Numbers 6:22-27

Year A - “Holy Name” of Jesus - Naming Day

January 1, 2014

Numbers 6:22-27

We often talk about the importance of the name of Jesus. In and of itself, it is inconsequencial. Let’s shift, for a moment, away from naming Jesus to what Jesus might name as his life-work. Might it be to reveal a blessing as a Way with G*D?

Christmas angels and Baptismal doves and Locked Room fires still echo down the years, “Thus you shall bless.” Does that sound like Jesus? Listen to him saying to you and to all, 

Bless you.
I affirm you.
A light of grace surround you.
A smile of peace be yours.

This, then, becomes a common journey of those on a Way with G*D. Don’t just bless Jesus’ name (as Jesus reminds us, just saying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus still takes $4+ to get a cup of Starbucks and is no heavenly ticket). Rather, be blessed and bless.  

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

Year A - New Years

January 1, 2014

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

Would that we had a better sense of past and future. This is not to be able to outdo G*D, but to better find our place of “enough” which is an important source of happiness.

Our sense of the future is always rosier than our actions of the day warrant. We are very capable of taking a piece of today and extrapolating it into a utopia. We can conveniently ignore all the intended and unintended consequences of breaking relationships with one another over the slightest of slights that we let build up over time. A more realistic view of what a possible next step is in light of a much larger step that will then become possible is sadly lacking. We don’t educate for tomorrow by learning how to learn and teaching to the test will never prepare us for a new opportunity.

Our sense of the past is always truncated and revised according to what will serve us in the present. History books for elementary and secondary students are notoriously written from a perspective that justifies the power arrangements of the present. We could help ourselves immensely by sharpening decision-making based on what actually brought us to this current moment. Our tendency to turn inconvenient prophets into acceptable saints is long and storied. In so doing we remove their power and put it in the hands of the reigning paradigm.

There is a time and a season for every matter. That is now. This is not an easy place to live in. Note the dualities mentioned here that are available at every moment. This is the business G*D has placed before us—choice. Will you eat of one tree or another or none? Will you still walk and talk together in the cool of the evening, even of hard things and confessions, or not? Will you be your sister and brother’s keeper, or not? Will you be realistic about your past and practical about your future, or not? Will you expand those categories to our past and our future, or not?

If you saw your context being that of abundance to eat and drink and the ever availability of pleasure, would your choice to keep or throw away be different? Would you stay and work where you are or would you pick up and shift to other work?

These are not so much resolutions as foundations for being blessed and blessing. May this time next year find you more clearly blessed and more evidently blessing.

Jeremiah 31:7-14 or Sirach 24:1-12

Year A - Christmas 2 - Blessed Body ^[2]

January 5, 2014

Jeremiah 31:7-14 or Sirach 24:1-12

Do those exiled still have honor? It is so easy to discount them. Often we act as though they are dishonorable, lazy, guilty, and sinful even as we mouth that they are of sacred worth.

From Jeremiah, hear that the exiles shall return under the banner of “Together”. This is not just about “them” returning, but that we are also exiled in place without their presence. It is “together” that we find a return, a redemption, and a promise to be together. If this is to come to pass we cannot languish by refusing to honor one another.

From Sirach, hear that G*D takes root in “an honored people”. Wherever you are, ask who is not being honored. There is your work for the moment. It may be to disclose your own worth and to claim it. It may be to advocate for another whose worth has been devalued and to affirm it.

These passages bring light in their enfleshing qualities of “together” and “honor”. When we are not about the business of togethering and honoring, we are slowly and surely dimming hope and abandoning a common-wealth.

Luke 2:15-21

Year A - “Holy Name” of Jesus - Naming Day

January 1, 2014

Luke 2:15-21

Let’s go see about what can be trusted in life. Hearing angels is one thing; finding a promise is quite another.

What needs checking on to see whether it holds up or not? We all carry old promises along. Sometimes we think a promise is the reality, when it has actually become a shield against what can be experienced. Sometimes we need to say, “I think we heard it wrong. Life isn’t over there in Bethlehem, but right here in the field. The angels hearkened unto us about us, about what is born in us this day.”

After eight days we can say, “Yes, the baby is still alive and ready for a name”. Until this marker of viability is present, there is no reality to a baby. For some preemies this takes a year or more. In today’s medical world eight days can be reduced, but not always. Life takes testing to see if this is something that is going to last. The same is true of relationships. Some form quickly; some take longer.

Let’s not be too quick to claim the fulfillment of a promise. Let’s not be too slow to claim there is more community available than we now have. With these two processes we can both treasure and ponder. Both are important; treasuring what has come forth and pondering what else is on the way.

Matthew 25:31-46

Year A - New Year’s Day

January 1, 2014

Matthew 25:31-46

Here is another Day of Resolution. How nitty-gritty are you willing to get.

I resolve to work on both the personal and structural realities of hunger.
I resolve to work on both the firsthand and business realities of clean water.
I resolve to work on both the interpersonal and institutional realities of welcome.
I resolve to work on both the charitable and corporate realities of shelter.
I resolve to work on both the singular and societal realities of prison.

That will be sufficient for one year; for one lifetime. Working on any one of these will get you trouble with family, friends, and community. I pray you are up to facing the consequences of not attending to these resolutions, for they will come around and not just in some final judgment sort of way.

Based on the resolutions and enactments of this day, there will be positive or negative consequences for the next seven generations. Will we care for them as much as we do for our own immediate comfort? Aye, there's a rub.

- - - - - - -

If you need another prod to significantly resolve, read this conclusion to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech on the Four Freedoms with the refrain, "Everywhere". [Epiphany (January 6) 1941]

Certainly this is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of the social revolution which is today a supreme factor in the world. For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. 

The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are: 

• Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
• Jobs for those who can work.
• Security for those who need it.
• The ending of special privilege for the few.
• The preservation of civil liberties for all.
• The enjoyment -- The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living. 

These are the simple, the basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations. 

Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples: 

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance 

We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care. 

We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it. 

I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying for today. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation. 

If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting patriotism ahead pocketbooks, will give you their applause. 

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. 

The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world. 

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world. 

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world. 

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world. 

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called “new order” of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb. 

To that new order we oppose the greater conception -- the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear. 

Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society. 

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

Year A - Christmas 2 - Blessed Body ^[2]

January 5, 2014

John 1:(1-9), 10-18

When a Word becomes Flesh we need to pay attention to fleshy things like human experience.

Our temptation is to rank Word before Flesh, but without a full partnership it makes no sense to speak of either. Here is whatever “glory” is: “Among”. No “among”; no “glory”.

Interested in grace and truth? They are found in lived experience. It is this fullness of grace and truth, word and flesh, that continues to call us beyond our current limitations. All of this is made known in our experience.

Note: this is not to elevate experience above word and flesh, but to indicate that they cannot have meaning separated from experience. We dilute our meaning when we fail to let this trinity play together—experience, flesh, and word.

- - - - - - -

Here is an article you may appreciate to remember, "And the Word became flesh, and moved into the neighborhood."

Titus 2:11-14

Year A - Christmas Eve - Blessed Body

December 24, 2013

Titus 2:11-14

There is the usual religious jargon here. We have heard all this in the context of a preconceived plan for redemption through sacrifice.

Here is one simplification:

• grace draws us closer to wholeness and health
• this is done through training (gestation)
• we practice not doing harm even though harm to others can benefits us
• we practice doing good through centered behavior
• in this we anticipate transformations and stages to come
• and deepen our zealousness for good deeds in the present

Look to the tradition of Jesus for models to practice. Look beyond the tradition of Jesus for models to practice. One source for this expansion is this note from The New Community Bible:

Such an openness leads to the enrichment and not to the impoverishment of the biblical message and of our faith. “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She looks with sincere respect upon these ways of conduct and of life, those rules and teachings, which though differing in many particulars from what she holds and sets forth, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men....prudently and lovingly, through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, and in witness of Christian faith and life, acknowledge, preserve and promote the spiritual and moral goods found in these men, as well as the values in their society and culture” (Vat.II, Nostra Aetate, 2).

Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12)

Year A - Christmas Day - Blessed Body

December 25, 2013

Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12)

Interpretation is key to the quotes. These references are from the past to who knows whom and some all too clearly to a specific person of yore. To apply them here is a prime example of proving what you want by selective quoting.

The presumption is a patriarchal “Son” and so we force the world to conform to our preconceptions.

Beware when Jesus becomes more important than anything else. When this happens you go through life with the eternal Sunday School response to every question: Jesus! It then becomes all too easy to lose a Neighb*r in order to maintain a Christ.

Compare Isaiah on servanthood with Hebrews on majesty to get a feel for an important biblical tension. For a moment erase these quotations from the story and see what incidents from your life you would put in their place to honor all who live as though they were partnered with G*D.

Hebrews 2:10-18

Year A - Christmas 1 - Blessed Body ^[1]

December 29, 2013

Hebrews 2:10-18

We ought be careful about equating suffering with death. Suffering came to Mary with the announcement; it is not easy to say, “Let it be.” Suffering came to Joseph, “What am I do do with Mary?” Suffering was present with decisions to be made by Shepherds and Magi. Suffering was with Rachel.2 and the populace in general. Suffering continues; it is not just about death.

Suffering is never just a test to pass. It is true to the bone or it is not suffering. It does not have an automatic ability to grant compassion. For all too many, even small suffering brings great bitterness.

Folks in that day, like today, are held in the slavery of fear, but not to death—to survival. For now it is enough to remember birth-pangs and all that needs pondering and treasuring about this one small event of birth in the midst of a sea of trouble. The future proceeds from every beginning and new beginning. It proceeds from your birth as well as Jesus’. Honor birth. Tomorrow is sufficient for its time. Right now, birth is sufficient for this time.

Psalm 148

Year A - Christmas 1 - Blessed Body ^[1]

December 29, 2013

Psalm 148

The very stars announce a very present time of Thanksgiving. All who hearken unto these messengers become messengers of joy.

In a time of turmoil and travail the background and hope is that of joy, of blessing. Rachels everywhere, mourners in their specific reality of loss, need to weep so well that tears tear at a given facade of intended and unintended suffering.

This psalm is not to cut grief short, but to remind us of a key ingredient of creation, a fecundity of thanks that eventually re-places lives into good soil of connected community after they have been plowed up and left to molder on the surface of events.

With birth begun and short lives cut short, we are in another Saturday before Easter Sunday time of emptiness. On the horizon of every time of dismay, Joy still beams down a far-broadening way. We can not only tell our story as it has come to us, but to begin telling it as it might yet be. 

Courage folks, the Church year is just beginning. It will call for your body to be engaged until it is worn away or taken away. 

Psalm 98

Year A - Christmas Day - Blessed Body

December 25, 2013

Psalm 98

Perhaps not, “O sing to the Lord a new song”, as much as, “G*D sings a new song”.

G*D sings a new song, injecting a newness into expected fate.
G*D is intentional in this, working with what is.

Though begun quietly enough, this song is increasingly sung.
Life, no matter how held in abeyance, goes on again.

Steadfast love and steady trust have set a forward-leaning heartbeat.
Joy breaks free from distance and bursts onward.

With musical instrument and nature’s infinite variety,
Equity’s theme becomes transcendent.

Note: G*D is not G*D without our partnership and so we, too, sing a new song.

Psalm 96

Year A - Christmas Eve - Blessed Body

December 24, 2013

Psalm 96

A world firmly established is a world mature enough to adapt, adopt, and change. Such a world will not get caught in a heresy of never moving onward.

In moving on we find a new set of lenses through which to view our situation. We can see more deeply and view others through the twin lens of honor and majesty—qualities in everyone, no matter how covered in dysfunction or adulation.

In moving on we find our own strength and beauty to be affirmed and available in every moment of transition or trial.

Honor and majesty; strength and beauty; exult and rejoice. Sing for joy and in joy and with joy. When we return or remain in these, we gladden the heart of trees and take another step toward, “all manner of things shall be well.”

Isaiah 63:7-9

Year A - Christmas 1 - Blessed Body ^[1]

December 29, 2013

Isaiah 63:7-9

An interesting juxtaposition of a slaughter of innocents and gracious deeds of G*D. For extra credit compare and contrast the pericopes of the day without conflating or reconciling them.

For the moment, focus on verse 9.

NRSV: 

   ... in all their distress.
It was no messenger or angel
   but his presence that saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
   he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

The Inclusive Bible:

In all their distress, O God, you were distressed,
and the angel of your Presence saved them;
you redeemed them out of deep love
and profound mercy;
you lifted them up and carried them
from time immemorial. 

So, for you, are love and mercy mediated or not? This is as good a measure of our different approaches to life as any scale. One is not inherently better than the other, but they do not live easily with each other. They can inform each other, but are often trying to convince the other experience of the rightness of their way.

As we proceed from Christmas there are a multitude of understandings of such an event or story. It will be interesting to track how this difference shows up in other venues of life. Try substituting “Bible” for angel and see what happens. How about if you substitute “nation” or “money” or another of your favorite virtues?

Isaiah 52:7-10

Year A - Christmas Day - Blessed Body

December 25, 2013

Isaiah 52:7-10

How beautiful are mountain feet running to announce peace. 

How beautiful are manger feet walking to live peace

We sing for joy amid past ruins as we live our hope for restoration.

We sing for joy amid present ruination as we live our hope before resurrection.

Whether from the past to the present or from the present to the future, we see and invest in health and wholeness for ourselves and all.

Isaiah 9:2-7

Year A - Christmas Eve - Blessed Body

December 24, 2013

Isaiah 9:2-7

It is often easier to see strengths in others that are not recognized within one’s self. It is important to keep a connection between the individual and the community. Likewise to connect ourself with another.

In this case try putting this list of leadership qualities into your own life. Here is the list from The Inclusive Bible:

Wise Guide
Strength of G*D
Eternal Protector
Champion of Peace

Admittedly these are ideals and we need to recognize how the wisest among us fall from pedestals, those we rely upon for strength falter, our desired protectors fail, and champions forget the on-goingness of their call. Yet we cannot discount the wisdom, strength, protection, and peace  and our part in their health.

Your manger’s worth of these qualities, added to those of others, promise transformation of night to day and dismay to song.

Matthew 2:13-23

Year A - Christmas 1 - Blessed Body ^[1]

December 29, 2013

Matthew 2:13-23

Profit and Power tempt us to extinguish those we deem to be expendable or questioning of such motivations. We have a difficult time separating these tools from their ends.

As Herod slaughters boy babies, Pharaoh is recapitulated. We are more sophisticated these days. Note the percentage of Black and Latino males who are entombed in prison for non-violent crimes and ask if the slaughter continues under our watch. Complicity, thou art us.

Obviously slaughter is not the only measure here. Consider the plight of refugees everywhere. This is precursor to the need for a new Exodus.

This is depictable in Syria, Sudan, and elsewhere. Try this picture in the context of India (you can also read more about the New Christian Community Bible that I am trying out this year).

John 1:1-14

Year A - Christmas Day - Blessed Body

December 25, 2013

John 1:1-14

How do you translate verse 5?

What doesn’t darkness do in relationship to light? 

   doesn’t overcome it?

   doesn’t extinguish it?

   doesn’t understand it?

   doesn’t comprehend it?

   doesn’t put it out?

   doesn’t perceive it?

Now, what does darkness do in relationship to light?

   revel in it?

   revile it?

   reveal it?

   ...?

Does it feel like you are as far removed from importance as a manger? Perhaps you forgot to see the light that is continuing where you are. To be a holder of food, a place of feasting, is to be light. Look again. 

Luke 2:1-20

Year A - Christmas Eve - Blessed Body

December 24, 2013

Luke 2:1-20

A context for the articles of our faith is the political situation of the day. Of course there is consistency of cycles of politics over time, but G*D is always connected with history. An ahistorical, eternal-in-the-heavens G*D is political rhetoric for power. Those who control the future control the present (as well as those who control the past, control the present).

For both the futurists and traditionalists among us, pay attention to power issues of the day. If it is as pervasive as the Roman rule of Palestine/Israel, it will be important to find an out-of-the-way place to begin your prophecy or it will come to naught. It wouldn't hurt to also pay attention to the limits of your vision or your remembrance and to be a bit humble about it.

Later on your humility may be remembered as a virtue even though it is simply a practical matter for now. 

---

For those who need one more prod to invest in our book of comments on Year A, here is another sample. 

- - -

You! Remind G*D! 

You! Give G*D no rest! 

You! Prepare for a place of peace to be established!

You! Build up! Build up!

You! Build righteousness!

You! Build justice!

You! You know ... go ahead!

So shepherds in the fields abiding, far from respectability, honor, wealth, or power have this mercy offered—a light, a song, a sign, a witness. Wise shepherds that they be, they look and listen and come and go.

This is a model of being a Christ-bearer—a Christopher Christmas, if you will. It is so valuable that Jesus models himself after shepherds. 

what we treasure most
we shine with pondering
turning it this way
and that

through this pondering
a treasure outgrows our grasp
loosing it here
and there

humble words stir up
remembrances of holy experience come
root words ground
expectations of holy boldness to come

fearless news
joyful people

let’s go, shepherds, peace is promised
let’s ponder, with Mary, peace
let’s return, shepherds, with a song of peace on earth
let’s treasure, with Mary, a favoring of peace for all

birth's day

Year A - Advent 4 - Needed Change ⁴

December 22, 2013

birth's day

now

the birth

took place

this way 

. . . .

then

the birth

took place

in a usual

way

tomorrow

the birth

took place

in its own

context

whenever

a birth

takes place

we release

a next generation

whatever

a birth

means

comes

later

for now

your birth

is today

so what

will come

choose a sign

shine forth

enflesh a promise

for one

and all

Romans 1:1-7

Year A - Advent 4 - Needed Change ⁴
December 22, 2013
Romans 1:1-7

If you are reading either the KJV or the NRSV and not breathing hard at the end of a 7 verse sentence, you weren’t paying attention as you went along. It will take an accomplished Shakespearean actor to come close to giving this justice. It will be all too easy to proof text from this complex assertion.

In coming to this section it is good to hear the confession of N. T. Wright in The New Interpreter’s Bible: “Perhaps not surprisingly, it remains the case that anyone who claims to understand Romans fully is, almost by definition, mistaken. It is common to list saints and Christian leaders whose lives have been changed by reading this letter; the catalog could be balanced by a similar number who have radically misunderstood it. Troublingly, the lists would overlap.”

The New Community Bible delineates some of the different paths found here: “Numerous theological notions have been derived solely or in part from Romans. Augustine acquired his idea of original sin from Romans 5; Luther gained his understanding of justification by faith alone from Romans 3-4; Calvin obtained his doctrine of predestination from Romans 9-11. John Wesley got his distinctive teaching on sanctification from Romans 6 and 8, and Karl Barth learned of the importance of the righteousness of God from Rom 1 and 2.”

The Common English Bible, among many others, breaks this into sentences (CEB version). They also note in their Study Bible, “Paul introduces himself, the good news (or “gospel”) he proclaims, Jesus as the content of the good news, and his reader’s participation in it.”

In all the G*D and Jesus talk it will be very easy to overlook an important participation phrase—Through Jesus we have received grace and apostleship/appointment to graceful living.

Which of these translations are you Adventing toward?

... to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles

... to bring all Gentiles to faithful obedience

Are you oriented toward order or grace? Yes, too broadly put and open to “radical misunderstanding”, but asked anyway.