again

Pentecost - Year C

sitting campfire
kindling starter
teepee shaped
larger wood
at hand

preparation made
a spark
starts it
tender blowing
keeps it

additions made
darkness avoided
wood used
coals accumulate
cooling eventuates

light begun
light continued
light faded
light gone
night begun

night fears
dark room
waiting waited
forehead flames
banked - out

eden vacated
desert wandered
land exiled
jubilee ignored
pentecost doused

and here
we are
awaiting Prometheus
bound leaving
us alone

remembering campfires
rubbing neighbors
into sparks
wind blown
fire starters
 

Romans 8:14-17

Pentecost - Year C

Romans 8:14-17

The Message translates verse 14: "God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!"

This beckoning is compared with adoption or coming into an unexpected inheritance. There is a new set of relationships that are opened. A new relationship with G*D and Neighbor is a Pentecost Experience. In particular a new relationship with a Neighbor is a Pentecost Experience. One might say that there is no Pentecostal Experience without there being a new or renewed relationship with a Neighbor (from had-been-stranger to long-term-partner).

This is the unimaginable inheritance that comes with Pentecost - at least one new relationship.

And so - "G*D's Spirit beckons. There are Neighbors to meet."
 

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Pentecost - Year C

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Might we modify verse 33 to read: "I will sing with G*D as long as ever I can; we will dance mutual praise while being lasts."

This is more in keeping with "one's own image" serenading "one's own". It is the Pentecostal breakthrough of a present experience where unexpected people are heard singing one's own heart's desire and we respond.

In this mutuality we find an elusive blessing long-sought down dusty lanes of a divine right of praise reception.

Perhaps this poem by Rilke will help:

Only in our doing can we grasp you.
Only with our hands can we illumine you.
The mind is but a visitor;
it thinks us out of our world.

Each mind fabricates itself.
We sense its limits, for we have made them.
And just when we would flee them, you come
and make of yourself an offering.

I don't want to think a place for you.
Speak to me from everywhere.
Your Gospel can be comprehended
without looking for its source.

When I go toward you
it is with my whole life.

Rilke's Book of Hours    I, 51

 

Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost - Year C

Acts 2:1-21

Think you were scared for your life? Think again, for now you are scared to life.

Before you were fearful of another taking your life. Now you are only afraid that you will not be giving your life across what used to be perceived as razor-wired boundaries.

Before your coat of arms consisted of representations of hiding:

affright, awed, chill, daunt, dismay, freeze, given a fright, given a turn, intimidated, paniced, paralyzed, petrified, scared silly, scared the pants off, shaken up, struck terror in, terrified, terrorized, afraid, aghast, anxious, fearful, having cold feet, panic-stricken, panicked, panicky, petrified, shaken, startled, terrified, terror-stricken, abashed, aghast, alarmed, anxious, apprehensive, aroused, blanched, cowardly, cowed, daunted, discouraged, disheartened, dismayed, distressed, disturbed, faint-hearted, frightened, frozen, have cold feet, horrified, in awe, intimidated, nervous, perplexed, perturbed, rattled, run scared, scared, scared stiff, scared to death, shocked, spooked, startled, stunned, suspicious, terrified, terror-stricken, timid, timorous, trembling, upset, worried, amazed, astonished, chilled, daunted, dismayed, distressed, frightened, given a turn, made jump, scared stiff, scared to death, spooked, surprised, unnerved . . . .

Now you exemplify :

calm, comfort, reassurance, soothing, confidence, encouragement, boldness, braveness, composition, cool, courage, fearlessness, heroism, intrepidness, undauntedness, valiance, assurance, gladdening, repose . . . .

That which stimulates a shift from some aspect of the first list to an extension of the second can be termed a Pentecost Experience.

May you be blessed with another Pentecost at this late date. Whether in time or out of time, vision and dream strongly enough that you will gladly follow where it leads.
 

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Pentecost - Year C

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Pentecost is a revelation of what is - illusions reduced and creation renewed.

Pentecost is knowing one another beyond simply spending time with one another.

Pentecost is active (not simply a 50 day marker) - those who participate in Pentecost will do greater work than those who have gone before. Please do spend some time this week defining what you think Jesus' work was. Only then will you have a sense of the activity to which you are called. It is not that there is one work for all of us to be strengthening, but that each of our unique gifts will call forth differing arenas of generativity.

Pentecost is transition from past to future, from fear to freedom. Even as you consider Jesus' work, ponder his teaching. What did he teach? Only then will you have a sense of the spirit of enlightening to which you are called.

Pentecost is a joy of wholeness beyond the brokenness so often trapping us in our separatenesses. Peace is not stillness, but wellness, health, wholeness, growth.
 

on my way

Easter 7 - Year C

I'm on my way
to a promised land
all well and good

I'm on my way
to this present land
even better

I'm on my way
transforming survival
to promise fulfilled

I'm on my way
joined hip and thigh
with fellow travelers

I'm on my way
and glad
with you
 

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

Easter 7 - Year C

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

Scripture is not always scripture. Here we have a debate between the selected and omitted verses. Which is it for you? If you want to keep both, how do you hold them together without finding yourself being omitted?

Whether a robe-washer (selected) invited to come inside or a falsehood-practicer (omitted) kept at bay, we run into Paul and Silas in a prison that became open-doored. This openness is fearful for many until they experience Paul's invitation, "Do not harm yourself (or others), for we (including you) are all here."

We are all here, "Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift."

In the selected verses we hear the invitation and blessing of the Tree of Life still being available; a big door is more widely opened to include you.

In the omitted verses we hear about a share in the Tree of Life being taken away; a big door is slammed shut in your face.

This side of a New Jerusalem, do you want to spend your time affirming that a Tree of Life is still available as a prevenient grace and is attractive enough to draw its deniers nearer?

Would your rather spend your time warning people about what they will lose if they keep on the way they are going?

While they both do have their place, I hope to be spending more time with the beauty of Life as an attractant than with warning folks about something outside their experience base.
 

Psalm 97

Easter 7 - Year C

Psalm 97

In verse 2 we hear about the foundational relationship between "Righteousness" and "Justice". Many times we pair "Peace" with justice. A helpful perspective here is that righteousness and justice correspond with an internal and external component of a our life. Peace and justice have a greater tendency to both be external, not requiring ourselves to participate in justice as a part of our wholeness and that of creation.

By the time we come to verses 10 and 11 we hear some parallelism. Justice is paralleled to external actions of guarding and rescuing. Righteousness is paralleled to internal responses of light and joy.

If we begin to bring these together we need to ask about what light we might shed on situations where someone or some part of creation needs to be guarded. Immigrants and ocean gulfs come easily to mind today. We also need to investigate the connection between joy and rescuing. If you have been on a mission trip of some sort, you probably have a sense of this and a question about why you don't do it more regularly.

Without having to posit an externalized anthropomorphic "Lord" to be "king", we might better recognize a mystery larger than ourselves in qualities of righteousness and justice, in guarding light (no not the soap opera Guiding Light where little guarding went on), and rescuing joy which are much to be sought and lived. In some sense the Lord language puts the focus on being authorized rather than our own inherent integrity and integration (so close in sound and so distinct in derivation).
 

Acts 16:16-34

Easter 7 - Year C

Acts 16:16-34

Who knows what you will find on your way to a place of prayer! So, designate your next travel destination as a place of prayer.

Going to the car - go to a place of prayer.
Going to get groceries - go to a place of prayer.
Going for a walk - go to a place of prayer.
Going to visit __(their name here)__ - go to a place of prayer.
Going to work - go to a place of prayer.
Going to bed - go to a place of prayer.
Going to study - go to a place of prayer.
Going to commit a crime - go to a place of prayer.

