Psalm 88

Friday, February 29, 2008 -- Week of 3 Lent

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 955)
Psalms 95* & 88 (morning) 91, 92 (evening)
Genesis 47:1-26
1 Corinthians 9:16-27
Mark 6:47-56
*for the Invitatory

Psalm 88 is unique in the collection of psalms. It is an unrelenting lamentation of woe and despair.

The psalmist opens with the cry, "O my God, my Savior, by day and night I cry to you," but the only action attributed to God is hurt and absence. "You have laid me in the depths of the Pit, ...Your anger weighs upon me heavily... You have put my friends far from me... Your blazing anger has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me..." The psalmist continues to cry out, "My God, I have called upon you daily," but there is no answer.

He asks God, "Why?" "O God, why have you rejected me; why have you hidden your face from me?" He argues, "What good is this?" If he dies, God can do nothing for him and he can do nothing for God. "Do you work wonders for the dead; will those who have died stand up and give you thanks? Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave or your faithfulness in the land of destruction? Will your wonders be known in the dark or your righteousness in the country where all is forgotten?" The answer to all of these rhetorical questions is a resounding, "No!" (Note: this is written from the traditional perspective that after death is nothing, or a shadowy near-nothing-life in Sheol.)

There is no expression of hope. There is no prayer of confidence in God's deliverance. There is no promise that the psalmist will return with praise and thanksgiving after God's mighty arm rescues him. This is a psalm of unrelenting lamentation of woe and despair, ending in darkness. The last verse: "My friend and neighbor you have put away from me, and darkness is my only companion."

I was visiting my seminary in New York City one summer, and I heard a lecture by the noted Old Testament scholar Bernhard Anderson, a United Methodist teaching at Princeton; he was on sabbatical there that year. He said of this psalm that he knew of no instance when it was appointed by a lectionary to be used by any Christian church in public worship. A quick student piped up, "We do!" He pointed to the regular cycle of psalms in Daily Office. Psalm 88 is part of the cycle. It always appears on a Friday, the day of the crucifixion.

Anderson was impressed. He felt this psalm is an important one. It speaks for a dark place where we sometimes find ourselves. It shows that it is okay to bring our grief, our anger, our complaint, our fear to God without feeling like we have to cover it up with false hope. The scripture includes words to God that express our hopelessness, and thus that is a faithful and honest communication to God. We can be completely honest, even if that means we have nothing good to say to God.

Some problems don't lend themselves to a cheery ending. Some situations do not hold a promise of deliverance. Sometimes we lose our hope altogether. Sometimes "darkness is (our) only companion."

Our voice is represented in the great collection of the Psalms. We have words for our emotions, words that are honored and revered among our holy texts. They are present and alive in the midst of our testament of hope. It is a good thing to have and to remember Psalm 88. If we are fortunate enough not to need to pray it for ourselves, we can certainly offer it on behalf of those who live in such despair and hopelessness.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Feeding the Multitudes

Thursday, February 28, 2008 -- Week of 3 Lent

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 955)
Psalms [83] or 42, 43 (morning) 85, 86 (evening)
Genesis 46:1-7, 28-34
1 Corinthians 9:1-15
Mark 6:30-46

The feeding of the multitudes is one of the few elements that appears predominately in all four of our gospel accounts. It is significant that the Eucharist became the characteristic act of worship among the followers of Jesus after his death and resurrection.

The people come to Jesus scattered, hungry and vulnerable, "like sheep without a shepherd." He taught them, filled their minds and imaginations with the possibilities of what life would be like with God at the center, the Kingdom of God. Then he fed them. They were brought together in a holy meal, and were satisfied. Strengthened, enlightened and unified. These are the fruits of feeding, the fruits of the Eucharist of Jesus.

Mark offers us two accounts of the feeding. That is an important detail. This first of the two accounts happens in Jewish territory, the feeding of the 5,000. Five is an important number in Jewish tradition. The sacred Torah is the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures. There are five loaves that are shared among the crowd. When the feeding is over, there are twelve baskets of leftover food. Twelve is the number of the tribes of Israel.

Two chapters later, Jesus will repeat this miracle, but this time he will do so in Gentile territory. There will be 4,000 people, seven loaves and seven baskets left over. Four is a symbolic number that traditionally represents the four corners of the earth, the four winds or four directions -- an image of the whole created order. And seven is a number that is sacred to many faiths and cultures, a number that represents totality and perfection, the sum of three (the spiritual order) and four (the created order). Later in the book of Acts we will read that the church would choose seven deacons to go out into the world to serve the Gentiles. In the book of Revelation we will hear John address seven Gentile churches.

What Jesus does is to feed -- nurturing and uniting God's people. And Jesus does the same thing among the Gentiles as he does among his own people, the Jews. His gifts are for all, not just those who belong to his own people or his own religion. Feeding unites the scattered and vulnerable multitudes within the care of a loving shepherd, a leader whose purpose is to serve. He is our example.

