Pentecost + 20- Year A
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Isn’t it wonderful to be identified by someone as their pride and joy? This is a great motivator to keep on keeping on. It grants permission to forge ahead into new territory where we can engage our fear and trembling with new relationships and ways of being together.
Pride and joy are also a great manipulation techniques. They let us hear about limits on the present enforced by the past. We hear about the need to imitate those who were before us. The pride and joy we receive is for not going past past limits, which makes it conditional. Now we fear and tremble should anything begin to shift or change.
Are we in the presence of G*D overflowing with pride and joy?
Are we in the presence of G*D ever ready to break into wrath?
Are we in the presence of G*D who arbitrarily fluctuates between these?
How we see G*D may have much to do with how we, in turn, respond to events in our life. Once again, choose this day what of G*D you will reveal.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Joshua 3:7-17
Pentecost + 20- Year A
Joshua 3:7-17
I am looking for an artist who can portray some sense of a G*D-presence around which is a prayer shawl fringed with such as Moses, Joshua, and You (yes, and me, too).
Unfortunately this prayer shawl finds itself in a strange world and prayer turns to preying upon strangers. We are all complicit in damming rivers for our own benefit and overrunning our neighbors property while calling it G*D’s will.
How important is it that we claim a right to protection from G*D without a concomitant sense of responsibility to nourish others?
Sometimes I want to jump out of G*D’s phylactery and fall away from privileged prayer’s fringe.
Joshua 3:7-17
I am looking for an artist who can portray some sense of a G*D-presence around which is a prayer shawl fringed with such as Moses, Joshua, and You (yes, and me, too).
Unfortunately this prayer shawl finds itself in a strange world and prayer turns to preying upon strangers. We are all complicit in damming rivers for our own benefit and overrunning our neighbors property while calling it G*D’s will.
How important is it that we claim a right to protection from G*D without a concomitant sense of responsibility to nourish others?
Sometimes I want to jump out of G*D’s phylactery and fall away from privileged prayer’s fringe.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Matthew 23:1-12
Pentecost + 20- Year A
Matthew 23:1-12
Ever has it been thus: Those in power define life for all according to their experiences and a desire to remain in power. Of course it could be emphasized the other way around, power and experience, but, either way, there is a persistent practice of coliseum games, sweet foods, and whatever cultural values are esteemed for the moment.
Even if Boris and Natasha’s “esteemed leader” is captured by the rubrics of power, they may yet have a true word mixed in with their behavior.
As we are closing off another church year this is a good time to haul out the gifts of evaluation and critique to distinguish a good word from an iffy action.
With the Citizens United decision and other ways in which corporations hide behind personhood, it is not always easy to tell those who love their current place of honor so much that thy will only question those who question their values and never consider questioning themselves. With creative bookkeeping is it difficult to discern the phylacteries of profit.
We do a lot of assuming about profit as a sign of power for it is not just reported profit that must be considered, but how it measures against some expectation of ideal profit. Profit is not profit until it has been maximized and everything bows to it.
This is not the way it is to be with us. We are not to pray, My Corporation which art on Wall Street, blessed be thy profit-making ways . . . .
The greatest among you will be those who assist in building a commonwealth (this is the creative impetus from creation).
Matthew 23:1-12
Ever has it been thus: Those in power define life for all according to their experiences and a desire to remain in power. Of course it could be emphasized the other way around, power and experience, but, either way, there is a persistent practice of coliseum games, sweet foods, and whatever cultural values are esteemed for the moment.
Even if Boris and Natasha’s “esteemed leader” is captured by the rubrics of power, they may yet have a true word mixed in with their behavior.
As we are closing off another church year this is a good time to haul out the gifts of evaluation and critique to distinguish a good word from an iffy action.
With the Citizens United decision and other ways in which corporations hide behind personhood, it is not always easy to tell those who love their current place of honor so much that thy will only question those who question their values and never consider questioning themselves. With creative bookkeeping is it difficult to discern the phylacteries of profit.
We do a lot of assuming about profit as a sign of power for it is not just reported profit that must be considered, but how it measures against some expectation of ideal profit. Profit is not profit until it has been maximized and everything bows to it.
This is not the way it is to be with us. We are not to pray, My Corporation which art on Wall Street, blessed be thy profit-making ways . . . .
The greatest among you will be those who assist in building a commonwealth (this is the creative impetus from creation).
Friday, October 21, 2011
silence sought
Pentecost + 19 - Year A
looking for healthy silence
silence from
being put down
embarrassment
not yet knowing enough
lack of authority to ask
not having a reasonable response
is not healthy silence
silence to
dream
see patterns
study reality around
find a deeper question
push authority to awkwardness
begins healthy silence
silence by
poets
religionistsists
incumbant politicians
letter writers to editors
you
hides healthy silence
still looking
for healthy silence
in a daily schedule
in common with neighbors
based on tomorrow
lived today
looking for healthy silence
silence from
being put down
embarrassment
not yet knowing enough
lack of authority to ask
not having a reasonable response
is not healthy silence
silence to
dream
see patterns
study reality around
find a deeper question
push authority to awkwardness
begins healthy silence
silence by
poets
religionistsists
incumbant politicians
letter writers to editors
you
hides healthy silence
still looking
for healthy silence
in a daily schedule
in common with neighbors
based on tomorrow
lived today
Thursday, October 20, 2011
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Pentecost + 19 - Year A
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
When we share what we understand is approved by G*D we are also sharing ourselves, because the two cannot be separated. This would seem to call for restrained passion. controlled enthusiasm.
“So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves. . . .” To be clear about the differences and confluences of G*D and our self is a source of blessing for our self and for others (both G*D and Neighbor).
We bless G*D by not confusing our heart with G*D’s heart. We bless Neighbors by not confusing a word of life with a judgment cutting life off. We bless ourselves by truthfully telling the difference.
May you be blessed with serenity to accept the realities of an expansive and expanding love.
May you be blessed with courage to move our currently experienced limits into a larger venue.
May you be blessed with wisdom use both serenity and courage to guide your fruitful use of gifts sufficient for your time.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
When we share what we understand is approved by G*D we are also sharing ourselves, because the two cannot be separated. This would seem to call for restrained passion. controlled enthusiasm.
“So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves. . . .” To be clear about the differences and confluences of G*D and our self is a source of blessing for our self and for others (both G*D and Neighbor).
We bless G*D by not confusing our heart with G*D’s heart. We bless Neighbors by not confusing a word of life with a judgment cutting life off. We bless ourselves by truthfully telling the difference.
May you be blessed with serenity to accept the realities of an expansive and expanding love.
May you be blessed with courage to move our currently experienced limits into a larger venue.
May you be blessed with wisdom use both serenity and courage to guide your fruitful use of gifts sufficient for your time.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
Pentecost + 19 - Year A
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”
Translation: cellular regeneration.
What would it mean to shift the ground from some G*D micromanaging reality and thus having anthropomorphic characteristics grafted on to said G*D? Would a matrix facilitating growth and regrowth hold as much mystical presence?
A ground of being matrix begins to make more sense in fitting ourself together with ourself and others - sweeping away and flourishing - renewal processes.
May this work of generation and regeneration be manifest and may you rejoice in your part in it.
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”
Translation: cellular regeneration.
What would it mean to shift the ground from some G*D micromanaging reality and thus having anthropomorphic characteristics grafted on to said G*D? Would a matrix facilitating growth and regrowth hold as much mystical presence?
A ground of being matrix begins to make more sense in fitting ourself together with ourself and others - sweeping away and flourishing - renewal processes.
May this work of generation and regeneration be manifest and may you rejoice in your part in it.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Pentecost + 19- Year A
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
What do you see that you will not be a part of, other than as an extension of what you are doing today?
This vision will help keep your sight unimpaired and your vigor unabated. To drop your eyes to where you are presently standing to merely find ways to keep standing there is to cause one to weep for oneself rather than have others weep for you.
Lift up your eyes to the world you want to see and live as though it were already present.
Then, when death comes, it basically won’t matter.
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
What do you see that you will not be a part of, other than as an extension of what you are doing today?
This vision will help keep your sight unimpaired and your vigor unabated. To drop your eyes to where you are presently standing to merely find ways to keep standing there is to cause one to weep for oneself rather than have others weep for you.
Lift up your eyes to the world you want to see and live as though it were already present.
Then, when death comes, it basically won’t matter.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Matthew 22:34-46
Pentecost + 19- Year A
Matthew 22:34-46
Which child is your favorite? There are any number of attempts at forced choices that don’t lead anywhere.
To respond to this sort of reductionist approach it is important to stretch things just one notch. Later more stretching can be attempted.
So it is Jesus responds with two favorites, not one.
In today’s world there are still dualistic/reductionist questions being asked. We are called to ease out of them in a similar manner, add one little stretch. This subtle response probably won’t be caught, but will aid folks hear a new story in just a little bit (like in Luke 10:25-37 where a similar encounter is reported).
The great sadness here is in the last line, “they quit asking questions for good.” (MSG)
Asking questions is directly related to good. It is in the interplay of question and response and question of a response, etc. that we test for the common good. When economic theories trump questions about same, we are in deep difficulty. This is the real world equivalent of not asking religious questions - when they stop we are in deep difficulty.
Testing questions, helpful questions, require that everything be up for grabs. They also respect provisional responses knowing that they will be tested in time to come.
Blessings on your affirmations - Loving beyond yourself reveals a deeper and more vigorous, rigorous life.
Blessings on your questions - hoary answers don’t satisfy, nor do our present glib attempts at universalizing particulars.
Matthew 22:34-46
Which child is your favorite? There are any number of attempts at forced choices that don’t lead anywhere.
To respond to this sort of reductionist approach it is important to stretch things just one notch. Later more stretching can be attempted.
So it is Jesus responds with two favorites, not one.
In today’s world there are still dualistic/reductionist questions being asked. We are called to ease out of them in a similar manner, add one little stretch. This subtle response probably won’t be caught, but will aid folks hear a new story in just a little bit (like in Luke 10:25-37 where a similar encounter is reported).
The great sadness here is in the last line, “they quit asking questions for good.” (MSG)
Asking questions is directly related to good. It is in the interplay of question and response and question of a response, etc. that we test for the common good. When economic theories trump questions about same, we are in deep difficulty. This is the real world equivalent of not asking religious questions - when they stop we are in deep difficulty.
Testing questions, helpful questions, require that everything be up for grabs. They also respect provisional responses knowing that they will be tested in time to come.
Blessings on your affirmations - Loving beyond yourself reveals a deeper and more vigorous, rigorous life.
Blessings on your questions - hoary answers don’t satisfy, nor do our present glib attempts at universalizing particulars.
Friday, October 14, 2011
temptation tests
Pentecost + 18 - Year A
ready for today’s test?
of course!
whether announced
or not
we all know
tests happen.
life isn’t hypocritical
promising rose gardens
then yanking the rug out
tests happen
and we take it
or complain
there is no out
from an unending stream
of temptations
none are final
all pop up
to burst certainty
we’ve made good choices
and again
and again and again
until we are certain
we are good
deciders
we are good
as good can be
god good
unquestioned good
second to none good
just good
good enough
to get a pass
on a next test
that is only
a breath away
whew
and so my pride
faces off
against your hypocrisy
what happened
to that pass
anyway
I’ll see your malice
and raise you
a great offense
question
response
impasse
and so they left
unchanged
and so
changed
they
return
here comes
another breath
another test
pass or fail
another
comes
leaving no option
don’t breathe
or
don’t anticipate
otherwise
well you know
ready for today’s test?
of course!
whether announced
or not
we all know
tests happen.
life isn’t hypocritical
promising rose gardens
then yanking the rug out
tests happen
and we take it
or complain
there is no out
from an unending stream
of temptations
none are final
all pop up
to burst certainty
we’ve made good choices
and again
and again and again
until we are certain
we are good
deciders
we are good
as good can be
god good
unquestioned good
second to none good
just good
good enough
to get a pass
on a next test
that is only
a breath away
whew
and so my pride
faces off
against your hypocrisy
what happened
to that pass
anyway
I’ll see your malice
and raise you
a great offense
question
response
impasse
and so they left
unchanged
and so
changed
they
return
here comes
another breath
another test
pass or fail
another
comes
leaving no option
don’t breathe
or
don’t anticipate
otherwise
well you know
Thursday, October 13, 2011
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Pentecost + 18 - Year A
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Want to be saved from a coming wrath? Unfortunately, there are no free passes. Fortunately, there are resources to aid us in not responding to wrath wrathfully.
Find a living and true G*D. That ought to be easy, except such tends to toss salvation back to you. Since the future is not just an in-breaking of a quantum leap surprising to behold, but an outgrowth of investments we make in it by the way we operate today, we again hear those ancient words, “Choose this day . . . .”
All the encouraging words patting us on the back for having moved in the direction Paul was headed, will eventually lead us to a key issue in the whole book of 1 Thessalonians - persistence in the face of difficulty that we be ready to receive a present paradise in what appears to be a dark and dismal day to come.
Let's say Jesus saves us from a coming wrath. OK. How?
Not by snapping fingers or impecable calendaring or a past act of integrity that rolls on of its own accord. No.
Modeling a persistent drive for a preferred future through intentional present action. Yes.
In following Moses' way of following G*D, following Jesus' way of following Moses and G*D, encourages others in following us following Jesus following Moses following G*D - not unsimilar to the house that Jack built. Such persistence does not allow a passive waiting for an apocalyptic moment, but insists on active investment, willingly risked, anticipating a way through a next self-caused crash based on what we do today.
persistence of trust
of something better
in the face of great persistence
claiming only more of the same
is our way through
to paradise
while wading deep
in unnecessary wrath
[You might be interested in an economic paper that talks about persistence in dealing with the wrath to come from the latest burst bubble pipe-dream of an ever upward economy. The authors speak of persistence in this fashion,
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Want to be saved from a coming wrath? Unfortunately, there are no free passes. Fortunately, there are resources to aid us in not responding to wrath wrathfully.
Find a living and true G*D. That ought to be easy, except such tends to toss salvation back to you. Since the future is not just an in-breaking of a quantum leap surprising to behold, but an outgrowth of investments we make in it by the way we operate today, we again hear those ancient words, “Choose this day . . . .”
All the encouraging words patting us on the back for having moved in the direction Paul was headed, will eventually lead us to a key issue in the whole book of 1 Thessalonians - persistence in the face of difficulty that we be ready to receive a present paradise in what appears to be a dark and dismal day to come.
Let's say Jesus saves us from a coming wrath. OK. How?
Not by snapping fingers or impecable calendaring or a past act of integrity that rolls on of its own accord. No.
Modeling a persistent drive for a preferred future through intentional present action. Yes.
In following Moses' way of following G*D, following Jesus' way of following Moses and G*D, encourages others in following us following Jesus following Moses following G*D - not unsimilar to the house that Jack built. Such persistence does not allow a passive waiting for an apocalyptic moment, but insists on active investment, willingly risked, anticipating a way through a next self-caused crash based on what we do today.
persistence of trust
of something better
in the face of great persistence
claiming only more of the same
is our way through
to paradise
while wading deep
in unnecessary wrath
[You might be interested in an economic paper that talks about persistence in dealing with the wrath to come from the latest burst bubble pipe-dream of an ever upward economy. The authors speak of persistence in this fashion,
Rather than lurching from one futile mini-stimulus and quantitative easing to another, we must build consensus around a five-to-seven-year plan that matches the likely duration of the de-levering with which we now live, as well as that of the time it will take for emerging markets to transition to patterns of economic growth driven by domestic demand rather than exports.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Psalm 99
Pentecost + 18 - Year A
Psalm 99
Extol - lift up. By extension - to flatter, to inflate, to raise higher than one’s station or level of competence - to be Peter Principled into ineffectiveness.
By the time we get to the end of extolation we are ready to set the hook and catch us a god.
What can live up to unrealistic expectations? Certianly not I.
Three cheers, if cheers they be, and only cheers, begin to ring hollow.
Psalm 99
Extol - lift up. By extension - to flatter, to inflate, to raise higher than one’s station or level of competence - to be Peter Principled into ineffectiveness.
By the time we get to the end of extolation we are ready to set the hook and catch us a god.
What can live up to unrealistic expectations? Certianly not I.