See if that changes how you use your car (maybe you'll listen to a different station or yield when you didn't absolutely have to).

See if that changes what food you get (more veggies and less red meat) and whether you get extra for the community pantry.

See if that changes how you can see the neighborhood or the woods (in more detail).

See if that changes what your conversation is about (how is it with your soul and with mine and our).

See if that changes your engagement with task and money earned (try The Complete Idiot's Guide to Spirituality in the Workplace).

See if that changes your dreams (a vision of how you might participate in a better future).

See if that changes accumulated knowledge into understanding (move from information to implementation).

See if that changes your options (how one might build up rather than tear down).

Remember - you can always be on the way to a place of prayer.

For now we will leave the spirituality of not escaping for another time and simply ask about everyday life. The theory is that careful attention here will open us to making a difference (fast or slow) in someone else's life and simply being faithful in difficult moments.
 

John 17:20-26

Easter 7 - Year C

John 17:20-26

A prayer that we might be connected at our roots is strong.
Such a prayer is weakened when it intends to prove something or other.

Remember Redwood Roots:

In Song


In Science
"Holding hands" underground
The roots of a coast redwood are very shallow, growing only four to six feet deep, but spread out from the tree as far as 125 feet. This isn’t much support for a tall, heavy tree—floodwaters can erode top layers of soil, exposing the roots and weakening a tree’s support system. Heavy rains and strong winds can bring even the biggest giant crashing to the ground.

But the roots of individual redwoods frequently grow intertwined with those of their neighbors. By "holding hands" underground, the roots form a network that allows the trees to withstand even great storms.

Shallow roots are sensitive to smothering silt.
The redwood’s roots are shallow so that they can collect large amounts of moisture the tree requires. When sediment accumulates atop its roots, a redwood responds by growing a new root system upwards, into the silt. One toppled coast redwood was found to have developed seven successive root systems, each grown in response to the periodic floods and heavy sedimentation that caused an 11-foot rise in the ground level during the tree’s 1200-year lifetime.

In Art

www.gie.uoguelph.ca/images/logo_final_resized_copy.jpg


www.blissing.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/19/celticmandala.jpg


www.bucklesofestes.com/images/Cool%20Buckles/2008/Tree_Huggers.jpg

- - - - - - -

Intertwined roots = an image of glory. How is your glory quotient today? Does it need changing by the end of the day?

Intertwined roots = an image of love. How is your love quotient today? Does it need changing by the end of the day?

By this we see that G*D's glory = our love and G*D's love = our glory.

relearned

Easter 6 - Year C

peace left
peace to the right
peace quietly surrounding

too much peace
leaves us troubled and afraid
for any shoe to drop
much less a second one

so we relearn peace
piece by piece
taught and retaught
overarches and underpinnings
always relearning

learning to leave
learning to return
learning to be content
in leaving
being left
always returning

peaceful in shadow
peaceful in light
peaceful in hope
peaceful in terror
peaceful in Troas
peaceful in Macedonia
peaceful here
peaceful now

Revelation 10:10, 22-22:5

Easter 6 - Year C

Revelation 10:10, 22-22:5

If you were to see what you understood to be a City of Peace descending slowly from above, would you note what was there, or what wasn't?

It takes a theologically sophisticated viewer to note there was no Temple and the whole place glowed from an internal source. Most of us would get caught with the shape, size, color of the walls, and ornateness of the gates, strange that they are standing open, but look at those jewels. The elided section covers all these shiny things that first catch our eye, but we are interested in what lies beyond glitz.

Later, shown the Life River, we might look back and wonder if there were a waterfall from the city as it lowered upon earth. If such a river is not overflowing, is it a circular river contained within the city itself? If it is not overflowing, it is really a river of Life?

Eventually we will probably come to reflect on this vision as a vision and begin to have it inform our own behavior drawn to be based on it. Worshiping for Worship's sake is gone (no temple there to receive manipulative praise). With open gates there may be some uncleanliness that enters (after all, aren't you expecting to be there?). The whole Book of Immigration Policies, aka., Book of Life, is trumped by an open door. And so we are informed about our living when restrictions take a second place to our work of opening doors. With an abundance of living water we can expect that a Tree of Life (left over from Garden Eden?) will keep on bearing fruit, everlastingly. With such fecundity, we can afford to be generous, month after month, new fruit will ripen.

So worship changes, relationships change, and economics change when we are living in the shadow of a New Jerusalem. Imagine the changes in your life if hanging over you were not Damocles' Sword, but a templeless, open-gated, fruitful city - a preferred future - that we can model here below as it is ahead and above.
 

Psalm 67

Easter 6 - Year C

Psalm 67

Indeed, if G*D can be merciful to us, to whom cannot G*D be merciful?

Let us count the ways in which we have hindered the earth from producing. If G*D can be merciful to those who do in their ancestress (being created of the clay), G*D can be merciful to many.

Oh, we always claim our care for the earth is honorable - mountain-top removals, over-fertilizing, seeing oil spill after oil spill simply as collateral damage, refusal to drive one less mile than we can, dumping hazardous waste in the poorest neighborhoods, and so much more, all have a stated best intention to trickle wealth to masses but none do it with integrity for the end result has been increasing riches in fewer hands.

Would that our reception of mercy would effect a change in our behavior. Apparently it will take more than mercy to transform our behaviors. One of the things it will take is openness to a teaching function for Spirit Holy. Another thing it will take is a consciousness that we are called to more than we have so far been up to accomplishing. Teaching "call" is an important ancillary function to expressing mercy.

In today's New York Times there is an editorial about banning burkas in Europe by Jean-François Copé, the majority leader in the French National Assembly and the mayor of Meaux. Here are two important paragraphs that we are not free to simply do what we want when we want to.

     "The permanent concealment of the face also raises the question of social interactions in our democracies. In the United States, there are very few limits on individual freedom, as exemplified by the guarantees of the First Amendment. In France, too, we are passionately attached to liberty.
     "But we also reaffirm our citizens’ equality and fraternity. These values are the three inseparable components of our national motto. We are therefore constantly striving to achieve a delicate balance. Individual liberty is vital, but individuals, like communities, must accept compromises that are indispensable to living together, in the name of certain principles that are essential to the common good."

If this Psalm is not intimately connected to the common good, it loses some of its soul.
 

Acts 16:9-15

Easter 6 - Year C

Acts 16:9-15

Last week Peter had a vision. This week Paul has a vision. Beware, next week you will have a vision and unexpectedly travel to stay with someone.

Last week Gentiles were welcomed in. This week Gentiles are traveled to. Next week "Gentiles" (by whatever measure of being left out, marginalized, exiled, etc.) will continue to open their hearts (a miracle in itself that one could wish upon the religious insider).

"Gentiles" as Gentiles, women as Gentiles, foreigners as Gentiles, any discriminated against individual or group as Gentiles: plead for non-Gentiles to finally get a vision that will trigger compassion within themselves and stop the discrimination and physical/economic/spiritual violence against "Gentiles". This is a call to the insiders to stop being blind to the consequences of their decisions and actions. For Paul it is an extension of his first encounter with Jesus. His blindness became more than simple blindness, it was also a motivation to not be blind again, to see Jesus everywhere, even in heathen Macedonia.

It is in our conversion that we find hope to be converted and reformed again and again. The goal of a once and always reforming Church is a good one for an individual. The Spirit of a Living G*D, revealed again and again in vision after vision, continues to push us to join the Jesus, Peter, and Paul tradition of an expansive and expanding view of G*D's presence in this world.

