Friday, July 30, 2010

The Readings

Friday, July 30, 2010 -- Week of Proper 12, Year Two
William Wilberforce and Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Shaftesbury, 1833, 1885

To read about our daily calendar commemorations, go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog click here.
  
Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)
Psalms 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 (morning)       73 (evening)
Judges 5:1-18
Acts 2:1-21
Matthew 28:1-10

The chiggers and I had another rough night last night.  Benadryl enabled sleep, but also leaves me feeling hungover this morning.  Will send readings and see if I can go back to sleep. 

I'm delighted that Anthony Ashley Cooper is in our trial calendar.  You might read the link about him.
 
Lowell

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Readings

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)
Psalms [70], 71 (morning)       74 (evening)
Judges 4:4-23
Acts 1:15-26
Matthew 27:55-66

I have over 100 chigger bites.  Didn't sleep much last night.  Woke in a benadryl haze.  Can't sit still long enough to write a Morning Reflection.  Here are the Daily Office readings.
 
Lowell

P.S.  Link to Holy Women, Holy Men blog for article about today's commemoration.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Abandonment of the Cross

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 -- Week of Proper 12, Year Two
Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel, and Henry Purcell, Composers, 1750, 1759, 1695
To read about the commemorations of our new proposed calendar, click here
to go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)
Psalms 72 (morning)       119:73-96 (evening)
Judges 3:12-30
Acts 1:1-14
Matthew 27:45-54

"Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus' cry of spiritual abandonment on the cross has always chilled me.  The physical pain and the slow torture leading to certain death is one thing.  For one who had lived in such intimate union with God to experience God's complete absence and abandon, must have been infinitely more horrifying.  Meaning and purpose evaporates.  Grounding disappears.  In this expression we hear Jesus experiencing the deepest depth that humans can face.  As post-resurrection Christians we can say that this is the revelation of God.  God is with us.  God is with us in our deepest tragedy and suffering, including our own subjective sense of God's abandonment. 

The phrase Jesus utters is the first verse of Psalm 22.  The footnote in my Access Bible mentions that Matthew uses the Hebrew version of this psalm ("Eli, Eli") and that Mark uses the Aramaic ("Eloi, Eloi").  "Eli" sounds like "Elijah," who was the expected forerunner of the Messiah and the herald of the messianic age.  The bystanders express their curiosity.  Will Elijah come to save him?  The Christian witness says that Elijah has already come, and they are witnessing the pivotal messianic moment.  The slow death of an innocent man.

Psalm 22 has so many phrases and images that echo the scene of the crucifixion.  "I am a worm, and less than human, scorned by all and despised by the people.  All who see me laugh me to scorn; they curl their lips and wag their heads saying, 'You trusted in God for deliverance; let God rescue you, if God delights in you.'  ...I am poured out like water; all my bones are out of joint; my heart within my breast is melting wax.  My mouth is dried out like a pot-sherd; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth, and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.  Packs of dogs close me in, and gangs of evildoers circle around me; they pierce my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones.  They stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them; they cast lots for my clothing."

Yet the end of the Psalm includes a vision of universal blessing and salvation.  "The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek you shall praise you: 'May your heart live for ever!'  All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to you, and all the families of the nations shall bow before you.  ...To you alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; all who go down to the dust fall before you.  My soul shall live for you; my descendants shall serve you; they shall be known as yours for ever.  They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that you have done."

The Church has accepted our commission as the descendants of Jesus to make known the saving deeds that God has done.  What we proclaim is nothing less than universal blessing and salvation.  To use Paul's analogy:  As in Adam all died, so also in Christ have all been made alive.

In Jesus, God shows us the divine heart, descending into the depths of human evil and death, even unto the experience of spiritual abandonment in complete hopelessness.  God goes to the deepest darkness with us. 

