blesssed are the meek

it's laughable to think that Jesus would applaud the spineless, for meek is not a compliment in our culture any more than it probably was in Roman occupied Palestine. but the thought of submissiveness that often comes with the thought of meekness, spurred me to consider it as perhaps an outward sign of inward submission to God.  St Paul calls us to submit ourselves to God so that the mind of Christ becomes ours....and we know Jesus was no wimp.  I happened to pick up a book as I was tidying my office ("How much is enough" by Arthur SImon) and read this:  in blessing the meek, Jesus is lifting up not the acquisitive and well-connected, but the poor, the powerless, and those more often oppressed than successful....most of us have a hard time accepting this...because we are among the privileged.  It is hard to seize a disturbing truth when a comfortable life depends on toning it down.   Ouch.

Colossians challenge: clothe yourself with meekness

Colossians challenge week 4: clothe yourself with meekness. In what ways are humility and meekness the same and different, I wonder....two completely different words and etymologies in Greek so it's beyond me! what comes to mind is that meekness may be more behavioral and humility more attitudinal but stay tuned and let me know where your mind goes....join us in person on Tuesday at 4pm at church for shared wisdom!

today. Now

Today, now 012416

(notes only; this is an interactive conversation sermon)

Ancient story about mostly somewhere else (in Chittister’s commentary on RB)

Many of us spend a lot of time somewhere else.   Primary principle of Buddhism: be here now.  It seems to me that Jesus was always fully present to the moment.

Psalm:   when do you hear the universe speaking? Without words, the Word gets out.    Examples, 8^th grader heard “Awe” in moonlight; herd of deer  “care for earth….. sharing                                                                                                            

  If you’re somewhere else you miss it….be here now, today.

Epistle: humourous image Paul uses to remind us we belong to one another and since Jesus isn’t here, we are God’s body.  Every one of us has a part to play.  But not one of us has to do it all. With our physical bodies, God’s action gets out.    what body part are you?  ….. sharing                                                                                                                  If you’re somewhere else you don’t hear God talking to you about you, rather we judge other people.   Be here, now, today

Gospel: Jesus sees himself as a fulfiller of God’s promises, and doesn’t hesitate to say so.  Do we?  Where do you see Spirit at work?  Good news shared?  Prisoners released?  Blind given sight or insight?  The oppressed freed? God’s love proclaimed?                                                                                                                                                                     If you’re somewhere else you make excuses.   Be here now.  today

If we let the Spirit have its way with us, which is simply what Jesus did, God’s promises begin to get fulfilled.   We need to let the Spirit loose in our lives, here, now, today.   This moment is all we have.  Our growth in faith is a process, but it’s “lived out in a million little ways day by day” (Chittister)

 Also from another ancient story:  We need to be “an ear that pays attention to every single thing the universe is saying”  Now.  Today.  

Jesus didn’t say, maybe in 2000 years if people get it then God’s dream will be fulfilled.   He said today.   Here now.

humility and listening

Joan Chittister, in her commentary on the daily readings from the 6th century Rule of Benedict, writes what becomes an aha for me about a component of humility often disregarded: listening for and to, and following, the voice of others.   We are not completely our own authority.  She says,
"When we follow the voice of the ones who call us to higher service, we put down our own concerns, allow ourselves to be led by the sights of another, treat our own best interests with a relaxed grasp. We empty ourselves out so that the presence of God can come in, tangible and present and divinely human."
To whom do I really listen?

humility

This quote is from an old 365.org post, written by a Baptist pastor named John Ballenger.

It's really not about you. It's not.  It's about God. W hether anyone might describe you as religious, or pious, or even good, none of these has meaning apart from the maker of all that is good and right. We are dependent on the one who made us to make us better.   But we can give in to the process. We can be willing to become more what God has in mind. Such a moment as this—now—provides one such opportunity for the change to continue.

colossians challenge: humility

Week 3 of our Colossians Challenge: clothe yourself in humility....in our gospel story this morning (the water/wine story) i noticed for the first time that the servants knew what was going on, while the important people had no idea...it is often those behind the scenes, the invisible, with whom Jesus engages, and who 'get' it.

kindness, an act

At church this snowy evening....."I have a few minutes before my meeting, and it's messy out there; could I shovel the entrance area?"  Like compassion, kindness involves noticing something outside of oneself.

