Away Early Today

Tuesday, March 33, 2009 -- Week of 5 Lent, Year One
John Donne, Priest 1631

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 956)
Psalms [120], 121, 122, 123 (morning) 124, 125, 126, [127] (evening)
Jeremiah 25:8-17
Romans 10:1-13
John 9:18-41

I am at the hospital early this morning. No time to write a Reflection.

Lowell

Certainty and God's Ways

Monday, March 30, 2009 -- Week of 5 Lent, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 956)
Psalms 31 (morning) 35 (evening)
Jeremiah 24:1-10
Romans 9:19-33
John 9:1-17

Certainty is the belief that we are smarter today than we will be tomorrow. Doubt or the ability to question our beliefs is an essential ability if we are to learn and grow in our understanding of God. The day we are certain about God, is the day we think we have become as big as God, and know nothing of God.

Today's scriptures are filled with stories that shine a light on the necessity of being open to new possibilities that challenge old certainties.

Jeremiah is living in Jerusalem serving as an advisor and prophet to King Zedekiah. Around 598 the Babylonians had captured Jerusalem and sent its king, many officials and leading citizens into exile. They placed Zedekiah on the throne as a vassal ruler.

In today's vision, Jeremiah sees two baskets of figs. The exiles in Babylon Jeremiah sees as the "good figs," and the remnant living with Jeremiah in Jerusalem are the "bad figs," he said. God will bless the good figs, the exiles; God will make the bad figs in Jerusalem "a horror."

Throughout the previous decades, Jeremiah has counseled cooperation with Babylon. Once again he sides with the outsider whom most regarded as the enemy and oppressor. He says those in Babylon will be blessed, if they cooperate with the Babylonians. He calls them "good figs," even though they appear to have been punished by God with exile; they are the ones who have been humiliated and shamed by capture and deportation. The apparently lucky ones, still living in their homes, Jeremiah condemns and scorns in God's name.

What Jeremiah speaks is the opposite of the conventional certainty in Jerusalem. He tells those who believe they are the chosen and blessed, that they aren't.

And Paul continues to emphasize the centrality of trusting God, even when God's ways are inscrutable. He poses the absurdity that has come true: "Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law... They have stumbled over the stumbling stone."

And Jesus faces down the conventional certainty that blindness is God's punishment for someone's wrongdoing. They ask Jesus for his opinion about the argument. "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus refutes the entire presupposition. "Neither," he says. Then Jesus violates the conventional interpretation of the Sabbath law, picks up mud, spreads it on the man's eyes, and heals him.

Over and over in scripture, God frustrates the certainties of God's people. God does the new and unexpected thing. God blesses the ones believed cursed. God's glory is manifest in the person previously considered to be an outsider, the sinner or unrighteous one.

It should give us pause over our certainties and whatever beliefs seem conventional and settled. It should give us pause over how we regard those who are outsiders or obvious sinners or patently unrighteous. So often in the scripture witness, God is present in working in the most unsuspected person and place.

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

God Works for Good

Friday, March 27, 2009 -- Week of 4 Lent, Year One
Charles Henry Brent

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 954)
Psalms 95* & 102 (morning) 107:1-32 (evening)
Jeremiah 23:1-8
Romans 8:28-39
John 6:52-59 *for the Invitatory

There are various ways to read Paul's claim that "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God..." Some ancient manuscripts read, "God makes all things work together for good," or "In all things God works for good."

I am reminded of the spirituality of Jean Pierre de Caussade, a 19th century spiritual director. At the center of his teaching was his admonition that we abandon ourselves to Divine Providence. He claimed that God continually is working to bring about the best possible situation in every moment. Of course God is limited by the choices and actions of human beings and by the constraints of creation. But within those constraints, the present moment is the best that it can be, claims Caussade. He tell us to accept this moment as the container for God's presence with us right now. He tells us not to use any energy judging our present circumstances. Radically accept that God is doing God's best in this moment.

Now is the only time or place when we can know God, to be with God, and to do God's bidding. Therefore when we accept whatever is happening as the "Sacrament of the Present Moment" we experience the presence of God here and now. The container for God-with-us is the circumstance we presently live in. Surrender joyfully to the "now," says Caussade. The past is gone; the future has not come; we can only know God in the present, therefore, radically accept the present.

Within that context of acceptance, the only question now is: "What is God's will for me in this present moment?" If we are doing God's will, life is whole. Right here, right now. It doesn't get better than living within God's will in the present moment. When we do God's will in the present moment, we are holy; we are doing everything we can do to contribute to the Kingdom of God.

