Welcoming Exhortation

Tuesday of Week 8 in Ordinary Time
1 Peter 1:10-16

Making me a little better…an everyday ask…an everyday miracle on offer

Reading this passage from 1 Peter called to mind the Pope's recent Apostolic Exhortation:

On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World (Par 14 & 15)

Rejoice and Be Glad! 

We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves. Are you called to the consecrated life? Be holy by living out your commitment with joy. Are you married? Be holy by loving and caring for your husband or wife, as Christ does for the Church. Do you work for a living? Be holy by labouring with integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters. Are you a parent or grandparent? Be holy by patiently teaching the little ones how to follow Jesus. Are you in a position of authority? Be holy by working for the common good and renouncing personal gain.

Let the grace of your baptism bear fruit in a path of holiness. Let everything be open to God; turn to him in every situation. Do not be dismayed, for the power of the Holy Spirit enables you to do this, and holiness, in the end, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life (cf. Gal 5:22-23). When you feel the temptation to dwell on your own weakness, raise your eyes to Christ crucified and say: “Lord, I am a poor sinner, but you can work the miracle of making me a little bit better”. 

Stretch Out Your Hands*

2nd Sunday of Pentecost

Year B

Mark 2:23-3:6

(plucking grains and withered hands)

My first reaction, 

and I suspect that some of you might share this…

My first reaction to this gospel reading was 

…a tab bit smug

Those Pharisees!  

What a rigid lot!

Those Pharisees

Those church going

Institution protecting

Rule honoring good-ole-boys

But with only a smidgen of imagination

I AM a Pharisee!

My friends, aren’t we all the Pharisees?

21^stcentury Pharisees? 

                                                                                                                  

I hope so!  I’m okay with that!

Not only okay…happy even!

The problem is not being a Pharisee

The problem is being a Pharisee made of concrete!

About 4 years ago

When I was working a night shift at the hospital

(which meant that I was the only Chaplain in-the-house)

I got that dreaded page: 

“Please come to ---,

The room number is a giveaway

A young couple has lost their baby

Stillborn at 33 weeks

She had a name

She had a crib

There was a nursery waiting with a fresh coat of paint

But before I say any more

I have to back up

You have to know how I feel about Baptism

I love Baptism

I love preparing couples to bring their children to Baptism

I did that for years when I was on staff at my former Parish

I love celebrating Baptism in the midst of the Sunday congregation

Listen!  

I have Power Points (really good power points) and handouts!

We had talked about this in the Chaplain Residency Training program I took for a year.

I remember saying (with robust conviction) 

how wrong it was to Baptize a baby who had died.

Sacraments are for the living!!!

I have Good Sacramental Theology on my side!

Did you hear me?  

I have really really good Power Points!

(and handouts;)

My pager went off

The nurse shared what she knew

The couple weren’t really ‘church-going’

But they were open to a chaplain visit.

In that very quiet hospital room

This grieving and very quiet…all-cried-out… couple

Were holding their stillborn baby girl

There we were

Just sitting in a kind of comfortable and reverent silence

It seemed to last a long time

And finally

They spoke

They simply asked if we could baptize their precious daughter.

It took me a few seconds to realize 

This was NOT a catechetical moment

My really really good power point…and my handouts…were useless!

In the face of this small and devastated family…

I was stuck

The Holy Spirit…at least I believe it was the Holy Spirit…

took control of my mouth and said, of course.

Now…Sacraments ARE for the Living

And my Power Point is still REALLY REALLY good

But right or wrong, for me

In that moment

With that family

And that baby

Pouring water

And praying that ancient formula

Was the only response my body could make 

I LOVE the order that law and tradition give

But law and tradition are not the end

  in and of themselves

And throughout the history of the Jewish people

…through the prophet and on through the history of the church

We…

   Institutions and people…

   Living…not made of concrete

have always needed

Renewal

Correction

Adjustment

…like being put back in place

Have you ever been PUT IN YOUR PLACE???

I have

Plenty of times

By Mrs Walsh my 3^rdgrade teacher

By my brother, my daughter…

Certainly by a boss or two…

But the thing I conveniently forget is why?

Surely…there was a bit of reform/adjustment that needed to happen.

Jesus is putting the Sabbath…

And by extension

The larger tradition

Back in place 

Not because Jesus is anti-law or tradition

Jesus loves the Sabbath

Jesus is a good Jew

Jesus is anything BUT stuck in concrete

Jesus wants to put the Sabbath back in its place

As a gift

Not a threat

I want to be a 

‘Sabbath is made for Humankind’ kind of person

I want a vision that sees

God as gift-giving

That the Sabbath is a gift embedded in the very act of creation itself.

