Thursday, April 24, 2008

Resting and Feasting

Friday, April 25, 2008 -- Week of 5 Easter
(St. Mark the Evangelist)


Today's Reading for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer)


EITHER the readings for Friday of 5 Easter (p. 963)
Psalms 106:1-18 (morning) 106:19-48 (evening)
Leviticus 23:1-22

2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Matthew 7:1-12


OR
the readings for St. Mark (p. 997)

Morning: Psalm 145; Ecclesiasticus 2:1-11; Acts 12:25 - 13:3
Evening: Psalms 67, 96; Isaiah 62:6-12; 2 Timothy 4:1-11



(I chose the readings for Friday of 5 Easter)

This will be the last Morning Reflection that I'll be writing for a couple of weeks. I'm taking a bit of vacation time.


How nice it is to read in Leviticus today of the commandment of God to rest and to feast. Chapter 23 opens with a reiteration of the sabbath law of weekly respite -- "complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work." The sabbath is a day to rest with God. What a wonderful tradition to reclaim in a time so full of compulsive busyness and work as ours.


Next we hear the instructions for appointed festivals -- great feasts and parties. As Israel is learning to become a community in the wilderness, God appoints for them regular celebrations for recreation, prayer and food. Lots of food. And drink, as well.


As the barley comes in, the people are to bring the first fruits, along with a lamb and some wine. These will be the elements of worship and feasting.


Fifty days later when the wheat begins to ripen, there is another offering of new grain -- bread and lambs and beef and goat for another festival.

Work and rest. Work and play. Work and pray. The balanced rhythm is important enough that God gave Israel specific instructions about breaking up our work with rest and prayer and feasting.

Today's first reading ends with another important commandment. "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the Lord your God."

You might think of this law as a form of early social welfare. The gleaning was whatever may have fallen to the ground in the process of the commercial harvest or the portion of a field that was not economically profitable to harvest. The poor and the aliens are given claim over these leftovers, as well as the borders of the field. Today we see gleanings with organizations that take outdated food or dented cans or other food and produce that might otherwise be thrown away.


There is another way of looking at the command not to reap to the very edges of your fields. Such a command works with time just as it does with fields.


What would it be like if we were careful not to fill up all our time with appointments or jobs or things on our "to do" list? If I begin my day with a full list of expectations, if I do not leave adequate space and time, I am harvesting my field to the border. I am leaving no time for the poor or the alien who isn't already on my appointment list. I am also leaving no time for rest or reflection or those momentary feasts that come our way if we are awake, aware and non-compulsive enough to see them.


Right now the check lists look daunting as I try to cover my bases before the hour comes for leaving. But I'm ready for rest. I'm looking forward to sabbath and feasting and play. Holy time. That's why it's also called Holi-day.


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

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Don't Be Anxious!?

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 -- Week of 5 Easter

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 963)
Psalms [70], 71 (morning) 74 (evening)
Leviticus 19:26-37
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
Matthew 6:25-34

Don't be anxious. Sometimes that's like being told don't think of an elephant. But "don't be anxious" is one of the repeated themes in scripture. We hear it in today's gospel with eloquent poetry. "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

I find that my mind can embrace ideas about the futility of anxiety. Anxiety? I'm against it. Doesn't help anything. But somewhere deep, below the where the will has some sway, anxiety and worry seems to bubble like a pot threatening to boil over.

We all cope differently with anxiety, fear and worry. I've learned some of my own patterns that seem to emerge when I am worried. I feel tired. I want to go to bed. But sometimes I don't sleep well. It is harder to focus. I lose track of what I am doing, and I forget things. My reserve is low and thin. I have fewer resources to rebound when things go badly.

I know others who get angry or busy or hostile when they are anxious. Some get weepy. Some shift into controlling mode. Others withdraw into a cocoon of peace and become quieter, more reflective. Maybe there are as many different ways to respond to anxiety as there are different people.

Faith urges us to practice letting go of anxiety. Matthew 6 invites a two-sided approach. First, recognize that anxiety does no good. Second, trust God.

One of the best, and most marked books in my library is a slim volume titled "Living Simply in an Anxious World," by Robert J. Wicks. Wicks recognizes that healthy perspective comes when we address not only how we think about things, but the imagery that we use, the behavior we exhibit, and the emotions we express or fail to express. He quotes an illustration from Anthony deMello: "If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth."