Ahh, but what is God's will for me in the present moment? De Caussade says that it is very simple. The will of God for us can only be one of three things: (1) to do some present duty, (2) to enjoy something, or in the darker mystery of God, occasionally (3) to suffer something. He suggests that our intuition will tell us which of the three is God's will for us in each present moment. Simply be aware and conscious, asking deeply what God wills, and it will be given to you.

According to Caussade, this is the key to the good life: Accept the present. Do God's will in this moment.

Living in such a way, Caussade says that we can live with full confidence and peace, knowing that you are in union with God in Christ. No regrets about the past; no worries about the future; only the solid ground of faith in the present moment, trusting that "all things work together for good for those who love God" and that "God makes all things work together for good; in all things God works for good."

How can I participate in that work right now?

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

Two World Views

Thursday, March 26, 2009 -- Week of 4 Lent, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 954)
Psalms 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 (morning) 73 (evening)
Jeremiah 22:13-23
Romans 8:12-27
John 6:41-51

We have such contrasting world views in today's readings.

Jeremiah addresses those who abuse power for personal gain. "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice..." You can hear him speaking to today's greedy financiers who manipulated the system of derivatives and promoted unsecured loans that have betrayed our credit system.

"Woe to him ...who makes his neighbors work for nothing, and does not give them their wages..." You can hear him speak of those who abuse undocumented workers; who make great profits from the labor of others who work hard yet can't make a living and find themselves living under the threat of imminent family catastrophe because they have no insurance should someone get seriously ill.

Jeremiah chides those who "compete in cedar," living in conspicuous consumption. He raises up the good example of Josiah, who upheld "justice and righteousness" and "judged the cause of the poor and needy."

Jeremiah leaves us a picture of the unjust, who practice "dishonest gain" and end up "shedding innocent blood" and "practicing oppression and violence." Jeremiah places a curse on those who live so. He speaks particularly to King Jehoiakim. These are words that some interpreted as treason: "With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried -- dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem."

The fruits of those who abuse power for personal gain are ugly. Those they abuse suffer; and the proud shall be shamed and despoiled, says Jeremiah. Watching the unraveling of our own economy, the ravages of unceasing violence of war, the bitter consequences of greed and arrogance, we can hear Jeremiah's words with contemporary impact.

What a contrasting world we visit through Paul's eyes today. Instead of the life of the flesh that Jeremiah has described so vividly, Paul encourages us to live according to the Spirit, "for all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."

There is a fascinating passage that has a couple of acceptable translations. "[Y]ou have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry 'Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God," can also be translated "[Y]ou have received a spirit of adoption, by which we cry, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit itself bears witness that we are children of God." Two ways to understand what is happening in our prayer. We cry "Abba! Father!' and the spirit's co-testimony bears witness for us, confirming our prayer. Or we can say that the gift of our spirit of adoption speaks the Spirit within us, crying "Abba! Father!" We share in the intimate Aramaic address by which Jesus addressed God as "Abba -- Papa / Mama.

How different this life is, as adopted children of the spirit. Instead of talking about conspicuous consumption and greed, Paul goes immediately into a conversation about suffering. He expects that God's children will suffer. It is the sharing in Christ's suffering.

Part of that suffering is the inward groaning of growth toward wholeness and union. The whole creation is "groaning in labor pain," participating in the work of evolving into spiritual creatures who are one with God, in intimate, familial relationship with the divine. This is our hope. "We hope for what we do not see." We wait. We live in the Spirit, as God's adoptive children.

Unity, suffering and hope; living with the first fruits of adoption as we grow into an ultimate fullness that incorporates the whole of creation into God's evolving work of raising our consciousness into union with the divine. Now that's a lot better than "competing in cedar."

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

Early Meeting

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 -- Week of 4 Lent, Year One
The Feast of the Annunciation

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

EITHER, for Wed. of 4 Lent (p. 954)
Psalms 101, 109 (morning) 119:121-144 (evening)
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Romans 8:1-11
John 6:27-40

OR, the Annunciation, (p. 997)
Morning Prayer: Psalms 85, 87 / Isaiah 52:7-12 / Hebrews 2:5-10
Evening Prayer: Psalms 110:1-5(6-7), 132 / Wisdom 9:1-12 / John 1:9-14

I have an early morning meeting today. Didn't get to write a Morning Reflection.

Here's what caught my eye from the readings (Wed., 4 Lent):

"If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you." Romans 8:11

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. (John 6:37-38)

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

I Surrender

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 -- Week of 4 Lent, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 954)
Psalms 97, 99, [100] (morning) 94, 95 (evening)
Jeremiah 17:19-27
Romans 7:13-25
John 6:16-27

"I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do."

All of us have behaviors and compulsions that seem beyond our power of will. Our efforts of self-improvement may reach out to reform us for a while, but it is like pulling an unbreakable rubber band. We try and we try; but when the will relaxes its strong grip for only a moment, we pop back into the same old destructive ditch we've been stuck in so many times before. Only now, we have a bit more guilt of another failure to absorb as we attempt willfully to wrestle our compulsive natures into compliance.