To extend Lydia's closing comment, "If you have confidence we are growing deeper in G*D by doing so together, let us stay with one another, be guests of one another, and, together, envision others, now separated from us, joining us." Would this be something that your congregation would be comfortable with as a practice and not just a nice thought?
 

John 14:23-29

Easter 6 - Year C

John 14:23-29

Who did Jesus respond to and what question was he dealing with? Pericopes that begin as this one did, "Jesus answered...." are beginning too late. Every response has a context and without that specific the response attaches strangely anywhere it lands.

Jesus has said that he would be seen by his friends after he was no longer seen by others. A Judas by any other name asks about this limitation. Is it a voluntary decision on Jesus' part or a blindness by others?

As per usual, Jesus steps aside from the direction of the question to better respond to it. The bottom-line is that, as a result of learning from their experience of Jesus after he has gone, they will be able to reframe the question and act in a different way. They will grow congruent in their past experiences of Jesus and their present experience of G*D (spirit teaching talk here), which will lead them to trust the arc of the future so strongly that they will act in the present in light of what they yet expect. Responses by others will not raise a question about willful blindness or a limited, predestined, rejection. The focus will be upon what Jesus' followers have continued to learn and enact.

Peace is connected with a teaching of how to remember and anticipate. In this connection comes a strength and focus of action that would otherwise be dissipated over too much time, space, and opportunity. Want peace? Trust your action to make a difference, whether or not you can see it.

This kind of peace lets you see not only Jesus, but to recognize every other saint in any other tradition.

Try this song by Small Potatoes,
and see if it is close to what you understand some Holy Spirit has taught, is teaching, and will teach you.

- - - - - - -

GARDEN WALK J. Manning

There is peace in every garden
There’s a universe in every flower
There is holiness in every footstep
Every moment, every hour


Oh, let us walk the dappled pathways
And elect one single bloom
Then bring your face so close
That you can smell its sweet perfume

Then look -- oh, really look inside
And you will understand
Just how infinity can fit
Within your hand, within your hand
CHORUS

Oh, see the waterleaf, the meadowsweet
Bloodroot and spiderwort
Trilliums, delphiniums
Joe Pye and hellebore

And that blue guy -- I don’t know its name
But I don’t really care
It doesn’t matter what it’s called
But that it’s there, it’s there, it’s there!
CHORUS


Oh, let us walk ---------
No need for talk -------
Breathe in ---------------
And breathe out again


Call it the work of Mother Nature
Adaptation over time
Or an act of God -- my god!
It’s all a miracle sublime

And though we can’t know how it got there
I think we can agree
It’s not important that you know
But that you see, you see, you see ...
CHORUS -- tag


Oh, let us walk ----------

 

see

Easter 5 - Year C

see
a new heaven
Judas washed clean

see
a new earth
Judas trusts

see
a new glory
Jesus received

see
a new way
Jesus teaching

see
a new spirit
Peter’s non-distinction

see
a new focus
Cornelius accepted

see
a new praise
old me and young you together

see
a new life
G*D’s moved in

see
a new sight
Love one another

Revelation 21:1-6

Easter 5 - Year C

Revelation 21:1-6

When does a vision of “a new earth and new heaven” happen along? When things are at their worst - worse than what we do to the earth and its response, worse than what we do to one another, worse than a theology of rapturous end-times. When we have exhausted ourselves using old technology on intractable issues, then we come round to consider jettisoning the unworkable and begin to envision a goal large enough for us to be open to new ways of working. Simple examples today are "immigration" bills in Arizona and drilling for oil in deep water - a new vision, please.

One way or another, each re-envisioning posits a closer relationship between G*D and Creation/Humanity. Here we have G*D’s home changed from a high and lifted up position to that of a co-dweller on earth, in paradise. At question is whether we will repeat all our previous history, just in a new horizontal relationship instead of the old vertical one.

There is still a way to go on this vision, too few have made the jump to co-creators over the face of the chaotic deep newly christened “water of life”. We are left with a new creative moment. Unfortunately it is one without the deep engagement of tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain. This avoidance will carry seeds of its own destruction.

Presumably we will find the worst in this new relationship and need to work on a new vision of G*D and Humanity being one, not two images. More about this in another reincarnation. For the moment it is enough to work on this reciprocity option.

Psalm 148

Easter 5 - Year C

Psalm 148

There are two different praise rationales here. First for the grand immensities that stand as contexts for each passing fancy – height, host, stars, beyond heaven. These praise for G*D commanded their presence and creation occurred.

We find ourselves within the second level of praise, along with monsters, fickle weather, trees, creepy things, flighty things, young and old together. Here praise is for the exalted glory above them, not for themselves alone, regardless of their yellow hair.

All have been watered from above heaven and yet there are choices to be made regarding praise. Will they or won’t they? Will you or won’t you? If we are feeling favored in the moment we are likely to praise. If, for whatever reason, we are unaware or dismissive of our intimacy with having a moment in which to shine (perhaps not content with a moment when the first group has a sense of forever about them) then we praise not.

Do you buy this bi-level praise platform. How would you rephrase things?

Use of this material

I have spent the last three days on retreat without web or cell phone contact - Thus four messages in a row today.

A significant portion of my time was spent taking a look at other ways in which to present nearly a decade of lectionary postings. They are not done in everyone's preferred receiving style (i.e., rather idiosyncratic, eccentric or batty) and so the question of whether there is another presentation form is particularly tricky. As an experiment I drafted an introduction to this form of reflection and organized three-quarters of my accumulated comments on the lections in Genesis. Now I need to reflect on what came forth to see:
- if this start is worth continuing
- simply to leave things here in the chronological format of a blog
- use them as source material for a more unified comment per lection
- turn it into a book or a website
- etc.

If you have any ideas about other ways of presenting this material, I covet such insight. What would make this resource more helpful to you? You can leave a reply here or send me an email at wwhite@wisconsinumc.org.

Wesley White

Acts 11:1-18

Easter 5 - Year C

Acts 11:1-18

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea (your community) heard that the Gays and Lesbians had also accepted the word of God. 2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem (your denominational headquarters), the Homophobic believers criticized him, 3saying, “Why did you go to the Gays and Lesbians and eat with them?” 4Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. 6As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 10This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11At that very moment three Gay men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six Hetero brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the Gay man's house. 13He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14he will give you a message by which you and your entire cohort will be saved.’ 15And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon Gays and Lesbians just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave Gays and Lesbians the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 18When the Homophobic believers heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gays and Lesbians the repentance that leads to life.”

A similar miracle can still happen.

Note that repentance here is not about G*D's good gift of personal identity. If you were born with one set of genitals or another or both or none is beside the point. If you came to realize you were erotically attracted to those of a different gender or same or both is beside the point. These are not repentance issues. Repentance has to do with orientation toward G*D, not toward another human being. If we are not following Jesus' model of drawing nearer to G*D and becoming G*D, we are in need of repentance. If we are so engaged, the personal identity issues are off the tablecloth.

Note also the assumption that there weren't Gays and Lesbians present when Pentecost occurred. Knowing what we know about human beings, the odds were that there were some (including the one "that Jesus loved"?) Gays and Lesbians in the first round of having been Holy Spiritized. It is not sufficient to go on the assumption that if it didn't specifically say there were Gay and Lesbians anointed/ordained to the ministry of Jesus to draw near to G*D that they weren't present, closeting being what it has been for lo these many years.
 

John 13:1-35

Easter 5 - Year C

John 13:1-35

Washed by Jesus and still unclean.

Jesus' actions are not unilateral. Jesus is constrained.
G*D's actions are not unilateral. G*D is constrained.
My actions are not unilateral. I am constrained.
Your actions are not unilateral. You are constrained.
Our actions are not unilateral. We are constrained.

It appears that not only are servants not greater than their master, but the master is not greater than the servants. Both servants and masters are not unilateral. Both are constrained.

Where G*D is received, creation is also received.
Where Jesus is received, G*D is also received.
Where I am received, Jesus is also received.
Where you are received, I am also received.
Where we are received, all are also received.

It appears that we find our identity in our varying relationships. Each of our varying relationships with every other part of our life is based on having love for one another, recognizing and receiving each other's belovedness.

Washed and still unclean, but washed none-the-less. Washed and still containing every opportunity to express our having been loved.
 

and then

Easter 4 - Year C

no matter what name
we go by
Tabitha, Dorcas, Gazelle
we go bye

one eye on obituary
worthy material
tunics, chitons, albs
are worthy materials

then it is written
rest sweet rest
death, quietus, sleep
sweet sweet rest

and a call to arms
get up up
rise and shine, pile out, rouse
up get up

a hand please
a hand given
sewing, darning, reweaving
a hand given

restored and revived
goodness and mercy
follow, lead, share
and mercy goodness

then it is not written
where to
here, there, nowhere
to where
 

Revelation 7:9-17

Easter 4 - Year C

Revelation 7:9-17

Servant leadership leads from the center of the assembled. It makes sense that this kind of leadership be kind. It welcomes opportunities to take one more step.

Throne leadership is more directive. Here it makes sense to have decisions regarding who is in and who is out. It welcomes challenges to overcome.

Both of these have their moment. When coming out of a great ordeal both leadership styles are important. At one and the same time, limits on energy from stresses of exile need to be heeded and stringent encouragement can be a source of needed vitality. Here we have the triumphant throne leadership in the fore and our task is to remember the servant leadership that accompanied folks through the thirsty places of life.

It is easy to get caught in the "final score" of the game and fail to appreciate all the ups and down and changes in momentum that led to a conclusion. The conclusion is not the real measure of value.

Do note that everyone was present. With pushes and pulls and plenty of time, we do gather together from our exile from one another. Pentecost and Revelation point to an overcoming of ancient Babel. Question for the day: what are we currently experiencing that points in the same direction? Relying on these stories of the past only goes so far - they need to be connected with what is currently going on in our desert journey as we point out the living water that will keep us going.
 

Psalm 23

Easter 4 - Year C

Psalm 23

This Psalm is so universal that it can't be pinned down to a particular time and place of origin. Among other things, it is an Exodus celebration of relief from oppression. So great is the surprise of liberation that it can only be seen in terms of some grand plan, some leader of who did for us what we could not do, would not risk for ourselves.

Once this great shepherd appeared, we sheep had it good and what else could be expected from us than we would project this to continue on for many long years. Of course that would mean staying sheep instead of growing into autonomous and interdependent humans.

Hail Intervenor!
I move from nothing to everything.
In place of never-ending work, there is an extended vacation;
The sweat of our brow has become the nectar of the gods;
We move from head-bowed despair to hope-striding;
Each step in a trackless desert draws nearer to an oasis.
Honor Intervenor!
Though deep dark nightmares of the past come in their season
Their harm has been defanged -
I awake cuddled in Holy Intervenor arms,
Left and right arms comfort.
We get up for warm milk in the face of fears for the future;
Cocoa powder abounds
Hot chocolate for the soul is powerfully abundant.
I have been pursued by evil and now by goodness and love
Filling my days, shaping my days,
Transforming humble tents into temples
For many, many years.

Whatever your slavery or death, an exodus is always surprising. Surprising as Jesus playing an ambiguous game different than those who want specifics; surprising as Tabitha getting up from her bier. Surprising as your experience of exodus, no matter how mundane it might be.
 

Acts 9:36-43

Easter 4 - Year C

Acts 9:36-43

Peter, tell us how you raised Tabitha to again run and leap among us?

I've prayed for those I care about to be raised up that my loneliness for them be assuaged. How come my prayer didn't work and your's did?

Well, let's back up a bit, how did folks know to go and get Peter? Was it to join them in mourning and then Peter pulled this fast one of raising Dorcas? Was it to do exactly what he did just down the road, betting his raising up of Aeneas could be moved up a notch from a situation of paralysis to that of death? I suspect that Peter wasn't called to use the saintly gazelle's death and resurrection as a means to increase the number of believers at Joppa - though church growth techniques have been around for quite awhile and promising resuscitation would be a good one.

Lazarus, come forth; Tabitha, get up. These phrases see beyond the present circumstance. As you look at the congregation or country of which you are a part, what equally succinct phrase would you employ? Friendly UMC, stop bickering; Legislative leaders, help the poor; UU Fellowship, start dancing; ____________, ______________.

How would you use this formula with a friend, neighbor, enemy? What can you see available and coming that would lead you to be this bold today?
 

John 10:22-30

Easter 4 - Year C

John 10:22-30

Those who keep asking Jesus for a reason for his activities will have to keep asking because the only response they get does not have a connecting spot in their habits. A web of habit keeps us from receiving new data. It takes a good deal of intentionality to leave an opening for new information that will begin to systematically dismantle and expand one’s current web.

This is a belief issue. Belief and habit are kissing cousins - they both reject that which is not already present. There is no room for revelation here.

While there are many core issues, the one at stake here is a relationship one has with a past that is in continual contact with long-ago and far-away creation as well as a cusp of present with future. This flux between a creation-long ebb and flow and a sharp in-breaking of tomorrow is quite troublesome to many. They might could handle one or the other, but certainly not both without loosing their grounding, their perceived sanity.

This talk of the Father and Jesus being one is the same as G*D and I being the same. The dynamic of John’s "in the beginning..." and "...light coming into the world" are behind these simple equations. Want to scare your parishioners? Simply use Jesus' formula "G*D and (your name here) are one" without any clarification. Stick to it. No explanation, just the statement. Unease will surface. The works you do will reveal the reality or falsity of the statement.

love and sing

Easter 3 - Year C

earth day call
feed the sheep
feed the lambs
feed the sheep

resurrection call
fish until
there are no more fish
cast again and there are fish

conversion call
Saul blinded
Ananias resistant
both come to see more

beauty call
find a dance in mourning
find a song in fear
find a blessing in slaughter

love earth not exploitation
receive a surprise of abundance
remember your best insight
and sing with angels

= = = = = = =

stanza 1 & 2 - John
stanza 3 - Acts
stanza 4 - Psalm/Revelation
stanza 5 - all of the above

Revelation 5:11-14

Easter 3 - Year C

Revelation 5:11-14

In today's world, where "winning is everything", the imagery of being slaughtered in the regional semi-finals doesn't bode well for receiving the glory of the trophy. Once upon a time, long ago and far away, is the kind of location for slaughtering leading to glory.

Imagine the angels singing for you - singing "Worthy!", singing "Beloved!", right here, right now. Who knows whether this will lead to being slaughtered, but we do know it leads to the energy to love G*D, Neighbor, Self, One Another, and Enemies. This love may, in turn, lead to undesired consequences (being led by the belt when old) or not (heaven may actually come on earth).

Did you really imagine the angels singing for you? Go back and try that until you can hear them. Then you may jump to the next paragraph. Until then loop and loop again until you can hum along with an angelic song.

Having heard the angels sing, "Peace on Earth, Kindness to Creation", we are not into saving ourselves, having this all be one big ego trip. We identify with G*D and dust, with Neighbor and Enemy, with zealots and innocents, with stars and one another. G*D and the dust of evolution bring us to birth. Angel songs of belovedness bring us to new birth. Now even salvation is beside the point as a third birth moves us to a new quantum level. Rejoice as you join the Angel Band and sing to others.
 

Psalm 30

Easter 3 - Year C

Psalm 30

Can dust praise? Can G*D be in Sheol?

Yes, I can. Yes, G*D can.

Let's dance. G*D's joy.

[Note: Hmm, Friday got here early this week.]

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

Easter 3 - Year C

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

When I recently re-read the following paragraph by Dorothy Soelle in The Window of Vulnerability: A Political Spirituality, it led me to wonder about this Saul to Paul conversion as part of a conversion from patriarchy to feminism. I know it is easy to put Paul in an anti-feminist group, but remember that even sudden conversions have a learning curve to them a situation in which they abide.

"Let me give an example of how theology can change when women do it; that is, when new subjects reflect on theological tradition. Sin, in the dominant, Protestant-influenced interpretation, is "wanting to be like God." It is the search for power, for superiority; it is overestimation of the self; it is pride; it is disobedience. But women who have become aware of their situation and have asked themselves, for the first time, whether they would really consider this type of sin to be the worst of all have come to quite different conclusions. They have said it is just the opposite. Our sin is not that of self-exaltation and pride; it is self-denial, selflessness in the bad sense of the word, the surrender of any kind of genuine self, underdevelopment of the self, conformity to the dominant structure, lack of pride in being a woman, obedience. Sin is submission to this sexist model of society. It is failure to realize God's image in oneself, and bowing in fearful humility. That means that we need a totally different definition of sin if we want to talk seriously about the ways in which we mess up our lives and how women are destroyed in our society, how it happens that they never really come to life, and what is the source of all that."

Now that sin can be seen as not simply power, but also submission, how do you apply those to their appropriate situations and what might be a third and fourth helpful definition of sin that will continue deepening your insight into your own way of being as well as broadening your application of it in the variety of lives you encounter. Again, definitions of sin are not the goal, but they aid in an analysis that allows seeing farther, seeing more, and transforming life situations.
 

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

Easter 3 - Year C

Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

From the musical Little Shop of Horrors there is a wonderful little song, Suddenly, Seymour. This leads us into seeing more - which is what a connection with in-the-beginning does for us. It moves us from what we are against to what we are doing to move a once and future beginning onward.

Saul looks into darkness and sees a vision of a new relationship. From persecuting nameless followers of Jesus to looking forward to a very specific follower with a name, Ananias. In moving from the ease of anonymity to a real person, Saul makes a trip to Paul, from abuser to advocate.

This is a moment of realization, just like Seymour and Audrey in the song above. Scales fall from eyes, sight is restored, assurance comes to the fore from out of the background.

Can such a conversion be trusted. Perhaps, but testing comes first. Saul will be tested by others in Damascus and by himself in the wilderness (both are important). A new relationship will be forged in the testings and Paul's challenge will be similar to Peter's - to follow Jesus' way without turning it into a technique, creed, or literalism. This challenge continues - it is ours.
 

John 21:1-19

Easter 3 - Year C

John 21:1-19

Peter, having committed to "feeding Jesus' sheep", led the other disciples on an important Feed the Sheep Crusade. They organized other fishing associations to tithe their catches to a Food Pantry, to benefit the poor.

After this excellent organization of the literal, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. They had their best catch of the Crusade and were coming in when Jesus called out, "Friends, do you have lots of fish?" A response came back, "Yes we do!" Jesus said, "Put them back and come on in." Miraculously, they did.

When they came ashore, a charcoal fire was there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said, "Come and have breakfast."

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to all of them, "Do you love me more than those fish?" Like any good fairytale we go over this three times. Jesus then shifted his previous statement, simply saying, "Follow my way."

In conversation after this scene, Jesus' friends looked back to see that they were beloved, they had been tested, they could now ask others, "Is what you are doing going somewhere?" and they would go on to the kind of Life which would illuminate creation through all phases of time and space.

Now, come have breakfast for there is life to be Lived. No more literal following; you have been blessed that new blessing will be released.
 

blessed are those . . .

Easter 2 - Year C

evening come
morning afar
fears increase
doubts rise
assurance needed

unless unless
surfaces quickly

receive peace
be forgiven
forgive others
believe experience
believe revelation

why why
questions threaten

prophet's proof
comes later
when is
was will
show love
 

Revelation 1:4-8

Easter 2 - Year C

Revelation 1:4-8

What else can one do in the presence of "is and was and about to arrive" than grin all over yourself? And here we were so preoccupied with our entitlements . . . what is, was, or will be that about?

And then, adding in seven spirits to the recipe, the grin turns to a guffaw.

This imagination is freedom from the fear of the moment. It sets a larger scene - peace to be transformed into freedom and vice versa.

Now you try - understand you are Alpha and Omega. This will help focus you on your gift for this time. See them become your parentheses. All that you have been working on, "(", and all that has been working toward you, ")", surrounds you to work together as a lens () clarifying today's task that will complete a partial past and set the groundwork for a better future.

It would be so easy to have this just be about G*D, but this expansive view of G*D is intended to have an effect of expanding you and me. If it is just about glorifying Jesus and G*D we are most to be pitied.
 

Psalm 118:14-29

Easter 2 - Year C

Psalm 118:14-29

Verse 17: I shall not die, but live and proclaim the works of Life.

To have come to this point requires an awareness of some rebirth experiences. This takes awhile for us - remember those adolescent years when we would just die (or hide away) over any number of fears or setbacks? Eventually we come around to see more than our immediate response to desires and events. In seeing more than our own Narcissistic needs we begin to put various parts of ourselves together and see a whole more than the sum of our parts.

To see more is a stance of "not dying".

From there it is but a small extension to hear the question, "If you are not going to die, what are you going to do?"

Well?
 

Acts 5:27-41

Easter 2 - Year C

Acts 5:27-41

See what an excellent illustration this is for not giving any quarter in an ideological battle. Gamaliel got all reasonable and the disciples were let off to build their base and cause more trouble.

Can you imagine a Gamaliel in the inner circle of the Bush/Chaney administration or the current Republican House of Representatives or Senate? Truth is, the same need for a Gamaliel is present on every side. No one is exempt from the quest for power or its overreach when achieved.

It's easy to play the part of the disciples - I've got a message and I'm going to deliver it. It is much harder to play the role of the loyal opposition. Who has the time to see how things will develop when there are points to score and scores to settle? The loyal opposition brings a troublesome, though real, presumption that we may be in the wrong and any hint toward that possibility scares the bejesus out of many. In that fear, they then can't be Jesus in their situation and choose a compassionate and rational stance.

With what group do you need to play the loyal opposition. If you are uncertain, here's a book by that name that points to one important arena, The Loyal Opposition: Struggling with the Church on Homosexuality.
 

John 20:19-31

Easter 2 - Year C

John 20:19-31

In this passage, fear of "Them" is stronger than "fear" of the Lord. So it is we hide ourselves from others and self.

Peace, as an antidote to fear, is not etherial calm or green pastures. Peace is active. Here it is sender and sendee (learn strategy and tactics). Here it is forgiven and forgiving (learn premeditated mercy). Here it is patient (learn the three keys to peace - experience, experience, experience that sets a larger context). Here it is belief present and future (not creedal belief, but abundant life belief).

Try this sermon on for size Called as Peacemakers.

Since this is also Holy Humor Sunday for some, peace is a perspective that brings laughter, from a chuckle to a belly-laugh. Now we can see ourselves hiding away, what lovable, old sillies. We can see "They" are not the issue, "we" are - how could we have missed that? One way we missed it is our own propensity to substitute mammon for mystical metaphor - see cartoon.

Your Name Here ____

Easter - Year C

in a beginning
let there be
blessed be
you are named
now you name

a new beginning
an old name
renewed name
blessed be
let there be

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Easter - Year C

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Paul does his best to find some order in resurrection - If this, then that, then another, then something else, then . . . . In fact, all the ifs are beside the point, death isn't all its cracked up to be.

His circle within a circle can be entered at any point and followed around and around. And his circle can be set aside as beside the point. Death isn't all its cracked up to be.

So if you've been trying to find a formula to have life in this world, forget about it. This world isn't all its cracked up to be.

We have life, simply life, to live and neither the trappings of the principalities and powers in this world or a fear of death will keep us from this impetus. Jesus offered abundant life, and we are invited to jump in. Here is the "holy" week arc: Enter your Jerusalem, face your death, and live.
 

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Easter - Year C

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

In the midst of any conflict our demeanor is intended to be that of confidence - we put on a happy face. We talk victory before the final horn sounds. Even as we do so there is a certain uncertainty. In the midst of the NCAA Final Four tournament, remember back to the number of upsets. The oh-so-certain turned out to not be so.

Anyone here been surprised by a diagnosis of cancer in the midst of feeling good? Institutions from family to church to empire wax and wane. Relationship ebb and flow.

Verse 22 gives us an image of an appreciated reversal of an experienced loss. No matter how firm our conviction that we are going to come through some difficulty, when the certain does not come to pass, it is a relief to get to a vantage point where we can see that a stone rejected by the builders actually comes round to be either a new cornerstone or valued capstone. As we look toward the whole of scripture we see how torah and hesed confirm and comfort, in their turn, anticipated victory, loss, and reversal.

Now for the hard part; does this tentativeness about victory apply to Easter? We so would like to have things settled, once and for all. This, however, too easily forgets that there will be another testing - a false pride in a certainty regarding Easter. So let's be thankful, for the moment. This is a good day to rejoice and such will hold us in the best stead possible to face the evening of a day that will open us to another darkly entombed night.

Rejoice that a rejected rock has been glimpsed again. But make no mistake, it will have to be reclaimed tomorrow.
 

Acts 10:34-43

Easter - Year C

Acts 10:34-43

"G*D shows no partiality."
"G*D preaches peace/wholeness through people like Jesus Christ."
"That message spread."

"We are witnesses of peace/wholeness in Jesus Christ."
"We preach peace/wholeness/forgiveness."

Note that the living of peace/wholeness/forgiveness (preaching) of Jesus is picked up and carried on by others, down to this day. An amazing part of Easter is not just the preaching of Jesus qua Jesus, but how that has been continued through your life and mine. As we live peace/wholeness/forgiveness, we join a line of prophets, including Jesus (remember impartiality), who bring a word of correction to a crooked world - not of condemnation, but transformation.

G*D lives/preaches impartial peace/wholeness.
Jesus lives/preaches impartial peace/wholeness.
You and I live/preach impartial peace/wholeness.
Others live/preach impartial peace/wholeness.

Keep at it - it is completable.
 

John 20:1-18

Easter - Year C

John 20:1-18

In the dark of lingering night and the dark of tomb, eyes-that-can-see note that stumbling, blocking stones are out of place. To note an unexpected opening is to rouse even more fear from within. In such times we run to others with a heightened story. Here the story escalates from moved stones to an interpretation of such - "They" have done something unspeakable. [The excuse of "they" seems to persist in both time and space.]

Where are we after all this running to and fro? Back at the beginning - The Magdalene alone, and now weeping.

Twice comes the question about why the weeping? Twice usually indicates an important question. Why are you weeping these days? There is ever so much to weep about, but why are you weeping? What are you looking for that weeping is a helpful response?

In this setting we are looking for that word of assurance known as being known by name. Does a lack of a sense of being known have anything to do with your weeping?

At any rate, regardless of ascension language, Mary shifts from Weeping Mary to Announcing Mary. Does a lack of having something to announce have anything to do with your weeping?

Look - light breaks in through cracks in hardened situations, weeping stones shout out an old "new message" - follow on and jump ahead, we are all becoming G*D.
 

enter

Lent 6 - Palm Sunday - Year C

no matter
where
you start
from

an old
truth
can be
new

see resources
close
called for
come

blessing now
yes
we can
enter

stoney silence
erupts
waking weary
teachers

this day
gladness
and forever
steadfast

complete joy
together
come in
energized
 

Philippians 2:1-11

Lent 6 - Palm Sunday - Year C

Philippians 2:1-11

My preference would be for this pericope to continue to verse 13. In this manner we are not simply left with a creedal statement, but we can see Life continued through us. In the absence of creed we work out our own salvation (wholeness) with fear and trembling - wrestling with G*D within us, attempting to burst through - yearning for us to become G*D.

If we are simply going to deal with the first eleven verses, then it is most helpful to deal with the first four verses, not the last four. Again the rubric is avoiding the creedal statement to find unity with G*D and Neighbor (as well as Self, One Another, and Enemy).

The beginning list is as good as any to evaluate our present work, done with "fear and trembling", toward a preferred future. How do you rate your receiving and offering the following?

Encouragement
Consolation
Sharing
Compassion
Sympathy
Joy
Unity
Love
Accord
Humility
Helping

These are far more lively processes than bowing and kneeling at the tolling of a name. In fact, it is these characteristics whereby "glory" is revealed.
 

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Lent 6 - Palm Sunday - Year C

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Steadfast love endures forever! How else could steadfastness be expressed than through time.

This quality that extends beyond our present moment is what fills our present moment with rejoicing and gladness.

A receiving and offering of blessing is strengthened each time we take from the storehouse of eternity and invest it in this day. This is a great enough investment that it can move us from our fear of not being saved (beloved) or not having as much success as is our due (cornerstone recognition). This movement opens gates of light to shine brightly enough for us to see an edge of tomorrow and to invest more strongly in today so we might clarify that which is coming.

If you were thinking about a free and full life today, connect it with forever and march forward.
 

Isaiah 50:4-9

Lent 6 - Palm Sunday - Year C

Isaiah 50:4-9

The temptation to give up on belovedness comes in many guises. There were as many as 212 temptations in the American House of Representatives as that many votes were recorded against providing health care access to more people. This insensitivity to Matthew 25 is saddening even as it is understandable.

There are some processes that help clarify such temptations and give courage to run counter to them. First and foremost is to be a participant in a teaching function. Indoctrinators instruct to any test they are asked to meet. Teachers learn to listen, gather new information, and apply all they know to the people and issue at hand. To teach is to learn and to learn reveals idols at work and both bring options to move around temptations.

The second is like unto it - to believe one's belovedness enough to continue choosing it before any inducement to give it up (either for one's self or for another's benefit). With the gift of belovedness comes an openness and assurance that allows learning and change to trump acts developed out of despair (insult-acceptance) and control (beard-pulling).

With learning and assurance we persist with what is holy (life-giving) not what is holey (moth-eaten).
 

Luke 19:28-40

Lent 6 - Palm Sunday - Year C

Luke 19:28-40

Pericopes that begin with phrases such as, "After he had said this," need an acknowledgement of "what went before" to which this now is an "after". In this particular there is a parable about money in the context of Jericho and Zacchaeus that has two conclusions. The first antecedent is "to all who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away".

What does Jesus have as he enters Jerusalem? He has his belovedness recognized in or affirmed by baptism. There are fellow-travelers who have no clout or persistence in the face of force. There are accumulated stories and events that raise the political stakes and activate principalities and power. Of these only belovedness counts in his favor. The coming events will further test and confirm belovedness.

The second antecedent is, "as for enemies of mine who do not want me to be in charge -- bring them here and slaughter them in my presence."

While this could well be put in the mouths of the high priests, Pilate, and Herod, it is also a challenge Jesus speaks to them with his entrance to Jerusalem. One of the issues we need to wrestle with is that of timing. Is this reversal immediate or eventual? A second issue is that of effectiveness. Is it an implicit death, their policies contain their own downfall, or is explicit, external power against power?

With this setting we come to verse 40, "if these people are silenced, stones would shout." It pushes us back to belovedness. Stones have previously been seen to be the locus of potential life - water and bread. Stones are earth, stones are mud. Stones are also the money given to slaves in the preceding parable. Stones are concentrated creation. Stones are persistent in remembering what they have experienced and will stick to such no matter how they might be crushed (in fact being crushed allows them to be wind-borne to take the tale further abroad).

Imagine here a city built of singing stones (aural walls in place of bejeweled walls) recounting and anticipating peace between earth and heaven, once and future, and you and me. It is this assurance of engaged belovedness and blessedness that will continue as long as Life or G*D.

So, don't get distracted by colts or cloaks - may your belovedness sing, knowing its persistence as a ground of new being.
 

1,000

Lent 5 - Year C

This is the 1,000th post on this blog. Quite a milestone for a distractible sprinter.

In the midst of an internal celebration it is helpful to both remember and forget. Let's remember Lazarus. He had a wonderful 2nd chance and was plotted against that he wouldn't have a 3rd try. Whether 2nd or 1,000th it is important to simply be faithful in the moment. No number of iterations is holy.

We remember that new things are always breaking in upon us and to fall back on past accomplishments would bring no added value, no matter how many more opportunities come around. There is a need to not coast off this high-value moment or a high school sports award. This, too, will pass away in its usefulness to respond to new occasions.

We remember to be thankful for the 42nd posting and the 666th posting. Each and every posting was critical to arriving at a next and a next and a 1,000th next.

And so, remembering to forget what lies behind and trusting another week will arrive for your poster boy, it is time to simply reach ahead to a preferred future already knocking on the door and to respond to a beckoning onward.

May you find your own equivalent of a 1,000th posting and rejoice for seeds planted a long while ago coming to fruition and for a next opportunity to go further than can now be imagined.
 

Philippians 3:4b-14

Lent 5 - Year C

Philippians 3:4b-14

Paul notes his equivalent of America's "white male privilege" and trades it for something he considers to be of even more surpassing value - his experience of a call and wilderness spirit quest he identifies with Jesus Christ.

There are many who have claimed the same precedence for their conversion to one surpassing value or another - from tea baggers to suicide bombers to urban gangs to monetary profits to family/congregation.

The insight here is not in the absolute of a given surpassing value which will focus our life. This is all too common. Rather, listen to verse 13 without reference to your or any particular holy involvement - "I forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead".

Paul's "Jesus" talks about that which is coming after him - Holy Spirit and our doing greater thing than he did. There is talk about post-modern living. Can you imagine what it would mean to be post-Christian?

What do you think Paul would want us to forget regarding our current understanding of Jesus and Church that we might join him in stretching forward? With this as thought experiment as encouragement, what do you feel needs to be forgotten that you might move ahead?
 

Psalm 126

Lent 5 - Year C

Psalm 126

Note that dreaming is not a passive activity.

Dreaming includes laughter as future becomes ever more present.

Dreaming includes shouting "Joy!" at the stick-in-the-mud's resistance to move from past to present.

Dreaming also includes all the pain and sorrow that is a context in which laughter is such a release.

Dreaming also includes all the difficult work to prepare, plant, and nurture seeds into releasing their future.

May you dream strongly enough to bear and release the present into a better future.
 

Isaiah 43:16-21

Lent 5 - Year C

Isaiah 43:16-21

Memory is a powerful tool. It acts as a brake on our journey. We pause to smell a flower and memories come flooding forth as entrancing as any siren Odysseus was ever tempted by. We would linger awhile and awhile longer.

What was that larger value we were striving for? I think there might have been one, wasn't there? Sweet opiate of the masses; the way we were.

Religious rituals are so comforting. They have shaped us. We can do them in our sleep.

"A new thing", you say? Well, OK, go ahead. My memories will prove there is nothing new under the sun. Go ahead with your "new thing." It'll be alright.

"Honor and Praise" are your "new thing"? I knew there was a reason I so enjoy my memories, for this "new thing" is so beside the point of steadfast love, of premeditated mercy, of abundant assurance. I remember when co-creator was the "new thing". What do you remember?
 

John 12:1-11

Lent 5 - Year C

John 12:1-11

Indeed! Why wasn't Mary's perfume sold for the benefit of the poor? Why was it even purchased in the first place? Why was a dinner opened to an honored guest and not opened to the poor?

We can track cause-and-effect back and back and back even farther. So any High Priest, as well as our very own lowly self, can decide where a difficulty lay and excise that particular and feel extremely proud about having done so. This is a time-tested process to find a scapegoat and hie it to the hinterlands. This process puts each of us into the role of Nard, Mary, Lazarus, Judas, Poor, and High Priest.

The trick is to raise this process from the page that leads us to cover up our own continuing way of divide-and-conquer by stealing a reputation with an unanswerable question. A retranslation is needed for verse 8. Here is one suggestion for both individuals and congregations: "You always have (someone to blame for the current situation), but you do not have (an assurance of being beloved)." Presumably folks can make the connection between poor and blame, between Jesus and assurance.

- Poverty is not measured in money, but in relationships.
- Jesus is a mentor in assurance.
- Assurance and Relationships are Related and Learnable.
 

we are

Lent 4 - Year C

we are so used to
a finding requiring
a loss
we lose track of
a finding
able to redefine any loss

manna is seen
as a finding after hunger
but still seems
a loss
in light of later
self-tended crops

property money reputation all
are so easily lost
a distraction
a slip
an entitlement
every mark missed

we slouch powerless
stubborn as a mule
with disappointed face
not admitting joy
until earned
found

such a common point of view
has much power to discourage
and roll over us
blocking a fore-giving
of reconciliation
between lost and found

a needed new creation
knows such reconciling
to have been going on forever
so no more appeal
to be found
we are

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Lent 4 - Year C

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Viewing one another from a human point of view – “intoxicated with the prospect of the worst” [Miss Garnet’s Angel by Sally Vickers] has been popular since G*D succumbed to a first temptation trap of making human’s in G*D’s image and setup a second temptation trap of G*D’s knowledge of good (some) and evil (more than some).

Yes, this suggests that if we can look through Christ-colored lenses, G*D can look through Human-colored lenses. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander; what’s good for a G*D image is good for a Human image.

Presuming transformation is possible, how do we see reconciling possibilities peeking out from behind our perceptions and beyond our prejudicial experiences? We can begin with preemptive mercy that starts with a metaphoric 490 minus-trespasses – so a particular trespass can’t possibly count against someone. A gift of minus-trespasses keeps us balanced, out of intoxicated prospects.

To be in this position of an excess of minus-trespasses is to have begun a new thing, teaching G*D and Neighbor about reconciliation. So we end this passage with a twist – For our sake, Jesus’ abundance of minus-trespasses sparks a new creation of minus-trespasses in us that reconciliation (the righteousness of G*D) might continue and deepen.

Psalm 32

Lent 4 - Year C

Psalm 32

Keeping silence, keeping secret, keeping closeted, wastes body and soul. A silent, secret groaning, prelude to an earthquake or a volcanic eruption persists at a sub-seismic level.

Whether this comes from an eternal heavy hand or an internal fear or learned response, our strength withers and our reserves dwindle.

Life-deniers have their moments but not their day.

Life-affirmers find their assurance, their belovedness, preceding them around every corner.

Celebrate, sing, be glad in Life, rejoice, shout for joy, raise the roof! The silenced, secreted, closeted have nothing to lose but their chains! They shall find and be found and feast - a fresh start!