But what seems to creep in

Like the invisible force of gravity

What seems to happen is that I get the Sabbath-God equation turned around

I turn it into a threat when I creep into thinking that

I am made for the Sabbath

The equation gets turned around 

Sabbath isn’t a gift from God to God’s creation

But a test 

A test…so that God might know how I measure up

A test…to check my level of holiness…of purity… 

A test of…acceptability

Slowly my gift giving God becomes a ‘Pass…Or else!’ God

Jesus puts Sabbath in its place

Others did the same thing before him

The God of this theology is Love, 

And Love is always freely given…or it’s just not love.

God doesn’t need the Sabbath---WE DO

God doesn’t need to be schooled in GIFTING---WE DO

God doesn’t need a life-giving example to follow---WE DO!      

And here we are

Good 21^stCentury Pharisees…not made of concrete

I know that because we are here!

Here…where we come to meet God…sacramentally

…not limited to here but ritually and sacramentally here!

HERE

In each other

And in us as one body

In the Holy Scripture

In the bread and wine

And in our sharing

We come here to remember

Our Baptism

To remember

Being made in the image and likeness of a gift-giving God

God gifts us the Sabbath 

and it’s call to rest, 

and the tasty grain asking to be plucked,

and the words of invitation and healing

“Stretch out your hand”

Jesus says to the man with the withered hand

‘Stretch out your hand’

He invites the man

He invites US

When we process to celebrate communion

We are asked

To ‘stretch out our hands’

Whatever is withered

Whatever is withering

Offer it

Open it

BRING IT ON

Stretch it out to be healed

And made whole

And this 

My friends 

PUTS US IN OUR PLACE

Our right and proper

And life-giving place

And from that place

To go and ‘do this in memory of me’

Being AGLOW

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - feast

Romans 12:9-16

Luke 1:39-56

The Visitation, detail by Luca della Robbia 1400-1482

I love this feast

I love scrolling through the artistic interpretations of The Visit 

And I love these two readings together…how Paul gets at what makes Mary glow.

At this point in the letter to the Romans, Paul moves from the agape of God, to the agape (genuine love) that is the identifying characteristic of life lived in Christian community.

(v9a) Let love be genuine; 

A nice tone

(v9b) Hate what is evil, 
cleave to what is good:

Seems obvious…but Hate and Cleave…strong words, the actions that will follow from them will require strength

(v10) With the love of brothers and sisters, 
show each other family affection; 
anticipate one another in showing respect;

Be a unit, don’t live in competition but ‘anticipate’ to maintain closeness

(v11) Cast off all slackness in your eagerness, 
be aglow with the Spirit, 
in service make the most of the time remaining

Love is on the move.  Not passive but active.  Aglow is the evidence. The         present time…here, now…is gift

(v12) Rejoice in your hope, 
be steadfast in affliction, 
persevere in prayer

But always on the horizon is joy…the promise hoped for…tasted in the present…it makes for glowing

(v13) Contribute to the needs of the saints, 
seek out opportunity to show hospitality

Such a sure sign!

(v14) Bless those who persecute you; 
bless them and do not curse them 

A twice injunction.  Paul knows how hard this is. What if I saw every instance of not out-right blessing as cursing…what would be the balance of my day: blessing or cursing?

(v15-16) Rejoice with those who rejoice, 
weep with those who weep  
Aim at having a common mind amongst yourselves; 
do not adopt a haughty frame of mind, 
but associate with the lowly; 
be not wise in your own thoughts.

Seek COMMUNION

         

location, location, location

Wednesday of Week 8 in Ordinary Time

Mark 10:32-45

“Grant that in your Glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” (sigh)

This is one of those passages that makes me laugh when I hear it.

James and John are cartoonish.  And I can see Peter and the others coming up behind them and whacking them upside the head:  Tell me you didn’t just say that! 

But then it moves so gently.  Authority has a tendency to corrupt.  Jesus invites the disciples into his vision: “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt.  But it shall not be so among you.”

When and where am I granted authority?

Do I make sure it is known…felt?

I think most of us do…it sets up distinctions and somehow distinctions make us feel secure.

This is one of those passages that is so very clear.

It gets to the heart of things.

Almost sounds crazy.

So hard.

It shall not be so among you

It shall not be so among you

Be servant

Be slave

Give life

Emphasis Matters

Wednesday of Week 7 in Ordinary Time

Mark 9:38-40

 

John said to him,

“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, 

and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”

Jesus replied, 

“Do not prevent him. 

There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name 

who can at the same time speak ill of me.

For whoever is not against us is for us.”

What seems important about this brief scene 

is what Jesus could have said.

He could have said, “Whoever is not for us, is against us.”

That would have been a battle cry.

That would have effectively made the against side of the equation hefty indeed.

But he didn’t.

“Whoever is not against us is for us.” 

It’s roomy, and expansive, and inviting.  

An unthreatening emphasis.

A refusal to think small.

In my name…go ahead, use it!

And see what happens?

The Power of Gaze*

The Ascension of the Lord

Acts 1:1-11

(homily preached at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, New Harmony, Indiana)

Let’s do something different today

You all have your bulletins

So go to the last bit of our first reading from Acts

Find the part that starts

“When he had said this…

Everyone got it?