With faith, listening to the way we think and believe can become an opportunity to listen to God speaking in the midst of our illusion and fear. With hope, imaging ourselves and the world becomes an invitation to see God in different ways. With love, our behavior becomes an example of real service to God. With prayer, our emotions become a chance to experience God as never before. Wicks writes: "Anxiety, feeling 'down' or bored, stress and upset are often indications that we have put our hands psychologically around something/someone less than God."

The only question God ever asks of us is "How can I love?" How can I truly love God, myself and others, right now!? The answer to that question is the good of the moment, and the particular answer may be good only for the moment. But finding out how I must love NOW is the thrill of life. Ask, seek, knock. Wait within the mystery. Dawn happens.

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

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Lord's Prayer

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 -- Week of 5 Easter

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 963)
Psalms 61, 62 (morning) 68:1-20(21-23)24-36 (evening)
Leviticus 16:20-34
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 6:7-15

The late Neville Ward, an English Methodist, was a formative influence in my early years. He said that one of his disciplines was to read a commentary about the Lord's Prayer every year. There are enough books published about the Lord's Prayer that one could read a different book annually and never cover the subject. Ward published his own reflections in his fine study "The Personal Faith of Jesus as Revealed in the Lord's Prayer." Wonderful book.

As I read the prayer again in its context right in the middle of Matthew's composition of the Sermon on the Mount, a few things strike me.

It is always significant to say "Our Father." There is something so universal and inclusive about that designation. In seminary, our spirituality professor Alan Jones invited us all to pray "Our Father" as a mantra as we rode the subway sometime. There are few venues so human as a subway train.

Jesus used the social and political image of the kingdom of God as a central desire of his faith. What would life be like if God were followed and obeyed? Christianity is essentially political. What is God's will for our corporate life? That's a focused political, social and economic question which is in the middle of Jesus concern.

Jesus goes on to describe some of the components of that concern.

Daily bread (or the alternative translation, bread for tomorrow). If God's will were done, no one would live with anxiety about where their next meal will come from.

Debts. Right at the center of Jesus' prayer is an economic concern over indebtedness. He lived in a culture where the powerful and wealthy sometimes used debts to foreclose on the property of peasants. Elsewhere Jesus articulates an ethic of willingness to give without expectation of return. How different is his kingdom from our economic norms.

Time of trial. There are moments that can break us. There are situations that can overwhelm. Jesus acknowledges their threat and seeks God's presence and rescue.

Forgiveness. There is something reciprocal about forgiveness. The measure you give will be the measure you get.

I need to survey the Prayer Book to make certain, but I think that virtually every service for public worship and prayer includes the recitation of the Lord's Prayer. I know it is a core part of every form of prayer of the hours such as Daily Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Noonday and Compline.

To pray the Lord's prayer with concentration, awareness and openness is a daunting and fulfilling exercise in and of itself. What might our lives and the expression of our faith be like if it were focused and concentrated upon living into the Lord's Prayer? How different might our churches be? How different might our society be? How central is the spirit of this prayer to our spirit?

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

Monday, April 21, 2008

Piety and Intention

Friday, April 18, 2008 -- Week of 5 Easter
(Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1109)

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 963)
Psalms 56, 57, [58] (morning) 64, 65 (evening)
Leviticus 8:1-13, 30-36
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

There is an interesting juxtaposition in today's readings. In Leviticus we read of the elaborate and public rituals that ordain and set aside Aaron and his sons for their holy work as priests. In Matthew we are told to take care to match our piety with our intention and to avoid public displays of our religious practice.

Liturgy and ritual are deep in our bones. We resort to solemn rites whenever we want to invest something with deep significance. A black robed judge walks in: "All rise." She takes her seat at a central elevated place. An athletic event is about to being. We stand for the national anthem. A President is inaugurated. There is a parade and a formal swearing in. A group organizes for fellowship or service -- Rotary, Elks, or Masons -- they have their rituals of belonging and beginning.

Ritual elevates our action and unites us in a common purpose. When the people of Israel were defeated, scattered and threatened with extinction, exiled from their home, the rabbis carefully preserved these texts we read today, describing in revered detail the holy regard for holy things. Their intention was to continue to call forth Israel as a holy people even though they had lost the Temple as the center of their religious life and Jerusalem as the center of their political life. Attention to ritual and liturgy was part of the reason why they were able to maintain their identity as a people.