In his reflections on Mark, Bill Barnwell writes of the shepherding ministry of Jesus, "He led by serving. He came not to exalt himself but to raise up the people, to encourage the weak, tend the sick, bandage the injured, recover the straggler, search for the lost, and enlist the strong. He came to feed the people, not to feed on them. When the people attempted to make a hero of him, he tried to quiet them and to call attention away from himself. 'Tell them what the Lord has done for you,' he said (5:19, 20). Jesus' task is to lead his followers to God, not to glorify himself." (William Barnwell, Our Story According to Mark, p. 148)

The church at its best follows in the way of Jesus. Maybe that is why feeding ministries are so characteristic of congregational outreach programs. We connect what happens at our table of communion with the needs of the world to be nourished and satisfied. If a church only feeds spiritually and neglects the very real physical needs of its neighbors, it is doing only half the job. And if it cares only for its own, it has failed to follow the example of Jesus, who performed the same generous miracles for Jew and Gentile alike, without demanding of the Gentiles that they join his religion. He just pointed them to God and invited them to give glory to God in whatever way they may.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Meat Sacrificed to Idols

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 -- Week of 3 Lent
(George Herbert, Priest, 1633)

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 955)
Psalms 119:97-120 (morning) 81, 82(evening)
Genesis 45:16-28
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 6:13-29

For Paul it is important that love be our primary motivation. Love is more important than knowledge; more important than freedom. We are to use our knowledge and freedom in the service of love. We are to forego what we know and limit our freedom if it is more loving to do so.

The presenting issue is food sacrificed to idols. Among the gentile converts, this issue was a big deal. Paul's solution is characteristic of his ethic and gospel.

Much of the meat sold in the public markets in the Roman world was blessed at a local Temple to Apollo or other Roman gods as part of the ritual offerings. The entrails or organs were the useful religious parts; the edible parts were to be shared with the priests and others, sometimes in a holy meal. The animals offered for sacrifice would be examined for flaws or blemishes and certified as perfect or excellent. Meat blessed at the Temple would be valued meat.

To Paul, life in Christ made all of this stuff meaningless. Rituals and sacrifices and laws have no significance for him. Christ has made all things new. The gift of life in Christ is the gift of freedom. We have been made Christ's own, reconciled to God completely through the generous act of Christ. He had no scruples about meat sacrificed to idols. It's good meat; eat it, and enjoy.

But there are some who have not come to the fullness of this freedom. He calls them our weaker brothers and sisters. Out of regard for them, we should be willing to limit our freedom rather than harm their conscience. If they think the meat sacrificed to idols has some significance, is a participation in the worship of the other gods, then he would abstain from eating such meats as an act of loving respect toward them.

Some applications are obvious. Don't have pork ribs when you are at a restaurant with an observant Jew; order tea when visiting with someone in recovery; don't cuss in front of your mother.

This is a passage that is being urged upon the Episcopal Church with regard to our relationship with our brothers and sisters in regions of the world where gay people are regarded as immoral or sick. For the sake of their conscience, we should forgo our freedom to recognize ritually the holiness of gay unions. I find that application problematic, since it perpetuates injustice and violence toward my gay brothers and sisters. I would refrain from blessing gay unions in the diocese of Rwanda, but here where we recognize the holiness of such love, I would bless freely -- something like Paul enjoying idol meat in his private home but restraining if with a new and scrupulous gentile convert.

When is it right to limit our freedom for the sake of another's scruples, superstition, or ignorance? That's the question Paul presents us. He's obviously encouraging generosity toward the weaker neighbor, in a spirit of love and respect. But Paul has his boundaries too. He fiercely opposed those Jewish-Christians whose conscience was offended by the presence of Greek-Christian brothers who were uncircumcised. The connection between circumcision and bondage to the law was too critical. For me the connection between oppression and violence toward gay people and their denial of blessing is too critical.

What about our weaker brothers who fear that Darwin's evolutionary theory will unseat God? Or those who fear everyone who has not followed some public script about Jesus will go to hell? What about our brothers and sisters who believe a fertilized egg is fully comparable to a living, breathing human being? ...those of us whose conscience is offended when we execute someone who is in prison and completely in our control. ...or those who believe torture is always wrong?

I'm not sure how my logic is holding up here, but I know that these conflicts between love and freedom and knowledge are complicated and always with us. Paul invites us to elevate love to such a degree that when it is necessary, we should be willing to limit our freedom. It is a harder moral equation when someone's scruple demands we limit another's freedom, and it is always complicated when we must judge between competing loves.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Traveling Light Toward the End

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 -- Week of 3 Lent

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 955)
Psalms 78:1-39 (morning) 78:40-72(evening)
Genesis 45:1-15
1 Corinthians 7:32-40
Mark 6:1-13

Sometimes a little detail in the text will catch my attention. In the instruction that Jesus gives as he sends the twelve out two by two, Mark includes this description: "He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics." There is a little detail here that contrasts with Matthew's version: "Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food." And Luke: "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money -- not even an extra tunic." Mark's version allows a staff and sandals; Matthew and Luke's versions prohibit them. I've never noticed that before, and I don't have an explanation.