God takes our deepest darkness into the divine heart, and God raises it all into the fullness of divine blessing and presence.  It is a nice juxtaposition today to read also in Acts 1 of the exaltation of Jesus as he ascends into heaven.  In Jesus, God shows us the divine intention to raise our tragic and broken humanity into the fullness of God's presence, to raise us into glory.  In the cross, nothing in the darkness of the human experience is beyond the grasp of God.  In the ascension, all is raised into fullness and light forevermore.  Thanks be to 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, July 27, 2010

The Execution

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 -- Week of Proper 12, Year Two
William Reed Huntington, Priest, 1909
for more about today's observance, click here

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)
Psalms 61, 62 (morning)       68:1-20(21-23)24-36 (evening)
Judges 2:1-5, 11-23
Romans 16:17-27
Matthew 27:32-44

Though the disciples have fled in fear, deserting Jesus, a foreigner from Cyrene (modern Libya), is compelled to help Jesus carry his cross.  In Matthew's account, Jesus has no friends at Golgotha.  The crowd jeers.  The bandits crucified with him also taunt him.  There is no "good thief" as in Luke's account.  There is certainly no poignant scene with Jesus entrusting his mother to the beloved disciple as in John's account.  In both Mark and Matthew, Jesus faces his lingering death without support.

This is obviously a political execution.  The Romans allowed no rivals or challengers.  The charge against Jesus is attached to the cross:  "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews."  There could be no king except by Roman authority.  Jesus was executed for treason and rebellion.  The political nature of his death is magnified by the presence of "bandits" sharing his death.  "Bandit" was a word used to describe Jewish Zealots who engaged in guerrilla war against Roman authorities.  We would use the word "terrorists" today.  The Romans identify Jesus as a leader of the Zealots -- a leader of the bandit-terrorists.  The second century Greek philosopher Celsus called Jesus a "bandit" in his work "The True Word," the earliest surviving anti-Christian polemic.

Early Christians continued with many of the political symbols and metaphors that characterized the Jesus movement as being a political movement.  "Jesus is Lord" is a direct challenge to the patriotic civic affirmation that "Caesar is Lord."  Most of the ascriptions of Jesus were taken from the language of civil religion -- "Divine One, Son of God, Savior."  These were all official titles for Caesar.  Jesus' most characteristic focus of his teaching and preaching was his proclamation of "the Kingdom of God" -- what the world would be like if God were king, not Caesar.  In so many deliberate and public ways, Jesus and the earliest Church had a revolutionary political rhetoric.  There were good reasons why Jesus and early Christians were executed as enemies of the state.

Jesus also challenged the contemporary religious authorities.  In many ways Jesus acted as a prophet and reformer of Judaism.  But his attacks on the authorities and the cultic monopoly of the Temple earned him powerful religious enemies.  The passion accounts include events of questioning and torture at the high priest's residence.  There is evidence that such inquisitions happened in the high priest's dungeon.  Matthew has the chief priests joining the taunts of the scribes and elders at the cross.  That is unlikely.  Priests would not risk ritual defilement at a place of death.

The footnote in my bible says that the location of Golgotha (Latin is "Calvaria") -- meaning "place of the skull" -- is an unknown location.  That is true.  But the traditional, legendary location where the Church of the Sepulchre now stands, commemorating both the place of crucifixion and the tomb of the resurrection, has an ancient tradition of veneration.  Some claim that Hadrian built a 2nd century Temple to Aphrodite on top of the site as an insult to Christianity.  It is more likely that the Roman temple was built because of its location at an east-west road junction.  The Christian site was identified by Constantine's mother Helena in the 4th century.
____

Just a word about today's feast for William Reed Huntington.  Huntington was a great leader of the General Convention and an ecumenist.  Through his efforts, the church affirmed the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1886, 1888 as the foundation for ecumenical dialogue with other Christian bodies.  The Quadrilateral articulates four essentials that define our Anglican identity in conversation with other denominations.  The four points are:
   1. The Holy Scriptures, as containing all things necessary to salvation;
   2. The Creeds (specifically, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds), as the sufficient statement of Christian faith;
   3. The Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion;
   4. The historic episcopate, locally adapted.
Huntington hoped that these four points would establish "a basis on which approach may be by God's blessing, made toward Home Reunion," particularly with our Roman Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters.  The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral is preserved in the Historical Documents section of the Book of Common Prayer, p. 876-877. 

It seems that today this great beacon of unity is being challenged by some parts of the Anglican Communion which seek to make the exclusion of gay people from the sacraments to be an essential of Anglican identity.