Notice how willful all of this is. Notice how singular, isolated and individualistic it is. This is the existential being, alone with his tragic flaws and solitary struggles, intent on mastering nature, which is, ironically, his own nature.

"Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Part of the wisdom of Alcoholics Anonymous is that the first step into freedom is to admit that we are powerless over our addictions which make our lives unmanageable. Our will is simply not up to the task of overcoming our compulsions. Our will sleeps from time to time. Our compulsions do not need rest. They are ready to pounce at any moment of weakness or relaxation of vigilance. Perpetual vigilance is wretched indeed.

"Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Surrender becomes the path to freedom. Willingness can gracefully overcome our willfulness. But it takes grace. The second step of AA is we "came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

We cannot make it on our own. We need a power greater than ourselves. We need God's spirit. We also need community. We need others who support us, hold us accountable, forgive us and share our condition of neediness.

Paul found release from the addictive prison of his project to earn his way into God's grace when he gave up trying and accepted God's grace as an unqualified gift. I quit. I give up. I surrender. I can't do this. I can't beat this. My life is unmanageable. Help! God, help me!

What we can't accomplish through our own will power can be given to us through God's grace. When we surrender into God's loving arms, we can accept ourselves as we are and discover space between our compulsion and our behavior. We can watch in weakness, passively unresponsive as the energy that wants to bind us rises within us like fireworks and puts on its emotional show. Trusting in God's strength, we can wait, willingly unresponsive, until the wave passes, surrendering into the mystery of the infinite loving power of God.

Then we can give God thanks. We have done nothing. How wonderful it can be to do nothing. Let go, and let God.

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

Small Gifts

Monday, March 23, 2009 -- Week of 4 Lent, Year One
Gregory the Illuminator, Bishop and Missionary of Armenia, c. 332

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 954)
Psalms 89:1-18 (morning) 89:19-52 (evening)
Jeremiah 16:10-21
Romans 7:1-12
John 6:1-15

There's a little detail in today's gospel that always catches my attention. While most of the disciples are fretting over the impossible numbers they faced at the prospect to trying to feed a huge crowd, Andrew naively brings forward a little boy who has five barley loves and two fish. This becomes the material that Jesus uses to feed the multitude.

By now many people have heard of the amazing work of Greg Mortensen whose story has become the best-seller "Three Cups of Tea." After being rescued during a mountain climbing accident in 1993 in a remote part of Pakistan, Mortensen decided to return to the remote, impoverished area to help build bridges, sewers, roads and especially schools, particularly schools for girls. While recovering he watched the village's 84 children sitting outdoors, scratching lessons in the dirt with sticks. The village was so poor that it could not afford the $1-a-day salary to hire a teacher. As he left the village, in thanksgiving for their kindness, he promised that he would return to build them a school.

He had no experience in fund raising, and his efforts made little headway. However, the big turnaround came when a group of elementary school children in River Falls, Wisconsin had a penny drive. The children collected 62,300 pennies and donated $623 to Mortenson's effort. The story had legs. The children's gift became a tipping point, catching the attention of adults, and Mortenson began to attract larger donations. Jean Horni, a Swiss physicist gave the first large gift of $1 million in 1996 to build a bridge and a school in the village where Mortenson had been cared for.

Patiently enduring the subterfuge of corrupt officials and hostility from locals whose leaders
had long memories of unfulfilled American promises of such help in exchange for their services during the war against Russia and Afghanistan, he persevered. Under the auspices of the Central Asia Institute he built 55 schools in twelve years; he created women's vocational centers, water stations and other infrastructure. He has been doing this in the same area that we read about in the newspaper as the heartland of radical Taliban terrorism and violence. He has survived fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and two children to spend up to half of his year in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mortenson has gained the trust of Islamic leaders, military commanders and tribal chiefs for his tireless effort to champion education, especially for girls. He is being called a one-man mission to counteract extremism and terrorism with books, not bombs, by replacing guns with pencils, rhetoric with reading. "We had no problem flying in bags of cash to pay the warlords to fight against the Taliban," he says. "I wondered why we couldn't to the same things to build roads and sewers and schools."

A little child with five barley loaves and two fish helped Jesus and his disciples feed the multitude; elementary school children collected pennies and helped Greg Mortenson begin to build schools in the Taliban heartland; one man with perseverance and heart educates tens of thousands, bringing hope to one of the world's most hopeless places. Often the Spirit's work is to leverage small gifts into great things. No one's gift is too small.

Lowell

What's the Problem?

