Psalm 22:23-31

Lent 2 - Year B

Psalm 22:23-31

The Message recounts verse 29:

All the power-mongers are before him—worshiping!
All the poor and powerless, too—worshiping!
Along with those who never got it together!—worshiping!

Before and after baptism, before and after conversion, before and after maturity or power – we continue. Whether glorifying or afflicted, whether praising or poor, whether far or near – we have continuity, persistence, and new possibilities.

Lent, as a journey toward deeper discipleship or lived hope, brings with it a necessity to reflect on how we have been living, are living, and desire to live. In this reflection we find ourselves both diminished and passed by as well as anointed and testing/preparing. In all of this we find we’re going to “serve somebody “[Dylan]. May your service, your worship, your engagement with life bless each stage of your living.
 

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Lent 2 - Year B

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Who do people say I am, Abram or Abraham? This is a moment of identity change. This is a moment of beng the same.

With or without a formal covenant, Abram received a direction to his life that he was willing to follow through fear of kings, drought, and a challenging nephew. It seems that Abraham was no more or less willing than was Abram to trust he had experienced a new call and had received the gifts to deal with it.

Whether Abram or Abraham, whether by your diminutive or formal name, we are who we are - called and gifted, blessed, anointed. It can take all our past experience to be ready for a shift. Hooray for who we have been. A new direction can help us see more in who we were than we could tell at the time. Hooray for who we are becoming.
 

Mark 8:27-38

Lent 2 - Year B

Mark 8:27-38

We have multiple identities, depending on who or what we are relating with. Sometimes we might be even further subdivided into where we are interacting or when or why. If folks were to ask about you, there are a number of responses available regarding who you are by those who know you well.

Hopefully, behind all these ephemeral presentations of yourself, there is a sense of being Anointed, Gifted, Blessed - being Messiah. Some will see that, many will not. Sometimes we see it clearer, and sometimes not.

Basically being messiah is an understanding from which we might interact with the world, whether they understand that as our motivation or not.

Part of the reason for the “secrecy” is not some fancy Marcan messianic secret, but simple humility. To claim messiahship has a tendency to claim privilege and to reject any suffering along the way. Without knowing the difference between hope and fear we get confused and fall into the trap of the Confuser to over-focus on short-term survival.

If any would care to be fellow-travelling Messiahs, they, too, will have to be humble enough to live in the moment as though it were eternity and be willing to lose their privilege for the gift of living congruently, unashamed.

Who do I say you are, Messiah, Anointed, Gifted, Blessed - get on with it without making a fuss about being so.
 

stumbling toward Jordan

Lent 1 - Year B

stumbling toward Jordan
eagle spirit claws
deep in our nape

we dive in
as though pursued by bees
deep calling to deep

rising to a quiet call
after compelling obsession
we live outward from blessing

we step out
where angels fear to tread
wilderness schmilderness

thankful for a gifted call
there is no more waiting
time fulfilled - goodness trusted
 

joyful ashes

Ash Wednesday - Year B

a joy of repentance
strengthens its work

joy replaces practiced piety
healing a left and right divided heart

joy replaces hypocritical prayer
making internal our engagement with healing

joy replaces rote prayer
setting aside accumulated phrases

joy replaces institutional fast
energizing a clean face with a clean heart

joy replaces accumulated wealth
investing in common-wealth

joy of renewal
strengthens its work
 

1 Peter 3:18-22

Lent 1 - Year B

1 Peter 3:18-22

Who will harm you when you are about doing good?

Well, more than you would think. Everyone with a conscious or unconscious investment in things staying the way they are, because doing good means changing a situation in which “not good” has been operating.

What, then, makes it worthwhile to proceed apace and against a hurtful status quo? Is an understanding of blessedness sufficient? This is a baptismal, transfigurational blessing that brings repentance for our participation in whatever hurt is happening and a commitment to see a reconciliation, a “trip to Jerusalem”, through.