The description of these travelers is similar to the cynic and sophist traveling philosophers of Greek and Roman tradition. But the similarity seems to raise up a contrast. The traveling philosophers did travel light, but they expected to be paid for their teachings, often very handsomely. The philosophers developed a reputation for greed. Part of their message was their lifestyle. They shed themselves of all social conventions, lived according to nature, and were dependent upon those who would receive them and listen to their teaching.

The gospel accounts raise up a contrast. His missionaries are not to take money or store it in their belts, like the cynics. And, except for Mark's account, not even to wear shoes or carry a staff. In Christian history subsequent orders of monks followed this tradition. Sts. Francis and Claire introduced the custom of discalced (meaning "without shoes") monks, who went barefoot. The term later extended to those who wore only sandals. Many Franciscans embraced the life of poverty and traveling dependent upon alms.

Monastic traditions also embraced the teaching we find today from Paul in 1 Corinthians advising celibacy. In the light of the expected return of Jesus, Paul encourages his congregation to forego marriage. His reasons are several. First, what's the point? Jesus' immanent return will end this age, and so there is no time to have children and raise a family. Second, without the worries and anxieties of providing for another's needs, physical and emotional, it is easier to focus entirely on "the affairs of the Lord." His consistent advice in this section is this: stay as you are, whether circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, married or single. Everything is coming to a climactic crisis soon. No need to plan for the future. Paul's prediction and the early church's expectation proved wrong, of course, and the presentation of the message and teaching of the church had to make a major adjustment in the next couple of generations.

These texts are helpful metaphors for Lenten considerations, however. How can we travel lighter? How can we simplify our lives? We are so burdened by possessions and concerns, Lent invites us to give up, let go, give away some of the clutter, anxiety and possessiveness that accumulates around us. Lent also invites us to consider the immanent end, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." A mentor of mine used Lent as an exercise in his preparation for death. He imagined that he knew without doubt that he was going to die on Good Friday. During the forty days he got his affairs in order, reconnected with valued friends from his past, made amends and reconciliations. By the time he went to sleep on Good Friday, he was prepared. Everything had been taken care of. He could commend himself to Christ, and die.

When he awoke that next morning, it was like a wonderful gift. Resurrection. And, he said, he discovered that the practice was not so much a way to die, but rather a way to live.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Do-overs & Futures

Monday, February 25, 2008 -- Week of 3 Lent

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 955)
Psalms 80 (morning) 777, [79](evening)
Genesis 44:18-34
1 Corinthians 7:25-31
Mark 5:21-43

Do-overs & Futures

One of the defining things about the past is that it cannot be changed. And when you have done something that you regret, there is nothing you can do to undo it. The consequences follow and you are helpless to reverse the harm.

But how nice it is that occasionally we have an opportunity to offer some redemption. Sometimes we find ourselves in a position similar to the one when we failed, and if at this subsequent opportunity we choose well and do not repeat the mistake of the past, there is some significant satisfaction. We've learned something. We've broken a pattern.

In our first reading Joseph sets up his brothers in a situation similar to the one when they sent him into slavery. They are free to go if they will only give up Benjamin into slavery. Judah rises to the occasion. Unlike the earlier time when he did not act decisively to save his brother Joseph, this time Judah offers to sacrifice himself on behalf of his brother Benjamin. His charity will turn the story into joy. The past will be healed and a new future begun with Jacob's family reunited.

How different is Paul's perspective. There is no future, he says. He speaks from within the early Church's conviction that Jesus was to return immanently to usher in a new age. Everything will change. Therefore there is no point in planning for the future. No point in marrying; there is no time to raise a family. Possessions or future anticipations are meaningless. "For the present form of this world is passing away." No future; no cares.

But in the story from Mark's gospel, Jesus restores the future to two women. He gives them the gift of fecundity. Once they were cut off from future and from family. But the presence of Jesus heals them and gives them hope for a future and for children.

As Jesus is on the way to the home of Jairus, a woman with some form of vaginal or uterine bleeding secretly touches his cloak and is healed. It was a dangerous move on her part. Her bleeding makes her ritually unclean. She was not supposed to touch anyone, nor was she allowed to join the congregation in worship. For twelve years she has been marginalized from social and religious contact and unclean. She has been unable to participate normally in family or community life. She risked punishment when she touched Jesus. The normal reaction would have been hostile, for her touch would make another unclean.

Jesus sees only her suffering and her faith. He is not trapped by the cultural traditions of purity. He gives her peace. She now has a future. She can be restored to community, family, and the possibility of children.

