Monday, September 29, 2008

A Note About Morning Reflections

A Note About Morning Reflections

Last Tuesday evening I went to Little Rock for a meeting. When I got back Wednesday night, I had a head cold. Nursed that until Sunday, and didn't send any Morning Reflections those days.

Left very early today (Monday morning) for a week's Centering Prayer retreat at St. Benedict Monastery, Snowmass, CO. The Aspens are beautiful.

I'll be out of computer range, and will be following a different daily discipline this week, so I won't be sending Morning Reflections. Will resume Monday, October 6.

-- Lowell

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Aquila and Priscilla

Tuesday, September 23, 2008 -- Week of Proper 20
Philander Chase, Bishop of Ohio, and of Illinois, 1852 (transferred from Sept. 22)

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 985)
Psalms 78:1-39 (morning) 78:40-72 (evening)
Esther 5:1-14 (or Judith 8:9-17; 9:1, 7-10)
Acts 18:12-28
Luke 3:15-22

I am choosing to read Judith for the first lesson.


Yesterday we had a reference to Aquila and Priscilla, and husband and wife who show up often in the New Testament as Paul's partners in ministry. They had fled Rome when the Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from the capitol around 49 CE. Paul met them in Corinth and lived with them as fellow tentmakers.


It appears Aquila and Priscilla have traveled with Paul to Ephesus as we read today. They hear Apollos, another early Christian leader who is mentioned in Paul's letters, who has come from Alexandria. Apollos is an eloquent and passionate speaker, but his teaching is at variance in some way with Paul's teaching. We read that Priscilla and Aquila "took him aside and explained the Way of God more accurately."

Note the equality with which this couple is mentioned. Both Aquila the husband and Priscilla the wife are mentioned as housekeepers and workers in Corinth. Both are described as teachers, correcting the theology of Apollos, who will become a notable apostle.

At the end of his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul sends greetings from his friends back to their former home: "Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, greet you warmly in the Lord." In Romans 16, Paul sends the following message: "Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, and who risked their necks for my life, and to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Greet also the church in their house." Later in that same passage, Paul includes Andronicus and Junia as being "prominent among the apostles," listing a woman's name under the authoritative title "Apostle." Today the church regards bishops as the inheritors of the office of apostle.

It appears that women functioned in leadership roles in Paul's churches. They were teachers and they led prayers. The rather opaque passage in 1 Corinthians 11 speaks of Paul's rule that women who were leading prayer or offering prophecy in church were to wear a head covering, I assume something like the hijab that is common in Middle Eastern countries today. The picture we get is of a church where both genders are participating and actively leading. "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:28) (The passage silencing women in 1 Corinthians 14:33 is probably non-Pauline insertion; it conflicts with the other teachings of Paul, and it appears in different locations in different manuscripts. Some translations put it in parenthesis because of its debated origin.)

Paul's practice mirrors the traditions from Jesus, who welcomed Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, to sit at his feet and take instruction just like a man. Part of the scandal of Jesus' fellowship was the presence of women among his disciples. Mary Magdelene was the first to recognize the risen Lord and to witness to his resurrection. For that she is called the First Apostle in the Eastern church.

Apparently this egalitarianism was a problem for some of the male leaders of the church within a couple of generations after Paul. Speaking in the voice of Paul, the unknown author of 1 Timothy is obviously trying to change the received tradition when he says he permits no woman to "teach or have authority over a man" (2:12). The ethos of 1 Timothy is more conventionally secular in its cultural norms than was the ethos of Paul's genuine teachings.

It has taken the church twenty centuries to reclaim the earlier model of egalitarian leadership from the days of Jesus and Paul. Today, however, when we send greetings to the House of Bishops, we do so through Katharine, who like Priscilla/Prisca and Junia takes her place as being "prominent among the apostles."

Lowell

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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, September 22, 2008

Politics and Economics

Monday, September 22, 2008 -- Week of Proper 20
St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (transferred from Sept. 21)

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

EITHER -- the readings for Monday, Proper 20, p. 985
Psalms 80 (morning) 77, [79] (evening)
Esther 4:4-17 (or Judith 7:1-7, 19-32)
Acts 18:1-11
Luke (1:1-4); 3:1-14

OR -- the readings for St. Matthew, p. 999)
Morning Prayer: 119:41-64 / Isaiah 8:11-20 / Romans 10:1-15
Evening Prayer: 19, 112 / Job 28:12-28 / Matthew 13:44-52

I chose the readings for Monday, Pr. 20.
I'm also choosing the Judith readings this week.

We begin our reading of the Gospel of Luke today. We will continue with Luke's "orderly account" (as he calls it) for the next six weeks. The Prayer Book Lectionary chooses to skip over the birth narrative as a prologue and to begin with the body of the work as it starts with John the Baptist in chapter 3.

The story begins in the midst of political realities. To set the context, Luke recounts the Roman political rulers and their appointed Jewish high priests. John appears in the wilderness like one of the ancient Jewish prophets. He accuses Israel of being unfaithful and calls on them for repentance. Like so many of the prophets before him, he tells them to act on their faith in very specific ways. Those actions are are acts with economic consequences. To everyone, share with the poor. To the powerful, do not use your power to extort. How you use your money, property and power is a major theme of Luke's Gospel, and in that sense Luke is consistent with the messages of the prophets as well.