Matthew's gospel emphasizes the importance of our harmonizing our intent with our action. Mere outward forms, liturgical or social, without a corresponding intention of heart is meaningless. This passage speaks to three important religious practices -- prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Jesus' words from Matthew urge us to make our intentions congruent with our actions. The inner landscape is more important than outward appearances.

Who is the giving for? Is it more for the giver and the giver's honor or is it more for the need and the recipient? Who is the praying for? Is it for the appearance of the person praying or is it for God to whom one prays? Who is the fasting for? Is it for the public standing of the one fasting or for the spiritual exercise of sacrifice to God? In all three, the answer is the latter.

The advice seems appropriate for both private and public piety. When we worship and serve in corporate prayer, our rituals and piety need to be congruent with our heart's intention. We offer to God the most beautiful, holy, joyful and reverent expression of praise and thanksgiving of which we are capable. Every part of that liturgy, including things mentioned in Leviticus today like vestments and priests, can be a finger pointing us toward the divine, a lens focusing us on God. Every part of the liturgy can be a distraction or an end in itself.

In Christianity, motivation is everything.

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

Friday, April 18, 2008

Which Commandments?

Friday, April 18, 2008 -- Week of 4 Easter

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms 40, 54 (morning) 51 (evening)
Exodus 34:18-35
1 Thessalonians 3:1-13
Matthew 5:27-37

One of the ironies about the legal/religious controversies over public placement of the ten commandments is that it's challenging to figure out what the ten commandments are. Typically when Christians and Jews speak of the ten commandments they reference two similar, but not identical lists in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The list in Exodus 20 has fourteen or fifteen statements, and different traditions number them differently.

Yet here in our reading today we have a third set of ten commandments. As we've been following the story this week, Moses brought the original set of commandments (presumably the Exodus 20 version) chiseled in stone by God's hand, but the people were reveling around the golden calf. Moses broke the two tablets of the covenant. Moses returned to God's presence and God wrote again the words that were on the previous tablet. Today we read the presumed content of these words. Some traditions call these commandments the "Ritual Decalogue." Here is a handy paraphrase from Wikipedia:

1. Worship no other god than Yahweh: Make no covenant with the inhabitants of other lands to which you go, do not intermarry with them, destroy their places of worship.
2. Do not cast idols.
3. Observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days in the month of Abib in remembrance of the Exodus.
4. Sacrifice firstborn male animals to Yahweh. The firstborn of a donkey may be redeemed; redeem firstborn sons.
5. Do no work on the seventh day.
6. Observe the Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Ingathering: All males are therefore to appear before Yahweh three times each year.
7. Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice with leavened bread.
8. Do not let the Passover sacrifice remain until the following morning.
9. Bring the first fruits of the harvest to the Temple of Yahweh.
10. Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk.

These are not the 10 Commandments that Judge Roy Moore insisted should be displayed in his Alabama courtroom.

If I understand traditional Jewish interpretation, these laws and the other versions of the ten commandments are among the 610 laws that are binding upon Jewish people, but not necessarily binding for non-Jews. There are the Seven Laws of Moses which are listed in the Talmud as applying to all humanity since they come from Noah, from whom all humanity sprang.

1. Prohibition of Idolatry: You shall not have any idols before God.
2. Prohibition of Murder: You shall not murder. (Genesis 9:6)
3. Prohibition of Theft: You shall not steal.
4. Prohibition of Sexual Promiscuity: You shall not commit adultery.
5. Prohibition of Blasphemy: You shall not blaspheme God's name.
6. Prohibition of Cruelty to Animals: Do not eat flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive. (Genesis 9:4)
7. Requirement to have just Laws: You shall set up an effective judiciary to fairly judge observance of the preceding six laws.

According to Jewish traditions, if I am correct about this, a non-Jewish person who follows these laws is regarded as a righteous Gentile, sometimes called a "Noahide" or child of Noah.

One more "decalogue". We are also reading Matthew, who seems to write his Gospel intentionally as the new Torah. We are reading the Sermon on the Mount which has parallels to the traditions from Moses on Mount Sinai. This sections opens with the Beatitudes of Jesus, which are variously numbered from eight to ten, and seem to be Matthew's version of the new commandments of Jesus.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

It was curious to me how Judge Moore and other evangelicals have made the Ten Commandments their cause celebre. Why not the Beatitudes? A Rabbi might ask, "Why not the Seven Laws of Moses?" Someone who just wants to pick at them might ask, "Which Ten Commandments?" (Why not the one that includes "Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk"?)