Three cheers, if cheers they be, and only cheers, begin to ring hollow.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Exodus 33:12-23
Pentecost + 18 - Year A
Exodus 33:12-23
Show me a coin with which to pay the taxes you are asking about.
Show me your glory which claims to know me by name.
Feeling trapped or frustrated? It is helpful to know what needs to be shown, not just talked about. Just know that even a showing doesn’t prove anything. Seeing Caesar’s face or not seeing G*D’s face is ultimately beside the point. Both will be false. Both will fade - Caesar from irrelevancy and G*D from meta-relevancy. Caesar will be left behind and G*D will be moving on.
So if this sort of tangibleness isn’t able to bear our search for meaning, where might we more fruitfully look in the moment.
The suggestion here is that our best bet is to focus on:
Let’s not get caught with golden calves or coins of realm. Their very solidity will trap us into their shape.
It is enough to meditate for a moment in a rock’s cleft and then to come forth to catch up to a living, moving, presence beyond our settled doctrine, corrupted economy, and power-crazed political system. This presence will be revealed in the common good.
Exodus 33:12-23
Show me a coin with which to pay the taxes you are asking about.
Show me your glory which claims to know me by name.
Feeling trapped or frustrated? It is helpful to know what needs to be shown, not just talked about. Just know that even a showing doesn’t prove anything. Seeing Caesar’s face or not seeing G*D’s face is ultimately beside the point. Both will be false. Both will fade - Caesar from irrelevancy and G*D from meta-relevancy. Caesar will be left behind and G*D will be moving on.
So if this sort of tangibleness isn’t able to bear our search for meaning, where might we more fruitfully look in the moment.
The suggestion here is that our best bet is to focus on:
attending to goodness
showing mercy/kindness beyond bounds
Let’s not get caught with golden calves or coins of realm. Their very solidity will trap us into their shape.
It is enough to meditate for a moment in a rock’s cleft and then to come forth to catch up to a living, moving, presence beyond our settled doctrine, corrupted economy, and power-crazed political system. This presence will be revealed in the common good.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Matthew 22:15-22 *
Pentecost + 18 - Year A
Matthew 22:15-22
It doesn’t take much to entrap some of us. The obverse is that it doesn’t take much for some of us to overestimate our ability to trap another.
The Pharisees fell into the second category. The Pharisees understood themselves to be so much in the right that they could send some surrogates to practice on Jesus.
And so it came to pass that students set out to trap Jesus. They used a standard practice of beginning with flattery. It is one of the temptation techniques that has proven successful over time. A little flattery turns the head, distracts. It doesn’t take much loss of focus before we trap ourself.
And then the innocent question disingenuously put as an easy choice.
When we are awake we can catch the simple questions of life and see beyond them and respond with the complexity they deserve - with another question.
“Ah,” says Jesus, “what do you mean by ‘pay taxes’?”
Rather than think about the question, the stand-ins thought the question too easy and so quickly responded, “Should those who support Mosaic Law support Caesar?”
“Hmmm,” thought Jesus aloud, “Seems like there are many claims of authority. Each claims a right to body, mind, spirit, and resources. After you have sorted out the authorities, you can respond to each appropriately.”
“Oh,” said the pharisaical delegation.
And so it was that the Pharisees were disappointed and waited to see how the Sadducees fared with their trap.
[Note: economic questions are often the ones that trip us up. It is so easy to fear losing whatever perk we have and thus elevate the current socio-political system into that of equivalence to a universal human need. The Occupy Wall Street events cropping up reveal that we are at a time of seeing behind the Ozian curtain of a silent plutocracy we set in place by not being able to critique capitalism and democracy. This duo has lost its rhythm to the point of democracy no longer being able to offset capitalism’s excesses.
As we enter our equivalent of the disjuncture of economic and political structures at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, a radical critique of our economic, political, and religious decision-making is painfully overdue and necessary.
To think we can find an easy way out of facing basic common good values is disingenuous. Unfortunately we have no political process readily at hand to assist us to bring an economic system into a constructive conversation with our spiritual/communal needs.
Prophets don’t need to know what the next rebalancing is going to look like, only that every aspect of our current life has been unbalanced in its own arena and in relationship to every other aspect. This is why they call us back to issues of the common good - not that there is only one way to express that, but without having this background revealed we will simply ping-pong from one foreground extreme to another without learning anything.
This may be the most important pericope of the year and well worth dealing with every week for another year.]
Matthew 22:15-22
It doesn’t take much to entrap some of us. The obverse is that it doesn’t take much for some of us to overestimate our ability to trap another.
The Pharisees fell into the second category. The Pharisees understood themselves to be so much in the right that they could send some surrogates to practice on Jesus.
And so it came to pass that students set out to trap Jesus. They used a standard practice of beginning with flattery. It is one of the temptation techniques that has proven successful over time. A little flattery turns the head, distracts. It doesn’t take much loss of focus before we trap ourself.
“You are so sincere. You are surely in touch with the ways of G*D. You are as truthful as the day is long and filled with integrity from top to bottom.”[Any of these catch you?]
And then the innocent question disingenuously put as an easy choice.
“We’re confused, can we pay taxes to the emperor or not?”
When we are awake we can catch the simple questions of life and see beyond them and respond with the complexity they deserve - with another question.
“Ah,” says Jesus, “what do you mean by ‘pay taxes’?”
Rather than think about the question, the stand-ins thought the question too easy and so quickly responded, “Should those who support Mosaic Law support Caesar?”
“Hmmm,” thought Jesus aloud, “Seems like there are many claims of authority. Each claims a right to body, mind, spirit, and resources. After you have sorted out the authorities, you can respond to each appropriately.”
“Oh,” said the pharisaical delegation.
And so it was that the Pharisees were disappointed and waited to see how the Sadducees fared with their trap.
[Note: economic questions are often the ones that trip us up. It is so easy to fear losing whatever perk we have and thus elevate the current socio-political system into that of equivalence to a universal human need. The Occupy Wall Street events cropping up reveal that we are at a time of seeing behind the Ozian curtain of a silent plutocracy we set in place by not being able to critique capitalism and democracy. This duo has lost its rhythm to the point of democracy no longer being able to offset capitalism’s excesses.
As we enter our equivalent of the disjuncture of economic and political structures at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, a radical critique of our economic, political, and religious decision-making is painfully overdue and necessary.
To think we can find an easy way out of facing basic common good values is disingenuous. Unfortunately we have no political process readily at hand to assist us to bring an economic system into a constructive conversation with our spiritual/communal needs.
Prophets don’t need to know what the next rebalancing is going to look like, only that every aspect of our current life has been unbalanced in its own arena and in relationship to every other aspect. This is why they call us back to issues of the common good - not that there is only one way to express that, but without having this background revealed we will simply ping-pong from one foreground extreme to another without learning anything.
This may be the most important pericope of the year and well worth dealing with every week for another year.]
Friday, October 07, 2011
Changed
Pentecost + 17 - Year A
a most beloved phrase
And the LORD repented
and Moses and you
and I and me and all
the most specific
the one and only
LORD ever constant LORD
LORD the same LORD
repented then and now
repented again and again
And the LORD repented
a most beloved phrase
a most beloved phrase
And the LORD repented
and Moses and you
and I and me and all
the most specific
the one and only
LORD ever constant LORD
LORD the same LORD
repented then and now
repented again and again
And the LORD repented
a most beloved phrase
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Philippians 4:1-9
Pentecost + 17 - Year A
Philippians 4:1-9
Stand firm. If you are going to be an inviter, don’t, at some point, begin to limit that invitation. There are going to be inappropriate people engaged with church. That’s a part of the definition of a church.
To find one criterion or another by which they can be turned out is not standing firm.
Why would Paul have to encourage Euodia and Syntyche to continue reinviting one another if the they and others hadn’t started to wobble in their firmness?
Let your gentleness (your invitational nature) be known to all. Don’t worry about how such incompatible folks can learn to stand firmly together. There is peace and joy enough to sustain you and them in this journey.
Finally, whatever is true (invitation trumps tossing out), whatever is honorable (when disappointed invite the more), whatever is just (variety of gifts need a system whereby they may each add to the common good), whatever is pure (following Jesus’ way, not the way of Jesus’ codifiers), whatever is pleasing (paying attention to the next steps available without getting stuck in past steps), whatever is commendable (we are in life together and co-responsible for each other and creation), enact it no matter what the temptation to follow a short-cut. Keep on, stand firm, be not afraid, peace is not lost.
Philippians 4:1-9
Stand firm. If you are going to be an inviter, don’t, at some point, begin to limit that invitation. There are going to be inappropriate people engaged with church. That’s a part of the definition of a church.
To find one criterion or another by which they can be turned out is not standing firm.
Why would Paul have to encourage Euodia and Syntyche to continue reinviting one another if the they and others hadn’t started to wobble in their firmness?
Let your gentleness (your invitational nature) be known to all. Don’t worry about how such incompatible folks can learn to stand firmly together. There is peace and joy enough to sustain you and them in this journey.
Finally, whatever is true (invitation trumps tossing out), whatever is honorable (when disappointed invite the more), whatever is just (variety of gifts need a system whereby they may each add to the common good), whatever is pure (following Jesus’ way, not the way of Jesus’ codifiers), whatever is pleasing (paying attention to the next steps available without getting stuck in past steps), whatever is commendable (we are in life together and co-responsible for each other and creation), enact it no matter what the temptation to follow a short-cut. Keep on, stand firm, be not afraid, peace is not lost.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Pentecost + 17 - Year A
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Commercial exchange varies across different traditions and economies.
Does the economy of G*D vary according to circumstance and time?
This question is at the heart of what we might trust and hope for and invest with love defined. Presuming G*D to be living (with all the herky-jerky movement that means) or an ablity to move on from past unproductive responses, we might well fall into resistance to shift traditions [G*D might still be there] or a willingess to wait for a new revelation [G*D might be moving to a plateau I can’t even see yet].
Is it reasonable to expect that “great things” from the past will see us through a present dark valley? Where is that flame by night and cloud by day?
Perhaps most reasonably, what is keeping you from standing in the breach between G*D and neer-do-wells to protect both from rash action and cutting off possibility based on some pride or other code? Each of us have that opportunity, each in a different arena of life. Rather than try to figure G*D out, stand for some grand purpose, even in the face of an angry deity. Who knows what unknown test you will both be passing.
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Commercial exchange varies across different traditions and economies.
Does the economy of G*D vary according to circumstance and time?
This question is at the heart of what we might trust and hope for and invest with love defined. Presuming G*D to be living (with all the herky-jerky movement that means) or an ablity to move on from past unproductive responses, we might well fall into resistance to shift traditions [G*D might still be there] or a willingess to wait for a new revelation [G*D might be moving to a plateau I can’t even see yet].
Is it reasonable to expect that “great things” from the past will see us through a present dark valley? Where is that flame by night and cloud by day?
Perhaps most reasonably, what is keeping you from standing in the breach between G*D and neer-do-wells to protect both from rash action and cutting off possibility based on some pride or other code? Each of us have that opportunity, each in a different arena of life. Rather than try to figure G*D out, stand for some grand purpose, even in the face of an angry deity. Who knows what unknown test you will both be passing.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Exodus 32:1-14
Pentecost + 17 - Year A
Exodus 32:1-14
When our main source of inspiration is delayed or otherwise falters, we are often very quick to give up on it. We expect our connection to the biggest power we know to be very present to us and quick to respond.
Of course there are always those who stubbornly stick with a previous iteration of a god, never able to let go and attach to a seemingly more effective power. Additionally there are those whose relationship to what they trust is more complex.
Simply know that both those who quickly give up and those who stubbornly hang on always lose their resources. Either they face a rising ante to get the old god to come through or they get over-run with bad investments in the face of a rising new economy in an old universe.
Spiritual stick-in-the-mud’s can stir the ire of a jealous god or simply be ignored. In some sense it is easier to deal with a jealous god as they will at least give negative attention rather than none and if we are to persuade our god to act on our behalf we need to first get said god’s attention.
Don’t you love it when Moses goes all Buddhist on YHWH - “Hey, big guy, seems like you are getting pretty attached. Got a co-dependency going?” This seems to have been effective ministry to G*D.
Exodus 32:1-14
When our main source of inspiration is delayed or otherwise falters, we are often very quick to give up on it. We expect our connection to the biggest power we know to be very present to us and quick to respond.
Of course there are always those who stubbornly stick with a previous iteration of a god, never able to let go and attach to a seemingly more effective power. Additionally there are those whose relationship to what they trust is more complex.
Simply know that both those who quickly give up and those who stubbornly hang on always lose their resources. Either they face a rising ante to get the old god to come through or they get over-run with bad investments in the face of a rising new economy in an old universe.
Spiritual stick-in-the-mud’s can stir the ire of a jealous god or simply be ignored. In some sense it is easier to deal with a jealous god as they will at least give negative attention rather than none and if we are to persuade our god to act on our behalf we need to first get said god’s attention.
Don’t you love it when Moses goes all Buddhist on YHWH - “Hey, big guy, seems like you are getting pretty attached. Got a co-dependency going?” This seems to have been effective ministry to G*D.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Matthew 22:1-14
Pentecost + 17 - Year A
Matthew 22:1-14
Again with the parables. If Jesus, as a revelation of G*D, does so much with parables, we might begin catch a glimpse of a subtle G*D. In so doing we would do well to engage some humility in our understanding of G*D. Blessings to you for appreciating a more expansive G*D than doctrine or literalness can contain.
What a difference if we were to use an “invite everyone” approach to living life. Finding the good and the bad within each person we meet, we will find those ready for a next step and those who are not.
Given a choice between “inviting everyone” and “throw him away”, when a particular everyone doesn’t measure up, we see the parable ending with verse 10 - “filled with guests”. After this we get into what we take is a later addition and agree with the Jesus Seminar folks who write in The Five Gospels, “The Matthean version has strayed from from the original parable. The body of the parable (22:2-10) has been turned into an allegory of history of salvation: a king (God) prepares a feast for his son (Jesus) and invites his subjects (Israel) to the banquet. They treat the invitations lightly or kill the king’s servants (the prophets). The king destroys them and their city (Jerusalem) and invites others (foreigners) to the feast. This allegory is alien to Jesus, since the story has been thoroughly Christianized and looks back on the destruction of Jerusalem.”
It is not enough to hear that a parable is being told without an appreciation of what a parable is. Otherwise we fall prey to the old bait and switch - I’m going to tell you a parable . . . at least I want you to think highly of my allegory I am claiming to be a parable. A discerning ear and eye can help us move deeper into reported experiences and not be fooled by an initial claim.
Matthew 22:1-14
Again with the parables. If Jesus, as a revelation of G*D, does so much with parables, we might begin catch a glimpse of a subtle G*D. In so doing we would do well to engage some humility in our understanding of G*D. Blessings to you for appreciating a more expansive G*D than doctrine or literalness can contain.
What a difference if we were to use an “invite everyone” approach to living life. Finding the good and the bad within each person we meet, we will find those ready for a next step and those who are not.
Given a choice between “inviting everyone” and “throw him away”, when a particular everyone doesn’t measure up, we see the parable ending with verse 10 - “filled with guests”. After this we get into what we take is a later addition and agree with the Jesus Seminar folks who write in The Five Gospels, “The Matthean version has strayed from from the original parable. The body of the parable (22:2-10) has been turned into an allegory of history of salvation: a king (God) prepares a feast for his son (Jesus) and invites his subjects (Israel) to the banquet. They treat the invitations lightly or kill the king’s servants (the prophets). The king destroys them and their city (Jerusalem) and invites others (foreigners) to the feast. This allegory is alien to Jesus, since the story has been thoroughly Christianized and looks back on the destruction of Jerusalem.”
