Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Generations

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 -- Week of 4 Epiphany; Year One

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html



Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 946)
Psalms 72 (morning) // 119:73-96 (evening)
Isaiah 54:1-10 (11-17)
Galatians 4:21-31
Mark 8:11-26

Today we have a remarkable convergence. We begin with a beautiful oracle from Isaiah consoling Jerusalem. Using the imagery of a childless mother, Isaiah tells the city that God will be her husband and will grant her many offspring. God's steadfast love will stay with her, "and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you." Finally Isaiah imagines a new Jerusalem built of jewels and precious stones.

We move ahead five centuries and hear Paul's interpretation of these same verses. Paul takes this imagery from Isaiah and combines it with the story of Hagar and Sarah to tell the Christian community that there are two Jerusalems and two family lines of Abraham.

Paul argues that there is one inheritance from Abraham that is the inheritance of the flesh, through Hagar, from Mount Sinai for Moses was given the law. The children of this household are children of slavery, children of the law. Paul says that there is another inheritance from Abraham that is the inheritance of the Spirit, children of the promise through Sarah, which "corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother."

Paul then quotes the same passage we have just read in Isaiah:"rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children, burst into song and shout, you who endured no birth pangs; for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than the children of the one who is married." We read Isaiah speaking those lines to a demoralized people in Babylonian exile and to a Jerusalem oppressors by foreign occupiers. And we read Paul's interpretation of that same passage for his generation five centuries later.

Paul asks the church to embrace the new inheritance of freedom and to reject the old prison of legalisms. It is our inheritance to be beloved children not slaves to rules.

>From time to time I hear people speak of their coming into the Episcopal Church in similar terms. They formerly lived in a religious community that was guilt based and moralistic. Here they found freedom and encouragement to claim their place as God's children and to live freely in the Spirit. May the promised blessing of many offspring, steadfast love, the covenant of peace and the compassion of God be fulfilled for us all.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Our Rule of Life: We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Radical Inclusion

Tuesday, January 30, 2007 -- Week of 4 Epiphany; Year One

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 946)
Psalms 61, 62 (morning) // 68:1-20 (21-23) 24-36 (evening)
Isaiah 52:1-12
Galatians 4:12-20
Mark 8:1-10

Last Thursday we read the story of Jesus' feeding a multitude of 5,000. That feeding happened in Israel somewhere near Lake Galilee. When all were filled, the disciples took up 12 baskets of broken pieces and fish. Twelve is the number of tribes in the family of Israel. It is a number that is very sacred to Jews.

Yesterday we read that Jesus had left his home country. There he encountered a Gentile woman who asked him to heal her child. He refused: "Let the children be fed first..." Her response of faith and hope prompted Jesus to heal the daughter. Then Jesus went into another Gentile territory where he healed a deaf-mute person.

Today he is still among the Gentiles. In Israel it was taught that these are unclean people. It was a violation of Jewish purity laws to each with Gentiles. Observant Jews regarded themselves to have been defiled should they touch a Gentile, or for some, they could become unclean if a Gentile shadow should cross their path. Today's reading from Isaiah speaks of the restoration of Jerusalem from its captivity when "the uncircumcised and the unclean shall enter you no more." Gentiles were seen to be outside of the community of God and of God's saving action through the Jews. (There are a few Biblical references to a kind of inclusive universalism, but it is a quiet Old Testament theme.)

Our story today in Mark's Gospel tells of another feeding. Jesus is in the Decapolis region near Galilee -- ten Gentile cities. There he performs the same miracle he has performed among his own people. When they collect the left over baskets there are seven of them. Seven is a traditional sacred number for the other religions.

Jesus heals and feeds the Gentiles with the same compassion and generosity that he shows to the people of his own faith. He accepts them and treats them as fellow children of God. He gives them no expectation that they should become Jews like him or that they should abandon their own faith. He loves and serves them as they are. Can we appreciate how radical was Jesus's attitude?

Paul's entire letter to the Galatians is his defense of a similar radical hospitality. Paul is arguing for the inclusion of Gentiles in the Christian community without requiring them to become Jews like him, like all of the early disciples. Paul faces stiff opposition within the Church.

How exclusive is the love, revelation, and salvation of God? From the example we have in the life of Jesus it is radically inclusive. Conscientious Christians hold different opinions about this. Some believe that only professed followers of Jesus have access to the fullness of God's saving work. Some believe all others are lost for ever. To me, that seems contrary to the witness of Jesus.

I think that Jesus reached out with equal love and compassion to Jews and Gentiles alike. He did not withhold grace and healing from those with "wrong beliefs." On the contrary, he treated them with equal respect and regard. In fact, the only group he consistently criticized were those who were so confident in their own faith that they excluded the other -- the unclean and the sinner. Through history the church has been unable to practice what Jesus lived.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Our Rule of Life: We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Unexpected Reversals

Monday, January 29, 2007 -- Week of 4 Epiphany; Year One

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 946)
Psalms 56, 57, [58] (morning) // 64, 65 (evening)
Isaiah 51:17-23
Galatians 4:1-11
Mark 7:24-37

The scriptures are full of unexpected reversals. Today each reading has some expression of a reversal of standing before God.

The prophet Isaiah speaks to Jerusalem, "Rouse yourself, rouse yourself! Stand up, on Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath." Isaiah says that God has reversed the divine judgment. Because of their unfaithfulness and injustice, God caused Jerusalem to be punished, says Isaiah. The blessed became the cursed. But now the time of discipline has ended. Their circumstances reversed. "See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; you shall drink no more from the bowl of my wrath." God is enabling Jerusalem's return and rebuilding.

