Friday, January 30, 2009

Life is Difficult

Friday, January 30, 2009 -- Week of 3 Epiphany, Year One

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

Life is difficult. Yet wonderful.

Psalm 40 begins as a paean of praise. The psalmist initially sounds so confident of God and sure of his own faithfulness to God's will. But then the mood shifts, and the writer speaks of innumerable troubles and his personal sins that have overtaken him. He is in conflict, weak and dispirited. He begs God for deliverance.

Isaiah's oracle opens with an exclamation of God's power and humanity's shortcoming. In the third of four Servant Songs, the writer identifies personally with Israel's lonesome walk. He listens to God's word and absorbs the suffering and ridicule with faithful perseverance. He stands, brave and courageous, in the midst of troublers, walking in the dark, relying on God alone. All around there are destroyers setting fires of destruction.

Paul is in a battle with the very existence of scripture and the essence of Torah that has defined his people and their religious response for centuries. Paul goes to the source, to Abraham and God's promises to Abraham's "offspring" (literally "seed," a singular, not plural word). Paul argues that God's original promise to bless the entire world through Abraham was a binding promise made to Abraham and to Abraham's single descendant. Only now, centuries later, says Paul, has God fulfilled that promise through the single descendant who is Christ. In the in-between time -- between the promise and Christ -- we needed things like the scripture and its law because we were lost and rebellious. But now the promise is fulfilled in Christ, and the scripture with its laws is superseded. We are free. Free from the prison of the law and the anxiety of trying to follow its legalisms. And that freedom is extended beyond the Jewish people; it is a gift for everyone, no exceptions. God's love and acceptance is a universal gift for all humanity. Don't you dare let the old laws and scriptures get in the way of God's fulfillment of the promise of universal blessing.

Finally we join Mark as the disciples find themselves in a dangerous storm. They row as hard as they can, but make little progress. In a spooky account, Jesus comes to them like a ghost walking on water, and the wind ceases. But they do not understand. They are left afraid and confused. Yet when they reach the other side, everyone Jesus touches is healed.

These are snapshots of our own lives and conflicts. We vacillate between faithfulness and failure, between courage and fear. Sometimes we stand and suffer, walking in the darkness while others destroy what we love. Sometimes we sense the clarity of God's blessing upon us, but then we feel confused by a contrasting religious view that seems powerful or authoritative. We row through the storm, believing and thinking that Jesus is with us, but never really knowing that firm, present sense of consolation. Then healing happens, and we are perplexed.

Life is difficult. Full of wonder and trouble. Conflict abounds. Yet beneath and within it all is the mystery and presence of God working to fulfill all things. We walk our walk. Sometimes full of courage and faith, sometimes weary and doubtful. Within it all is 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

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Reflections on Leadership

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 -- Week of 3 Epiphany, Year One
John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, 407

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

Like several facets of a colorful gem, we get several views into leadership and service in today's readings.

Psalm 45 is written to celebrate a royal wedding. It is easy to imagine its being read in various settings where a king is marrying a princess, probably in a political union between tribes or families or nations. It has very secular sounding themes -- militaristic and patriarchal. It seems more suitable in worship if it is read as a poem to celebrate Christ's the bridegroom's wedding with the Church his bride.

The oracle from Isaiah declares God's glory as the first and the last, whose right hand spread out the heavens. Now, says the prophet, God has anointed Cyrus, the Persian King. "The Lord loves him; he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and my arm shall be against the Chaldeans. I, even I have spoken and called him, I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way." In the Name of God, the prophet tells the people, "Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, ...say 'The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!" As in the Exodus from Egypt, God will lead the people out from their oppression and protect them through the desert. Pay attention. Get up and move from bondage to freedom!

God chooses a leader who is not of the faith and tribe of God's chosen to be the instrument of their deliverance, Isaiah tells us, and God tells the people to be resolute in leaving their exile to return to their true home.

