When Sarah and I were living in Tucson I got interested in the idea of digging a well. We had city water; it was okay; we had to pay for it; everybody did. But I wondered - what if we had our own well? We could have all the water we wanted - drawn from the common aquifer, to tell the truth - without having to pay the city for delivering it. So I called a well driller - and he told me to forget about it. He knew where we lived - and knew it would be hundreds of feet through rock, busted up rock but still difficult to penetrate. He would have had to use special equipment, which he didn't even have. Just forget about it - it's not worth it.
The Samaritan woman did not have this problem. Centuries and centuries ago the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph had a well on it - somebody had dug down, maybe 130 feet or so, to the aquifer, the place in the earth where the water always (or almost always) flowed. The water that trickled down from the mountain, feeding underground streams or seeps, would give you what you needed - if you dug down to it.
And then they had put up a little wall around it, probably, just like in the movies - or the cartoons. The well was there, ready to use, for all the people of the city of Sychar. And out from that city walked a woman of the town, at the sixth hour of the day.
All she had to do was bring a bucket, and a rope, and let the bucket down, and draw up the water she needed for the day.
It was noon, strangely enough, and she was probably expecting to be alone when she got there to the well. But there was a man there, a stranger, and he asked her to give him a drink.
What are you doing? She said. You, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan (and a woman too), for a drink?
Don't you know we have nothing to do with each other? Don't you know that you Jews consider a drinking vessel that Samaritans have touched to be unclean?
If you knew the one who was speaking to you, he replied, you would be asking him for water.
What? Do you have some source I do not know about? Some source someplace I cannot see?
For he was promising living water - the kind you get from a river or a spring - flowing water, running water, living water, not the still water you would draw from a well.
It is so different it is like the difference between a cistern and a rain shower.
You want this living water. So did she. And so she asked.
And he gave her a strange answer.
You will thirst again, however often you draw water from this well. But if you drink the cup I am offering you, you will never be thirsty again.
It will rise up in you like a fountain, a spring, flowing forth from your own heart, forever.
Give me this water! I don't want to come back here again. I never want to be thirsty again.
Reality check: Go call your husband and come back.
I have no husband, she says.
True enough - you have had five (no reason given) and the one you are with now is not your husband.
Sir I perceive that you are a prophet.
(Compliment followed by obfuscation - change the subject quick!)
We worship on this mountain (where the water for the well comes from, by the way) but you worship in Jerusalem (on the mountain of David, the height called Zion).
The place where people must worship - he sweeps it aside. Soon and even now comes the hour when you will worship neither here nor there - it won't matter.
The true worship takes place in the heart - you will worship in spirit and in truth.
For God is spirit;
and the thin places - the holy places where the membrane between this world and the next is permeable, the threshold places where you can step across from mundane reality to the realm of spirit,
those places will be everywhere, in every heart.
They always have been, you know.
Do you think it mattered where God placed the burning bush? Do you think it mattered which rock Moses struck? There in the desert were thousands and thousands of rocks.
And God stood on every one of them, if you could see.
It was faith and obedience, trust and hope, which made Moses strike the rock.
And it was God who gave the water, the living water, that quenched the thirst (and quelled the anger) of the children of Israel, of Jacob, the children of that same man who gave you, Samaritan woman, the well you are drawing from today.
It was God who gave the water - to Jacob's children, the children of Israel, then and now.
Jacob himself encountered the living God on the bank of the river Jordan - and with the man, the strange man, he wrestled until daylight.
Now this woman wants to tussle with words, with the living God. But Jesus will have none of it.
And she listens to him - and - I know the Messiah is coming, she says. And he will tell us everything. He will proclaim everything. His word will be a living word.
He responds, "I am he" - but the Greek says more than this, in fewer words.
He says, ego eimi - "I am."
I AM says Jesus - I AM as the Lord said to Moses at the burning bush, so Jesus now says to this woman: I AM the one who is sent to proclaim all things.
At that moment the disciples came and broke up the party. She slipped away, back to the city.
Go and call your husband and come back, he had said. And she had replied, I have no husband.
So now she does go - and calls the whole city to come back with her and meet this extraordinary man, this stranger who had asked her for a drink, this prophet who had told her everything she had done. Could this be the Messiah?
Could it be true? Maybe he does have water to give us so that we may never thirst again.
He is the living one, the fount of all blessing - and from the rock and from the well and from the cistern and from the river flow forth the waters of God, the waters of forgiveness, the waters of salvation.
She will never again be thirsty.
She will never again be able to hide - "what you say is true - you have no husband" - but she never wants to. Never again.
For she has found the fount of living water, flowing up from within herself, as she, in the encounter with the stranger, gave him who was thirsty water to drink.
"When I was thirsty, you gave me drink."
When did we see Jesus thirsty and give him a drink? When was he the stranger, waiting at the well in the middle of the day, tired and hungry and dry in the throat? When we saw the least of these - the least of God's children - and treated them with the mercy and hospitality of the living Christ: as if they were he and we were his people, following him, proclaiming his kingdom, come in our actions, proclaimed and made to be.
May we let the water flow
Flow in us
Living water
Refresh our souls
that we ourselves
may refresh others
with the living truth
of your love.
Amen.
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Sunday, March 27, 2011
Give us water to drink
"Give us water to drink" say the Israelites.
The woman at the well meets Jesus, and they talk, and he tells her every thing she has ever done.
Revealing her, he reveals himself.
Revealing himself, she discovers who she really is - her identity, her true self.
Her self, in relation to God.
(Some ideas from Herb O'Driscoll, based on his "The Word Today" comments on the readings for today.)