But by the time Jesus arrives at Jairus' house, the little girl is dead. Her future is taken away. The text notes that she was twelve years old, just at the cusp of puberty. For her there will be no life, no family, no children. Jesus takes her by the hand and raises her. A new future; new hope. She gets a "do-over."

Every new day is a "do-over." This morning Jesus has taken each of us by the hand and raised us from the death of sleep. The past is done; the future is open. We have time to redeem the old mistakes and failures. We have an opportunity to create something new. Restored to hope, community and fecundity. Let there be life!

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

Thursday, February 21, 2008 -- Week of 2 Lent

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 71 (morning) 74 (evening)
Genesis 42:29-38
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Mark 4:21-34

My mind went to Michael Koonsman this morning as I read the lessons. It was 1977. I was in my first semester of seminary. Each week the new students would discuss a church issue for a couple of hours -- the Bible and Authority, the new Prayer Book, women in the church, etc. This week the topic was gay and straight. Our presenter was Michael Koonsman. He was the first openly gay person I had ever met.

Very tall; long, almost mournful face; expressive, enormous hands; quiet, steady voice. He told his story. (Like so many I've heard since.) I hope I remember accurately. He knew from childhood he was different. He didn't see what the other boys did when the pretty girls walked by. He looked at Playboy, but he knew his reaction wasn't quite the same. He struggled to repress the feelings when he got old enough to know. Married his best friend and hoped his deep care for her would eventually overcome the restlessness. It didn't. She understood when he decided he had to be who he was. As I remember, he was already ordained, and he was so fearful that his divorce would cost him his ministry. He worried whether he could be accepted as a gay priest.

Once he became honest, open with himself and with others, peace happened -- spiritual and psychological peace. He was able to serve as a priest, but no longer in the fast-track-to-a-big-parish model as before. More modest, yet honest, intimate and satisfying ministry.

He finished. We looked around the room. I can't remember what the others said, but I remember what I said. I quoted from today's epistle. I looked directly at Michael; I leaned forward for emphasis. I think I gestured, pointing my finger at him rather aggressively. "But don't you know," I said, "that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?"

He looked at me intently, but without reaction. A voice of deep intensity and absolute authenticity rose from within him saying, "Yes! Yes, my body IS the temple of the Holy Spirit." And he fixed his eyes on me with utter integrity. That was the moment that something in me cracked. His response was an anomaly. It had no category in my paradigm. His answer seemed completely authentic, yet it was contrary to everything I had ever understood. I made no response. We went to the next "question."

But for me everything changed. It was like the seed that Jesus mentions in today's gospel. A small seed had been planted deep in the ground of my being. Silently, invisibly it began to take root.

I told Kathy about Michael, and when he taught a Hatha Yoga class that spring, we enrolled. I couldn't do most of those difficult poses that he assumed with such grace. He practiced Yoga as a preparation for meditation. I stretched awkwardly out of balance. Yes, his body was the temple of the Holy Spirit, at least more so than mine at Yoga.

By the following summer I was actively researching, questioning, learning. Dave -- a seminarian from another denomination, and the most grounded, mature, spiritually gifted seminarian I had met -- let me ask him every dumb question a straight boy from Mississippi would want to ask a gay person. And hidden things began to come to light. The seed began to sprout and grow. And I began to see light and life in ways that had been dark and hidden.

From that beginning has come so much fruit. So many friends. The joy of being free to celebrate the love that is so evident in couples like Louie and Earnest, Anne and Robin, James and Don, Catherine and Debby. So much joy; so much happiness right there in front of us, among us. Temples where the Holy Spirit is manifest and grows.

I doubt if Michael retained any memory of me. Maybe he told his friends about the Southern boy who shook his finger at him. I hope they laughed charitably and said, "Bless his heart."

But Michael, bless your heart. You never knew it, but you opened something in me that has flowed with the water of new birth. You started a change that produced wonderful fruit of the Holy Spirit and unmeasured joy for me. That day you were a temple of the Holy Spirit for me. You planted a seed that continues to bloom. Thank you, thank you. I will never forget you.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Paul's Advice in Conflicts

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 -- Week of 2 Lent

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 72 (morning) 119:73-96 (evening)
Genesis 42:18-28
1 Corinthians 5:9 - 6:8
Mark 4:1-20

Paul says something remarkable at the end of today's reading. He is chiding some of the members of the congregation in Corinth because they have been engaged in some form of civil lawsuit. Apparently one person in the congregation is accusing another of having been defrauded or wronged, and they have gone to court to seek justice.

Paul is horrified. To him, lawsuits between members of the congregation are a scandal for the church. He has three things to say about it.

First, take these disputes to the church. I was part of a group that founded a Christian mediation service when I lived in Jackson, Mississippi. We sought to follow the procedural advice of Matthew 18 to create a panel of peacemakers who would listen to both sides and offer counsel. The grieved parties could choose to enter into legal binding arbitration, where the judgment of the panel would be enforceable, or to agree to listen respectfully, with the hope that they would follow the panel's counsel. Each panel consisted of three trained peacemakers -- a lawyer and pastor and a lay person (often with some expertise that might bear on the nature of the disagreement). The goal was reconciliation, not just judgment. I sat on two of the panels. In one case, the parties reached a place of mutual reconciliation. In the other, one party simply wanted justification, and refused to accept the counsel of the group.