Paul is writing to the Gentile Christians who have moved from their elemental faith into full relationship with God. They now inherit full standing as children of God who can approach the divine with the familiar, childlike cry, "Abba, Father!" Paul uses the analogy of a minor growing into an inheritance. Even though an heir, a minor has no rights to property. But once the minor reaches majority, the power of inheritance is complete. Paul is telling these Gentile Christians to embrace their full inheritance and do not go back to former superstitions and fears.

One of the reasons all was so energetic in his mission to the Gentiles was the example he inherited from Jesus. Chapter 7 expresses a turning point in Jesus's ministry as Mark accounts for it. Jesus has left Israel. He is in Gentile territory. A Gentile woman approaches him for healing on behalf of her child. "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." It sounds like a familiar Jewish aphorism. Thus far, Jesus has seen his own vocation and ministry like John's, to recall Judaism to faithfulness. He is called to proclaim the Kingdom to the children of Jacob.

But this woman's dramatic reply shows that there is faith outside Israel. "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Her words of humble faith are words of the Kingdom. From this moment on Jesus will offer the same ministry to Gentiles as he has given to Jews. He goes to the Gentile region of the Decapolis and heals a man who is deaf and mute. Those who were outsiders are now in.

These stories are reminders that things can change and reverse dramatically. Those who have known themselves to be securely within the circle of God's choosing may find themselves judged. Those who have felt themselves under divine judgment may find themselves freed. Those thought to be outside of God's grace and choosing may find themselves beloved heirs. Surprise reversals are ordinary in the scripture accounts. We'd better stay on our toes.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Friday, January 26, 2007

Light or Fire

Friday, January 26, 2007 -- Week of 3 Epiphany -- Timothy and Titus

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html



Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 944)
Psalms 40, 54 (morning) // 51 (evening)
Isaiah 50:1-11
Galatians 3:15-22
Mark 6:47-56

I was struck today by the last two verses of our reading from Isaiah. The context is significant. Chapter 50 begins with some challenging questions spoken in the voice of God. These questions are spoken to the angry, despondent, depressed, and cynical exiles whom Isaiah addresses. They believe either that God has abandoned them or that God is simply superfluous. The prophet insists that God is just -- the peoples' unfaithfulness was the cause of their exile. And Isaiah insists that God is as powerful now as ever -- as powerful now as God was from the time of the creation and the exodus.

The next paragraph speaks of the suffering of Israel and of the prophet who has been faithful to listen to God despite the taunts of the cynical. Despite opposition, the faithful servant knows that God will vindicate.

That's the context for these final two verses where Isaiah characterizes two contrasting attitudes toward God. The faithful attitude, like that of the suffering servant, respects God "and obeys the voice of his servant." Even though the faithful disciple "walks in darkness and has no light" the servant "trusts in the name of the Lord and relies upon his God."

Listen to this characterization of the rebellious ones. "But all of you are kindlers of fire, lighters of firebrands. Walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled! This is what you shall have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment."

Those who seek the light of God salvation, even though they may feel like they are walking in darkness, will be guided and vindicated. But those who create a fire of their own making, who light things up with the firebrands of their own willfulness, will simply kindle destruction.

The obedient faithful ones feel as though they live in the dark, and yet they are being guided by God's light. The disobedience willful ones feel powerful and self determining, and yet they are igniting fires that will bring ruin.

It makes me want to look at my own faithfulness and willfulness. It makes me want to look for those quiet, faithful servants who bring light even though they seem to be under the radar. It's not hard to see the firebrands exercising their power while creating havoc with unintended consequences. Powerful stuff. A context for commentary on our contemporary scene.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Faith and Multitudes

Thursday, January 25, 2007 -- Week of 3 Epiphany -- Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html



Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 944)
Psalms 50 (morning) // [59, 60] or 118 (evening)
Isaiah 49:13-23
Galatians 3:1-14
Mark 6:30-46

Reading Mark's version of the feeding of the multitude speaks to a personal anxiety for me today. Mark's story opens with the busyness of the apostles who gather around Jesus to tell him everything they've been up to. Jesus invites them away on retreat. (Today is my day off.) But on their way to the deserted place, a crowd with many needs interposes itself. Out of compassion, Jesus teaches them until late in the day.

The disciples tell Jesus to dismiss the crowd to return to the villages to find food. Then Jesus offers a challenge: "You give them something to eat." As ministers and vestries and boards of trustees have done for centuries ever since, they made a budget. Five loaves and two fish for five thousand hungry mouths.

For more than a year I've been working with an incredible group of disciples to pull together the resources to build a much-needed supportive and transitional housing facility through Seven Hills. We face a daunting challenge. Right now we need to raise a little over $500,000, going person to person, foundation to foundation. I wake up worried in the early morning hours. "You give them something to eat." Where will we get that kind of money? It feels like it will take something on the magnitude of the five-loaves-and-two-fish-for-five-thousand.

Yet I know, from the beginning, that homeless ministry has been founded on faith. We've never known where the resources would come from, and they've always been supplied. I count on that. We all work real hard, yes, but it is work grounded in head-shaking faith. I only wish my stomach and my sleep would follow my faith.