What was she expecting? when she went to the well - a bucket of water, a means to draw it up, a well - that her ancestors knew - a gift of an ancient God; yet here he is before her, the one she awaits, the one she expected, after all those years even centuries, the redeemer - the restorer - the one to deliver - not only Israel, for she was Samaritan - the whole world...
She went not to call her husband and come back but to tell the whole town.
This man told me everything he knew about me - and that was everything I have ever done.
But he told her more than that - more than the facts. He said, I will give you living water, water that will gush up like a spring, water that will not simply quench her thirst, fill her need for a day.
This is not the oasis; this is the source.
Israel was having trouble trusting Moses - or God. Moses, who had drawn them up out of Egypt as he, Moses, had been drawn up out of the Nile. Moses, who had struck the Nile with his staff that God might show him the wonder of his majesty. Moses, who struck a rock in the desert that God mgiht show the majesty of his wonders.
Even the barren places flow with streams of water when God commands it. Even the most quarrelsome people, who put God to the test - he sweeps aside their doubts and their lack of faith - he has a wonder to show them - and a wonder to work in them.
Not only does he, having Moses strike the rock, draw forth water from barren stone: he craws forth from barren hearts the miracle of faith, of grace, of love - the mystery of faith that is incarnate in Jesus, that springs up new life within us. That Christ who died, who is risen, who will come again: that Christ lives in our hearts forever.
That God who was a distant memory, a story about an ancestor, the one who strove by the Jordan river with the angel and by giving a well to a son - a beloved son, en route to exile in Egypt; that God, the one who is expected to deliver us, some day, so we are taught (good lesson learned, she remembers it when it counts): that God is present.
That God is present to her, the woman at the well, in the mercy and grace - and the insight - of the Savior, the one who is before here now speaking. God is here and now with us - speaking healing words of truth and of wisdom, of mercy and forgiveness; offering life even through the font that is himself, his own compassionate heart.
In her heart springs up wonder, the wonder of faith, and she goes to tell the world. Like the man born blind she cannot keep it to herself - the wonderful news of the coming of the Savior.
"Living water" - and then the disciples came... As she leaves her jar and goes back to town, they approach him and offer him food (supply run complete). He says to them something strange - it sounds simple - and impossible: I have food to eat ye know not of.
What does he have? Nobody has brought him food - him the source of all being, all life, has served and thereby been fed. In obedience to his father's will Jesus finds true sustenance. Not in bread alone but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God he finds life.
Life, true life, comes to us, as it came to her, the Samaritan woman, in relationship to the living God revealed in Jesus.
+
The woman at the well meets Jesus, and they talk, and he tells her every thing she has ever done.
Revealing her, he reveals himself.
Revealing himself, she discovers who she really is - her identity, her true self.
Her self, in relation to God.
(Some ideas from Herb O'Driscoll, based on his "The Word Today" comments on the readings for today.)
What was she expecting? when she went to the well - a bucket of water, a means to draw it up, a well - that her ancestors knew - a gift of an ancient God; yet here he is before her, the one she awaits, the one she expected, after all those years even centuries, the redeemer - the restorer - the one to deliver - not only Israel, for she was Samaritan - the whole world...
She went not to call her husband and come back but to tell the whole town.
This man told me everything he knew about me - and that was everything I have ever done.
But he told her more than that - more than the facts. He said, I will give you living water, water that will gush up like a spring, water that will not simply quench her thirst, fill her need for a day.
This is not the oasis; this is the source.
Israel was having trouble trusting Moses - or God. Moses, who had drawn them up out of Egypt as he, Moses, had been drawn up out of the Nile. Moses, who had struck the Nile with his staff that God might show him the wonder of his majesty. Moses, who struck a rock in the desert that God mgiht show the majesty of his wonders.
Even the barren places flow with streams of water when God commands it. Even the most quarrelsome people, who put God to the test - he sweeps aside their doubts and their lack of faith - he has a wonder to show them - and a wonder to work in them.
Not only does he, having Moses strike the rock, draw forth water from barren stone: he craws forth from barren hearts the miracle of faith, of grace, of love - the mystery of faith that is incarnate in Jesus, that springs up new life within us. That Christ who died, who is risen, who will come again: that Christ lives in our hearts forever.
That God who was a distant memory, a story about an ancestor, the one who strove by the Jordan river with the angel and by giving a well to a son - a beloved son, en route to exile in Egypt; that God, the one who is expected to deliver us, some day, so we are taught (good lesson learned, she remembers it when it counts): that God is present.
That God is present to her, the woman at the well, in the mercy and grace - and the insight - of the Savior, the one who is before here now speaking. God is here and now with us - speaking healing words of truth and of wisdom, of mercy and forgiveness; offering life even through the font that is himself, his own compassionate heart.
In her heart springs up wonder, the wonder of faith, and she goes to tell the world. Like the man born blind she cannot keep it to herself - the wonderful news of the coming of the Savior.
"Living water" - and then the disciples came... As she leaves her jar and goes back to town, they approach him and offer him food (supply run complete). He says to them something strange - it sounds simple - and impossible: I have food to eat ye know not of.
What does he have? Nobody has brought him food - him the source of all being, all life, has served and thereby been fed. In obedience to his father's will Jesus finds true sustenance. Not in bread alone but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God he finds life.
Life, true life, comes to us, as it came to her, the Samaritan woman, in relationship to the living God revealed in Jesus.
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Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Bible translations
There are a variety of Bible translations available; some intended for both common worship and private prayer; some best for private study.
There is a spectrum, as Donald Kraus shows in “Choosing a Bible” (Seabury, 2006).
Literal, formal, word-for-word translations try to be as faithful as possible to the sentence structure of the original language (New American Standard Version).