It is not enough to hear that a parable is being told without an appreciation of what a parable is. Otherwise we fall prey to the old bait and switch - I’m going to tell you a parable . . . at least I want you to think highly of my allegory I am claiming to be a parable. A discerning ear and eye can help us move deeper into reported experiences and not be fooled by an initial claim.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Considerable Rising Needed
Pentecost + 16 - Year A
absentee landLORD
wherefore art thou
o how the rich are
romanticized
we are convinced
our welfare begins
with their welfare
landLORDs claim
our undivided attention
by which I mean work
no talking behind their back
no imitating mannerisms
they are
holy as holy can be
landLORDs demand
increased work time
for your time
is their money
forty hours is a beginning
two hundred eighty plus
is not for them unreasonable
landLORDs are exempt
from family leave
sick leave
bereavement leave
vacation limits
personal days
too bad about your folks
landLORDs are freed
from accident responsibility
long-term disability
screwing their employees
out of relationship time
entitled to their loopholes
too bad you don’t have any
landLORDs are released
from telling the truth
about their real worth
proprietary property
trade secrets
hostile takeovers
everything that’s yours
landLORDs are caught
from time to time
when their time slaves
rise up to claim
a garden spot
and dream dreams
of a new start
landLORDs own
public roads as theirs
public protection as theirs
public education as theirs
each claimed as natural law
leaving no counter-claim
against simple profit
landLORDs forget
what lies ahead
claiming the present
is all that is needful
and they have the present
wrapped as a beautiful present
to themselves
landLORDs tempt us
with their perks
we see and want
immediate prizes
to measure our worth
pause for a moment
consider then rise up
absentee landLORD
wherefore art thou
o how the rich are
romanticized
we are convinced
our welfare begins
with their welfare
landLORDs claim
our undivided attention
by which I mean work
no talking behind their back
no imitating mannerisms
they are
holy as holy can be
landLORDs demand
increased work time
for your time
is their money
forty hours is a beginning
two hundred eighty plus
is not for them unreasonable
landLORDs are exempt
from family leave
sick leave
bereavement leave
vacation limits
personal days
too bad about your folks
landLORDs are freed
from accident responsibility
long-term disability
screwing their employees
out of relationship time
entitled to their loopholes
too bad you don’t have any
landLORDs are released
from telling the truth
about their real worth
proprietary property
trade secrets
hostile takeovers
everything that’s yours
landLORDs are caught
from time to time
when their time slaves
rise up to claim
a garden spot
and dream dreams
of a new start
landLORDs own
public roads as theirs
public protection as theirs
public education as theirs
each claimed as natural law
leaving no counter-claim
against simple profit
landLORDs forget
what lies ahead
claiming the present
is all that is needful
and they have the present
wrapped as a beautiful present
to themselves
landLORDs tempt us
with their perks
we see and want
immediate prizes
to measure our worth
pause for a moment
consider then rise up
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Philippians 3:4b-14
Pentecost + 16 - Year A
Philippians 3:4b-14
We are always defining the right way to live in terms of our own experiences. Stephen Colbert’s persona trusts his feelings, not facts. No matter how confident we are about our having found the one true way to live, a bit of mercy for what others have found is in order.
While it is important to ground our actions in what we trust, we simply can’t trust our trust to not fool us into foolish action. Claim is not proof.
So act on what you know, knowing that you don’t yet know enough. Willing to leave what lies behind; straining forward; we press on. This can be for some a preferred future or imitation of a living G*D or just stubborn DNA, but we press on. This is not some Easy Button pressing on, but a pressing on that calls for our best which is better than we’ve been able to do up until now. Pressing on will come from our emotional life as well as our intellectual life, employing our individual gifts and striving for a common good.
Even sure of our present definitions of reality, we press on.
Philippians 3:4b-14
We are always defining the right way to live in terms of our own experiences. Stephen Colbert’s persona trusts his feelings, not facts. No matter how confident we are about our having found the one true way to live, a bit of mercy for what others have found is in order.
While it is important to ground our actions in what we trust, we simply can’t trust our trust to not fool us into foolish action. Claim is not proof.
So act on what you know, knowing that you don’t yet know enough. Willing to leave what lies behind; straining forward; we press on. This can be for some a preferred future or imitation of a living G*D or just stubborn DNA, but we press on. This is not some Easy Button pressing on, but a pressing on that calls for our best which is better than we’ve been able to do up until now. Pressing on will come from our emotional life as well as our intellectual life, employing our individual gifts and striving for a common good.
Even sure of our present definitions of reality, we press on.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Psalm 19
Pentecost + 16 - Year A
Psalm 19
A voice unheard goes through the universe. How wonderful and frustrating. The mystery of this is overwhelming and the lack of clarity a stumbling block of the first water.
As one with not so hidden errors, I still yearn for my meandering meditations to be reflective of that unheard voice. I still desire that my words would be in sync with the growth going on in moving from a glimpse of glory to more glory than glory can hold and it collapses from an external category into regular day-to-day life.
Eugene Peterson talks about “life-maps of G*D” and we all need to spend some time in imitating this by seeing what our current life-map looks like and where dragons are lurking on a raw edge beckoning us into new adventure. There are many models of life-maps from the rigid fundamentalistic to the overly open-ended idealistic. May we be blessed with greater clarity.
If you are interested in a map that does not pretend to be the territory it maps, you might try integral mapping. There are variations on this and you might also consider working with my friend Tom at bodymindspiritworks.com.
The Psalmist suggests you can find a larger map than you have been working from. Blessings on moving on.
Psalm 19
A voice unheard goes through the universe. How wonderful and frustrating. The mystery of this is overwhelming and the lack of clarity a stumbling block of the first water.
As one with not so hidden errors, I still yearn for my meandering meditations to be reflective of that unheard voice. I still desire that my words would be in sync with the growth going on in moving from a glimpse of glory to more glory than glory can hold and it collapses from an external category into regular day-to-day life.
Eugene Peterson talks about “life-maps of G*D” and we all need to spend some time in imitating this by seeing what our current life-map looks like and where dragons are lurking on a raw edge beckoning us into new adventure. There are many models of life-maps from the rigid fundamentalistic to the overly open-ended idealistic. May we be blessed with greater clarity.
If you are interested in a map that does not pretend to be the territory it maps, you might try integral mapping. There are variations on this and you might also consider working with my friend Tom at bodymindspiritworks.com.
The Psalmist suggests you can find a larger map than you have been working from. Blessings on moving on.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Pentecost + 16 - Year A
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
G*D is at a distance. The people are explicitly warned not to come up the mountain to G*D. G*D’s “son”, Moses, goes to the people with commands.
How’d he do? Folks listen? Implement? Or ignore (a polite throwing out)? Could they hear future religious leaders coming after them?
How long does control by fear last? One generation? Two? Eventually there is a springtime of the soul and controlling “sin” by fear and awe doesn’t have a good track-record. Inquisitions eventually ebb.
Now with context out of the way. These are specifics in the long tradition of loving G*D and Neighbor. There might well be other specifics (and there are many more in the following chapters). What specifics might we use today? In recent days might we want to make some amendments:
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
G*D is at a distance. The people are explicitly warned not to come up the mountain to G*D. G*D’s “son”, Moses, goes to the people with commands.
How’d he do? Folks listen? Implement? Or ignore (a polite throwing out)? Could they hear future religious leaders coming after them?
How long does control by fear last? One generation? Two? Eventually there is a springtime of the soul and controlling “sin” by fear and awe doesn’t have a good track-record. Inquisitions eventually ebb.
Now with context out of the way. These are specifics in the long tradition of loving G*D and Neighbor. There might well be other specifics (and there are many more in the following chapters). What specifics might we use today? In recent days might we want to make some amendments:
“Honor your fathers and mothers, fathers and fathers, mothers and mothers”
“No murder: individual, legal, military”
“No adultery: physical, emotional, mental”
“No stealing: personal or corporate”
“No lies: by word, silence, or tweet”
“No coveting: enough”.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Matthew 21:33-46
Pentecost + 16 - Year A
Matthew 21:33-46
Parable upon parable reflects the facets of what it means to do business with one another in a framework of community. Economic models are often used in parables to break open our captivity by whatever economic model is currently idolatrized.
Here in Wisconsin we are sensitive to the landowner being too easily identified with the current reigning governance by governmental privatizers for the gain of corporate profit that reaps rewards without concomitant responsibility for sustainability. A union of “slaves” is unacceptable to entitled plutocrats.
This week’s hardened landowner (religious leaders), expecting their due reward for investments made (purity kept), might be seen as the stone upon which people have broken themselves for generation upon generation - the unearned profit, the individualized profit, the prideful profit not recognizing it is a product of exploitation of others rather than the strength of one pulling on their own bootstraps while never rising.
And so an alternative reading of this raises the question of what is rejected. Remember the judgment or interpretation rendered by chief religious leaders was “Death to Unions”. Might this attitude be what is rejected.
An inequitable economic system and religious leaders might be seen as the stones rejected by last week’s generous landowner.
Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders who were stonily crushing those outside their inner leadership. Those who live by the stone will die by the stone. Let those with ears, hear. Awareness of this brokenness just might be a worthy cornerstone to build differently. A non-physical cornerstone may be the most helpful.
Rejection of profit and slaves as a cornerstone leads to a new framework of being in an endeavor together - Unions might be a renewed cornerstone in today’s attempt to use globalization to increase the number of “slaves” available to landowners.
Matthew 21:33-46
Parable upon parable reflects the facets of what it means to do business with one another in a framework of community. Economic models are often used in parables to break open our captivity by whatever economic model is currently idolatrized.
Here in Wisconsin we are sensitive to the landowner being too easily identified with the current reigning governance by governmental privatizers for the gain of corporate profit that reaps rewards without concomitant responsibility for sustainability. A union of “slaves” is unacceptable to entitled plutocrats.
This week’s hardened landowner (religious leaders), expecting their due reward for investments made (purity kept), might be seen as the stone upon which people have broken themselves for generation upon generation - the unearned profit, the individualized profit, the prideful profit not recognizing it is a product of exploitation of others rather than the strength of one pulling on their own bootstraps while never rising.
And so an alternative reading of this raises the question of what is rejected. Remember the judgment or interpretation rendered by chief religious leaders was “Death to Unions”. Might this attitude be what is rejected.
An inequitable economic system and religious leaders might be seen as the stones rejected by last week’s generous landowner.
Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders who were stonily crushing those outside their inner leadership. Those who live by the stone will die by the stone. Let those with ears, hear. Awareness of this brokenness just might be a worthy cornerstone to build differently. A non-physical cornerstone may be the most helpful.
Rejection of profit and slaves as a cornerstone leads to a new framework of being in an endeavor together - Unions might be a renewed cornerstone in today’s attempt to use globalization to increase the number of “slaves” available to landowners.
Friday, September 23, 2011
ahhhh
Pentecost + 15 - Year A
entering temple
unwelcome
questioning
authorityless
controversial
suspicious
unstable
entering camp
thirsty
quarrelsome
testing
fearful
threatful
demanding
entering today
entering tomorrow
entering freedom
entering life
entering vocation
entering solidarity
entering identity
carrying new-creation energy
heart-opening compassion
head-opening sympathy
grounded honesty
true simplicity
careful hope
story ready
quick joy
carrying
sea-split water
into deserts
of our own making
generating
new water
in old lives
entering temple
unwelcome
questioning
authorityless
controversial
suspicious
unstable
entering camp
thirsty
quarrelsome
testing
fearful
threatful
demanding
entering today
entering tomorrow
entering freedom
entering life
entering vocation
entering solidarity
entering identity
carrying new-creation energy
heart-opening compassion
head-opening sympathy
grounded honesty
true simplicity
careful hope
story ready
quick joy
carrying
sea-split water
into deserts
of our own making
generating
new water
in old lives
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Philippians 2:1-13
Pentecost + 15 - Year A
Philippians 2:1-13
A fine goal, being of one mind. A bit difficult to pull off when one or more of the minds is a religious bully unable to hold more than their own mind or allow other minds their wisdom and experience.
The Christian tradition seems to claim that all those Jesus dealt with were bullies of one sort or another, yes, even the disciples periodically fell back into that predisposition.
Without a single mindedness among us, we are left with working out salvation with fear and trembling, with redoubled energy (for self and others). Actually, single-mindedness is not very stable if we are living in an entropic world with a living G*D. I expect that even in that high holy time of unity, there is still a wholeness to be worked on - particularly if I am expected to come to it in the same way you are.
So, assured enough to be humble or cowed into submission, there are no guarantees. Obedience is not sufficient on its own to claim salvation. We seem to be in it together and so my interest is in your coming as close to wholeness as you can and my doing the same. Though probably not identical in size or ripeness, each whole fruit is important in an expansive vineyard.
Philippians 2:1-13
A fine goal, being of one mind. A bit difficult to pull off when one or more of the minds is a religious bully unable to hold more than their own mind or allow other minds their wisdom and experience.
The Christian tradition seems to claim that all those Jesus dealt with were bullies of one sort or another, yes, even the disciples periodically fell back into that predisposition.
Without a single mindedness among us, we are left with working out salvation with fear and trembling, with redoubled energy (for self and others). Actually, single-mindedness is not very stable if we are living in an entropic world with a living G*D. I expect that even in that high holy time of unity, there is still a wholeness to be worked on - particularly if I am expected to come to it in the same way you are.
So, assured enough to be humble or cowed into submission, there are no guarantees. Obedience is not sufficient on its own to claim salvation. We seem to be in it together and so my interest is in your coming as close to wholeness as you can and my doing the same. Though probably not identical in size or ripeness, each whole fruit is important in an expansive vineyard.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
Pentecost + 15 - Year A
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
What experiences are equivalent touchstones in your life? As you tick off moments of life shifting, what stands out? If you were to pick 5 to carry on one hand, they would be?
That’s pretty easy. How about just 4 or 3? For extra credit, can you cut it to 2 key experiences that would reflect your journey?
Now the tough one - 1.
I expect it will have something to do with what you have done, not believed. Yes, your actions are influenced by our thoughts. They can even hem in what we are willing to do. But, bottom line, it is the doing that best describes what we mean by the space we take up and the energy we expend over time. Blessings on redeeming this trinity.
Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
What experiences are equivalent touchstones in your life? As you tick off moments of life shifting, what stands out? If you were to pick 5 to carry on one hand, they would be?
That’s pretty easy. How about just 4 or 3? For extra credit, can you cut it to 2 key experiences that would reflect your journey?
Now the tough one - 1.
I expect it will have something to do with what you have done, not believed. Yes, your actions are influenced by our thoughts. They can even hem in what we are willing to do. But, bottom line, it is the doing that best describes what we mean by the space we take up and the energy we expend over time. Blessings on redeeming this trinity.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Exodus 17:1-7
Pentecost + 15 - Year A
Exodus 17:1-7
Quarrels among a "religous" people are not new. Almost anything can set them off. It may be the lack of a survival resources, the color of a bathroom wall, a word of encouragement or correction, a business deal gone sour, a political perspective, a question as basic as "is G*D with us or not?", an undigested piece of cheese.
And so we escalate every smaller grievance to an ultimate one. After all, G*D is involved and it is mandatory to protect a G*D we have bet will protect us when push comes to shove or creeks rise.
What's the out? Complain to G*D about the folks giving you a hard time? Well, that doesn't work out so well [see also Numbers 20:1-12 and Deuteronomy 32:48-52]. Perhaps there is only proceeding as best one can and agreeing to not get the credit earned or the followers due.
Exodus 17:1-7
Quarrels among a "religous" people are not new. Almost anything can set them off. It may be the lack of a survival resources, the color of a bathroom wall, a word of encouragement or correction, a business deal gone sour, a political perspective, a question as basic as "is G*D with us or not?", an undigested piece of cheese.
And so we escalate every smaller grievance to an ultimate one. After all, G*D is involved and it is mandatory to protect a G*D we have bet will protect us when push comes to shove or creeks rise.
What's the out? Complain to G*D about the folks giving you a hard time? Well, that doesn't work out so well [see also Numbers 20:1-12 and Deuteronomy 32:48-52]. Perhaps there is only proceeding as best one can and agreeing to not get the credit earned or the followers due.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Matthew 21:23-32
Pentecost + 15 - Year A
Matthew 21:23-32
During the recent church trial of Rev. Amy Delong (LoveOnTrial.org), the question came, “Are you now or have you ever been a “self-avowed practicing homosexual?” Amy wisely replied, “First let me ask you a question, do you ever ask that question of heterosexuals . . . that they are practicing?”
Church counsel had no response. “If we say yes, everyone knows that we don’t ask that question”: “If we say no, how can we ask it here without revealing our prejudice?”
And so Amy went on to clearly identify herself as a lesbian in a loving, committed relationship with her partner. Loving both her partner and her church, she calmly replied, “I won’t answer a question put to me with the intention of harming me.”