Politics and money. That's how this Gospel begins. But those are two things that polite church conversation so typically avoids.

For Luke, repentance is more than correct belief or right worship or feeling close to God. Luke gives to the voice of the crowd the question he likes to pose: "What then should we do?" Faith animates action. As we will see, so often in Luke that action will involve reaching out with generous compassion to the poor and marginalized.

These three instructions from John the Baptist have teeth.

First there is the general command, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." How much extra clothing do we have? Who has freezers? Share with those who have none. In this spirit, I've noticed how so many churches participate in some form of ministry to feed and clothe -- food pantries and clothes closets; soup kitchens and community meals; seasonal collections.

Then John gives instruction to those who have some power in the community. First he speaks to the tax collectors. Tax collectors were collaborators with the Roman occupiers. Their exactions funded the occupying army as well as the other services of the Empire. For their "salary," the tax collectors added a percentage for their own pocket. It was financially lucrative, but socially isolating. Tax collectors were hated. Most fathers would not allow their children to marry into a family that had a tax collector as a relative. John's charge, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you," would remove the only means of compensation for the tax collectors. If they were to follow his word, they would need the generosity of those who have two coats. It is a challenging word.

To the soldiers John tells them to stop the customary practice of getting whatever you might need or want by using the threat of power that you enjoy. Soldiers' wages could be unpredictable and spare. From their basic low wage were deducted fees for uniform and food. Plunder was an acceptable form of property enhancement, and in the absence of battle, a soldier had some leniency to extract by threat or intimidation what he might need or want, within limits. John is telling soldiers to live on their meager salary and not use their authority to make life a little easier or prosperous.

How might this translate for us? There is a lot of downward mobility assumed in John's words. There is also an implied egalitarianism. His words would be very counter-cultural in today's world of market capital and wealth disparities.

Both John and Jesus ran afoul of the political authorities. The powers regarded them as threatening to their status quo. Politics and economics were at the center of their religious activities. To what degree are we being faithful to their example?

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, September 19, 2008

Seditions

Friday, September 19, 2008 -- Week of Proper 19
Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 985)
Psalms 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 (morning) 73 (evening)
Esther 1:1-4, 10-19 (or Judith 4:1-15)
Acts 17:1-15
John 12:44-50

NOTE: For the next seven days we have a choice to read either Esther or Judith. Since I read Esther during the previous cycle of Year Two, I'm going to read Judith. It is found in the Apocrypha.)

The story of Judith feels like a mythic fantasy like Tolkien's Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, or like one of the Star Wars episodes. A massive force of arms threatens tiny Israel. Great nations have been defeated and plundered without mercy. Hearing of the army's approach, other nations have surrendered without a fight. In every place, religious shrines and institutions have been destroyed, and the people instructed to worship the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar alone.

Only Israel prepares a defense against the invaders. The people fortify the hilltops and prepare to defend the mountain passes. They fast and pray, and all wear sackcloth as a sign of mourning and unity. David prepares to face Goliath.
_____________

In this short section of Acts 17, we see some of the elements of Paul's strategy and the reasons why his mission raised opposition.

The first challenge that Paul makes is within the synagogue. He tries to make the case that the crucified Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. He says that through Jesus' suffering and death God has created a new community which lives in a freedom that transcends the traditional Jewish laws. It is a hard sell for many Jews. They have long wanted a military Messiah who would defeat the other nations and raise Israel to the top of the heap. And traditional Jews are sensitive about a teaching that subordinates the Law.

But the message is tailor-made for Gentiles who attend the synagogue out of their respect for Jewish piety and ethics, but who are averse to some of the more peculiar practices like circumcision and strict Kosher observance. Gentiles are familiar with mystery religions that celebrate the death of a god who brings new life. For their ears, this new "Judaism" has appeal.

But Paul's message also has a tinge of revolution. The language Paul uses to mark his allegiance to Jesus is the same language that civic religion ascribes to the Emperor. "Divine Son of God" and "Lord" were the praises given to Caesar on coinage and civic buildings. The "peace of Christ" which comes through love was a challenge to the Pax Romana that comes through war. And the victorious parousia of Jesus steals imagery from the Emperor's anticipated visitation (also called a parousia). No wonder the jealous leaders in Thessalonica charged Paul's group of "acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying there is another king named Jesus." Paul's message was politically seditious.
_____________

Finally, this gracious section of John's gospel nicely describes the Christian claim that to see Jesus is to see God. What is God like? Look at Jesus, and you will see into the very nature of God. Does Jesus come as a conquering king or a punishing judge? No. Jesus comes as a loving healer. For Christians, the nature of Jesus frames our understanding of God.

Jesus says, "Whoever sees me sees him who sent me. ...I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. ...I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life."

Jesus shows us the Father. How would we characterize Jesus? Loving, compassionate, humble. This is how we are to think of God. What is Jesus' command? To love one another; love God, neighbor and self. Jesus comes to us as a servant.

Why do the militant, threatening images of God as conquering king and punishing judge continue to haunt our churches and people? That's not the God that Jesus points to. That's not the God that Jesus shows us. That's not the God that Jesus is. Jesus' message is religiously seditious.