There was a lot to commend the process. It was quick, inexpensive, and about as non-adversarial as such a dispute can be. One lawyer quipped with exaggeration -- if this caught on, it could put a lot of lawyers out of business.

So Paul tells the Corinthians, first, take your conflicts to the church that they may be receive a hearing and some form of judgment that might hopefully produce reconciliation.

The second thing he says is that the church shouldn't submit to the secular courts because it is God's intention that those called out into the church become the eventual judges of the world and angels. Why should those whom you will judge be the persons you take your disputes to?

But it is the third comment that is the most striking. "To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?" Paul's sense of security in the justification that is ours by grace is so strong that there is nothing that can truly threaten us. That's one of his major themes. He is bulletproof. We all are, he says. God's free gift in Christ overcomes all. God restores us to a perfect relationship with God and promises us a share in the universal triumph of Christ. What do you need to defend? What is there to fight for? We are already completely triumphant, completely loved, completely safe. Let it go. Someone wronged you, defrauded you? So what. They can't hurt you. Not really. Not as long as your union with God is intact. That's the only threat. And when you go into public conflict, you actually may be threatening the union of God in Christ, corporately and individually.

Then he goes one more step in his exasperation. "...Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud -- and believers at that." To have brothers and sisters wronging each other is scandal. We are past these things now, Paul asserts, because "you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." Live out of that energy and do not wrong. And if wronged, forgive and let it go.

It is an invitation into a life of profound freedom and peace.

Lowell

____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Family Values

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 -- Week of 2 Lent

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 61, 62 (morning) 68:1-20(21-23)24-36 (evening)
Genesis 42:1-17
1 Corinthians 5:1-8
Mark 3:19b-35

The conflicts that Mark presents to us are fascinating. Jesus' activity has stirred up controversy. He goes home and finds family resistance. They try to restrain Jesus from continuing because people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." Authorities from Jerusalem have a strong accusation: "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons."

Jesus lived in a very stable culture, where a son usually followed in a father's footsteps, taking the family business and caring for it. A successful life -- the model and ideal -- would be a life in which a young man would work in his family's business until he inherited the leadership, and then would continue in that tradition so that when he passed it along, nothing would have been lost and nothing gained. The ideal family would be one in which generations would ply the same trade or fields in the same economic condition as their ancestors.

For someone to try to advance their family's wealth or social position was deeply problematic. It was a violation of the cultural norms and regarded as acting sinfully, acting out of greed. Greed was very possibly the most serious offense. The underlying assumption was that resources and wealth are a zero-sum game. If someone gains, someone else must lose. Therefore, for you to increase your wealth, it must be at the expense of someone else. Your greed is someone else's suffering. This was the cultural norm, and this world view exercised a powerful influence over the culture that Jesus lived in.

There was great social pressure for a son, especially an eldest son, to lead the family by maintaining the family's position, economically and socially. One bad son could upset generations of faithful sons by failing to do his part and sending his family into perpetual shame and ruin.

So when Jesus did not enter into the work of Joseph, but became a traveling teacher, it was a cause of scandal, local shame, and potential family ruin. We have several stories of his family's resistance to his work.

Jesus' response is a radical one. In a culture that is dominated by one's duty to family, a culture where identity was entirely dictated by one's family situation, Jesus upsets the powerful conventional family values. Jesus redefines the understanding of family beyond the limits of blood. "Here are my mother and my brother! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

Now this is crazy talk, at least that's how it would have been perceived from the perspective of his family and culture. I'm trying to think of some parallels. How about this? I stir up a group of followers and we set up my teaching and feeding in the front yards of a half dozen residents down the street. The home owners protest, saying, "What are you doing on my property? Who gave you permission?" "This land is your land; this land is my land. The land belongs to God and God belongs to all of us. Who can claim to own the land? The land belongs to us all!"

Imagine how that might play in Fayetteville or elsewhere in the U.S. If you feel some sense of outrage or scandal, you've got a taste of how radical Jesus' behavior was from the perspective of the normal family values of his time. He created families that were divided against themselves.

I think the fact that James the brother of our Lord became the first leader of the Jerusalem church following the resurrection and that Mary his mother was identified with the movement, though it took her away from Nazareth, are powerful testimonies to the truth of the resurrection. If his family, who resisted his ministry and interfered with his work, who knew him most intimately from the humble perspective of childhood -- if they followed him as Lord and worshiped him as the Risen One, something remarkable must have happened to change their perspective of their prodigal son.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Leading & Following

Monday, February 18, 2008 -- Week of 2 Lent
(Martin Luther, Reformer, 1546)

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 56, 57, [58] (morning) 64, 65 (evening)
Genesis 41:46-57
1 Corinthians 4:8-20(21)
Mark 3:7-19a

In each of our readings today there is something about the relationships between leader and followers, principal and delegate.