So, is the ministry of further revealing the expansive and expanding love of G*D done by a son who lives by the rules on the outside or by a daughter who lives by grace on the inside?
Forced choices by Jesus are no better than forced choices by chief priests of the Church un-Doctrinal Committee. Both have their limits; both reveal intentions.
What trick question have you been responding to when all that was needed was a twist and return question? Perhaps the bind you are currently facing isn’t really a bind. You are not between a rock and a hard place, but between accepted fantasy and walking free.
Matthew 21:23-32
During the recent church trial of Rev. Amy Delong (LoveOnTrial.org), the question came, “Are you now or have you ever been a “self-avowed practicing homosexual?” Amy wisely replied, “First let me ask you a question, do you ever ask that question of heterosexuals . . . that they are practicing?”
Church counsel had no response. “If we say yes, everyone knows that we don’t ask that question”: “If we say no, how can we ask it here without revealing our prejudice?”
And so Amy went on to clearly identify herself as a lesbian in a loving, committed relationship with her partner. Loving both her partner and her church, she calmly replied, “I won’t answer a question put to me with the intention of harming me.”
So, is the ministry of further revealing the expansive and expanding love of G*D done by a son who lives by the rules on the outside or by a daughter who lives by grace on the inside?
Forced choices by Jesus are no better than forced choices by chief priests of the Church un-Doctrinal Committee. Both have their limits; both reveal intentions.
What trick question have you been responding to when all that was needed was a twist and return question? Perhaps the bind you are currently facing isn’t really a bind. You are not between a rock and a hard place, but between accepted fantasy and walking free.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Philippians 1:21-30
Pentecost + 14 - Year A
Philippians 1:21-30
One of the reasons we get caught in competition regarding a job or professional endeavor is that we participate not just for any fruitful results, but it becomes a measure of our value (longer workers deserve more than Johnny-come-latelies) or a validation of our importance (released folks versus those still captured).
Here we are encouraged to live life in a worthy manner. Every faith group would attribute worthiness to its particular value system. Here it is Christ, there it is Buddha, Mohammed, Jim Jones, No Taxes At All, etc.
Once we get past the particular we can experience generosity and release without claiming them as uniquely ours. Simply bringing forth fruitful work is enough. Whatever your religious focus, may it end in worthy living. This is a central point for inter-faith work.
Philippians 1:21-30
One of the reasons we get caught in competition regarding a job or professional endeavor is that we participate not just for any fruitful results, but it becomes a measure of our value (longer workers deserve more than Johnny-come-latelies) or a validation of our importance (released folks versus those still captured).
Here we are encouraged to live life in a worthy manner. Every faith group would attribute worthiness to its particular value system. Here it is Christ, there it is Buddha, Mohammed, Jim Jones, No Taxes At All, etc.
Once we get past the particular we can experience generosity and release without claiming them as uniquely ours. Simply bringing forth fruitful work is enough. Whatever your religious focus, may it end in worthy living. This is a central point for inter-faith work.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Pentecost + 14 - Year A
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Thank goodness for selective memory. Here we have a memory of the end results of some very difficult times. The psalm would have to be four times longer were the circumstances leading to such positive outcomes to be reported.
As you look back on previous haunting experiences, is your focus on the difficult moments or the final way through?
A psalm could be constructed to only cry out for a difficulty faced. It would start a new category of a complaint psalm. Even laments have a turn or action involved that begins to redeem a time of difficulty. A question is whether complaint only would be valuable. In like manner, we might ask whether a psalm of rejoicing only has value.
As with most of life it is the moments of transition that are key. Hopefully you can learn from past transitions and can see the beginning of a next transition even as the difficulty of the moment continues.
I doubt that we will get around selective memory and intentional revision, but it is helpful, from time to time, to look at what we are remembering and how that shapes where we head. This past week gave opportunity to do that regarding a national event - September 11, 2001 - that we cover-up with the short-hand 9/11 used to remember the difficulty without ever having to find the better way through.
This might be a good time to do another timeline of how long you think you have been working this time. What might a transition be that would get you out of a complaint oriented approach to working or hungering?
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Thank goodness for selective memory. Here we have a memory of the end results of some very difficult times. The psalm would have to be four times longer were the circumstances leading to such positive outcomes to be reported.
As you look back on previous haunting experiences, is your focus on the difficult moments or the final way through?
A psalm could be constructed to only cry out for a difficulty faced. It would start a new category of a complaint psalm. Even laments have a turn or action involved that begins to redeem a time of difficulty. A question is whether complaint only would be valuable. In like manner, we might ask whether a psalm of rejoicing only has value.
As with most of life it is the moments of transition that are key. Hopefully you can learn from past transitions and can see the beginning of a next transition even as the difficulty of the moment continues.
I doubt that we will get around selective memory and intentional revision, but it is helpful, from time to time, to look at what we are remembering and how that shapes where we head. This past week gave opportunity to do that regarding a national event - September 11, 2001 - that we cover-up with the short-hand 9/11 used to remember the difficulty without ever having to find the better way through.
This might be a good time to do another timeline of how long you think you have been working this time. What might a transition be that would get you out of a complaint oriented approach to working or hungering?
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Exodus 16:2-15
Pentecost + 14 - Year A
Exodus 16:2-15
The Israelites saw themselves as “first hired”. Hadn’t they miraculously escaped from the powerful Pharaoh? Why then are they having such a difficult time? Isn’t there a perk for their exalted position?
Turns out there is only one perk - recognizing there is no perk, only common care for the whole body. Paying attention to the sufficiency available is a leg up on the usual survival issues of the moment.
Of course we could always attribute manna to the loudness of the complainant rather than the generosity of respondant. That approach usually peters out fairly quickly and we are left with another learning experience regarding abundance and assurance, two key issues for us to get our minds and hearts around.
Exodus 16:2-15
The Israelites saw themselves as “first hired”. Hadn’t they miraculously escaped from the powerful Pharaoh? Why then are they having such a difficult time? Isn’t there a perk for their exalted position?
Turns out there is only one perk - recognizing there is no perk, only common care for the whole body. Paying attention to the sufficiency available is a leg up on the usual survival issues of the moment.
Of course we could always attribute manna to the loudness of the complainant rather than the generosity of respondant. That approach usually peters out fairly quickly and we are left with another learning experience regarding abundance and assurance, two key issues for us to get our minds and hearts around.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Matthew 20:1-16
Pentecost + 14 - Year A
Matthew 20:1-16
Since the future is not directly accessible we need to approach it obliquely, say through a parable.
Since we can note tangent points between a preferred future and a temporary present, a parable may be applicable to today without the fullness of the future being present.
What do you say to a country who has been devaluing all labor to the point of laborers being pitted against one another until each looking is for their own benefit, not that of all labor?
Well, one thing to be said is that a living wage is due everyone.
A second note would be that the generosity of the universe is available to be chosen in favor of. To choose maximal profit for a small group who got theirs early, is to miss out on being able to share the joy of being G*D with others.
Thirdly, might we go back to the creation stories and note the labor Adam and Eve were given, farming - garden care, vineyard care. Produce for the common good does not come easily. Imagine a farmer’s market to come which would have the work of each, from researcher to tomato grower to refuse hauler to money maker to forest manager to healer to fish catcher bring their gifts together and need is shared with need (not on the basis of some arbitrary value for each, but simply as a way to meet a need, knowing mine, large and small, will, in turn, be met).
Matthew 20:1-16
Since the future is not directly accessible we need to approach it obliquely, say through a parable.
Since we can note tangent points between a preferred future and a temporary present, a parable may be applicable to today without the fullness of the future being present.
What do you say to a country who has been devaluing all labor to the point of laborers being pitted against one another until each looking is for their own benefit, not that of all labor?
Well, one thing to be said is that a living wage is due everyone.
A second note would be that the generosity of the universe is available to be chosen in favor of. To choose maximal profit for a small group who got theirs early, is to miss out on being able to share the joy of being G*D with others.
Thirdly, might we go back to the creation stories and note the labor Adam and Eve were given, farming - garden care, vineyard care. Produce for the common good does not come easily. Imagine a farmer’s market to come which would have the work of each, from researcher to tomato grower to refuse hauler to money maker to forest manager to healer to fish catcher bring their gifts together and need is shared with need (not on the basis of some arbitrary value for each, but simply as a way to meet a need, knowing mine, large and small, will, in turn, be met).
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Romans 13:8-14
Pentecost + 12 - Year A
Romans 13:8-14
Theory: Love does no wrong to a neighbor.
Reality: Members of the church sin against one another.
What's a Christ to do?
Better yet, what are you going to do? Paul suggests living honorably.
How's the day gone so far? Been honorable, regardless?
How's the rest of the day look? Is honorable action still an option?
Just as being untruthful means more work for us as we try to keep all the little pieces of untruth in order, not being honorable ultimately means more work. May you lay the burden of not being honorable down.
Perhaps working on a common definition of honor would get us out of some of our usual binds. Honor is not the whole response needed to life's perplexing options, but it is a good start. Too much honor gets into honor killings, but honor is still a good start. You might want to make up a little card and look at it hourly for the next week. One version of the card might read, "Being honorable is the easy way, is my way."
Romans 13:8-14
Theory: Love does no wrong to a neighbor.
Reality: Members of the church sin against one another.
What's a Christ to do?
Better yet, what are you going to do? Paul suggests living honorably.
How's the day gone so far? Been honorable, regardless?
How's the rest of the day look? Is honorable action still an option?
Just as being untruthful means more work for us as we try to keep all the little pieces of untruth in order, not being honorable ultimately means more work. May you lay the burden of not being honorable down.
Perhaps working on a common definition of honor would get us out of some of our usual binds. Honor is not the whole response needed to life's perplexing options, but it is a good start. Too much honor gets into honor killings, but honor is still a good start. You might want to make up a little card and look at it hourly for the next week. One version of the card might read, "Being honorable is the easy way, is my way."
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Psalm 149
Pentecost + 12 - Year A
Psalm 149
To execute judgment on another is to enter into a judgment process that unavoidably judges the judger.
What judgment is decreed? May not be the one we were taught.
Forgiveness
Psalm 149
To execute judgment on another is to enter into a judgment process that unavoidably judges the judger.
What judgment is decreed? May not be the one we were taught.
Forgiveness
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Exodus 12:1-14
Pentecost + 12 - Year A
Exodus 12:1-14
What is loosened on earth will be loosed again. We need to always remember that traps can be avoided. A “Think Different” mantra is a good one to have handy. Who’s going to believe that “Think Different” would have blood smears involved in a process of freedom? Would you have participated in this first Passover? Just because Moses says so? His track record wasn’t the greatest. If pests and boils won’t work, why this internal, passive approach? Would something in you have been set free to try anything? And when one “anything” turns out to at least be coincidental, does that get so enshrined that it must then be recapitulated, at least metaphorically, eternally? Does ritual have to be be liberated from being ritual before it can liberate?
Looking at this from a vantage point after an Exodus, we wonder about the reversal of calling G*D to come to us when the real trick was to have G*D pass over us, miss us. You just never can tell with G*D.
You may have been trying too hard, looking for a magic fulcrum point from which the world might be moved while what is needed is not that particular, but guerilla graffiti.
Exodus 12:1-14
What is loosened on earth will be loosed again. We need to always remember that traps can be avoided. A “Think Different” mantra is a good one to have handy. Who’s going to believe that “Think Different” would have blood smears involved in a process of freedom? Would you have participated in this first Passover? Just because Moses says so? His track record wasn’t the greatest. If pests and boils won’t work, why this internal, passive approach? Would something in you have been set free to try anything? And when one “anything” turns out to at least be coincidental, does that get so enshrined that it must then be recapitulated, at least metaphorically, eternally? Does ritual have to be be liberated from being ritual before it can liberate?
Looking at this from a vantage point after an Exodus, we wonder about the reversal of calling G*D to come to us when the real trick was to have G*D pass over us, miss us. You just never can tell with G*D.
You may have been trying too hard, looking for a magic fulcrum point from which the world might be moved while what is needed is not that particular, but guerilla graffiti.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Matthew 18:15-20
Pentecost + 12 - Year A
Matthew 18:15-20
If another member of a deeper than casual relationship who could turn you in to the authorities for being a member of a subversive group (and what is a church if not subversive?), should not treat you as they would want to be treated (its all too easy to eternalize and external and call it sin when against you and well-intentioned misunderstanding when you behave the same way) it would be wise to find a way to deal with that before betrayal gets added to the mix.
Of course this presumes that a magic spirit can be organized to resolve conflicts and if it cannot that the course of action left is to dismiss them with prejudice (note how “majority rules” works here). In this case it is understood that both would have a strike against them if they now went to the authorities, so casting out a minority is a recommended way to go.
Question: Does this process work in such conflictual settings as the politics of today’s church that models all too closely public institutions (versus being in tension with said institutions as the earliest church was)?
Question: Does this process ultimately bind or loose what might be meant by a “kingdom of heaven” coming to earth?
Question: Is leaving us as the deciders of binding and loosening, an action of a binding or a loosening by G*D?
Where two are company and three are a crowd and the inherent tensions of both can flare up at any time over any issue, it is comforting to know that whatever this heaven to earth business might be about is already underway. So gather together for an opening - practice being ready for it and jumping before it is fully present.
Matthew 18:15-20
If another member of a deeper than casual relationship who could turn you in to the authorities for being a member of a subversive group (and what is a church if not subversive?), should not treat you as they would want to be treated (its all too easy to eternalize and external and call it sin when against you and well-intentioned misunderstanding when you behave the same way) it would be wise to find a way to deal with that before betrayal gets added to the mix.
Of course this presumes that a magic spirit can be organized to resolve conflicts and if it cannot that the course of action left is to dismiss them with prejudice (note how “majority rules” works here). In this case it is understood that both would have a strike against them if they now went to the authorities, so casting out a minority is a recommended way to go.
Question: Does this process work in such conflictual settings as the politics of today’s church that models all too closely public institutions (versus being in tension with said institutions as the earliest church was)?
Question: Does this process ultimately bind or loose what might be meant by a “kingdom of heaven” coming to earth?
Question: Is leaving us as the deciders of binding and loosening, an action of a binding or a loosening by G*D?
Where two are company and three are a crowd and the inherent tensions of both can flare up at any time over any issue, it is comforting to know that whatever this heaven to earth business might be about is already underway. So gather together for an opening - practice being ready for it and jumping before it is fully present.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Psalm 105:1-5, 23-26, 45c
Pentecost + 11 - Year A
Psalm 105:1-5, 23-26, 45c
Indeed, keep your eyes open for movements within a universe of marvelous possibility. You will see what we call “G*D at work”.
Even more, you can have a part, “Y*U at work”.
We can say, “G*D sent his servant Moses”. Even more, we can say, “Moses went on a larger mission.” Without this balance any subsequent institution will need to continually make revisionist statements to explain any next marvel.
Psalm 105:1-5, 23-26, 45c
Indeed, keep your eyes open for movements within a universe of marvelous possibility. You will see what we call “G*D at work”.
Even more, you can have a part, “Y*U at work”.
We can say, “G*D sent his servant Moses”. Even more, we can say, “Moses went on a larger mission.” Without this balance any subsequent institution will need to continually make revisionist statements to explain any next marvel.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Exodus 3:1-15
Pentecost + 11 - Year A
Exodus 3:1-15
We forget that Moses was a lay person. It was his father-in-law, Jethro, who was the priest. Moses knew enough to follow his curiosity rather than box it in to follow a ritual or doctrine that would discount such mystery as a bush that burned without being consumed or one hand clapping.
Even here, mystery is both something to honor, don’t come any further, and experience, take off your sandals and wiggle your toes in it.
What is mysterious is how miserable people are for no good reason. Suffering because others have power is not acceptable. Deliverance is findable in the midst of folks who will no longer be silent or fear only for themselves.
Deliverance is always quite personal and risky. It is a mystery why such as Moses or you or I finally respond to the need to stand up to power, no matter what the cost. There is no explaining it, only a thankfulness when done.
It is no mystery that we would try to wriggle out from the need to decide to follow where mystery leads. One of our wriggles is get things defined sufficiently to reduce the risk. However, mystery won’t settle for our wriggling thus. A mystery based on inclusion and communal action rather than representative, personal power, never settles for denotations, but revels in connotations - who am I? I am who I was when I’m not who I am or will be. Go ahead, give in now before your head spins off.