Speaking of faith, on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul we read some more of his passionate argument about the centrality of faith. Chapter 3 opens "You foolish Galatians!" (Chuck used that as the title of a Galatians Bible Study.)

For Paul, the conflict is between our trying to earn our standing before God -- which is impossible, he says -- and our accepting our standing before God as a gracious gift mediated through Jesus. Keeping all of the law is impossible, and Deuteronomy 27 curses everyone who does not keep the entire law. In ancient thought it was believed that a counter curse was required to break a curse. Christ's death by crucifixion broke the curse of the law, because "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Deuteronomy 21:23).

Therefore, Paul urges, believe in Christ's cross as freedom from the curse of trying to earn your standing before God. Abraham is our model, says Paul. Abraham believed, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Abraham believed the promise God made that all of the nations, including the Gentiles, would be blessed through him, through his descendants. (Descendants, or descendant? That's tomorrow.) Abraham lived out of that belief and he was reckoned as righteous.

As someone who feels weighed down by the pressure of "performance" -- measured right now in a half-million dollar increment -- I need the faith of Paul and the inspiration of Jesus feeding the multitudes. Okay... I believe... Now maybe I can even feel my stomach settle a bit.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Heart of Paul's gospel

Wednesday, January 24, 2007 -- Week of 3 Epiphany
-- Ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi (1st woman priest in the Anglican Communion, 1944)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 944)
Psalms 119:49-72 (morning) // 49, [53] (evening)
Isaiah 49:1-12
Galatians 2:11-21
Mark 6:13-29

We have significant passages to read in each lesson today.

This section of the letter to the Galatians is a snapshot of Paul's theology. Paul's experience of Jesus freed him from the anxiety and self-concern that had troubled him so terribly before. As a practicing and observant Jew, he had sought acceptance before God through his obedience to the Torah and other traditional laws. He was zealous and careful to follow all the rules and ethical regulations. Instead of feeling right with God, he only experienced "performance anxiety."

His liberation came with the realization that a right relationship with God is God's gift to us in and through Jesus. Instead of relating to God by following the rules, now he related to God by accepting the gift of acceptance.

Here is his language. The goal is to be "justified." An alternate translation says "reckoned as righteous." In other words, to be okay with God.

"We know that a person is justified not by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ." Equally that sentence can be translated: "We know that a person is justified not by works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ." For Paul, Christ is the object of our faith because we trust Christ as God's agent of justification. So Paul declares his "faith in Jesus Christ." Also, because Christ's own in faithfulness to God is our example and enables our salvation, Paul can declare he is saved through "the faith of Jesus Christ." For Paul it is both "faith in" and "the faith of" Jesus Christ that liberates him from being justified by his own performance.

In Christ Paul died to his old way of living by the law. Now he lives by faith in Jesus and by the faith of Jesus, "who lives in me..., who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing."

It is easy to see how threatening Paul's gospel must have been to traditional Jews, including those who were Jewish Christians. We see today a reflection of a conflict between Paul and Peter. While visiting in Antioch, Peter was sitting at table eating with Gentiles in violation of kosher laws until conservative leaders came there. Peter separated himself from the Gentile tables out of fear or respect for the "circumcision faction." Paul berates Peter for his hypocrisy.

I can hear Paul berating me for the vote I cast on the last day of General Convention. I believe that gay and lesbian Christians have the same equal standing before God as straight Christians. I believe that in the same way that Paul believed that Gentile Christians have the same and equal standing as Jewish Christians. But out of fear and respect for the Anglican Communion which largely does not recognize that equality, I compromised my beliefs that day.

A comforting image -- In traditional Christian iconography, Paul and Peter are often pictured together as companions in ministry. Their feast days are linked -- the Confession of Peter and the Conversion of Paul being one week apart, marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Their conflict was overcome and transcended by the justifying grace of Jesus Christ. So will ours.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Conflicts as signs of life

Tuesday, January 23, 2007 -- Week of 3 Epiphany -- Phillips Brooks

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html



Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 944)
Psalms 45 (morning) // 47, 48 (evening)
Isaiah 48:12-21
Galatians 1:18 - 2:10
Mark 6:1-13

Isaiah tells the people of Jacob to leave their captivity and exile in Babylon and to follow a second exodus back to the land God has given them. On the horizon is the Persian warrior Cyprus whom God has appointed to defeat the Babylonians, says Isaiah. To us, some twenty-five centuries later, this sounds like compelling good news. But Isaiah's message was received with some skeptical cynicism in his day. Many Jews had made homes and become prosperous in Babylon. It was the political, economic, and cultural center of that part of the civilized world. Jerusalem, on the other hand, lay in ruins. Returning there may have sounded like leaving New York City by wagon train to go to Kansas in the 1840s. Isaiah faced and struggled with disinterest and cynicism toward his message. What sounds like Biblical good news to us sounded like religious ravings to many of the original listeners.

Paul is making his case passionately. He is claiming his apostolic authority. He had been a persecutor of the church, but God gave him a revelation and a calling to proclaim Christ. He asked for no confirmation of that calling from human beings or church leaders. He was obedient to the revelation.

For three years he worked before meeting any of the church's apostles or other leaders. Then he spent three days in Jerusalem with Peter, also meeting James the brother of Jesus, who is traditionally called the first bishop of Jerusalem. They parted on good terms, and Paul continued his missionary work for another fourteen years.