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, July 26, 2010

The King's Game & Lists

Monday, July 26, 2010 -- Week of Proper 12, Year Two
Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Click here to read more about today's observation at the Holy Women, Holy Men blog

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)
Psalms 56, 57, [58] (morning)       64, 65 (evening)
Joshua 24:16-33
Romans 16:1-16
Matthew 27:24-31 

Since our pilgrimage to the Holy Land I read this passage about the mocking of Jesus differently.  On the Via Dolorosa there is a site within a convent where stones from an ancient Roman roadway were re-used in a later building's foundation.  On the stones are markings of what many scholars believe are pieces of a life-size gameboard for a cruel pastime of Roman soldiers.  Called "The King's Game," the soldiers cast dice and moved the subject of the game around to various markings on the pavestones.  At each marking something would happen to the subject -- spitting, beating, mocking, etc.  The game was so violent that it was eventually banned by the Roman Army. 

There are visible markings in the stones under the convent in Jerusalem.  It is a moving thing to touch a stone that may have been one of the stations where the roll of the dice took Jesus in his suffering.  The physical and personal cruelty of it is horrifying.  And humbling.
___

One of the interesting things of this ending of Paul's letter to the Romans is the long list of greetings.  Paul knows a number of people in the Roman Church where he has never visited.  It is also notable the prominent number of women who are mentioned in his greetings.  Prisca (Priscilla) and Aquila show up again.  They are mentioned in several places as co-workers of Paul.  Here he remembers that they "risked their necks for my life."  In Rome there is a church in their house.

He also mentions "Andronicus and Junia" whom he recalls shared a prison stay with Paul and who are "prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was."  Some have seen this as a recognition that women were included among the apostles in the early church and had apostolic authority in the very early years of the church.

Paul's list is a reminder of the lists that we often make for remembering others in our prayers.  Like many, I keep a prayer list.  On one side I list those who are ill or who need our prayers for healing, wholeness and peace.  On the other side I keep lists of those who are close to me or in particular relationships with me -- family, friends, staff, the Order of the Ascension.  I also include on that list people and places that I either have a relationship with or that I want to particularly pray for -- places of violence, war or oppression, leaders of church and state, and special causes that are important to me.  As I read the list of Paul's friends to whom he sends greetings, I am reminded of my own list which is a way of offering the greeting of prayer to those for whom I care.  Lists are good things.

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, July 23, 2010

Thinking Big

Friday, July 23, 2010 -- Week of Proper 11, Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)
Psalms 40, 54 (morning)       51 (evening)
Joshua 9:22 - 10:15
Romans 15:14-33
Matthew 27:1-10

What do you do when you've finished your mission?  Paul's calling has been to bring the gospel to places where the church had not been introduced.  He traveled widely in the Roman Empire, starting from just north of Israel.  He covered cities along some of the major Roman roads and cities that were along the seacoast and trade routes.  He and his associates went through Asia Minor (Turkey), Cyprus, Macedonia, Crete and Greece.  His particular calling was "to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named," but to "those who have never been told of him" and "those who have never heard of him."

As we conclude this letter to the Christians in Rome, he says he is now ready to visit the great capital city.  "Now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you when I go to Spain."  Ahh.  His mission is not quite finished.  He wants to press onward into Spain, where Paul imagines he can bring the good news to another land.  He'll make a visit to Rome on the way.

But first, he's got a bit of fundraising and stewardship to finish.  Paul spent a great portion of his ministry raising money.  He frequently references the "collection" that he has raised.  At one point he chastises the wealthy Corinthians by comparing their modest response with the generous giving from the relatively poorer congregation in Thessoliniki. 

He's raising money for the mother church in Jerusalem.  Paul always characterizes them as poor.  "At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints; for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem." 

Why is he raising money for Jerusalem?  He represents the Jerusalem church as being poor and needy.  That may be true.  Jesus ministered primarily among the peasants.  Jesus' movement seemed to have more support among the peasants, so there may have been relatively fewer wealthy members in the predominately Jewish congregations there.  Paul may also be buying a little friendship.  Great authority rested with James and the disciples in Jerusalem.  They had authorized Paul's mission to the Gentiles.  A regular contribution would reinforce the fruitfulness of that mission. 

Paul addressed Gentiles in the Roman world.  He particularly found audience with Gentiles who had been attracted to Judaism for its high ethic and its monotheism, those called "godfearers."  Godfearers might attend synagogue, learn of the tenets of Judaism, but would not become Jews themselves.  Many of the Gentile godfearers were people of means, with the leisure to explore an esoteric foreign faith like Judaism.  We have records of synagogues being built by the generous donations of the local Gentiles who were attached to the Jewish community, but could not belong. 