Paul's letter to the Galatians traces his own apostolic authority. Paul claims that his calling and authority does not come from human beings, it is from God alone. God called him and he responded. He did not confer with "those who were supposed to be something" (the literal Greek for what the NRSV translates "acknowledged leaders") until Paul had been working and teaching for fourteen years. Then he went to Jerusalem. With him was Titus, one of his companions in his work -- an uncircumcised Greek. The Jerusalem council, including Peter, James the brother of our Lord, and John -- "acknowledged pillars" -- "gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised." Paul asserts his God-given and human-acknowledged authority as an apostle, endorsing his call that welcomes non-Jews into the fellowship without requiring them to become Jews, to be circumcised, or to follow the Law (Torah).

Finally we have two snapshots of leadership from Mark's gospel. Jesus returns to his hometown on the sabbath and teaches in the synagogue. The people take offense at him. Where did he get all this? After all, he's just one of us. Why does he raise himself above his modest standing? "And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief." Jesus' leadership and power is blocked by the attitudes of his neighbors. Even good and authentic leaders can face resistance and their work be thwarted.

Then Jesus sends his disciples out two by two. They are given authority. They travel lightly, taking less than the wandering Cynics in their back-to-nature philosophy. If they meet resistance, Jesus tells them to shake it off and move on. Their work prospers: "They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them."

Several reflections on leadership. Conventional royal power. An unconventional foreign agent of God's work. A call for a community to move decisively. A claim of divine calling, which has the endorsement of acknowledged leadership, even though it doesn't need that endorsement to be real. A rejection of authentic leadership, and a successful mission undertaken with economy.

There is not one way to lead. Results are not always linear or just. Authority has various manifestations. God uses people for God's purposes. How has God called you? How does God use you? Do you face obstacles? That's not unusual. Trust God, and follow with faithful courage. God has many ways to accomplish God's purposes.

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, January 26, 2009

Abundant Life

Monday, January 26, 2009 -- Week of 3 Epiphany, Year One
Timothy and Titus, Companions of Saint Paul

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

Note: Due to sickness and subsequent back pain, I've been unable to write my Morning Reflections for the better part of two weeks. It's good to be back. I feel a bit like the child in today's gospel. It's good to get up and begin to walk about.

In John's gospel there is a short verse that reads something like a mission statement for Jesus: "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly." God's desire for us is abundant life. God is working constantly to bring us abundant life.

All of today's readings seem to be variations on that theme.

Psalm 41 begins with the affirmation, "Happy are they who consider the poor and needy! God will deliver them in the time of trouble." The Psalmist then asks confidently that God deliver him in a time of trouble. Psalm 52 seeks deliverance from a tyrant, who trusts great wealth to sustain his wickedness. The Psalmist trusts in the mercy of God and gives God thanks for the coming deliverance. Out of the time of trouble and tyranny, God acts to bring abundant life.

The prophet Isaiah has declared that God has raised up a new leader to deliver God's people. God is doing "new things, hidden things that you have not known" before. It is God's doing. God acts for God's own sake. Suddenly, something new happens! It is God's act, to bring abundant life.

Paul opens his letter to the Galatians, and he is furious. He knows where his gospel comes from. It was given to him as a revelation, directly from God. And it freed him from the legalism of his former life, from the anxiety of trying to live up to some kind of standard of perfection that always seemed out of reach. God called him through grace, even while he was an enemy of Christ, and gave him the gift of unqualified love -- freedom. It is God's act that frees us from guilt or performance anxiety -- the gift of abundant life.

And Mark tells two related stories of restoration to life and fecundity. As Jesus walks to the house of Jairus to attend to his critically ill twelve-year old daughter, a woman who has suffered from vaginal or uterine bleeding for twelve years secretly touches Jesus' cloak and is healed. By the time they reach the house, the little girl has died. Jesus raises her. Both of these women move from death to life, from unclean to whole. Significantly, each is now able to bear new life. The child will soon begin her menstruating and be able to conceive; the woman's hemorrhage is healed and she can now bear children. The gift of abundant life that multiplies abundant life.

What is God up to? God is creating abundant life for all. That is what God does. How can we cooperate with God?

First, by embracing and claiming the abundant life that God is accomplishing for us and in us. We can claim deliverance from trouble, as the Psalmist did. We can look for God's new action, as Isaiah did. We can accept God's gift of acceptance, as Paul did. We can be restored to life giving productivity, as the Gospel narrates.