Friday, March 20, 2009 -- Week of 3 Lent, Year One
Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 687

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 954)
Psalms 95* & 88 (morning) 91, 92 (evening)
Jeremiah 11:1-8, 14-20
Romans 6:1-11
John 8:33-47 *for the Invitatory

The spiritual journey is a pilgrimage from bondage into freedom. Our bondage takes many forms, but one simple way of speaking of it is as our slavery to sin. Jesus' original audience resisted this language of slavery. We are not slaves, they said, we are free.

We may say we are free, but most all of us are in some forms of bondage. Sometimes language like this helps us recognize our bondage: We are compulsive, driven, addicted, self-centered, dependent. We experience fear or anxiety because we may not feel safe and secure; we may feel empty, unable to trust ourselves or the world. We experience shame or a sense of rejection because we feel like we have to earn our place in the world; we believe we have to achieve something in order to receive the kind of affection or respect that we believe we need, in order to truly belong and to relax into a deep sense of acceptance. We experience anger and a desire for autonomy and control in an unpredictable and threatening world; we feel a sense of powerlessness and resentment because we aren't able to make things the way we want them.

All of these are conditions of sin and bondage. Most of us experience one or more of these conditions at some time in our lives. Many of us live chronically with these afflictive emotions.

Jesus speaks of the truth that will make us free. Paul speaks of dying to that old self so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin. Paul says that we are raised from death into new life.

The truth is that we are perfectly safe and secure in Christ. Jesus has participated in all that can threaten us and has overcome it. We are free to trust that God will protect us and provide enough, all that we truly need.

The truth is that we are perfectly loved. God loves us with an unqualified love that is God's gift of grace, forgiveness, renewal and belonging. There is nothing we have to achieve to receive this love. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.

The truth is that God is in control. God's power extends over our lives and over creation. What God does is to bring life out of death. Therefore, we can relax into God's work of healing and reconciliation. There is nothing we need to be defensive about.

We can love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and we can love our neighbor as ourselves, because God first loved us, and provides for us, and guides us into being.

Shifting from paragraph 2 above to the paragraph immediately above is what Paul invites us to accept as our baptism into Christ's death and our rising to walk in newness of life. It is accepting the truth that makes us 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

If Adam, Then How Much More Jesus

Thursday, March 19, 2009 -- Week of 3 Lent, Year One
Saint Joseph

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

EITHER, Thursday of 3 Lent (p. 954)
Psalms [83], or 42, 43 (morning) 85, 86 (evening)
Jeremiah 10:11-24
Romans 5:12-21
John 8:21-32

OR, St. Joseph, (p. 997)
Morning Prayer: Psalm 132 / Isaiah 63:7-16 / Matthew 1:18-25
Evening Prayer: Psalm 34 / 2 Chronicles: 6:12-17 / Ephesians 3:14-21

Note: I read the readings for Thursday of 3 Lent

In Biblical and rabbinical debate, an argument will often proceed from the lesser to the greater. Where "X" is the lesser, and "Y" is the greater, the argument will be presented: "If X, how much more Y." If this lesser is true, how much more true is the greater; if the lesser is effective, how much more effective is the greater.

We see Paul engaging in just such an argument in today's reading from Romans. In this case, Adam is the lesser and Jesus Christ is the greater. If Adam..., how much more Jesus.

Here's his argument: If sin came into the world through Adam, through one man's disobedience, and brought universal death, how much more will one man's obedience, through Jesus' righteousness, bring "justification and life for all."

"Much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many," Paul says. If "death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

The implications are universal. In Adam's sin and disobedience, all humanity was condemned to death. How much more, then, will the obedience and righteousness of Jesus bring "justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Adam's sin brought universal death; Jesus' obedience brings universal life."

Paul concentrates his conversation on inspiring us who have received this gift. Realize what you have been given, and live no longer in sin, but live thankful lives, full of grace.

But he will have to face a couple of criticisms. If the power of Jesus' grace is universal, if all sin is overcome by this amazing grace, can't we just go on sinning, since the more we sin the more grace and forgiveness abounds? "By no means!" Paul says.

What about those who don't accept the gift, who don't believe in Jesus? That's a trickier question for Paul. But he sees even in disobedience the opportunity for the expansion of God's grace. God used the evil and power of Pharaoh to demonstrate God's grace and power through the Exodus. God has used the disobedience and unbelief of his Jewish brothers and sisters who have rejected Jesus as the Messiah to open up the doors of Paul's mission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Because of their stumbling, grace has now extended universally. How much more...

What Paul has experienced in Jesus is so complete, that he is confident of God's universal triumph. God will not lose anything that God has made. God's love and grace is extended to all; God will find a way to complete victory. Trust God, he says, and mind your own business. "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." (13:8) "Let us live honorably, ...and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." (13:13a, 14b) And "welcome those who are weak in faith. ...We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves." (14:1a, 15:1)

In 1 Corinthians 22, Paul puts it this way: "For as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ." Or as it is also translated, "For as in Adam all died, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." How much more...!