It seems to me that all of these are part of our treasured traditions. All of these are reflections of humanity's interpretation of our relationship with God and with one another. It doesn't seem helpful to me to try to boil all of this "mother's milk" that we have received into only one version and try to say that's God's final and only answer. When we are living in relationship with the scripture, interpretation is always part of the process.

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

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Deepening Our Understanding of God

Thursday, April 17, 2008 -- Week of 4 Easter

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms 50 (morning) [59, 60] or 114, 115 (evening)
Exodus 34:1-17
1 Thessalonians 2:13-20
Matthew 5:21-26

As we follow the narrative of scripture in a linear way, we see some development in humanity's understanding of God. Through time, we understand God in a less punishing and less tribal way. God reveals the deeper aspects of God's divine nature. The restoration of the covenant offers an excellent way to see that pattern.

The first covenant which Israel broke is found in Exodus 20. (The stones on which 10 Commandments from that covenant were written were destroyed by Moses after the golden calf betrayal.) Now we are in Exodus 34, and there are significant differences as God renews the covenant.

Look at the two descriptions of God's character:
Exodus 20:5-6: I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. God's punishment is emphasized as the first characteristic of the divine nature.

Compare with Exodus 34:6-6: The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of parents upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation. The first element that is emphasized is God's mercy and grace, with an expanded description including God's forbearance, steadfast love and faithfulness. This second description also adds God's forgiving nature, and does not limit God's steadfast love only to "those who love me and keep my commandments." In later generations, the prophets Jeremiah (31:29) and Ezekiel (17:21) will amend the judgment of the parents' sin upon the children, and declare that only the person who sins will be punished for their own sin.

The new description of God as "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" became a central tenet in Judaism. It shows up in at least five other texts in the Hebrew scripture, and seem to have functioned as some form of creed or confession of faith.

Christians might say that the revelation of Jesus continues the direction of this process, revealing God's compassionate, forgiving and loving nature even more radically.

Yet as I read this pivotal chapter, as inspired as I am by the deepening understanding accenting God's mercy over God's judgment, I am also deeply troubled by the tribalism that remains part of the Mosaic understanding. "See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going... You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles." This is genocidal language.

Later texts will challenge this tribal view. Jonah will resist God's call to preach to Nineveh, fleeing to Tarhsish because he knew that God is "a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing." Jonah will pout because God shows mercy to Nineveh. Isaiah will see the Temple as a place of prayer for all nations and will declare Jerusalem to be a peaceful place of gathering for all in a restored, loving creation. A later writer will tell the story of Ruth, a righteous Moabite, who becomes the ancestor of David.

Jesus will perform the same miracles of feeding and healing among the non-Jews as he did among his own people. The early church will open the covenant community to Gentiles without requiring circumcision or adherence to the law of Moses. In Acts, Peter will say, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."

Slowly, it seems that humanity continues to grow more and more to recognize the deeper nature of the expansive love and mercy of God. In Jesus we see divine love poured out completely, to absorb even our evil and death, returning not condemnation and judgment, but resurrection, love that overcomes evil and death. Slowly humanity begins to appropriate the deepening nature of the revelation of God's immeasurable love for us and for all.

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

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Moses' Prayer

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 -- Week of 4 Easter

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms 119:49-72 (morning) 49, [53] (evening)
Exodus 33:1-23
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Matthew 5:17-20

This chapter in Exodus is moving and compelling. After the crisis of the golden calf, God tells Moses that God will withdraw the divine presence from among the people. God will send an angel ahead to support their travel into "a land flowing with milk and honey," but God is withdrawing, lest the divine holiness consume such a stiff-necked people.

The people's response is to strip themselves of their ornaments, presumably the jewelry that they had taken from the Egyptians as they fled. It was with these ornaments that they had created the golden calf. They turned away from the symbols of their temptation, the adornments of wealth and greed and pride and sex. They are willing to travel simply, dependent upon God. It is an important response.

In a poignant scene, Moses begs God not to depart from them. Moses stakes his intimate relationship entirely upon a passionate request: "Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight." Isn't that what we want most deeply in our hearts. We want to know God and to know God's ways. Yet Moses doesn't make his request for himself alone. "Consider too that this nation is your people," he implores God.

In a wonderful moment of divine grace, God relents. "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." What a moving promise! And what a statement of reality. There is a sense of rest whenever we find ourselves grounded in God's presence. Having God, we lack nothing. Awake to God's presence, we have our being and our belonging, we may rest, even as we go about the challenging business of getting through whatever the wilderness presents us. "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Moses knows the significance of that promise.