Colossians Challenge week 2:kindness

Colossians CHallenge week 2: clothe yourselves with kindness. Hmm, what part of this needs discussion?!
It occurs to me that kindness is an attitude but also manifests itself in our speech, our thoughts, and our actions....or doesn't.

Baptized into what?

Baptized into what?

Back in the day of the gospel reading, the world is a mess, the gap between rich and poor is unconscionable, the religious leaders and institutions are self-serving, and the people haven’t had a decent prophet in generations….prophet: one who proclaims God’s word to reclaim God’s people.   Then comes John the Baptist – he clearly fits the prophet mold, and we hear they are “expectant and questioning” as they gather together….expectant that God is up to something and wondering, questioning, if John might be more than a prophet, he might be the messiah God has promised.

When we gather, do we come expectant and wondering?  Open to possibilities or new insights? Or have we, as the religious people and institution, become self satisfied and self serving?   Have we succumbed to comfort and forgotten to expect God to act and be ready to participate in that action?

And into this hubbub of politics and spiritual yearning steps Jesus.  As far as we know, so far he hasn’t done anything miraculous, he hasn’t taught or preached or led people into a new movement.   He just steps into the water to be baptized, ordinary guy, just like everyone else.

It was “While he was praying” that something unusual happened….heaven opened, vision of a dove descending on him, and a voice comes from nowhere.   While he was praying…..Chris told us last week that it is often in prayer, even simple silent contemplation, that we have an experience of the holy.  Clearly so for Jesus.

Only Luke mentions this act of praying.   In Mark’s and Matthew’s gospels, it’s the act of baptism that spawns the vision….in the gospel of John, it’s not Jesus’ vision at all, but John’s.  

Before we know much about this character Jesus, before we know anything dogmatic or doctrinal, we know of two spiritual experiences he has: baptism and prayer.

Seems to me we could base our faith on those two things, and stop fighting about all the other details of doctrine that the church has created over the centuries.  Experience of God is far more significant than knowledge about God……the experience of baptism and the experience of prayer are more than enough to keep our spiritual lives growing and to offer our world healing.

You see, the faith life is about relationship, not doctrine, both relationship with the Divine and with one another in community.   Jesus was baptized into a relationship made public: you are my son, I love you, you give me pleasure.    This echoes lots of stuff in the Hebrew Bible that would have been familiar, including today’s reading from Isaiah: God says I created you, name you, honour you, love you; you are precious to me.   And I promise I will be with you, and be active in your life.

Relationship.   That’s what we’re baptized into….to a life lived—and lived out-- in the cosmic energy of God’s love.

And experiencing prayer is one way we can keep that relationship growing—not just private prayer, but worshipful prayer in community, but that’s a whole other sermon.

When I asked one of our small groups this week what their baptism meant to them, in terms of how they live their life, they said things like

Being brought IN: Belonging to a community …..companionship, so I am not alone…. into courage ……being brought OUT:  out of fear….out of the desire to fit in or be liked….….freedom from burden …washed and given a new identity

 I have the same question for you…if you haven’t been baptized, what stops you? But for those who are baptized what does it mean, in terms of how you live YOUR life?  I know many of you were baptized as infants, and may have been taught ABOUT Jesus, but so what?  How do you live out that identity, that relationship with the Divine?