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, September 17, 2008

Job Ends

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 -- Week of Proper 19
Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen and Mystic, 1179

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 985)
Psalms 72 (morning) 119:73-96 (evening)
Job 42:1-17
Acts 16:16-24
John 12:20-26

Job ends. Somehow it seems like a fizzle instead of a satisfying denouement. Is Job simply cowed by the demonstration of God's power? Or has his brush with the ultimate reordered his reality so as to render all his former concerns moot?

Job's final words are elusive.

He first acknowledges God's power: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." Next Job acknowledges his finitude and the wonder of God. "Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

Finally Job articulates the effect of the mystery that he has encountered. "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

Let's take this fascinating last word by looking at both phrases.

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you..." Job has had an experience of God. He no longer needs to speak in debate about God. The theories that have filled this book are commentary about God. Is God just, or not? What is God's role in the presence of injustice? Does God actively punish the righteous and reward the wicked? Lots of talking about God.

The primary experience of God is different. It is self-authenticating. Words are inadequate to explain. Somehow all of the theology and high thoughts are transcended by the awe of experience. Job no longer knows about God; Job knows God. He has received a vision that is so bright that it tends to darken and blur everything else.

"...therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." The translation and meaning of this verse is ambiguous. The commentary helps. In the original language there is no object for the verb "despise". Does it mean that Job despises himself? That's the translation that the NRSV offers. Or is the object of Job's despising something outside himself? Does he despise and retract his previous words, his lawsuit challenging God? Or does he despise his "dust and ashes" -- his life and/or his failed lawsuit? The Bible that I read suggests the following as a preferred alternative: "I retract and give up my dust and ashes," that is, I give up my lawsuit (without necessarily admitting I was wrong).

Job dissolves in the presence of the mystery of God. He withdraws his suit. He has experienced something beyond his ordinary sense of right and wrong. All of that doesn't really matter anymore. God is all.

The event ends. God gives judgment. Job's friends have spoken wrongly. Their theological defense of God's justice which included their accusations toward Job are judged in the negative. They are told to make sacrifice and to ask Job to intercede for them.

God confirms Job. Job has spoken rightly and honestly. God honors his complaint. God restores Job's fortune and family. God hears and honors Job's intercession. We see Job's table where "they ate bread with him in his house" as the harmonious fulfillment of Job's restoration and reconciliation.

We are still left with the question, "Why?" The entire story has been the exercise of a heavenly wager between Satan and God.

Some of the early Christian teachers saw Job as a Christ-figure or as a prefigurement of the church. They saw in his uprightness and obedience a model of spiritual and moral life. Job's restoration is like Christ's resurrection and the eventual triumph of the saints.

But whenever I read this story, I am left pondering what has been lost. Does the restoration of a new family really make up for the family he has lost? Does it really make sense in the end? Is God and the universe truly just? The resignation that I experience at the end of Job doesn't bring me the same satisfaction that it seems to bring Job. Maybe the experience of God simply can't be translated. It can't be given from one person to another. We must have that experience for ourselves. It's not enough just to talk about God. It's not enough to know about God. Maybe we need more than to hear about Job's encounter with the numinous. We also must be able to say, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you..." Then, all else may be relative to the ultimate for us, as well as for Job.

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, September 16, 2008

Great Beginnings

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 -- Week of Proper 19
Ninian, Bishop in Galoway, c. 430

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 985)
Psalms 61, 62 (morning) 68:1-20(21-23)24-36 (evening)
Job 40:1, 41:1-11
Acts 16:6-15
John 12:9-19

While Job is in the whirlwind, being overwhelmed by the mystery and power of God, hearing that God's ways are not our ways, we read of two great beginnings today.

Jesus enters Jerusalem. The city is crowded with pilgrims for the Passover, as many as 100,000. The tension between Jesus and the authorities has grown to the place where it has been determined that they must stop his movement. There is a plot to put and end to it, by killing both Jesus and Lazarus, who has become notorious because of the story of his resuscitation from death.

Jesus does something that will set teeth on edge. He enters Jerusalem from Bethany, from the east, riding a young donkey. The intent is unmistakable. Everyone knows the prophesy from the scriptures -- look to the East; behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's colt. The people react immediately with nationalistic fervor. They wave palm branches -- the palm is a symbol of Israel.

This intentional act by Jesus is guaranteed to crank anxiety into the system. The Romans were very sensitive to nationalistic sentiments, especially during a festival like Passover. Fresh troops arrive in Jerusalem just to keep the peace during the feast. Jesus may not have been on their radar before. They know the Messianic prophecies. With this entrance, Jesus becomes of interest to Rome.

The Jewish authorities who have the responsibility for running the country and keeping its religion orderly, within the bounds of their orthodoxies and the bounds permitted by Rome, recognize the explosive impact. Jesus has already challenged their authority and attacked their Temple monopoly. He's been on their list as a troublemaker and saboteur. This is not the kind of Messiah they are looking for, and they know Rome will react to any Messiah-talk with its customary violence. It could turn ugly in a big way. They've got to stop the troublemaker before things escalate.