Who will be a next Moses? No telling. All we know is that it won’t be a priest.
Exodus 3:1-15
We forget that Moses was a lay person. It was his father-in-law, Jethro, who was the priest. Moses knew enough to follow his curiosity rather than box it in to follow a ritual or doctrine that would discount such mystery as a bush that burned without being consumed or one hand clapping.
Even here, mystery is both something to honor, don’t come any further, and experience, take off your sandals and wiggle your toes in it.
What is mysterious is how miserable people are for no good reason. Suffering because others have power is not acceptable. Deliverance is findable in the midst of folks who will no longer be silent or fear only for themselves.
Deliverance is always quite personal and risky. It is a mystery why such as Moses or you or I finally respond to the need to stand up to power, no matter what the cost. There is no explaining it, only a thankfulness when done.
It is no mystery that we would try to wriggle out from the need to decide to follow where mystery leads. One of our wriggles is get things defined sufficiently to reduce the risk. However, mystery won’t settle for our wriggling thus. A mystery based on inclusion and communal action rather than representative, personal power, never settles for denotations, but revels in connotations - who am I? I am who I was when I’m not who I am or will be. Go ahead, give in now before your head spins off.
Who will be a next Moses? No telling. All we know is that it won’t be a priest.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Matthew 16:21-28
Pentecost + 11 - Year A
Matthew 16:21-28
It has been said that “The only thing that is real is the being in you that is going to die”. (Carols Castaneda) and that “Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, an arm's length behind us. Death is the only wise adviser that a warrior has. Whenever he feels that everything is going wrong and he's about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if that is so. His death will tell him that he is wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. His death will tell him, 'I haven't touched you yet.'” Likewise this Castaneda insight, “Only the idea of death makes a warrior sufficiently detached so that he is capable of abandoning himself to anything. He knows his death is stalking him and won’t give him time to cling to anything so he tries, without craving, all of everything.”
These perspectives help us look at Jesus’ understanding of his life, while alive, while not yet dead but moving in that direction. Time is precious, too precious to spend in fear, in denying death. The stumbling block of denial still reaches up to trip us. We still need to hear that losing our life in life, not expectations, not denial of death, is what will focus us. To simply wait to hear that we have died is to not taste death before its time.
Spoke yesterday with a dear man who has heard from his doctors that he has less than two years to live. Cancer and an infection will have their way. And he continues, not arguing, bringing peace where he can - not in a forced way because time is short, but naturally, because this moment is still available.
Too often we consider that death has a last word, while all it can do is advise us in the present about engaging life that is significant enough to echo on. May you not get caught by the stumbling illusion that death is more powerful and less helpful than it really is. Walk on.
Matthew 16:21-28
It has been said that “The only thing that is real is the being in you that is going to die”. (Carols Castaneda) and that “Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, an arm's length behind us. Death is the only wise adviser that a warrior has. Whenever he feels that everything is going wrong and he's about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if that is so. His death will tell him that he is wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. His death will tell him, 'I haven't touched you yet.'” Likewise this Castaneda insight, “Only the idea of death makes a warrior sufficiently detached so that he is capable of abandoning himself to anything. He knows his death is stalking him and won’t give him time to cling to anything so he tries, without craving, all of everything.”
These perspectives help us look at Jesus’ understanding of his life, while alive, while not yet dead but moving in that direction. Time is precious, too precious to spend in fear, in denying death. The stumbling block of denial still reaches up to trip us. We still need to hear that losing our life in life, not expectations, not denial of death, is what will focus us. To simply wait to hear that we have died is to not taste death before its time.
Spoke yesterday with a dear man who has heard from his doctors that he has less than two years to live. Cancer and an infection will have their way. And he continues, not arguing, bringing peace where he can - not in a forced way because time is short, but naturally, because this moment is still available.
Too often we consider that death has a last word, while all it can do is advise us in the present about engaging life that is significant enough to echo on. May you not get caught by the stumbling illusion that death is more powerful and less helpful than it really is. Walk on.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Romans 12:1-8
Pentecost + 10 - Year A
Romans 12:1-8
Who do you say that I am? Who do you say you are? When tracking well we say we are members of one another. Which part of a “Son of God” are you? Pinkie, Pate, Patella?
We receive meaning from the body as a whole as well as from our particular locus. We all hold the keys to love and life. There is no holiness but social holiness!
If there is one corrective to today’s resurgence of fundamentalism (one part is more important that another part) it is this sense of universal social holiness where none will be redeemed until all are. This plays out in economics as well as in theology. You might think of a tax as a binding principle that keeps us together even as death drives us apart.
There is a cost to a body of many parts. Each part cannot maximize its own wealth (its predominance among the many) but must play and pay its part. The greater the perception of the part, the more it costs to be a part of the whole.
To wrestle with the purpose of taxes is valuable community building. To put taxes beyond our decision-making is the same as putting G*D beyond our current time and space (no pie in the sky, by and by). Taxes do for a healthy community what serving one another does for the body of Christ. Taxes will always be with us, not because they are imposed from the outside, but because they are a constituent part of being in community. We need to talk about them more.
Romans 12:1-8
Who do you say that I am? Who do you say you are? When tracking well we say we are members of one another. Which part of a “Son of God” are you? Pinkie, Pate, Patella?
We receive meaning from the body as a whole as well as from our particular locus. We all hold the keys to love and life. There is no holiness but social holiness!
If there is one corrective to today’s resurgence of fundamentalism (one part is more important that another part) it is this sense of universal social holiness where none will be redeemed until all are. This plays out in economics as well as in theology. You might think of a tax as a binding principle that keeps us together even as death drives us apart.
There is a cost to a body of many parts. Each part cannot maximize its own wealth (its predominance among the many) but must play and pay its part. The greater the perception of the part, the more it costs to be a part of the whole.
To wrestle with the purpose of taxes is valuable community building. To put taxes beyond our decision-making is the same as putting G*D beyond our current time and space (no pie in the sky, by and by). Taxes do for a healthy community what serving one another does for the body of Christ. Taxes will always be with us, not because they are imposed from the outside, but because they are a constituent part of being in community. We need to talk about them more.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Psalm 124
Pentecost + 10 - Year A
Psalm 124
If . . . , it would have been enough. [Dayenu]
An upbeat way of engaging the vagarities of life.
Another snare is broken, we have escaped more than 15 times. Sing it again.
Psalm 124
If . . . , it would have been enough. [Dayenu]
An upbeat way of engaging the vagarities of life.
Another snare is broken, we have escaped more than 15 times. Sing it again.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Exodus 1:8 - 2:10
Pentecost + 10 - Year A
Exodus 1:8 - 2:10
In sorting folks out, life changes the sort. Who’s king now? It makes a difference to many.
In one realm a mere son of god can do well while in another it takes The Son of GOD to even come close to breaking even.
Instead of looking at titles such as Pharaoh or midwife, which can begin to distract our eye from what is needful, we might do well to keep our eye on where the next good might be done and be clear about the temptations that lead to a next harm, even a small one.
It turns out that a king eventually takes a back-seat to a daughter and a midwife and a mother and sister of one who will do in the king. How did they pull it off? Well, they lost their fear through a picture larger than the current power structure. This loss of fear made room for longer-term decision-making. They chose “pity” [2:6]. Each expressed it in a different way, but tears of the past, present, and future were heard and responded to. As a result, past tears were reconciled, present ones energized, and potential tears entered into with purpose.
The same process is available today - what good needs to be done; what harm avoided? This doesn’t need one to be King or Son of God, simply human, created in an image of those who show their steadfast love through action of pity more than piety.
Exodus 1:8 - 2:10
In sorting folks out, life changes the sort. Who’s king now? It makes a difference to many.
In one realm a mere son of god can do well while in another it takes The Son of GOD to even come close to breaking even.
Instead of looking at titles such as Pharaoh or midwife, which can begin to distract our eye from what is needful, we might do well to keep our eye on where the next good might be done and be clear about the temptations that lead to a next harm, even a small one.
It turns out that a king eventually takes a back-seat to a daughter and a midwife and a mother and sister of one who will do in the king. How did they pull it off? Well, they lost their fear through a picture larger than the current power structure. This loss of fear made room for longer-term decision-making. They chose “pity” [2:6]. Each expressed it in a different way, but tears of the past, present, and future were heard and responded to. As a result, past tears were reconciled, present ones energized, and potential tears entered into with purpose.
The same process is available today - what good needs to be done; what harm avoided? This doesn’t need one to be King or Son of God, simply human, created in an image of those who show their steadfast love through action of pity more than piety.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Matthew 16:13-20
Pentecost + 10 - Year A
Matthew 16:13-20
Who do people say the Son of Man is? Who is the Great Pretender?
This questions brings us to the work of trying to figure out who "666" is or "The Son of God", according to the criteria set out. Can we squish or puff-up someone so they will fit the definition? That’s all that is available to us.
Once past accademic questions of role and definition, we can get to a better question, “Who am I, to you?”
When the response is, “I better see an expansive and expanding love when I am engaged with you”, we know we are in a place just right, a valley of love and delight.
It is not the giving of a right answer that brings Peter any keys of authority, it is his own engagement with G*D. And so it continues to this day.
Who do you say the people are that you are engaged with this day, this week? Does that bring you closer to participating in doing all the good you can? If so, start loosing and binding. If not, time to move on.
Oh, by the way, don’t keep this a secret. Start acting on it and promoting the appreciation of more and more levels to your various relationships.
Matthew 16:13-20
Who do people say the Son of Man is? Who is the Great Pretender?
This questions brings us to the work of trying to figure out who "666" is or "The Son of God", according to the criteria set out. Can we squish or puff-up someone so they will fit the definition? That’s all that is available to us.
Once past accademic questions of role and definition, we can get to a better question, “Who am I, to you?”
When the response is, “I better see an expansive and expanding love when I am engaged with you”, we know we are in a place just right, a valley of love and delight.
It is not the giving of a right answer that brings Peter any keys of authority, it is his own engagement with G*D. And so it continues to this day.
Who do you say the people are that you are engaged with this day, this week? Does that bring you closer to participating in doing all the good you can? If so, start loosing and binding. If not, time to move on.
Oh, by the way, don’t keep this a secret. Start acting on it and promoting the appreciation of more and more levels to your various relationships.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Pentecost + 9 - Year A
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
“The gifts and the calling of G*D is irrevocable.” [29]
And yet the church has a whole series of tests to apply to the usefulness of those gifts and one’s calling according to what is perceived as its continuity. If a gift or calling doesn’t fit within the benefit structure of the church, such are not confirmed and are denied.
Here the Church is at odds with its G*D. Though, many a sociopath has been keep out of leadership roles because of this winnowing of gifts and calling. And, no matter how strictly the church applies its current criteria to a perpetual abundance of scattering gifts and call, there are still sociopaths who can con the system.
“God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.” [32]
What an intriguing process. At least the church can claim to better follow this construct. It is very good at highlighting “disobedience” that it might appear merciful after some appropriate number of pounds of flesh have been sacrificed.
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
“The gifts and the calling of G*D is irrevocable.” [29]
And yet the church has a whole series of tests to apply to the usefulness of those gifts and one’s calling according to what is perceived as its continuity. If a gift or calling doesn’t fit within the benefit structure of the church, such are not confirmed and are denied.
Here the Church is at odds with its G*D. Though, many a sociopath has been keep out of leadership roles because of this winnowing of gifts and calling. And, no matter how strictly the church applies its current criteria to a perpetual abundance of scattering gifts and call, there are still sociopaths who can con the system.
“God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.” [32]
What an intriguing process. At least the church can claim to better follow this construct. It is very good at highlighting “disobedience” that it might appear merciful after some appropriate number of pounds of flesh have been sacrificed.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Genesis 45:1-15
Pentecost + 9 - Year A
Genesis 45:1-15
The second in command, economic advisor par excellance, still identifies as, “I am Joseph.” His concern is not just about surviving a coming famine, but, “Is my father still alive?”
Finally, with those who betrayed him he makes an audacious claim, “I am your brother.”
Joseph, Jacob’s son, brother to eleven, this Joseph, sees his task, “Sent to keep alive many survivors.”
There are many ways to try to keep many alive. These can contain the infamous, “We had to destroy the village to save the village.” Under Joseph’s leadership, many lost their land and freedom for a better chance at survival. Were they better off? Certainly his family became better off, until Joseph’s efficient planning was forgotten.
How might you keep “many alive” this day? How might you keep yourself alive this day? One way is to refuse to label and be labeled. Drop the titles; claim your name.
Genesis 45:1-15
The second in command, economic advisor par excellance, still identifies as, “I am Joseph.” His concern is not just about surviving a coming famine, but, “Is my father still alive?”
Finally, with those who betrayed him he makes an audacious claim, “I am your brother.”
Joseph, Jacob’s son, brother to eleven, this Joseph, sees his task, “Sent to keep alive many survivors.”
There are many ways to try to keep many alive. These can contain the infamous, “We had to destroy the village to save the village.” Under Joseph’s leadership, many lost their land and freedom for a better chance at survival. Were they better off? Certainly his family became better off, until Joseph’s efficient planning was forgotten.
How might you keep “many alive” this day? How might you keep yourself alive this day? One way is to refuse to label and be labeled. Drop the titles; claim your name.
Monday, August 08, 2011
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
Pentecost + 9 - Year A
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
We can hear it in every generation - it's not about who you are, it's about what you do with who you are (hate the sin, but love the sinner). That's very neat, but not real. Our being and our doing are intimately connected with one another.
A Canaanite woman (2 strikes for being both a woman and a Canaanite) calls out, puts a claim on mercy being extended. According to the earlier statement, one would expect Jesus to pay attention to what the person did/said, not who they were. Mercy was asked for and yet it was denied. Regardless of who is doing the asking, when asked, mercy is expected.
The disciples were also caught up in the doing and being, but in the other way around.
Note how the general cry for Mercy finally has to come down to both one's being and one's doing. Eventually, "Mercy!" needs to become "Help me!"
Questions come, just as in the abortion debate or any wedge issue - the daughter is healed, a fetus brought to term - and now what - simply being female is a problem in a patriarchic system that we are still too much a part of, whether in Sudan or America. What does it mean for this daughter to be healed in this moment only to be discounted later? It might be claimed that she is returned to only having 2 strikes against her (female and of another tribe) instead of 3 (female, of another tribe, and certifiably crazy). Discrimination doesn’t need any basis in reality, for it can always call her less than human again for being a woman or a foreigner. This story is about Jesus and his disciples not being able to initially see faithfulness when wrapped in the colors of another gang.
Seems a lot of us, in Peterson’s words, are “willfully stupid” or keep having the same limited perception that needs continual correcting. We keep trying to separate that which can’t be separated. Whether about being and doing or varieties of faith.
Basic take-away - a daughter was healed, a society wasn’t - ask for more, go for 0 strikes. We need to pay attention to both a needed band-aid and systemic causations. If you are called to work with band-aids, put them on with gusto and support those working on causation. If you are called to shift paradigms, give it your all and encourage those who are caring for immediate needs. May your doing and your being reveal faith in an expansive and expanding “Love”.
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
We can hear it in every generation - it's not about who you are, it's about what you do with who you are (hate the sin, but love the sinner). That's very neat, but not real. Our being and our doing are intimately connected with one another.
A Canaanite woman (2 strikes for being both a woman and a Canaanite) calls out, puts a claim on mercy being extended. According to the earlier statement, one would expect Jesus to pay attention to what the person did/said, not who they were. Mercy was asked for and yet it was denied. Regardless of who is doing the asking, when asked, mercy is expected.
The disciples were also caught up in the doing and being, but in the other way around.
Note how the general cry for Mercy finally has to come down to both one's being and one's doing. Eventually, "Mercy!" needs to become "Help me!"
Questions come, just as in the abortion debate or any wedge issue - the daughter is healed, a fetus brought to term - and now what - simply being female is a problem in a patriarchic system that we are still too much a part of, whether in Sudan or America. What does it mean for this daughter to be healed in this moment only to be discounted later? It might be claimed that she is returned to only having 2 strikes against her (female and of another tribe) instead of 3 (female, of another tribe, and certifiably crazy). Discrimination doesn’t need any basis in reality, for it can always call her less than human again for being a woman or a foreigner. This story is about Jesus and his disciples not being able to initially see faithfulness when wrapped in the colors of another gang.