Joshua 5:9-12

Lent 3 - Year C

Joshua 5:9-12

Given the need for food and water, what would it mean for us to know that we are to eat the crops of the land and drink the water of this locale? Here we have a high environmental ethic.

We dare not waste or pollute the land – for it will show up as famine or poison and we will die. We dare not waste or pollute the water – for it will show up as drought or poison and we will die.

This ethic can also be extended to the old game show featuring questions about animal, vegetable, or mineral. In specific it can reveal to us our prejudices about people. We dare not waste or pollute any of these natural resources – for it will show up as diminished live or poisoned relationships and we will die.

This responsibility to not waste or pollute can be a Lenten/Exodus reminder of how easily community can become dysfunctional. We can turn on a source of transformation and redemption, oh so easily. We can fear and take advantage of others, oh so easily.

How might we stay away from concepts of manifest destiny and entitlement because of our class or tradition?

We may still need to send someone out on a band-aid mission to find a lost sheep or coin, but even more we will be proactive in not losing parts of our lives. We may still need rescue missions for lost souls, but even more we will be proactive in announcing in experiential ways the expansive and expanding love available, no matter what.

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Lent 4 - Year C

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Issues of acceptable loss and collateral damage are perennial. Who among us would leave 99 assets to go looking for a missing one? Not me. You?

Our rejoicing is usually over a profit and the profit off of 99 is not far enough off 100 to spend the time and energy to search for a missing one or to risk having the 99 reduced even further. We would more likely gather folks around to celebrate such a small loss.

The whole premise of redemption doesn’t compute in a profit-motive setting. Here everyone is on their own lookout. Lost is lost and gain is gain. Older brothers ought to get theirs first and doubled.

This all works until the time comes when we are wandering or lost. Who will care or look for us? Well, if enough others have been let go and we have been complicit in their loss, there won’t be anyone left to look for us. It then is in our best interest to listen again to these three stories and to hear them as prophecy to be engaged with, not “Soupy Soul” illustrations.

Sheep, coins, people, ozone layers, civilian casualties, etc., etc. are all too important to easily let them go. Keep looking for your compassion and, when found, engage it expansively.
 

rooted wings

a domesticated fig tree
still yearns to fly
puts all its energy
into a dream

gazing at the sky
no fruit this year
or the next or next
desire blocks nature

wind blows bough
cradles will fall
but without soaring
no signifying is made

an experienced gardener
knows it's not wind
beneath wings that's needed
but attending to roots

want to fly?
suck manure and bless rain
behold! transformation
fruit enough for all

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Lent 3 - Year C

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Remembrance of transformations past is part of preparation for a next transformation. You didn’t think this was as good as life gets, did you?

So, screw your awareness to a mental sticking place. With awareness safely in place, remember back to one of your most recent transformations. It may have arisen from the inside or been stimulated from the outside. This is basically immaterial. Give this transformation a name – “fear passage”, “famine feast”, “mineral water”, something that identifies it for you.

With one transformation under your belt, hearken back to an earlier and earlier transformation. It may have been for you alone or for a whole group with which you identified.

Consider transformations others have reported.

By now it should be seen that none of these are unusual and that each one contains unexpected energy for its participants.

With thanks for all the manure and rain you have received and given, we are ready for a next needed transformation - ready to be aware of it and to engage it. Watch out world.

Psalm 63:1-8

Lent 3 - Year C

Psalm 63:1-8

Have you been in a wilderness?

Externally, if the wilderness is arid, we yearn for moisture. If it is craggy, we seek a straight path. If it is windy, calm. If swampy, solid soil. Mean streets, green pastures.

Internally, the same process abides. We look for that which will swing us again into moderate territory by presenting us with the far side of that which we are currently missing.

Of course, when our complementary need arrives it isn't long before that is our wilderness and our yearning is reversed.

Transformation goes beyond these pendula of life. It incorporates them both and sees both as faithfully arriving in our moments of extremis. Not only is our soul attached to G*D, but our very rhythms are bound together.
 

Isaiah 55:1-9

Lent 3 - Year C

Isaiah 55:1-9

Come for water: Come for Torah. Thus runs some rabbinic commentators. Wherever your yearning and call for nurturing rain takes you, follow.

With this interpretive tool we continue a journey of redemption, of transformation.

We need manure from below to bring additional growth elements to the soil of being. We need rain from above to activate the release of compost.

When manure and rain work together a new reality begins to be spoken into being - receive food without money and wine and milk without cost. Bread will be more than simply bread, it will be a revival of ancient dreams, present forgiveness, and future fulfillment. For there cannot be bread without wheat from fertile soil and adequate rain and community reapers and millers and bakers and feasters. Do be sure to read the whole psalm to know again what joy you will have in leaving whatever your current exile entails and to come home secure.

What is good for the wheat is good for the fig and the delight of citizens of Newton MA and the world. As you proceed into the day's activities may you recognize opportunities to be a manure-carrier and a rain-maker.
 

Luke 13:1-9

Lent 3 - Year C

Luke 13:1-9

Do you think that those whose Lenten experience includes a physical hanging on a cross makes them better saints than those who only avoid chocolate? These kinds of distinctions or arguments go on in every arena of life. Are those who are killed in battle better patriots than those who simply pay their taxes to support a military/industrial/educational complex or participate in some form of "loyal opposition"/conscientious objection?

Jesus tells an interesting story. After talking about repenting and repenting again, we hear about the value of manure leading to fruit. This is a process of renewal that reaches back to creation. Consider G*D as manure, changing the nature of the dust of the earth into a living being that will eventually return to dust (a slightly different picture than that on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel). This catalytic nature of manure that will transform dead wood into fruiting wood is worth considering as a process. So it is with forgiveness, an investing in the grounding of another that a different fruit will eventuate. So it is with assurance, an investment in our own ground-of-being that a new flowering will come to pass. Note that this is not an automatic and guaranteed outcome of manure or forgiveness/assurance. There may not be a fruiting, a renewed life. But, without the attempt the odds of change are minimal (remembering that everything is possible).

By this wonderful image of manure we pause to consider what element is most needed in our own life that we might come to a point of abundant living, of being restored to our best dust. Is it a more extreme discipline? Is it more coin of the realm? Is it more time to bloom? Is it assurance or forgiveness? Is it a 70% chocolate bar? Well?

moving on

Lent 2 - Year C

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

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

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

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

Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

Lent 2 - Year C

Philippians 3:17 - 4:1

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

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

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

Psalm 27

Lent 2 - Year C

Psalm 27

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

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

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

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Lent 2 - Year C

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

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

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

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

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

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

Luke 13:31-35

Lent 2 - Year C

Luke 13:31-35

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

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

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

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

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

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

inspected

Lent 1 - Year C

vision leaks
a refilling
needed constantly

wilderness encounters
are persistent
draining

yet
tests completed
renew

vision and wilderness
cycle through
our life journey

filling and using
time and energy
spirit space

jump or don't
filled or empty
our inheritance

to choose
even good from bad
divides us

to negate
seeming choices
brings new vision

around we go
choosing or not
well tested

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

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

Lent 1 - Year C

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

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

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

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

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Lent 1 - Year C

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

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

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

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

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Lent 1 - Year C

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

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

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

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

Luke 4:1-13

Lent 1 - Year C

Luke 4:1-13

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

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

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

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

The hints here lie with three processes.

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

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

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

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

= = = = = = =

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

Mercy's Freedom

Epiphany 6 - Year C

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

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

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

we can see
and be seen
showing
transforming
basics

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

1 Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2

Epiphany 6 - Year C

1 Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2

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

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

First, an ever growing appreciation of having received mercy.

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

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

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

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

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