Some versions most concern themselves with easy comprehensibility by the modern ear: these can be “dynamic equivalent” meaning-for-meaning translations (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version) or paraphrases which go beyond the original text to enliven the reader’s understanding (J. B. Phillips, The Message).
Striking out for the middle way are the versions authorized for use in worship by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. Most formal (and venerable) of these is the Authorized King James Version (KJV) of 1611. This year is its 400th anniversary. It has many descendants including most recently the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) – which we hear during services as our lectionary text.
The New International Version (NIV) is concerned with conveying a consistent theological message. [The 2011 revision has moved more toward gender-neutral language though it preserves traditional language in some favorite passages.]
The Revised English Bible (REB) is a new translation from the original; along with the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) it has language both fresh and beautiful.
For private study I’d recommend hearing more than one version, and comparing notes and impressions with others.
And, beyond that, I’d recommend a Study Bible: the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV), Oxford Study Bible (REB), HarperCollins Study Bible (NRSV), or New Interpreter’s Study Bible (NRSV). There are also study editions of the New Jerusalem Bible, the New International Version, and others.
It is important to have a Bible that includes the Apocrypha, which is used in the liturgical churches (Episcopal, Catholic, Orthodox, etc.).
And then there are many commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and other helpful study aids. The Diocesan Resource Center, and Episcopal booksellers, including Episcopal Bookstore and the Cathedral Shop at St Mark's, can steer you toward some of the best.
***
Learn more about the New Revised Standard Version at http://www.ncccusa.org/newbtu/btuhome.html
Learn more about the Lectionary at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary.htm
Learn more about the New International Version at http://www.biblica.com/niv/
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There is a spectrum, as Donald Kraus shows in “Choosing a Bible” (Seabury, 2006).
Literal, formal, word-for-word translations try to be as faithful as possible to the sentence structure of the original language (New American Standard Version).
Some versions most concern themselves with easy comprehensibility by the modern ear: these can be “dynamic equivalent” meaning-for-meaning translations (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version) or paraphrases which go beyond the original text to enliven the reader’s understanding (J. B. Phillips, The Message).
Striking out for the middle way are the versions authorized for use in worship by the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. Most formal (and venerable) of these is the Authorized King James Version (KJV) of 1611. This year is its 400th anniversary. It has many descendants including most recently the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) – which we hear during services as our lectionary text.
The New International Version (NIV) is concerned with conveying a consistent theological message. [The 2011 revision has moved more toward gender-neutral language though it preserves traditional language in some favorite passages.]
The Revised English Bible (REB) is a new translation from the original; along with the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) it has language both fresh and beautiful.
For private study I’d recommend hearing more than one version, and comparing notes and impressions with others.
And, beyond that, I’d recommend a Study Bible: the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV), Oxford Study Bible (REB), HarperCollins Study Bible (NRSV), or New Interpreter’s Study Bible (NRSV). There are also study editions of the New Jerusalem Bible, the New International Version, and others.
It is important to have a Bible that includes the Apocrypha, which is used in the liturgical churches (Episcopal, Catholic, Orthodox, etc.).
And then there are many commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and other helpful study aids. The Diocesan Resource Center, and Episcopal booksellers, including Episcopal Bookstore and the Cathedral Shop at St Mark's, can steer you toward some of the best.
***
Learn more about the New Revised Standard Version at http://www.ncccusa.org/newbtu/btuhome.html
Learn more about the Lectionary at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary.htm
Learn more about the New International Version at http://www.biblica.com/niv/
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Saturday, March 19, 2011
A HYMN IN PRAISE OF THE HUMBLE PANCAKE.
A HYMN IN PRAISE OF THE HUMBLE PANCAKE.
Delicious, delectable, easy to make,
The regular pancake takes moments to bake.
In texture and taste it has instant appeal,
Just eat half a dozen and see how you feel!
Some foods we all cherish, prime beef that we roast,
And some love some jam on their hot buttered toast.
Some strange folk like oysters, and some caviar,
But the plain simple pancake is better by far.
Like us, there are pancakes that put on some weight;
We then call them crumpets and fill up our plate.
If a pancake is slim and is rolled into shape,
We fill it with calories and call it a crepe!
Now when you serve pancakes to some special guest
With pure maple syrup, it's quite at its best.
But even more scrumptious, if you have the nerve,
Take butter, and sausages, and bacon - and serve!
Universal, ecumenical, the pancake unites.
It never provokes theological fights.
The church that serves pancakes, we can guarantee,
From schisms and heresies will always be free!
Now pancakes in history have played a great part,
They fill up the stomach and gladden the heart.
Great armies have marched and great victories won
On pancakes and sausages served up by the ton!
Sing praise then for pancakes, against all the odds,
Their humble ingredients are food for the gods.
We all love a pancake, and though we're aware
They make us quite fat - but WE DON'T REALLY CARE!
Light fare for Shrove Tuesday from Herbert O'Driscoll.
(c) 2011. All rights reserved. Tune: St. Denio.
Delicious, delectable, easy to make,
The regular pancake takes moments to bake.
In texture and taste it has instant appeal,
Just eat half a dozen and see how you feel!
Some foods we all cherish, prime beef that we roast,
And some love some jam on their hot buttered toast.
Some strange folk like oysters, and some caviar,
But the plain simple pancake is better by far.
Like us, there are pancakes that put on some weight;
We then call them crumpets and fill up our plate.
If a pancake is slim and is rolled into shape,
We fill it with calories and call it a crepe!
Now when you serve pancakes to some special guest
With pure maple syrup, it's quite at its best.
But even more scrumptious, if you have the nerve,
Take butter, and sausages, and bacon - and serve!
Universal, ecumenical, the pancake unites.
It never provokes theological fights.
The church that serves pancakes, we can guarantee,
From schisms and heresies will always be free!