Among the people are loosed so many interpretations. The classical Messianic hope is political and military. Messiah will drive out the occupiers and raise Israel above all national powers. Maybe Jesus will provoke the final triumphal Holy War. There are hopes for a revival of the Davidic monarchy. Once again a king will sit in Jerusalem. The religious anticipate a different kind of triumph, when all other religions will turn to Judaism and become subordinate to the true God. Peasants expect that all debts will be canceled, the powerful and wealthy will be cast down and the poor and humble raised up, the land will be fruitful and the lion will lie down with the lamb. In a new, peaceful kingdom, the powerful and wealthy will no longer oppress, but the little people of the land will be be sovereign, under the generous hand of God. Revolution.

Great, powerful sentiments are set in motion. Within the week, Jesus will have offended them all, and they will have dealt with him in a final, decisive way.

Two decades later, Paul and Silas have crossed over into Europe. In Macedonia, the northern province of Greece, they find a Sabbath gathering by a small river just outside Philippi. There a woman named Lydia is moved by what she hears. She is an unusual woman in a patriarchal culture. She has her own business, supplying textiles to the wealthy. She is baptized, the first European Christian, and she invites Paul into her home which will become the first house-church of Europe. Something big is beginning. From this modest start will come a movement which will one day swallow Rome and its Empire.

Whirlwinds are happening.

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, September 15, 2008

Three Brief Thoughts

Monday, September 15, 2008 -- Week of Proper 19

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 985)
Psalms 56, 57, [58] (morning) 64, 65 (evening)
Job 40:1-24
Acts 15:36 - 16:5
John 11:55 - 12:8

Throughout the earlier narrative, Job has questioned and challenged God's justice. Job sees the unrighteous prosper and the righteous suffer. Job is a righteous man who suffers in extremity. Job has challenged God to justify this injustice.

God answers Job out of the whirlwind. But God's answer is not truly an answer to Job's question. God challenges Job with a counter question: "Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?"

God then describes two mythological beasts (we read about Behemoth today). God rules a vast world beyond human knowing. It is not a world that is centered on the needs of mere humans. God controls the wild, chaotic and evil powers of Behemoth and Leviathan, but does not necessarily exercise that control for the benefit of human beings. These fearsome powers have their place in God's universe. We do not know their purpose or function. They cannot be domesticated; they do not serve humanity. God allows these evil and chaotic creatures and powers to exist within God's controlling power and God's mysterious purposes. The human race is not the center of the universe.

We'll read more tomorrow.
_____________________

We get a peek at some of the underbelly of the early church. Paul and Barnabas have traveled together for a long time, surviving death threats and hostility, preaching the Gospel and planting congregations throughout Asia Minor. After the end of the Jerusalem Council with the apostles, Paul and Barnabas' mission among the Gentiles has been confirmed. They stay a while in Antioch. Then they propose to revisit the congregations that they have begun.

There is a fight. Barnabas wants to take John Mark with them, but Paul still resents John Mark for leaving them during the earlier journey. The mention of his departure in Acts 13:13 sounds straightforward, but apparently Paul was urked. Today we read that "the disagreement became so sharp that [Barnabas and Paul] parted company; Barnabas took [John] Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out..."

That's a big split.

There's something else that is striking. In Lystra, Paul chooses a young disciple named Timothy to accompany him. Timothy's mother is Jewish and his father is Greek. As the son of a Greek father, Timothy is not circumcised.

Although the Jerusalem Council has just rendered a pivotal decision saying that Gentiles joining the Church do no have to be circumcised, nevertheless Paul has Timothy circumcised so that he will be more acceptable to Jews as they travel. This is pretty remarkable. Elsewhere in Paul's letters we have some very heated language from Paul directed at those who would circumcise Gentile disciples. Some of his bitterest debate is in defense of their right to belong without circumcision. Yet, for this expedient purpose, Paul has Timothy circumcised at the beginning of their new missionary journey. Fascinating.
____________________

Finally, I'm always struck by the way Jesus complements the generous extravagance of Mary's anointing. Her act symbolizes the desire to offer worship that is beautiful, aesthetic, and costly. It is Judas who resents the expense. "For what she spent on the costly ointment, you could have relieved the poor." It is a cynical response, coming from Judas. He did not truly care for the poor. He was not honest in his stewardship of the disciple's common purse. Jesus commends Mary's generous act of extravagance, without compromising his teaching that we have responsibility toward the poor.

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, September 12, 2008

Unbind and Set Free!

Friday, September 12, 2008 -- Week of Proper 18
John Henry Hobart, Bishop of New York, 1830

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 40, 54 (morning) 51 (evening)
Job 29:1, 31:24-40
Acts 15:12-21
John 11:30-44

"Unbind him, and let him go!" cries Jesus, as the corpse of Lazarus emerges from the cave alive. Jesus displays God's power of resurrection which overcomes death in all its guises. But after God brings new life and new hope, there is still work to be done.

Lazarus' friends will have to liberate him from all of the bindings that now hold him back and inhibit his new life of freedom. And Lazarus will now have to resume the hard work of living and taking responsibility for himself and for his part of contributing to his family, community and world. He will do so in a new context, for he is now a marked man. The Gospel says that his resuscitation was such a controversial thing that some sought Lazarus' life as they plotted to stop Jesus. Lazarus is unbound and released for a life of new responsibilities.