There are apparently two different ways of moving ahead. One way is that of non-violence, proceeding with “gentleness and reverence”. The other way is not, implied in the need to make such an instruction. Our go-to position is to project ourselves as good, rather than to see ourselves as part of the problem and deciding to do what we can where we have the power to make a difference - with our way of operating.

Imagine spending a whole Lent in a quest for a conscience that recognizes and responds to “good”. It will probably take that long, at a minimum, to make a shift that can be seen on the outside and not just felt as an intention on the inside. A blessed Lent to you.
 

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10

Ash Wednesday - Year B

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10

Even after Ash Wednesday it will be appropriate to work on what it means to be reconciled with G*D, with Neighbor, with Self, with One Another, with Enemies. What was behind our separation? How do we analyze the situation? Where is the fulcrum point that will break the cycle of harm?

Even after Ash Wednesday it will be important to add an eternal insight about, When do we trust grace as a major tool of reconciliation? Again and again we will find the background to a day of salvation, of reconciliation, is this day, this moment, this time - even if it is not obvious; particularly if it is not obvious.

Even after Ash Wednesday we might wear a sign of how seriously we take the whole reconciliation business - from simply recognizing there is a break to investing and commending our every resource to fundamental healing.
 

Psalm 25:1-10

Lent 1 - Year B

Psalm 25:1-10

“All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,....” That may be enough to be said. Then wherever steadfast love and faithfulness are evident might be claimed as being of G*D. This would be a G*D for all.

But we so often go on one step too far and claim that the only true steadfast love and faithfulness is that which reflects those in a position of privilege and power. Here steadfast love and faithfulness are “for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.” This is understood as followers of a particular manifestation of G*D in historical, societal, and theological contexts. It is not for others, they are defined out.

And so a Lenten question comes: to what “O Lord” or “my God” are you entrusting your soul, your life? If Sundays in Lent are moments of Easter, was Jesus raised only for those who could articulate an allegiance to him or for all to see becoming G*D, steadfast in love and faithful, as a worthy goal?
 

Psalm 51

Ash Wednesday - Year B

Psalm 51

Penitential approach — wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
Discipleship approach — TEACH ME WISDOM

purge me with hyssop
LET ME HEAR JOY AND GLADNESS

restore me
I WILL TEACH

a broken spirit
DO GOOD, REBUILD

We begin Lent with choices of approach. Some will appeal to some, but not to all. All-in-all, the discipleship approach bears more hope and fruitfulness than the penitential. This also accords with the beginning of Lenten disciplines looking toward baptism and membership in Christian Community. Little-by-little, we shifted from an affirmation to a denial-of-self. That shift carried with it the seeds of destruction. A church cannot last (though it has for a long time) only built on penitence and atonement and other doctrinal formulations. A Living G*D will simply move on and leave it doing its rituals.

May Ash Wednesday find you still moving toward discipleship and living out the belovedness of baptism.
 

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Ash Wednesday - Year B

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Blowing trumpets does not keep darkness away. The same is true for gloom of any degree.

How does a sanctified fast differ from a cleansing fast? Is there a difference between these and a fast resulting from mourning? A fast with more solemnity than another fast, seems to be a significant factor, but it is not.

Weeping priests are no protection against an angry G*D or a frail people. Better for us to have a relationship based on reality, not power of coercion by tears or flattery.

Ash Wednesday is less helpful as a manipulation of weeping, sorrow, and penance. It is helpful if it leads us to be real with one another and our environment.
 

Genesis 9:8-17

First a marker - this is the 1,500th posting here. If you are interested in giving input into an attempt to turn these comments into book form, drop a line to wwhite@wesleyspace.net and I'll send a sample of what is being thought about for you to critique. Now on to today's posting.

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Lent 1 - Year B

Genesis 9:8-17

Hooray for light - a sign of connection with dark and all creation.

Hooray for rainbows - signs of light under particular conditions. In the midst of some storms we are connected with the storm and all through a rainbow sign. Other storms, without a visible rainbow, bring forest fires and tornadoes that raise questions about a distinction between destroying all flesh and the destruction of particular flesh.