Joseph rises to a status of great authority in the Pharaoh's government. We see him leading a bureaucratic agency of the government, overseeing a state program to collect, preserve and store surplus produce during seven years of fruitful harvest. He has seen in a dream (an economic forecast?) that there will be a prolonged downturn in agricultural production, and he is leading the planning for that eventuality.

I'm a fan of good government. There are things that only government can do well. I want government that seeks to promote the well-being of its citizens and respond to those needs that aren't going to be covered in a profit-driven economy. Good government can think long-term and oversee larger cooperative projects for the corporate good. But that requires that those who work in government be more committed to service than to power, to be more statesmen than politicians. You can almost gauge the health or brokenness of a culture by measuring its leaders place on the service-power continuum. Later in this story we'll see the corruption of Joseph's plan as he consolidates Pharaoh's power, trading food for money, land and eventually freedom, enslaving large groups of hungry Egyptians and neighbors. Ambitious, power-driven leaders spawn destructive followers.

Paul complains of the arrogance of his "children" in the congregation at Corinth. He is calling them away from their smug comforts and encouraging them to follow his lead. He has sacrificed to be the servant of Christ in service to God's people. He tells them to follow his path of humility and service -- that is the source of true power. Power comes from God and is manifest in faithful discipleship. Paul wants to see some reform in the Corinthian church.

And today we see Jesus calling the twelve. First we see the authority of his ministry. He travels throughout the Jewish regions, attracting multitudes that are growing beyond one man's management. His work is healing, exorcism and teaching. So he appoints the twelve and names them "apostles," a Greek term for messenger. He delegates them to act in his behalf -- healing, exorcising, and proclaiming the message, first in Israel. Later he will draw them into the same ministries outside Israel.

We've been given the same appointment. We are Christ's representatives in our day. He has given us the message to share and the same ministry of healing and reconciliation. We are to face boldly the demons of our day, to expose them to the light and strip them of their power. We are to be the whistleblowers and the people who speak truth to power. If we do our job well, we'll probably get in as much trouble as Jesus and his disciples did -- religious and political trouble. The temptation is to kiss up to power, as Joseph eventually did, or to drift toward smug comforts, like the congregation in Corinth.

For good to happen we need good leaders and good followers. Servant leadership is the model Jesus gives us. We are all going to follow someone and some thing. Will it be in the service of service or in the service of power? That is a challenge each of us must face.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Conflicts of Consciousness

Friday, February, 15, 2008 -- Week of 1 Lent
(Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, 1730)

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 95* & 40, 54 (morning) 51 (evening)
Genesis 40:1-23
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Mark 2:13-22
*for the Invitatory

One of my two closest friends from childhood grew up in a very observant Baptist home -- no drinking and no dancing, no dice or cards allowed. His two best friends were both Episcopalians, the denomination about which they quip, "Wherever you find four Episcopalians, you'll always find a fifth." It seemed from the outside that they only thing Episcopalians forbade was the use of your salad fork on your meat.

Jesus scandalized the most religiously observant in his society. Today we see him eating at the home of a tax collector -- a Roman collaborator whose practice inevitably included some form of extortion. Other than the disciples, the only guests that are mentioned are sinners. "Sinners" has a specific meaning in the New Testament. A sinner was one who deliberately did not try to obey the Jewish Laws, one who intentionally set oneself apart from observance of Torah.

And sitting at table meant something different in Jesus' culture. Because meals occurred in the open, on patios or in homes with open windows and doors, the whole community could observe who ate together. A meal was a public event. To sit at table and eat with someone conveyed a social message of acceptance and alliance. It was the cultural norm to be very careful about whom one ate with. It was a public message of approval. Jesus ate with sinners tax collectors.

On the other hand, the ministry of the school of the Pharisees was to carry the observance of the Biblical commandments and the holiness of the Temple into every home. It's what we try to encourage in our formation and education programs at St. Paul's -- incorporate the values of God into your daily life.

What does it say about Jesus that he so flaunted convention and caused such scandal to those who were most religiously conscious?

The story continues. Why don't your disciples fast like John's? Jesus says, in essence, "I'm here! It's a big party!" Break out the wine. Strike up the band. Let's party! (But watch which fork is for the salad.)

Here's where it gets tricky. Jesus adds this dimension of outreach, inclusion and joyful celebration to the central ethos of his life with God. But he also incorporates the good things that are the fruits of the ancient traditions of his culture. When he heals and forgives he tells his friends to go and sin no more. He invites them to live a high ethic, summarizing the whole of the Jewish law and Torah in the commandment to love God, self and neighbor.