One of the reasons Paul raised such hostility toward himself in the synagogues was that he "stole" from them some of their wealthiest associates.  Paul offered the Gentile godfearers full membership without circumcision, full membership into a faith with a similar ethic and monotheism, but without the kosher rules and other oddities that made Judaism so different from the Hellenized world.  It was a successful strategy, and allowed the Christian Church to expand far beyond its origins as a reform sect of Judaism.

So now Paul will be heading back to Jerusalem to offer his collection to the Jerusalem church.  As he returns, he knows that the synagogues he has "raided" will have sent word back home about him, and about his threat to the Jewish diaspora.  In his letter to the Roman church, he asks for "earnest prayer to God on my behalf, that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints."  He's got a tricky trip to make.  Jewish authorities would like to kill him because of the damage he has been doing to their congregations throughout the Empire.  He wants to keep the original Christian church in Jerusalem happy so that they don't get uncomfortable enough with his new way of creating mostly Gentile congregations.  Paul has had trouble with the Christian authorities in Jerusalem before.  He doesn't want to be challenged or decommissioned there. 

But if it goes well.  If the Christians in Jerusalem welcome him (and his money), and if he can avoid the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem, then he's ready to put an exclamation point on his work in the eastern part of the Empire, and visit Rome on the way to Spain. 

That's thinking big.

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, July 22, 2010

Mary Magdalene

Thursday, July 22, 2010 -- Week of Proper 11, Year Two
Saint Mary Magdalen

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer)
EITHER the readings for Thursday of Proper 11, p. 977
Psalms 50 (morning)       [59, 60] or 66, 67 (evening)
Joshua 9:3-21
Romans 15:1-13
Matthew 26:69-75

OR
the readings for Mary Magdalene, p 998
Morning Prayer:  Psalm 116; Zephaniah 3:14-20; Mark 15:47 - 16:7
Evening Prayer:  Psalms 30, 149; Exodus 15:19-21; 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

I chose the readings for Mary Magdalene


I've been feeling a sense of some foreboding recently.  I think it has something to do with the reports of a swelling anger in our nation.  When our nation gets angry, we often make bad decisions. 

Mary Magdalen was the first to recognize resurrection.  The Eastern church calls her the "first apostle." 

Maybe it was because she had been through so much suffering that she could see new possibility.  Luke's gospel says that she had been freed from seven demons by Jesus.  She was among his disciples, and must have shared their despair when the one in whom they had put their hope was so publicly destroyed.  Yet she got up very early on that Sunday morning simply to do her duty -- to do what had to be done.  She went with the other women taking spices to the tomb to anoint the dead body of their friend.  How hard it is to get up and do your duty when things seem so dark and hopeless.  Yet there she is.

In the course of her fulfilling these sad obligations, she witnesses resurrection.

The words of Zephaniah are given to us for today:  "Sing aloud, daughter Zion; shout, O Israel!  Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!  The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies."

The prophet goes on to say that we shall fear no more.  (It is so often fear that provokes anger.) 

God will "deal with all your oppressors..."

"And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise..." 

"At that time I will bring you home, at that time when I gather you; ...when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord."

That's what I want to see.  I want to see that for our nation.  I want to see the lame saved and the outcast gathered.  I want to see the homeless housed and the unemployed's fortunes restored.  I'm tired of the oppressors.  I'm tired of the wealthy and powerful, the polluters and abusers always making the rules and getting things their way.  I don't want angry people making more bad decisions.  I want hopeful people -- doing their duty, willing to anoint dead bodies and to keep on keeping on in charity and hope -- I want hopeful people to see and announce resurrection. 

Instead of fear, I want people motivated by love.  After all, perfect love casts out fear.  Mary Magdalene knows all about that.

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, July 21, 2010

Quick Note

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 -- Week of Proper 11, Year Two
Albert John Luthuli, Prophetic Witness in South Africa, 1967

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)

Psalms 119:49-72 (morning)       49, [53] (evening)
Joshua 8:30-35
Romans 14:13-23
Matthew 26:57-68

Today another new observation from the new proposed calendar:
A. M. J. Luithuli [1898-July 21, 1967] Zulu Chief and Nobel Laureate, he was an early champion of the African National Congress in the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. His Christian faith sustained him in his struggles. H was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960. (July 21)

Read more at the Holy Women, Holy Men blog.  Or you might order the newly released book of the proposed calendar by the same name, published by Church Publishing. 