Hooray for no light or otherwise mediated light - a sign present in no sign.

A sign of ashes or rainbows will at some time come up short. Will a promised fire next time also come up short? We either have an understanding of being a part of all that is, or we don’t. This goes beyond a sign or any other attempt at proof.

Mark 1:9-15

Lent 1 - Year B

Mark 1:9-15

Last week we heard these “Beloved” words on a mountain top. Today we move back in time and lower in elevation to the entrance to the Dead Sea.

Wherever we are, it is holy ground. Wherever we are, we are beloved.

Simple concepts difficult to embody. We keep getting sidetracked by what feels like wilderness times. Every temptation is a variation on “how might I lose my sense of belovedness this time?”

Thank goodness Sundays were never a part of the penitential approach to spirituality. Even if our experience of life is six-sevenths penance, there is still a kernel of belovedness available to grow into the fruit of our life.

Remember on these Sundays that the goal of Lent is deeper discipleship, not restricted living.

“It is birth time. G*D is present in my life. Make a difference. Trust hope.” [New Revised John]
 

Matthew 6:1-21

Ash Wednesday - Year B

Matthew 6:1-21

Manifest your prayer through your life. Turn your life into a prayer.

From whichever direction you approach this passage, it won’t be long before you are travelling down the other path.

Do not store up for yourself treasures on your forehead. Particularly do not try to be more subtle by having them show on the back of your hand. Rather be the treasure you are, it will be recognized in time.
 

lightening

Epiphany Last - Year B

with a cloud of light
and a hearty heigh-ho Silver away
that mysterious stranger
rode into the sunset

clouds of light
have ever since begun
new adventures
in each new dawn

sunset sunrise noontime
each have their light cloud
wherein everything looks different
from before to after

Moses, Elijah, Jesus, and you
are all different after
cloud lightening strikes
once grounded now freed

free to find the unlit
bursting into flames
of belovedness for now
and belovedness fore’er

everything becomes beloved
proclamations are easier
audiences are wider
clarity is valued

light shines out of clouds
into open hearts
revealing G*D minds
and Neighborly hands

so off to pharaohs
off to baals
on to jerusalem
and beyond
 

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Epiphany Last - Year B

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Good news is veiled, burka-ed. What it shall yet become is unknown. There may be a sweet perfume emanating, but it is like catching a mere glimpse of beauty - looking around for more - and wondering what triggered that sense for everything still seems everyday-ish.

This is true for all of us, whether we want to claim any particular one is on a track to perishing or flourishing. Our own beauty seems pale, not transfigured at all, very ordinary. What beauty is present in us and will last beyond us? - inquiring minds want to know.

Our current circumstance of mores, taboos, economies, powers, authorities blind us to the gifts available to and through ourselves and our neighbors.

While it is so comforting to be humble and claim our unimportance in relationship to mighty prayer-warrior Jesus or judge and sender-off-to-hell Jesus, we really cannot deny the good news that is inside us and is ours alone to reveal.

If light is going to shine out of darkness, it cannot be a slave-light. It will be our own knowing that we, too, are a light of the world and sin is our hiding of that under whatever cultural basket is convenient at the time. This is a week to practice shining forth.
 

Psalm 50

Epiphany Last - Year B

Psalm 50

Out of beauty, G*D is evident. Think hoarfrost where a mere degree of difference reveals that which was there all along - living water.

Those who bring thanksgiving are beauty personified. Be personified.

2 Kings 2:1-14

Epiphany Last - Year B

2 Kings 2:1-14

Elisha and Ruth have different styles, but both are clear about where their loyalty lies - with Elijah - and - Naomi - and - G*D. While each will benefit from their commitment, they seem to pay attention to their relationship before its perks. They also understand that their action requires a dual connection between Person and G*D. These cannot be separated. Whether focusing first on Person or on G*D, the other is always implied in healthy situations. Problems arise when we claim one or the other to be most important. Again with the “both/and”.