Now pancakes in history have played a great part,
They fill up the stomach and gladden the heart.
Great armies have marched and great victories won
On pancakes and sausages served up by the ton!
Sing praise then for pancakes, against all the odds,
Their humble ingredients are food for the gods.
We all love a pancake, and though we're aware
They make us quite fat - but WE DON'T REALLY CARE!
Light fare for Shrove Tuesday from Herbert O'Driscoll.
(c) 2011. All rights reserved. Tune: St. Denio.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The Temptation of Jesus
In the name of God, source of all being, eternal Word, and Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we hear through news reports that a disaster has occurred on the far side of the ocean – or the far side of town.
We try to make sense of it. We pray. We seek personal connections.
Was my colleague in Christchurch hurt? Yes.
Are my son’s friends in Japan okay? Yes.
A plane goes down in northern Iraq.
And a nephew was on board.
We mourn them. We are torn by the loss.
What will we do now? How can we help each other?
And we begin to remember them – or learn about them – and reclaim a fuller sense of their lives – and of God’s abundant love.
For God does not ever intentionally will somebody harm.
For the Lord will not reject for ever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone. (Lamentations 3:31-33)
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
What we have is our presence with each other and with God – and the continuing comforting presence, felt yet or not yet, of the One who gave his Son to be with us as one of us, sharing our human flesh and fate that we might be taken up ourselves into the divine life.
When that day comes we will not be less ourselves, we will be more ourselves: We will not be absorbed into nonentity – but God will complete in us his work beyond imagining – bringing us at last into the fullness of life – that we when we stand together at the Last Day will know each other fully at last, as we gaze together into the face of Christ, and hear him say,
Welcome home, good brother, good sister – good daughter, good son – good mother, good father, good uncle or aunt - good servant of my kingdom, and God’s own beloved child.
The prophet Isaiah writes (25:6-10a):
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow,
of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him,
so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.
At that banquet table – to which we are all invited – we too will be at home.
So why not, then, knowing what awaits us – the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God – why not give up everything but life in God?
In Lent it is tempting to rely on giving up – or taking on – some little thing. Giving up broccoli, learning to love opera.
Something – something not shaming but satisfying – maybe even gratifying: is that what we want to do with our Lent, our season’s sojourn in the wilderness?
And yet we know, if we do not deceive ourselves, that we’d be settling for something less than we were made for – for we are made as children of heaven, as beloved as sons and daughters, as glorious as the stars in the sky – and whatever we do, small or great, is good – very good – when it leads us homeward to God.
When it leads us to rely on God and on God only, when we trust God, when we worship God – when we show in how we treat others the goodness of the Lord we know and of his Creation – it is good; and so we love God, heart, soul, mind, and strength, and God alone do we serve. In God alone we find our strength and our salvation.
Salvation is not only rescue from sorrow; it is the positive gift of the fullness of life, made complete in Christ, that awaits us as we are shaped at last into the image of Christ, into becoming fully ourselves.
Somewhere on a bookshelf I have had an old paperback – Shooting Stars – photographs (from Rolling Stone) of musicians from the 60s and 70s. There is a picture of a rock star slumped against the wall in a border control entry station. He is dressed like Elvis but he is an alien. (He’s British.) Above him over his head – his head with those cool sunglasses hiding his eyes – is an official poster, which reads, “Patience, please. A drug-free America comes first.”
It might well say, today, “Security comes first.”
Security is our first consideration at times of trouble. Am I okay? Are you all right? Is my family safe?
And we begin to ask, what can I do to protect myself? What can they do to keep this from happening again? Where can I find security?
John baptized Jesus, and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove: “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
As Israel had passed through the Red Sea waters and emerged on the other side into the wilderness of Sinai, there to discover what it really meant to be God's people, so Jesus passed through the waters of baptism at the Jordan River and then went forward into the desert, where it began to be revealed what being God's son meant.
Jesus walked out into the wilderness alone – and there was nothing there; nothing but temptation, it looked like. Nothing to rely on. No safety, no security, unless –
Then the Tempter comes.
If you are the Son, make these stones into bread. Show me a magic trick. Take care of yourself. You can do it – on your own!
If you are the Son of God, if you are his dearly Beloved, prove it! Throw yourself down – and prove God loves you – by doing something foolish, even contemptuous of his love.
Or tell you what – I’ll give you a deal. You can have all this: all the kingdoms of the world, glowing with majesty – even Rome itself can be yours all yours – and all you have to do? All you have to do is bow down and worship me.
Herod was ready to bow down to you – you know he was. But those foolish wise people – they got in the way. And they did it first.
Jesus is the Son, the Beloved; he needs nothing else. And in the fullness of the knowledge of the love of God, he replies:
Human beings live by the word of God. Do not tempt the Lord. Worship God and him only.
In other words, now hear this: the first and greatest commandment is this: Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind, all thy soul and all thy spirit, and with all thy strength. That is where true security lies.
Could the second be like unto it?
You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Can everything – all the words of the Law and the Prophets – depend on this? Can we count on these words? What if we are dying? What if –
And yet – we may follow in the footsteps of Israel in the wilderness, of David in the hidden fortress up in the hills, of Elijah in the cave mouth on the mountain, of Jesus in the desert – and facing the Tempter say,
Begone: for I love the living God and him only will I serve.
I put my trust – my life – in the hands of the One who created all things, who redeems all from sin, and brings us to the fullness, the completion, of our lives – in the one ultimately safe place, the love of God.
And that is the invitation of Lent, and the meaning of Baptism. Why not give up everything but life in God?
Why not give your faith to the One who has already given his all?
What must we do to be saved?
Believe – in the one true and living God who created all things.