But having tasted God, Moses wants more. He wants to go deeper. "Show me your glory, I pray." Moses knows such a request is risky. No one can see God and live, he has been taught. God confirms that for Moses to see his face would be to much for him, but God will reveal to Moses a greater portion of the divine reality and glory.

What a dramatic turn from yesterday's crisis and slaughter. Out of the rebellion of the golden calf comes this transcendent moment. Out of death, resurrection.

Moses' prayer is not a bad way to begin today or any day. "Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight." God's answer to that prayer is a good way to proceed throughout the day, whatever the wilderness may hold for us. Let God speak that in our ears today: "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

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

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Golden Calf

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 -- Week of 4 Easter

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms 45 (morning) 47, 48 (evening)
Exodus 32:21-34
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 5:11-16

What would we call it today? A slaughter; a massacre; religious genocide?

Moses returns from his absence on the mountain and finds that the people have turned from their loyalty to the God of Abraham and made a golden idol of a bull, a symbol of power and fecundity. They have been feasting and engaging in acts of religious or wanton sex, according to the custom of some cultic rituals. Moses confronts his brother Aaron, who offers a pitiful excuse. From the camp gate Moses cries, "Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me!" The sons of Levi respond, and Moses has them take swords and set upon the camp. "Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor." The text says that about three thousand people died that day. (A comparison: Over 900 died in the Jonestown, Guyana, suicide-killings among the People's Temple cult of Jim Jones.)

Taken at face value, it is a grizzly story. It darkens deeply the narrative of Moses, if it is a memory of the days of Exodus. The story may reflect a rebellion or civil war against Moses leadership, which Moses had to put down by force.

Some scholars have speculated that there may be other influences present in the story as it comes to us. The text of the long Sinai section of Exodus was composed largely by the Priestly tradition of redactors, written sometime after the fall in 587 BCE. The writers had access to many very ancient traditions, stories and texts, and they put their particular stamp upon the material, and their central priestly interest over various cultic matters involving the tabernacle, sacred objects, sacrifices and priesthood.

From the perspective of the Priestly writers, there is another civil war and rebellion that is of great significance, Jeroboam's rebellion in the 900's BCE which separated the Northern Kingdom (Israel) from the Southern Kingdom (Judah) and established a rival capital in Shechem. To prevent his people from returning to the Temple in Jerusalem, Jeroboam erected two temples at the ends of his kingdom, in Dan and Bethel. He made two statues of a golden calf, one for each shrine, and he spoke the same words over them as Aaron says in Exodus: "Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." (1 Kings 12:28)

The Priestly authors are loyal to Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom. They want to condemn the apostasy of Jeroboam. Some scholars think that they have linked the story of Jeroboam with the story of the calf in Exodus. A few think the Exodus story was created whole as a polemic against the Northern king.

It is very possible that the bull was an alternative symbol of the God of Abraham and Moses. In the North, the bull was a symbol of El, with whom the God of Abraham and Moses was identified, possibly as the invisible God atop the bull, much like the invisible God seated upon the cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant. The story of the golden calf in Exodus may be a fiction to condemn the Northern rebellion or it may have historical roots. It's hard to know with certainty.

What seems clear is that Moses faced murmurings, conflict and resistance to his leadership in the wilderness. The Hebrew people were challenged and tempted by the established religious cults, rituals and shrines related to the sacred bull traditions. And the division between northern and southern kingdoms created deep scars, present in the Gospel accounts in the hostility between Jew and Samaritan. Doubtless, all of these conflicts were bitter, costly and at times bloody.

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

Monday, April 14, 2008

God vs. the Bull

Monday, April 14, 2008 -- Week of 4 Easter

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, page 961)
Psalms 41, 52 (morning) 44 (evening)
Exodus 32:1-20
Colossians 3:18 - 4:6(7-18)
Matthew 5:1-10

Power and control; greed and gluttony; money and sex. How powerfully these drive us. These are our "golden calves."

It might be interesting to take these drives and categorize how many times they are stimulated today. Notice any commercials or ads on TV, billboard or radio, in newspapers or magazines. How many appeal to our needs for power and control, greed and gluttony, money and sex? Notice your own inner stimuli and motivation. How often do you have emotional reactions that are triggered by power and control, greed and gluttony, money and sex?