To pay too much attention to the details of the respective stories is to miss the deep relationships. Even if Elisha had not been able to “work” Elijah’s dropped garment, it was enough that he witnessed Elijah’s passing from life to beyond.

The temptation is to think that the magic cloak was all that was left of Elijah. That level of faith makes shrouds and pancakes with a cultural image of Jesus on them into some false proof of the unprovable. I would also appreciate a story-line that had Elisha wading back to work and Ruth not hooking up with Boaz. Imagine how the personal and religious stories might have been enhanced without an easy happy ending.
 

Mark 9:2-10

Epiphany Last - Year B

Mark 9:2-10

The NRSV has it that Jesus was transfigured “before” Peter, James, and John. While meaning “in front of” or “in the presence of”, there is also a time factor meaning available - “in advance of”. Imagine for a moment that Jesus is simply transfigured/changed in advance of your transfiguration or changed energy level, not as something unique.

What would you do differently if you were to begin to understand that your transfiguration is already in process? Would you press on to analyze how to get on with it, or get in your own way?

Jesus was between times, like you - prophets, saints, good folk had gone before him and were available as advisors. There was a task ahead that was large enough to simply be done, regardless of any consequences - any.

With good examples of those who preceded, anyway and everyway, and something to apply that to, you, too, would be transfigured. No more waiting until you grow up or out or dead.

What these days needs more justice? More kindness? More G*D? There you go. Listen to those important voices in your life and move on. No more utopias. No more guarantees of result. Just energy and purpose. Blessings to you and Blessings expected from you.
 

choosing

choosing choosing
twenty-four seven
choices come and come
in your face
kneeling begging

to look a choice in the face
is to look at G*D's face
no backsides here
will I won't I choose
will you won't you choose

turn and turn again
a choice is still here
and there and everywhere
lepers and saints
each have choices

part of choosing
is whether to be
saint or leper
to heal freely
to freely tell

for now and ever
we rejoice when hiding
in the countryside
or visibly confronting
today's ills and options
 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Epiphany 6 - Year B

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Runners running races sounds very rigorous, intentional, trained, and competitive. It sounds like only one can win. This proto-protestant-work-ethic only forgets the freedom of grace and the mercy of G*D.

Yes, intend to do no harm, intend to do good, and intend to change your thinking with an encounter of a larger picture. Yes, give life your all. And, yes, practice, practice, practice to have your being and doing reflect well on one another.

Know that you are not disqualified. You never were and never will be disqualified. The opportunity to turn and become integrated with your self and with tomorrow is always present. Not being disqualified, brings with it so sweet a soul song that we find a joy in rigor, intentionality, training, and moving deeper. This allows us engagement with the disciplines that enhance our common experience and common wealth.
 

Psalm 30

Epiphany 6 - Year B

Psalm 30

There is no keeping a joy from bubbling over the limits of propriety. One way or another; one time or another; one setting or another will find its expression lighting the way for another joy to be expressed.

Joy calls to joy across every deep chaotic place, binding otherwise disparate persons and situations together.

Our one warning is not to turn a joy into a bargaining chip, it simply is. When mourning finds its dance, it is a Zorba dance that blocks out all other realities for a time. Joy can’t be invested, only well used. And well-used joy goes on and on, always paying forward.

So what healing, differentiated from curing, is bubbling in your life today? May you engage it today and not put it off until it can but burst out. Quiet, consistent bubbling is a good way to interact with equally present difficulties.
 

2 Kings 5:1-17

Epiphany 6 - Year B

2 Kings 5:1-17

“I will accept nothing!”

This is a strong and difficult response. Who among us is capable of a “nothing” response when our life has significantly changed? We will find a way, subtle or overt, to claim the change and affirm the process.