So much of the Gospel story is the narrative of our freedom and liberation from one set of bondages -- sin, division, oppression, greed, pride, alienation -- and our release into a new kind of responsibility -- to pick up the cross of loving service on behalf of all.

The early church faced one of the first consequences of its liberation-for-responsibility in the conflict over Gentiles. When Gentiles responded to the Good News of Jesus, would they be welcomed as equal members in the fellowship of the church? One faction of the church said, "Yes, but..." They placed upon the new Gentile-Christians a significant additional burden: "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." (Acts 15:1) Others among the church argued that the resurrection of Jesus had freed them from circumcision and the other ritual laws of Judaism. The new community would be a community of love, they said: "Love one another; love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself." They sought to liberate themselves and these new Gentile-Christians from the old binding and burden of structuring life according to hundreds of specific laws of scripture and their complex tradition of interpretation.

It was a pivotal moment. Would Gentiles have to become Jews in order to be Christians?

The apostolic council looked toward James, the brother of Jesus, to settle the debate as the leader of the Jerusalem church. He recalls the prophecy from Amos that God intends Israel's restoration to be a blessing to the Gentiles. Then he makes a decision that will unbind them and let them go. "I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood." James' decree addresses the things that were most offensive to Jews while freeing Gentiles to be full members of the church.

Even at that there will be struggles. Paul and the Corinthian congregation had an extended debate over meat sold in the public market, meat that had been ritually dedicated to the Greco-Roman gods. We read that Paul interpreted the Jerusalem decree rather liberally, but left it to each person's conscience, with special sensitivity toward those who were scrupulous. And even though James' decision opened the door wide for Gentiles to join the Christian movement, this path of liberation and freedom is also a path with a new kind of responsibility -- to pick up the cross of loving service on behalf of all.

Other places in the Gospel call it binding and loosing, loosing and binding. Liberating people from the non-essential things that limit and bind the fullness of life. Binding people to the life of love whose service is perfect freedom.

It is Jesus' eternal call from the door of all our tombs. "Unbind them and set them free!"

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, September 10, 2008

Many Deaths

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 -- Week of Proper 18
Alexander Crummell, Priest, Missionary, and Educator, 1898

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 119:49-72 (morning) 49, [53] (evening)
Job 29:1, 30:1-2, 16-31
Acts 14:19-28
John 11:1-16

Job chapter thirty opens with Job's complaint about the argument he has received from his friends. But he turns his focus away from them, and back toward God. Job pours his soul out in complaint and accusation to God. He speaks of the depths of his affliction. He asks God why God cannot be at least as compassionate as Job has been. Job responded compassionately to the needy and suffering. But God has brought Job only misery and silence, which will end only in death.

Job is a Biblical model who invites us to speak our anguish to God with passion. Only God is great enough to receive our darkest emotions and not be damaged. We know that God will listen and accept Job's complaint. God will listen and accept ours.

As we move toward the passion of Christ in John's gospel, we begin the dramatic story of Lazarus' death today. Read in relationship with Job, we see some of the same dynamics at work. Jesus hears of Lazarus' illness, but does not return to Bethany immediately. He delays two more days in the place where he is. By the time he sets out toward Lazarus' home, it is too late. Lazarus is dead.

The disciple Thomas is incredulous that the group is returning to Judea where recently they barely escaped with their lives. With resignation, Thomas says, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

In our story from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul has stirred up so much opposition that a crowd stones him and drags his body out of the city, presuming him to be dead. He has survived. So they move to the next community, and start doing the same business, targeting the Gentiles who attend the synagogue as Godfearers, inviting them into the Christian community which declares Jesus as the risen One.

Death is all around. There are the thousand deaths we endure in all of the life-attacking events we confront. There is the death of anger and conflict; the death of illness and oppression; the death of suffering and frustration. All our roads lead finally to physical death and the end of our lives on this earth.

The witness of scripture is that God is with us. God is with us through our suffering and our death. The story of Jesus is the story that God is with us, living with us through anger and conflict, through illness and oppression, through suffering and frustration. Jesus brings divine presence to our suffering, making meaning where there is none and healing where there is brokenness.

What God does with death is resurrection -- life through death. Jesus does not sidestep death. Death happens. Jesus enters death with us, and through his power brings resurrection. As Dorothy Sayers puts it: "God did not abolish the fact of evil. He transformed it. He did not stop the crucifixion. He rose from the dead."

God is with us. Through death comes 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

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

The Martyrs of Memphis

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 -- Week of Proper 18
Constance, Nun, and her Companions (Commonly called "The Martyrs of Memphis," 1878

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 45(morning) 47, 48 (evening)
Job 29:1-20
Acts 14:1-18
John 10:31-42

I wrote my Morning Reflection last Tuesday on these passages. My eye went to Proper 18 instead of Proper 17. For that meditation, go to: http:lowellsblog.blogspot.com and look down the right column of "Previous Posts" -- click "The Witness of Goodness"
or go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/witness-of-goodness.html


Today is one of my favorite feasts in the church calendar, the commemoration of Constance and her Companions, also called "The Martyrs of Memphis." Their story is compelling, but they are also reminders of all of those who stay and serve in dangerous and catastrophic situations, helping others even at the risk of their own lives. The backdrop of their story is the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tennessee. It was the third and worst epidemic in a decade.