As our savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say, Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
+
Sometimes we hear through news reports that a disaster has occurred on the far side of the ocean – or the far side of town.
We try to make sense of it. We pray. We seek personal connections.
Was my colleague in Christchurch hurt? Yes.
Are my son’s friends in Japan okay? Yes.
A plane goes down in northern Iraq.
And a nephew was on board.
We mourn them. We are torn by the loss.
What will we do now? How can we help each other?
And we begin to remember them – or learn about them – and reclaim a fuller sense of their lives – and of God’s abundant love.
For God does not ever intentionally will somebody harm.
For the Lord will not reject for ever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone. (Lamentations 3:31-33)
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
What we have is our presence with each other and with God – and the continuing comforting presence, felt yet or not yet, of the One who gave his Son to be with us as one of us, sharing our human flesh and fate that we might be taken up ourselves into the divine life.
When that day comes we will not be less ourselves, we will be more ourselves: We will not be absorbed into nonentity – but God will complete in us his work beyond imagining – bringing us at last into the fullness of life – that we when we stand together at the Last Day will know each other fully at last, as we gaze together into the face of Christ, and hear him say,
Welcome home, good brother, good sister – good daughter, good son – good mother, good father, good uncle or aunt - good servant of my kingdom, and God’s own beloved child.
The prophet Isaiah writes (25:6-10a):
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow,
of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him,
so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.
At that banquet table – to which we are all invited – we too will be at home.
So why not, then, knowing what awaits us – the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God – why not give up everything but life in God?
In Lent it is tempting to rely on giving up – or taking on – some little thing. Giving up broccoli, learning to love opera.
Something – something not shaming but satisfying – maybe even gratifying: is that what we want to do with our Lent, our season’s sojourn in the wilderness?
And yet we know, if we do not deceive ourselves, that we’d be settling for something less than we were made for – for we are made as children of heaven, as beloved as sons and daughters, as glorious as the stars in the sky – and whatever we do, small or great, is good – very good – when it leads us homeward to God.
When it leads us to rely on God and on God only, when we trust God, when we worship God – when we show in how we treat others the goodness of the Lord we know and of his Creation – it is good; and so we love God, heart, soul, mind, and strength, and God alone do we serve. In God alone we find our strength and our salvation.
Salvation is not only rescue from sorrow; it is the positive gift of the fullness of life, made complete in Christ, that awaits us as we are shaped at last into the image of Christ, into becoming fully ourselves.
Somewhere on a bookshelf I have had an old paperback – Shooting Stars – photographs (from Rolling Stone) of musicians from the 60s and 70s. There is a picture of a rock star slumped against the wall in a border control entry station. He is dressed like Elvis but he is an alien. (He’s British.) Above him over his head – his head with those cool sunglasses hiding his eyes – is an official poster, which reads, “Patience, please. A drug-free America comes first.”
It might well say, today, “Security comes first.”
Security is our first consideration at times of trouble. Am I okay? Are you all right? Is my family safe?
And we begin to ask, what can I do to protect myself? What can they do to keep this from happening again? Where can I find security?
John baptized Jesus, and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove: “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
As Israel had passed through the Red Sea waters and emerged on the other side into the wilderness of Sinai, there to discover what it really meant to be God's people, so Jesus passed through the waters of baptism at the Jordan River and then went forward into the desert, where it began to be revealed what being God's son meant.
Jesus walked out into the wilderness alone – and there was nothing there; nothing but temptation, it looked like. Nothing to rely on. No safety, no security, unless –
Then the Tempter comes.
If you are the Son, make these stones into bread. Show me a magic trick. Take care of yourself. You can do it – on your own!
If you are the Son of God, if you are his dearly Beloved, prove it! Throw yourself down – and prove God loves you – by doing something foolish, even contemptuous of his love.
Or tell you what – I’ll give you a deal. You can have all this: all the kingdoms of the world, glowing with majesty – even Rome itself can be yours all yours – and all you have to do? All you have to do is bow down and worship me.
Herod was ready to bow down to you – you know he was. But those foolish wise people – they got in the way. And they did it first.
Jesus is the Son, the Beloved; he needs nothing else. And in the fullness of the knowledge of the love of God, he replies:
Human beings live by the word of God. Do not tempt the Lord. Worship God and him only.
In other words, now hear this: the first and greatest commandment is this: Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind, all thy soul and all thy spirit, and with all thy strength. That is where true security lies.
Could the second be like unto it?
You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Can everything – all the words of the Law and the Prophets – depend on this? Can we count on these words? What if we are dying? What if –
And yet – we may follow in the footsteps of Israel in the wilderness, of David in the hidden fortress up in the hills, of Elijah in the cave mouth on the mountain, of Jesus in the desert – and facing the Tempter say,
Begone: for I love the living God and him only will I serve.
I put my trust – my life – in the hands of the One who created all things, who redeems all from sin, and brings us to the fullness, the completion, of our lives – in the one ultimately safe place, the love of God.
And that is the invitation of Lent, and the meaning of Baptism. Why not give up everything but life in God?
Why not give your faith to the One who has already given his all?
What must we do to be saved?
Believe – in the one true and living God who created all things.
As our savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say, Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
+
Saturday, March 12, 2011
"Security comes first"
Sometimes we hear through news reports that a disaster has occurred on the far side of the ocean – or the far side of town.
We try to make sense of it. We pray. We seek personal connections.
Was my colleague in Christchurch hurt? Yes.
Are my son’s friends in Japan okay? Yes.
A plane goes down in northern Iraq.
And Murad Michael Megalli was on board.
We mourn him. We are torn by the loss.
What will we do now? How can we help each other?
And we begin to remember him – or learn about him – and reclaim a fuller sense of his life – and of God’s abundant love.