I've got to leave early for a morning meeting in Little Rock.

No time to write.  But Paul's argument in Romans invites us to allow for another's belief or scruples, remaining in community with them, not forcing them to agree with you, and to exercise your own freedom within respectful constraints with regard to the other's beliefs.  Paul may be talking about eating meat from the marketplace, meat that has been dedicated to Apollo or one of the Greco-Roman gods.  Some Gentile Christians believed it was a participation in idolatry to eat such meat.  Paul thought that was silly, but urged those who were not bothered by those scruples to be charitable toward those who were.  You are free to eat the marketplace meat in your own home or elsewhere, but if you know you are eating with your more sensitive Gentile neighbors, eat something else that meal.

How might his advice help us through the many religious and political scruples that tend to divide us?

Lowell

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Genocide to Pluralism

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 -- Week of Proper 11, Year Two
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1902; Amelia Bloomer, 1894; Sojourner Truth, 1883; and Harriet Ross Tubman, 1913, Liberators and Prophets

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)
Psalms 45 (morning)       47, 48 (evening)
Joshua 8:1-22
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 26:47-56

Today's calendar observation is a fascinating one.  For a brief introduction to the stories of these four liberators and prophets, go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog:  http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/

There is a lot to think about in the conversation between scriptures today. 

The story from Joshua tells of the destruction of the town of Ai.  Joshua and the Israelite army are engaged in what is sometimes called a "Holy War."  The Hebrew word "herem" or "charam" dedicates something to God's exclusive use.  In Biblical times that which was given to God was burned or otherwise destroyed so it could not be used by humans.  Whatever is devoted or banned is "most holy to the Lord."  In a Holy War, armies believed that God fought for them and therefore God would be given the spoils of the war, persons or things, which would be destroyed on the spot.  In regular warfare, the people might be captured for use as slaves and the cattle and valuables distributed among the army as booty.

As we read earlier, the whole of Jericho was placed under the ban.  The whole community of Israel was compromised and threatened when Achan took some of the valuable devoted things from Jericho and hid them away for himself.  In our story today, we learn that the people of the city of Ai and its town was placed under the ban, but the army could keep the livestock and other spoils of war. 

It is troubling to read of genocide and ethnic cleansing carried out in the name of God.  These tactics were universally common in biblical times among all armies and cultures.

In Romans and in Matthew we read some clues about other ways of living together with differences. 

At Jesus' betrayal and arrest, a disciple takes a sword to defend him, and strikes the slave of the high priest.  Jesus' response in Matthew's gospel is, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."  Jesus says that he has the angelic power to defend himself militarily, but chooses not to do so for a higher purpose.  He is willing to become victim rather than victimizer.  His victory will be non-violent.  In Luke's version, Jesus' response to the sword attack on the slave is a stern rebuke, "No more of this!"  From this and other passages, some traditions of Christians have articulated a pacifist theology of non-violence, including for some the tradition of conscientious objection to military service.  It is hard to imagine the God that Jesus points us toward authorizing genocide or ethnic cleansing. 

Paul begins to deal with differences in Romans 14.  He is offering some instructions about how people from different backgrounds, with strongly held opinions, may live together as people of faith.  Presumably the issue is created by the complications within Christian communities when Jewish and Gentile people live and worship together, bringing their very different cultures and beliefs within the same Church.  Yet some of Paul's words also seem to offer wisdom about how we might live together with neighbors of different religions and beliefs.

"Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another?  It is before their own lord that they stand or fall.  And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand." 

The phrase "their own lord" is interesting.  We could read it to mean a principle that another holds as truth or the way another understands God and God's requirements.  The differences that Jewish and Gentile Christian brought into the church could have seemed like living under different "lords"  -- different customs, ethics, taboos, theologies, beliefs.

Paul urges deep charity toward those who believe differently.  He affirms tolerance and pluralism over many things, including dietary laws and sacred customs.  He tells the community not to pass judgment, for "we will all stand before the judgment seat of God."  Once again, he offers a phrase that might be read from an inclusive, universalistic perspective:  "For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise for God.'  So then, each of us will be accountable to God." 