Imagine some of the numbers. A city of 50,000. With the threat of the illness, 30,000 fled the city. Many of the 20,000 left behind were those who were too poor to afford to get away, as we saw in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Yet when disaster strikes, there are some who respond with singular heroism and nobility. Among those was a young priest from Hoboken, New Jersey, the Rev. Louis Schuyler, who responded to the Tennessee Bishop Quintard's appeal for help, and traveled into the heart of the pestilence to serve the need.

Before the epidemic ended, over 90% of the population had contracted the fever; more than 5,000 people had died.

At the center of the plague was St. Mary's Cathedral and the adjacent Girls' School. Dean George C. Harris and Sister Constance of the Sisters of St. Mary organized the relief work. Among their allies were six of the sisters, several priests and three physicians, two of whom were Episcopal priests. The heat of Memphis in August was horrible. The symptoms of the dying were pitiful and the conditions for the care of their corpses putrid. Often it was the dying who struggling to bury the dead. Four of the six sisters of St. Mary died. Young Fr. Louis Schuyler and the Rev. Charles Parsons, Rector of Grace and St. Lazarus Church died -- all of them serving those who fell ill before them.

The story of Fr. Schyuyler is told in a compelling historical novel, The Chasuble. The description of the horrors where they served is moving. Schyuyler is buried along with the Rev. Charles Parsons in a joint grave with a marker inscribed "Greater Love Hath No Man." The High Altar in St. Mary's Cathedral is a memorial to the four Sisters who died, Srs. Constance, Thecla, Ruth and Frances. Fr. Parson's grandson was a member of my Jackson, Mississippi parish. In his 70's and suffering from emphysema, Bob Parsons traveled to Memphis for the historic first celebration of the newly authorized Feast of the Martyrs of Memphis in 1981. I'll never forget his joy and pride.

Whenever we read of war and pestilence, of natural and man-made disasters, underneath each of those stories are humble people like these who stay and serve, and some who intentionally walk into the danger to give their small measure of relief. Constance and her Companions are symbols of that selfless and costly service. May we give them our respect. When we can, may we give them the resources they need. If we are called, may we respond with similar courage.

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, September 08, 2008

More Conflicts

Monday, September 8, 2008 -- Week of Proper 18

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 41, 52 (morning) 44 (evening)
Job 32:1-10, 19 - 33:1, 19-28
Acts 13:44-52
John 10:19-30

Conflict abounds again in our readings today.

Elihu, a new speaker confronts Job. When I was in seminary, most commentators believed the Elihu speeches were inserted into the original Job text by a later scribe who may have been unsatisfied with the other responses. Current scholarship tends toward regarding these chapters as part of the original whole, functioning as a form of comic relief which slows the action as a preparation for the appearance of God. Elihu has several marks of the classic fool: he acts angrily and claims he is wiser than his elders, he comically describes himself as a bursting wineskin, he makes exaggerated claims in God's name.

In today's reading, he speaks of the person who may be "one of a thousand" who finds an angel for a mediator, and that angel declares the person righteous and delivers that one from the Pit. The speech is as if Elihu is answering Job's demand for a mediator between himself and God by jumping into the role like an exaggerated clown. He is a "Stephen Colbert" version of Job's other four friends, satirizing their serious but misguided instruction.

In the gospel we see the continuing conflict that Jesus has provoked by healing a blind man on the sabbath and by declaring his intimate relationship with God. The drama is building which will lead to his death. He invites all people to be one with God. The authorities accuse him of blasphemy.

And in the Acts of the Apostles we see the evangelism strategy of Paul and Barnabas, and the repeated conflict it stirs among the synagogues in Asia Minor. They are in the town of Antioch in southern Turkey. The congregation at any synagogue meeting would include men who were Jews, and also men who were not Jews. A group of Gentile "Godfearers" would have been seated behind a barrier that allowed them to listen and observe the synagogue meeting. Godfearers were Gentiles who admired the teaching, history, and high moral traditions of Judaism, but who were not Jews themselves. Powerful and wealthy community leaders were often among the Godfearers.

Paul's message retraced the story of Israel, focusing on the failures of Israel and the call for its repentance, and on the messianic promises made to David. He then proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah sent from God, whom the Jerusalem authorities ignorantly killed, as they had done to the other prophets. By the following sabbath (our reading today), the Jewish opposition to Paul was organized in the synagogue. Either Paul and Barnabas are thrown out, or they depart after harsh words. But they make their point by directing it primarily toward the Gentile Godfearers. And they invite the Gentiles into their full fellowship, without the necessity of being circumcised and of following the Jewish purity laws and other complicated traditions. Paul's churches were built with Gentile converts stolen from the Jewish synagogue. His strategy was a formula for conflict.

Suzanne's marvelous sermon yesterday reflected on Jesus' assumption that the church would be a place of conflict, and that often the conflict would not be resolved in a satisfactory way. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us to treat one another "as a tax collector or a Gentile," whom Jesus welcomed and feasted with.