We can also cooperate with God by helping God's work of promoting abundant life. We can deliver the poor and needy, and we can oppose the tyrants. We can be part of the new work when God inspires new leadership. We can join in the liberating work of freeing people from guilt and legalism. We can promote the health and strength of others so that everyone can contribute productively to making life more full.

We can embrace the abundant life given to us. We can cooperate with God's work to bring abundant life to all. That's a good way to start the week.

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, January 19, 2009

Unity in Diversity

Monday, January 19, 2009  -- Week of 2 Epiphany, Year One
Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, 1095

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

The passage from Ephesians pictures our unity in diversity.  

The writer starts with a calling to the virtues that create mature disciples and healthy community:  "humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."  Love, patience, gentleness and humility are the building blocks that can create a strong community.

Then he asserts our relationship in unity.  "There is one body and one Spirit, ...one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."  When we recognize that God is present in every person -- "through all and in all" -- we realize that we are all in this together.  Everyone bears the image and likeness of God.  And because God is also "above all," we are invited into the humility that allows us to admit that none of us has the measure of God.  None of us can claim a monopoly on God.  God is more than what we can know; God is more than the sum of the parts.  God is all and in all; God is more than the all.  Therefore, we can humbly be interconnected with all, including those who seem so very different from us.

From within the celebration of our unity, the writer then rejoices over our diversity.  He lists various ministries in the church -- apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers -- and tells us that we all have gifts for service.  Leadership is always expressed in service, "to equip the saints for the work of ministry."  Our goal is to grow up.  We are to become mature, "to the measure of the full stature of Christ."  In Christ, we can experience that sense of unity that God has given us.  In Christ we can know God.

The pilgrimage can be tricky because people are tricky.  But the focus is to be on Christ.  For us, Christ is the human face of God.  We are to grow into him.  Unity in diversity.  Just like the parts of the body.  All different; all cooperating through the cooperative unity of the nervous system, commanded from Christ the head.

We try to organize our church in a similar way.  We say that everyone has a ministry.  We encourage every person to embrace his or her ministry.  Our unifying principle is our mission and our values.  The Prayer Book catechism says that the Church's mission is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.  Our parish says that our mission is to explore and celebrate God's infinite grace, acceptance and love.  Within those boundaries, we encourage every person to express your gifts through ministry.  When someone wants to offer some ministry, our default answer is "yes."  As long as what you want to do is not inconsistent with the Spirit of Christ and is not inconsistent with our mission and values, the church's job is to empower you to ministry.  We invite you to bring your particular gifts and contribute your part to the building up of the body into our calling to become fully mature in Christ.

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, January 14, 2009

A Bit Under the Weather

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

I'm a bit under the weather today. Didn't write a Morning Reflection.

Here are today's readings.

Lowell

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Beginning With Power

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year 1
Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, 367

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

There is much good news in today's readings.

The prayer of thanks that the writer of Ephesians offers is well worth claiming. "I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power." This is the power of the resurrection, the apostle says.

That prayer is worth some time. It bears slow, heartfelt repetition.

We go backwards to see how the beginning is consistent with this end. In our reading from Mark's gospel we see Jesus call the core of his team of disciples, Andrew and Simon, James and John. Jesus speaks to them and he teaches in the synagogue with authority, casting out the unclean spirits. He gives vocation, meaning, direction and congruity. He is manifesting the power that will be fulfilled in the resurrection. The same qualities that the writer of the Ephesians prays over us are present at the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

The glory that the later apostle celebrates and the power that the early disciples witnessed are consistent with the Hebrew prophets' experience of God. Second Isaiah speaks in lyrical strains of the power of the Holy One. "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable." All is within God and God is in all and God is greater than all.

What Isaiah says that God does for us is consistent with what Jesus gives to his disciples and what the writer of Ephesians prays for us: "[God] gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

As we pray, waiting quietly, patiently for God, our strength is indeed renewed. It is like the eagle, perched motionless upon the high cliff, waiting, watching. Then the wind is stirred, the breath of the spirit, and the eagle needs to do nothing more than to open its wings to be lifted up and carried aloft.

From that perspective we have legs that can run and not be weary, feet that can walk and not grow faint.

That is the power that is ours. It's time to soar into the day.

Lowell
_____________________________________________

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

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


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

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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

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

Lowell Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Monday, January 12, 2009

New Beginnings

Monday, January 12, 2009 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year 1
Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167

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

There is a feeling of new beginnings as we read the passages assigned for this Monday after 1 Epiphany. We begin a new cycle of the Psalms. As we do in the ordinary times such as the Sundays after Pentecost, we will read the Psalter in seven weeks. That is the Prayer Book's pattern for listening to and speaking the great collection of spiritual passion that constitutes this hymnal of the Hebrews.

We also have a new beginning as we start to read one of the most remarkable works of prophecy in all of scripture. We will read chapters 40-55 of Isaiah, commonly called Second Isaiah, written in the decade of anticipation of hope as the Medes and Persians campaign to end Babylon's domination where much of Israel lives in exile. The prophet anticipates the triumph of God who will lead the return and rebuilding of Jerusalem, supporting the weak and encouraging the distressed. He anticipates a new beginning which will initiate an age of peace and tranquillity that will be a joy to the nations.

We also start the letter to the Ephesians which celebrates the opening of the mystery of God which heals the former divisions between Jew and Gentile and calls us to live with vitality and energy, growing into the full stature of Christ. Finally we open the gospel of Mark, who presents Jesus as the mysterious suffering servant who quietly heals and overcomes evil through his faithfulness unto death.

With these new beginnings there is a sense of renewal and hope. Few writings take human suffering and misery with more seriousness than the Psalms and Mark's gospel. Second Isaiah soars to remarkable heights in proclaiming the sovereignty of God that will bring universal restoration and peace. And Ephesians grounds us in the struggle to be mature and proactive on behalf of the purposes of God.

We find ourselves in a new year and on the cusp of a new era of leadership. It is a time of renewal and hope. We approach this time with the bitter reality of a nation with serious problems, systemic problems that do not afford easy solutions. We will have to be as realistic as the Psalms and as willing to suffer as Mark's gospel offers if we are to address these issues with the maturity that Ephesians invites us to embrace.

But the hope of Second Isaiah is a beacon of inspiration. The great and loving God is working to build up that which is bowed down. God intends to bring recompense -- to feed the flock and gather the lambs and gently lead us to peace.

We are called to share in the reconciling and compassionate work of God. That is who we are. We are invited to the work of restoring us to our ideals and values, reuniting the divided, comforting the afflicted, and challenging the strong. Something new is dawning. How can we cooperate with God's intention to build up and restore God's people?

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, January 09, 2009

Change the Familiar? Whoa!

Friday, January 9, 2009 -- Year One
Julia Chester Emery, Missionary, 1922

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 942)
Psalms 121, 122, 123 (morning) 131, 132 (evening)
Isaiah 63:1-5
Revelation 2:18-29
John 5:1-15

We all adapt to whatever we are familiar with. Pathologies and unhealthy structures take root and get established. We figure out ways to live with the problems and some people use the circumstances to their advantage. We get used to the way things are. The familiar is comfortable.

For thirty-eight years this unnamed man in John's gospel lay by the Bethzatha pool. You get used to a way of life if you continue in it for thirty-eight years. Imagine back to 1970. How old were you? Where were you living and what were you doing? Imagine your life today being consistently the same as your life in 1970. Same place; same circumstances; nothing changes for thirty-eight years. You'd be adapted and comfortable with that life, even if it's not optimal. Would you react with eagerness if someone said, "I'll change all of this"?

"Do you want to be made well?" Jesus asked the man. Whoa. Just a minute. He doesn't even go there. He explains to Jesus, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up..." He understands the situation. He explains. He makes excuses. He's grown accustomed to it. It's not so bad. Obviously he has food, shelter, companionship, a familiar life that is comfortable enough. He is so used to this situation that he doesn't even think about its changing. Thirty-eight years. It's been this way a long time.

"Stand up, take your mat and walk." He does so. We might think, "He is healed! It's a miracle. How wonderful!" Whoa. Not so fast. There are a couple of problems here. We have regulations. We have rules and customs here. You can't do that on a Sabbath. Carrying a mat on the Sabbath is not allowed. Immediately the man gets in trouble with the authorities. "Why are you carrying the mat?" "The man who made me well told me to." "Who is he?"

Now his life has become really complicated. He knows what the authorities might do to a troublemaker who is sabotaging the Sabbath laws. If he tells them who healed him, he knows they'll go after Jesus. It won't be pretty. But if he doesn't, he's in big trouble. He becomes an informer. He tells the authorities.

And there are other new problems to consider. Tomorrow, the first day of the week, he'll have to go looking for a job. When he was lame, others had a responsibility to look after his basic needs. Now he'll have to take on new responsibility for himself. It's going to be harder. He's not going to get the same kind of help he used to.

Yet, his life is immensely richer. He can walk. He has new possibilities for living more expansively. It was the right decision, though a hard one, to take up his mat and walk. But he had to overcome great inertia and some powerful vested interests to make this change.

A couple of days ago I listened to a sociologist tell a few things about some of the pathologies and unhealthy structures we live with. We Americans spend a lot more on health care than any nation on earth, yet by most metrics of health, we aren't in the top ten among other nations. We've got a sick system. But if someone asks, "Do you want to be made well?" there are plenty of excuses, complications and vested interests to be considered. It's been this way a long time. There are regulations. Who's going to take responsibility if you change what we're familiar with?

Some people live in homes or relationships or jobs that appear pretty miserable and dysfunctional. But after thirty-eight years, you learn to adapt. You get pretty comfortable with the pathology. It's easier to live with it than to change, you think.

If someone comes and says, "Take up your mat and walk," will we make excuses, or will we do the hard work of taking new responsibility? It's a tough question.

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, January 08, 2009

The Yearning for Justice

Thursday, January 8, 2009 -- Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 942)
Psalms 117, 118 (morning) 112, 113 (evening)
Isaiah 59:15-21
Revelation 2:8-17
John 4:46-54

The collection of prophecy in chapters 56-66 of Isaiah form a later compilation than the post- (or near post) captivity section of chapters 40-55. Within the 56-66 section, chapters 56-59 seem to be an integrated sub-collection, with today's passage at the end of chapter 59 composed as a conclusion to the sub-section.

This part of Isaiah addresses problems in the post-exilic community. The prophet calls for justice. "Maintain justice, and do what is right," he tells them at the opening of this section. He tells them to create a more inclusive community, embracing the foreigner and eunuch who wish to worship and participate. He calls for a renewal of worship that is sincere, and not just for show. Prayer should lead to compassion and concern for the less fortunate, he says. Do not attend just to the outward show, but to the inward spirit of the heart. Faith is not simply about believing certain things, but about compassion, heart-searching, and tolerance. With such a renwal of heart, real spiritual revival will happen. That is the message of Isaiah 56-58.

He closes by telling the people that the reason things aren't working out the way they should is because of the poor leadership which has failed to administer justice and allowed violence and corruption to flourish. The wrongdoing is a barrier that blocks us from God's blessing. "Therefore justice is far from us and righteousness does not reach us; ...for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter."

The prophet declares that God will respond. God will repay the injustice and will return to redeem. The prophet closes with a renewal of the covenant that God's spirit is upon God's people and God's word shall not depart from them. It is the introduction to the next section beginning with chapter 60, a vision of a new city of peace and righteousness. "Arise, shine: for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you."

For many of us, these themes from the 6th century BCE sound fresh and alive. It has seemed for some years that truth has stumbled in the public square and justice has been far from us in this nation at this time. Compassion, heart-searching, and tolerance have been lacking, and many have excluded the foreigner and eunuch who wish to be in our community. Instead of righteousness, our leaders have condoned kidnapping, torture and imprisionment without process. Constitutional protections have been compromised. We relaxed economic oversight and allowed greed and irresponsibility to overwhelm the credit system -- which is actually a system of trust, a system of faith. It has been an ugly time, and we seem far away from our deepest values and ideals.