Seems a lot of us, in Peterson’s words, are “willfully stupid” or keep having the same limited perception that needs continual correcting. We keep trying to separate that which can’t be separated. Whether about being and doing or varieties of faith.
Basic take-away - a daughter was healed, a society wasn’t - ask for more, go for 0 strikes. We need to pay attention to both a needed band-aid and systemic causations. If you are called to work with band-aids, put them on with gusto and support those working on causation. If you are called to shift paradigms, give it your all and encourage those who are caring for immediate needs. May your doing and your being reveal faith in an expansive and expanding “Love”.
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Romans 10:5-15
Pentecost +8 - Year A
Romans 10:5-15
Faith in anyone claiming extraordinary power or access to G*D is misplaced. They cannot control the heights or depths of lived experience. Faith worth the fear and trembling required for it's implementation asks for that deeper place of engaging your own journey toward a larger universe.
While appreciating the security of plausible deniability, the built-in opportunity to blame someone or something else, ultimately it is going to come back to what has been done by you with the opportunities you have before you. What were the roadblocks you put in the way of every person, regardless of their "status", to engage their journey to an expansive and expanding love? Distinctions between our various journeys aren't all that great, but the ways in which we can hinder one another seem to be multitudinous.
All who call out, who are journeying, receive what is needful. Claim the abundance available and humbly ask for more - or, party-on, dude!
Romans 10:5-15
Faith in anyone claiming extraordinary power or access to G*D is misplaced. They cannot control the heights or depths of lived experience. Faith worth the fear and trembling required for it's implementation asks for that deeper place of engaging your own journey toward a larger universe.
While appreciating the security of plausible deniability, the built-in opportunity to blame someone or something else, ultimately it is going to come back to what has been done by you with the opportunities you have before you. What were the roadblocks you put in the way of every person, regardless of their "status", to engage their journey to an expansive and expanding love? Distinctions between our various journeys aren't all that great, but the ways in which we can hinder one another seem to be multitudinous.
All who call out, who are journeying, receive what is needful. Claim the abundance available and humbly ask for more - or, party-on, dude!
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b
Pentecost +8 - Year A
Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b
O give thanks . . .
This message came this morning from "The Universe".
It is comforting to think that everything is going to turn out well. Jesus doesn't stay in meditative prayer but comes walking on the water in stormy weather and we take a step or two further than we ever thought we might.
It is encouraging that enslavement will turn around and we will be in charge (talking about your tax and saver - see Joseph in power).
However, neither of these sort of next steps stop with the desired outcome. There is more ministry and death to face. There is not just the enslavement of one, but of a whole extended tribe.
Choosing where to cut the storyline tells much about who we are.
Does John the Baptizer's death end with Jesus finally alone or you walking a step on frothy waves? Does Joseph's enslavement end with his coming to power or the enslavement of his family? Does Paul correctly set this choice aside by saying it is not about either result (go to heaven - go to hell) but doing what is needful in the moment, regardless of the consequence?
So, what is meant and by whom? Where is thanks directed and from whence is more asked?
Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b
O give thanks . . .
This message came this morning from "The Universe".
Some people think, (your-name-here), that some things are "meant to be."
Meant by whom?
Not me,
The Universe (www.tut.com)
It is comforting to think that everything is going to turn out well. Jesus doesn't stay in meditative prayer but comes walking on the water in stormy weather and we take a step or two further than we ever thought we might.
It is encouraging that enslavement will turn around and we will be in charge (talking about your tax and saver - see Joseph in power).
However, neither of these sort of next steps stop with the desired outcome. There is more ministry and death to face. There is not just the enslavement of one, but of a whole extended tribe.
Choosing where to cut the storyline tells much about who we are.
Does John the Baptizer's death end with Jesus finally alone or you walking a step on frothy waves? Does Joseph's enslavement end with his coming to power or the enslavement of his family? Does Paul correctly set this choice aside by saying it is not about either result (go to heaven - go to hell) but doing what is needful in the moment, regardless of the consequence?
So, what is meant and by whom? Where is thanks directed and from whence is more asked?
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Pentecost +8 - Year A
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Ah the joy of loving too much. Here it brings an unintended consequence of envy, jealousy, and hatred from others.
A reason given for loving too much is that it is established in old age when a new perspective on preciousness begins to set in. The run-of-the-mill births before this were just that. They happened. We won't comment on Joseph being a first son of Rachel.
At any rate, a long and colorful garment set Joseph apart from the others. How Fabulous it must have been! This was an outward and visible sign of preference by the patriarch Jacob/Israel.
An inward sign of preference by G*D is an ability to interpret dreams. This is not as noticeable, unless Joseph opens his big yap. A braggart from a trickster is quite a gene pool.
The brothers might well reason that Joseph carried recessive genes and it would be appropriate to send him packing with those other recessive gene holders - the Ishmaelites - like to like.
And so 20 pieces of silver enters the symbolic jargon of relationships. You might wonder who got the 20 pieces of silver in the recent American debt ceiling negotiations. I'm sure someone thought a deal of delayed death would be worth getting their cut on the side. One can only hope that some strange twist, to be revealed much later, after much more difficulty, will have what was intended as a win-win for the brothers and a lose-lose for Joseph and Jacob be turned around as a benefit for all (at least for a short while, until we again forget our blessings and focus on our fears).
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Ah the joy of loving too much. Here it brings an unintended consequence of envy, jealousy, and hatred from others.
A reason given for loving too much is that it is established in old age when a new perspective on preciousness begins to set in. The run-of-the-mill births before this were just that. They happened. We won't comment on Joseph being a first son of Rachel.
At any rate, a long and colorful garment set Joseph apart from the others. How Fabulous it must have been! This was an outward and visible sign of preference by the patriarch Jacob/Israel.
An inward sign of preference by G*D is an ability to interpret dreams. This is not as noticeable, unless Joseph opens his big yap. A braggart from a trickster is quite a gene pool.
The brothers might well reason that Joseph carried recessive genes and it would be appropriate to send him packing with those other recessive gene holders - the Ishmaelites - like to like.
And so 20 pieces of silver enters the symbolic jargon of relationships. You might wonder who got the 20 pieces of silver in the recent American debt ceiling negotiations. I'm sure someone thought a deal of delayed death would be worth getting their cut on the side. One can only hope that some strange twist, to be revealed much later, after much more difficulty, will have what was intended as a win-win for the brothers and a lose-lose for Joseph and Jacob be turned around as a benefit for all (at least for a short while, until we again forget our blessings and focus on our fears).
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Pentecost +8 - Year A
Matthew 14:22-33
With everyone fed it was time to get back to the agenda of Jesus dealing with John's execution. Thousands were send home healed and fed. The disciples were put in a boat and sent to the other side.
Whew. Prayer time. And it was evening, preparation for days to come. And it was night with the chaos of sea churning again. And it was morning with waves still riding high and Jesus somehow present among them.
What was the result of evening prayer and midnight storm and a morning walk? It was to hear great desire, to encourage the same, and to keep it alive when trembling.
I wish to walk beyond my current limits. Invite me forward.
Simply put, "OK. Come on."
What more need be said? Nothing. Those words are still echoing, waiting for your response.
Yes, the wind will still be blowing. Unexpected currents are to be expected. Second thoughts will likely arise. A steadying hand is still needed.
After this foray into desiring forward, a harbor with reduced wind is helpful for consolidating what was learned.
Was not leaving Jesus alone a time of worship? When asked what you have done for Jesus today, don't forget to say, "I stayed out of his way!"
Was not sailing toward another mission a time of worship? Don't forget to call travel time as important as encounter time.
Was not experimenting with desire a time of worship? Imagine how much more worship is available that what we have come to call "worship".
Was not acknowledging fear an important part of "growth" (another word for worship).
So what is this sense of "worship" so limited to "Son of G*D" language and a sense of miracle, when everything is miraculous.
May your prayer lead you to better listening, encouraging, strengthening.
May your worship rejoice in everyday growth.
Matthew 14:22-33
With everyone fed it was time to get back to the agenda of Jesus dealing with John's execution. Thousands were send home healed and fed. The disciples were put in a boat and sent to the other side.
Whew. Prayer time. And it was evening, preparation for days to come. And it was night with the chaos of sea churning again. And it was morning with waves still riding high and Jesus somehow present among them.
What was the result of evening prayer and midnight storm and a morning walk? It was to hear great desire, to encourage the same, and to keep it alive when trembling.
I wish to walk beyond my current limits. Invite me forward.
Simply put, "OK. Come on."
What more need be said? Nothing. Those words are still echoing, waiting for your response.
Yes, the wind will still be blowing. Unexpected currents are to be expected. Second thoughts will likely arise. A steadying hand is still needed.
After this foray into desiring forward, a harbor with reduced wind is helpful for consolidating what was learned.
Was not leaving Jesus alone a time of worship? When asked what you have done for Jesus today, don't forget to say, "I stayed out of his way!"
Was not sailing toward another mission a time of worship? Don't forget to call travel time as important as encounter time.
Was not experimenting with desire a time of worship? Imagine how much more worship is available that what we have come to call "worship".
Was not acknowledging fear an important part of "growth" (another word for worship).
So what is this sense of "worship" so limited to "Son of G*D" language and a sense of miracle, when everything is miraculous.
May your prayer lead you to better listening, encouraging, strengthening.
May your worship rejoice in everyday growth.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Romans 9:1-5
Pentecost +7 - Year A
Romans 9:1-5
And how reliable is the conscience of a sociopath? And how reliable is my conscience? And, might I ask, why wouldn't I understand that my conscience is confirmed by a Holy Spirit?
Having great sorrow, pain, or anguish is no confirmation that an intention is pure. Suffice it to say that we wish the best for folks. It is not necessary to writhe because they are not living up to what I see as best for them (particularly if that is not currently what they would want done unto them). My pain is not a final selling point for a particular perspective on living. What I can do is legitimately live the way I understand is best for me and do so with integrity, without putting the burden of my pain upon someone else as an additional pressure point in their life.
Read on a moment or two more and there will be a statement about G*D showing mercy where G*D desires mercy (and where wouldn't that be?). So why the angst here? Might this simply be a day to proceed without making a big deal out of it? Hope so.
Romans 9:1-5
And how reliable is the conscience of a sociopath? And how reliable is my conscience? And, might I ask, why wouldn't I understand that my conscience is confirmed by a Holy Spirit?
Having great sorrow, pain, or anguish is no confirmation that an intention is pure. Suffice it to say that we wish the best for folks. It is not necessary to writhe because they are not living up to what I see as best for them (particularly if that is not currently what they would want done unto them). My pain is not a final selling point for a particular perspective on living. What I can do is legitimately live the way I understand is best for me and do so with integrity, without putting the burden of my pain upon someone else as an additional pressure point in their life.
Read on a moment or two more and there will be a statement about G*D showing mercy where G*D desires mercy (and where wouldn't that be?). So why the angst here? Might this simply be a day to proceed without making a big deal out of it? Hope so.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Psalm 17:1-7, 15
Pentecost +7 - Year A
Psalm 17:1-7, 15
All those who acknowledge G*D's right hand will find refuge there. Those who don't, won't. This is very convenient when we are convinced that our cause is just, our good looks quite sufficient, our perspective on any given issue at hand - accurate down to the last detail.
Because of our special relationship, G*D is as good as a trained hunting dog - ready to sic our point and fetch whenever we identify our prey, our enemy.
This is so comforting to us and so dangerous to others. Can you imagine Jesus operating in this fashion when he has a great need to get away and can't. Listen to the Psalm through a Jesus lens instead of a Jacob/Israel lens.
Psalm 17:1-7, 15
All those who acknowledge G*D's right hand will find refuge there. Those who don't, won't. This is very convenient when we are convinced that our cause is just, our good looks quite sufficient, our perspective on any given issue at hand - accurate down to the last detail.
Because of our special relationship, G*D is as good as a trained hunting dog - ready to sic our point and fetch whenever we identify our prey, our enemy.
This is so comforting to us and so dangerous to others. Can you imagine Jesus operating in this fashion when he has a great need to get away and can't. Listen to the Psalm through a Jesus lens instead of a Jacob/Israel lens.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Genesis 32:22-31
Pentecost +7 - Year A
Genesis 32:22-31
When afraid I won't be treated with compassion, but recompense, it is easy to fall into a headset reflective of a fearful heart. I plan and plot how I can jigger the system to at least let me skim by. Assurance of an abundance of compassion fades in the realism that I'm not going to escape having to face a judgment against which I have no defense, but if I can parse things closely enough I may yet skate by.
This is similar to the state that those who put doctrine first keep running into - for every rule they impose there needs to be loophole for them to be able to access. Since they are the ones who set up the rules the out is not visible to any but themselves. Result: others bear the brunt of what the rule-setter will be able to slide out from under. They are consummate bargainers, finding just the right button to push when push-comes-to-shove and they can side-step G*D's justified anger with them or reality-based experiences that deny a neat systematization.
In this story we need to pay attention to Jacob's fear that his trickery has caught up with him and his response to that. After attending to this reality we might catch a glimpse of a different level of rule that has nothing to do with being able to figure things out ahead of time - A surprising mystery that we still have a new name to get used to. Every time we strive with G*D or Neighbor or One Another or Self or Enemy we are open to a new name, a new understanding beyond our previous limit of knowledge.
What new name have you sensed rising up? An old one reinvested with later experience? One given by others to you? One that is just there, as in a Never-ending Story? One that comes out of the blue to bless you and to become a blessing for others?
Try this one on for size - I am Penstock. I am a gateway for living water to multiply life and love and loaves 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold.
Genesis 32:22-31
When afraid I won't be treated with compassion, but recompense, it is easy to fall into a headset reflective of a fearful heart. I plan and plot how I can jigger the system to at least let me skim by. Assurance of an abundance of compassion fades in the realism that I'm not going to escape having to face a judgment against which I have no defense, but if I can parse things closely enough I may yet skate by.
This is similar to the state that those who put doctrine first keep running into - for every rule they impose there needs to be loophole for them to be able to access. Since they are the ones who set up the rules the out is not visible to any but themselves. Result: others bear the brunt of what the rule-setter will be able to slide out from under. They are consummate bargainers, finding just the right button to push when push-comes-to-shove and they can side-step G*D's justified anger with them or reality-based experiences that deny a neat systematization.
In this story we need to pay attention to Jacob's fear that his trickery has caught up with him and his response to that. After attending to this reality we might catch a glimpse of a different level of rule that has nothing to do with being able to figure things out ahead of time - A surprising mystery that we still have a new name to get used to. Every time we strive with G*D or Neighbor or One Another or Self or Enemy we are open to a new name, a new understanding beyond our previous limit of knowledge.
What new name have you sensed rising up? An old one reinvested with later experience? One given by others to you? One that is just there, as in a Never-ending Story? One that comes out of the blue to bless you and to become a blessing for others?
Try this one on for size - I am Penstock. I am a gateway for living water to multiply life and love and loaves 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Matthew 14:13-21
Pentecost +7 - Year A
Matthew 14:13-21
Compassion fatigue is real. Compassionate action is still possible even when fatigued.
Jesus hears of cousin John's senseless execution. His reaction, like yours and mine, was to head off to get his head and heart back on. How is one to make sense of this other than to know our own day of demise is growing closer and closer?
Unfortunately halos the size of Jesus' are difficult to hide. [One of Jim Post's songs has a line in it about Jesus' halo - "nobody else wears a hat like that".] Word got out about Jesus and alternative routes were located by which many, too many, people gathered and Fire Marshall Disciples were upset at the overcrowding.
Coming out of his response regarding John, his need for compassion to be shown to him, Jesus is compassionate and saving/healing/reorienting went on for many who came asking for such. Compassion fatigue is being compounded, no matter how much good is done, so much more is needed.
Those Fire Marshall Disciples thought they saw Jesus' compassion coming to an end and, knowing they still needed theirs, they stepped in to disperse the never-ending story of needed care - "Send them away, compassionately, of course."
Jesus attempts to engage their compassion as an alternative way of responding: join-in, rather than send-away. Their response, "Who? Us? We've got nothing. It's all about you, Jesus."
So a compassionate one simply shows them that they have much more than "nothing".