Lowell

_____________________________________________

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

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

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

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

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

The Anguish of God

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 -- Week of 3 Lent, Year One
Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, 386

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 954)
Psalms 119:97-120 (morning) 81, 82 (evening)
Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:6
Romans 5:1-11
John 8:12-20

It is common to think of God as distant, removed and unmoved, absolute and Holy other. Yet Jeremiah speaks of the weeping anguish of a grieving God who expresses vulnerability and pain over the suffering of God's people. "My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. ...O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!"

I remember teaching Ethics to a class of high school seniors at Trinity School in Natchez when I was just out of seminary. Toward the end of the year, one of their friends was killed in a shooting. He was walking with his date to the Senior Ball, he in tuxedo, she in her formal gown, when a younger boy ran by suddenly and snatched her purse away. Acting with chivalry, the tuxedoed senior ran to rescue his date's purse. He was on the track team and was faster than the fleeing thief. As he caught up with the younger boy, the child panicked, turned, pointed a gun, and shot the other boy dead.

Our shocked class talked about what had happened. Where was God in all of this? Why could God not prevent something so horrible? We spoke about this present, intimate, vulnerable, anguished and grieving God. When the bullet entered their friend's body, it also entered Christ's body, and God felt once again the pain and horror of innocent death. As the young boy turned and pulled the trigger, God's heart broke in agony for his beloved child who was acting with such foolish violence, and whose life would now turn so dark. God's Spirit felt more deeply than we can experience the pain that now filled their lives, the anguish of parents whose child was gone, the similar suffering of the parents whose child had done such a horrible thing, and who now would be taken from them as he faced a life marked by prison and guilt. God is inside of all of this, weeping, grieving, vulnerable and pained over the suffering of God's people.

And deep beneath the anguish, God is quietly doing what God does best, bringing life out of death -- resurrection and new hope.

As I write this I remember a similar incident that happened on the streets of New York City when I was doing my Clinical Pastoral Education chaplaincy at St. Luke's Hospital in the city. I visited a young boy in the ICU; he was at that awkward stage of adolescence, around sixteen or so, when his arms and legs had outgrown the rest of him. He had been bouncing a basketball down the street, when a younger boy, with a long rap sheet that started when he was six, walked up and shot him because he didn't like the way he laughed. Now the child was on life-support. Days later, the family removed the life-support and he died. In a press conference, they expressed their forgiveness toward the boy who shot their son and their grief for his parents who had also lost their child in that moment.

The boy who died was in the Roman Catholic seminary school, and his hope was to become a priest someday. I vowed that if I became a priest, I would serve my priesthood in some sense of memory and honor of his unfulfilled hopes. I have always remembered him. His name is Hugh B. McEvoy. Some times when I'm feeling weary or overwhelmed, I think of him, and I find new energy. In some real way, I believe that he still lives in and through me. I feel a deep sense of connection, awe and gratefulness toward him, an invisible string of the Spirit, bringing life out of death.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

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

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

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

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

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Life from Death

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 -- Week of 3 Lent, Year One
Patrick, Bishop and Missionary of Ireland, 461

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 954)
Psalms 78:1-39 (morning) 78:40-72 (evening)
Jeremiah 7:21-34
Romans 4:13-25
John 7:37-52

On the last day of the Festival of Booths, participants retell the dramatic story of God bringing water from the rock to the thirsty Israelites in the desert wilderness during their Exodus from Egypt. Jesus invites the thirsty to come to him, from whom rivers of living water, the Spirit, shall flow.

Once again there is a controversy. The simple people look and hear; what they observe is good -- the healings, the teachings. But others are watching critically. They attack Jesus with Biblical proof texts. Jesus is from Galilee. The scripture says that the Messiah will come from David's village of Bethlehem. For them, that shuts their eyes and ears to any notion that Jesus is Messiah. If he continues to act like one, they will seek to stop or destroy him. The Bible said so.

(Side note. Neither John's gospel or Mark's has a birth narrative. Luke and Matthew both have stories that place Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. Scholars are divided about the historicity of that event. John does not "correct" the skeptics with a story about Jesus' Bethlehem origins. Instead, he wants us to believe the signs. Some scholars say that the Bethlehem narratives were created by the post-resurrection church to answer criticisms such as this. They see many of the stories of Jesus as "prophecy historicized" -- a legend that is inspired by some reference from the Hebrew scriptures. Other scholars believe there is a remembered historic tradition of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem.)