Paul's argument could be read in an inter-religious way.  Do not pass judgment on servants of another faith tradition.  They will stand or fall according to their own traditions, and they will be upheld, for God is able to make them stand.  Every religious devotion will ultimately offer its worship and praise to God.  So let them be accountable to God, not to us.

When we read the way scripture and tradition has been used to oppress slaves, people of color, and women as we celebrate the courageous ministries of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman today, we are reminded how wrong we can be in our certainties.

From genocide and ethnic cleansing to peaceful coexistence and charitable pluralism.  That seems like a divine journey.

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, July 19, 2010

Gethsemane

Monday, July 19, 2010 -- Week of Proper 11, Year Two
Macrina, Monastic and Teacher, 379
Adelaide Teague Case, Teacher, 1948


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 977)
Psalms 41, 52 (morning)       44 (evening)
Joshua 7:1-13
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 26:36-46

We have a new feast joining the traditional observance of Macrina's day.  Adelaide Teague Case [Jan. 10, 1887-July 19, 1948] First woman appointed to teach at an Episcopal seminary (Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, MA). Her interests were Christian education and social reform, and she took part in many educational, social and ecumenical movements including The Episcopal Pacifist Fellowship. (July 19)
For more about the new observations in our trial calendar, go to the Holy Women, Holy Men blog.
_____________

In our gospel reading today we are in Gethsemane with Jesus.  He has Peter, James and John with him.  The Hebrew word "geth" or "gat" means "press, and "shemen" in Hebrew means oil.  Gethsemane is an oil press.  The image is a compelling one.

Olives are harvested by hand.  The harvesters strike the limbs and gather the fruit that falls.  The olives then are placed into an olive press, a circular stone with a large stone wheel that can be turned by a long spoke, driven either by a donkey or by human power.  The heavy millstone crushes the first oil out of the olives.  This first press creates the purest oil, used mainly for lamps, cosmetics and holy anointing.  Then the crushed pulp is pressed within baskets.  The baskets serve as a filter.  As the oil seeps from these baskets in this second press, it first emerges in a blood red color.  After the oil is extracted from the olives, the leftover pits can be burned to create a fire of a very hot temperature, hot enough to be used for melting some metals.

The images fit the scene.  Jesus is in deep foreboding.  There are plots afoot to destroy him and his work.  He has offended great powers of religion and state.  The "time of trial" is at hand.  A great weight bears down on him like a millstone.  It threatens to crush him.  It presses upon him, as if to squeeze the life from him.  It is late at night.  Jesus begins to pray.  He seems to want and need the companionship of his friends with him.  He needs their support.

Jesus prays earnestly, "grieved and agitated."  He throws himself on the ground begging to be released.  "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want."  As Jesus agonizes, his friends find they cannot stay awake for him.  Speaking to Peter, Jesus says, "So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?  Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 

Even with that urging, the disciples are unable to stay awake and support Jesus.  The story repeats Jesus' actions three times, heightening the intensity.  When this prayer is over, there is no turning back; things are set in motion.  "See, the hour is at hand...  See, my betrayer is at hand."

I have noticed that when I am in times of deep pressure and agitation, I will often retreat into sleep.  I will find myself lethargic and tired, without energy.  I will curl up in my bed -- maybe to escape, maybe to hope things will go away, maybe because I feel squeezed and drained, carrying a weight beyond my strength. 

Every day we pray Jesus words that ask God to save us from the time of trial.  (Here is an example of why the updated translation of the Lord's Prayer seems so much better -- "save us from the time of trial" is both more accurate and seems more deeply compelling than "lead us not into temptation.") 

How much do we sleep during the great trials of our neighbors?  There are so many people, even whole cultures, that live under the heavy press of injustice and grief.  The life is being squeezed out of so many people.  The word "oppression" carries with it the sense of being crushed, pressed by great weight, like the stone press a Gethsemane.  Those who bear these heavy weights ask us to stay awake -- to see them, to be with them in some way.  To pray and intercede when nothing can be done; to act and save when something can be done.  How much do we sleep while the heavy weight presses down on the innocent?

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, July 14, 2010

Away Again

I'm sorry, but we've had a death among our close friends, and I'll be away early tomorrow (Thursday) and have the Funeral Friday morning.  I won't be writing a Morning Reflection.