The later meeting of Paul and the apostolic leaders in Jerusalem is one of the great turning points of church history. Paul has been organizing churches throughout the Roman Empire. His message has been directed primarily to Gentiles, not Jews. His congregations include many Gentiles. There is a critical division -- this is the issue of the letter to the Galatians -- Can Gentiles become Christians without also becoming Jews, observing the Torah laws and being circumcised? Paul emphatically says, "Yes." Other Christian leaders said "No."

Paul says that he presented his Gospel message in Jerusalem and the apostles acknowledged his teaching. They sent him as missioner to the Gentiles. Paul notes the test-case. The Jerusalem church accepted Titus among them, even though he was an uncircumcised Gentile.

Throughout his ministry, Paul had to claim and reclaim the legitimacy of his message that Gentiles can belong to the Church without following the Old Testament laws and customs. The Church remained conflicted and divided about this issue for his entire ministry.

In every generation God's people live with some form of conflict. Usually it is a theological conflict between those who sense a call to a new interpretation and those who seek to defend a traditional interpretation. Sometimes it is a call from comfort to discomfort. Change is always difficult, especially for the religious. Our trust is grounded in ancient things that have the quality of being unchanging in an unsteady world.

Historically, the presence of struggle is one of the signs of life among the people of God. There is reason to be encouraged that we live in a time of religious conflict. Traditionally, that has been a sign that God is working among us.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Monday, January 22, 2007

Touched by New Life

Monday, January 22, 2007 -- Week of 3 Epiphany -- Vincent, deacon & martyr

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 944)
Psalms 41, 52 (morning) // 44 (evening)
Isaiah 48:1-11
Galatians 1:1-17
Mark 5:21-43

One of the key assertions from the prophet Isaiah is that the true God declares ahead of time what will happen, and it comes to pass. God fulfills the prophecies. Yet, Isaiah complains, the people failed to trust in the prophecies of old, and now they are failing to believe in the new prophecies that he speaks. Isaiah is telling an exiled and demoralized community that God has raised up the Persian Cyrus to liberate God's people.

This was very political discourse. Most prophecy is. It raises the question in my mind -- what political commentary has proved to be accurate, true, and trustworthy. When have political predictions not come true? Can that help us recognize true and false prophets?
___

Today we start Paul's letter to the Galatians. It is a passionate, even angry epistle. Paul charges certain Christian leaders with perverting the Gospel of Christ by insisting that Christians must follow the traditional laws of the Torah and must be circumcised. Circumcision and the following of the law were essential parts of Jewish identity and practice. Paul's opponents argued that without circumcision and Torah observance, these people would be abandoning the revelation of God and the faith given to God's people.

Paul experienced Christ's revelation as a liberation from the law. Trying to live up to the letter of the law had only made him anxious -- "Am I okay? Am I doing right?" Trying to live that "perfect life" made him both self absorbed and concerned with human approval. The central gift of the Gospel of Jesus was the experience of unqualified acceptance and love that freed him from such concerns. Paul will use the strongest polemical language he can to condemn the return to legalism.

For many people who have migrated to the Episcopal Church, this letter reflects the same spirit of liberation that they have experienced having come out of fundamentalist traditions. The combination of biblical literalism and moralistic preaching produced confusion and anxiety. Trying to live that "perfect Christian life" became oppressive. I often speak to people who have experienced liberation and a revived relationship with Christ because they have heard the Gospel of Christ's unqualified acceptance and love which freed them from the anxiety and confusion of following a path of literalism. Like Paul, they can get pretty passionate.
___

Finally a note about this double healing in Mark's Gospel. Jesus raises a 12-year-old child from death, and while he is on the way, a woman with hemorrhages for 12 years touches Jesus and is healed. The dead child is raised to new life just at the age when she will begin her menses. The woman's bleeding is probably vaginal, and now She is free to bear children. Both are given the gift of fecundity.

Maybe on that point I would like to draw some connection among these lessons. The work of God always brings new life. Isaiah claims that God reveals this path a few life even before guiding God's people through it. It is a path that can be rejected. There are competing paths, but they fail to fulfill their promises. Central to the experience of new life in Christ is the experience of unqualified love and acceptance whose source is God. It is a gift to be accepted not an accomplishment to be achieved. When we touch or are touched by this new life, it heals the old wounds and raises us to new possibilities.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Friday, January 19, 2007

Christ and Culture

Friday, January 19, 2007 -- Week of 2 Epiphany -- Wulfstan of Worcester

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html



Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 944)
Psalms 31 (morning) // 35 (evening)
Isaiah 45:18-25
Ephesians 6:1-9
Mark 4:35-41

One of the most perplexing things for Christians is the question of the relationship between our faith and the social order. As followers of Christ and believers in God, what should be our attitude toward the social, political and economic systems that we live with? We get different clues from scripture. Some portions of the Bible regard the cultural conventions as human inventions, inevitably fallen and enemies to the faithful. Other sections of scripture see social structures as legitimate authorities instituted by God.

One of the most famous discussions of this dilemma is the book "Christ and Culture" by Richard Niebuhr. Niebuhr suggests there are five theological traditions about the relationship between our faith and the world around us; all have biblical sources:

Christ Against Culture.
For the exclusive Christian, history is the story of a rising church or Christian culture and a dying pagan civilization.

Christ of Culture. For the cultural Christian, history is the story of the Spirit’s encounter with nature.

Christ Above Culture. For the synthesist, history is a period of preparation under law, reason, gospel, and church for an ultimate communion of the soul with God.