Take a moment or two of silence, and think about that….could you come up with a sentence, or even a phrase, that you could state if someone asked you why you are baptized?   (silence)

At the beginning of a new calendar year, here is water – we are invited into wondering, questioning, expecting God to be at work, just like those who gathered by the Jordan river.   We yearn to belong, to hear God call us beloved, precious, we long to have purpose as God’s people.   So we offer one this opportunity to reaffirm, or to affirm for the first time, even in the midst of questions and uncertainty about dogma, to say yes to our primary relationship with the Divine, yes to being beloved and precious, to say yes to the Jesus life, yes to the call out of religiosity and into faith. 

Ritual questions and instructions…..

the compassion question

today I read that compassion, suffering with, means "identifying with the homeless person on the street, the depressed teenager about to commit suicide, the helpless trees in the Amazon rain forest, the frightened animals in a laboratory, and with the tortured feelings of anger and hate that we harbor in our own psyches". (from Spiritual Literacy, by Frederic and Mary Brusat)

the question is: by these examples, just how compassionate am I?

Colossians Challenge week one: compassion

Following up on the Holy Spirit’s challenge, we are invited to forego (or enhance) our New Year resolutions by taking up the practices of Colossians 3.   Each week, participants will focus on one practice, day by day, at home, work, school, play, everywhere, mindfully and intentionally.  For example, the first week’s language invites me to …..Clothe yourself with compassion.

So above the coatrack in our back hall, I have posted a reminder: "coat of compassion".  Each time I put on and take off my coat I am reminded of this aspect of my commitment to live the Jesus way.

Com-passion means to suffer with, and involves my being with another person in his or her hurt, tho  I have found it also applies to being with another in joy.  This week I spent a lot of time at a local hospital, and lots of practice opportunities!  Trying to see the feelings behind behavior or speech is one aspect of practising compassion that requires real attentiveness.

Gifts received and given

 Gifts: given and received

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses…. Luke’s a little sketchy on the Jewish law, but he’s making a point.  Joseph, being a man, doesn’t need to be purified after the baby’s born, but for Luke this couple are in this together

they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’)……..this child, this gift from God, is dedicated back to God, acknowledging the holiness of a newborn.  In the Baptist tradition, this still is the pattern—no longer just for boys; in our tradition, we bring children for baptism.  But rarely do we think seriously about the holiness of a child, indeed we don’t take the presentation of our children to God very seriously at all. We’re good at thinking our children are a gift FROM God, but we don’t actively raise them as if they were our gift TO God

and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’  Luke lets us know that Mary and Joseph are not well off; this is the law’s minimum requirement…..and yet they give.  Today we look at giving financially to God as an option.  Not for Joseph and Mary; they take their faith seriously and from the word go have been gift givers:  from giving up their reputations, giving over themselves to some hare-brained scheme of God’s, and now recognizing the future of their life, and their child, is to be given over to God.

 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him…….. Simeon too is a giver, he has given himself to the life of faith, not as if the faith is some ancient past story to be remembered, but ‘looking forward’ to what God will be doing.  And he is gifted, God has given him the Spirit.  We might pass over this quite quickly, but for Jews of the period it had been a long time since “the Holy Spirit rested on” anyone

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.  Not only was the HS just resting on him, but was active in him—he had been gifted with a sense that he wouldn’t die until the Messiah came.  And not only has he been gifted with that awareness, but he has also been…

Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; Simeon gives God and the world the gift of listening

and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
   according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
   which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
   and for glory to your people Israel.’

Simeon’s next gift is also to God: recognition of God’s work in his own life.   How often do we notice God’s work in our lives, God’s promises fulfilled?  Let alone acknowledge it?

 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.  we have to be paying attention to what’s happening right in front of us; there are too many times we ignore or discount the words of others…I often wonder about the gift of awe and amazement…..it’s the one thing that does turn me to God without fail.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’  This does not sound like much of a blessing, nor a gift.  The rise and fall of leaders and values, the exposure of our inner thoughts, deep personal hurt, not usually cause for celebration.

And we affirm, with strong hearts and confident voices, that God does not GIVE us suffering.  Yet many of us know that sometimes suffering brings gifts with it.  Simeon turned out to be right.  Bad stuff happens, but God always works to bring good out of it.