Today in our Exodus epic, there is a vacuum of healthy leadership. Moses has disappeared on the mountain. There he is talking with God. This is the God who brought the people freedom from the oppression they had suffered at the hands of the Egyptian culture which was a culture driven by power and control, greed and gluttony, money and sex. God rescued them. But now they find themselves in a desert wilderness feeling vulnerable and powerless, living simply and dependently, learning the new rules of communal living -- compassionate, mutual regard. The old ways and old days haunt them.

The golden calf was a powerful symbol. Archeologists have uncovered idols and statues of bulls from many ancient cultures. It represented the needs of the people. The bull was a symbol of power and fecundity. Large and strong, with dangerous horns, a fighting bull can be ferocious and deadly. We want a god who is powerful enough to fulfill our needs. Male bulls with large sexual organs are an image of sexual prowess. The gold statue mirrored the people's desire for wealth and prosperity. To worship gold is to desire it. Rituals of bull worship also included the sacrifice of great animals, with the burning of the inedible parts as a gift to the gods and the eating of the steaks as the core of a great feast and banquet. In a culture that rarely ate meat, such festivals were a great attraction. With abundant food and drink, suggestive dance and music, sexual urges and tensions could be released, sometimes with the aid of religious prostitutes.

This was Moses' competition: the revelry of a celebration of power, gluttony and sex. The golden calf is still God's competition. Politics, economics and personal status are all driven by power, gluttony and sex.

Most of us become addicted in one form or another to power, gluttony and sex; to control, greed, and money. The symbols of their possession are the symbols of status in our culture.

God's invitation to real life is not as flashy. Moses found that the Ten Commandments were a hard sell. The Beatitudes of Jesus which we read today aren't as hot and sexy as the lure of the bull. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, ...those who mourn, ...the meek, ...those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, ...the merciful, ...the pure in heart, ...the peacemakers, ...those who are persecuted for righteousness sake." On the elementary school playground and in many corporate settings, these aren't the qualities that get reward and respect.

In our culture, most people try the path of power and control, greed and gluttony, money and sex first. Only when it leaves us hurt and unfulfilled do we tend to turn to the alternatives. Three thousand years later, and its still God vs. the golden calf.

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

Friday, April 11, 2008

Getting Distracted

Friday, April 11, 2008 -- -- Week of 3 Easter
(George Augustus Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand, and of Lichfield, 1878)

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, page 961)
Psalms 105:1-22 (morning) 105:23-45 (evening)
Exodus 24:1-18
Colossians 2:8-23
Matthew 4:12-17

There is a caution today in Colossians. The author is writing about an unknown heresy or an early form of Christian or Jewish practice. We can only speculate about the nature of this competing philosophy from the descriptions we get from these complaints. It may have been some form of mystery religion, or less specifically, some religious threats from the general culture.

At issue were some claims that people should adore or worship some of the powers of the cosmos, "insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions," Colossians says. There were also claims involving ritual practices, such as "food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths." Although we have only a sideways glance at the conflict, it seems that the writer is troubled by some ascetic and ritualistic practices that are competing in some way with Christ-centered worship.

It is easy for the church today to become distracted by lesser things. Our practice and theology has evolved. We have many things that intend to enhance our relationship with God in Christ and to deepen our faith. But when they become objects of our exaggerated concern above and beyond their intention to point to the divine and draw us nearer into union with God and one another, they can become distractions and even divisive.

I served a church earlier in my ministry which was the most focused and intentional worshiping community I have ever lived in. You could feel the energy of their worship in their liturgy. But that was also the fault line whenever they fell into squabbles or disagreements. Every congregational fight seemed to go back to how we worshiped. Sometimes people became so focused on doing worship "right," that it became a performance sport instead of an expression of adoration of God.

Whole branches of the Christian faith have made the bible the object of their faith rather than a lens through which we approach the mysterious and holy God. They will insist that followers believe exaggerated things because of their particular reading and interpretation of scripture, sometimes turning off their hearts or minds in the name of the Bible.

Most of us most of the time find that ritual and scripture, prayer and study are the foundations of our relationship with God and our understanding of ourselves as a people. Our dedication to a rule of life or to forms of religious practice support our intention to turn to Christ; our reading of scripture forms our minds and hearts with the story of God's people in relationship with God.

But it is easy to get distracted about the accoutrements of religion and be deflected from the focus of religion; it is easy to make "human commands and teachings" absolute. Only God is absolute.