We argue, disagree, fail to reach compromise or agreement, and we continue to meet together at the altar, to feed on the food of divine life which Jesus gives us.

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, September 05, 2008

Victimizing the Victim

Friday, September 5, 2008 -- Week of Proper 17

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 31 (morning) 35 (evening)
Job 19:1-7, 14-17
Acts 13:13-25
John 9:18-41

Victimizing the Victim

Job to Bildad: "...are you not ashamed to wrong me?"

The authorities to the man born blind: "'You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?' And they drove him out."

One of the major themes of the book of Job is that sometimes the innocent suffer. The world does not always work justly. Cause and effect is not upright. Often the wicked prosper and the righteous fail. Anyone who grounds their faith in a belief that life will reward the diligent, upright and honest is failing to see reality. Anyone who persists in defending systems they believe to be just, will end up victimizing those who suffer unjustly, victimizing the victim. Usually the defense of the broken system will become abusive, adding a layer of oppression to the misery.

Job is innocent, yet he suffers terribly. Bildad and the others insist that God rewards the good and punishes the sinner, therefore Job must be a sinner. These friends of Job are defending God -- or better -- defending their orthodoxies about God. Job accuses God. It is God who is hunting and punishing him, Job accuses. Job says, "I want to face God with this truth." The innocent suffer, and God's people only blame them for their suffering.

Jesus heals a man born blind. But Jesus does so on the Sabbath, in violation of religious practice and teaching. The authorities cross-examine the healed man. The blind man sees. He understands. He tells them, only God's power could heal a man born blind. This man Jesus must be from God. But the conventional belief is that God punishes sin, and anyone born blind must himself be a punishment for sin. They dismiss the blind man and his insight roughly, "You were born entirely in sins..."

Our nation allows 5,000 laborers to immigrate legally into the U.S. each year while our economy lures and successfully employs 300,000 in jobs that raise their standard of living and allow them to save enough to send some money home to help their families in poverty there. Our naturalization services make it extraordinarily difficult for immigrants to become citizens, a process that averages 11 years. A hard-working, hopeful immigrant father pursues the American dream for his family, contributing to our nation's economic vitality by working and having taxes deducted for services he doesn't qualify for and having payroll withheld for social security that won't match his name when he is 65. If he is discovered, he will be fired, or possibly deported. Treated like a criminal. Why? He has violated the law. But it is a bad and unjust law. It's the law, say the authorities. And his now fatherless children hide with other illegal relatives. They might have grown up in this country since they first learned to talk. But if they haven't worked the complicated system to gain citizenship before age 18, they become criminals on their birthday.

To enforce such an unjust and broken system is to victimize the victims.

A child grows up in a family that is stressed and barely getting by. A single mom works two jobs that pay by the hour. She's not home much, because she's got to work so long to cover rent, food and the transportation she needs to get to work. There is precious little time or money for incidentals. There is no margin for misfortune. There is no insurance for illness. She gets very sick. She ignores the symptoms as long as she can. She tries to gut it out, but can't. Her only option is the emergency room. Every clinic or doctor in town will refuse her appointment. They have no more places for uninsured. Only the emergency room must take her. When I go to the emergency room, my insurers have negotiated a discount rate with the providers. I have a modest co-pay; the hospital gets the agreed rate from my insurance company. When the uninsured woman goes in, she is billed at the top rate. When she can't pay it, her credit rating is ruined. If she tries to pay it, her meager economic life constricts more tightly. If she's sick too long, her employer will fire her. She should have come in earlier when the doctors could have done something before she got so ill. What will she do about the child? Too bad. That's just the way it is, they tell her. That's the system. Anything else would be socialism. And you'd better not try to get a quick buck by selling drugs, or yourself.

Often -- hard working, honest people living in the richest country in the world can't make ends meet. But America is the best nation in the world, we tell her. It must be your fault.

Too often we try to defend the systems we believe in and the teachings we've been taught even when their failings and shortcomings are right in front of our eyes. Instead of practicing empathy, we rationalize. When our empathy fails, we will victimize the victims. And we will do so in the name of that which we most treasure.

Unless we let empathy, love, compassion and understanding reshape our reality, we're part of the problem.

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, September 04, 2008

Blindness and Sight

Thursday, September 4, 2008 -- Week of Proper 17
Paul Jones, Bishop and Peace Advocate 1941

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 37:1-18 (morning) 37:19-42 (evening)
Job 16:16-22, 17:1, 13-16
Acts 13:1-12
John 9:1-17

Blindness and sight.

Job can see only the incongruity of his innocence and his suffering. The only possible resolution is death, which in Job's day was the nothingness of Sheol, cut off from both God and human life, the hopeless darkness where the Pit is one's father and the worm one's mother. For Job, nothingness is better than his living misery. He would prefer the blindness of death to the sight of his suffering.

In our story from Acts, the church in Antioch sets apart Barnabas and Saul/Paul to travel in their work as apostles. They sail to Cyprus where Paul has an encounter with a magician who challenges Paul. By the "hand of the Lord" Paul strikes the magician blind. For a while, the man will be unable to see.