Next let’s hear from the first century letter to the congregation at Colossae

   Colossians 3:12-17

Continuing the theme of gifts: here we have a list of gifts we can give God by giving to the world.   what part of this don’t we get? One of the least difficult scriptures to understand: straightforward enough for us?

Clothe yourself with…..coats of compassion etc (children’s message)

We’re headed into the secular new year….my suggestion is to use this text as your basic new year resolution:  I’m thinking I will try one section a week to work on—to be intentional about each day, to practice all week

Week 1 Clothe yourself with compassion, Margaret                        week 2 clothe yourself with kindness                                                     week 3  clothe yourself with humility                                             week 4 clothe yourself with meekness                                           week 5 clothe yourself with patience                                             week 6 bear with one another                                                       week 7 forgive                                                                                week 8 love until it brings harmony                                                      week 9 let Christ’s peace rule in your heart                                            week 10 be thankful                                                                           week 11 Let the word of Christ dwell in you                                               

week 12 teach and admonish one another in all wisdom                       week 13 with gratitude sing!                                                         

week 14 whatever you do, word or action, do it in God’s name                  

week 15 give thanks

Thankfulness appears three times; that should tell us something

This is the gift we give back to God, and the gift we as the church must offer the world.

If you want to join me on this spiritual journey, our website will have the listing posted!

Friendship of Women

UMW communion 2015 reflection

You probably know the story (Eliz barrenness, Mary annunciation, then the visit together)

Two women, both unexpectedly pregnant, both angelically announced, both aware of the Spirit of God literally moving within them.  Both knew just how God comes in unorthodox places and through unexpected people.  And not only did they know it in their heads—even we can do that—they carried it with their lives.

There are some elements to their relationship that are worth considering in our own relationships with other women….

Mary says yes to God and immediately goes to talk to Elizabeth, and not just next door either…I imagine this single mother to be didn’t just go out of the joy of being pregnant!  There must have been anxiety, fear, wonder….all worth sharing with someone she trusts

When Elizabeth sees her, her whole body reacts.   Now our bodies today are bombarded by media images that most of us don’t fit, pregnant or not.  We learn early to critique our bodies negatively so we might learn something from Elizabeth about listening to our bodies….she takes her bodily response as an expression of joy.

she is filled with the Spirit of God, and she exclaims a blessing on this young woman….blessed are you among women.   Betcha Mary was relieved to hear that, as she probably wasn’t’feeling too sure about all this…..But then Elizabeth also says, Blessed is she who believes what God has promised. Not blessed are you for believing…..  I suspect she sees herself and Mary both as blessed by their trust in the God who keeps promises…..another wonderful character of friendship.

A prophet, John, and a savior Jesus, were human, born of women of trust, friends with each other, friends with God, women who carried God’s love into the world.  

Mary and Eliz aren’t here anymore but we are: women, friends, women who are friends, women who need friends, women who know people who need friends.

You received a heart as you came in tonight: I want you to think of a woman who has been an Elizabeth to your Mary, or a Mary to your Elizabeth, or  maybe a friend, maybe someone who needs a friend—someone whose name you could write on this heart, who is inscribed on your heart…..then when you leave, tuck it in your purse, and in the pocket of your heart, as a reminder of the Love God gives that make that love possible.

And here we are, human, women who seek to trust the living God, women of friendship, women who are now called to carry God’s love into the world.

Here we are, united in our common desire for the peace of God in our mixed up, uncertain lives. Tonight we have the opportunity, the quiet, the time, to be women who, in the words of Joan Chittister, were opening up to the impulse of God who, daily, leads us beyond ourselves….. less obsessed by the limitations of being human,  more in awe of its potential. It is humanity that is the womb of the divine in us.  Wow.

 May we too trust in our humanity as the womb of the divine, cherish the friendship of women, and the friendship of God, so we can carry some of that love and peace within us, and give birth to the work of God’s spirit in this hurting world.