Christ and Culture in Paradox.
For the dualist, history is the time of struggle between faith and unbelief, a period between the giving of the promise of life and its fulfillment.

Christ Transforming Culture.
For the conversionist, history is the story of God’s mighty deeds and humanity’s response to them. Conversionists live some what less “between the times” and somewhat more in the divine “now” than do their various siblings listed above. Eternity, to the conversionist, focuses less on the action of God before time or life with God after time, and more on the presence of God in time. Hence the conversionist is more concerned with the divine possibility of a present renewal than with conserversion of what has been given in creation or preparing for what will be given in a final redemption. (summary from Wikipedia)

Today we read ethical instruction from Ephesians. It would make a good debate to try to say which of Niebuhr's traditions is reflected in this writing. (Christ and Culture in Paradox? Christ above Culture?) The author seems to accept the conventional social structures as the context for the more important work of growing into maturity in Christ -- "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, ... and, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters... as you obey Christ; ...Render service with enthusiasm, ...And, masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven..."

150 years ago, abolitionists faced off against Christian slave apologists. It is pretty clear that throughout the biblical narrative slavery is regarded as a normative feature of society. Apologists could quote the Bible with many references including this one, "slaves, obey your earthly masters." Abolitionists quoted different passages about justice and equality. Today we hear Christian debate about whether the husband-wife relationship is one of dominance-submission or one of mutuality. Where we tend to dwell along Niebuhr's continuum will influence how we see it.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The Parable of the Sower

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 -- Week of 2 Epiphany, Year 1 -- Antony of Egypt

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html



Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 944)
Psalms 38 (morning) // 119:25-48 (evening)
Isaiah 44:24 - 45:7
Ephesians 5:1-14
Mark 4:1-20

The Parable of the Sower

This is no way to farm. The Sower is wasteful and extravagant, throwing seeds everywhere, even in places where common sense would tell you nothing could grow -- on a sidewalk, among the rocks. Yet even the seed that lies unfruitful on the path becomes a windfall for the birds.

When Mark offers an allegorical interpretation of the parable, the seed has two interpretations. It is both the word and the ones who receive the word. God distributes grace abundantly; God's word is broadcast extravagantly; God's eternal unqualified love is joyfully squandered. God is willing to extend grace and love and compassion profusely, even wastefully, in the hope that some of God's goodness will take root and multiply.

Our reading in Isaiah reminds us that good soil can happen in the unexpected place and person. Isaiah writes an oracle of praise of the Persian ruler Cyrus. Cyrus follows another God; he is not Jewish. Cyrus does not even know the God of the Jews. Yet Isaiah calls him "my shepherd" and "anointed." These are the traditional biblical words for the dynasty of King David and for the Messiah. "I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me," the Lord says to Cyrus through the word of the prophet. Isaiah is convinced that God has raised up Cyrus to overthrow the Babylonian oppressors. Isaiah sees God's hand moving in history through Cyrus, using an outsider as God's means for blessing.

I often think of the Parable of the Sower as a metaphor for my own life and spirit. God has scattered God's Word and grace abundantly, even wastefully, in my life. Some of it has been wasted. I simply didn't get it. Sometimes I respond readily but without the depth and discipline that allows the divine presence to take root. When I run into obstacles, I forget, and go back to my old habits relying on my own resources. And some of God's grace and God's Word has taken root and proved fruitful.

Like Isaiah, I have found God's presence and activity outside the circle of my own faith. I have been blessed by God's anointed such as Tich Nhat Hahn the wonderful Vietnamese Buddhist who teaches mindfulness and peace, the inspiring vision of nonviolence from the Hindu Gandhi, the transparent holiness of the Dalai Lama, the eloquent wisdom of the Moslem Sufi poet Rumi, and the grounded theology of Rabbi Martin Buber, to name just a few. These have been anointed shepherds for me.

God's grace is extravagant; God's presence is ubiquitous. Occasionally it finds root and is fruitful.

Lowell
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To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Idols

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 -- Week of 2 Epiphany, Year 1

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html



Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 944)
Psalms 26, 28 (morning) // 36, 39 (evening)
Isaiah 44:9-20
Ephesians 4:17-32
Mark 3:19b-35

Isaiah writes a scathing satire about idols. He imagines a wood artisan finding a tree, using part of it as fuel for warmth and baking, and another part he fashions into a god and worships -- "he prays to it and says, 'Save me, for you are my god!'" But the idol is blind, deaf, and mute.

As I was reading this, my mind was wondering, what do we use as our idols? Money comes to mind quickly. With part of it we warm and feed ourselves; with another part we buy the things that give us status or make us feel good. We "save" enough money and buy enough insurance to "save us" from trouble. We give money our time, attention and affection.

Whatever we seek to build or create has the potential of becoming an idol. If we attach our own sense of worth and well-being to our activity, we are in some way worshiping the idol. When we expect anything created, including another human being, to "save us" -- to give us security, love, standing, power or control -- we are worshiping the idol.

It is so easy to slip into idolatry. Sometimes my "to do list" is my idol. A good day is one when I check off many things on the list -- I am happy. A bad day is one when the "to do list" stares back at me in judgment.

I find myself worrying about George Bush often these days and rotating between cussing him and praying for him. It seems like some form of success as a leader has become an idol for him, concretized in the war in Iraq (and soon Iran?). He needs success in order to be justified. How painful it must be for the war's failure to stare back at him in judgment.