As he steps into a new and higher state of consciousness, he carries with him all of the lessons from the old state of consciousness into the new place. He puts the new wine into new wineskins, and thus he doesn't lose the old wine in the old wineskins.

There is a theory about the stages of consciousness that human beings and civilization go through in our process of growth. (Clare Graves, Don Beck, Christopher Cowan, John Lamy, Ken Wilber) John Lamy has a nice summary in the current edition of the magazine Spirituality & Health. Briefly, the stages are (Lamy's labels) Survival, Magic, Power, Law & Order, Autonomy, Green, Integral and Beyond Integral. At each stage, we learn a value system and unique skills. Each stage of development represents a leap in consciousness that brings a new set of values, and ideally, we carry forward the wisdom of all the previous stages as we progress. You can't skip stages. You've got to master each to jump to the next.

Lamy sees much of the culture war that divides America as a battle between the largest single group in today's population -- Law & Order -- and the pragmatic rationalists of the Autonomy stage along with the smaller emerging Green movement (egalitarian, consensual, caring; promoting interior life, diversity, environmental and feminist movements). Each tier is deeply convinced that its value structure and its outlook on life are the only legitimate ones.

It is helpful to see each stage solving the problems of the previous stage, but also bringing the best values of the previous into its consciousness. That's enough for what is now a longer than usual Reflection. You might want to read the article though.

In the context of today's Gospel reading, Jesus is inviting the Law and Order Pharisees to let go of the exclusion and condemning judgementalism that is the unhealthy manifestation of their value system, and to carry their good habits and ethics into a new, more open paradigm. Such a paradigm shift was no easier in Jesus' world than it is in ours.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Good Deeds Punished

Thursday, February 14, 2008 -- Week of 1 Lent (Cyril & Methodius, Monk & Bishop, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869, 885) (Not St. Valentine's Day - there are several martyrs named Valentine; nothing historic is known of them)

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 50 (morning) [59, 60] or 19, 46 (evening)
Genesis 39:1-23
1 Corinthians 2:14 - 3:15
Mark 2:1-12

Today we have echoes of suspicion in the presence of goodness that come to us from stories that are centuries apart. There is an old folk saying, "Let no good deed go unpunished."

Joseph gets blackmailed. He is hardworking, honest and upright. He's also good looking. He's working for Potiphar, the Pharaoh's captain of the guard, and Joseph has earned a place of trust. But Potiphar's wife has eyes for the slave. These things happen to immigrants without papers and others who are vulnerable and weak. She tries to entice him into her bed, but when Joseph refuses, she traps him with a false accusation and circumstantial evidence. An honest slave has no standing in a "he said, she said" contest with a lady of standing. He is thrown in prison. But God is with him, in slavery, in honor and in prison. And his virtue continues to shine forth. ...to be continued. (These serial stories are great fun to read, aren't they?)

In a way, Paul's words in 1 Corinthians are something of a commentary on our first reading. He says that God will judge the quality and value of our work. Good work will prevail; that which is lacks integrity and character will eventually be revealed. Cutting corners in the short term has long term consequences. Faithful adherence to the highest standards will be revealed and rewarded in time.

But in the meantime, conflicts pop up and some will accuse even the best of intentions.

As Jesus is teaching and healing, a group of friends goes to extraordinary lengths to get their paralyzed friend into Jesus' presence. They remove the woven mats that serve as a roof covering and lower the man on his bed into the midst of the crowded room. Jesus is delighted. He commends their faith. To the paralyzed man he says, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Alarms go off among the pious. Only God can forgive sins. The forgiveness of sins is a divine prerogative. There is a Temple with an elaborate system of purification and sacrifice that is the correct and orthodox path to forgiveness. It is also a big business, the Temple monopoly on forgiveness.

Jesus brushes away these foundational paradigms, challenging the Temple monopoly and claiming immediate access to God's forgiveness, saying "'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.' And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them..." Matthew's Gospel adds that the crowds were "filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings."

Jesus opens up direct access to God and God's forgiveness. Seems like a good thing? Not so, to many. Some took offense at what they perceived to be blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins. Who does he think he is? (And he uses this enigmatic title "Son of Man," which like aces on a poker table, can go "high" or "low," meaning simply "mortal" Son of Man or "superhuman" Son of Man. Jesus leaves the ambiguous interpretation to the listener.) The charge of blasphemy will follow him and eventually stick.

And he has taken on some powerful vested interests. The Temple monopoly is a multinational business. It supports a complex network of people and institutions. It will not be challenged without exercising its power to protect its monopoly and interests. Healing this paralyzed man this way will make moral enemies.

But like Joseph, God will be with him, in prison and beyond to the cross and even through death.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections 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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church Fayetteville, Arkansas

A Day in the Life: Healing & Teaching

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 -- Week of 1 Lent
(Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818)

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 119:49-72 (morning) 49 [53](evening)
Genesis 37:25-36
1 Corinthians 2:1-13
Mark 1:29-45

I'm glad to return to Morning Reflections. I've been under the weather for the better part of a week.