It is helpful sometimes to be discerning. What piety and traditions draw us closer into communion with God? What practices and teachings enhance our duty to love our neighbor as ourselves? When do we let the things of faith divide and distract us from God and one another?


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

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Speaking Truth to Power

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 -- Week of 3 Easter
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Pastor and Theologian, 1945)

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, page 961)
Psalms 38 (morning) 119:25-48 (evening)
Exodus 19:16-25
Colossians 1:15-23
Matthew 3:13-17

Today we have Moses approaching the Holy God on Mt. Sinai, ready to enter a new covenant and to create a new community in the wilderness. Moses who was raised in the privilege of the Pharaoh's household, when moved by the injustice of his people's suffering, responded violently and was forced to leave. He returned to Egypt upon God's calling, to confront Pharaoh and the evil of systematic oppression. After a dangerous period of challenge, Moses led the people as refugees to escape from Egypt into the desert wilderness. Now he helps them create a new community based on loyalty to God and observance of a rule of law.

Today we have John the Baptist, a voice from the wilderness, accusing the religious and secular authorities of great offense. He speaks as a prophet to an entire culture, telling them that they have lost their way and their identity. They no longer live as Jews. He puts them through the ritual of baptism, the initiation rite for non-Jews who wish to join the tribe. Jesus endorses John's mission and challenge and is himself baptized. To those in authority, this is a revolutionary act of sedition. Both of these men will be executed.

Today is the church's day of observance for Dietrich Bonhoeffer. From the beginning of the Nazi power grab in 1933 Bonhoeffer helped lead the protest against Hitler and his regime. He was the leading spokesman for the Confessing Church. Most congregations and pastoral leaders ignored the political drama, taking care of their pastoral duties, preferring not to stain their spiritual activities with secular or political concerns. Others embraced the nationalism and pride of the Nazi movement, giving it church blessing.

Bonhoeffer refused invitations to teach from the safety of Union Seminary in New York City, and returned to Germany to continue to work with the resistance. With compelling passion, this pacifist theologian became convinced that it was a lesser evil to participate in a plot to assassinate Hitler than not to do so. Documents linked him to a failed attempt on Hitler's life, and Bonhoeffer was taken to Buchenwald. On this day in 1945, he was hanged.

Bonhoeffer stands in a noble line of those who have spoken truth to power in the name of God. We need more people like him in our nation right now. The church and its leaders, including me, have been too silent during the past seven years, as we have witnessed an unprecedented assault on on our Constitution, on the separation of powers, and on the rule of domestic and international law by this President and administration. If you haven't seen the PBS Frontline documentary "Bush's War," I encourage you to do so. It is available for viewing on-line at pbs.org.

After watching the chronicle of the manipulation of power that has surrounded the White House in its pursuit of war, I found myself deeply thankful for George Bush. I was grateful that he is not a person of charismatic power and deep malignant intent. He is not like Hitler. Thank God. The fearful realization came to me as I watched the documentary, that George Bush had the kind of people around him who showed themselves willing to manipulate truth and the rule of law to such an extent that they might have successfully stripped our nation of its constitutional protections in a way not unlike Germany of the 1930's. How awful things might have become had they been led by someone with more evil and competency. We still must be vigilant to prevent this flawed and troubling administration from provoking another war, with Iran, but thankfully the air is coming out of their balloon and light is being cast on darkness.

Bonhoeffer, Moses, John the Baptist and Jesus have shown us the cost of discipleship and the example of speaking truth to power. May we be faithful to confront the powers and principalities in our day and to embrace the Reign of God with courage and clarity.

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

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Preparing

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 -- Week of 3 Easter
(William Augustus Muhlenberg, Priest, 1877)

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, page 961)
Psalms 26, 28 (morning) 36, 39 (evening)
Exodus 19:1-16
Colossians 1:1-14
Matthew 3:7-12

We are three months into the Exodus from Egypt. No one today knows where the people are. They are in the wilderness of Sinai, camped before a mountain. Israel will remain in this area throughout the book of Exodus through chapter ten of Numbers. God is teaching and training, calling them to be a community, changing their perspectives from the ways of Egypt to the ways of God, telling them, "You shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation." God tells Moses to prepare the people for God's presence and for the covenant God will give this new community in three days. (Prepare yourself. On Thursday we will be given the Ten Commandments which will form the core of Israel's obligations under this new covenant.)