Now let’s read that all together

When he had said this,
as they were watching,
he was lifted up,
and a cloud took him out of their sight.
While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven,
suddenly two men in white robes stood by them.
They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?
This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven,
will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

I asked rob the other night as we were preparing to go to bed:

So tell me what you think of the Ascension

And with his impish grin, he said…Well…It is very very uplifting!

It is more than uplifting 

It is fantastic!  It is fantastical!

Lifted up

On a cloud

Vanishing from sight

Mysterious men in white

I can’t speak for you…but
I have SOOOO many questions

HOW…Exactly
WHERE… Exactly
WHY…exactly

In other words

WHAT…EXACTLY…makes this story real???

Because we

Everyone here...knows what real is

Real happens everyday

It has to do with 

-what’s for dinner?

-who lost their job?

-a war broke out where?

-I am having a strange pain behind my eye…

We know real.

So what is real

About the Ascension 

Why does it matter

Why is it so important that it is hinted at in the Our Father and made it into our Creed?

I remember an evening…some 15 years ago…Joe, you were a toddler

It was quite a lovely evening

There were about eight of us plus some kids

Relaxing around our supper table

Enjoying a meal together

I don’t remember the occasion…A birthday perhaps

It was late Summer…In the midst of the Food, Wine, Laughter

Suddenly there came…A flash of lightening

And thunder so loud…I knew it hit the house

And then…Darkness…Perfect darkness

And quiet too…Not the quiet of calm

But of a certain lostness…maybe confusion

I found the wall and felt my way to where I knew I kept candles and matches

Flashlights are never where they should be

And we use them so infrequently that the batteries are always dead

I struck the match…And lit the small candle

A simple flame…So small it would have gone

Completely unnoticed…Just a few moments earlier

Such a tiny flame really…

But Now 

This tiny flame In the midst of that uneasy darkness…

It Gathered ALL our gazes

This week we find ourselves between Ascension and Pentecost.

Ascension and Pentecost

It reminds me of that Beatles song

You say Goodbye and I say Hello…Hello hello

This week we are between good-bye and hello

We are caught gazing…the text says
why are you standing there gazing at the sky?

Gazing…it is more intense than looking…maybe more like beholding

…With a bit of neediness

For the Disciples
No matter how stunning

it must have been confusing and terrifying really…

This man

Jesus of Nazareth

Who died …And rose …And appeared to his fledgling community

Walking with them…Eating with them…Conversing with them

They touched him…he was present to them
Hmmm…he did it once…he turned bad news into good news…but again???

Like the darkness 

That followed that clap of thunder

The community was made ready for something new

For flickers of light…flames for everyone…as we will hear next week

For a power

And a presence

This departure of Jesus

Makes possible a new reality

I can hear the disciples…

I don’t want to go through that again

I will gaze UP in the hope that this isn’t real

That this won’t last

He’ll be right back…

It being mother’s day…the word GAZE captures my imagination

I am thinking of the mother-child gaze 

There is so much going on there…In that gaze…

That is why it is the subject of so much art and even in scientific research

We come to know ourselves as part of a relationship…

As human persons…as loved

That gaze is how we are literally Loved into being

It is deep and penetrating

…a life giving gaze

What is it that captures our gaze?

In this time between Ascension and Pentecost

That might be a fruitful question

Gazing is open…It welcomes…It invites…It is vulnerable

But not everything we fix our gaze on is life giving

Much of it is not even alive!
Even if it is good at pretending.

Maybe as we think about what captures our gaze

We might imagine being gazed at!

Can I imagine Jesus gazing at me?

Can I imagine being caught up in the gaze of a loving God 

...full of mercy, and love, a gaze that never loses sight of me?

Constantly calling me to life…and love…and joy?

Maybe when the two mystery men called the disciples out 

For the direction of their gaze

They were being called out of 

fear or grief

Maybe when our gaze gets locked on the wrong object...

     fluffy clouds for instance

Maybe that is exactly when we lose our ability to imagine new possibilities

New outcomes

New hope

On that evening
around our supper table

When abruptly all was silenced and dark

That small candle flame attracted everyone’s gaze

Perhaps that is a practice for this week

Between Ascension and Pentecost

To shut it all down

And to not re-boot too quickly 

But stay

Stay and wait for the gift of being drawn into the gaze

from the very heart of God

And gazing back in return

Not by looking up…the 2 mysterious men warn

No stiff-necks…

But by looking around

And seeing the Holy Spirit poured out

In the beauty of creation, 

and the voice of strangers, 

and in the embrace of friends and family…

Two moves…Ascension and Pentecost

Letting God gaze at us 

Bringing us to a renewed fullness of life

And setting our gaze toward…

Toward those places and people and situations

Where life is fading

Good practice

between Ascension and Pentecost

And in our meantime