We have a difficult time simply accepting a new path and beginning to walk it without a moment of conversion to talk about, again and again. It is as if a particular response ties us to a moment of change that we can talk about and talk about, but not proceed from - we get caught in our conversion experience and can’t let it go. The strongest believers are recent converts, the newest in love are blind - so much is riding on their experience being equated with life itself.

Naaman’s final request gives credence to the difficulty of doing “nothing”. If nothing else, we will signify our own cleansing by hauling dirt along, perverse creatures that we are.

Don’t just stand there, do “nothing” and get on with it.
 

Mark 1:40-45

Epiphany 6 - Year B

Mark 1:40-45

Should someone come to you, having seen great things in you, how would you respond to them?

If the great thing was something you could do for them, would that be different than if were a great thing they saw you doing for someone else or for yourself?

Presuming you both saw the same possibility, would you do what was asked? If you didn’t see the possibility, would you refrain from even trying?

In this case both the leper and Jesus were gazing in the same direction and a healing eventuated.

Hooray for the moment. Now what? Was this just between the two or did it have a larger context? Obviously, while the two had a similar vision about a healing they did not have the same agreement on what was next. Do you think, in hindsight, that Jesus would have done better to have gotten a written confidentiality statement to constrain any reporting forthcoming from a priestly confirmation ritual? Or, just claimed the healing and told the former leper to spread the news.

What about your moments this week. Are they just your moments or might they give evidence to a larger context and the gifts you need to recognize and enact on a more regular basis? You haven’t really signed a confidentiality statement about your life, have you? Surely not. So, be not afraid to let the news out about your experiences.
 

roam on

Epiphany 5 - Year B

leave your official holy place
leave your regular home
leave your desert-ed retreat

no matter which might be termed
holy, holier, holiest
wait! there’s more!

that no-good town next door
that silly goofus next house over
that bustling times square

haven’t you been paying attention
G*D can’t be hog-tied anywhere
Houdini had nothing on G*D’s slipperiness

and, dear creature, pay attention
you are of the same lineage
here there and everywhere

faint not - you’ll just bump your head
mount up - there are boundaries to cross
walk on - past cookie-cutter orthodoxies

build up synagogue, church, and mosque
support fellowships and covens
guard temples and shrines

clean houses, teepees, and yurts
encourage chalets and shacks
fix foundations and roofs

set foot on soil of every color and acidity
wonder at a Marianas Trench and Mount Everest
protect desert and tropical forest

what do you have to lose
certainly not freedom
share blessings
 

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

Epiphany 5 - Year B

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no leg up. Likewise, if I focus healings, I am no farther ahead of anyone else. Whatever my claim to fame, it is a false comfort if I believe it.

What does benefit me by grounding me deeper in the reality of gifts, is simply using those at my disposal. When freely used, by me and for others, great common-wealth is generated.

Again, to do what I do for even the good cause of winning over someone, is to lose my focus. My best is simply my best, regardless of what its effectiveness for some other goal might be. An old song goes, “do what you do do well”. May you do do well and laugh at scatological humor and smile abundantly.
 

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Epiphany 5 - Year B

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Everyone is looking for a gracious G*D - at least one gracious to them, if not to their enemies.
 
It’s lovely to have a G*D that confirms our center of power and brings an in-group back into relationship with one another and in charge of an occupied space.
 
How wonderful to have a G*D who mends our every flaw.
 
There is nothing better than a G*D who sets a large enough context that we can use universally for ourselves and against others.
 
Indeed, great is our G*D - powerful and wise for smoothing our path to greatness.
 
While G*D is defined as a lifter of the downtrodden, it is always understood that is us (whiney Christians in America fit this model of feeling persecuted against all facts to the contrary) and never anyone else who experiences being downtrodden. Likewise, the wicked are always “them” and never “us”.
 
So sing and dance while G*D takes care to keep us on top.
 
Prosperity is in process because the unseen hand of G*D (whatever economic system is in place) is always at work.
 
So, keep this relationship going - fear G*D by expressing your steadfast love for the same.

Yep, praise is an easy way to get what you want.