John the Baptist reminded Israel of their responsibility as people of the covenant. Being "a priestly kingdom and a holy nation" is a responsibility and duty, not a mere privilege. "God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham," John tells them, looking around at a landscape of rocks. John recalls them to their origins. You've been living like you were still in Egypt. Turn around. Repent. Prepare yourself. God's rule is near.

A later Christian teacher, speaking in the tradition of Paul, addresses a church about 100 miles southeast of Ephesus, in an unknown location of southwestern Turkey. He speaks to them of faith, love and hope, grounded in Christ Jesus.

The apostle's prayer for them is an eloquent one. It is a good prayer for us as we begin this day. We are getting prepared. We are God's new community, a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. We have the responsibility of living as God's children, turning away from the values of Egypt that infect our environment, and living the ancient calling that is ever renewed, day by day.

The focus of all of these readings today is that God cares. God cares about us; God cares how we live our lives. What happens to us today and what we do today matters to God.

Therefore, let the apostle's prayer be ours today, as we begin our service. Let his words speak directly to us. Let his prayer bless us and orient us as we begin anew.

Listen, as he prays that you may be "filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light."

Amen.

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

Monday, April 07, 2008

Leadership

Monday, April 7, 2008 -- Week of 3 Easter

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, page 961)
Psalms 25 (morning) 9, 15 (evening)
Exodus 18:13-27
1 Peter 5:1-14
Matthew 1:(1-17); 3:1-6

We have several readings that reflect on leadership today.

In Exodus, Moses' father-in-law Jethro brings Moses' wife and two children to him and listens to the story of how God has delivered the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt. The following day Jethro watches Moses at work. Moses sits as a teacher and judge, resolving issues, conflicts and questions. Jethro tells Moses, "What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone." Jethro advises Moses to delegate authority to other leaders and let them take care of the minor issues, allowing Moses to concentrate on the major issues.

The author of 1 Peter also addresses leadership in the early church. His focus is the elders. "Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away."

He encourages the elders to be humble in their leadership. In one of the most succinct and helpful verses, he says, "Cast your anxiety on [God], because [God] cares for you." He urges discipline and courage in times of suffering. There is no need to be on the offensive. "Stand fast," he tells them. Christ has already won the victory. We simply stand in that triumph, unanxious and secure, even in the face of adversity.

Maybe it is a stretch, but we also see two reflections on leadership in the opening of Matthew which is our third reading. Matthew's genealogy of Jesus seeks to establish Jesus as the ancestor of Abraham and David. The writer traces fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the exile, and fourteen generations from the exile to Jesus the Messiah. He is asserting Jesus' authority as the longed-for Messiah.

The other part of our reading from Matthew gives us an image of charismatic, prophetic leadership. John the Baptist strikes a remarkable figure -- camel's hair clothing, eating locust and wild honey. He walks the alternative path, placing himself in the lineage of Elijah and the great prophets of old.

All of these images can be aspects of different forms of servant leadership. Moses empowers others to share in the work of teaching and problem solving. 1 Peter advises elders to a humble authority under God. Jesus comes as the inheritor of the Messianic title, and lives among us as one who serves. John the Baptist turns away from worldly power and invites his people to join him in the wilderness where they may commit themselves to reform their lives in a radical rededication to God.

The key to each of these is to live in relationship to God, trusting God and serving others. Servant leadership.

(One side note. Here's a trick trivia question. What was Moses' father-in-law's name? If you said "Jethro," you are right, at least from the strain of tradition we are reading today. But earlier, in Exodus 2, when Moses meets his father-in-law and is given his daughter Zipporah to marry, his name is Ruel. But in Numbers (10:29) and Judges (4:11), his name is Hobab. It is interesting how we have different memories preserved in the Scripture. The redactors respected the various ancient texts so much that they preserved them even when they were contradictory.

We also see contradictory traditions incorporated into our Christian New Testament. Today we read Matthew's genealogy, tracing Jesus' ancestry through his father Joseph back to King David through David's son Solomon. But Luke's genealogy (Luke 3) traces Joseph as a descendent of David through David's less acclaimed son Nathan. Matthew lists only 25 generations between David and Jesus (and we can see some skipping when some kings are left out); Luke lists 40 generations. Nevertheless, both authors are asserting the same Messianic claim -- Jesus is the Son of David -- but they trace Jesus' ancestry through two different lines of inheritance.

Biblical literalists play excruciating games trying to reconcile these differences. The rest of us just accept the two accounts as different versions of the same message.)

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