wholeness and holiness. But at the same time Jesus could not find a middle ground with true evil, no one can and we certainly cannot without turning our backs on God. Jesus did not have discussions with evil, He drove it out. The swine leaped off a cliff rather than be in the presence of God.

      For any common ground we must have at the very least an agreement on the equality of all humans as Jesus does. We must have a mutuality of respect and recognized dignity. We must bear our cross and willingly and lovingly put others first. That does not mean let the boot stompers of evil walk all over us or let evil have it's turn at the world. We've been there and done that. How many died?

      We are searching for a commonality in love and respect.

         

Angels dancing and Limbo

Mark 12:18-27

     How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?  Sounds absurd, yes?  Sometimes religions spend an inordinate amount of time and energy coming up with reasons for things, rationalizations and worse, reasons why you or I should believe what they want you to believe. I wish I could say this is a new construct but it is not. Perhaps it is simply a human condition.

     In today's passage the Sadducee's approach Jesus with one of those inane questions in an attempt to trick Jesus. The intent seems to be to either embarrass Jesus or to show everyone listening that the Sadducee position is correct. Of course Jesus is quite good at turning tables and usually exposes the flaw and goes to the heart of the issue. Here Jesus speaks of misinterpreting scripture and not realizing the power and love of the Father. Most excellent! A body punch by Jesus!

     We are not unfamiliar with the zeal for control and aberrations of thought by major religions.  Jesus turned water to wine at Cana and yet some religions do not allow alcoholic beverages being consumed. Rather than moderation, strictures of control. Ridiculous.  The Roman church only recently got rid of Limbo. What an excellent example that is of mental gymnastics to support some convoluted theology or thought process. No, dead babies do not go to Limbo. Why did we torture already suffering parents with such dribble.

        What mental gymnastics do you do?  I think we are all capable of twisting our thoughts around whatever position we want to take. A prime example today is how the Evangelical community has their talons in the President of the United States. A man of extremely low morals, if any, he and his anti-christian, anti-love policies are promulgated, embraced and put forth by so called Christians which makes the whole process and position quite laughable and horrific. A philanderer, exuberant liar, adulterer, divider-in-chief and hate monger supported by Christians? My head spins. I ache and I am sure God weeps.

        I am not saying I am not capable of such internal brain twisting. I can think of a few examples when I have convinced myself of one thing or another. I remember preaching on such in Seminary about myself. I am no stranger to what I am writing about. Like I said, this may be a human condition. 

     In the end the basics are how Jesus lived and God's all embracing love. That is what matters. When we interpret scripture or have a question before us ( like do dead babies go to heaven? ), the  answer should always be rooted in God's love. Not our personal view of God's love but that all embracing, mind boggling, intensive and reckless abandon love that God has for us. The reason Jesus died for us. 

Religious clutter

Exodus 13:1-2,11-16

     It's somewhat entertaining to hear some of the discussions around our home. We are a mixed marriage of sorts, Jew and Christian. We inform and teach each other. One of the things we have discussed from time to time, especially with my 91 year old father-in-law is the notion of religious happy horse shit. These are the rules and rubrics that it seems every religion has that really are contrived and totally man made. Jesus railed against the Pharisees for this very reason. Generations of Roman Catholics wondered what fresh hell they would descend into if they ate meat on a Friday in Lent and why there would be a special dispensation for the Corned Beef if St. Patricks day fell on a Friday in Lent which it seems to do time and again.

      In today's passage we read about dedicating one's first born to God.  This is a bit harder to dismiss because the 'rule' is right there in actual scripture.  However,  it still could easily be man made since it is a human that has done the transcribing for God. Perhaps always a dangerous thing. Yesterdays passage about requiring non Jewish guests at a Seder to be circumcised first, is another perhaps a more interesting rule. There seems to me to be more merit in the former than the latter.

       I'd have to say in most cases, there is a reason for a rule.  There is something about the required action or inaction that is supposed to draw us closer to God or to holier living. And still there are the rules that you roll your eyes at because there seems a giant disconnect between God and whatever the requirement is.  Today though, in our household, we are discussing the actions to be taken by practicing Jews when a parent has passed during Passover. We already have learned that there can be no Shiva during Passover.  The thing is, even non-practicing Jews ( or whatevers ) often find attachment to rules comforting especially during troubling times.  It seems that rules, even ridiculous ones bring comfort and closeness to God in troubled times. I am pretty easy going and more likely than most to bend a rule or ignore it if I know that a heart is in the right place. Is it one's intention to dismiss God ? Or is it one's intention to dismiss the rule that will really keep us from being close to God if we can't live up to the rule with mightily zealous scrupulosity?

       I once knew a Deacon who invented his own set of pious movements and 'rules' to be followed in services. Undoubtedly they made his own worship richer. Sadly however, there is a generation of people who now bank on their salvation and religiosity on actions invented by him!  Where does this leave us?

     If we are  serious about our faith it really cannot be a passive thing. Doing so leaves you prey for all sorts of people who with good intent or bad, use your ignorance to foist perilous positions and more rules and rubrics, unnecessary barricades to God's presence in our lives.  How wonderful to discover in your thirst for knowledge and richness of faith what specific actions mean. They need not be empty gestures of faith. At the same time, you can discover what is the made up stuff that is tinsel cluttering and obscuring a vibrant faith.

      In this first week after Easter and during this week of Passover, I am thinking about trying to make my faith richer by learning and discovering what is, and what is not, necessary to my relationship with my creator. How about you?