For God does not ever intentionally will somebody harm.
He did not will that plane to go down, leaving Sami and Roman, Aguil, Martha, Roger, Margaret – all who knew him, all who would have known him, all those whom he served without being known, without his presence.
What we have is our presence with each other and with God – and the continuing comforting presence, felt yet or not yet, of the One who gave his Son to be with us as one of us, sharing our human flesh and fate that we might be taken up ourselves into the divine life.
When that day comes we will not be less ourselves – we will not be absorbed into nonentity – but God will complete in us his work beyond imagining – bringing us at last into the fullness of life – that we when we stand together at the Last Day will know each other fully at last, as we gaze – with Murad – into the face of Christ, and hear him say,
Welcome home, good brother – good son – good father – good servant of my kingdom, and God’s own beloved child.
At that banquet table – to which we are all invited – we too will be at home.
+
Somewhere on a bookshelf I have had an old paperback – Shooting Stars – photographs (from Rolling Stone) of musicians from the 60s and 70s. There is a picture of a rock star slumped against the wall in a border control entry station. He is dressed like Elvis but he is an alien. (He’s British.) Above him over his head – his head with those cool sunglasses hiding his eyes – is an official poster, which reads, “Patience, please. A drug-free America comes first.”
It might well say, today, “Security comes first.”
Security is our first consideration at times of trouble. Am I okay? Are you all right? Is my family safe?
And we begin to ask, what can I do to protect myself? What can they do to keep this from happening again? Where can I find security?
Jesus walked out into the wilderness alone – and there was nothing there; nothing but temptation, it looked like. Nothing to rely on. No safety, no security, unless –
Human beings live by the word of God. Do not tempt the Lord. Worship God and him only.
In other words, this is the first and greatest commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind, all thy soul and all thy spirit, and with all thy strength. That is where your security lies.
Could the second be like unto it?
You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Can everything – all the words of the Law and the Prophets – depend on this? Can we count on these words? What if we are dying? What if –
And yet – we may follow in the footsteps of Israel in the wilderness, of David in the hidden fortress up in the hills, of Elijah in the cave mouth on the mountain, of Jesus in the desert – and facing the Tempter say,
Begone: for I love the living God and him only will I serve.
I put my trust – my life – in the hands of the One who created all things, who redeems all from sin, and brings us to the fullness, the completion, of our lives – in the one ultimately safe place, the love of God.
What must we do to be saved? Believe – in the one true and living God who created all things.
Amen.
+
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Psalm 32
+
http://www.cockburnproject.net/songs&music/ttwn.html
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=murad-megalli&pid=148440102
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
12 Mar 2011
St Alban’s
Edmonds.
+
We try to make sense of it. We pray. We seek personal connections.
Was my colleague in Christchurch hurt? Yes.
Are my son’s friends in Japan okay? Yes.
A plane goes down in northern Iraq.
And Murad Michael Megalli was on board.
We mourn him. We are torn by the loss.
What will we do now? How can we help each other?
And we begin to remember him – or learn about him – and reclaim a fuller sense of his life – and of God’s abundant love.
For God does not ever intentionally will somebody harm.
He did not will that plane to go down, leaving Sami and Roman, Aguil, Martha, Roger, Margaret – all who knew him, all who would have known him, all those whom he served without being known, without his presence.
What we have is our presence with each other and with God – and the continuing comforting presence, felt yet or not yet, of the One who gave his Son to be with us as one of us, sharing our human flesh and fate that we might be taken up ourselves into the divine life.
When that day comes we will not be less ourselves – we will not be absorbed into nonentity – but God will complete in us his work beyond imagining – bringing us at last into the fullness of life – that we when we stand together at the Last Day will know each other fully at last, as we gaze – with Murad – into the face of Christ, and hear him say,
Welcome home, good brother – good son – good father – good servant of my kingdom, and God’s own beloved child.
At that banquet table – to which we are all invited – we too will be at home.
+
Somewhere on a bookshelf I have had an old paperback – Shooting Stars – photographs (from Rolling Stone) of musicians from the 60s and 70s. There is a picture of a rock star slumped against the wall in a border control entry station. He is dressed like Elvis but he is an alien. (He’s British.) Above him over his head – his head with those cool sunglasses hiding his eyes – is an official poster, which reads, “Patience, please. A drug-free America comes first.”
It might well say, today, “Security comes first.”
Security is our first consideration at times of trouble. Am I okay? Are you all right? Is my family safe?
And we begin to ask, what can I do to protect myself? What can they do to keep this from happening again? Where can I find security?
Jesus walked out into the wilderness alone – and there was nothing there; nothing but temptation, it looked like. Nothing to rely on. No safety, no security, unless –
Human beings live by the word of God. Do not tempt the Lord. Worship God and him only.
In other words, this is the first and greatest commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind, all thy soul and all thy spirit, and with all thy strength. That is where your security lies.
Could the second be like unto it?
You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Can everything – all the words of the Law and the Prophets – depend on this? Can we count on these words? What if we are dying? What if –
And yet – we may follow in the footsteps of Israel in the wilderness, of David in the hidden fortress up in the hills, of Elijah in the cave mouth on the mountain, of Jesus in the desert – and facing the Tempter say,
Begone: for I love the living God and him only will I serve.
I put my trust – my life – in the hands of the One who created all things, who redeems all from sin, and brings us to the fullness, the completion, of our lives – in the one ultimately safe place, the love of God.
What must we do to be saved? Believe – in the one true and living God who created all things.
Amen.
+
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Psalm 32
+
http://www.cockburnproject.net/songs&music/ttwn.html
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=murad-megalli&pid=148440102
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
12 Mar 2011
St Alban’s
Edmonds.
+
Sunday, March 6, 2011
a high point
March 6th, Last Sunday after Epiphany
* Exodus 24:12-18
* Psalm 2 or 99
* 2 Peter 1:16-21
* Matthew 17:1-9
In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Late in the 19th Century the Marshall family of St Paul, Minnesota, decided to take a vacation. They had heard about the Brule River Valley in northern Wisconsin; that it was a good place to fish and camp. They knew it was out there in the north woods someplace west of Ashland. And so they took the train to Ashland, and there they found a local guide.
-- Oh, sure, I know the Brule. I can take you there.
So off they went. Into the wilderness.
After a while it became abundantly clear that the 'guide' knew nothing about the Brule - he did not know where they were.
So he got demoted. The father of the family had been in the army during the Civil War and learned some orienteering skills. It was time to put them to use. He led the family to the highest point around. There they were able to see where they were, and get their bearings. He plotted a route out. So when they plunged back into the forest, they knew where they were going. And he led them back to safety and civilization.
They did eventually find their way to the Brule, known of old to the voyageurs who used it as a route from the Great Lakes to the the Mississippi River Valley and to the LaPointe band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and to the Brule Sioux. With the help of these local people they got to the Brule River and camped. And they found the trout.
They liked it so much they still go there to fish and camp.
What Mr Marshall had done for his family - leading them to a high point where they could see where they were and get their bearings, then leading them out to safety - was a gift. They got the lay of the land - and with that they knew what to do.
***
Moses received a greater gift when he went up the mountain, first with the elders of the tribe, then alone. He was alone up there for forty days.
He received the gift of the law - a letter of agreement, if you will, solemnizing the covenant that God had made with the people of Israel.
The gift of the Torah, the Law, did not show them the bearings or the map coordinates for their passage through life, but it gave them the compass they needed to find their way.
The Torah told them who they were and where they were going - by showing them the ways in which they were to go.
And it assured them of God's presence all along the way.
What they had was a covenant relationship; the gift of the faithful presence of God.
They received more than a compass bearing, more than a GPS device; more than anything they received the gift of the presence of the holy one.
They got more than they expected.
For there on the mountain - it was who was revealed on the mountain, who chose to be revealed, that mattered.
From then on, they knew their way.
After that, they plunged back into the wilderness. It was still a long road - a long road from Exodus to freedom, from bondage to liberation, from sorrow into joy. It was a long road to the land of promise - as it is for all of us. We are still on the road.
And we still have the presence of God to guide us on our way.
***
When Jesus and his friends went up the mountain - when he took Peter and James and John with him and led them up to a high point, they were on a journey into the presence of the holy. And they got more than they expected.
We all have images of God, and of Jesus - of who Jesus is. And so we can treat the Gospels like a historical Jesus coloring book.
We have a sketch outline, like a coloring book, and we fill it in with our favorite colors - the ones we have and know.
To put it another way, we see a figure, white like a movie screen, and we can project images onto it - like the screen from a projector, we use Jesus as a place to show our own images of what God is like, what life is like, and how we are to live.
Then we encounter the reality.
His face shone like the sun and his clothes dazzled them with unearthly brilliance.
Brighter than any screen, sharper and clearer than any familiar image we can project - more gracious and greater than any we could conceive - we see Jesus transfigured.
God is present.
Peter started to get the idea and had a practical religious response. He suggested the building of tabernacles, booths, for three holy men of God - Moses and Elijah had been to the mountain top before, and now Jesus had joined them.
Is Peter trying to comprehend the infinite - to enshrine it, to find a limit to it, so that its meaning becomes finite? Its challenge manageable? Just a little bit familiar?
Then the voice spoke out of the cloud.
This is my Son, the Beloved. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him.
The voice of Sinai, the voice of the desert, the voice of the mountain top glory - the voice once still and small - and yet irresistibly great - spoke to them.
John the Baptist had seen it before them, when he baptized our Lord - and he knew who was with him. Now the disciples heard the voice and they knew. In Jesus, the living God was present.
And then the command came - from One they knew:
Get up and do not be afraid.
Get up and make your way back down the mountain. You have your bearings now. You know where you are. You know the way. I am the Way.
He is the Way, and the One you are to follow. From here on - from the moment on the mountain top - you have something better than a guide, better than a map, better than a compass: you have God's living presence. And you have his love.
His love is shown in the gift of life - in the gift of his life, his death.
His glory is revealed anew in the Resurrection - the Ascension - and Pentecost.
Moses was on the mountain for forty days - as Jesus was in the wilderness forty days.
And we are about to enter the season of Lent - a yearly observance, forty days long, of a season of preparation. For this mountain top experience, this high point at the end of Epiphany, is not the end of the journey. We are still on the road. We are still making our way toward God and the land of his promise. On the other side of Lent are -
still greater things: the gift of Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. The gift of God's atoning work - and the experience beyond death of the resurrection.
The disciples witnessed the Ascension - and then received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
All this, every year, we remember - as it lies before us, ahead of us, in the coming year, it is what we already know - and are sure of - the loving presence of God.
How are we to deal with this? How shall we respond? Shall we build three booths? Shall we fall on our faces, overcome by fear, knowing we are in the presence of the holy? Or shall we - taking him at his word - find courage in his touch, and walk with him again?
Down the mountain the disciples walked with their Lord - and plunged back into the wilderness of life, with a long road to follow - but now they knew the way.
Be with us Christ every step of the way. Shed your light - be with us, before us, behind us, above us: renew us in the breaking of the bread, the pouring out of the wine. Be with us in the sharing of the sign of peace, and the offering of our selves to you. Be with us as we go out the door, to love and serve you. And reveal yourself to us - not only shining on the mountain, but in the gift of each other and the world you came to save.