We get to the heart of Paul's teaching today. The promise of God's blessing is a sheer gift from God -- grace. It is received through faith -- trust in God's promises. It is a gift to all, both Jews (the adherents of the law) and Gentiles (those who share the faith of Abraham). Abraham is the universal father of faith, the father of many nations. Anyone who trusts God is a child of Abraham, regardless of nationality. Paul says that those of us who trust that God raised the crucified Jesus experience God as trustworthy, thus we have peace with God through Jesus because God has again manifested divine grace by raising him from the dead. Paul experienced his enlightenment as liberation from trying to earn his peace with God. His peace came when he accepted God's grace through faith. That was Paul's resurrection; Paul's experience of being raised from death into life. That's what God does best -- bring life from death.

(Side note. Jeremiah mentions "the high place of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom" where child sacrifice took place. This valley is mentioned several times in scripture. It was the garbage dump for the city, and fires burned almost continually there. It is believed that children were sacrificed there to the Ammonite god Molech. The word "toph" meant beating a percussion instrument, possibly to drown out the cries of the dying infants. "Ge Hinnom" -- literally "valley of Hinnom" -- became Gehenna in Christian tradition, a place of unending fire and destruction -- a metaphor for hell.)

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

Three Stories Intertwine

Monday, March 16, 2009 -- Week of 3 Lent, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 954)
Psalms 80 (morning) 77, [79] (evening)
Jeremiah 7:1-15
Romans 4:1-12
John 7:14-36

It seems to me that today's three stories intertwine.

I quoted in my sermon yesterday from Jeremiah's Temple Sermon because I saw a connection between Jeremiah's words against the Temple, today's Daily Office first reading, and Jesus' prophetic action to shut down the Temple and its commerce, our gospel story this past Sunday. So much of Israel's identity was connected with the Temple. The great King David (c. 1000 BCE) had been promised a holy dwelling place for God and that David and his throne would be established forever. More than two hundred years afterwards, the influential prophet Isaiah spoke authoritatively interpreting the promises to David of God's gift of unconditional safety. The Temple was God's eternal dwelling place.

Another hundred years later, how shocking must it have been for Jeremiah to refute that orthodoxy. "Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." Jeremiah tells the people that the promises they have embraced about the temple will not annul their failure of justice. Unless they cease oppressing the alien, the orphan, and the widow and cease their violence and unfaithfulness, God will do to this Jerusalem Temple what God did to the older shrine at Shiloh. "I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim." For Jeremiah, when worship substitutes for justice, God rejects God's temple.

Fast forward six hundred years. Paul is facing a different challenge. He speaks to people who have put their trust not in a building, but in a body of law. After the destruction of the Temple, Jewish identity became more and more focused in the practices of following the complex series of laws and interpretations that had been handed down from Moses through the rabbis. Many of the laws proscribed ethical behavior and many others were concerned with forms of social and religious purity. By Paul's time, the common belief was that if anyone successfully obeyed all of the laws, you were in good standing before God. In the language Paul uses today, you had earned your dues.

But Paul had found his attempt to follow the laws produced only performance anxiety in him. He was certain that he and everyone else had failed in some respect. Jesus offered a way off of that merry-go-round. And Paul sees the gift that Jesus gives -- justification by faith through grace -- as foreshadowed not in Moses, but in Abraham. Before Abraham had been given the law, Abraham believed that God would bless him, and Abraham was justified by his faith through the grace of God. Because Abraham trusted God before he was circumcised, he is the model not just for Jews, but for all human beings who turn to the divine with trust. For Paul, when following rules substitutes for trusting God, we never experience true relationship with God.

Finally we see Jesus in a conflict because he has healed a man on the sabbath. He has done good, but he has done so in a way that violates the sabbath law. Controversy ensues. For Jesus, when religious custom blocks the opportunity for love and compassion, love and compassion always trump tradition.

I see all three of these stories as being connected. Jeremiah declares that justice is the prerequisite for a people's standing before God, regardless of their attention to worship or holy places. Justice is the social and corporate form of love and compassion. Paul enjoins us to love and trust God first, and then act out of that relationship, rather than to think we can earn our standing before God by following religious rules. Jesus summarizes the whole law and tradition with love: Love God, neighbor and self. Everything else is secondary, including the ancient gift of sabbath.

Again, it all comes down to love. First love and trust God, say Paul and Jesus. And love your neighbor as yourself (justice), say Jeremiah and Jesus. Traditions and Temples are always secondary to love.

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

No One Righteous

Friday, March 13, 2009 -- Week of 2 Lent, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 948)
Psalms 95* and 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 (morning) 73 (evening)
Jeremiah 5:1-9
Romans 2:25 - 3:18 *For the Invitatory
John 5:30-47

"Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look around and take note! Search its squares and see if you can find one person who acts justly and seeks truth." (Jeremiah 5:1)

"There is no one who is righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10; Paul quoting Hebrew scripture)

"The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me." (John 5:36)

Jeremiah looks for one just and truthful person and can find none. Therefore, he says, catastrophe will come. He speaks of an invading enemy that will pounce on the people like a lion, a wolf, and a leopard, "because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great."