In Mark's Gospel today we see a snapshot of a day in the ministry of Jesus. It begins on Saturday, the Sabbath, when Jesus and the disciples attend worship and teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum. They come to Peter's home, where Peter's mother is ill. Jesus heals her and she serves them. (The Greek word for serve, "diakonein," is the root of our term "deacon.") When the Sabbath ends at sundown Jesus begins his work.

The ministry of Jesus is characterized by healing and teaching. His power is particularly manifest in the casting out of demons. People who are broken or suffering, people who have lost their center or their congruity -- find that in his presence they experience wholeness and health, meaning, congruity and centeredness.

In the morning, Jesus withdraws for his own intimate prayer with God. He is renewed in his centeredness upon God. He continues to move from place to place, even though there are more people who need his healing in Capernaum. He goes to the neighboring towns, he says, "so that I may proclaim the message there also." Healing and teaching.

The center of the teaching-message that he proclaims is the Kingdom of God, the near and inbreaking reign of God. It is a message that is threatening to the established authorities. It is threatening to the religious authorities because Jesus teaches that there is no external mediator between God and us. The gifts of blessing, forgiveness and divine presence are ours without need of recourse to the Temple or priests or other authorities. The Kingdom of God is among you. His message is threatening to the political authorities because it imagines the world as it would be if God were Emperor, not Caesar. He teaches of a society, culture and economy motivated by the virtues of compassion, love, generosity and equality, a society that overturns all of the power and authority of the established orders. It is the kind of thing that can get somebody condemned and killed.

Teaching and healing. Word and sacrament. Religious/political discourse and hands-on service to the needs of others. Walking the talk.

That is the calling that we are invited to enter into as the church, the community of Jesus. We are to continue to teach his message of forgiveness and freedom. And we are to continue to reach out in concrete and real ways to respond to the brokenness and need of our neighbors. Talking is not enough. Doing good without challenging the power and principalities is not enough.

In our reading from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, we hear him speak of the spirit that empowers his ministry of healing and teaching. He has embraced the cross. He has died into Christ's death and been raised in a new life in the Spirit. This new life makes him bold to do and to teach. His orientation is no longer toward "a wisdom of this age or the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish," but God's wisdom. God's very Spirit is now present in and through him -- motivating him to follow in the way Jesus has shown: to heal and bring wholeness and congruity to all human brokenness, and to proclaim a new Kingdom ruled by the virtues of compassion, love, generosity and equality.

That is our calling today.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

The Penitence of Ash Wednesday

Wednesday, February 6, 2008 -- Ash Wednesday

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 951)
Psalms 95* & 32, 143 (morning) 102, 130 (evening)
Amos 5:6-15
Hebrews 12:1-14
Luke 18:9-14
* for the Invitatory


"Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is put away!"

These are the words from the psalmist to open our readings today. It is a good day. A day of penitence, when sin is put away.

"I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to God.' Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin." (Ps. 32:6) Our gospel story gives us a picture of one who knows his weakness, failure and brokenness. "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" says the tax collector, standing by himself in alienation in the holy temple. He will leave that place and return to the same corrupt work tomorrow that is his guilty burden today. Yet, Jesus tells his listeners that this tax collector "went down to his home justified." He was restored to a right relationship to God, whether he realized it or not.

During our worship today, we will pray one of our tradition's most powerful compositions of self-knowledge and confession, the Litany of Penitence (Prayer Book, p. 267). No one can read these words consciously and not be struck to the heart. "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" "Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is put away!"

The Pharisee of our gospel reading is a man who has given his life to God, in discipline and thanksgiving. He prays gratefully that he has found this way of virtue and good living. But his pride blocks him from the justification he assumes. When he looks at others and compares himself, he breaks the seamless garment that is God's relationship and presence with all humanity.

Amos also reminds us of the corporate aspect of our call. We are not called simply to avoid sin and be individuals of high morals. We are called to pursue justice as a society and nation, to "establish justice in the gate." Amos decries the nation for being unresponsive to the needs of the poor while the wealthy live in ease. He condemns the bribes that the powerful use to advance their interests while the needy are ignored. Imagine what he would say to our system of lobbying and influence peddling. These are sins that he insists we address before the Lord can possibly "be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."

Ash Wednesday is a day when we are called to a solemn fast. We are to look at ourselves with conscious penitence. We are to confess and to know our forgiveness. We are to take responsibility for our corporate brokenness and injustice. And we are to commit our selves to a new way, the disciplines of individual goodness and corporate reform.

Hebrews seeks to inspire us in that discipline. "Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet... Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."

We begin this day like the tax collector, seeking God's mercy. Happily we embrace Lent's call to discipline -- to prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are the tools that the Church commends to us for the healing of our souls and of the world's injustice.

"Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is put away!"

Lowell

_____________________________________________

Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts

About Morning Reflections
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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas