First Sunday in Lent – C3
Years C
Romans 10:8b-13
Presupposing that the division between Jew and Greek has been done away with, that those who "believe" are able to bypass such distinctions, there is left the division between those who believe the way I do and those who don't. Be they Jew or Greek or blood relative of a non-Jew and non-Greek, anyone can still be cast away on the basis of their stated beliefs, if not their genetic/cultural heritage.
It might be helpful here to simply focus on the last line with a different translation. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be found whole." Of course there will be quibbling about this "name" business. Perhaps a Lord by any other name will respond as mercifully and generously as another.
This is not to discount the heritage one names most easily, but is to open us again to the important theological point of "generosity." Wherein lies a stumbling block to a named Lord who is generous to those who call in a particular timeframe and to not also be generous to, simply put, all? Anything else would lead such a named Lord to also be named stingy, petty, tyrannical, and soon enough ignored.
= = = = = = =
one reason prophets are discounted
is their lack of distinction
they do not pretend to power
they don't insist on the number of angels
who attend or dance
if only they would allow
a distinction to be made in their vision
that would allow everyone to continue
living just exactly as they are
if they were only to eat their peas
we keep looking for the distinctions
that set us apart and give a leg up
on sitting right and left of royalty
setting the level of needed sacrifice
and calling down fire on "them"
you're Greek, you're odd man out
o yeah, you're looking in a mirror
huh? were the same
then women must be out
ahh, sweet distinction
we distinguish ourselves
by not distinguishing our commonality
commie, social democrat, trade unionist
rasta, Muslim, anti-globalist, liberal
speak for one another or forever hold your peace
[last fragment reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...]
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
First Sunday in Lent – C2
First Sunday in Lent – C2
Years C
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
In some ways Lent is a sheltered workshop. Here we develop skills while on the job. Here we employ skills developed through repetition.
In the refuge of Lent we practice knowing all is well and will be well again. We practice acting from a position of knowing we are guarded - boldly. We practice living from a perspective of having been borne up - thankfully. We practice living from a platform of steadfast love - mercifully.
Out of this practice come changed lives - as changed as resurrection or other metamorphoses.
Isn't it good to know we have been sheltered in the shadow of trustworthiness. Isn't it good to know we shelter others in this same gift.
= = = = = = =
Lent for Dummies
Chapter 1 - remembering love
Chapter 2 - practicing xxx
Chapter 3 - practicing yyy
Afterword - Easter
Years C
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
In some ways Lent is a sheltered workshop. Here we develop skills while on the job. Here we employ skills developed through repetition.
In the refuge of Lent we practice knowing all is well and will be well again. We practice acting from a position of knowing we are guarded - boldly. We practice living from a perspective of having been borne up - thankfully. We practice living from a platform of steadfast love - mercifully.
Out of this practice come changed lives - as changed as resurrection or other metamorphoses.
Isn't it good to know we have been sheltered in the shadow of trustworthiness. Isn't it good to know we shelter others in this same gift.
= = = = = = =
Lent for Dummies
Chapter 1 - remembering love
Chapter 2 - practicing xxx
Chapter 3 - practicing yyy
Afterword - Easter
Ash Wednesday – A, B, C
Ash Wednesday – A, B, C
Years A, B, C
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Integrity in the small matters is important for an overall sense of well-being. Warnings about secrecy are not so much a matter of hyper-humility, but acting with integrity. What needs doing is done, straight-forwardly. When action is simply a matter of course and not being played for ulterior gain (whether consciously or not) there is a reward of wholeness of being. And, what better reward is there? It is priceless.
This sense of the language of secrecy comes to the fore when the question of hypocrisy is raised. We are not looking for unknownness, but wholeness. A show is not in order, whether that show is unseen or posed. Knowing where your heart is is a great reward.
= = = = = = =
you been practicing your sexual orientation again?
nope, when you're this good practice isn't the issue
you still practicing breaking a bad habit?
yep, don't know that I'll ever not be a xxxx-ist
there are things that come quite naturally
in a healthy way
there are things that come quite naturally
that destroy
we are told our nature is unnatural
forced into hypocrisy by family
we find our nature to be righteously right
our left left no choice but secrecy
finally we face the difficulty
practicing the practice of wholeness
in all we do and refrain from doing
without simply practicing practicing
Years A, B, C
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Integrity in the small matters is important for an overall sense of well-being. Warnings about secrecy are not so much a matter of hyper-humility, but acting with integrity. What needs doing is done, straight-forwardly. When action is simply a matter of course and not being played for ulterior gain (whether consciously or not) there is a reward of wholeness of being. And, what better reward is there? It is priceless.
This sense of the language of secrecy comes to the fore when the question of hypocrisy is raised. We are not looking for unknownness, but wholeness. A show is not in order, whether that show is unseen or posed. Knowing where your heart is is a great reward.
= = = = = = =
you been practicing your sexual orientation again?
nope, when you're this good practice isn't the issue
you still practicing breaking a bad habit?
yep, don't know that I'll ever not be a xxxx-ist
there are things that come quite naturally
in a healthy way
there are things that come quite naturally
that destroy
we are told our nature is unnatural
forced into hypocrisy by family
we find our nature to be righteously right
our left left no choice but secrecy
finally we face the difficulty
practicing the practice of wholeness
in all we do and refrain from doing
without simply practicing practicing
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
First Sunday in Lent – C1
First Sunday in Lent – C1
Years C
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
When you have come into the land of Lent that is your inheritance, take the fruit of your journey and remember how you have come to where you are. Then, celebrate the bounty of your Lenten landscape.
So often we forget that Lent is a journey that is important, in and of itself. We are so much in a hurry to get to Easter that we forget it is the wandering Aramean in us that will mysteriously land us in a new relationship with G*D, creation, one another, aliens, and our self. It doesn't come on our schedule and so rejoicing along the way and remembering Forrest Gump's injunction that bounty is as bounty is received - we enter with no expectation of getting to Easter, just journeying.
This might be a time of recognizing ourselves as illegal immigrants or aliens in a strange land. In this Lenten recognition we will find a fine harvest.
= = = = = = =
are we there yet
so demands the kid
in the back of my head
beauty all around
imagination and conversation so rich
and such impatience
bounty drips through fingers
celebration dies aborning
this is not Lent but pre-Easter
kid, its time we pulled over
to rejoice we have come this far
to play with what we have
blessed one, let's move on
wasn't it good to have been there
isn't it good to be here
Years C
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
When you have come into the land of Lent that is your inheritance, take the fruit of your journey and remember how you have come to where you are. Then, celebrate the bounty of your Lenten landscape.
So often we forget that Lent is a journey that is important, in and of itself. We are so much in a hurry to get to Easter that we forget it is the wandering Aramean in us that will mysteriously land us in a new relationship with G*D, creation, one another, aliens, and our self. It doesn't come on our schedule and so rejoicing along the way and remembering Forrest Gump's injunction that bounty is as bounty is received - we enter with no expectation of getting to Easter, just journeying.
This might be a time of recognizing ourselves as illegal immigrants or aliens in a strange land. In this Lenten recognition we will find a fine harvest.
= = = = = = =
are we there yet
so demands the kid
in the back of my head
beauty all around
imagination and conversation so rich
and such impatience
bounty drips through fingers
celebration dies aborning
this is not Lent but pre-Easter
kid, its time we pulled over
to rejoice we have come this far
to play with what we have
blessed one, let's move on
wasn't it good to have been there
isn't it good to be here
Ash Wednesday – A, B, C
Ash Wednesday – A, B, C
Years A, B, C
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Entreating someone on behalf of Christ may have some power, if there is a relationship with said Christ to begin with. For someone outside the fold, this doesn't carry much weight. Sort of like an Ayatollah imploring President Bush for the sake of Muhammad to be reconciled to Allah the Merciful that he might become righteous.
Then we get to the personal entreaty of what I have had to deal with. Because of my faithfulness, you, also, ought to be faithful. Again that has some strength or is rather weak, depending upon the relationship.
Seldom, it seems, do we entreat on behalf of a joy to come. Usually we are operating out of the past and trying to make the present conform to it. On Ash Wednesday we may want to simply have space for folk to remember their fondest dream of how life might work well for all concerned, what has gotten in the way of that, and how this might be a moment to shift gears by practicing that which move them one step closer to a better future. Nearly two months of practice might get us ready for an Easter, Transfiguring, Transforming, Resurrectional reality.
This practice is based not only on what others have found helpful down through the year (that's a pretty wide spectrum of spiritual disciplines) but which of those best corresponds to the person's experience and tendencies. If it doesn't touch some base inside, all the appeals to external authority will simply be appeals that don't appeal.
= = = = = = =
gee, mom, you have done so much
have I learned enough that we can talk?
this guilt of not measuring up is pretty strong
do we go to our respective deaths this way
hey, dad, you know so much
have I done enough that we can rest?
this regret of not measuring up is pretty strong
do we go to our respective deaths this way
Jesus, Paul, you have done so much
have I obeyed enough to be righteous?
this accusation of not measuring up is pretty strong
do we go to our respective deaths this way
[second lines based on a song by Greg Brown, Driftless on his CD The Poet's Game]
Years A, B, C
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Entreating someone on behalf of Christ may have some power, if there is a relationship with said Christ to begin with. For someone outside the fold, this doesn't carry much weight. Sort of like an Ayatollah imploring President Bush for the sake of Muhammad to be reconciled to Allah the Merciful that he might become righteous.
Then we get to the personal entreaty of what I have had to deal with. Because of my faithfulness, you, also, ought to be faithful. Again that has some strength or is rather weak, depending upon the relationship.
Seldom, it seems, do we entreat on behalf of a joy to come. Usually we are operating out of the past and trying to make the present conform to it. On Ash Wednesday we may want to simply have space for folk to remember their fondest dream of how life might work well for all concerned, what has gotten in the way of that, and how this might be a moment to shift gears by practicing that which move them one step closer to a better future. Nearly two months of practice might get us ready for an Easter, Transfiguring, Transforming, Resurrectional reality.
This practice is based not only on what others have found helpful down through the year (that's a pretty wide spectrum of spiritual disciplines) but which of those best corresponds to the person's experience and tendencies. If it doesn't touch some base inside, all the appeals to external authority will simply be appeals that don't appeal.
= = = = = = =
gee, mom, you have done so much
have I learned enough that we can talk?
this guilt of not measuring up is pretty strong
do we go to our respective deaths this way
hey, dad, you know so much
have I done enough that we can rest?
this regret of not measuring up is pretty strong
do we go to our respective deaths this way
Jesus, Paul, you have done so much
have I obeyed enough to be righteous?
this accusation of not measuring up is pretty strong
do we go to our respective deaths this way
[second lines based on a song by Greg Brown, Driftless on his CD The Poet's Game]
Monday, February 19, 2007
First Sunday in Lent – B
First Sunday in Lent – B
Years B
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15
For many the radio stimulates the imagination more than does television. This is in part the way we receive the two senses. Mark's silence on the temptations brings more possibilities to mind than the traditional three in Matthew and Luke. Mark also reminds us that this was not Jesus and Satan, mano a mano, but Jesus was attended by angels even during temptation (not just to soothe afterward).
If so attended, what does this do to the hunger and jumping off temptations mentioned elsewhere?
A connection with angels connects us with time beyond ourselves (you may want to refresh your reading of some of Madeline L'Engle's supposed children's books - her Wrinkle in Time series).
If we are connected beyond one current time, we might begin to wonder about Christ suffering once and salvation through water (Noah and baptism) as singular events.
During Lent we may wonder about what it means to be a sign of reconciliation between G*D and creation. Whether that is a one-time sign or repeated, it is a lifting of soul - ours and many. One sign is not shying away from temptations that we might slyly defeat them through avoidance, getting overly busy with something else, or nit-picking the language of the temptation.
= = = = = = =
it has been said
we are built to buffer bad news
defense mechanisms are a gift from God
trying to make bad news Not True
requires a special attitude
this-isn't-happening-to-me
now comes an intriguing question
can even this situation be turned around?
facing it is a first step to saying Yes
[this prayer fragment is based on a bit of Unbinding the Gospel, pages 24-25]
Years B
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15
For many the radio stimulates the imagination more than does television. This is in part the way we receive the two senses. Mark's silence on the temptations brings more possibilities to mind than the traditional three in Matthew and Luke. Mark also reminds us that this was not Jesus and Satan, mano a mano, but Jesus was attended by angels even during temptation (not just to soothe afterward).
If so attended, what does this do to the hunger and jumping off temptations mentioned elsewhere?
A connection with angels connects us with time beyond ourselves (you may want to refresh your reading of some of Madeline L'Engle's supposed children's books - her Wrinkle in Time series).
If we are connected beyond one current time, we might begin to wonder about Christ suffering once and salvation through water (Noah and baptism) as singular events.
During Lent we may wonder about what it means to be a sign of reconciliation between G*D and creation. Whether that is a one-time sign or repeated, it is a lifting of soul - ours and many. One sign is not shying away from temptations that we might slyly defeat them through avoidance, getting overly busy with something else, or nit-picking the language of the temptation.
= = = = = = =
it has been said
we are built to buffer bad news
defense mechanisms are a gift from God
trying to make bad news Not True
requires a special attitude
this-isn't-happening-to-me
now comes an intriguing question
can even this situation be turned around?
facing it is a first step to saying Yes
[this prayer fragment is based on a bit of Unbinding the Gospel, pages 24-25]
Ash Wednesday – A, B, C
Ash Wednesday – A, B, C
Years A, B, C
Psalm 51:1-17
Here are some words you may not be familiar with. In regard to the medicinal use of hyssop: It admirably promotes expectoration through its stimulative, carminative and sudorific qualities. Included in the definitions are: expelling gas from the stomach or intestines so as to relieve flatulence or abdominal pain or distension, causing or inducing sweat, and discharging matter from the throat or lungs by coughing or hawking and spitting.
When combined with a whitewashing we have internal and external cleansing, a making whole or healthy, through and through.
We yearn for a restoration of joy. It is this energy source that turns us into evangelists (in a good way - O how we yearn for the day we won't have to distinguish good from bad evangelism, but for now there is too much bad "good news-ing" that goes on). What are you most joyful about. This is what you will plant more of in the world. For a helpful reference you may want to check out Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism.
Here we are at Ash Wednesday, setting the agenda for the rest of the Lenten season - renewed health and joy. What disciplines for yourself or your congregation would be helpful this year? What will clean your insides and what your outsides?
= = = = = = =
language can be offputting
as offputting as offputting
technical terms get bandied about
pulling the wool over some eyes
too often used approximately
this season may need plain-speaking
monosyllabic words
five syllables meaning one
hmmm, there's a long way to go to
help - way - joy
Years A, B, C
Psalm 51:1-17
Here are some words you may not be familiar with. In regard to the medicinal use of hyssop: It admirably promotes expectoration through its stimulative, carminative and sudorific qualities. Included in the definitions are: expelling gas from the stomach or intestines so as to relieve flatulence or abdominal pain or distension, causing or inducing sweat, and discharging matter from the throat or lungs by coughing or hawking and spitting.
When combined with a whitewashing we have internal and external cleansing, a making whole or healthy, through and through.
We yearn for a restoration of joy. It is this energy source that turns us into evangelists (in a good way - O how we yearn for the day we won't have to distinguish good from bad evangelism, but for now there is too much bad "good news-ing" that goes on). What are you most joyful about. This is what you will plant more of in the world. For a helpful reference you may want to check out Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism.
Here we are at Ash Wednesday, setting the agenda for the rest of the Lenten season - renewed health and joy. What disciplines for yourself or your congregation would be helpful this year? What will clean your insides and what your outsides?
= = = = = = =
language can be offputting
as offputting as offputting
technical terms get bandied about
pulling the wool over some eyes
too often used approximately
this season may need plain-speaking
monosyllabic words
five syllables meaning one
hmmm, there's a long way to go to
help - way - joy
Sunday, February 18, 2007
First Sunday in Lent – A
Years A
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
A tree of knowledge certainly sounds helpful, particularly if it aids one in distinguishing good from evil - even if such distinguishing is as fine as the difference between a white and black thread at the rising and setting of the sun.
Such a tree presupposes that there is good and evil to be distinguished. If created by G*D was good and evil only latent until a eye was opened or did it exist already? If so how important is the whisper of its existence? Does it take some ability to distinguish good from evil to desire to better distinguish?
There is some sense in which stepping between good and evil leads us into confusion.
It is from this very tree that Jesus seems to have also eaten. He is able to distinguish helpful applications of the scriptures (accumulated wisdom of our experiences with G*D) from unhelpful applications. It is not that scripture is automatically helpful. Knowing when to apply which is important.
There is some sense in which stepping between good and evil leads us to clarity.
Thank you "Adam" for joining "Eve" in engaging wisdom.
Thank you Jesus for building on wisdom and clarifying the need for larger contexts regarding "tests" or experiences of life.
= = = = = = =
I am a type of one who has gone before
and a type of one who will follow
I am a free gift borne by a past
and a free gift invested in a future
of all the options available - I arrived
and now more options are opened
wrestling still with good and evil
my appetites struggle to be met
my desire for immortality leaps into the fray
my controlling power claims first place
and on other days they all face
poverty, chastity, obedience
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
A tree of knowledge certainly sounds helpful, particularly if it aids one in distinguishing good from evil - even if such distinguishing is as fine as the difference between a white and black thread at the rising and setting of the sun.
Such a tree presupposes that there is good and evil to be distinguished. If created by G*D was good and evil only latent until a eye was opened or did it exist already? If so how important is the whisper of its existence? Does it take some ability to distinguish good from evil to desire to better distinguish?
There is some sense in which stepping between good and evil leads us into confusion.
It is from this very tree that Jesus seems to have also eaten. He is able to distinguish helpful applications of the scriptures (accumulated wisdom of our experiences with G*D) from unhelpful applications. It is not that scripture is automatically helpful. Knowing when to apply which is important.
There is some sense in which stepping between good and evil leads us to clarity.
Thank you "Adam" for joining "Eve" in engaging wisdom.
Thank you Jesus for building on wisdom and clarifying the need for larger contexts regarding "tests" or experiences of life.
= = = = = = =
I am a type of one who has gone before
and a type of one who will follow
I am a free gift borne by a past
and a free gift invested in a future
of all the options available - I arrived
and now more options are opened
wrestling still with good and evil
my appetites struggle to be met
my desire for immortality leaps into the fray
my controlling power claims first place
and on other days they all face
poverty, chastity, obedience
Ash Wednesday – A, B, C
Years A, B, C
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Isaiah 58:1-12
There is much magical thinking that goes on. If I do "this", then "that" will happen. We come up with all manner of rituals in our attempt to control life. Little by little our rituals cover over the intended change we are looking for and we settle for form instead of functional change.
A piece of good news worth celebrating is that our habits are not fate and we can once again see what it is they were attempting to accomplish.
In terms of fasting we are called to look behind a form of refraining from food and the wearing of discomfort. What was once a laudable spirit quest became formulaic and can now be released.
Unsatisfied with your life? Fasting is not a self-help process to hike yourself up by your bootstraps. Rather, look at your context. It will contain a call to return to community/G*D/love - to fast appropriately. Fasting needs to be healthy, both inhaling and exhaling. Loose a bond of injustice and find health. Undo a yoke of oppression and find health. Share bread and space and find health. Cover nakedness and restore kinship and find health. This is a corollary of, "None will be saved, until all are saved."
= = = = = = =
Where shall the word be found, where will the word
Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence
Not on the sea or on the islands, not
On the mainland, in the desert or the rain land,
For those who walk in darkness
Both in the day time and in the night time
The right time and the right place are not here
No place of grace for those who avoid the face
No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny the voice
[from Ash Wednesday by T.S. Eliot]
fast for silence
fast together with walkers in darkness
fast behind veiled light
face a face of hope
face a face of now
face a face of ever
fast, now, fast
face each other
fast, face grace
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Isaiah 58:1-12
There is much magical thinking that goes on. If I do "this", then "that" will happen. We come up with all manner of rituals in our attempt to control life. Little by little our rituals cover over the intended change we are looking for and we settle for form instead of functional change.
A piece of good news worth celebrating is that our habits are not fate and we can once again see what it is they were attempting to accomplish.
In terms of fasting we are called to look behind a form of refraining from food and the wearing of discomfort. What was once a laudable spirit quest became formulaic and can now be released.
Unsatisfied with your life? Fasting is not a self-help process to hike yourself up by your bootstraps. Rather, look at your context. It will contain a call to return to community/G*D/love - to fast appropriately. Fasting needs to be healthy, both inhaling and exhaling. Loose a bond of injustice and find health. Undo a yoke of oppression and find health. Share bread and space and find health. Cover nakedness and restore kinship and find health. This is a corollary of, "None will be saved, until all are saved."
= = = = = = =
Where shall the word be found, where will the word
Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence
Not on the sea or on the islands, not
On the mainland, in the desert or the rain land,
For those who walk in darkness
Both in the day time and in the night time
The right time and the right place are not here
No place of grace for those who avoid the face
No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny the voice
[from Ash Wednesday by T.S. Eliot]
fast for silence
fast together with walkers in darkness
fast behind veiled light
face a face of hope
face a face of now
face a face of ever
fast, now, fast
face each other
fast, face grace
Friday, February 16, 2007
Transfiguration Sunday – C4
Years C
Luke 9:28-43
Raphael has an interesting painting entitled Transfiguration. In it we have both parts of the pericope - blessing and healing. This is a devotional painting, not a scenic one (note the calm devotees in the upper left and the agitated ones below). Some have said the woman is the Church, the Bride of Christ, pointing out the to-do list for Jesus.
The congregation here is having a Capital Funds Campaign Commitment Sunday for the raising of a shelter/temple in this community. Interestingly, it is going to be located at the bottom of a hill. Perhaps we might yet see that Christ's glory is enough without monuments to it and that the mission outpost or hospitable hospital image might yet be ours.
The distance between transfiguration and healing is not all that great in this painting. How is it in life where you are?
= = = = = = =
got it figured out?
not without figuring
on transfigurement
for figurers
or
figuring
minus
transfiguring
is no figuring
at all
or
F-T=0F
and that's cold
Luke 9:28-43
Raphael has an interesting painting entitled Transfiguration. In it we have both parts of the pericope - blessing and healing. This is a devotional painting, not a scenic one (note the calm devotees in the upper left and the agitated ones below). Some have said the woman is the Church, the Bride of Christ, pointing out the to-do list for Jesus.
The congregation here is having a Capital Funds Campaign Commitment Sunday for the raising of a shelter/temple in this community. Interestingly, it is going to be located at the bottom of a hill. Perhaps we might yet see that Christ's glory is enough without monuments to it and that the mission outpost or hospitable hospital image might yet be ours.
The distance between transfiguration and healing is not all that great in this painting. How is it in life where you are?
= = = = = = =
got it figured out?
not without figuring
on transfigurement
for figurers
or
figuring
minus
transfiguring
is no figuring
at all
or
F-T=0F
and that's cold
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Transfiguration Sunday – C3
Years C
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
There is a mystery in a relationship that cannot be finally plumbed. We like to think a relationship with G*D will bring clarity about many things - no more dim mirrors or veiled countenances. This may simply be our conceit - that we (I) can live without veils.
In some tremendously important ways to be in the presence of another is to be in a cloud where belovedness is understood to be present, but just how is an entirely other matter.
Another way of coming at this is that mercy is always appropriate to apply to the circumstances one experiences. Mercy - for ourselves when we find ourselves doing exactly what we have renounced. Mercy - for others when they are not up to our standards. Mercy - for G*D in whose image we find ourselves.
With large hope we boldly engage mercy.
= = = = = = =
whatever our brand of faith
we work with veils
some call them creeds
masking new revelation
some call them experience
avoiding larger grounding
some call them discipline
fencing in options
some call them mercy
lost without boundaries
some call them hope
insulation from pain
some call them literalism
deflecting multiple meaning
some call them heresy
bypassing engagement
whatever our brand
we work with veils
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
There is a mystery in a relationship that cannot be finally plumbed. We like to think a relationship with G*D will bring clarity about many things - no more dim mirrors or veiled countenances. This may simply be our conceit - that we (I) can live without veils.
In some tremendously important ways to be in the presence of another is to be in a cloud where belovedness is understood to be present, but just how is an entirely other matter.
Another way of coming at this is that mercy is always appropriate to apply to the circumstances one experiences. Mercy - for ourselves when we find ourselves doing exactly what we have renounced. Mercy - for others when they are not up to our standards. Mercy - for G*D in whose image we find ourselves.
With large hope we boldly engage mercy.
= = = = = = =
whatever our brand of faith
we work with veils
some call them creeds
masking new revelation
some call them experience
avoiding larger grounding
some call them discipline
fencing in options
some call them mercy
lost without boundaries
some call them hope
insulation from pain
some call them literalism
deflecting multiple meaning
some call them heresy
bypassing engagement
whatever our brand
we work with veils
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Transfiguration Sunday – C2
Years C
Psalm 99
We are not only spoken to by a shining face, but from a pillar of cloud. Where and when, then, are we not in the presence of revelation, of transfiguration?
If following the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany and looking at Psalm 37 (1-11, 39-40) we also find a transfigurational process present in everyday events as well as on a mountaintop or in desert. Among these events are the times when we do not fret - thus refraining from anger and forsaking wrath. Such a simple formula for dealing with life - don't fret.
Of course this is easier said than done. There is a helpful practice, though, that is mentioned before an injunction to not fret - be still. This we can practice. Paying attention to one's breath helps "still" happen. From "still" we find renewed patience. This patience makes us appear meek, which is only a cover for transfigured delight veiled lest it scare those not "still".
And so we move from a reference of a pillar of cloud to sitting dandasana. In this stillness keep what you find.
= = = = = = =
transition
transfiguration
transformation
a trinity of movements
from one state to another
something active appears
yet clarity for each of these
comes in quiet moments
still centers, gentle breaths
without such stillness
there is busy-ness
there is willy-nilly-ness
to have them move ahead
rather than in cycles
gather a clear still eye
Psalm 99
We are not only spoken to by a shining face, but from a pillar of cloud. Where and when, then, are we not in the presence of revelation, of transfiguration?
If following the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany and looking at Psalm 37 (1-11, 39-40) we also find a transfigurational process present in everyday events as well as on a mountaintop or in desert. Among these events are the times when we do not fret - thus refraining from anger and forsaking wrath. Such a simple formula for dealing with life - don't fret.
Of course this is easier said than done. There is a helpful practice, though, that is mentioned before an injunction to not fret - be still. This we can practice. Paying attention to one's breath helps "still" happen. From "still" we find renewed patience. This patience makes us appear meek, which is only a cover for transfigured delight veiled lest it scare those not "still".
And so we move from a reference of a pillar of cloud to sitting dandasana. In this stillness keep what you find.
= = = = = = =
transition
transfiguration
transformation
a trinity of movements
from one state to another
something active appears
yet clarity for each of these
comes in quiet moments
still centers, gentle breaths
without such stillness
there is busy-ness
there is willy-nilly-ness
to have them move ahead
rather than in cycles
gather a clear still eye
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Transfiguration Sunday – C1
Years C
Exodus 34:29-35
When in deep conversation with G*D, self, or other we aren't always aware of the difference it is making in us. One way or another, deep conversation sets off fires within that cannot be hidden.
There are changes that occur in deep conversation that affect every other relationship we have, including with the one with whom we have had a deep conversation. Fear, from ourselves or another, is not an unexpected response to the significant change that has happened.
There really isn't any way to cover over the consequences of a deep conversation. This, of course, is one reason more such conversations don't go on - our preemptive fear cuts them off before change becomes necessary.
Are there some conversations you've been meaning to have that you've avoided for fear, yours or another's, that the result would be devastating to business as usual, would transfigure/transform your life and the life of the world?
If we were dealing with the Seventh Sunday of Epiphany (Genesis 45:3-11, 15) we would look at the issue of how other forms of presence can be as dismaying as Moses' - as when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. Here, deep secrets that have been kept are a veil that needs to be lifted, not a deep conversation.
From whichever way we come at this issue of having one's face or one's family transfigured, this is a significant issue in a culture of fear - wars, disagreement is equated with treason, management by leaks, etc. Transfiguration may be one of our yet available hopes to make a difference.
= = = = = = =
introverted Moses
finds energy
in mountain-top
get-aways
extroverted Joseph
finds energy
in intra-personal
relationships
sparks fly
when energy is found
to light one's face
to light another's
its time
to engage energy
inner and outer
for transfiguration
transformation
of self
for edification
for reconciliation
Exodus 34:29-35
When in deep conversation with G*D, self, or other we aren't always aware of the difference it is making in us. One way or another, deep conversation sets off fires within that cannot be hidden.
There are changes that occur in deep conversation that affect every other relationship we have, including with the one with whom we have had a deep conversation. Fear, from ourselves or another, is not an unexpected response to the significant change that has happened.
There really isn't any way to cover over the consequences of a deep conversation. This, of course, is one reason more such conversations don't go on - our preemptive fear cuts them off before change becomes necessary.
Are there some conversations you've been meaning to have that you've avoided for fear, yours or another's, that the result would be devastating to business as usual, would transfigure/transform your life and the life of the world?
If we were dealing with the Seventh Sunday of Epiphany (Genesis 45:3-11, 15) we would look at the issue of how other forms of presence can be as dismaying as Moses' - as when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. Here, deep secrets that have been kept are a veil that needs to be lifted, not a deep conversation.
From whichever way we come at this issue of having one's face or one's family transfigured, this is a significant issue in a culture of fear - wars, disagreement is equated with treason, management by leaks, etc. Transfiguration may be one of our yet available hopes to make a difference.
= = = = = = =
introverted Moses
finds energy
in mountain-top
get-aways
extroverted Joseph
finds energy
in intra-personal
relationships
sparks fly
when energy is found
to light one's face
to light another's
its time
to engage energy
inner and outer
for transfiguration
transformation
of self
for edification
for reconciliation
Monday, February 12, 2007
Transfiguration Sunday – B
Years B
2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9
A whirlwind - horses of fire, a chariot of fire - fire before and tempest around. These images call to let light shine out of darkness. They hearken back to the energy of creation - and let there be light (as though that were an easy, instantaneous event leaving no cosmological trace over time). There is judgment in these images, there is death and inheritance. We find here markers of transition from one generation to the next and a separation of the past from the future. All-in-all, blind violence is very much present.
Listen for another light, perhaps an energy saving compact fluorescent rather than a strobing spotlight, with the mystery of a floating cloud rather than a known tempestuous whirlwind. This comes with a message different than separation and doubling, different than judging and perishing. A message here is that of belovedness that can bridge the gap between what has been and what might yet be.
If we were to compare it with what might otherwise have been the pericopes of the seventh Sunday after Epiphany:
Isaiah 43:18-25
Psalm 41
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12
we find a new thing springing forth. A whirlwind of fire becomes a whirlwind of mutual care as a roof is blown off that a paralytic, one already judged and found wanting, might find a healing of forgiveness and walk forth. A way will be found in the wilderness that is as refreshing as a river in a desert. There is an opening up, not a closing down to one transitional moment - every moment of opening leads us onward and reveals the Yes of life. We find a life to be a first or next installment of Life, not a final culmination. We don't need to build more houses to separate us, but an opening of the houses already present that belovedness might enter and go forth.
= = = = = = =
a double portion of spirit
so cries the religious capitalist
making a profit off the prophet
to build more and bigger
dwellings to be franchised
of course this is intended for good
the veiled, the perishing
will be left behind
those who work hard
and persevere will triumph
equally true is the way
this keeps us separated
one profiteer from another
claiming a quadruple spirit
or a hundredfold
eventually we return
no prophetic profit
only a gentle quiet
a light-dimming cloud
murmuring a beloved lullaby
2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9
A whirlwind - horses of fire, a chariot of fire - fire before and tempest around. These images call to let light shine out of darkness. They hearken back to the energy of creation - and let there be light (as though that were an easy, instantaneous event leaving no cosmological trace over time). There is judgment in these images, there is death and inheritance. We find here markers of transition from one generation to the next and a separation of the past from the future. All-in-all, blind violence is very much present.
Listen for another light, perhaps an energy saving compact fluorescent rather than a strobing spotlight, with the mystery of a floating cloud rather than a known tempestuous whirlwind. This comes with a message different than separation and doubling, different than judging and perishing. A message here is that of belovedness that can bridge the gap between what has been and what might yet be.
If we were to compare it with what might otherwise have been the pericopes of the seventh Sunday after Epiphany:
Isaiah 43:18-25
Psalm 41
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12
we find a new thing springing forth. A whirlwind of fire becomes a whirlwind of mutual care as a roof is blown off that a paralytic, one already judged and found wanting, might find a healing of forgiveness and walk forth. A way will be found in the wilderness that is as refreshing as a river in a desert. There is an opening up, not a closing down to one transitional moment - every moment of opening leads us onward and reveals the Yes of life. We find a life to be a first or next installment of Life, not a final culmination. We don't need to build more houses to separate us, but an opening of the houses already present that belovedness might enter and go forth.
= = = = = = =
a double portion of spirit
so cries the religious capitalist
making a profit off the prophet
to build more and bigger
dwellings to be franchised
of course this is intended for good
the veiled, the perishing
will be left behind
those who work hard
and persevere will triumph
equally true is the way
this keeps us separated
one profiteer from another
claiming a quadruple spirit
or a hundredfold
eventually we return
no prophetic profit
only a gentle quiet
a light-dimming cloud
murmuring a beloved lullaby
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Transfiguration Sunday – A
Years A
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 2 or Psalm 99
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
These passage can be played against what, in another year, would have been the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany:
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Psalm 119:33-40
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5:38-48
A focus on Moses' appearance in Exodus is brought back to the content of Moses' encounter (Leviticus) on the mountain - Here's how to be holy, rather than here's what holy looks like.
Psalms 2 and 99 are again outwardly focused on causing trembling, if not blindness, in others. Psalm 119 here brings the issue to one's internal decision to act on one's understanding, rather than on naming another's source of vain plotting.
Peter has a leg up on prophetic messages. His experience trumps any other experience. Paul builds on a firm foundation in his fashion and others are encouraged to build according to their gifts. Is the faith hierarchical or communal? What is the place of the one with a spiritual gift of questioning or a baby in the faith or one in the midst of transition in their faith - subservient or welcomed?
The conversation Jesus has with Moses and Elijah (Mt 17) might be overheard with Jesus' comments about, "You have said, but I say" (Mt 5). This moment of shift is transformative in a person's life as they move to a next stage - transfiguring, even. When the new perspective comes, it becomes difficult to return to the prior picture with equanimity. A culture shift has occurred and this is a time of danger for the new vision. Fortunately transformative moments are ultimately irradicable and are confirmed in later resurrections into a new community.
= = = = = = =
buildings can break new ground
built on a new vision
they rise in new shapes
reflecting a new day
buildings can trap new ground
repeating an old vision
ticky-tacky on a hillside
restraining a new day
irrepressible Peter
reflecting restraining
needing yet a clear voice
assuring belovedness
from fearful restraint
comes a word to get up
to move beyond reflection
to practical healing
practice loving enemies
here lies new community
resist eye gouging
there lies old feuds
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 2 or Psalm 99
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
These passage can be played against what, in another year, would have been the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany:
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Psalm 119:33-40
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5:38-48
A focus on Moses' appearance in Exodus is brought back to the content of Moses' encounter (Leviticus) on the mountain - Here's how to be holy, rather than here's what holy looks like.
Psalms 2 and 99 are again outwardly focused on causing trembling, if not blindness, in others. Psalm 119 here brings the issue to one's internal decision to act on one's understanding, rather than on naming another's source of vain plotting.
Peter has a leg up on prophetic messages. His experience trumps any other experience. Paul builds on a firm foundation in his fashion and others are encouraged to build according to their gifts. Is the faith hierarchical or communal? What is the place of the one with a spiritual gift of questioning or a baby in the faith or one in the midst of transition in their faith - subservient or welcomed?
The conversation Jesus has with Moses and Elijah (Mt 17) might be overheard with Jesus' comments about, "You have said, but I say" (Mt 5). This moment of shift is transformative in a person's life as they move to a next stage - transfiguring, even. When the new perspective comes, it becomes difficult to return to the prior picture with equanimity. A culture shift has occurred and this is a time of danger for the new vision. Fortunately transformative moments are ultimately irradicable and are confirmed in later resurrections into a new community.
= = = = = = =
buildings can break new ground
built on a new vision
they rise in new shapes
reflecting a new day
buildings can trap new ground
repeating an old vision
ticky-tacky on a hillside
restraining a new day
irrepressible Peter
reflecting restraining
needing yet a clear voice
assuring belovedness
from fearful restraint
comes a word to get up
to move beyond reflection
to practical healing
practice loving enemies
here lies new community
resist eye gouging
there lies old feuds
Friday, February 09, 2007
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – C4
Years C
Luke 6:17-26
I have appreciated the translations that say to the poor, hungry, sorrowing, reviled - "You are not cursed." When we leave it simply as "blessed are you", the affirmation soon becomes enough for the sayer to do. While one statement (you are not cursed) may be implied within the other (you are blessed), they touch different parts of us.
To be blessed means I'm in need of blessing and the question is whether that blessing is sufficient to cover what needs covering. There is something clearer about not being cursed.
At other times I am aware of not being cursed, but without the motivation to do anything about that state and I stand in need of a good blessing to free a direction of engagement.
How do you play back and forth between being blessed and not being cursed?
Within this may be some hints about the healing process. Some of those who came needed a vaccination of blessing to hold them through every diseased scene they will pass through. Others needed a seal of approval only received through a proclamation that they are not cursed. The healing arts really are an art form - knowing where to apply what.
Amid the crowd who came to hear and be touched, those looking for a word found themselves spoken to and those looking for a touch found themselves embraced.
= = = = = = =
Nationalism is militant hatred. It is not love of our countrymen: that, which denotes good citizenship, philanthropy, practical religion, should go by the name of patriotism. Nationalism is passionate xenophobia. It is fanatical, as all forms of idol-worship are bound to be. And fanaticism - l'infame denounced by Voltaire - obliterates or reverses the distinction between good and evil. Patriotism, the desire to work for the common weal, can be, must be, reasonable: "My country, may she be right!" Nationalism spurns reason: "Right or wrong, my country."
Albert L. Guerard, The Paradoxes of Nationalism.
let me have all things
let me have nothing
so goes a covenant service
let me be blessed
let me not be cursed
so goes plain speaking
my fear of woe
my fear of not being blessed
are revealed in possession
yes, all is mine
yes, all will be mine
are revealed in present desire
weal or woe
blessing or curse
show which nation we are part of
welcome or restraint
healing or captivity
distinguish good from evil
blessing for me
blessing for all
one calls forth the other
a curse for you
a curses for all
one compounds the other
Luke 6:17-26
I have appreciated the translations that say to the poor, hungry, sorrowing, reviled - "You are not cursed." When we leave it simply as "blessed are you", the affirmation soon becomes enough for the sayer to do. While one statement (you are not cursed) may be implied within the other (you are blessed), they touch different parts of us.
To be blessed means I'm in need of blessing and the question is whether that blessing is sufficient to cover what needs covering. There is something clearer about not being cursed.
At other times I am aware of not being cursed, but without the motivation to do anything about that state and I stand in need of a good blessing to free a direction of engagement.
How do you play back and forth between being blessed and not being cursed?
Within this may be some hints about the healing process. Some of those who came needed a vaccination of blessing to hold them through every diseased scene they will pass through. Others needed a seal of approval only received through a proclamation that they are not cursed. The healing arts really are an art form - knowing where to apply what.
Amid the crowd who came to hear and be touched, those looking for a word found themselves spoken to and those looking for a touch found themselves embraced.
= = = = = = =
Nationalism is militant hatred. It is not love of our countrymen: that, which denotes good citizenship, philanthropy, practical religion, should go by the name of patriotism. Nationalism is passionate xenophobia. It is fanatical, as all forms of idol-worship are bound to be. And fanaticism - l'infame denounced by Voltaire - obliterates or reverses the distinction between good and evil. Patriotism, the desire to work for the common weal, can be, must be, reasonable: "My country, may she be right!" Nationalism spurns reason: "Right or wrong, my country."
Albert L. Guerard, The Paradoxes of Nationalism.
let me have all things
let me have nothing
so goes a covenant service
let me be blessed
let me not be cursed
so goes plain speaking
my fear of woe
my fear of not being blessed
are revealed in possession
yes, all is mine
yes, all will be mine
are revealed in present desire
weal or woe
blessing or curse
show which nation we are part of
welcome or restraint
healing or captivity
distinguish good from evil
blessing for me
blessing for all
one calls forth the other
a curse for you
a curses for all
one compounds the other
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – C3
Years C
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
If I proclaim there are WMDs in Iraq, how can some of you say there isn't?
If there aren't WMDs, then democracy is futile and we are controlled by terrorists.
In fact there are WMDs.
There is a vast gap between a proclamation and an experience. This difference is not notable for the one doing the proclaiming, but is for the one being proclaimed to.
We struggle to put our experiences into words that they might be approximately received by others, but ultimately we trust that we might make glancing contact with their experience and our imaginations might, together, be set loose to find more meaning in our experiences than we have heretofore found.
So it is that we find some proclamations to be more fruitful than others. Condemnatory proclamations generally are short-lived (though never short enough, for even one proclaimed off their experience is sufficient to slow the world). Imaginative proclamations have a much longer shelf life (though they too often take a long while to be recognized).
A proclamation of imagination that goes beyond our usual limit of death is a fruitful one. It is too bad that it is often delivered as a condemnation of another's current limit. How might you imaginatively proclaim resurrection without the use of consigning those who are not at that point to un-resurrected states?
= = = = = = =
faith in resurrection
opens our senses to its presence
sharpens our language of argument
grounds our institutionalization of same
hope of resurrection
sets us up for disappointment
causes tentativeness in the present
cuts us loose from action
love with resurrection
moves us toward a preferred future
softens our response to others
deepens our experience of time
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
If I proclaim there are WMDs in Iraq, how can some of you say there isn't?
If there aren't WMDs, then democracy is futile and we are controlled by terrorists.
In fact there are WMDs.
There is a vast gap between a proclamation and an experience. This difference is not notable for the one doing the proclaiming, but is for the one being proclaimed to.
We struggle to put our experiences into words that they might be approximately received by others, but ultimately we trust that we might make glancing contact with their experience and our imaginations might, together, be set loose to find more meaning in our experiences than we have heretofore found.
So it is that we find some proclamations to be more fruitful than others. Condemnatory proclamations generally are short-lived (though never short enough, for even one proclaimed off their experience is sufficient to slow the world). Imaginative proclamations have a much longer shelf life (though they too often take a long while to be recognized).
A proclamation of imagination that goes beyond our usual limit of death is a fruitful one. It is too bad that it is often delivered as a condemnation of another's current limit. How might you imaginatively proclaim resurrection without the use of consigning those who are not at that point to un-resurrected states?
= = = = = = =
faith in resurrection
opens our senses to its presence
sharpens our language of argument
grounds our institutionalization of same
hope of resurrection
sets us up for disappointment
causes tentativeness in the present
cuts us loose from action
love with resurrection
moves us toward a preferred future
softens our response to others
deepens our experience of time
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – C3
Years C
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
If I proclaim there are WMDs in Iraq, how can some of you say there isn't?
If there aren't WMDs, then democracy is futile and we are controlled by terrorists.
In fact there are WMDs.
There is a vast gap between a proclamation and an experience. This difference is not notable for the one doing the proclaiming, but is for the one being proclaimed to.
We struggle to put our experiences into words that they might be approximately received by others, but ultimately we trust that we might make glancing contact with their experience and our imaginations might, together, be set loose to find more meaning in our experiences than we have heretofore found.
So it is that we find some proclamations to be more fruitful than others. Condemnatory proclamations generally are short-lived (though never short enough, for even one proclaimed off their experience is sufficient to slow the world). Imaginative proclamations have a much longer shelf life (though they too often take a long while to be recognized).
A proclamation of imagination that goes beyond our usual limit of death is a fruitful one. It is too bad that it is often delivered as a condemnation of another's current limit. How might you imaginatively proclaim resurrection without the use of consigning those who are not at that point to un-resurrected states?
= = = = = = =
faith in resurrection
opens our senses to its presence
sharpens our language of argument
grounds our institutionalization of same
hope of resurrection
sets us up for disappointment
causes tentativeness in the present
cuts us loose from action
love with resurrection
moves us toward a preferred future
softens our response to others
deepens our experience of time
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
If I proclaim there are WMDs in Iraq, how can some of you say there isn't?
If there aren't WMDs, then democracy is futile and we are controlled by terrorists.
In fact there are WMDs.
There is a vast gap between a proclamation and an experience. This difference is not notable for the one doing the proclaiming, but is for the one being proclaimed to.
We struggle to put our experiences into words that they might be approximately received by others, but ultimately we trust that we might make glancing contact with their experience and our imaginations might, together, be set loose to find more meaning in our experiences than we have heretofore found.
So it is that we find some proclamations to be more fruitful than others. Condemnatory proclamations generally are short-lived (though never short enough, for even one proclaimed off their experience is sufficient to slow the world). Imaginative proclamations have a much longer shelf life (though they too often take a long while to be recognized).
A proclamation of imagination that goes beyond our usual limit of death is a fruitful one. It is too bad that it is often delivered as a condemnation of another's current limit. How might you imaginatively proclaim resurrection without the use of consigning those who are not at that point to un-resurrected states?
= = = = = = =
faith in resurrection
opens our senses to its presence
sharpens our language of argument
grounds our institutionalization of same
hope of resurrection
sets us up for disappointment
causes tentativeness in the present
cuts us loose from action
love with resurrection
moves us toward a preferred future
softens our response to others
deepens our experience of time
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – C2
Years C
Psalm 1
Much of scripture is the positing of positions - "this" is the place one should end up. "Hooray", if you do. "Boo", if you don't.
What is not so clear is how to navigate the lives-we-really-live in relation to a particular endpoint. Journeys and destinations are not all that easily connected. It may not be all that helpful to turn this dynamic into static consequences of heaven or hell.
This comes down to saying that those who do well, do well and those who do not do well, do not do well. Fortunately there are still another 149 Psalms to go from this beginning point. I suppose that starting with the word "Happy" may have a slight edge over "It was a dark and stormy night". However the Psalm seems to run backward. Happiness here is a celebration of having avoided perishing wickedly. A dark and stormy night may yet have something to commend it - there is an adventure ahead.
= = = = = = =
a tree by water
lives forward
season by season
chaff in the wind
is left behind
seasonless
if a choice were needed
polls show trees
well ahead
hulls have protected
tender seeds
and been jettisoned
their servant's role
finished
they're blown away
having come to serve
we thank the chaff
and are happy
Psalm 1
Much of scripture is the positing of positions - "this" is the place one should end up. "Hooray", if you do. "Boo", if you don't.
What is not so clear is how to navigate the lives-we-really-live in relation to a particular endpoint. Journeys and destinations are not all that easily connected. It may not be all that helpful to turn this dynamic into static consequences of heaven or hell.
This comes down to saying that those who do well, do well and those who do not do well, do not do well. Fortunately there are still another 149 Psalms to go from this beginning point. I suppose that starting with the word "Happy" may have a slight edge over "It was a dark and stormy night". However the Psalm seems to run backward. Happiness here is a celebration of having avoided perishing wickedly. A dark and stormy night may yet have something to commend it - there is an adventure ahead.
= = = = = = =
a tree by water
lives forward
season by season
chaff in the wind
is left behind
seasonless
if a choice were needed
polls show trees
well ahead
hulls have protected
tender seeds
and been jettisoned
their servant's role
finished
they're blown away
having come to serve
we thank the chaff
and are happy
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – C1
Years C
Jeremiah 17:5-10
In memory of Molly Ivins: "They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes." So are folk who trust in their own strength and don't know how to extricate themselves from the very messes they have caused. Shrub folk are always causing an unintended consequence.
In light of the limitations of a shrub masquerading as a stately oak and a desert having lush dreams the prophet suggests another picture for us - trees by a stream.
With these two alternatives we come to the heart of the matter - deviousness not only happens, but abounds. A test is always running (and not just the annoying emergency broadcast test) to see which of these pictures we will choose - shrub or tree, desert or stream. Like it or not, each eventually bears consequences, bad or good.
= = = = = = =
"We are the people who run this country.
We are the deciders.
And every single day,
every single one of us
needs to step outside and
take some action to help stop this war.
Raise hell.
Think of something to
make the ridiculous look ridiculous.
Make our troops know we're for them and
trying to get them out of there."
[from Molly Ivins' last column]
a shrub sees itself
as substantial as a tree
when it finally meets a tree
it can see itself as it is
at this point there is hope
and so the call
comes to each to stand tall
that shrubs might see themselves
it is this gift of irony and satire
rightly applied to power
that lightens our souls enough
to put down strong roots
with a connection to
thousand year old aquifers
we are nourished
are not discouraged
when choice is willing to receive decision
we gather wisdom
from every direction of time
and we fear not to stand tall
Jeremiah 17:5-10
In memory of Molly Ivins: "They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes." So are folk who trust in their own strength and don't know how to extricate themselves from the very messes they have caused. Shrub folk are always causing an unintended consequence.
In light of the limitations of a shrub masquerading as a stately oak and a desert having lush dreams the prophet suggests another picture for us - trees by a stream.
With these two alternatives we come to the heart of the matter - deviousness not only happens, but abounds. A test is always running (and not just the annoying emergency broadcast test) to see which of these pictures we will choose - shrub or tree, desert or stream. Like it or not, each eventually bears consequences, bad or good.
= = = = = = =
"We are the people who run this country.
We are the deciders.
And every single day,
every single one of us
needs to step outside and
take some action to help stop this war.
Raise hell.
Think of something to
make the ridiculous look ridiculous.
Make our troops know we're for them and
trying to get them out of there."
[from Molly Ivins' last column]
a shrub sees itself
as substantial as a tree
when it finally meets a tree
it can see itself as it is
at this point there is hope
and so the call
comes to each to stand tall
that shrubs might see themselves
it is this gift of irony and satire
rightly applied to power
that lightens our souls enough
to put down strong roots
with a connection to
thousand year old aquifers
we are nourished
are not discouraged
when choice is willing to receive decision
we gather wisdom
from every direction of time
and we fear not to stand tall
Monday, February 05, 2007
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – B
Years B
2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45
Naaman begins with the imagery of the Psalmist and Paul, that one can make their own way in relationship to G*D. Naaman seeks to punish himself to free himself. He looks for some quick fix answer that G*D will bestow upon him, as Jesus did the leper.
After all, he is important enough to receive. In fact, things shouldn't have gone awry in the first place.
There is anger here in Elisha's willingness to display his prophetic power, in Naaman's response to Elisha's directions, in the leper calling Jesus to him instead of calling out "Unclean", and in Jesus' response of healing in anger and casting a healed one away (if you have a Bible that only talks of Jesus' pity or compassion and his sending a healed person to the priests, you need to read some footnotes or other translations).
Anger and discipline often go together. They can urge one another onward. These passages are not helpfully dealt with at face value.
The conscience in these passages is portrayed by an unnamed slave girl. It would be interesting to imagine her comment on each of the subsequent scenes. As a slave, what would she think of the Psalmist desire for extraverted thanks? of Paul's bootstrap pulling? of the leper's trick and Jesus' anger? To look at these passages through her eyes might bear some good fruit.
= = = = = = =
a Red Queen and Paul
run twice as fast to stay in place
run twice as often to stay fit
run twice as far to find a shortcut
this running demands results
Naaman ran twice
to Elisha and away
walked twice
to a river and from
this running presumes rights
a leper putting a burden on Jesus
Jesus casting out leprosy
and casting out a healed leper
this running calls for questions
is twice really enough today
is the end result the result we seek
is anything but power used in healings
is thanksgiving ever humbly done
this running eventually runs out
our historic restlessness is calmed
we are grateful to not prove our power
to not demand curing
to breathe and breathe again
2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45
Naaman begins with the imagery of the Psalmist and Paul, that one can make their own way in relationship to G*D. Naaman seeks to punish himself to free himself. He looks for some quick fix answer that G*D will bestow upon him, as Jesus did the leper.
After all, he is important enough to receive. In fact, things shouldn't have gone awry in the first place.
There is anger here in Elisha's willingness to display his prophetic power, in Naaman's response to Elisha's directions, in the leper calling Jesus to him instead of calling out "Unclean", and in Jesus' response of healing in anger and casting a healed one away (if you have a Bible that only talks of Jesus' pity or compassion and his sending a healed person to the priests, you need to read some footnotes or other translations).
Anger and discipline often go together. They can urge one another onward. These passages are not helpfully dealt with at face value.
The conscience in these passages is portrayed by an unnamed slave girl. It would be interesting to imagine her comment on each of the subsequent scenes. As a slave, what would she think of the Psalmist desire for extraverted thanks? of Paul's bootstrap pulling? of the leper's trick and Jesus' anger? To look at these passages through her eyes might bear some good fruit.
= = = = = = =
a Red Queen and Paul
run twice as fast to stay in place
run twice as often to stay fit
run twice as far to find a shortcut
this running demands results
Naaman ran twice
to Elisha and away
walked twice
to a river and from
this running presumes rights
a leper putting a burden on Jesus
Jesus casting out leprosy
and casting out a healed leper
this running calls for questions
is twice really enough today
is the end result the result we seek
is anything but power used in healings
is thanksgiving ever humbly done
this running eventually runs out
our historic restlessness is calmed
we are grateful to not prove our power
to not demand curing
to breathe and breathe again
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – A
Years A
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
or Sirach 15:15-20
Psalm 119:1-8
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 5:21-37
To choose or not to choose: that is the question.
On the one hand, everything depends upon this moment. What we decide will echo on forever. What we decide against is stillborn. All of life hangs in the balance - all of heaven holds it breath. What will they decide?
Here it might be good to listen again to that old hymn, "Once to Every Man and Nation" [written by James Russell Lowell in the Boston Courier, December 11, 1845. Lowell wrote these words as a poem protesting America’s war with Mexico]. What decision is now needed regarding America's preemptive war against Iraq and impending one with Iran? Will you choose to choose it? What else has changed within and around us, leading to new choices.
Will you throw a first stone or a last stone or no stone at all? Does it make any difference whether the issue is personal or communal, spiritual or political (not that these pairs can be separated very well)?
On the other hand, a choice doesn't make the slightest difference. We are simply G*D's servants whether we find ourselves with Apollos or Paul or Amy or Janet or performing one function or another. As a simple servant of G*D, just how much choice does a milk-sucking child have?
Now, when to choose to choose or to choose not to choose, aye - that is a good question. When to say Yes! or No! is both imponderably confusing and intuitionally clear.
= = = = = = =
happy those
who are able to decide
after the fact
Monday-morning quarterback
after the fact
but happier still those
who decide
with an eye to the future
before the fact
that will become an after fact
to move toward a preferred tomorrow
before its factness
is highly satisfying here
decisions take on deep meaning
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
or Sirach 15:15-20
Psalm 119:1-8
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 5:21-37
To choose or not to choose: that is the question.
On the one hand, everything depends upon this moment. What we decide will echo on forever. What we decide against is stillborn. All of life hangs in the balance - all of heaven holds it breath. What will they decide?
Here it might be good to listen again to that old hymn, "Once to Every Man and Nation" [written by James Russell Lowell in the Boston Courier, December 11, 1845. Lowell wrote these words as a poem protesting America’s war with Mexico]. What decision is now needed regarding America's preemptive war against Iraq and impending one with Iran? Will you choose to choose it? What else has changed within and around us, leading to new choices.
Will you throw a first stone or a last stone or no stone at all? Does it make any difference whether the issue is personal or communal, spiritual or political (not that these pairs can be separated very well)?
On the other hand, a choice doesn't make the slightest difference. We are simply G*D's servants whether we find ourselves with Apollos or Paul or Amy or Janet or performing one function or another. As a simple servant of G*D, just how much choice does a milk-sucking child have?
Now, when to choose to choose or to choose not to choose, aye - that is a good question. When to say Yes! or No! is both imponderably confusing and intuitionally clear.
= = = = = = =
happy those
who are able to decide
after the fact
Monday-morning quarterback
after the fact
but happier still those
who decide
with an eye to the future
before the fact
that will become an after fact
to move toward a preferred tomorrow
before its factness
is highly satisfying here
decisions take on deep meaning
Friday, February 02, 2007
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – C4
Years C
Luke 5:1-11
Nets are being washed and readied for the next night's fishing. Jesus is talking to people on the lakeshore. Jesus enters a boat and teaches and then asks Simon to go fishing in the daytime.
Fishing at night might symbolize economic sustenance based on what has become known over the generations. Fishing during the day may represent a willingness to suspend common sense that a new revelation might have room to be welcomed.
Sure enough, after getting the nets back in place they broke their pattern and were nearly swamped with a new catch. Simon, in a boat filled to the brim with wriggling, newly-caught fish, falls to his knees in their midst. (If there isn't some element of humor in a new revelation, it probably isn't.)
If this event was possible, what isn't? Simon Peter asks that question with a fearful, dramatic phrasing to distance himself from even more changes. The culmination of a willingness to suspend more than common sense regarding a routine task leads Peter to hear an important response to his question, "Relax, if you can catch fish at such an inopportune time, I'm inviting you to look inland to fields ripe for the harvesting and few to put their hand to that task." Simon quickly surmises there is more going on here than literal connections between fish and fields and people. Here is a challenge that can't be passed up and allow one to remain satisfied by going back to a previous routine.
May we each hear a more expansive invitation than we were ready for. Ready or not, daylight comes, patterns are broken, fear rises, courage for a new challenge abates that fear, new life goes on.
= = = = = = =
yet, if you say so
I will come to myself
in this very place and time
until every midnight and noon
every fullness of employment - doing
every empty laid-aside - suffering
sings a body electric
yet, if you say so
I will come to neighbors
in their moment and space
until every race and gender
every variation in culture
every difference in orientation
sings a body eclectic
yet, if you say so
I will come to you
in your whim and wisdom
until every call and response
every habit questioned
every opportunity welcomed
sings a body elected
yet, if you say so
I will come to rest
in expectation and trust
until every premise and assumption
every unexpected youngest child
every unentitled eldest
sings a body selected
Luke 5:1-11
Nets are being washed and readied for the next night's fishing. Jesus is talking to people on the lakeshore. Jesus enters a boat and teaches and then asks Simon to go fishing in the daytime.
Fishing at night might symbolize economic sustenance based on what has become known over the generations. Fishing during the day may represent a willingness to suspend common sense that a new revelation might have room to be welcomed.
Sure enough, after getting the nets back in place they broke their pattern and were nearly swamped with a new catch. Simon, in a boat filled to the brim with wriggling, newly-caught fish, falls to his knees in their midst. (If there isn't some element of humor in a new revelation, it probably isn't.)
If this event was possible, what isn't? Simon Peter asks that question with a fearful, dramatic phrasing to distance himself from even more changes. The culmination of a willingness to suspend more than common sense regarding a routine task leads Peter to hear an important response to his question, "Relax, if you can catch fish at such an inopportune time, I'm inviting you to look inland to fields ripe for the harvesting and few to put their hand to that task." Simon quickly surmises there is more going on here than literal connections between fish and fields and people. Here is a challenge that can't be passed up and allow one to remain satisfied by going back to a previous routine.
May we each hear a more expansive invitation than we were ready for. Ready or not, daylight comes, patterns are broken, fear rises, courage for a new challenge abates that fear, new life goes on.
= = = = = = =
yet, if you say so
I will come to myself
in this very place and time
until every midnight and noon
every fullness of employment - doing
every empty laid-aside - suffering
sings a body electric
yet, if you say so
I will come to neighbors
in their moment and space
until every race and gender
every variation in culture
every difference in orientation
sings a body eclectic
yet, if you say so
I will come to you
in your whim and wisdom
until every call and response
every habit questioned
every opportunity welcomed
sings a body elected
yet, if you say so
I will come to rest
in expectation and trust
until every premise and assumption
every unexpected youngest child
every unentitled eldest
sings a body selected
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – C3
Years C
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Proclaimed and received - a circuit through which energy might flow. This is a valuable tool that can evolve as it works.
We might want to take a step back to remember the expansive love of G*D proclaimed to Saul. Was that proclamation as early as Saul's learning with Gamaliel or was it present in the stoning of Stephen? Might it have been heard as Saul went around persecuting followers of a risen Christ? How many times might Saul have fallen on his face in recognition that G*D's steadfast love was not threatened by folks trying to honor it in a different way? Finally, outside Damascus, Saul received a proclamation and life changed. Paul arises.
How many proclamations had come to the folks at Corinth before Paul came along and a proclamation and a reception connected?
The proclamation seems to be that a risen Christ can and has appeared to many in every generation. This appearance transforms people's lives, changes their named identity.
How many different ways has this connection between Christ and an individual or group occurred? As many ways as there are people and groups. Whether it was one way or another for you, it is probably different for me, and different from either of us when we are dealing with someone else.
We can get caught up in doctrinally defining Jesus in this passage, but that won't get too far. It is far better to look at the sweep of process, proclamation and reception, in all its many combinations and permutations. This will keep us ready to receive strangers, unaware as we are of the spirit's work with them.
= = = = = = =
the last of the apostles
is a very hallowed position
we all want to be the culmination
the first of the apostles
is important but the new and improved version
finally arrived can't be beat
yes, apostles can define everyone else
out of their ranks and ranking
but mystery abounds beyond apostles
the last is never last
take a breath and you're next to last
thus the danger of pride of reception
may we so hallow the next apostle
that we will find our apostleship
confirmed in giving it up
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Proclaimed and received - a circuit through which energy might flow. This is a valuable tool that can evolve as it works.
We might want to take a step back to remember the expansive love of G*D proclaimed to Saul. Was that proclamation as early as Saul's learning with Gamaliel or was it present in the stoning of Stephen? Might it have been heard as Saul went around persecuting followers of a risen Christ? How many times might Saul have fallen on his face in recognition that G*D's steadfast love was not threatened by folks trying to honor it in a different way? Finally, outside Damascus, Saul received a proclamation and life changed. Paul arises.
How many proclamations had come to the folks at Corinth before Paul came along and a proclamation and a reception connected?
The proclamation seems to be that a risen Christ can and has appeared to many in every generation. This appearance transforms people's lives, changes their named identity.
How many different ways has this connection between Christ and an individual or group occurred? As many ways as there are people and groups. Whether it was one way or another for you, it is probably different for me, and different from either of us when we are dealing with someone else.
We can get caught up in doctrinally defining Jesus in this passage, but that won't get too far. It is far better to look at the sweep of process, proclamation and reception, in all its many combinations and permutations. This will keep us ready to receive strangers, unaware as we are of the spirit's work with them.
= = = = = = =
the last of the apostles
is a very hallowed position
we all want to be the culmination
the first of the apostles
is important but the new and improved version
finally arrived can't be beat
yes, apostles can define everyone else
out of their ranks and ranking
but mystery abounds beyond apostles
the last is never last
take a breath and you're next to last
thus the danger of pride of reception
may we so hallow the next apostle
that we will find our apostleship
confirmed in giving it up
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – C2
Years C
Psalm 138
There is here a formula for increasing our strength of soul. It could be a best seller because the times are right for a wonderful self-help resource. Who doesn't want their soul strengthened? There is a huge market available.
Unfortunately it turns out that the cost of imaging G*D is high. It comes with an increased regard for the lowly and a willingness to engage in deliverance of the troubled. To do this an increased consciousness of the haughty and wrathful needs to be cultivated so they can't hide behind fancy language, accumulated resources, and easily applied power.
Soul strengthening implies a steadfastness of not only purpose, but application. To take one's eye off the prize of regard for and engagement with every level of the poor leaves one open to cooption by the haughty and wrathful. If we are not diligent in our awareness and implementation we become part of the problem and our soul shrinks.
What seemed like a wonderful offering - soul strengthening - turns out to be as difficult as anything. This is a task that cries out for not just a personal resolve, but communal support. It takes a village to strengthen a soul.
= = = = = = =
let us now be thankful
for humble people
who are willing to be
soul strengthened
they will find their
time eaten
resources robbed
hopes erased
faith compromised
troubled aplenty
these are not techniques
to bring a soul kiss
from a higher power
but a temptation of the lord
they have found
needy beyond imagination
poor unto the generations
abused just because
war-torn millions
abandoned children
for all of this and more
they cannot sleep
until souls are joined
and grow once more
Psalm 138
There is here a formula for increasing our strength of soul. It could be a best seller because the times are right for a wonderful self-help resource. Who doesn't want their soul strengthened? There is a huge market available.
Unfortunately it turns out that the cost of imaging G*D is high. It comes with an increased regard for the lowly and a willingness to engage in deliverance of the troubled. To do this an increased consciousness of the haughty and wrathful needs to be cultivated so they can't hide behind fancy language, accumulated resources, and easily applied power.
Soul strengthening implies a steadfastness of not only purpose, but application. To take one's eye off the prize of regard for and engagement with every level of the poor leaves one open to cooption by the haughty and wrathful. If we are not diligent in our awareness and implementation we become part of the problem and our soul shrinks.
What seemed like a wonderful offering - soul strengthening - turns out to be as difficult as anything. This is a task that cries out for not just a personal resolve, but communal support. It takes a village to strengthen a soul.
= = = = = = =
let us now be thankful
for humble people
who are willing to be
soul strengthened
they will find their
time eaten
resources robbed
hopes erased
faith compromised
troubled aplenty
these are not techniques
to bring a soul kiss
from a higher power
but a temptation of the lord
they have found
needy beyond imagination
poor unto the generations
abused just because
war-torn millions
abandoned children
for all of this and more
they cannot sleep
until souls are joined
and grow once more
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – C1
Years C
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Guilt is very powerful. Whether it is appropriate or inappropriate guilt, it has a controlling presence in our lives. We find ourselves reduced when it is felt and monstrous when it is absent. In some sense, guilt is something we can't live with or without.
Even when we have previously experienced guilt departing from us and the freedom that opens, we usually forget that sequence and hang on to the next guilt as long as ever we can. A great benefit of a congregation is the reminder system available to help us remember that it is more possible than we thought to be relieved of guilt - just in time to be burdened by a particular calling.
The Natural Church Development folks talk about gift-based ministries (pdf). One of the blockages to this is personal and congregational guilt (note: guilt operates on every level in which we do - ideational, national, personal, theological, congregational, etc.).
It makes a huge difference when guilt is taken away or cast away (directionality here probably doesn't make any difference, though it would be very important to some to have it fit their theology/philosophy).
Remember a time your guilt was removed. Apply that to a current guilt. Go ahead.
= = = = = = =
trapped - touched - freed -
an on-going cycle
moves us from stage to stage
the current play of our life
takes a lot of staging
it is hard to take it on the road
the next stage of our life
asks us to put down
guilty baggage
when staging our next act
there will be a different audience
we will know through play
honoring our current stage
honoring our next audience
ahh, play is the thing
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Guilt is very powerful. Whether it is appropriate or inappropriate guilt, it has a controlling presence in our lives. We find ourselves reduced when it is felt and monstrous when it is absent. In some sense, guilt is something we can't live with or without.
Even when we have previously experienced guilt departing from us and the freedom that opens, we usually forget that sequence and hang on to the next guilt as long as ever we can. A great benefit of a congregation is the reminder system available to help us remember that it is more possible than we thought to be relieved of guilt - just in time to be burdened by a particular calling.
The Natural Church Development folks talk about gift-based ministries (pdf). One of the blockages to this is personal and congregational guilt (note: guilt operates on every level in which we do - ideational, national, personal, theological, congregational, etc.).
It makes a huge difference when guilt is taken away or cast away (directionality here probably doesn't make any difference, though it would be very important to some to have it fit their theology/philosophy).
Remember a time your guilt was removed. Apply that to a current guilt. Go ahead.
= = = = = = =
trapped - touched - freed -
an on-going cycle
moves us from stage to stage
the current play of our life
takes a lot of staging
it is hard to take it on the road
the next stage of our life
asks us to put down
guilty baggage
when staging our next act
there will be a different audience
we will know through play
honoring our current stage
honoring our next audience
ahh, play is the thing
Monday, January 29, 2007
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – B
Years B
Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
Though there is a tendency to attribute power to that which is greater, longer, wider, deeper, power that is implacable and must be bowed down to, it is important to see an on-going vitality of steadfast eternity. Time, Creation, G*D are powerful in relationship to grasshoppers, slaves, or frail (various images of humans). But to stop with that distinction is to dismiss everything in favor of some one thing.
In these passages a key dynamic is not the distance between the great and the small, but the willingness of the powerful to energize the less powerful. This might be called silly as it adds to entropy (at least in a closed system) but it might also be envisioned as the only perpetual energy mechanism there is, one that passes on energy in an open environment.
Our tendency is to look at a given cycle of rising and falling, rather than an on-going stream of life. When looking cyclically we get into law issues such as this interesting one: "(though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law)". When looking on-goingly we can see patterns of connection between our predecessors and our descendants, our selves and others, one religious, economic, or political system and another.
Here we proclaim a connection of intentional interaction between every disparate moment and rejoice in time's flow that supports us and encourages us and engages us to join the flow. Rejoice in every evidence of power coming to the faint, being received, and passed on.
= = = = = = =
haven't you heard
has your heart not known
it is not what gets stored up that counts
but what passes through
hearts get attacked
with storage blockages
they faint and fail
in need of new flow
as we pass through
we store of loose
set your heart on this choice
that others might also hear
Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
Though there is a tendency to attribute power to that which is greater, longer, wider, deeper, power that is implacable and must be bowed down to, it is important to see an on-going vitality of steadfast eternity. Time, Creation, G*D are powerful in relationship to grasshoppers, slaves, or frail (various images of humans). But to stop with that distinction is to dismiss everything in favor of some one thing.
In these passages a key dynamic is not the distance between the great and the small, but the willingness of the powerful to energize the less powerful. This might be called silly as it adds to entropy (at least in a closed system) but it might also be envisioned as the only perpetual energy mechanism there is, one that passes on energy in an open environment.
Our tendency is to look at a given cycle of rising and falling, rather than an on-going stream of life. When looking cyclically we get into law issues such as this interesting one: "(though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law)". When looking on-goingly we can see patterns of connection between our predecessors and our descendants, our selves and others, one religious, economic, or political system and another.
Here we proclaim a connection of intentional interaction between every disparate moment and rejoice in time's flow that supports us and encourages us and engages us to join the flow. Rejoice in every evidence of power coming to the faint, being received, and passed on.
= = = = = = =
haven't you heard
has your heart not known
it is not what gets stored up that counts
but what passes through
hearts get attacked
with storage blockages
they faint and fail
in need of new flow
as we pass through
we store of loose
set your heart on this choice
that others might also hear
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – A
Years A
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
Matthew 5:13-20
Time and again we come to ask the question of - what’s in it for me? And time and again we come to be asked – what’s in it for others?
An awareness of the distinction between whether we are asking or being asked focuses us on whether or not we sense our sense or common sense or human wisdom is the chief measuring rod of life. If it is, we have seen evidence of our following prescribed rituals such as fasting and finding their limit in justifying what we are currently doing.
If our sense is that these ritual righteousnesses have their place but there is a mystery of more-life that takes place beyond them, then we may find another level of fasting and living. If this is the case, we have evidence that our actions can have a positive effect in the lives of others that echo in our own.
If fasting from anger doesn’t loosen bonds we wrap around another, our fasting only makes us look tolerant.
If fasting from greed doesn’t loosen a yoke we place around others to provide our well-being, our fasting only makes us look philanthropic.
If fasting from food doesn’t loosen our hold on our bread, our fasting only makes us look sleek.
If fasting from sloth doesn’t loosen our regard for privacy, our fasting only makes us look kingly in our castle.
If fasting from comfort doesn’t loosen our closet locks, our fasting only makes us look the emperor in new clothes.
If fasting from jealousy doesn’t loosen our remembrance of injuries done to us by those who love us, our fasting only makes us look justified.
Fasting for our benefit is one thing. Fasting for the benefit of another is another.
= = = = = = =
a cosmic aarrgghh
rumbles forth
I write of fasting
and take a break
for cheese and crackers
for but a bit of
lovely Wensleydale
how Wallace and Wesley
could go on and on
oblivious to anything but
honey-tinged Wensleydale
hopefully with the help of
a faithful friend
we will muddle through
steady of heart
triumphant in the end
pray all cosmic aarrgghhs
will come ‘round right
to comic har-har-hars
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
Matthew 5:13-20
Time and again we come to ask the question of - what’s in it for me? And time and again we come to be asked – what’s in it for others?
An awareness of the distinction between whether we are asking or being asked focuses us on whether or not we sense our sense or common sense or human wisdom is the chief measuring rod of life. If it is, we have seen evidence of our following prescribed rituals such as fasting and finding their limit in justifying what we are currently doing.
If our sense is that these ritual righteousnesses have their place but there is a mystery of more-life that takes place beyond them, then we may find another level of fasting and living. If this is the case, we have evidence that our actions can have a positive effect in the lives of others that echo in our own.
If fasting from anger doesn’t loosen bonds we wrap around another, our fasting only makes us look tolerant.
If fasting from greed doesn’t loosen a yoke we place around others to provide our well-being, our fasting only makes us look philanthropic.
If fasting from food doesn’t loosen our hold on our bread, our fasting only makes us look sleek.
If fasting from sloth doesn’t loosen our regard for privacy, our fasting only makes us look kingly in our castle.
If fasting from comfort doesn’t loosen our closet locks, our fasting only makes us look the emperor in new clothes.
If fasting from jealousy doesn’t loosen our remembrance of injuries done to us by those who love us, our fasting only makes us look justified.
Fasting for our benefit is one thing. Fasting for the benefit of another is another.
= = = = = = =
a cosmic aarrgghh
rumbles forth
I write of fasting
and take a break
for cheese and crackers
for but a bit of
lovely Wensleydale
how Wallace and Wesley
could go on and on
oblivious to anything but
honey-tinged Wensleydale
hopefully with the help of
a faithful friend
we will muddle through
steady of heart
triumphant in the end
pray all cosmic aarrgghhs
will come ‘round right
to comic har-har-hars
Friday, January 26, 2007
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - C4
Years C
Luke 4:21-30
Everything was moving along swimmingly. Jesus claims an important past vision has come true. That which folks had been waiting for, need not be awaited any longer. Everyone spoke well of him. His state of the nation speech was a hit. It didn't require any change on anyone's part - it was already decided.
This guy really is one of us, no matter about some outstanding little details (after all he wasn't born here and there was that refugee time in his life and there have been a few grumblings about him). Pleased that they would be known as the deciding place, he was indeed Joseph's son, our son.
Then, instead of leaving well enough alone, Jesus had to go and push. He said, "Perhaps you are wondering why you got inspiring words from me, but there hasn't been any corroborating evidence of healing here? Well, you should wonder why this is all talk, the same old stuff, and no action. When your wondering leads you to understanding the implications for you and all, I'll move pretty quickly from being a favorite son to a meddling prophet. Crowds can rapidly move from Hosanna to Hang Him. Remember Elijah! Remember Elisha!"
Well, they caught on. They remembered and anticipated not being able to have pride of place. Not having a hanging tree at hand, they prepared to hurl him.
What are you remembering and anticipating this day?
= = = = = = =
today scripture is fulfilled
when else, pray tell
could it have been
and still been scripture
scripture lifted from the page
writing turned again to speaking
speaking engaged with hearing
heart heard to life lived
bone by bone
dried and alive
danced and threatening
we meet and go on
again and again
our image of home
fails to be home
drive on
filled full leaves no room
Bethlehem or Nazareth
America or Iraq
scripture passes by
Luke 4:21-30
Everything was moving along swimmingly. Jesus claims an important past vision has come true. That which folks had been waiting for, need not be awaited any longer. Everyone spoke well of him. His state of the nation speech was a hit. It didn't require any change on anyone's part - it was already decided.
This guy really is one of us, no matter about some outstanding little details (after all he wasn't born here and there was that refugee time in his life and there have been a few grumblings about him). Pleased that they would be known as the deciding place, he was indeed Joseph's son, our son.
Then, instead of leaving well enough alone, Jesus had to go and push. He said, "Perhaps you are wondering why you got inspiring words from me, but there hasn't been any corroborating evidence of healing here? Well, you should wonder why this is all talk, the same old stuff, and no action. When your wondering leads you to understanding the implications for you and all, I'll move pretty quickly from being a favorite son to a meddling prophet. Crowds can rapidly move from Hosanna to Hang Him. Remember Elijah! Remember Elisha!"
Well, they caught on. They remembered and anticipated not being able to have pride of place. Not having a hanging tree at hand, they prepared to hurl him.
What are you remembering and anticipating this day?
= = = = = = =
today scripture is fulfilled
when else, pray tell
could it have been
and still been scripture
scripture lifted from the page
writing turned again to speaking
speaking engaged with hearing
heart heard to life lived
bone by bone
dried and alive
danced and threatening
we meet and go on
again and again
our image of home
fails to be home
drive on
filled full leaves no room
Bethlehem or Nazareth
America or Iraq
scripture passes by
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - C3
Years C
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
As a paean to love, this is hard to beat. As a poetic definition of love, we find much to be admired here. And yet there is a distancing that sets up love standards without helping anyone approach them. With this distance all manner of ill has been done in the name of love. High among the painful interpretations are justifications of patience requiring an abused person to express their love by returning for another beating.
There is another hymn out of the United Methodist tradition that is not sung very much, much less in its entirety. It is Wrestling Jacob (often referred to as "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown".
The mystery here is found between stanzas 8 and 9 where the question hangs in the air,
"Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if Thy Name is Love."
Pause (or not)
"'Tis love! 'tis love!"
We are better served not to posit definitions, but to wrestle with ourselves and creation regarding the bedrock relationships that continue in halcyon days and brokenness.
This leads us to love being qualitatively set apart from faith and hope which both can find themselves so distanced when things fall apart.
Question: given G*D's failure of faith, e.g. flood; and G*D's failure of hope, e.g. Babel; where would you find G*D expressing a failure of love?
= = = = = = =
we find our power
exemplified in
charisma tongued persuasion
sheer torturous techniques
self-fulfilling prophecies
bait-and-switch slights of hand
enough knowledge to be dangerous
delusions of grandeur
log cabin-birthed humility
so we hide behind
explanations and shoulds
to appear what we are not
we claim our present is
superior to our past
as will be
our future to our present
in every day, in every way
we are more loving
dare you question that?
if so you are not very loving
let us forgive such love
and reclaim a wrestling love
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
As a paean to love, this is hard to beat. As a poetic definition of love, we find much to be admired here. And yet there is a distancing that sets up love standards without helping anyone approach them. With this distance all manner of ill has been done in the name of love. High among the painful interpretations are justifications of patience requiring an abused person to express their love by returning for another beating.
There is another hymn out of the United Methodist tradition that is not sung very much, much less in its entirety. It is Wrestling Jacob (often referred to as "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown".
The mystery here is found between stanzas 8 and 9 where the question hangs in the air,
"Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if Thy Name is Love."
Pause (or not)
"'Tis love! 'tis love!"
We are better served not to posit definitions, but to wrestle with ourselves and creation regarding the bedrock relationships that continue in halcyon days and brokenness.
This leads us to love being qualitatively set apart from faith and hope which both can find themselves so distanced when things fall apart.
Question: given G*D's failure of faith, e.g. flood; and G*D's failure of hope, e.g. Babel; where would you find G*D expressing a failure of love?
= = = = = = =
we find our power
exemplified in
charisma tongued persuasion
sheer torturous techniques
self-fulfilling prophecies
bait-and-switch slights of hand
enough knowledge to be dangerous
delusions of grandeur
log cabin-birthed humility
so we hide behind
explanations and shoulds
to appear what we are not
we claim our present is
superior to our past
as will be
our future to our present
in every day, in every way
we are more loving
dare you question that?
if so you are not very loving
let us forgive such love
and reclaim a wrestling love
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - C2
Years C
Psalm 71:1-6
When in a ticklish situation it is helpful to find a focus of foundation that can re-center our vision of where we are and what is going on. When such a focus returns it is amazing what options are still open.
Here the Psalmist understands that life around her is very tenuous. Boxed in and threatened, what is there to hold on to? There is no historical precedence to fall back on for consolation and plan to move on. There is no expectation of change no matter how persuasive might be a rhetorical speech of smoke and mirrors, trying to distract us from a potential opening for change.
Paying attention to the present, particularly, seems to hold no direction that might bear fruit. So, wherever one looks, there is nothing but a hope against hope.
What is left is miracle and wonder. This is both a diminution of G*D and an expansion. Whatever gap is left, is G*D. G*D is beyond prediction and repetition of previous encounters.
Settling in to there being no option, all of a sudden there is. And praise flows as Butch and Sundance jump again.
= = = = = = =
Listen up god
I'm looking for refuge
a fortress, a safe haven
I'm looking for a structure
within which I might be secure
even though that's what I'm looking for
I am open to a surprise rescue
one not predicated on the past
or an extension of the present
my tendency is to see how
you have operated with me before
and look for that again
if not that then what I hope for
a comfort and winning new move
finally its just us, let's go
Psalm 71:1-6
When in a ticklish situation it is helpful to find a focus of foundation that can re-center our vision of where we are and what is going on. When such a focus returns it is amazing what options are still open.
Here the Psalmist understands that life around her is very tenuous. Boxed in and threatened, what is there to hold on to? There is no historical precedence to fall back on for consolation and plan to move on. There is no expectation of change no matter how persuasive might be a rhetorical speech of smoke and mirrors, trying to distract us from a potential opening for change.
Paying attention to the present, particularly, seems to hold no direction that might bear fruit. So, wherever one looks, there is nothing but a hope against hope.
What is left is miracle and wonder. This is both a diminution of G*D and an expansion. Whatever gap is left, is G*D. G*D is beyond prediction and repetition of previous encounters.
Settling in to there being no option, all of a sudden there is. And praise flows as Butch and Sundance jump again.
= = = = = = =
Listen up god
I'm looking for refuge
a fortress, a safe haven
I'm looking for a structure
within which I might be secure
even though that's what I'm looking for
I am open to a surprise rescue
one not predicated on the past
or an extension of the present
my tendency is to see how
you have operated with me before
and look for that again
if not that then what I hope for
a comfort and winning new move
finally its just us, let's go
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - C1
Years C
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Once upon a time I thought it would be more truthful to shift my language away from that of the predominant patriarchy - male language standing for all people.
It was an interesting birthing process that took a fair amount of time.
It began with the conception of the idea. Just even thinking about it took awhile.
In fact it began before conception with the witness of faithful folk.
My first attempts were not very hopeful. I would hear myself sliding back into the old language pattern, time after time. It seemed my best intention had no effect. If Homer Simpson had been around at the time I would have echoed his, "Doh!"
Little by little the time between hearing my slip and the slip itself was reduced. Image the word "his" being recognized closer and closer to my lips.
Then came that awkward moment that lasted, again, all too long, when my mouth wrestled with a caught word. It would still get out but not without a struggle that may have sounded like a stutter.
Eventually the word didn't make it to the mouth and the process continued to before the thought.
What other words and concepts do we need to work at leaving behind, beginning with understanding their desirability before their presence?
PS - actually there are still slips in moments of stress - old tapes don't die they just bide their time.
PPS - We know what needs to be changed, now we just need to begin the formation of a change process in the wombs of our lives.
Years C
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Once upon a time I thought it would be more truthful to shift my language away from that of the predominant patriarchy - male language standing for all people.
It was an interesting birthing process that took a fair amount of time.
It began with the conception of the idea. Just even thinking about it took awhile.
In fact it began before conception with the witness of faithful folk.
My first attempts were not very hopeful. I would hear myself sliding back into the old language pattern, time after time. It seemed my best intention had no effect. If Homer Simpson had been around at the time I would have echoed his, "Doh!"
Little by little the time between hearing my slip and the slip itself was reduced. Image the word "his" being recognized closer and closer to my lips.
Then came that awkward moment that lasted, again, all too long, when my mouth wrestled with a caught word. It would still get out but not without a struggle that may have sounded like a stutter.
Eventually the word didn't make it to the mouth and the process continued to before the thought.
What other words and concepts do we need to work at leaving behind, beginning with understanding their desirability before their presence?
PS - actually there are still slips in moments of stress - old tapes don't die they just bide their time.
PPS - We know what needs to be changed, now we just need to begin the formation of a change process in the wombs of our lives.
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - C1
Years C
Jeremiah 1:4-10
It is not unusual for scripture to be written backward. A wonder is experienced. Wonder about wonder goes on and on. A meaning is settled upon. Reports go forth. It is repeated and finally written. By the time the writing is done it has gone through much refinement and interpretation.
Just as the birth stories of Jesus were probably the last part of the gospels to be written, this understanding of Jeremiah's birth probably came much later in response to the difficulties he faced. It would give much needed support in his trying times to come to understand that his current consequence is a natural outgrowth of having been a prophet from before a life-confirming breath.
What story do you rely on to get you through your consequences? Does it go back to creation? to conception? to an event? to yesterday?
The better you know your foundational story, the bolder you can be in making a difference in the usual mind-set of your cultural setting.
= = = = = = =
today a second adopted grandson
comes to his new home
before adoption
he was known
before being known
he was
thanks be for
grand kids with grandkids
Nathan
Nicholas
may they have words in their mouths
for the joy of life
Years C
Jeremiah 1:4-10
It is not unusual for scripture to be written backward. A wonder is experienced. Wonder about wonder goes on and on. A meaning is settled upon. Reports go forth. It is repeated and finally written. By the time the writing is done it has gone through much refinement and interpretation.
Just as the birth stories of Jesus were probably the last part of the gospels to be written, this understanding of Jeremiah's birth probably came much later in response to the difficulties he faced. It would give much needed support in his trying times to come to understand that his current consequence is a natural outgrowth of having been a prophet from before a life-confirming breath.
What story do you rely on to get you through your consequences? Does it go back to creation? to conception? to an event? to yesterday?
The better you know your foundational story, the bolder you can be in making a difference in the usual mind-set of your cultural setting.
= = = = = = =
today a second adopted grandson
comes to his new home
before adoption
he was known
before being known
he was
thanks be for
grand kids with grandkids
Nathan
Nicholas
may they have words in their mouths
for the joy of life
Monday, January 22, 2007
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - B
Years B
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28
We do so easily become accustomed to idols - that which would captivate us for its own end. Even the good things of our lives, or, more precisely, exactly the good things of our lives are prime candidates for being the strongest of idols. Personal wants, family, nation, doctrine all have moments of being exactly the right response to a particular situation and then they hang around to hang us out to dry in another.
Being so captivated makes it very easy to question any intervention on our behalf: "What have you to do with me. If I followed where you lead I won't recognize myself. In that choice your destruction is to be preferred over mine."
There is probably not a justification I have not used to keep on keeping-on with what I am doing. My knowledge about what I am up to is very puffed-up. Over-blown, even, to the point of fragility and hyper-sensitive to any attempt to change coming from the outside. Such change would explode my world and where would there be anything left on which to start to rebuild?
A first task of a prophet is to have their bubble burst about what is good. Love-of-G*D good doesn't revolve only about our knowledge. We are one satellite, among many, that becomes aware not only of trespasses against us, but ours against others. In this crucible a future is conceived, nurtured, and brought forth. This is also a first task of a congregation and a priest even though it is more difficult here to come to see it.
= = = = = = =
How you doin'?
got anything to do with me?
anything for me?
anything from me?
we so question godly idols
ourselves and others
when we catch a connection
beyond captivity
it is no surprise
amazement
then we enshrine
our new connection
in routine expectation
ripe for bursting
teaching authority
goes beyond anything for me
beyond eternalizing moments
how are you doing?
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28
We do so easily become accustomed to idols - that which would captivate us for its own end. Even the good things of our lives, or, more precisely, exactly the good things of our lives are prime candidates for being the strongest of idols. Personal wants, family, nation, doctrine all have moments of being exactly the right response to a particular situation and then they hang around to hang us out to dry in another.
Being so captivated makes it very easy to question any intervention on our behalf: "What have you to do with me. If I followed where you lead I won't recognize myself. In that choice your destruction is to be preferred over mine."
There is probably not a justification I have not used to keep on keeping-on with what I am doing. My knowledge about what I am up to is very puffed-up. Over-blown, even, to the point of fragility and hyper-sensitive to any attempt to change coming from the outside. Such change would explode my world and where would there be anything left on which to start to rebuild?
A first task of a prophet is to have their bubble burst about what is good. Love-of-G*D good doesn't revolve only about our knowledge. We are one satellite, among many, that becomes aware not only of trespasses against us, but ours against others. In this crucible a future is conceived, nurtured, and brought forth. This is also a first task of a congregation and a priest even though it is more difficult here to come to see it.
= = = = = = =
How you doin'?
got anything to do with me?
anything for me?
anything from me?
we so question godly idols
ourselves and others
when we catch a connection
beyond captivity
it is no surprise
amazement
then we enshrine
our new connection
in routine expectation
ripe for bursting
teaching authority
goes beyond anything for me
beyond eternalizing moments
how are you doing?
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - A
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - A
Years A
Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-12
Blessedness and rejoicing are both exciting, over-the-top, expressions and bedrock foundations from which comes steadfast love in shown in many ways. They need particulars to bring goodness into better clarity. They need particulars to respond to questions that will set case law.
Let's track some parallel terms from Micah, Psalms, Paul.
do justice - speak truth from the heart - do not take a bribe - desire wisdom
love kindness - do what is right - do not lend money - demand signs
walk humbly - walk blameless - stand by your oath - decide through foolishness
All manner of arrows can be drawn between these terms. Some will double-back on themselves, particularly when the beatitudes are tossed into the mix. Each of the blessings can be related to good effect to each of these terms.
In fact we have a season of possibilities here. Write them on a magnetic sheet and cut them apart. Each day rearrange them on your refrigerator until you have identified the best pattern for your life in this season. (In another season you may go through the same process and find yourself with a different best pattern.)
= = = = = = =
O my poor spirit
you have mourned much
destroyers of creation
the unhumble dominionists
who settle for righteousness
presently defined
devoid of future, of hope
the strict constructionist
merciless
setting up blowback
and child soldiers
through persecution
an evil of falseness
unable to see itself
pause
breathe
prepare to contend with yourself
for yourself
plead your case
no more sacrifices
internal or external
they will not fix
brokenness
they will not heal
hurt
they will not cover
debt
rejoice persecuted soul
peace is at hand
in heart and gut
created to comfort
to strengthen
your presence
Years A
Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-12
Blessedness and rejoicing are both exciting, over-the-top, expressions and bedrock foundations from which comes steadfast love in shown in many ways. They need particulars to bring goodness into better clarity. They need particulars to respond to questions that will set case law.
Let's track some parallel terms from Micah, Psalms, Paul.
do justice - speak truth from the heart - do not take a bribe - desire wisdom
love kindness - do what is right - do not lend money - demand signs
walk humbly - walk blameless - stand by your oath - decide through foolishness
All manner of arrows can be drawn between these terms. Some will double-back on themselves, particularly when the beatitudes are tossed into the mix. Each of the blessings can be related to good effect to each of these terms.
In fact we have a season of possibilities here. Write them on a magnetic sheet and cut them apart. Each day rearrange them on your refrigerator until you have identified the best pattern for your life in this season. (In another season you may go through the same process and find yourself with a different best pattern.)
= = = = = = =
O my poor spirit
you have mourned much
destroyers of creation
the unhumble dominionists
who settle for righteousness
presently defined
devoid of future, of hope
the strict constructionist
merciless
setting up blowback
and child soldiers
through persecution
an evil of falseness
unable to see itself
pause
breathe
prepare to contend with yourself
for yourself
plead your case
no more sacrifices
internal or external
they will not fix
brokenness
they will not heal
hurt
they will not cover
debt
rejoice persecuted soul
peace is at hand
in heart and gut
created to comfort
to strengthen
your presence
Friday, January 19, 2007
Third Sunday after Epiphany - C4
Years C
Luke 4:14-21
To be praised by everyone is either faint praise or an accumulation of political capital.
If praised by everyone it would be very easy to begin to think one can push to the next level. It was now time to move away from the exploratory committee stage and into full campaign mode. So a platform was presented and Jesus walked onto it, wrapping the mantle of prophet about himself. What we have been waiting for has arrived.
As we will hear next week, this doesn't go so well. Today candidates still go back to their hometown, or symbolic hometown, to announce their candidacy for the mantle of power.
What would you say if all eyes were upon you? Would it be that the past is fulfilled? that the future may now begin? Usually we are pretty humble about those sorts of pronouncements, but it may be time to dust off our pride of relationship with God and know the importance of this moment. It is a turning point for you and all of us.
A question before us is which way are we going to turn. Isaiah lays out a pretty good way for us to go, even as it is a pretty difficult way to travel - given the inertia and investment many have in their current state as better than it might otherwise have been.
Try saying this three times in a row several times today:
Today scripture is fulfilled in my life.
Today scripture is fulfilled in my life.
Today scripture is fulfilled in my life.
Response?
Response after you state it again?
Response after you affirm it yet again?
= = = = = = =
scriptures arc
more broadly
than we hark
hard work and perseverance
pay off for a lucky few
they are part of a pair
hard work and perseverance
fail all too many who
are the pair's other part
a fortunate few go their own way
unaware their freedom is built
on the back of captive workers
good news for the suffering
Gautama's noble truths
illumine this blind spot
a culmination of generations
lucky and many
find release
Isaiah Buddha Jesus
you I we us all
fill the arc
Luke 4:14-21
To be praised by everyone is either faint praise or an accumulation of political capital.
If praised by everyone it would be very easy to begin to think one can push to the next level. It was now time to move away from the exploratory committee stage and into full campaign mode. So a platform was presented and Jesus walked onto it, wrapping the mantle of prophet about himself. What we have been waiting for has arrived.
As we will hear next week, this doesn't go so well. Today candidates still go back to their hometown, or symbolic hometown, to announce their candidacy for the mantle of power.
What would you say if all eyes were upon you? Would it be that the past is fulfilled? that the future may now begin? Usually we are pretty humble about those sorts of pronouncements, but it may be time to dust off our pride of relationship with God and know the importance of this moment. It is a turning point for you and all of us.
A question before us is which way are we going to turn. Isaiah lays out a pretty good way for us to go, even as it is a pretty difficult way to travel - given the inertia and investment many have in their current state as better than it might otherwise have been.
Try saying this three times in a row several times today:
Today scripture is fulfilled in my life.
Today scripture is fulfilled in my life.
Today scripture is fulfilled in my life.
Response?
Response after you state it again?
Response after you affirm it yet again?
= = = = = = =
scriptures arc
more broadly
than we hark
hard work and perseverance
pay off for a lucky few
they are part of a pair
hard work and perseverance
fail all too many who
are the pair's other part
a fortunate few go their own way
unaware their freedom is built
on the back of captive workers
good news for the suffering
Gautama's noble truths
illumine this blind spot
a culmination of generations
lucky and many
find release
Isaiah Buddha Jesus
you I we us all
fill the arc
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Third Sunday after Epiphany - C3
Years C
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Now you are the body of . . .
and individually members of . . .
At first blush this is a wonderful formula. Unfortunately it soon runs afoul others in the same body and confusion as the body is variously understood as a religious experience, national identity, family blood, service organization purpose, or any other corporate identity that might get pitted against another until we are at each other's throats vying for power (Bears and Saints, to use an American football image).
I am that which I am joined to and have both communal and individual identities. Like it or not, being part of the body of Christ puts me in connection with some very questionable characters, including Jesus. To pull my individual Christian identity too closely around me would finally isolate me from every other Christian and to have theirs pulled too closely around me makes me want to give up an identity I have cherished. It is important to claim Christ as larger than any of our Christianities.
As we begin another Week of Christian Unity (January 18-25) one might wonder how we are doing after 99 years of the celebration of this week and nearly 2,000 years of this scripture.
It is so easy to get into rankings within a body. Are we talking first Apostles or executively-privileged Presidents, or Father as family head or . . . ? Are we talking spiritual values trumping national values which take family values that in turn ranks higher than . . . ? If I am members of several bodies what happens when they are in conflict, when my patriotism claims my religion?
It is nice to have such a formula at hand to use against others when they don't measure up. It would be even better to have clarity about the limits of such a formula and a way to cut through the "apples and oranges" choices of real life.
How does this work in a world that is increasingly mistaking religion for nationalism and permitting one small segment of family values to smash larger family values by excluding those of a variety of sexual orientations? Between and within any aspect of this formula there are gaps that will only be healed by an application of "the greater gifts. . . ."
Without the greater gifts conversation, this one is fraught with danger.
= = = = = = =
I sing a song of the saints of G*D,
patient and brave and true,
who prayed and thought and lived and died
with the G*D they loved and knew.
And one was a Buddhist, one was a Muslim,
one was a Christian, and one was a Jain;
they were all of them saints of G*D, and I mean,
G*D helping, to be one too.
[Variation on I Sing a Song of the Saints of God in honor of the Magi who were the best Magi they knew to be.]
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Now you are the body of . . .
and individually members of . . .
At first blush this is a wonderful formula. Unfortunately it soon runs afoul others in the same body and confusion as the body is variously understood as a religious experience, national identity, family blood, service organization purpose, or any other corporate identity that might get pitted against another until we are at each other's throats vying for power (Bears and Saints, to use an American football image).
I am that which I am joined to and have both communal and individual identities. Like it or not, being part of the body of Christ puts me in connection with some very questionable characters, including Jesus. To pull my individual Christian identity too closely around me would finally isolate me from every other Christian and to have theirs pulled too closely around me makes me want to give up an identity I have cherished. It is important to claim Christ as larger than any of our Christianities.
As we begin another Week of Christian Unity (January 18-25) one might wonder how we are doing after 99 years of the celebration of this week and nearly 2,000 years of this scripture.
It is so easy to get into rankings within a body. Are we talking first Apostles or executively-privileged Presidents, or Father as family head or . . . ? Are we talking spiritual values trumping national values which take family values that in turn ranks higher than . . . ? If I am members of several bodies what happens when they are in conflict, when my patriotism claims my religion?
It is nice to have such a formula at hand to use against others when they don't measure up. It would be even better to have clarity about the limits of such a formula and a way to cut through the "apples and oranges" choices of real life.
How does this work in a world that is increasingly mistaking religion for nationalism and permitting one small segment of family values to smash larger family values by excluding those of a variety of sexual orientations? Between and within any aspect of this formula there are gaps that will only be healed by an application of "the greater gifts. . . ."
Without the greater gifts conversation, this one is fraught with danger.
= = = = = = =
I sing a song of the saints of G*D,
patient and brave and true,
who prayed and thought and lived and died
with the G*D they loved and knew.
And one was a Buddhist, one was a Muslim,
one was a Christian, and one was a Jain;
they were all of them saints of G*D, and I mean,
G*D helping, to be one too.
[Variation on I Sing a Song of the Saints of God in honor of the Magi who were the best Magi they knew to be.]
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Third Sunday after Epiphany - C2
Years C
Psalm 19
King speaks to King - Arthur with David
"Morte D'Arthur"
from Poems, 4th edition (London: Moxon, 1845)
Alfred Tennyson, 1809-1892
And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me?
I have lived my life, and that which I have done
May He within Himself make pure! but thou,
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
But now farewell. I am going a long way
With these thou seëst--if indeed I go--
(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)
To the island-valley of Avilion;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard-lawns
And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea,
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound."
Avilion tells of the glory of G*D, as well as does creation. Where wounds are healed voiceless stars sing and a sun freed from domesticity runs wild across the sky.
Let the words of our mouths, our prayers for one another's souls, find an acceptability and purity of our best intentions.
= = = = = = =
it takes several times around the block
no only going around once for me
to begin to glimpse glory
behind usual days marching on
all at once for no reason at all
what once was a silent loneliness
rattles the windows of our rooms
with every timbre of joy
a few more laps bring an understanding
of perfection never being perfect
and wholeness always being whole
that sets our eyes anew on
what might yet be beyond joy
and but a bit further
lies a funeral barge
and final words
still searching for peace
still praying for souls
still trusting simply trusting
Years C
Psalm 19
King speaks to King - Arthur with David
"Morte D'Arthur"
from Poems, 4th edition (London: Moxon, 1845)
Alfred Tennyson, 1809-1892
And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me?
I have lived my life, and that which I have done
May He within Himself make pure! but thou,
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
But now farewell. I am going a long way
With these thou seëst--if indeed I go--
(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)
To the island-valley of Avilion;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard-lawns
And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea,
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound."
Avilion tells of the glory of G*D, as well as does creation. Where wounds are healed voiceless stars sing and a sun freed from domesticity runs wild across the sky.
Let the words of our mouths, our prayers for one another's souls, find an acceptability and purity of our best intentions.
= = = = = = =
it takes several times around the block
no only going around once for me
to begin to glimpse glory
behind usual days marching on
all at once for no reason at all
what once was a silent loneliness
rattles the windows of our rooms
with every timbre of joy
a few more laps bring an understanding
of perfection never being perfect
and wholeness always being whole
that sets our eyes anew on
what might yet be beyond joy
and but a bit further
lies a funeral barge
and final words
still searching for peace
still praying for souls
still trusting simply trusting
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Third Sunday after Epiphany - C1
Years C
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
There is still a teaching function for the followers of Levi. It is one thing to be high and lifted up, repeating holy words, and another to walk among people. Without the last part of verse 7 and all those named in verses 4 and 7 we lose the teaching function and only have the ceremonial left.
It is this ceremonial function, even of good words from the past, that so often gets us in trouble. Eliciting emotion is the key here - ritual crowd behavior (raising hands or lighters), corporate confession and moaning, and expectation of prosperity get us to lockstep. Standing only on ceremony we don't stand outside the judgment of the past, so easily revised, moment by moment, until we no longer know ourselves. We don't claim any worth for today qua today, as that is for the magic book to decide for us. We don't dare risk what little we have or a lot that we dream about and play the lottery for.
Of course the teaching of the Levites might well simply support the ceremonial. But the integrity of teaching may also allow us ask for background information, corroborating evidence, and rational expectation of consequences for mass behavior.
For the moment I will hope that even though my tongue doesn't wrap itself smoothly around Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah that they will receive some mention for doing what they could to humanize past laws understood to be from a holy one. To help people understand their situation can be revolutionary and liberating.
= = = = = = =
word by word
phrase by phrase
sentence by sentence
paragraph by paragraph
chapter by chapter
book by book
and back the other way
we look for the key perspective
is it a word?
a phrase?
a sentence?
a chapter?
a book?
what is the unit of meaning?
does it come in a blinding flash?
a day-long sermon?
how do word folk
interpret to sentence folk
book folk to paragraph folk?
one of these days we may yet stumble across
a universal solvent for communication
perhaps a babble fish
perhaps an understanding heart
perhaps
until then we walk among ourselves
proclaiming and muttering
may we do it as well and as kindly
as we can
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
There is still a teaching function for the followers of Levi. It is one thing to be high and lifted up, repeating holy words, and another to walk among people. Without the last part of verse 7 and all those named in verses 4 and 7 we lose the teaching function and only have the ceremonial left.
It is this ceremonial function, even of good words from the past, that so often gets us in trouble. Eliciting emotion is the key here - ritual crowd behavior (raising hands or lighters), corporate confession and moaning, and expectation of prosperity get us to lockstep. Standing only on ceremony we don't stand outside the judgment of the past, so easily revised, moment by moment, until we no longer know ourselves. We don't claim any worth for today qua today, as that is for the magic book to decide for us. We don't dare risk what little we have or a lot that we dream about and play the lottery for.
Of course the teaching of the Levites might well simply support the ceremonial. But the integrity of teaching may also allow us ask for background information, corroborating evidence, and rational expectation of consequences for mass behavior.
For the moment I will hope that even though my tongue doesn't wrap itself smoothly around Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah that they will receive some mention for doing what they could to humanize past laws understood to be from a holy one. To help people understand their situation can be revolutionary and liberating.
= = = = = = =
word by word
phrase by phrase
sentence by sentence
paragraph by paragraph
chapter by chapter
book by book
and back the other way
we look for the key perspective
is it a word?
a phrase?
a sentence?
a chapter?
a book?
what is the unit of meaning?
does it come in a blinding flash?
a day-long sermon?
how do word folk
interpret to sentence folk
book folk to paragraph folk?
one of these days we may yet stumble across
a universal solvent for communication
perhaps a babble fish
perhaps an understanding heart
perhaps
until then we walk among ourselves
proclaiming and muttering
may we do it as well and as kindly
as we can
Monday, January 15, 2007
Process Comment
What goes on here is at attempt to present one aspect of a freedom to pursue the nature of a theological task part 1 and part 2where such is noted to be:
- both critical and constructive
- communal
- contextual and incarnational
- essentially practical
This involves freedom of conscience, thought, pulpit, and media. Each of these have their own particularities, but all are intertwined. Lose one and all are at risk.
Here is an important presentation regarding media that has import regarding the theological task inquiry that goes on here.
Bill Moyers opening address at the 2007 National Conference for Media Reform.
- both critical and constructive
- communal
- contextual and incarnational
- essentially practical
This involves freedom of conscience, thought, pulpit, and media. Each of these have their own particularities, but all are intertwined. Lose one and all are at risk.
Here is an important presentation regarding media that has import regarding the theological task inquiry that goes on here.
Bill Moyers opening address at the 2007 National Conference for Media Reform.
Third Sunday after Epiphany - B
Years B
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 62:5-12
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
There are many great balancing acts where we are not shaken, where we rest. Among the greatest is that of "none."
Are you seen, do you see yourself, as being of little value, of great value? The difference is smaller than a jot or tittle. It takes nothing to push a balanced scale, an empty scale. Let it go.
Fisher of fish or fisher of folk? Net leaver or family leaver? First journey or second journey to Tarshish or Nineveh? We tell ourselves stories that one is better than the other.
In a time of fulfillment "all" and "nothing" lose significance.
Let me have all things, let me having nothing, I freely and heartily yield.
Let me have repentance, let me have good news, I freely and heartily yield.
Let me have mourning, let me have rejoicing, I freely and heartily yield.
Let me have prison, let me have Galilee, I freely and heartily yield.
What has been the tension you have been holding on to to define your present time here? Might this be a time of fulfillment where you can yield to both rather than wait for one to knock off the other?
= = = = = = =
rock against rock
devil against sea
addiction against addiction
we set our dilemmas
wavering between them
holding both so precious
we could never put one down
time against space
matter against energy
galaxy against quark
we set our paradoxes
choosing one and then
favoring the other
once, twice, and thrice
doctrine against doctrine
hymn against praise
faith against hope
we set our institutions
burning with passion
burning each heretic
loving sets more than love itself
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 62:5-12
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
There are many great balancing acts where we are not shaken, where we rest. Among the greatest is that of "none."
Are you seen, do you see yourself, as being of little value, of great value? The difference is smaller than a jot or tittle. It takes nothing to push a balanced scale, an empty scale. Let it go.
Fisher of fish or fisher of folk? Net leaver or family leaver? First journey or second journey to Tarshish or Nineveh? We tell ourselves stories that one is better than the other.
In a time of fulfillment "all" and "nothing" lose significance.
Let me have all things, let me having nothing, I freely and heartily yield.
Let me have repentance, let me have good news, I freely and heartily yield.
Let me have mourning, let me have rejoicing, I freely and heartily yield.
Let me have prison, let me have Galilee, I freely and heartily yield.
What has been the tension you have been holding on to to define your present time here? Might this be a time of fulfillment where you can yield to both rather than wait for one to knock off the other?
= = = = = = =
rock against rock
devil against sea
addiction against addiction
we set our dilemmas
wavering between them
holding both so precious
we could never put one down
time against space
matter against energy
galaxy against quark
we set our paradoxes
choosing one and then
favoring the other
once, twice, and thrice
doctrine against doctrine
hymn against praise
faith against hope
we set our institutions
burning with passion
burning each heretic
loving sets more than love itself
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Third Sunday after Epiphany - A
Years A
Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 27:1, 4-9
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23
Great affirmations are tested by great questions.
The Lord is my light . . . seek his face/light. What is this distance between having and seeking that finds us living most of our lives between?
Go into all the world, baptizing . . . Christ did not send me to baptize. Here a distance between community and individual sets up another omnipresent environment where we adapt and are evolved.
Light has dawned . . . repent. Repent . . . good news. Given time and space and matter and energy it seems we cannot escape these outcomes that circle through our lives. A dawning light reveals a present darkness and recognizing the possibility of changing direction brings comfort enough to test our current orientation.
An Epiphany star reminds us of the found and lost and found again process of growing spirits to find a next immanence or incarnation of G*D illumined by the ordinary. Stars of any sort in our lives are a joy to behold and a source of yearning when lost in storm clouds.
Where are you, your friends/family, spiritual fellowship with a star this day?
__ It is in sight.
__ It has recently dimmed.
__ It peeks and hides.
__ It has been a long time gone.
__ It is a non-issue
= = = = = = =
a great light shines
great enough for us to rejoice for a moment
blinding us to flickery light twinks so small
they can be discarded with nary a squint
upper lights glare until
lower lights are lost
so enamored of mercy received
we lose track of mercy extended
it seems the brighter the beam the deeper the sin seen
pray also for a faint of gleam that does not scare us
with such darkness as would swallow us whole
rejoice forever in a nearing humble light
Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 27:1, 4-9
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23
Great affirmations are tested by great questions.
The Lord is my light . . . seek his face/light. What is this distance between having and seeking that finds us living most of our lives between?
Go into all the world, baptizing . . . Christ did not send me to baptize. Here a distance between community and individual sets up another omnipresent environment where we adapt and are evolved.
Light has dawned . . . repent. Repent . . . good news. Given time and space and matter and energy it seems we cannot escape these outcomes that circle through our lives. A dawning light reveals a present darkness and recognizing the possibility of changing direction brings comfort enough to test our current orientation.
An Epiphany star reminds us of the found and lost and found again process of growing spirits to find a next immanence or incarnation of G*D illumined by the ordinary. Stars of any sort in our lives are a joy to behold and a source of yearning when lost in storm clouds.
Where are you, your friends/family, spiritual fellowship with a star this day?
__ It is in sight.
__ It has recently dimmed.
__ It peeks and hides.
__ It has been a long time gone.
__ It is a non-issue
= = = = = = =
a great light shines
great enough for us to rejoice for a moment
blinding us to flickery light twinks so small
they can be discarded with nary a squint
upper lights glare until
lower lights are lost
so enamored of mercy received
we lose track of mercy extended
it seems the brighter the beam the deeper the sin seen
pray also for a faint of gleam that does not scare us
with such darkness as would swallow us whole
rejoice forever in a nearing humble light
Friday, January 12, 2007
Second Sunday after Epiphany - C4
Years C
John 2:1-11
What to do while waiting for our time to come? Doze? Run in circles? Take a class?
There is such a focus on completedness that we sometimes forget the journey.
Mother's know mothering is never done. The kid will always be in process. So idealized mothers attend to the moment. What does it mean for G*D to be with us in the manger? What about when in Egypt? How about as a runaway? At a wedding?
When we begin to ask what it means to evidence G*D in the particular setting in which we find ourselves it becomes more possible to just go ahead and find ambrosia and amrita in honey, nectar of the gods, and plain old water (divided by the firmament, but still water on both sides of the sky). Having found the moment of G*D present is now, not an hour away, allows a savoring of the simple and finding it simply divine.
Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy by Barbara Ehrenreich may be another way of coming at this story. An excerpt: "We do not yet understand the neuronal basis of . . . pleasure, but an interesting line of speculation has opened up only recently. Humans are highly imitative creatures, more so even than monkeys and others of our primate cousins. As all parents learn, to their amazement, an infant can respond to a smile with a smile, or stick out its tongue when a parent does. How does an infant transform the visual image of a protruding tongue into the muscular actions required to make its own tongue stick out? The answer may lie in the discovery of mirror neurons, nerve cells that fire both when an action is perceived -- when the parent sticks out his tongue, for example -- and when it is performed by the perceiver. In other words, the perception of an action is closely tied to the execution of the same action by the beholder. We cannot see a dancer, for example, without unconsciously starting up the neural processes that are the basis of our own participation in the dance."
In other words, to see Jesus' baptismal water flowing in a wedding scene calls us to perceive it flowing through us. Water/Wine makes no difference, G*D is with us!
= = = = = = =
O little cana, how still we see thee lie
on the back of your "Welcome to Cana" sign
it reads, "Welcome to Cana"
your still had run dry
you had the makings
but not the time
for fine wine
look again
you've got the time
you still have the makings
for still water to become living water
to welcome the world
to welcome the universe
still no longer, still right now
John 2:1-11
What to do while waiting for our time to come? Doze? Run in circles? Take a class?
There is such a focus on completedness that we sometimes forget the journey.
Mother's know mothering is never done. The kid will always be in process. So idealized mothers attend to the moment. What does it mean for G*D to be with us in the manger? What about when in Egypt? How about as a runaway? At a wedding?
When we begin to ask what it means to evidence G*D in the particular setting in which we find ourselves it becomes more possible to just go ahead and find ambrosia and amrita in honey, nectar of the gods, and plain old water (divided by the firmament, but still water on both sides of the sky). Having found the moment of G*D present is now, not an hour away, allows a savoring of the simple and finding it simply divine.
Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy by Barbara Ehrenreich may be another way of coming at this story. An excerpt: "We do not yet understand the neuronal basis of . . . pleasure, but an interesting line of speculation has opened up only recently. Humans are highly imitative creatures, more so even than monkeys and others of our primate cousins. As all parents learn, to their amazement, an infant can respond to a smile with a smile, or stick out its tongue when a parent does. How does an infant transform the visual image of a protruding tongue into the muscular actions required to make its own tongue stick out? The answer may lie in the discovery of mirror neurons, nerve cells that fire both when an action is perceived -- when the parent sticks out his tongue, for example -- and when it is performed by the perceiver. In other words, the perception of an action is closely tied to the execution of the same action by the beholder. We cannot see a dancer, for example, without unconsciously starting up the neural processes that are the basis of our own participation in the dance."
In other words, to see Jesus' baptismal water flowing in a wedding scene calls us to perceive it flowing through us. Water/Wine makes no difference, G*D is with us!
= = = = = = =
O little cana, how still we see thee lie
on the back of your "Welcome to Cana" sign
it reads, "Welcome to Cana"
your still had run dry
you had the makings
but not the time
for fine wine
look again
you've got the time
you still have the makings
for still water to become living water
to welcome the world
to welcome the universe
still no longer, still right now
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Second Sunday after Epiphany - C3
Years C
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
While we were yet "pagan" we did not experience ourselves as led astray. It wasn't until there was a moment of revelation that our accepted reality didn't match up with our experienced reality - a moment we later called holy - that we began to make important distinctions regarding decision-making moments and decision-making methodologies.
Recognizing that just because we all believed something didn't make it right opens us to questions about what is now needed that is different than has been needed. We can still affirm that what moved us forward was a particular decision (gift) but that keeping on with that same gift in a different setting is now holding us back.
In the midst of a listing of various decision-making modalities (gifts) there is a key element that takes us beyond simply discussing, debating, warring about the numbered hierarchy of gifts that ranks those who hold them. This key is that of "a common good". In this sense all gifts are good gifts if they are able to play their part. When there is no dialogue between them, the gifts fall apart into sectarian prejudices.
Gifts are activated by a common good (a holy spirit moment) that senses a turning tide and shifts gears to a next gift, already present, even as we momentarily shift away from a previous gift. This activation process calls for a gift of ambiguity appreciation larger than any particular decision-making gift. It calls for a gift of humility to let go and humility to step forward.
= = = = = = =
common spirit
holy good
mix and match
holy common
spirit good
here a gift
there a gift
everywhere
a gift gift
gift of moment
gift of choice
gift of application
gift of letting go
gift of holding on
gift for every season under heaven
gifts activated
gifts received
gifts that are no gift
common spirit gift - kite sky blue
spirit gift common - kite sky bluer
gift common spirit - kite sky bluest
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
While we were yet "pagan" we did not experience ourselves as led astray. It wasn't until there was a moment of revelation that our accepted reality didn't match up with our experienced reality - a moment we later called holy - that we began to make important distinctions regarding decision-making moments and decision-making methodologies.
Recognizing that just because we all believed something didn't make it right opens us to questions about what is now needed that is different than has been needed. We can still affirm that what moved us forward was a particular decision (gift) but that keeping on with that same gift in a different setting is now holding us back.
In the midst of a listing of various decision-making modalities (gifts) there is a key element that takes us beyond simply discussing, debating, warring about the numbered hierarchy of gifts that ranks those who hold them. This key is that of "a common good". In this sense all gifts are good gifts if they are able to play their part. When there is no dialogue between them, the gifts fall apart into sectarian prejudices.
Gifts are activated by a common good (a holy spirit moment) that senses a turning tide and shifts gears to a next gift, already present, even as we momentarily shift away from a previous gift. This activation process calls for a gift of ambiguity appreciation larger than any particular decision-making gift. It calls for a gift of humility to let go and humility to step forward.
= = = = = = =
common spirit
holy good
mix and match
holy common
spirit good
here a gift
there a gift
everywhere
a gift gift
gift of moment
gift of choice
gift of application
gift of letting go
gift of holding on
gift for every season under heaven
gifts activated
gifts received
gifts that are no gift
common spirit gift - kite sky blue
spirit gift common - kite sky bluer
gift common spirit - kite sky bluest
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Second Sunday after Epiphany - C2
Years C
Psalm 36:5-10
G*D's steadfast love is showered all over the place. It doesn't make any difference where or who one is or whether we are talking a human being or a mountain - that love is a given background.
Why then the plea that it continue. Is it not rock solid? Why in particular would those who know G*D need continual assurance? Are we the most tempted to ignore it? Are we the most likely to subvert it into power for ourselves? Are we aware of how much we are in debt to it and can't ever quite hold our heads up on our own?
For folks who claim to know something so extraordinary as a source of steadfast love, we seem to keep losing our way within it. We imagine it to be limited and we need to scramble for our share. We suspect that the future may be different than the past and that we will find ourselves not being uniquely privileged by our knowledge. We fear that it is too good to be true and since we obviously need it, it may, as obviously, be turned to greater and greater expectations that we cannot live up to and we will lose love.
Why might you plead for more steadfast love for folks who are exactly as we are? Might it an attempt to lull G*D into setting us as the standard, thus protecting our rights forever? Obviously we are upright of heart, was there ever a doubt, and if that is the criterion, we get the love we need. Too bad about those others that didn't do as we do.
= = = = = = =
extend to heaven
an upright heart
until
an upright heart
becomes heaven
Psalm 36:5-10
G*D's steadfast love is showered all over the place. It doesn't make any difference where or who one is or whether we are talking a human being or a mountain - that love is a given background.
Why then the plea that it continue. Is it not rock solid? Why in particular would those who know G*D need continual assurance? Are we the most tempted to ignore it? Are we the most likely to subvert it into power for ourselves? Are we aware of how much we are in debt to it and can't ever quite hold our heads up on our own?
For folks who claim to know something so extraordinary as a source of steadfast love, we seem to keep losing our way within it. We imagine it to be limited and we need to scramble for our share. We suspect that the future may be different than the past and that we will find ourselves not being uniquely privileged by our knowledge. We fear that it is too good to be true and since we obviously need it, it may, as obviously, be turned to greater and greater expectations that we cannot live up to and we will lose love.
Why might you plead for more steadfast love for folks who are exactly as we are? Might it an attempt to lull G*D into setting us as the standard, thus protecting our rights forever? Obviously we are upright of heart, was there ever a doubt, and if that is the criterion, we get the love we need. Too bad about those others that didn't do as we do.
= = = = = = =
extend to heaven
an upright heart
until
an upright heart
becomes heaven
Monday, January 08, 2007
Second Sunday after Epiphany - C1
Years C
Isaiah 62:1-5
We dare not be silent for the sake of a place of Peace. There is so much unrest and wrong that silence is not just turning a blind eye, but actively sticking a stick in whatever sight is left. Silence is a catalyst that amplified the wrong. Silence is an exponent of unrest, raising it more quickly than it might otherwise rise.
A new name is needed in the difficulties of the day - a name that names what might yet be rejoiced over. This name holds a future of active peace and justice, not just a holding tank keeping unrest and wrong at a minimum.
Again and again we are called to call out Delightful and Heart-of-My-Heart. For our sake, as well as Zion's, we see what can be built on, not just what must be restrained, and we can call that out.
As you look at your community, your relationships, what will you so name?
= = = = = = =
any last words?
rosebud?
rejoice?
pardon, were those first words or last?
Isaiah 62:1-5
We dare not be silent for the sake of a place of Peace. There is so much unrest and wrong that silence is not just turning a blind eye, but actively sticking a stick in whatever sight is left. Silence is a catalyst that amplified the wrong. Silence is an exponent of unrest, raising it more quickly than it might otherwise rise.
A new name is needed in the difficulties of the day - a name that names what might yet be rejoiced over. This name holds a future of active peace and justice, not just a holding tank keeping unrest and wrong at a minimum.
Again and again we are called to call out Delightful and Heart-of-My-Heart. For our sake, as well as Zion's, we see what can be built on, not just what must be restrained, and we can call that out.
As you look at your community, your relationships, what will you so name?
= = = = = = =
any last words?
rosebud?
rejoice?
pardon, were those first words or last?
Second Sunday after Epiphany - B
Years B
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51
With tingling ears we have searched and searched for something that will not disappoint. We have searched inside ourselves and found the house of Eli still alive and well. We have lowered our expectations of everything and everywhere, it is all like Nazareth - unacceptable as a starting place.
A big place we searched was the law but we found it didn't reflect a Law of Justice very well. We could follow it forever and never find it brought us to a beneficial place, only a place bounded by Eli's sons waiting for a loophole to be found.
Finally it is important to fall back on such basics as being trustworthy and without deceit. These are very tough roads to travel that go beyond easy, prior, answers and are continually in need of integrated responses.
Finally it becomes a question of whom we will be with at the end.
If we will be with those we are now with, what response is needed now?
If we will be with ourselves as we are now, what response is needed?
If we will be with that unknown to us, what response is now needed?
= = = = = = =
follow me
come and see
hurry on
we will come to a mirror
and see as we are seen
choices will be feasted upon
responses will be made and remade
we'll see how this looks
and that
shapes will be formed
lives hidden will be revealed
roads will open
laws will fade
hurry
pay your money
takes your chance
you are seen
you can see
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51
With tingling ears we have searched and searched for something that will not disappoint. We have searched inside ourselves and found the house of Eli still alive and well. We have lowered our expectations of everything and everywhere, it is all like Nazareth - unacceptable as a starting place.
A big place we searched was the law but we found it didn't reflect a Law of Justice very well. We could follow it forever and never find it brought us to a beneficial place, only a place bounded by Eli's sons waiting for a loophole to be found.
Finally it is important to fall back on such basics as being trustworthy and without deceit. These are very tough roads to travel that go beyond easy, prior, answers and are continually in need of integrated responses.
Finally it becomes a question of whom we will be with at the end.
If we will be with those we are now with, what response is needed now?
If we will be with ourselves as we are now, what response is needed?
If we will be with that unknown to us, what response is now needed?
= = = = = = =
follow me
come and see
hurry on
we will come to a mirror
and see as we are seen
choices will be feasted upon
responses will be made and remade
we'll see how this looks
and that
shapes will be formed
lives hidden will be revealed
roads will open
laws will fade
hurry
pay your money
takes your chance
you are seen
you can see
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Second Sunday after Epiphany - A
Years A
Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 40:1-11
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42
Even though I was called before being birthed [Isaiah], yet I have waited patiently [Psalm] for spiritual gifts [1 Corinthians] to be identified and put to work [John].
This is an arduous journey at each stage.
Calling before birthing leads to entitlement that all ought to go well with me. When it doesn't a tantrum ensues. It is difficult to be patient.
Presuming patience is learned there is still a desire to arrive and we can patiently go down many a wrong alley. Patience is needed, though, to clarify a gift's presence.
Again with the entitlement, seems it never goes away, isn't a spiritual gift a very valuable thing to possess and to use at every occasion, even when a different gift is called for. The spiritual gift of a hammer sees every occasion as a nail, even when it isn't. It is difficult to find one's place and to humbly use one's gift.
And we are back to a call again. Jesus is called, disciples are called, all G*D's children are called to birth after birth, to use of their present gift and future gifts (but not necessarily past gifts) again and again. A call to communal birthing moves us onward even as we try to find our place in a community that will challenge our entitlements with its own and both will need to be seen in a larger light.
The initial process seemed pretty straight-forward at first and then our realities set in. Now we need to move on to see our community as but one gift part of a community of communities.
= = = = = = =
called
through time
through space
through ancestors
and descendants
called
in time
in space
in ancestors
and descendants
called
in spite of everything so far
in anticipation of something different
called
through insight
through attribution
called
through and in mercy
to birth ad infinitum
Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 40:1-11
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42
Even though I was called before being birthed [Isaiah], yet I have waited patiently [Psalm] for spiritual gifts [1 Corinthians] to be identified and put to work [John].
This is an arduous journey at each stage.
Calling before birthing leads to entitlement that all ought to go well with me. When it doesn't a tantrum ensues. It is difficult to be patient.
Presuming patience is learned there is still a desire to arrive and we can patiently go down many a wrong alley. Patience is needed, though, to clarify a gift's presence.
Again with the entitlement, seems it never goes away, isn't a spiritual gift a very valuable thing to possess and to use at every occasion, even when a different gift is called for. The spiritual gift of a hammer sees every occasion as a nail, even when it isn't. It is difficult to find one's place and to humbly use one's gift.
And we are back to a call again. Jesus is called, disciples are called, all G*D's children are called to birth after birth, to use of their present gift and future gifts (but not necessarily past gifts) again and again. A call to communal birthing moves us onward even as we try to find our place in a community that will challenge our entitlements with its own and both will need to be seen in a larger light.
The initial process seemed pretty straight-forward at first and then our realities set in. Now we need to move on to see our community as but one gift part of a community of communities.
= = = = = = =
called
through time
through space
through ancestors
and descendants
called
in time
in space
in ancestors
and descendants
called
in spite of everything so far
in anticipation of something different
called
through insight
through attribution
called
through and in mercy
to birth ad infinitum
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Jesus' Baptism - C4
Years C
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Paper covers rock. Rock breaks scissors. Scissors cuts paper.
Fire evaporates water. Turns it to spirit?
Fire clears the chaff. This includes everything not repented of. This includes a desire to repent more than has been repented so far - to keep peeling back the onion of repentance, layer by layer. Eventually getting to the question of what is left when there is no more repenting to do or what new clarity is released when we stop using repentance as a key model for life.
In some sense the baptism(s) of spirit and fire are part of a good-cop/bad-cop routine.
One way of trying to clear ourselves of mechanizing baptism and sub-dividing it into component parts is to look at our involvement in the process. It is recorded here that baptisms were completed and praying was still going on. It is this praying part that may move us from baptismal technique to its potential reorientation of life.
= = = = = = =
Let us pray.
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Paper covers rock. Rock breaks scissors. Scissors cuts paper.
Fire evaporates water. Turns it to spirit?
Fire clears the chaff. This includes everything not repented of. This includes a desire to repent more than has been repented so far - to keep peeling back the onion of repentance, layer by layer. Eventually getting to the question of what is left when there is no more repenting to do or what new clarity is released when we stop using repentance as a key model for life.
In some sense the baptism(s) of spirit and fire are part of a good-cop/bad-cop routine.
One way of trying to clear ourselves of mechanizing baptism and sub-dividing it into component parts is to look at our involvement in the process. It is recorded here that baptisms were completed and praying was still going on. It is this praying part that may move us from baptismal technique to its potential reorientation of life.
= = = = = = =
Let us pray.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Jesus' Baptism - C3
Years C
Acts 8:14-17
They had only been born. They had only been born Samaritan. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. This is all we know.
Somewhere along the way that is not enough. It seems nothing is ever enough when it comes to measuring up to someone else's experience they consider normative for everyone - right now. No process or stage of a process is enough. Not even being at a stage a measurer will come to is enough as the measurerer isn’t yet there to measure it.
At any rate, a Holy Spirit was deemed necessary. How fortunate that Peter and John were confirmed in their experience by others seemingly, finally, measuring up to it.
We still make up rules and regulations about effective baptism and its deeper meaning when that is not measurable. I can't help but wonder what Jesus would have said about what additional was needed for a baptism in his name to be a baptism in his name. I can't help but wonder how surprised he was to find a dove diving at him as he shakes water from his eyes.
Might a needed Holy Spirit simply be a sense of belovedness, regardless of style or language of baptism? And is that enough, or not?
= = = = = = =
go
pray
handle
unto Samaria and the ends of this earth
we go before there is any evidence
that going will redound glory to us
we identify greatest need and focus there
even if it is only our greatest need projected
we impose meaning wherever we pray
twisting arms and patting backs
we handle the reins of reigning understanding
that we might drive rather than be driven
indeed we handle if not always gently
indeed we pray if not always wisely
indeed we go if not always happily
Acts 8:14-17
They had only been born. They had only been born Samaritan. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. This is all we know.
Somewhere along the way that is not enough. It seems nothing is ever enough when it comes to measuring up to someone else's experience they consider normative for everyone - right now. No process or stage of a process is enough. Not even being at a stage a measurer will come to is enough as the measurerer isn’t yet there to measure it.
At any rate, a Holy Spirit was deemed necessary. How fortunate that Peter and John were confirmed in their experience by others seemingly, finally, measuring up to it.
We still make up rules and regulations about effective baptism and its deeper meaning when that is not measurable. I can't help but wonder what Jesus would have said about what additional was needed for a baptism in his name to be a baptism in his name. I can't help but wonder how surprised he was to find a dove diving at him as he shakes water from his eyes.
Might a needed Holy Spirit simply be a sense of belovedness, regardless of style or language of baptism? And is that enough, or not?
= = = = = = =
go
pray
handle
unto Samaria and the ends of this earth
we go before there is any evidence
that going will redound glory to us
we identify greatest need and focus there
even if it is only our greatest need projected
we impose meaning wherever we pray
twisting arms and patting backs
we handle the reins of reigning understanding
that we might drive rather than be driven
indeed we handle if not always gently
indeed we pray if not always wisely
indeed we go if not always happily
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Jesus' Baptism - C2
Years C
Psalm 29
The voice, spirit, presence of G*D is over water. A slight sound, a breeze is magnified. G*D is positioned to be reflected.
It might be asked, what are we if not water enhanced? Some bone, some minerals, some nano electrolytes, but mostly water and here we are speak and act G*D in our time and place - reflective glory created with a glory of our own.
Over rivulet and flood, G*D hovers. Over time and space, we hover. Nested beings - Christmas has brought an angel hovering over witnesses hovering over a babe hovering over nations hovering over angels. Epiphany has brought us a star hovering over a manger hovering over creation hovering over stars.
In each part and whole is blessedness found. No one remains lost in chilly exile. Baptism of Jesus, yes. Baptism of all, yes.
= = = = = = =
virtual water
sprinkled water
poured water
engulfing water
where is the presence of G*D missing
if we go to the ends of the earth
there is water
if we ascend to the heights
there is water
if we descend to sheol
there is water
my baptism is your baptism
your baptism is my baptism
our baptism is creation's baptism
in our beginning is our end
and through it all - baptism
Psalm 29
The voice, spirit, presence of G*D is over water. A slight sound, a breeze is magnified. G*D is positioned to be reflected.
It might be asked, what are we if not water enhanced? Some bone, some minerals, some nano electrolytes, but mostly water and here we are speak and act G*D in our time and place - reflective glory created with a glory of our own.
Over rivulet and flood, G*D hovers. Over time and space, we hover. Nested beings - Christmas has brought an angel hovering over witnesses hovering over a babe hovering over nations hovering over angels. Epiphany has brought us a star hovering over a manger hovering over creation hovering over stars.
In each part and whole is blessedness found. No one remains lost in chilly exile. Baptism of Jesus, yes. Baptism of all, yes.
= = = = = = =
virtual water
sprinkled water
poured water
engulfing water
where is the presence of G*D missing
if we go to the ends of the earth
there is water
if we ascend to the heights
there is water
if we descend to sheol
there is water
my baptism is your baptism
your baptism is my baptism
our baptism is creation's baptism
in our beginning is our end
and through it all - baptism
Monday, January 01, 2007
Jesus' Baptism - C1
Years C
Isaiah 43:1-7
Formed incarnate, redemption already secure, we pass through waters dark and deep, water standing against water.
Called from chaotic exile, already created for glory, we rise through waters light and lively, water living within water.
Isaiah envisions glorious redemption as an integral part of our incarnation, our formation. He remembers an exodus initially protected by parted water and all the desert and parting of more water to come. He anticipates those who had been buried far away to come surfing back.
Reading Isaiah emboldens us as we pass through our next water of redemption to find a glory not fully dreamed. Can you imagine living already redeemed, already glorious?
= = = = = = =
that which you create
is imbued with a goodness
never lost
we learn this creation gift
reflecting on our own
ever found
Isaiah 43:1-7
Formed incarnate, redemption already secure, we pass through waters dark and deep, water standing against water.
Called from chaotic exile, already created for glory, we rise through waters light and lively, water living within water.
Isaiah envisions glorious redemption as an integral part of our incarnation, our formation. He remembers an exodus initially protected by parted water and all the desert and parting of more water to come. He anticipates those who had been buried far away to come surfing back.
Reading Isaiah emboldens us as we pass through our next water of redemption to find a glory not fully dreamed. Can you imagine living already redeemed, already glorious?
= = = = = = =
that which you create
is imbued with a goodness
never lost
we learn this creation gift
reflecting on our own
ever found
Jesus' Baptism - B
Years B
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11
Creation moves from formless to formed, only to become the ground for new formation. Day by day lightness and darkness interplay.
Repentance called and responded to, follows this same process. This assertion calls us to look around: what light from today's repentance has come to guide us beyond repentances of old?
John's baptism unto repentance, Paul's baptism unto tongues and prophesy, Jesus' baptism unto belovedness, raises the question of what baptism through you is unto? Might it be a baptism unto peace?
Regardless of the baptism focus offered or age/understanding when one receives, there is an entry into the mystery of creation and creation beyond creation. Relax, enjoy, baptize.
= = = = = = =
have you received a holy spirit?
what is that you ask?
it is this says you
well ok says I
and off we go
what once we knew we knew
it is reduced to babbling
pretty and comforting
but babbling still
it is expanded to consequences
harsh and challenging
but consequences still
what once we knew we knew
bows its head to play its part
between the less and more
between the less and more
is less and more
than spirits holy or muddy
can contain without
breaking apart into a blessing
on light and dark
beginning again
moving beyond
have you received a holy spirit?
of course
does it measure up?
not now not ever
and you
have you been released
from a spirit holy
to arise once more?
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11
Creation moves from formless to formed, only to become the ground for new formation. Day by day lightness and darkness interplay.
Repentance called and responded to, follows this same process. This assertion calls us to look around: what light from today's repentance has come to guide us beyond repentances of old?
John's baptism unto repentance, Paul's baptism unto tongues and prophesy, Jesus' baptism unto belovedness, raises the question of what baptism through you is unto? Might it be a baptism unto peace?
Regardless of the baptism focus offered or age/understanding when one receives, there is an entry into the mystery of creation and creation beyond creation. Relax, enjoy, baptize.
= = = = = = =
have you received a holy spirit?
what is that you ask?
it is this says you
well ok says I
and off we go
what once we knew we knew
it is reduced to babbling
pretty and comforting
but babbling still
it is expanded to consequences
harsh and challenging
but consequences still
what once we knew we knew
bows its head to play its part
between the less and more
between the less and more
is less and more
than spirits holy or muddy
can contain without
breaking apart into a blessing
on light and dark
beginning again
moving beyond
have you received a holy spirit?
of course
does it measure up?
not now not ever
and you
have you been released
from a spirit holy
to arise once more?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)