It is an ironic and potentially hopeful event. After all, just a few chapters earlier we saw Saul acting as an enemy of the Gospel when he was struck blind by the hand of the Lord. His blindness was his turning point, and he became a follower of Jesus. There is no word about the future of the magician. Will his blindness be his illumination, like Paul? Or will he simply suffer blindly?

Then in our reading from John, Jesus heals a blind beggar. It causes quite a controversy. There is a dispute over the facts -- is this the same person who was the blind beggar, sightless from birth? Yes, he is the same person. No, he is not the same. He has changed. He sees, and he will testify to what has happened to him. His testimony will cost him dearly.

But Jesus has healed the man on the Sabbath. Jesus instructed the blind man to wash in the pool of Siloam. Such an instruction would have been regarded as a violation of the Sabbath. It was an act of work to wash oneself thusly. It would have been regarded as an act of work to heal another on the Sabbath. There are six other days to heal and wash. Religious tradition expected observant Jews to refrain from such activity on the Sabbath, out of respect for God and for the gift of weekly rest.

The religious authorities cannot see the regaining of sight of this blind beggar as a good thing. Not when it is done on the Sabbath. Their eyes are closed to the gift of life that Jesus has offered. The blind man now sees, but he will be banished from the synagogue. The authorities have seen a miracle of healing, but they are blind to its goodness.

When does our suffering make us blind to anything else? When does our worldview, our opinion, our religious belief make us blind? Can our blindness be turned into new insight? How do we know what we are not even seeing?

Today is the feast day of Paul Jones, former Bishop of Utah. In 1917 he caused scandal when he declared his belief that "war is unchristian." A House of Bishops Commission denied his right to object to war on the grounds of faith and conscience, and recommended that he resign. Bishop Jones did so, and spent the next 23 years of his life working to promote peace and the right to conscience.

The Bishop who was forced to resign because of his pacifist vision is now commemorated with an annual feast day in our calendar. The notion that "war is unchristian" is no longer inadmissible. I look forward to the day when those of us whose conscience objects to the 1998 Lambeth Commission's position that homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture will be recognized, possibly with a feast to honor Louie Crew the founder of Integrity. Whoever has eyes to see, let them see.

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, September 02, 2008

The Witness of Goodness

Tuesday, September 2, 2008 -- Week of Proper 17
Martyrs of New Guinea, 1942

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 45(morning) 47, 48 (evening)
Job 29:1-20
Acts 14:1-18
John 10:31-42

The Witness of Goodness

The good works that Jesus does -- turning water into wine, three healings, feeding the multitude, walking on water, and raising Lazarus -- John's gospels calls "signs." These are the outward and visible manifestations of the spiritual grace that Jesus embodies.

Some take issue with Jesus' actions and signs because they violate some aspects of their belief, traditions, and theology. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Some religious leaders accused him of violating the Commandment to keep the Sabbath. Jesus connected each of his signs with a statement about his own identity and ministry. The language of his self-defining statements was very uncomfortable, even scandalous to many religious ears. They accused him of blasphemy, of asserting for himself qualities that are reserved to God.

Today's we have a disputation. Jesus asks, "For which of these [good works] are you going to stone me?" The authorities answer, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God."

Jesus answers with a bit of Rabbinical slight-of-hand. He quotes Psalm 82:6 -- "Now I say to you, 'You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High'..." Jesus says, in essence, "If God spoke that word to the authors of the Hebrew Scriptures, why would you take issue with with me for saying I am God's Son as I do these works that obviously come from God, for they are good works."

In our reading from Acts, we hear how powerfully Paul and Barnabas testify to Jesus. Paul speaks and a man who has been crippled from birth is healed. The people believe that they are gods. They call Paul "Hermes" because he is the chief messenger and spokesman, and they call Barnabas "Zeus," probably because of his powerful presence. They wish to sacrifice in their honor, but Paul prevents them. "We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from the worthless things to the living God..." In the background angry opponents plot to frustrate Paul and Barnabas' work.

Finally in Job we hear his description of his life before his horrible tragedy. He was a bastion of justice, wisdom and generosity. He was an advocate and deliverer of the poor and needy, a champion of the stranger, a defender from the unrighteous. He was honored and respected. He was a good man living a good life. No more. "Why?" he asks. His friends dispute with him, telling him he cannot be innocent or he wouldn't be suffering so.

In all of these stories we have people doing good deeds that witness to their character and to God's power within them, yet all find themselves embroiled in conflict, controversy and their own personal suffering. For Jesus, Paul and Job, their lives would be much easier if people would accept the witness of their good works. Let the works authenticate their being. The problems magnify with the theological exception that people take with Jesus, Paul and Job.

Jesus takes a "high" view of himself and of other human beings as "gods, and all ...children of the Most High." Paul credits Jesus as the source of his good works. Job insists he is innocent, yet he suffers. In each of these cases, the dominant theological view rejects the words even while they might acknowledge the actions.

Where do we reject or demean those who may be doing good works but speaking words or carrying an identity that we object to? I've talked to Christians who cannot see any good coming out of Muslims. Democrats and Republicans often do the same thing to one another.

Good works are their own witness. We might reduce the amount of conflict, suffering and confusion if we could more readily accept whatever good is done from whatever source.

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