This may be a choice of the day, decade, eternity - compassion or intolerance. It will not only say something about us, but about what we believe. Does compassion fall within an abundance model, or not?
Matthew 14:13-21
Compassion fatigue is real. Compassionate action is still possible even when fatigued.
Jesus hears of cousin John's senseless execution. His reaction, like yours and mine, was to head off to get his head and heart back on. How is one to make sense of this other than to know our own day of demise is growing closer and closer?
Unfortunately halos the size of Jesus' are difficult to hide. [One of Jim Post's songs has a line in it about Jesus' halo - "nobody else wears a hat like that".] Word got out about Jesus and alternative routes were located by which many, too many, people gathered and Fire Marshall Disciples were upset at the overcrowding.
Coming out of his response regarding John, his need for compassion to be shown to him, Jesus is compassionate and saving/healing/reorienting went on for many who came asking for such. Compassion fatigue is being compounded, no matter how much good is done, so much more is needed.
Those Fire Marshall Disciples thought they saw Jesus' compassion coming to an end and, knowing they still needed theirs, they stepped in to disperse the never-ending story of needed care - "Send them away, compassionately, of course."
Jesus attempts to engage their compassion as an alternative way of responding: join-in, rather than send-away. Their response, "Who? Us? We've got nothing. It's all about you, Jesus."
So a compassionate one simply shows them that they have much more than "nothing".
This may be a choice of the day, decade, eternity - compassion or intolerance. It will not only say something about us, but about what we believe. Does compassion fall within an abundance model, or not?
Friday, July 22, 2011
Romans 8:26-39
Pentecost + 6 - Year A
Romans 8:26-39
Let's see - we "pray", not knowing what we are doing, and so some "Spirit" senses what we don't know and groans. However this Spirit also isn't up to "praying". Result, some G*D we may have intended to be praying too, reads the mind/spirit/heart of a Spirit to find out what we had intended to pray for without knowing it the half of it.
This seems like a full-employment process that needs everyone to not do what they might so a hands-on G*D can continue to be needed. It helps, of course, that this G*D can also be efficient in only paying attention to those attempting prayer who had been preselected - talk about your non-double-blind study!
So what are we to say about these things. Hooray for us, if G*D is for us. Boo to us, if G*D is against us. Are you among the elected, chosen, elite who are going to get everything because you are the teacher's pet? Are you going to be fired from your job as creature?
I very much appreciate the assurance that is available with this passage. In the same way, I appreciate the assurance behind Revelations - hang in there when things are tough.
I very much don't appreciate the partiality and limitation of said assurance.
Historically, this is one of my favorite passages. I've needed its assurance that even my difficulty won't keep G*D from loving me - of course I've needed to overlook the possibility that I am not of the elect and am therefore out luck and any assurance I thought I had was for naught.
These favorites need more looking at than not. A gift of assurance is probably not one that can be taken back and can trump any attempt at dismissal through control or confusion even by G*D (though G*D's "representatives" in this world often give it a good try).
Romans 8:26-39
Let's see - we "pray", not knowing what we are doing, and so some "Spirit" senses what we don't know and groans. However this Spirit also isn't up to "praying". Result, some G*D we may have intended to be praying too, reads the mind/spirit/heart of a Spirit to find out what we had intended to pray for without knowing it the half of it.
This seems like a full-employment process that needs everyone to not do what they might so a hands-on G*D can continue to be needed. It helps, of course, that this G*D can also be efficient in only paying attention to those attempting prayer who had been preselected - talk about your non-double-blind study!
So what are we to say about these things. Hooray for us, if G*D is for us. Boo to us, if G*D is against us. Are you among the elected, chosen, elite who are going to get everything because you are the teacher's pet? Are you going to be fired from your job as creature?
I very much appreciate the assurance that is available with this passage. In the same way, I appreciate the assurance behind Revelations - hang in there when things are tough.
I very much don't appreciate the partiality and limitation of said assurance.
Historically, this is one of my favorite passages. I've needed its assurance that even my difficulty won't keep G*D from loving me - of course I've needed to overlook the possibility that I am not of the elect and am therefore out luck and any assurance I thought I had was for naught.
These favorites need more looking at than not. A gift of assurance is probably not one that can be taken back and can trump any attempt at dismissal through control or confusion even by G*D (though G*D's "representatives" in this world often give it a good try).
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
Pentecost + 6 - Year A
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
Covenants and prophecies are only confirmed by their deeds. Here we have a perspective that says a particular understanding of cause and consequence have conspired together to affirm a prior stating of a covenant. And so the appropriate response is, "Praise the Lord" or "Amen" or "So be it".
In the meantime there are other covenants and prophecies that are contended between by those whose world would shake, and for some collapse, should there be a disconfirmation of their particular understanding. Of course there is no need to acknowledge that one's viewpoint has been from a spot built upon a fault-line.
Other psalms bemoan an experienced loss of covenantal or prophetic hope. There are those times when we don't seem to be able to recover from a lack of anticipated victory and give ourselves over to imploring our holiest-of-holies to wake up and come charging to our defense.
One of the questions this psalm raises is that of sufficient evidence that a past understanding is confirmed. Is it time to continue standing in its light or time to turn out that light so some more helpful glimmer might be glimpsed? So, time for a second thought about our underpinnings - on what are you basing your next action - A past covenant? A newly received prophecy? An openness to either yet to arrive?
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
Covenants and prophecies are only confirmed by their deeds. Here we have a perspective that says a particular understanding of cause and consequence have conspired together to affirm a prior stating of a covenant. And so the appropriate response is, "Praise the Lord" or "Amen" or "So be it".
In the meantime there are other covenants and prophecies that are contended between by those whose world would shake, and for some collapse, should there be a disconfirmation of their particular understanding. Of course there is no need to acknowledge that one's viewpoint has been from a spot built upon a fault-line.
Other psalms bemoan an experienced loss of covenantal or prophetic hope. There are those times when we don't seem to be able to recover from a lack of anticipated victory and give ourselves over to imploring our holiest-of-holies to wake up and come charging to our defense.
One of the questions this psalm raises is that of sufficient evidence that a past understanding is confirmed. Is it time to continue standing in its light or time to turn out that light so some more helpful glimmer might be glimpsed? So, time for a second thought about our underpinnings - on what are you basing your next action - A past covenant? A newly received prophecy? An openness to either yet to arrive?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Genesis 29:15-28
Pentecost + 6 - Year A
Genesis 29:15-28
With a passage like this we could go riding off in all directions. There is no prioritizing of one theme over another. While appreciating a trickster getting tricked, this year I am more interested in a review of what it means to be "wifed".
(21) Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife . . ."
(27) then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.
To be wifed is more than to have been "gone into". Leah had been gone into without being acknowledged as a wife. Child bearer, yes; wife for Jacob, no.
To reduce a relationship to the genitals, as the United Methodist Church as done to define away a gay or lesbian relationship, is to reduce love for Rachel to sex with Leah or one of the maidservants. This is certainly not a story that translates well into our time and place. None-the-less, it is helpful to aid us in not limiting our discriminatory inclinations to simply one style of culturally regulated sexuality.
"Wife", in a relationship of any orientation, is a word loaded with tons of over-tones. It is not a subordinate role or a director-ship. Consider the many ways you have been wifed or you have wifed another - this is not a sex term - it is a relationship beyond gender or role.
Rachel was Jacob's wife more than 14 years before he went into her. For more years than either anticipated, there were no children. Neither a ceremony, nor sexual partnering, nor children make a wife. Rejoice and make a parable out of this story - How would Jesus retell this story to make it come alive again? And you?
Genesis 29:15-28
With a passage like this we could go riding off in all directions. There is no prioritizing of one theme over another. While appreciating a trickster getting tricked, this year I am more interested in a review of what it means to be "wifed".
(21) Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife . . ."
(27) then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.
To be wifed is more than to have been "gone into". Leah had been gone into without being acknowledged as a wife. Child bearer, yes; wife for Jacob, no.
To reduce a relationship to the genitals, as the United Methodist Church as done to define away a gay or lesbian relationship, is to reduce love for Rachel to sex with Leah or one of the maidservants. This is certainly not a story that translates well into our time and place. None-the-less, it is helpful to aid us in not limiting our discriminatory inclinations to simply one style of culturally regulated sexuality.
"Wife", in a relationship of any orientation, is a word loaded with tons of over-tones. It is not a subordinate role or a director-ship. Consider the many ways you have been wifed or you have wifed another - this is not a sex term - it is a relationship beyond gender or role.
Rachel was Jacob's wife more than 14 years before he went into her. For more years than either anticipated, there were no children. Neither a ceremony, nor sexual partnering, nor children make a wife. Rejoice and make a parable out of this story - How would Jesus retell this story to make it come alive again? And you?
Monday, July 18, 2011
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Pentecost + 6 - Year A
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
A bit of this, a byte of that, and pretty soon there is a world-wide system of tubes that allow HOLLERING into and relating within. Lives are destroyed and new life begins. Mustard as weed and parable shines a light on both.
A presence of G*D shows up as a seed in Eden and also east of Eden. This presence also shows up in yeast, treasure-bearing field, and a pearl.
It might be said that everything is a revelation of the presence of G*D and everything can be used to cover said presence. So it is that folks who have a desire, if not yet the experience, of an expansive and expanding presence of G*D, train around the very issue of discernment.
This day will have bits and pieces of everything floating past. How to apply which today, when we might have applied it differently yesterday or will tomorrow, is a key question in a day too easily assigned to a petty pace. By the end of the day you could have a whole moleskine filled with old and new insights freshly applied to the circumstances today offers.
So, pens ready; paper ready; record your parables of life after you have actually applied them to a present opportunity.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
A bit of this, a byte of that, and pretty soon there is a world-wide system of tubes that allow HOLLERING into and relating within. Lives are destroyed and new life begins. Mustard as weed and parable shines a light on both.
A presence of G*D shows up as a seed in Eden and also east of Eden. This presence also shows up in yeast, treasure-bearing field, and a pearl.
It might be said that everything is a revelation of the presence of G*D and everything can be used to cover said presence. So it is that folks who have a desire, if not yet the experience, of an expansive and expanding presence of G*D, train around the very issue of discernment.
This day will have bits and pieces of everything floating past. How to apply which today, when we might have applied it differently yesterday or will tomorrow, is a key question in a day too easily assigned to a petty pace. By the end of the day you could have a whole moleskine filled with old and new insights freshly applied to the circumstances today offers.
So, pens ready; paper ready; record your parables of life after you have actually applied them to a present opportunity.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Romans 8:12-25
Pentecost + 5 - Year A
Romans 8:12-25
Paul seems to have forgotten the parable of wheat and tares. Somehow he sees what he thinks is a way to separate spirit from flesh. Such utopian attempts have long been made in every religious tradition.
It was laborious to separate the cotton from the seed until a gin (engine) was invented for that purpose. Paul seems to think he has invented an equivalent to separate the spirit from the flesh, the wheat from the weed. The Spirit of G*D calls to the spirit of you and perhaps me. In this call only our spirit responds. Pretty neat.
There is still something, though, that reminds Paul (some “thorn”?) that he was still waiting for some adoption of his weedy parts that would redeem them. And so, finally, Paul’s wheatie Grace and weedy Law was going fall back upon hope rather than some technologically neat theology that G*D could and would only be praised by spirit.
Even creedal repetition of “Abba! Father!” is grounded in hope rather than guarantee of this being an “Open Sesame” mantra. And so we continue to labor and groan with wheat and weed and self and other and new creation and hope and, and, and.
Romans 8:12-25
Paul seems to have forgotten the parable of wheat and tares. Somehow he sees what he thinks is a way to separate spirit from flesh. Such utopian attempts have long been made in every religious tradition.
It was laborious to separate the cotton from the seed until a gin (engine) was invented for that purpose. Paul seems to think he has invented an equivalent to separate the spirit from the flesh, the wheat from the weed. The Spirit of G*D calls to the spirit of you and perhaps me. In this call only our spirit responds. Pretty neat.
There is still something, though, that reminds Paul (some “thorn”?) that he was still waiting for some adoption of his weedy parts that would redeem them. And so, finally, Paul’s wheatie Grace and weedy Law was going fall back upon hope rather than some technologically neat theology that G*D could and would only be praised by spirit.
Even creedal repetition of “Abba! Father!” is grounded in hope rather than guarantee of this being an “Open Sesame” mantra. And so we continue to labor and groan with wheat and weed and self and other and new creation and hope and, and, and.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
Pentecost + 5 - Year A
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
When searched and known - weed and wheat seem to be present. Being known doesn’t change the wheat/weed ratio. This combination is visible no matter what the lighting level is or the context within which it is being noticed.
When searched and tested - weed and wheat are still there. If the question is, “Is there any weed in me?”, the response most likely is, “Yep.”
One response to this is overcompensation noted in the elided verses. I loathe any semblance of weed in another. It helps take the searching off myself. Distraction of G*D is a worthy attempt at face-saving, but (see above) it is caught everytime. We can’t shift the blame and get away with it over the long-haul.
We keep wanting to change the test. So instead of wresting with our wheat/weed ratio, we find ways of turn anyone else’s ratio into a 100% conviction rate of their smallest weedy part. Somehow, we think, our perfect hatred of them will excuse our wheat/weed ratio and hide it behind the enormity of another’s wrong.
How pluck the weed from the wheat when they are so intimately bound? Perhaps working on one’s own weeds instead of another’s will offer some hope. What do you think? Will this take genetic modification?
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
When searched and known - weed and wheat seem to be present. Being known doesn’t change the wheat/weed ratio. This combination is visible no matter what the lighting level is or the context within which it is being noticed.
When searched and tested - weed and wheat are still there. If the question is, “Is there any weed in me?”, the response most likely is, “Yep.”
One response to this is overcompensation noted in the elided verses. I loathe any semblance of weed in another. It helps take the searching off myself. Distraction of G*D is a worthy attempt at face-saving, but (see above) it is caught everytime. We can’t shift the blame and get away with it over the long-haul.
We keep wanting to change the test. So instead of wresting with our wheat/weed ratio, we find ways of turn anyone else’s ratio into a 100% conviction rate of their smallest weedy part. Somehow, we think, our perfect hatred of them will excuse our wheat/weed ratio and hide it behind the enormity of another’s wrong.
How pluck the weed from the wheat when they are so intimately bound? Perhaps working on one’s own weeds instead of another’s will offer some hope. What do you think? Will this take genetic modification?
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Genesis 28:10-19a
Pentecost + 5 - Year A
Genesis 28:10-19a
Were Jacob to dream tonight he might not have a static ladder in the background, but a movie visual of a time warp. With all those once predictable stars or angels whooshing by there may still be a moment of foreground revelation that this particular instant is as important in hyperdrive as a starting and ending place.
In this moment there is assurance available - no matter what, we are not alone.
And so we bless the stones in our lives. No matter what form the blessing takes or by what name it is later known - once and forever, a blessing occurred. Whether speeding by or sitting zazen, blessings can be missed - both being recognized and scattered.
May you receive the assurance you need to mosey on to the next part of your journey, strewing blessings along the way, no matter what stone or weed might yet be stumbled over or need to be removed.
Genesis 28:10-19a
Were Jacob to dream tonight he might not have a static ladder in the background, but a movie visual of a time warp. With all those once predictable stars or angels whooshing by there may still be a moment of foreground revelation that this particular instant is as important in hyperdrive as a starting and ending place.
In this moment there is assurance available - no matter what, we are not alone.
And so we bless the stones in our lives. No matter what form the blessing takes or by what name it is later known - once and forever, a blessing occurred. Whether speeding by or sitting zazen, blessings can be missed - both being recognized and scattered.
May you receive the assurance you need to mosey on to the next part of your journey, strewing blessings along the way, no matter what stone or weed might yet be stumbled over or need to be removed.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Pentecost + 5 - Year A
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Again with the explanations! For the crowd that loves explanations - particularly explanations that can be used as a weapon against particular personal identities, who sowed Adam into an early garden? Somehow, while Adam was asleep, a weed grew - Eve. See how easy it becomes to blame women, the weeds of the world.
I’m intrigued with the image of an “enemy” that does the dastardly deed of sowing weeds among the wheat in the dark of night and slips silently away. Every identity issue comes with this same sort of “enemy” that can never quite be identified, but is always on the other side (for G*D is always on our side).