The problem with all idols is that they are unreal and they lead us to live unreal lives. Money is just a piece of paper; its only value is the value we give it. I know people who live with simple tastes and need very little money. They are happy. My "to do list" isn't real. It is just one thing that can assist me in defining my priorities -- what is the most real thing I can do or respond to in this moment? Obviously success in Iraq isn't real. It is beyond our means.

All of these are false gods. We create them with our own minds and hands. They cannot save us. Yet we give them our attention and devotion, and we expect them to make us happy. We are as silly as Isaiah's wood artisan.

Lowell
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To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Monday, January 15, 2007

Dealing with Pressure

Monday, January 15, 2006 -- Week of 2 Epiphany, Year 1

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 944)
Psalms 25 (morning) // 9, 15 (evening)
Isaiah 44:6-8, 21-23
Ephesians 4:1-16
Mark 3:7-19a

At some point Jesus' ministry became too big for him to handle alone. The signs of stress appear often in Mark's Gospel. Toward the end of the first chapter, the entire village of Capernaum is surrounding him, bringing "all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door." Early the next morning Jesus got up before the others and found a deserted place where he could pray. Even there his disciples found him and urged him to get back to work. He chose to move on to the next town in order to spread the message.

When he returned to Capernaum the demands surrounded him again. Four ingenious friends managed to get their paralyzed companion through the crowd to Jesus by cutting their way through the roof.

It might not have been so hard but for the beginning of conflict and opposition. Some took offense at the generous way he regarded forgiveness. Others were scandalized by his association with people who made no effort to practice ethical religion. When Jesus challenged the conventional interpretation of the 6th Commandment to honor the Sabbath, it was obvious to some powerful people that he was a threat to piety.

Yet the crowds kept coming, and demanding. We read today that "Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers." His reputation was spreading far beyond Galilee. He had to make advance provision for a boat so that the people, desperate to be cured, would not crush him.

This scenario sounds overwhelming. It is more than one person can handle. Reading these accounts, it is easy to imagine the intensity and the pressure that surrounded Jesus.

Today we read of Jesus's strategy to deal with the growth of a ministry that has become too big for one person. "He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons."

Jesus needed help. So he empowered and delegated tasks and authority to others. Note this detail -- In Mark's Gospel, Jesus's identity as the Son of God is most clearly manifested by the demons who recognize him and who witness to his power. The divine power of Jesus is most clearly displayed in Mark's Gospel when Jesus casts out demons. This is the power he gives to his apostles. Jesus gives them the same power and authority that he has. That truth has been treasured by the church ever since.

I imagine Jesus had the same concerns as anyone who delegates. Will they do their work well? Will they understand the message underneath the work? Will they persevere? Will they cause more problems than they solve?

It seems an expression of mutual trust how Jesus entrusted so much to his apostles and how they trusted him as they carried out his mission in his name. We inherit that same trust.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Friday, January 12, 2007

Something New. For everyone.

Friday, January 12, 2007 -- -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year 1 -- Aelred of Rievaulx

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Discussion Blog: To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 942)
Psalms 16, 17 (morning) // 22 (evening)
Isaiah 42:(1-9) 10-17
Ephesians 3:1-13
Mark 2:13-22

Something new. For everyone.

I'm surprised that the lectionary makes the first nine versus of Isaiah 42 optional. It is the first of the four treasured "Servant Songs" of Second Isaiah. In these poignant lyrical passages, the prophet identifies Israel as God's servant. Part of Israel's call is to suffer faithfully in the redemptive work of God. The servant is called not only to raise up the tribes of Jacob, but also called beyond Israel "as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations." Something new. For everyone.

The work of the servant is quiet, humble, and subtle. "He will not cry or lift up his voice, or made it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench." But the mission is a challenging one -- "he will bring forth justice to the nations." The servant will persevere -- "he will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his teaching." Eyes that do not see will be opened; the prisoners and those who sit in darkness will be liberated. Isaiah imagines the whole earth erupting in songs of praise at the pronouncement of this new mission -- humble, persevering mission of universal justice.

In Ephesians, a disciple of Paul speaks in his name and reminds readers of the apostle's call "to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make every one see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things." The new Good News is that "the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body." Something new. For everyone.

And Mark shows the radical table hospitality of Jesus. Jesus welcomes sinners. Note well: the word sinner does not have the same meaning in the Gospel as we commonly use it. We think that everyone is a sinner. Not so in the Gospel. Sinners were those who deliberately chose not to observe the Biblical laws. Sinners were intentionally nonreligious. The illustration in this passage is extreme. Jesus sits at table at the home of Levi the tax collector. Tax collectors were hated because they collaborated with the despised Roman occupation and practiced extortion and graft for their own self-interest. It is scandalous that a rabbi would sit down with such people. But that is exactly what Jesus does. Something new. For everyone.

These new teachings demand a new context. "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the new wine is lost." These are compelling images for the eternal conflict -- how do we incorporate something new into our valued traditions? It usually takes a new context, a new consciousness -- new clothing, new wineskins.

But consciousness does expand and new containers evolve. God's servants embrace a universal call beyond tribe and religion. Hospitality becomes radically inclusive. Something new. For everyone.