Some of the descriptions of Isaiah 59 describe our situation. "We grope like the blind along a wall, ...we all growl like bears. ...Our transgressions indeed are with us, ...conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart."

No wonder so many of us have yearned for change. We pray that God will turn the hearts of our people back to our source. Like the prophet want a renewal of compassion, heart-searching, and tolerance -- a renewal of honesty, uprightness and justice. This is essentially a yearning for a return to God.

Christians proclaim the central character of God is love. The God of love is also the God of justice, for justice is the social form of love. Like Isaiah, we call for a renewal of justice in the land, not only for people, but also for the land itself, the natural world.

We have been living in Isaiah 56-59; we long for the vision of the renewed community of Isaiah 60-62.

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

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Water into Wine

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 -- Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 942)
Psalms 103 (morning) 114, 115 (evening)
Isaiah 52:3-6
Revelation 2:1-7
John 2:1-11

There are three stories that are traditionally identified with the feast of the Epiphany -- the baptism of Jesus, the visit of the magi, and the wedding miracle of turning water into wine. The word "Epiphany" means "manifestation" or "appearing". The presence and power of God appears through the incarnation of Jesus. He is manifested as God's beloved at his baptism in the Jordan River. When the magi visit, Jesus is manifested to the Gentiles. His first miracle, turning water into wine, is a sign revealing his identity as God's anointed. These three stories celebrate the appearance of God in Jesus. In some parts of the Christian world, the Incarnation of Jesus is celebrated on January 6, the Epiphany. In many parts of the church it is the day of gift giving.

So it is particularly appropriate on the day after the Epiphany that we read the story of Jesus' first miracle and sign, the turning of water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.

There is a big difference between water and wine. In this story, it is the difference between social disgrace and community acclaim. The host at a wedding is expected to serve and entertain his guests. For him to run out of wine would be a scandal that would bring shame. In a shame-based society, where social standing is strictly ordered by custom, such a failure of hospitality would shadow an entire family. It would be a serious breach of responsibility and trust.

Jesus rescues this family from shame. Jesus turns shame into honor. The feast and the celebration of the wedding party is renewed and strengthened rather than interrupted. The wine comes in abundance, extravagant gallons that will gladden hearts and oil the conversation of the joyful community.

Later, at the end of his life, Jesus will take wine again and use it to reinterpret his pending shameful death. He will transform his execution as a criminal into the path of life and resurrection. His companions will know the presence and power of renewed life through the breaking of bread and drinking of the wine of Eucharist, and their sorrow from the cross will turn to joy. The wine of Jesus' death comes in abundance. For thousands of years this gift has gladdened hearts and healed the hurts of the joyful community.

Life with Jesus is like the difference between water and wine. His presence bring color, depth, and flavor to our lives. His loving spirit relaxes our anxieties, opens us to joy, and brings us together into a community of celebration. He brings us good cheer. Let our hearts be renewed and gladdened this morning. The sun/son is arising and it is time to party.

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, January 06, 2009

Epiphany Light

Tuesday, January 6, 2009 -- The Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 942)
Psalms 46, 97 (morning) 96, 100 (evening)
Isaiah 52:7-10
Revelation 21:22-27
Matthew 12:14-21

We've all seen the newsreels of the celebrations in the streets at the announcement of the peace that ended World War II. What joy and celebration! Even in pictures and images of black-and-white, the happiness of that announcement is moving and breathtaking.

Isaiah opens our reading today with a messenger bringing the announcement of peace. "Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem." God has delivered them. The city exults.

The gospel image from Matthew offers a quieter joy. I thought for a moment I had looked wrong at the first verse -- "But the Pharisees went and conspired against him, how to destroy him." Surely that's not where we are starting our Epiphany reading. But under this dark cloud is exactly where we begin. Quietly, out of sight, Jesus leaves the public view and does his gentle work of healing. Matthew says that he is fulfilling the word of Isaiah's servant, who brings justice to victory without loud posturing or dramatic affect. "He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope."

How many quiet, out-of-sight people and ministries bring justice and victory to people who are marginalized or threatened? This is the presence of God's servant, bringing peace and healing the world.

What does that feel like? Maybe the vision of Revelation gives us a clue. It is important to realize that the geography of the book of Revelation is primarily an internal geography, a map of the soul and of the spiritual landscape. (Biblical literalists with their predictions of end times miss this.) We see a vision of the new Jerusalem, the city of the new creation. (Think of the seat of your soul.) There is no need for a building to house God -- no need for a temple -- for God is present and alive at the center. God's glory is the soul's light. It is a light that guides the foreign nations and kings as well as those who know themselves as God's chosen. There is an exchange -- trade, if you will -- of glory for glory, light for light. From the center of the soul light issues, and drawn toward that light, others bring their glory. The light casts out the dark and unclean and false.

I have seen that kind of vision. I know people of deep inner light. Quietly, out of sight usually, they do their work of reconciliation, healing and peace. They announce peace to those who have been conflicted. They reassure and comfort those who are afflicted. Often they tend to know each other, these gentle people of light. They may come from different spiritual traditions, but their inner light and presence is palpable. When they speak of the light they have known, recognition happens across the barriers of religion and origin. These are the people who bring congruence to a world that is often so lost and fragmented. These are the people who can bring light to our cities.

Let them be manifest. Let the gentle people who bear Christ's light by whatever name come forth to guide us and lead us. We've had enough of the schemes of the proud and the manipulative. Let the light of the gentle and peaceful arise and shine. Epiphany.

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, January 05, 2009

Land or Love?

Monday, January 5, 2008 -- Year One
Eve of Epiphany

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 940)
Morning Prayer
Psalms 2, 110:1-5(6-7)
Joshua 1:1-9
Hebrews 11:32 - 12:2
John 15:1-16

Evening Prayer - Eve of Epiphany
Psalms 29, 98
Isaiah 66:18-23
Romans 15:7-13


We open today's morning readings with Psalms 2 and 110 and with the beginning of the book of Joshua. God tells Joshua to cross the river into the Promised Land and God describes its boundaries across a wide expanse from the Great Sea (Mediterranean) to the River Euphrates (Iraq). The psalms rejoice over God's anointed who will be given "the nations for your inheritance... You shall crush them with an iron rod and shatter them like a piece of pottery." (Ps. 2) "The Ruler who is at your right hand will smite monarchs in the day of wrath and will rule over the nations; Will heap high the corpses and will smash heads over the wide earth." (Ps. 110)

Thousands of years later we are living with daily reports of violence, corpses and war in these named lands, shattering people, sometimes innocent civilians, like a piece of pottery. It is hard to read today the various passages describing Israel's idealized boundaries without feeling anguish for the suffering that centuries of Israelis and non-Israelis alike have endured. For the promise of land to come true another people must become landless.

In Hebrews we read a litany of those "who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight." It goes on to speak of torture, mocking and flogging, imprisonment, stoning, persecution, refugees wandering "in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground," and the women who "received their dead by resurrection." It is a sobering litany of violence, struggle and suffering.

The writer continues to say that these who struggled, though commended for their faith, "did not received what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect." He then points to Jesus as "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God."

Jesus did not restore the land to Israel. That was an expectation of the Messiah. He did not embrace that mission. He did not lead a mighty army and expel the foreign occupiers. Instead he absorbed the violence returning only love and forgiveness. From the perspective of Jesus, God's great gift is not a particular piece of land. It is, instead, a transforming relationship with God that opens the way to a deeper form of freedom and peace.

How nice it is that John picks up a metaphor from the land to describe the new relationship we are given. Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower... Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches."

Oh, there is some pruning that must be done. But Jesus gives a new context for the act of pruning and gathering and even fire. The new context, the new commandment, is love. The deeper promise is love, not land. We are invited to abide in love rather than to abide on a particular land. "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

This is the new commandment, that we love one another as Jesus has loved us. And the greatest love is to lay down one's life for one's friends. This is a new land and a new harvest. We are to bear fruit, not just the grapes of a particular geography that we must destroy others to obtain and protect. The fruit we are called to produce is the fruit of living by the commandment to love, and to follow his example which is the ultimate challenge to love even if it costs us our lives.

How might the command to love transform the bloody landscape of the love for land?

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