As you look back over a variety of identity politics such as class, race, gender, orientation, aliens, ... pay attention to the shifting excuses that are used to keep the weedy other in their place. More closely identifying this guerilla enemy would more easily help us see that we are talking about ourselves and not another.
The presence of G*D is clarified a bit when we intend to sow good seed and find there are unintended consequences that arise alongside. It is not a matter of some decision to allow the two to grow together, there is no option. This seems to be built into a universe, even one where we attempt to give G*D all the power and wisdom and goodness that is available. From James Weldon Johnson’s poem “Creation”, after G*D has created all the fiddley bits, we hear:
And still a self-image is as shadowy as an undefined enemy. And still G*D is on the side of our best intentions and some enemy must be involved with the blowback from our intended best (however it might be disguised from ourselves).
There seems to be no out here regarding explaining or not. Should we risk not going to an explanation, simply leaving it with a parabolic image, the dangers of being misunderstood or leaving folks confused, open to distilling an unhelpful response, will rise up and cannot be avoided by trying to come up with a univalent explanation. Should we risk giving the latest excuse in a long series for how we are going to cut this Gordian Knot, we will find, like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, that an impending flood has only been sped up.
Blessings on “Let It Be” and not being able to “Let It Be”. You’ve paid your entrance fee, might as well take your chance.
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Again with the explanations! For the crowd that loves explanations - particularly explanations that can be used as a weapon against particular personal identities, who sowed Adam into an early garden? Somehow, while Adam was asleep, a weed grew - Eve. See how easy it becomes to blame women, the weeds of the world.
I’m intrigued with the image of an “enemy” that does the dastardly deed of sowing weeds among the wheat in the dark of night and slips silently away. Every identity issue comes with this same sort of “enemy” that can never quite be identified, but is always on the other side (for G*D is always on our side).
As you look back over a variety of identity politics such as class, race, gender, orientation, aliens, ... pay attention to the shifting excuses that are used to keep the weedy other in their place. More closely identifying this guerilla enemy would more easily help us see that we are talking about ourselves and not another.
The presence of G*D is clarified a bit when we intend to sow good seed and find there are unintended consequences that arise alongside. It is not a matter of some decision to allow the two to grow together, there is no option. This seems to be built into a universe, even one where we attempt to give G*D all the power and wisdom and goodness that is available. From James Weldon Johnson’s poem “Creation”, after G*D has created all the fiddley bits, we hear:
He looked on his world
With all its living things,
And God said: I’m lonely still.
Then God sat down —
On the side of a hill where he could think;
By a deep, wide river he sat down;
With his head in his hands,
God thought and thought,
Till he thought: I’ll make me a man!
. . .
This Great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till he shaped it in his own image....
And still a self-image is as shadowy as an undefined enemy. And still G*D is on the side of our best intentions and some enemy must be involved with the blowback from our intended best (however it might be disguised from ourselves).
There seems to be no out here regarding explaining or not. Should we risk not going to an explanation, simply leaving it with a parabolic image, the dangers of being misunderstood or leaving folks confused, open to distilling an unhelpful response, will rise up and cannot be avoided by trying to come up with a univalent explanation. Should we risk giving the latest excuse in a long series for how we are going to cut this Gordian Knot, we will find, like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, that an impending flood has only been sped up.
Blessings on “Let It Be” and not being able to “Let It Be”. You’ve paid your entrance fee, might as well take your chance.
Friday, July 08, 2011
learning abundance
Pentecost + 4 - Year A
learning abundance
to fisherfolk
farmers are crazy
and vice versa
for fisherfolk to listen
to a farm story
chuckles begin
a sower
sowed everywhere
what a foolish farmer
a sower sowed
on a highway
expecting ocean smelt
farmers - what can be done
with such stick-in-the-muds
but be comic relief
a sower sowed
on rocky ground
hoping for trout in the sea
yes farmers cause us
to lift our face to the wind
and laugh and laugh
a sower sowed
on thorny ground
looking for salmon in a bathtub
oh my farmer friend
monkeys can type a masterpiece
you’ll get it yet - guffaw
a sower sowed
on good soil
a proven fishing ground
finally a farmer finds fruitfulness
whew, couldn’t have taken much more
poor farmer but we’re OK
sheep vs cattle
fisher vs farmer
Esau vs. Jacob
echoing
G*D vs. Adamah
Cain vs. Abel
anticipating
priest vs. prophet
nature vs. nurture
and later asea
no fish today
a rocky day
nets tore again
caught in weeds
all too empty
Hmm
condemnation
haunts our way
our laughter
comes back at us
asking for a new way
no condemnation
for fisher or farmer
trusters both
trusting
this old story
got abundance right
learning abundance
to fisherfolk
farmers are crazy
and vice versa
for fisherfolk to listen
to a farm story
chuckles begin
a sower
sowed everywhere
what a foolish farmer
a sower sowed
on a highway
expecting ocean smelt
farmers - what can be done
with such stick-in-the-muds
but be comic relief
a sower sowed
on rocky ground
hoping for trout in the sea
yes farmers cause us
to lift our face to the wind
and laugh and laugh
a sower sowed
on thorny ground
looking for salmon in a bathtub
oh my farmer friend
monkeys can type a masterpiece
you’ll get it yet - guffaw
a sower sowed
on good soil
a proven fishing ground
finally a farmer finds fruitfulness
whew, couldn’t have taken much more
poor farmer but we’re OK
sheep vs cattle
fisher vs farmer
Esau vs. Jacob
echoing
G*D vs. Adamah
Cain vs. Abel
anticipating
priest vs. prophet
nature vs. nurture
and later asea
no fish today
a rocky day
nets tore again
caught in weeds
all too empty
Hmm
condemnation
haunts our way
our laughter
comes back at us
asking for a new way
no condemnation
for fisher or farmer
trusters both
trusting
this old story
got abundance right
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Romans 8:1-11
Pentecost + 4 - Year A
Romans 8:1-11
If everything that has come into being has done so through Jesus, aka. Christ, logos, how can there be any condemnation?
A spirit of life sets us free from condemning to death or being incapacitated by condemnation.
Any number of obsessions might delay arriving at behaving as though a spirit of life were important to us. These obsessions won't condemn us, just slow us down. They show up in all manner of legalisms, of cutting one another off, of focusing on the unimportant, of pleasing self through an artificial consistency.
In a recently concluded church trial we found that those trying to condemn had to reduce a life orientation to one physical part of the body - the genitalia. This lack of life spirit does not condemn them for attempting to condemn, but does slow down a whole process of G*D re-wrapping creation about G*D. Where once G*D condemned an archetypal Adam and Eve, slowing creation down, G*D is raising all creatures and creation back to life. Some are still stuck on condemnation, G*D’s and their’s, but since Christ is in all, all will be raised.
This is a good time to do a refrigerator chart. On a simple sheet of paper draw a line down the paper to provide two columns - a condemnation column and a raising from the dead column. Periodically jot down the number of times you thought, said, or acted in a manner characterized by one of these columns since your last review. After a couple of days, see if there is a pattern. Do your bio-rhythms affect the chart, the quality of your sleep, the healthiness of your diet, the meditation discipline you follow, the people you spend time with, etc. While the goal is to join a spirit of life in raising new life, the usual pattern is to gently move in that direction, with a step backward every now and then, but generally moving forward. Don’t give up.
Romans 8:1-11
If everything that has come into being has done so through Jesus, aka. Christ, logos, how can there be any condemnation?
A spirit of life sets us free from condemning to death or being incapacitated by condemnation.
Any number of obsessions might delay arriving at behaving as though a spirit of life were important to us. These obsessions won't condemn us, just slow us down. They show up in all manner of legalisms, of cutting one another off, of focusing on the unimportant, of pleasing self through an artificial consistency.
In a recently concluded church trial we found that those trying to condemn had to reduce a life orientation to one physical part of the body - the genitalia. This lack of life spirit does not condemn them for attempting to condemn, but does slow down a whole process of G*D re-wrapping creation about G*D. Where once G*D condemned an archetypal Adam and Eve, slowing creation down, G*D is raising all creatures and creation back to life. Some are still stuck on condemnation, G*D’s and their’s, but since Christ is in all, all will be raised.
This is a good time to do a refrigerator chart. On a simple sheet of paper draw a line down the paper to provide two columns - a condemnation column and a raising from the dead column. Periodically jot down the number of times you thought, said, or acted in a manner characterized by one of these columns since your last review. After a couple of days, see if there is a pattern. Do your bio-rhythms affect the chart, the quality of your sleep, the healthiness of your diet, the meditation discipline you follow, the people you spend time with, etc. While the goal is to join a spirit of life in raising new life, the usual pattern is to gently move in that direction, with a step backward every now and then, but generally moving forward. Don’t give up.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
Pentecost + 4 - Year A
Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
Since we have a potential break after verse 8 or a start up at verse 9, we might wonder about who the “You” is at the beginning. If you start with verse 1 you might be tempted to claim it is G*D. If you were to hand this to someone starting at verse nine, they might think it was about them.
Try reading 9-13 as a reference to yourself. Here is the Common English Translation:
Have you decided something other than to provide for the earth and people?
What then might your decision point to?
How’s that going for you?
Have you recently heard a shout for joy regarding your decisions?
Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
Since we have a potential break after verse 8 or a start up at verse 9, we might wonder about who the “You” is at the beginning. If you start with verse 1 you might be tempted to claim it is G*D. If you were to hand this to someone starting at verse nine, they might think it was about them.
Try reading 9-13 as a reference to yourself. Here is the Common English Translation:
You visit the earth
and make it abundant,
enriching it greatly
by God’s stream, full of water.
You provide people with grain
because that is what you’ve decided.
Drenching the earth’s furrows,
leveling its ridges,
you soften it with rain showers;
you bless its growth.
You crown the year
with your goodness;
your paths overflow with rich food.
Even the desert pastures drip with it,
and the hills are dressed in pure joy.
The meadowlands are covered with flocks,
the valleys decked out in grain—
they shout for joy;
they break out in song!
Have you decided something other than to provide for the earth and people?
What then might your decision point to?
How’s that going for you?
Have you recently heard a shout for joy regarding your decisions?
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Genesis 25:19-34
Pentecost + 4 - Year A
Genesis 25:19-34
There are folks struggling within every denominational polity. Our usual characterization of them is “left” and “right”. A church body has every right to join Rebekah in wondering how it is going to make it.
When Rebekah or the church searches for a larger perspective on what is going to come of this internal struggle, the easy and predictable response is that there is a division coming. A shift from rural to urban is anticipated. A shift from patriarch (Isaac) to matriarch (Rebekah) is already underway. What shift today do you see as building on these shifts of the past?
What do you consider your birthright to be - beloved? assured? - and what is it worth to you? Perhaps the question of Matthew about what sort of seedbed you are, may here be looked at in terms of what kind of seed you are.
At what point do you think Isaac rued having prayed for children by Rebekah? He seems to have gotten more than he expected, which may be as great a difficulty as getting less.
Genesis 25:19-34
There are folks struggling within every denominational polity. Our usual characterization of them is “left” and “right”. A church body has every right to join Rebekah in wondering how it is going to make it.
When Rebekah or the church searches for a larger perspective on what is going to come of this internal struggle, the easy and predictable response is that there is a division coming. A shift from rural to urban is anticipated. A shift from patriarch (Isaac) to matriarch (Rebekah) is already underway. What shift today do you see as building on these shifts of the past?
What do you consider your birthright to be - beloved? assured? - and what is it worth to you? Perhaps the question of Matthew about what sort of seedbed you are, may here be looked at in terms of what kind of seed you are.
At what point do you think Isaac rued having prayed for children by Rebekah? He seems to have gotten more than he expected, which may be as great a difficulty as getting less.
Monday, July 04, 2011
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Pentecost + 4 - Year A
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
After a year and a half of significant work on the Witness Team for Rev. Amy DeLong, LoveOnTrial.org, and the relief of a restorative justice decision by the trial court, I found myself exhausted and amazed. Now it is time to see if I can get back in the swing of consistent lection comments (that they come regularly, not that they are consistent, one comment with another).
= = = = = = =
A parable explained is not a parable - it loses it parabolic arc when squoze down to an explanation and ends up a mere analogy. This is still a good, but no longer a better.
Here's another way of coming at the story, from the point of view of the storyteller. This from Provoking the Gospel of Matthew by Richard Swanson:
In that sort of incongruous setting, here is a parable of the lesbian pastor found at Crossing the Lines blog by Tyler Schwaller:
Who might the audience be? Will they laugh in solidarity, recognition, impossibility?
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
After a year and a half of significant work on the Witness Team for Rev. Amy DeLong, LoveOnTrial.org, and the relief of a restorative justice decision by the trial court, I found myself exhausted and amazed. Now it is time to see if I can get back in the swing of consistent lection comments (that they come regularly, not that they are consistent, one comment with another).
= = = = = = =
A parable explained is not a parable - it loses it parabolic arc when squoze down to an explanation and ends up a mere analogy. This is still a good, but no longer a better.
Here's another way of coming at the story, from the point of view of the storyteller. This from Provoking the Gospel of Matthew by Richard Swanson:
But the moment that catches my ritual eye most is the moment in the story when Jesus reports the harvest produced by the seed that falls on beautiful soil. Some seed produces a hundredfold. I imagine that the audience laughs at this point. Any farmer in the audience would have known that, if this seed is wheat, no wheat in the ancient world could produce a hundredfold. So, after the chuckle dies down, Jesus says: Well, then, how about sixtyfold? Another laugh. Sixty fold is still too high. Again the chuckle dies down. Again Jesus takes another try, and this time names a yield that would (at least nearly) lie in the realm of possibility.
. . . Now all that remains is to figure out why he's telling stories about farming when he is sitting in a boat with a shore full of fishing folk in front of him.
In that sort of incongruous setting, here is a parable of the lesbian pastor found at Crossing the Lines blog by Tyler Schwaller:
She was one of those liberated folks, one of those people who knows and trusts the love and grace God brings into her life, even in ways that others don’t expect. But this one went too far. She was nourished by love for, from, and with another woman, and this was against the rules. You know how those United Methodists are about their rules! The rule keepers asked how she could do what was not lawful and still remain in the church.
She answered, “The church was made for humankind and not humankind for the church.”
Then, as she stood within that church, two women approached her. They had been harmed by the church before, but through the grace and mercy shared by this spirit-filled pastor, healing began. Because they believed in God, they sought the blessing of the minister for their holy union.
The pastor asked those who would stifle her, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm in the church, to save life or to kill?” Though she was grieved at the hardness of hearts in the United Methodist Church, she extended a hand of blessing.
Who might the audience be? Will they laugh in solidarity, recognition, impossibility?
Friday, July 01, 2011
Romans 7:15-25a
Pentecost + 3 - Year A
Romans 7:15-25a
So many fractures in life.
death - life
sin - good
mind - flesh
spirit - body
law within - law without
No wonder Paul finally exclaims - I'm Wretched.
I recommend a book by RW "Obie" Holmen, “A Wretched Man: A Novel of Paul the Apostle” wherein much good contemporary scholarship is conveyed in novel form. It will get your thinker going again.
Where is the going on?
From the cross Jesus cried out, “I commend my life.”
In Paul’s last days we might hear him finally say, “Catch me.”
In these two we find parentheses, fore and aft, of lives well-lived - From grace to draw near to G*D as a life’s work to finally allowing grace to simply proceed in the midst of all the contradictions and paradoxes and blockages of life. Wherever you are on that spectrum, rejoice.
Romans 7:15-25a
So many fractures in life.
death - life
sin - good
mind - flesh
spirit - body
law within - law without
No wonder Paul finally exclaims - I'm Wretched.
I recommend a book by RW "Obie" Holmen, “A Wretched Man: A Novel of Paul the Apostle” wherein much good contemporary scholarship is conveyed in novel form. It will get your thinker going again.
Where is the going on?
From the cross Jesus cried out, “I commend my life.”
In Paul’s last days we might hear him finally say, “Catch me.”
In these two we find parentheses, fore and aft, of lives well-lived - From grace to draw near to G*D as a life’s work to finally allowing grace to simply proceed in the midst of all the contradictions and paradoxes and blockages of life. Wherever you are on that spectrum, rejoice.
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