Last Saturday diocesan clergy and leaders spent an hour in conversation with our new Presiding Bishop Katharine Jeffort Schori. She spent much of the time asking us what is going on in Arkansas. The most magic moment of the day happened when the Rev. Jos Tharakan told the Presiding Bishop about the motto the members of the little congregation of Christ Church in Mena had created for themselves. "God in all things. People of all kinds." Jos is a small man, maybe 5'6"; he speaks with the gentle accent of his country of origin, India. Mena is a small church, maybe 30 members on Sunday. But that day, they were the servants of vision and hospitality, inviting us to live into the hopes of Isaiah, Paul, and Jesus.

Something new. For everyone. "God in all things. People of all kinds."

Lowell
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To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Breaking Down Dividing Walls

Thursday, January 11, 2007 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year 1

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html



Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 942)
Psalms 18:1-20 (morning) // 18:21-50 (evening)
Isaiah 41:17-29
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 2:1-12

Only God can forgive sins. Everybody knows that. The Hebrew scripture teaches it. Thousands of years of tradition clearly outline the necessary procedures for human beings to take in order that God might forgive their sin. But only God can forgive sins.

No wonder traditional religious people opposed Jesus and got upset with him. "'So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' -- he said to the paralytic -- 'I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.'" The title "Son of Man" is ambiguous. In some places in scripture, it clearly means "mortal." In other places it implies superhuman qualities. In Matthew's version of the story the people leave praising God "who had given such authority to human beings." Teachings such as this provoked religious traditionalists to charge Jesus with blasphemy. After all, only God can forgive sins. Everybody knows that.

Maybe they underestimated just how radical Jesus was. In Ephesians we read the effect of Jesus's ministry. Those who were once regarded as sinners and outsiders are now welcomed as equals. This lyrical passage in Ephesians 2 has inspired not only uncircumcised Gentiles, but also slaves, women, people of color, and gay Christians. "Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in the place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it."

This is such rich material that it is worth looking at some of the alternate translations. Another way to translate the description of this reconciliation is to say that Jesus' work will "reconcile both of us in one body for God" by destroying the hostility "in himself."

This great proclamation of inclusion speaks of breaking down "the dividing wall." Many scholars believe that this references the barriers which separated the court of the Gentiles from the worship places open only to Jews. In the ancient shrine to St. Cuthbert in Durham, England, there is a black marble line across the floor. It was placed in 1100 when the Norman cathedral was built. It was a protective barrier, to keep the altar and St. Cuthbert's holy shrine pure and free from the corrupting presence of women. I remember "Whites Only" signs in waiting rooms and on restroom doors.

The people who created those dividing walls believed they were doing God's will and protecting the holy from the profane. But Jesus "came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father." The apostle says to us Gentiles and to all others who have stood behind those dividing walls, "so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the Saints and also members of the household of God." Hallelujah!

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

God is Present

Wednesday, January 11, 2007 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year 1 -- William Laud

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 942)
Psalms 119:1-24(morning) // 12, 13, 14 (evening)
Isaiah 41:1-16
Ephesians 2:1-10
Mark 1:29-45

Today Isaiah tells a skeptical, cynical and scattered community of Jews that the holy and mighty God is active and moving within their history. Many of them have been forcibly exiled to Babylon. Those who remain in Jerusalem live under duress. Isaiah sees the military arising of Cyrus, a Persian with no known relationship to Israel or the God of Israel, and Isaiah declares that God has called Cyrus to be his servant to overthrow Israel's oppressors. A new life is just around the corner, he tells them. God is doing this.

The book of Hebrews tells a community that while they were lost and demoralized God acted for their deliverance, sending to them God's own Son, Jesus Christ. Even while they were dead, God made them alive. This is God's grace -- active and effective in the world. Nothing need be done for God's grace to be present, active, and effective. Grace just is. All that we need to is to accept the gift of God's grace, accept the fact that you are accepted. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God --not the result of works, so that no one may boast."

In Mark's Gospel we experience a day with Jesus. He teaches the good news and he heals. He even reaches out to touch the most unclean and isolated, the lepers. He restores them to wholeness and tells them to present themselves to the priest so their healing can be certified and they may be restored to their place in the community.

God is present and working -- in the movements of history, in the acceptance of the lost, in the healing of the broken. God is present and working, here and now.

In his sermon at Larry Benfield's ordination, Scott Walters made this point strongly: "You don’t have to go somewhere else to find the risen Christ. You don’t have to journey to the mystical places of the East or the powerful places of the West. For where two or three of you are gathered in my name, I will be with you. No journey necessary. ...There is no journey necessary toward some other place or some other people whom God has deemed worthy. Christ is present among people left behind in towns where the mill has closed down or the crop price has plummeted. Christ is present among people hanging on for dear life in towns where the houses and the malls and the jobs are growing like kudzu. Christ is present." (Read the full text of his fine sermon at http://www.christchurchlittlerock.org/sermonOrdinationLRB.html)

Last Sunday in my sermon I quoted Anthony Bloom: "You will find stability at the moment when you discover that God is everywhere, that you do not need to seek him elsewhere, that he is here, and if you do not find him here it is useless to go and search for him elsewhere because it is not he that is absent from us, it is we who are absent from him." (full text at http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id189.html)

God is with us. How will we recognize God's presence today? Can we look at the newspaper or listen to the news broadcasts and recognize God's moving in history? Can we accept God's grace given to us right here, right now. Can we experience wholeness? We don't have to go anywhere to find these things. God is with us.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Old Friends

Tuesday, January 10, 2007 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year 1 -- Julia Emery

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 942)
Psalms 5, 6(morning) // 10, 11(evening)
Isaiah 40:25-31
Ephesians 1:15-23
Mark 1:14-28

One of the things that happens when you read, study and pray with scripture regularly, is that certain passages become very precious to you. Revisiting these passages is like being with an old friend. The memories and emotions of the past, even from many years ago, return with a warm familiarity.

