Getting the Whole Message

July 4, 2023 in Other Reflections, Stewardship | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

We see it in many places – on church signs, billboards, tee shirts, and bumper stickers: “God loves you. No exceptions.” It’s a good message, and one which we desperately need to hear. It’s an important message; it’s important enough that God sent his son to deliver the message (I John 4:9). We announce it to the world, and that is very good. However, it is more than an announcement, and sometimes we fail to see, or to communicate, the rest of the message.

An illustration can help us understand the full message. Remember a time when you were dating someone. You had been dating for a while and your feelings had grown deeper. A time comes when you want to utter those three little words. With warmth, and perhaps a bit of trepidation, you say, “I love you.” Many of us are nervous the first time we speak of our love in a relationship. We’re nervous because we’re doing more than acknowledging our feelings. What we are actually saying is, “I love you. Do you love me, too? Will we have a relationship and share our lives with each other?

Friends, when God says, “I love you,” God is also asking us to love him as well, and to have a relationship and share our lives with him. It isn’t just a declaration; it’s also an invitation. Being loved is great, but a love relationship cannot be one-sided. We need to respond to God’s love by loving God. Our immediate response is, “Of course, I love God! Who wouldn’t?” But do we actually love God? Do our actions demonstrate the love of God in our lives?

Think of the things one does when one loves someone. Two people in love spend time together; they talk with each other. Sometimes they just gaze into each other’s eyes. They assist each other in meeting the needs of life. They look out for each other.

God does this in his relationship with us. Who can deny that God meets our needs? God showers us with gifts. In fact, everything we have was given to us by God. God seeks us, primarily by sending his son to spread the good news (John 3:16), but also by prompting us in a small voice or through the words of others. If we think that God has not been seeking us or trying to speak with us, then the problem is that we haven’t been paying attention. Sometimes in a relationship, a person fails to pay sufficient attention to the partner. In a human relationship, this can lead to a breakup, or in a marriage, to divorce. In our relationship with God, however, it leads to God trying again to build the relationship by continuing to seek us and to get our attention. The Hebrew prophets, particularly Hosea, often speak of God’s relentless attempts to have a relationship with us.

I think that we are all in a relationship with God. It may be a good relationship, or it may be a failing one. How do we improve the relationship? What does our love of God require of us? Or, thinking of it another way, what actions spring from our love of God? What shows that we love God?

Spending time with God is one part of the relationship. This takes effort, as we all have pressures on our lives and demands on our time. One of the collects in Morning Prayer addresses this problem: Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, p.100) This is an excellent morning prayer as it moves us in the direction of our God.

What shall we do during our days to demonstrate our love for God? We can spend 15 or 20 minutes a day saying Morning or Evening Prayer (Book of Common Prayer, pp. 74 ff). How about spending one or two hours a week in Bible study, alone or in a group, to learn more about God’s recorded words to his people? We can gather with our brothers and sisters for Sunday worship each week. We can’t love God without loving our brothers and sisters (I John 4:21) – we should pray each day for those in need. We can give 10% of our income to support the church and people who are less fortunate than we. We can spend time in volunteer activities assisting brothers and sisters in need. We can actively engage with scripture seeking to hear what God is saying. We can sit quietly and listen for God’s voice. We can thank God for the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the houses in which we live. We can speak words of encouragement to others and strive to build up others instead of tearing them down. We can tell others of the good news that Jesus came to save us, and that salvation is free and plentiful. We should serve as witnesses to God’s good work in our lives and in the world. We show our love for God by living godly lives.

These things are signs of our love for God. They have been recognized for many centuries as essential outcomes of love. The books of Moses, particularly Deuteronomy, the teachings of the prophets, the gospels, and the epistles discuss these as needful activities. If we fail in these areas, then we need to scrutinize our relationship with God and ask whether we are properly responding to the announcement of God’s love. All relationships entail obligations; a one-sided relationship isn’t actually a relationship at all – it’s exploitation.God wants to have a serious, mature, loving relationship with each of us, and that requires that we respond appropriately to God’s invitation. Jesus told the apostles, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Loving God flows into doing God’s will and following God’s directives. And, though it may seem odd, following God’s commandments will increase our love for God. God’s directives are not given to “keep us in line” but rather to help us grow and mature.

When you read, “God loves you. No exceptions,” understand the full message. Acknowledge it not only as an announcement but as an invitation. Respond to the invitation. Love God. Love your brothers and sisters, and friends and enemies, and act accordingly.

May God help us as we strive to show God’s love to the world.

“Mary.” “Teacher!”

May 30, 2023 in scripture | Tags: | Leave a comment

The post resurrection appearances of Jesus have a bit of oddness in them; oddness beyond someone returning from the dead. Disciples saw the risen Jesus and didn’t immediately recognize him. Then in an ordinary act of speaking a name (John 20:14-16) or breaking bread (Luke 24:13-32) they recognize him as their risen Lord. These people who knew him well for years didn’t know who he was. This is odd. But even odder is that when Jesus did something ordinary then their “eyes were opened” and they knew who he was. People who had walked and talked with him, who knew him well, didn’t at first realize who they were seeing. There was a sameness and a strangeness about Jesus.

At first I thought the disciples didn’t recognize Jesus because he had been glorified through his passion and resurrection and thus appeared “other worldly”. But this idea doesn’t pan out. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, Peter, James and John didn’t get confused about Jesus’ identity (Matt 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8). More to the point, when Mary fails to recognize Jesus, she thinks that he is the gardener, and the disciples on the road to Emmaus think that Jesus is a stranger in Jerusalem for the feast. These are very normal, very human roles. They noticed nothing “other worldly” or “supernatural” about Jesus before recognizing him. They didn’t mistake him for an angel. So why didn’t these friends of many years recognize the risen Lord?

Another interesting aspect of the post resurrection appearances is that Jesus impresses upon the disciples that he is still human. After spending much of his ministry trying to get them to understand that he was the Son of God (John 14:9), the resurrected Jesus now makes it clear that he is human, and not an angel or a spirit. Jesus tells Thomas to touch his hands and sides so that Thomas may be certain of Jesus’ physicality (John 20:27).

One of my favorite episodes in the gospels is another occasion when Jesus shows his humanness. Luke 24:36-42 tells us that Jesus suddenly appeared to the disciples in a room with the doors shut. Not surprisingly, the disciples were startled. Jesus greets them and tells them not to be afraid, and shows his hands and feet to prove that he was not an angel or spirit. Then Jesus asked for something to eat. Picture the scene: the Son of God who suffered, died, and resurrected appears in a room with the doors shut. He greets them and shows the marks of his passion and death. The disciples probably expected Jesus to give some advice, to say something about the Father, or to recite another puzzling parable. They expected something profound. But what does Jesus say? “Do you have anything to eat?” What could be more human than to ask a friend for something to eat? It’s an everyday question, and Jesus asks it after demonstrating that he’s been resurrected from the dead! If this were a sitcom or a movie, rather than scripture, we would laugh at the sudden shift from the lofty to the mundane. But it’s scripture, and it’s Jesus impressing his followers that he is the same Jesus even though there is a strangeness about him. Since it’s scripture, we’re too polite to laugh, but perhaps we should at least chuckle because being humorous is also a very human trait. (John 21:4-13 tells another episode where the risen Lord ate with the disciples, but the story is more solemn as Jesus had an issue to settle with Peter. But it also demonstrates Jesus’ humanity.)

Why didn’t the disciples recognize Jesus? What was strange about him? Why did he make such an effort to show that he was still human, still flesh and bone? I think the answer is that the resurrected, glorified Lord was more human than before. Jesus, through his life, death, and resurrection was the human which God intended us all to be. Humans were created in God’s image to bear the image of God in the world. But sin tarnished that image; sin covered it so that humans fail to bear God’s image. Jesus was perfected, having always said “yes” to God (2 Cor 1:19) and having never sinned. His earthly ministry complete, Jesus was resurrected and crowned with the glory not only of the Father, but also with the glory God intended for all humans. Jesus was the “new Adam” (Rom 5:12-17); an obedient, image-of-God-bearing human. He was human perfection even as he was the Son of God.

The sameness was that Jesus was still human; the strangeness was that he was a perfect human. I have never seen the resurrected Jesus as Paul did, and some others claim to have. My portrait of Jesus comes from the gospels. It’s comforting and warming to read of Jesus disclosing God as a loving, forgiving, caring creator and parent. It’s not easy to read of Jesus as the perfect praying, worshiping, giving, serving, forgiving, and caring human, and realizing that this is what God asks us to become. It is a high standard and it is difficult to obtain. But it is what we were created to be, and we will never be fully satisfied or happy until we attain it. As we strive for the goal, we shouldn’t be surprised if sometimes someone notices something “strange” about us. In fact, they should.

A Hard Saying

April 1, 2023 in Other Reflections, Prayer, scripture | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Bible students and commentators sometimes speak of “the hard sayings of Jesus”. These are teachings which Jesus gave and they are hard for two reasons: first, because they are difficult to do; and second, they are “hard and fast”, that is, there is no leeway in the saying. I think most of us would agree that Jesus’ teachings regarding the treatment of our enemies are hard sayings.

Jesus is very clear in stating how we should act toward those who wrong us. We are told to pray for them and forgive them (Matt 5:44, Luke 6:28, Luke 11:4), and we are told to forgive repeatedly (Matt 18:22, Luke 17:4). Taking these teachings seriously leads to a difficult life. If someone hurts me, my inclination is to hurt them back; hit me and I’ll hit you harder; I’ll teach you a lesson. But Jesus says, “No.” Jesus says don’t hit them back (Matt 5:39, Luke 6:29). Yes, you’ll teach them a lesson – the lesson of love and forgiveness, not of revenge.

It is far from easy to forgive, truly forgive, someone who has wronged me. It takes time and effort; the greater the offense the more time and effort it takes. We are called to this hard work, and Jesus does not allow any way to sidestep it. In fact, Jesus says that God’s forgiveness of my sins is linked to my forgiveness of sins against me. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt 6:14,15). That is very clear, and very frightening.

It sounds like a threat, or that God’s forgiveness is given after I have earned it by forgiving someone else. However, we know that all of God’s gifts are mercies and that we can never earn any of them. Bishop N.T. Wright gives us a way to understand the relationship between forgiving and being forgiven. Think of forgiveness as a door in your spirit. God’s forgiveness comes through this door and the forgiveness you give to others goes out the door. If you shut the door and don’t allow forgiveness to go out to others, then God’s forgiveness cannot come in. The door must be open, and being open, forgiveness flows both ways. Forgiving and being forgiven is not a quid pro quo but rather a sharing of the grace of God. Through grace God forgives me, and through grace I forgive others. The gifts of God are meant to be shared and this includes the gift of forgiveness.

Loving one’s enemies works in a similar fashion. God’s love is given to us, and that love is meant to be shared. We are to display God’s love just as God displayed it. God’s love was displayed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We are called to display God’s love through service to others by following the example of Jesus. We are called to serve our enemies no less than our friends. In Lent, and especially during Holy Week, we are taught of Jesus’ service to his disciples and to us. This love, this life of Jesus, included loving and forgiving those who wronged him, both friends (such as Peter) and enemies (those who called for his crucifixion).

Forgiving and loving one’s enemies takes time. It may take years. It takes diligent prayer, hard work, and commitment. But it is the work to which we are called: to promote healing and love in a broken and offensive world. As we forgive and love, we find ourselves forgiven and loved, and we also find hope for our despairing world.

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

February 5, 2023 in Prayer, scripture | Leave a comment

Prayer is a basic (and vital) aspect of the Christian life. The disciples asked Jesus for guidance in how to pray, and his response is known to us as the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11; Matt 6). It is a widely used prayer and it is included in all the services in the Book of Common Prayer. The prayer is not long (it can be recited at a reverent pace in less than a minute) but it is packed with meaning. Because there is so much included in the prayer, a worthwhile practice is to work through the prayer slowly with time spent considering the implications of the phrases.

The prayer begins, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name….” We acknowledge our relationship to God as our creator, parent, and sustainer. And we affirm the holiness of God by reverencing the Name. Then we ask that “… your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.” We desire the fullness of God’s kingdom throughout creation and request that God’s will be done. This means that we must subjugate our will to God’s; God’s complete reign requires that we put aside our vision for the future and accept God’s. We pray that God will guide us by revealing God’s will and will support us in putting aside our selfish desires so that we can follow God’s will.

We are all completely dependent upon God, and the prayer offers a simple plea: “Give us today our daily bread.” We ask God to provide the things we need to maintain our lives. The text seems to focus on food but we need to understand ‘bread’ (aka “the staff of life”) in a very broad sense. We ask God for the things needed to sustain our lives and to help us grow. This includes physical things such as food and shelter, but also people, significant relationships, communities, and even government. And we ask these things not for ourselves alone, or only for those dear to us, but for all people – ‘us’ is everyone.

The next line in the prayer is a hard one as we ask God to “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” It is difficult to forgive someone who has deliberately hurt me but that is what I am called to do. God’s forgiveness of my sins is tied to my forgiveness of the sins of others: “forgive me in the same way and at the same time as I forgive others.” I think everyone who takes the prayer seriously will struggle with this line at one time or another. Forgiveness is hard. It is a deliberate act of grace and it does not come easily. Our human nature wants to hurt those who hurt us, but God’s nature is to forgive.

We ask for God’s spiritual protection, that God will “save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil.” We admit our helplessness to stay faithful by ourselves. Without God’s assistance our daily lives would be full of error and sin so we ask God to deliver us from our weakness in times of struggle. We recognize that we are dependent upon God to protect us from situations which would try us beyond our capacities, and to protect us in times of struggle. 

The prayer ends with a simple declaration that everything good is of God and belongs to God. “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.” All we have asked for in the prayer is part of God’s kingdom, and God receives glory and praise for the gifts God has given us. This includes our “daily bread”, our ability to forgive others, the forgiveness of our sins, the strength to survive daily challenges, and protection against spiritual error. We recognize and acknowledge that all which is good belongs to God and exists because of God.

The Lord’s Prayer, like all our prayers, ends with “Amen,” which is a word of affirmation. It is sometimes translated as “let it be so!” We can think of ‘amen’ as shorthand for “yes, yes, definitely yes!” Sometimes people think of ‘amen’ as functioning like ‘good bye’ or ‘the end’ but actually it is a beginning. We end the prayer by re-affirming what we have prayed, and then we move from prayer to action. We have asked for things for the upbuilding of God’s kingdom and our ‘amen’ affirmation signifies our desire to participate in the building. We “talked the talk” and now we must “walk the walk.”

Much, much more could be written (and has been written) about the Lord’s Prayer. I hope that these few comments will assist you in reflecting on this great text. Thinking of the words will greatly increase the meaningfulness of the prayer and will assist our spiritual growth.

Unexpected Visitors

January 5, 2023 in Feasts & Fasts | Tags: , | Leave a comment

January 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany, which follows the twelve days of Christmas. Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of Jesus to the gentiles in the persons of the magi (Matthew 2). Matthew is the only evangelist who tells the story and he provides few details. I’m sure you know the story: Magi come from the east seeking the newly born king of the Jews; they don’t find him in Jerusalem; upon the advice of Jewish leaders (via Herod) they travel to Bethlehem; they find Jesus, worship him, and give him gifts; and they return home. Matthew provides some additional details, but not many, and the story raises as many questions as it answers.

Matthew says that the magi came “from the east”. Given that they are called magi and were engaged in watching the heavens for signs, it is reasonable to assume that they were from Persia, or perhaps Babylon. Neither of these places is Jewish territory so why would the magi be interested in the birth of a Jewish king? The answer may have its roots several centuries earlier when Israel and Judah were conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Many Jews were taken into exile from Israel and Judah to Persia and Babylonia. The people living in the area were polytheists so when the Jews came along and spoke of the God of Israel, the people living in the area would have listened, believed in this new god, and added the god to their list of deities. They would not have accepted the view that the God of Israel was the only true God, but they would have believed in God’s existence and willingly learned about this new deity. Many Jews stayed in Persia even after they were given permission to return to Judah so the exchange of knowledge between the Jews and Persians probably continued for centuries.

Some of the magi of the land knew enough about Jewish scriptures to know that an important king was expected. These magi watched the skies for omens and when a certain “star” appeared they interpreted it as heralding the birth of the new Jewish king. They set out for Jerusalem to pay homage to this important person. When they arrived they learned that those in authority knew nothing about the birth of a new king.

King Herod (who was not a Jew) asked the chief priests and the scribes about the birthplace of the expected king. They told Herod that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judah. When telling Herod this, they state, “so it has been written by the prophet.” This addendum is a formula to state that the message was accepted by the Jewish religious leaders as the word of God spoken through a prophet, and thus was certain. Upon receiving this information the magi continue their journey to Bethlehem. There they found the child, worshiped him, and gave gifts.

The magi knew enough of the scriptures to know the prophecy of the king’s birth but lacked the detailed information which would have guided them to Bethlehem. The chief priests and scribes knew to look for the king in Bethlehem but they didn’t accompany the magi or send a delegation to investigate. Why did the chief priests and scribes stay in Jerusalem after hearing the magi’s report of the star? The messiah was long awaited and was the hope of all Israel; his birth would be great news to his people.

I think the reason was hubris. The chief priests and the scribes studied the scriptures; they were the religious experts of God’s chosen people. Why would God reveal the messiah’s birth to pagan, polytheistic magi? It just wasn’t reasonable to their minds. They were the important people, the authorities among God’s chosen. They were sure that God would not send an announcement to anyone other than them. And they were wrong.

God chose to reveal the messiah’s birth to foreigners. God also revealed it to Jews who were not very important in the world’s (or the religious leaders’) eyes: Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Anna, and Simeon among others. There’s a lesson for us: God speaks to those to whom God wishes to speak. It is not our position in the world or church, our value in the eyes of others, or our self-evaluation which determines whether God will speak to us directly. God often, perhaps usually, speaks to us through others, and sometimes those other folks are not ones we expect to bear God’s message. Over the course of our lives, God’s words will come to us from many directions – some expected and some not. It is our task to listen and discern the word of God while being aware that it may come from a place we would never expect (and perhaps not respect). Once discerned we must accept the word of God regardless of the messenger. As Jesus said, “Wisdom is vindicated by all her children” (Luke 7:35, NRSV). We need to keep our ears open regardless of our view of the person who is speaking to us; it may be magi who bring us good news of God’s work.

They Shall Call Him Emmanuel

December 15, 2022 in Other Reflections | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Psalms often speak of God’s love and concern for people. In one place a psalmist says:

Why should the wicked revile God?
why should they say in their heart, “You do not care”?
Surely, you behold trouble and misery;
you see it and take it into your own hand. (Psalms 10:13-14, BCP)

The writer affirms that God not only sees what happens to us but that God gathers our woes into his hand and pulls them close to him. God wants to be involved in our trials and travails; God is moved by events in our lives because God cares. It is God’s nature to love and this love blossoms into compassion. Our trouble and misery aren’t forced into God’s hand; God chooses to reach out and take them.

Throughout the Old Testament we read of God acting to be closer to people and to bring people closer to God. In the law (Torah), the prophets, and other writings we are told of God’s work to bring us closer. The building of the temple in Jerusalem is one of the high points of this story. David planned, and Solomon built, a house for God’s presence in Israel. God, who cannot be contained in any building, accepts the temple as a place for God’s presence. (1 Kings 8,9). The temple is God in Israel’s midst; it is a place for God’s eyes and heart (1 Kings 9:3).

Despite God’s presence in the temple, and God’s words through prophets, the people moved away from God. We read the results of disobedience in 2 Kings and other books. One result of the disobedience is that the temple was destroyed. But the destruction of the temple and the punishments for disobedience did not negate God’s care and concern. God still desired to be close to the people and for the people to be close to God. God’s desire did not abate.

The best way the psalmist had to tell us of God’s caring is by saying that our trouble and misery are taken into God’s own hand. God watches from the heavens and reaches out to us. Later writers of scripture have a newer, and more sublime, way of speaking of God’s love and concern for us: “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1:14, NRSV) In that short phrase John the evangelist revises the psalmist’s statement. God had reached out a hand (repeatedly); God had accepted the temple as a place for God’s eyes and hearts; God had spoken through prophets; what more shall God do to be close to us? God shall come and live among us. The way to be closer to us was to become one of us, so the Word, which was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God, came to live with us as one of us. (John 1:1)

This is how God came closer to us: God the Son became flesh and lived a human life. Jesus was born, grew up, loved, laughed, cried, made friends, had his heart broken, grieved, suffered, and died. This was a human life lived by the Son of God, the Word made flesh. These human experiences, the trials, the thrills, the joys, and the pains, were not just put into God’s hand. They went into Jesus’ heart – God’s heart. In the New Testament we learn that God, not being content to take our misery into his hand, instead took it into his heart. The heart of Jesus, the heart of a man, is also entry into the heart of God.

God wants to be close to us, and wants us to be close to him. There was a gulf between God and us. We could not bridge the gulf so God bridged it for us. Why would God do this? There is nothing we can add to God, the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient creator and sustainer of the universe. Let’s face it – God does not require us. The Word became flesh not because God needed the experience and not from curiosity about human life but because God loves us.

God shared in our life so that we may share in God’s life. This is the meaning of the incarnation: God is love, and that love covers all of creation, including, perhaps especially, us humans. The mystery of the incarnation is the mystery of God loving us and longing to be ever closer to us, and wanting us to be closer to God. This is what we celebrate in the Nativity.

Merry Christmas!

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