Paul says that everyone has transgressed so we are all equal in the site of God, guilty. But Paul says that God has already offered us forgiveness and reconciliation as a gift that need only be accepted. You are justified by grace through faith is the way he puts it. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.

Jesus says that the good deeds that he does testify that he is from God. If you don't believe his words, believe his good deeds.

Later on Paul and John will invite the followers of Jesus to do the same deeds that Jesus has done. Paul speaks of that as life "in Christ." John speaks of the Spirit that Jesus gives us to do good.

So we see two consequences of our injustice, lies and unrighteousness. One consequence is that when we do bad, bad stuff follows. The other consequence is that God is always ready to forgive, reconcile and heal.

I think it was John Westerhoff who said that Christianity is nothing more than making promises, and breaking promises, then making promises again, and breaking promises, then making promises again... The important part, he says, is returning to our covenant, accepting again God's forgiveness and love, then renewing our intention to walk in God's ways.

Sure, bad consequences follow in the wake of our bad behavior. Lions and wolves and leopards still claim their prey whenever we act unjustly and untruthfully. (Bears too can destroy livelihoods and wealth.) But God always invites us to turn again toward justice and right.

One more thing. Not only are we to do what is right, we are also told to recognize and acknowledge whenever anyone does what is right. Paul said that the uncircumcised who do right are better than the circumcised who do not. Jesus chides those who say they "search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life" but miss the good deeds that happen right in front of their face because they have some objection to the person doing the good. God is no respecter of persons or their religions. Anyone who does good is from God. Period.

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

Dilige, et quod vis fac

Thursday, March 12, 2009 -- Week of 2 Lent, Year One
Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, 604

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 948)
Psalms [70], 71 (morning) 74 (evening)
Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28
Romans 2:12-24
John 5:19-29

Over and over the scripture warns those of us who are religious to beware of our presumption. Do not think that because we are overtly religious we have some privileged position over those who are not. What we have is enough knowledge to be accountable. If we have dared "talk the talk" we had better "walk the walk."

Jeremiah speaks of the disaster that befalls a nation that has turned its back on its principles. Though they believe that they are just, chosen and privileged, because they have betrayed their fundamental values, disaster strikes. Therefore, God uses what is ungodly to wreak desolation upon them.

Jeremiah sounds downright contemporary. Ours is a nation that believes itself to be a nation of liberty and justice for all, yet greed, violence and the lust for power has crippled and condemned us. Even as God brings judgment upon the nation, God groans, "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! ...For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good."

Paul admonishes those who believe themselves to be enlightened and blessed. Paul tells them that those foreigners who have not been given the divine gifts that we have received and who are nonetheless upright are as righteous in God's eyes as those who say they know God. And those of us who have been given knowledge and ethical teaching, if we then betray what we have been taught, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

John speaks of the love between the Father and the Son and their shared work of judgment. Those who live in love live within this divine relationship. Those who do not honor this love come under judgment. Love, and do good. John's gospel extends the message even to the grave, where the voice of love will raise them and judge those who have died. Love, and do good.

St. Augustine famously said, "Love, and do what you like" -- Dilige, et quod vis fac -- also translated "Love, and what you will, do." Right action flows out of right relationship.

We who are Christians have met God who is love. We have been given the summary of the law: Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself; and we have been given the new commandment: love one another. We have seen the relationship of love between the Father and the Son and we have been grafted into that relationship.

If we will walk in love as Christ has loved us, and if we act out of that motivation and relationship, we will do good. Anyone who walks in love regardless of religion or philosophy will do good, and they will be in a right relationship with God.

But if we who have been given these truths from God insist on living lives of greed and pride and abuse, we violate God's very being. We will break God's heart, and we will bring suffering upon ourselves and our world.

It is all pretty simple. Love, and do what you like / Love, and what you will, do. Simple, not necessarily easy.

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.

For God Alone

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 -- Week of 2 Lent, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 948)
Psalms 61, 62 (morning) 68:1-20(21-23)24-36 (evening)
Jeremiah 2:1-13
Romans 1:16-25
John 4:43-54

The Psalm and the first two readings all give warnings toward those who abandon their trust in and obedience to God and let material pursuits be their focus.

The Psalmist tells us to trust only God. "For God alone my soul in silence waits; from God comes my salvation." He is feeling betrayed and pressured by people. "Those of high degree are but a fleeting breath; even those of low estate cannot be trusted." Power and money are no substitute. "Though wealth increase, set not your heart on it."

Jeremiah accuses the people of forsaking God. In their early days, they were faithful. But now they have been seduced by the riches of the land. Jeremiah speaks in God's voice, "for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water."

And Paul criticizes the Gentile world who could have known God "through the things he has made," through creation, for all of the earth is filled with God's presence and Spirit, for God made it all. Instead of looking beyond the creature toward the creator, they worshiped only the creation, "and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles."

John's gospel gives us an example of faith. A royal official, someone who probably served Herod Antipas, and therefore was powerful and wealthy, seeks out Jesus to heal his critically ill son. Jesus tells him it will be done. The man believed; the son was healed.

Maybe the biggest temptation we all live with is the temptation to live with our attention focused on our material concerns and our anxiety about how to gain control over life so that things will go the way we want them to go. We try to get people to do what we want them to do and to be the way we want them to be. We think money and power will give us what we need to make things well. We look only toward the resources we can see and count.

"For God alone my soul in silence waits; from God comes my salvation."

One of the reasons the church urges us to spend time in prayer and meditation is so that we will spend some time simply trusting God rather than scheming about our own plans. Each day we need to remember that God is our source and God will lead and provide. Each day we need to entrust ourselves to God rather than to our own resources. Each day we must die to all of the temptations to wrestle life into our own making; we must be reborn to receive life as a gift. Daily we need to remember that we are God's own beloved, and there is nothing we need do except remember that we are God's.

In this morning prayer, I will set my trust in God, and then begin to walk into my day. Who knows what work of healing God is already accomplishing, maybe even through my faith.

Lowell

_____________________________________________

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

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

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

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

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

A Visit with Three Friends

Monday, March 9, 2009 -- Week of 2 Lent, Year One
Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, c. 394

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 948)
Psalms 56, 57, [58] (morning) 64, 65 (evening)
Jeremiah 1:11-19
Romans 1:1-15
John 4:27-42

In a nice play on words, Jeremiah sees a shaqed -- an almond tree, and the word comes to him that God is shoqed -- watching. Then Jeremiah has a vision of "a boiling pot, tilted away from the north." God is watching, calling the kingdoms of the north to invade Judah and Jerusalem as a consequence of all of their wickedness. God tells Jeremiah to be "a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall, against ...the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you."

It is a terrible and lonely calling to deliver truth that is bad news and divine judgment. Especially for such a sensitive soul as Jeremiah. But that is his calling. In him we will re-live the tragedy of Israel's failure -- its invasion, destruction and exile. We will see hope scattered throughout, but it is predominately a story of tragedy.

Jeremiah tells his people that they have brought tragedy upon themselves. It is their fault that causes them such suffering. He encourages them to survive the disaster and to believe that God will ultimately turn their suffering into joy.

We hear Jeremiah voices today, telling us that the choices we have made have thrust our nation into war and into an extended economic recession, even possibly depression. Our tragedy is of our own making. In some way it is what we deserve. Maybe by reading Jeremiah during Lent we can hear a voice of understanding who will help us live through our own suffering and tragedy today.
________

In our other two stories, we have important messages borne to us by women.

We begin today our reading of Paul's great letter to the Romans. It is of interest that the letter is probably being delivered by his friend and fellow worker Phoebe (16:1). Paul gives her the title "minister" -- diakonos -- a term Paul also uses of Christ (15:8) and of himself (1 Cor. 3:5).

Paul opens his letter saying how confident he is of the gospel as God's trustworthy message of power to transform our lives. Our proper response to God's gift is faith -- faith is the means (through faith) and the end (for faith) of life before God. Trust God, and your life will be found trustworthy. Faith becomes faithful.

John's story is an illustration of faith. In the aftermath of Jesus' visit with the Samaritan woman at the well, many Samaritans hear her story and are drawn to Jesus. They ask Jesus to stay with them. He does. They hear him and have their faith deepened by their first-hand experience of hearing and knowing Jesus themselves.

Often our own growth happens in a similar way. We hear something that moves us or makes sense to us. We receive the faith of others. Then, we invite Jesus to stay with us, we open ourselves to a more direct experience of God through worship, prayer or service. Then our faith is deepened by our first-hand experience of knowing God, knowing Jesus, directly in our own lives.

This whole encounter with the Samaritans is made more interesting when we remember that the antipathy between Jews and Samaritans was so profound. Samaritans never invited Jews to stay with them, but worked to make any Jewish travel through their territory as inhospitable as possible. For a Jew, to have a Samaritan's shadow to fall across their footpath would render that Jew unclean. Jesus subverts and transcends these social, historic divisions and prejudices.

Jeremiah: an invitation to understand our suffering.
Paul: an encouragement into faith.
John: an illustration of the growing of faith which reconciles.

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