I have an old friend from seminary days. We had not seen each other for over a decade. When I had an opportunity to visit with him again, it took about three minutes to be back in that old, familiar place of connection and enjoyment. We were talking and laughing with the same energy that we have enjoyed so many years ago. Coming back to a Biblical passage that you have meditated with and deeply valued is like that.

Sometime about 1975 I was in a Bible study group. One of the books that we studied was the letter to the Ephesians. It was my turn to make the presentation when we came to today's reading from the first chapter. It really is true that the teacher gets to learn more than the students. I really got to know this passage. Part of what I learned was that a significant portion of this opening part of the letter is an extended prayer from the writer. I invited our study group to let that prayer become our own -- to imagine the apostle offering that prayer personally for each of us. The apostle's prayer became internalized for me.

So today, as soon as I began to read, I returned to that place of memory and let this prayer be my own again. I felt the apostle praying for me once more: "I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints..."

Because I have stayed with each of these phrases for some time and studied them, they are now filled with richness and meaning for me. I especially love the phrase "with the eyes of your heart enlightened." I have thought a lot about "the eye of our heart" -- that deep intuitive knowing which unites intellect, intuition and emotion. The Spirit is our guide to the territory of the heart. The wisdom and revelation that can be available to the eye of the heart is a gift from "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ."

When we are open to that gift and the Spirit touches our heart, we can experience a deep interior sense of "the hope to which he has called you" and "the riches of his glorious inheritance." Thirty years ago I stayed with those phrases long enough for them to become real to me. Now when I visit them again, the meaning returns like a treasured old friend. That's one of the gifts of reading, studying, and praying with these holy texts.

Lowell
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To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Monday, January 08, 2007

A New Cycle of Readings

Monday, January 8, 2007 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year 1

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 942)
Psalms 1, 2, 3 (morning) // 4, 7 (evening)
Isaiah 40:12-23
Ephesians 1:1-14
Mark 1:1-13

Today we begin reading a new sequence of scriptures -- Second Isaiah, Ephesians, Mark, and a new cycle of reading the psalms.

Second Isaiah (chapters 40-55) contains some of the most lyrical and inspiring passages in all of the Bible and is honored as among the greatest of ancient literary creations. It articulates a renewal of hope for the Israelites of the exile in Babylon as well as those remaining in Jerusalem. Its historical setting is during the rise of the Persian ruler Cyrus during the decade prior to the Persian and Medes final overthrow of Babylon in 538 BCE. (The original Isaiah prophesied during the period 740-732 BCE.) This remarkable collection of poetry speaks a message of comfort by assuring its readers that God is the creator of all and the Lord of history. It helps our appreciation of this material to realize that it is written during a time of deep Jewish cynicism, to an audience that was both in different to the reality of God or too despairing to care. Our reading today invites us to imagine the greatness of God the Creator. It is a lyrical invitation to awe.

The letter to the Ephesians praises the awesome love of God which has united Jew and Gentile into one body. That body is Christ who is now raised to the cosmic heights. this is God's predetermined plan -- that God would raise Christ from the dead, place him over all things, seal the church with the Holy Spirit, and unite the church into Christ the Head of the Body. It is written in the style and spirit of Paul by an unknown disciple about a generation after Paul's ministry.

Mark invented the literary genre of the Gospel -- the good news which preaches the story of Jesus. Mark it emphasizes Jesus's victory through suffering. It invites the community of Christ to see its own suffering within the context of Christ's obedience and victory.

Reading these scriptures together will invite us into a cosmic vision of hope which is concretely connected to the very real circumstances of our earthly need and suffering. Think of the communities that these were written for -- the demoralized and dispersed Jewish people of the sixth century BCE, a young and vulnerable church that expected Jesus's return to have been accomplished decades ago, and a congregation undergoing suffering because of their faith. These words are addressed to people living with doubt, threat, and cynicism. They have spoken to people in similar circumstances for centuries.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Friday, January 05, 2007

New Beginnings on Old Foundations

Friday, January 5, 2007 -- Daily Office Year 1
The 12th day of Christmas

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Discussion Blog: To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 940)
Psalms 2, 110:1-5 (6-7) (morning) // 29, 98 (evening)
Joshua 1:1-9
Hebrews 11:32 - 12:2
John 15:1-16

We close out the series of beginnings. The lectionary starts the year with a survey of the calling of Abraham, Jacob/Israel, Moses, and today -- Joshua. As Joshua prepares to lead Israel into the land of promise, God reminds him, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous." Joshua is reminded of the foundations of the community: "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it."

And we've read from the book of Hebrews of the heroes of Israel's past. We are inspired by their courage and suffering. Part of our foundation is the example of the people who have passed our heritage to us.

In John's Gospel is a wonderful passage where Jesus defines our relationship as branches connected to the vine; we are the branches; Jesus is the vine.

These are our foundations: the presence of God throughout the history of our community; the book which carries our story; the people who are examples to us; and our vital, intimate, living relationship with the very life of God as revealed through Jesus Christ. We begin this new year firmly established on the strong foundation.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St
.
Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR