moving on

Lent 2 - Year C

I believe!
sounds so convincing
I believe.
seems so reasonable
I believe?
is much closer

living as if . . . were true?
acknowledges lived experience
living as if . . . were true.
keeps us persistent
living as if . . . were true!
brings moments of transformation

like two roads in a wood
choosing is the stuff of life
focusing on what can be seen
appreciating straight lines
witnessing to what is not yet
picking carefully a next step

I believe!
true?
I believe.
seemingly.
I believe?
yes!
 

Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

Lent 2 - Year C

Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

"Our citizenship is in heaven."
"Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."

Earth/Heaven, go ahead, try to distinguish them. Each time we think we have a defining characteristic that sets one apart from the other we are surprised at how often G*D needs to repent and the least of us comes to be where they can not only "live as if", but actually do so and further reveal G*D.

Both Earth and Heaven are transformational images. Transformation goes beyond glory, power, and subjugation. Transformation goes to the heart of the matter - loving and longing for another. In this we find ourselves standing firm and standing together - G*D, Neighbor, Self, One Another, and Enemies.
 

Psalm 27

Lent 2 - Year C

Psalm 27

To "behold beauty" and "inquire" are almost enough to fill all the days of my life. We sometimes make that specific to our experience base and limit a beautiful life to G*D and our inquiry to a religious setting. These specifics are examples, not limits.

We look to having our beholding and inquiring fulfilled. So we move from verse 4 to verse 7 and yearn for grace and answers. We don't usually find these as ultimates and so we turn to verse 11 for teaching and leading onward and onward and onward from beautiful question to beautiful question.

In this teaching and leading, whether during a Lenten season or not, we are able to conclude that we will "live as if" goodness in this life were avail-able and action-able. Our active living through the seasons of life will demonstrate courage to both wait and "live as if".
 

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Lent 2 - Year C

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Remember - "belief" is not a head trip or an assent to a doctrine or creed. "Belief" is an action. Abram "lived as if" G*D's promise of descendants were true already. This living-as-if was Abram's righteousness.

It is very easy to get caught up in the ritual of slaughtered and divided animals. Do note that the G*D simply requested the presence of animals, creation's witnesses, just as later there will be traditions of Jesus born in a manger with the witness of animals. It was Abram who proceeded to sacrifice the animals and who would later be all too ready to sacrifice Isaac. It is difficult to get rid of our personal and cultural baggage and to mis-hear G*D - it's been going on since Adam.

Note also that G*D came into the picture again after Abram was exhausted from keeping the carrion cravers at bay. G*D came in the dark of night, in the evening of a next day.

I imagine that the smoking fire pot and flaming torch passed between the pieces of animals asking forgiveness, bringing restoration, and anticipating Ezekiel's valley of dry bones.

May you live-as-if into a new morning of a next day without carrying the burden of personal and cultural needs for sacrifice.
 

Luke 13:31-35

Lent 2 - Year C

Luke 13:31-35

Thank you, Pharisees, for an honorable warning, even if it does play to your benefit.

Thank you, Jesus, for an honorable persistence and honorable heeding, even if it does play to your demise.

Just as there are a variety of personalities and perspectives, so there are a variety of ways to be honorable.

This passage challenges our honor. What can we say we are doing to transform the world around us? Is Health Care Reform with a Public Option the moral and political equivalent of "casting out demons and performing cures"?

This passage challenges our wisdom. Are we clear when we take a half-a-step forward and "be on our way", even if it is less than optimal? Are we as clear when we take a stand, "in Jerusalem", finally, for we can do no other?

When such becomes clear there is an equal clarity of blessing.

inspected

Lent 1 - Year C

vision leaks
a refilling
needed constantly

wilderness encounters
are persistent
draining

yet
tests completed
renew

vision and wilderness
cycle through
our life journey

filling and using
time and energy
spirit space

jump or don't
filled or empty
our inheritance

to choose
even good from bad
divides us

to negate
seeming choices
brings new vision

around we go
choosing or not
well tested

a life well tested
is a life well lived
enjoy your next test
 

Romans 10:(5-8a) 8b-13 (14-15)

Lent 1 - Year C

Romans 10:(5-8a) 8b-13 (14-15)

Beautiful news comes on good feet. Here's some encouraging news: a gift of love and life can be heard without a herald. It is part of living locally while imagining globally. As we are shaken about and come through, we give evidence, in any language or religious paradigm, of good and beauty - high value values.

How might we proclaim the best of what Moses, Confucius, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Joe Smith, Lao Tzu learned, lived, and taught? [Note: It is sad how few would recognize the leadership of Miriam, Mary Magdaline, Mary Baker Eddy or other women unnamed through the ages.] By doing the best of what you have to offer as the follower of one or another or on your own.

In this case, Christ is proclaimed by abundant living, not intermediate creedal interpretations of an ideal faith. It is this abundant living that is able to come through wilderness temptations and carry on, nonetheless.

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Lent 1 - Year C

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Hmm, "no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near." I guess I've not been Templed enough. Out here the protections of life seem frail and inconsistent. Satan seems robust. Angels appear distracted.

The Jewish Study Bible puts a finger on one of the issues here: "It is not clear how metaphorical the language is or whether it reflects popular religion and superstition; whether the dangers are from demons or from the ordinary dangers of plague, war, and wild animals." There is a sense more is trying to be said here than can be borne by any construct relating to reality.

Another issue is the on-going discernment difficulty of proactivity and reactivity. How far will G*D move toward welcoming all, even if they do not call out? What amount or quality of call will finally bring G*D to respond? These questions of G*D are also questions of ourselves. Do you have a theory about your own proactivity and reactivity?

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Lent 1 - Year C

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

You who have had nothing but what's-it stuff and rock water, keep on tip-toe for any first fruit to come. Yes, its coming. Without any more than that, keep a basket nearby in which to collect blessings.

My ancestors wandered. I have wandered. Fortunes have waxed with profits every quarter and then waned into slavery to that very profit motive. Once we laughed and danced. Recently we have cried and stumbled about. Signs and wonders were done with straw and mud, with grasshoppers and blood, and with milk and honey. So now we bring a basket feared forever empty, but now overflowing. And we bring our basket and we take our basket into our wandering and that of our descendants.

Rejoice, give thanks, and keep your basket ready. Who knows, a babe may need it, what's-it stuff may need it, a first fruit may need it. Sing it out, "Me and my Basket, strolling down life's avenue, adventures to tell to you and you and you. Just me and my Basket, ready for whatever shall ensue."
 

Luke 4:1-13

Lent 1 - Year C

Luke 4:1-13

Water baptized on the outside; Holy Spirit filled on the inside. Jesus says, "Bring it on."

A wilderness test: is there sufficient Spirit stored, camel-like, to lead beyond hunger, prestige, and security to see their temporary nature?

An ordinary test: Is there sufficient Spirit stored, guanaco-like, to lead beyond thirst, glory, and power to see their temporary nature?

As always with tests, there is another one coming. What might become appropriate disciplines and/or methodologies to prepare for future tests?

The hints here lie with three processes.

First, a trained perception to not be fooled by the surface, first level, or literalistic level of life. We don't live by bread alone or scripture alone or any other one answer response.

Second, an experienced appreciation for layers of worth. We often settle for one good (allowing participation in several other evils) rather than striving for additional virtues.

Third, a deepened appreciation of limits that we don't put our security needs in some magical basket. Perceived tests are often not that, simply another part of life's journey, and taking them lightly moves us past either/or, right/wrong, answers and into responses more appropriate to a much longer journey than this moment.

May your innate and accumulated spirit find you a willing fellow-traveler.

= = = = = = =

Textweek.com notes a helpful adjunct for this note by Barbara Brown Taylor, "Settling for Less"

Mercy's Freedom

Epiphany 6 - Year C

climbing a mountain
descending as well
is like any journey
beginning with a first step
and proceeding

so pleased we are
to have arisen
to return
and everywhere
along the way

such pleasure
warms our cockles
and bursts our soul
into surprising flame
enlightening our context

we can see
and be seen
showing
transforming
basics

step by step
day by day
month by year
life proceeds apace
through mercy's freedom
 

1 Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2

Epiphany 6 - Year C

1 Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2

Without getting into the double use of "veil" that Paul uses for his own purposes, like pundits misportray and obfuscate with language in our day, we can still fruitfully pursue the matter of transformation by degree. While there are conversion moments, most of life comes through growth, a degree at a time.

Here are some matters that Paul indicates help us to move by degrees to get a degree in Transformation Arts. Refer to Chapter 4, verses 1 and 2.

First, an ever growing appreciation of having received mercy.

Second, persistence in passing on as much mercy as we have received (a mercy ministry).

Third, little by little coming to grips with our areas of shame that we might move pass them.

Fourth, to not falsify past experience of G*D for our own present purposes, especially not to literalize metaphoric material.

And, fifth, to live before others as if we were living with G*D (or, through parallelism, to live with others as if we were living before G*D).

Each of these five key arenas to a transformed life can be approached methodically, by degree. May this day find you a bit further along than you were yesterday. May this day also find you moving off any plateau you had come to in any of these. May you exercise this handful of issues to gain a stronger grip on a preferred future.
 

Psalm 99

Epiphany 6 - Year C

Psalm 99

"Mighty King, lover of justice", is an image we aren't willing to see in one another. We know how we spin things to get what we want (is this another image of G*D?) and are therefore not willing to entrust justice to another. It is as though we have "executed" justice and righteousness before they could be proven useful in our midst.

Let's think about what it means to be made in an image of creativity. How do you rank the importance these three images of G*D or gods: namer of animals, cleaver to another, or lover of justice? Now, what other image of G*D is important to you and where would your rank it? Follow this pattern long enough and it is likely that you will find the image that makes you shine because you are doing your being.

In whatever ways Moses, Aaron, and Samuel (as well as Zipporah, Miriam, and Hannah) image G*D's forgiveness, justice, and righteousness, so might you and I. Yes? Yes! So, keep on keeping on with all of that and more (including G*D's play, work, and artistry imaged in you).
 

Exodus 34:29-35

Epiphany 6 - Year C

Exodus 34:29-35

Today's world associates a shining, glowing face with a happy face; an I-get-to-do-what-I-want-to-do face.

Moses' face shone as a result of an encounter with G*D's limits. If you see Moses coming toward you with a shining face - run! - you can bet there is going to be another boundary for your life coming.

While there are blessings in limits, they seem to bring a temptation to test them. We don't accede to them simply because they are attributed to G*D. Moses' shining face reveals how unreflective of the god's images we are. We are not eager to see such shining in orbit around our black hole sucking everything toward our id.

The veil approach (closeting) didn't work then and doesn't work now. Let the energy of life that brings healing flow and let the commandments shaping us toward healing beam their warning lights. We, like Moses, live within these poles.
 

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

Epiphany 6 - Year C

Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

We began Epiphany with a star in the west, drawing eastern magi on. We close the season with another shining - that of apparel. Whether you sense new light on the horizon or close surrounding you, there is one persistent blessing - that of belovedness. Whether your light is attributed to a creation-wide spirit of star-stuff or some very specific manifestation of same, there is always the question of what difference such makes.

Here there is healing in the wings. As folks return from enlightenment a healing need moves from the wings to center stage. "Look! Look!", cries an eternal chorus. As the scene progresses there is a heightening from description of seizure to experience of convulsion.

This and many healings first elicit a powerful, "No!" How astounding it is to break free of inertia to say, "No!" Where might you practice this today? Just mutter "No!" to yourself in response to the "news of the day", so you won't be taken in by the easy descriptions and avoidance of experience? Just state "No!" to someone else you encounter at home, business, or on the street, for together your "No!" will be strengthened? Just demand "No!" in and to your congregation, community, or nation, that a response to systemic illness can begin and eventually open space for a "Yes!"?

Accepting Belovedness eventuates in a rebuking "No!" and a healing "Yes!" May your star-stuffed belovedness so proclaim.
 

entrusted lives

Epiphany 5 - Year C

entrusted lives

beside a lake
or in a boat
without craning
or bowing
proclamations
come and go

go out
into the deep
go for good
transparent
thankful
as you are

emboldened
with commission
persistent
with call
always
with singing
 

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Epiphany 5 - Year C

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Tricky brother Paul tests the Corinthians on "good news" - is it creedal or experiential?

He begins with Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, according to the scriptures. Key here is the straitjacket of scripture. Meet this criterion and the next and next. That's it. It's all about the dying (Romans) and burying (Arimathean Joseph) and raising (G*D). These are all external matters. It seems not to be about the living, just the matching with predetermined outcomes.

Second, I am what I am. Key here is a relationship (with a few prideful comments about working harder that those other apostles) with grace.

So, Corinthians, are you going to stake your good news on interpretations of scripture or experience of grace? Are these strictly equal or are we to decide which trumps which? By and large, the church institutional has come to bet on control of interpretation. That has grown old and is being seen through. To be one's self, maturing in one's gifts and responses to opportunities, is an important edge of new growth - good news.

What did Paul intend to remind us of? If he wasn't dazzled by his own footwork, I'm betting it was that grace is still open.
 

Psalm 138

Epiphany 5 - Year C

Psalm 138

The Psalmist calls G*D.
Peter was commissioned by Jesus.
Isaiah responds to a question from on high.

There are so many ways to be in relationship to G*D. Each with its strength and weakness.

Callers can get to be a bit presumptuous. Thanks can slide over to bribery by an effusive tongue.

Those commissioned can attempt to change the commission of the one who commissioned them, thus changing their own commission to something with which they are more comfortable.

Responders may have the easiest time as the question and response format begins a relationship, they don't have to bring the other side in or try to haggle for a better deal.

Has your story mostly been that of Psalmist, Peter, or Isaiah? After taking a second look at that question, where is it now and where would you like it to be?
 

Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)

Epiphany 5 - Year C

Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)

The year before old Uzziah died, Isaiah was feeling good. Uzziah's long reign was known for its lack of warfare and its prosperity. Uzziah's early following of his advisor Zechariah had born much good fruit. Surely Uzziah's difficulty with leprosy from one small convening of theocratic law (then equivalent of international treaty) would soon come to an end with his full restoration.

As Uzziah comes to an end it becomes obvious to some that the relative peace and prosperity during his reign of Judah was not going to last long. This political timing brought with it a "thin space" for Isaiah. He becomes realistically separated from those who presumed their past paradigms and politics would suffice. Any difficulty could easily be blamed on the new king and never need to take into account changing economies, relations with former partners, or a new power on the horizon.

Isaiah's guilt of complicity in the former realm and misguided understanding of where security and wholeness lay was taken from him, like morning film from sleepy eyes. From this moment of awaking, Isaiah would not return to the fold of prevailing thought.

It turned out to be easier than first thought to dull the minds of those around Isaiah. Past mantras, such as "no taxes", became a source of weakness, not strength, for the country. When a community is more concerned about sustaining wealth than the poor, it is not only an opening to a thin space of reorientation, but it is the culmination of an era.

May you be "a holy seed in the stump" of our current political transition time. In a coming of "nothingness upon the land" (see The Neverending Story and be sure to get this edition, for the two second color print for the story within the story is well worth the price) may your own response to your guilt of complicity with a past way of denial be transformed into a beacon of hopeful action.
 

Luke 5:1-11

Epiphany 5 - Year C

Luke 5:1-11

Apparently Simon is a Class-A net washer. After a night of nothing caught it wouldn't take much to have washed his net. This explains (always a dangerous thing to do with scripture stories as it turns them into facts) how Simon was able to have a net in the boat already out on the water while others were still washing theirs on the shore. It may also have something to do with Simon's slow response - after a frustrating night of fishing and a fast wash-up he may not have been listening all that well, after all, he wasn't one of the crowd pressing to hear about G*D, he was just someone pressed into service - the chauffeur doesn't have to listen to speech, just drive to a good speaking spot.

Simon was a realistic enough small businessman to know that a glut of fish would decrease their value (good old supply and demand) and that broken nets were a whole different kettle of fish than dirty nets. Might as well leave the current situation behind and move on, follow on.

That is all fun playing with the story. Of equal import is a look at Simon's response of, "Go away, I am without stock in your company." [track hamartōlos back to hamartanō] Simon was not in on Jesus' original IPO. This event was too good to keep his current partnership sustainable. Sort of like small businesses when a Wal-Mart shows up in the community. Simon knows tides come and tides go; fish are caught and not caught; life goes on, follows on.

This "sinner" language, as it is usually translated, is more appropriate in John's similar post-resurectional scene. It is also a bit out of place since Jesus doesn't seem to pick up on the "sinner" language with his commissioning of Simon, et al. It is almost as if Jesus says, "Sinner, Schminner, whatever. Here's the deal . . . . Are you in or not?"

Well, are you?