+
* Exodus 24:12-18
* Psalm 2 or 99
* 2 Peter 1:16-21
* Matthew 17:1-9
In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Late in the 19th Century the Marshall family of St Paul, Minnesota, decided to take a vacation. They had heard about the Brule River Valley in northern Wisconsin; that it was a good place to fish and camp. They knew it was out there in the north woods someplace west of Ashland. And so they took the train to Ashland, and there they found a local guide.
-- Oh, sure, I know the Brule. I can take you there.
So off they went. Into the wilderness.
After a while it became abundantly clear that the 'guide' knew nothing about the Brule - he did not know where they were.
So he got demoted. The father of the family had been in the army during the Civil War and learned some orienteering skills. It was time to put them to use. He led the family to the highest point around. There they were able to see where they were, and get their bearings. He plotted a route out. So when they plunged back into the forest, they knew where they were going. And he led them back to safety and civilization.
They did eventually find their way to the Brule, known of old to the voyageurs who used it as a route from the Great Lakes to the the Mississippi River Valley and to the LaPointe band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and to the Brule Sioux. With the help of these local people they got to the Brule River and camped. And they found the trout.
They liked it so much they still go there to fish and camp.
What Mr Marshall had done for his family - leading them to a high point where they could see where they were and get their bearings, then leading them out to safety - was a gift. They got the lay of the land - and with that they knew what to do.
***
Moses received a greater gift when he went up the mountain, first with the elders of the tribe, then alone. He was alone up there for forty days.
He received the gift of the law - a letter of agreement, if you will, solemnizing the covenant that God had made with the people of Israel.
The gift of the Torah, the Law, did not show them the bearings or the map coordinates for their passage through life, but it gave them the compass they needed to find their way.
The Torah told them who they were and where they were going - by showing them the ways in which they were to go.
And it assured them of God's presence all along the way.
What they had was a covenant relationship; the gift of the faithful presence of God.
They received more than a compass bearing, more than a GPS device; more than anything they received the gift of the presence of the holy one.
They got more than they expected.
For there on the mountain - it was who was revealed on the mountain, who chose to be revealed, that mattered.
From then on, they knew their way.
After that, they plunged back into the wilderness. It was still a long road - a long road from Exodus to freedom, from bondage to liberation, from sorrow into joy. It was a long road to the land of promise - as it is for all of us. We are still on the road.
And we still have the presence of God to guide us on our way.
***
When Jesus and his friends went up the mountain - when he took Peter and James and John with him and led them up to a high point, they were on a journey into the presence of the holy. And they got more than they expected.
We all have images of God, and of Jesus - of who Jesus is. And so we can treat the Gospels like a historical Jesus coloring book.
We have a sketch outline, like a coloring book, and we fill it in with our favorite colors - the ones we have and know.
To put it another way, we see a figure, white like a movie screen, and we can project images onto it - like the screen from a projector, we use Jesus as a place to show our own images of what God is like, what life is like, and how we are to live.
Then we encounter the reality.
His face shone like the sun and his clothes dazzled them with unearthly brilliance.
Brighter than any screen, sharper and clearer than any familiar image we can project - more gracious and greater than any we could conceive - we see Jesus transfigured.
God is present.
Peter started to get the idea and had a practical religious response. He suggested the building of tabernacles, booths, for three holy men of God - Moses and Elijah had been to the mountain top before, and now Jesus had joined them.
Is Peter trying to comprehend the infinite - to enshrine it, to find a limit to it, so that its meaning becomes finite? Its challenge manageable? Just a little bit familiar?
Then the voice spoke out of the cloud.
This is my Son, the Beloved. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him.
The voice of Sinai, the voice of the desert, the voice of the mountain top glory - the voice once still and small - and yet irresistibly great - spoke to them.
John the Baptist had seen it before them, when he baptized our Lord - and he knew who was with him. Now the disciples heard the voice and they knew. In Jesus, the living God was present.
And then the command came - from One they knew:
Get up and do not be afraid.
Get up and make your way back down the mountain. You have your bearings now. You know where you are. You know the way. I am the Way.
He is the Way, and the One you are to follow. From here on - from the moment on the mountain top - you have something better than a guide, better than a map, better than a compass: you have God's living presence. And you have his love.
His love is shown in the gift of life - in the gift of his life, his death.
His glory is revealed anew in the Resurrection - the Ascension - and Pentecost.
Moses was on the mountain for forty days - as Jesus was in the wilderness forty days.
And we are about to enter the season of Lent - a yearly observance, forty days long, of a season of preparation. For this mountain top experience, this high point at the end of Epiphany, is not the end of the journey. We are still on the road. We are still making our way toward God and the land of his promise. On the other side of Lent are -
still greater things: the gift of Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. The gift of God's atoning work - and the experience beyond death of the resurrection.
The disciples witnessed the Ascension - and then received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
All this, every year, we remember - as it lies before us, ahead of us, in the coming year, it is what we already know - and are sure of - the loving presence of God.
How are we to deal with this? How shall we respond? Shall we build three booths? Shall we fall on our faces, overcome by fear, knowing we are in the presence of the holy? Or shall we - taking him at his word - find courage in his touch, and walk with him again?
Down the mountain the disciples walked with their Lord - and plunged back into the wilderness of life, with a long road to follow - but now they knew the way.
Be with us Christ every step of the way. Shed your light - be with us, before us, behind us, above us: renew us in the breaking of the bread, the pouring out of the wine. Be with us in the sharing of the sign of peace, and the offering of our selves to you. Be with us as we go out the door, to love and serve you. And reveal yourself to us - not only shining on the mountain, but in the gift of each other and the world you came to save.
+
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