For the readings, go to the Book of Common Prayer, p. 975, Proper 10, Thursday and Friday.

Or online go to the Daily Office posted at missionstclare.com

Lowell

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Morning Reflections

I got my blogs mixed up and sent the Sunday Scriptures with Reflection Questions to my Morning Reflection blog.  Sorry about that.

I'm going to be out of town Monday thru Wednesday.

For the Daily Office readings, you may either go to page 975 of the Book of Common Prayer and see the readings for Proper 10...

or you may read the Office on line at the Mission St. Clare:  click here

For each morning's new observation in the trail calendar Holy Women, Holy Men (and we have three new feasts as we begin this week), go to this blog site:

I'll be back Thursday.

Lowell

Scriptures and Reflection Questions for July 18

Scriptures and Reflection Questions 
8th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11
 July 18, 2010
 
How to use this page:
Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it.  Some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection.  You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.
For a method to read and pray with the scriptures you might try to use the ancient practice of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading).  We've written some instructions on how to use Lectio with the Sunday Scriptures at the following link: Using Lectio Divina to pray the lections
We use the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary.

The Collect:
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
 
The Lessons

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52     
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
 
________________________
 
Amos 8:1-12
This is what the Lord GOD showed me-- a basket of summer fruit. He said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me,
     "The end has come upon my people Israel;
          I will never again pass them by.
     The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,"
     says the Lord GOD;
     "the dead bodies shall be many,
          cast out in every place. Be silent!"
Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
     and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, "When will the new moon be over
     so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
     so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
     and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
     and the needy for a pair of sandals,
     and selling the sweepings of the wheat."
The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
Shall not the land tremble on this account,
     and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
     and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
On that day, says the Lord GOD,
     I will make the sun go down at noon,
     and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning,
     and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins,
     and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
     and the end of it like a bitter day.
The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,
     when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
     but of hearing the words of the LORD.
They shall wander from sea to sea,
     and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,
     but they shall not find it.
________________

What are the economic abuses that Amos complains of?
What might he say to our culture?
_________________________________________________________


Psalm 52   

You tyrant, why do you boast of wickedness *
     against the godly all day long?

You plot ruin; your tongue is like a sharpened razor, *
     O worker of deception.

You love evil more than good *
     and lying more than speaking the truth.

You love all words that hurt, *
     O you deceitful tongue.

Oh, that God would demolish you utterly, *
     topple you, and snatch you from your dwelling,
     and root you out of the land of the living!

The righteous shall see and tremble, *
     and they shall laugh at the tyrant, saying,

"This is the one who did not take God for a refuge, *
     but trusted in great wealth
     and relied upon wickedness."

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; *
     I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

I will give you thanks for what you have done *
     and declare the goodness of your Name in the presence of the godly.
 
St. Helena Psalter
_______________

What sort of person is the psalmist complaining about?
________________________________________________________
 
Colossians 1:15-28 

Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers -- all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him-- provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

 
_______________

What is personally meaningful to you in this rich passage?
________________________________________________________
 
Luke 10:38-42 

As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."_______________

Are you more like Martha or Mary?
Why do you think Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the better part?
 
 
 

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Who's Your Neighbor?

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas
July 11, 2010; 7 Pentecost; Proper 10, Year C
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary


    (Luke 10:25-37) – Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

    But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, `Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
__________________________________________________________________

I remember being troubled by this story as a child.  It bothered me that the priest walked by the injured man, crossing to the far side of the road.  Our priest at St. Peter's in Oxford, Mr. Gray, was one of the nicest people I knew.  I couldn't imagine him ignoring someone hurt in the road like that.  What kind of priest would be that way?  It didn't make sense to me.

And once I was ordained – I was a priest – well, I really didn't like it then.  I don't want to be that kind of priest.  But am I?  Sometimes?

On our pilgrimage to the Holy Land during this past Lent, we looked down upon the famous road between Jerusalem and Jericho.  It follows the Wadi Qelt, a deep valley that sometimes turns into a water channel.  The path winds through a barren, rocky wilderness, twisting the seventeen miles distance "as the crow flies" between Jerusalem and Jericho.  Travelers climb or descend, depending on the direction they are walking, from 800 feet below sea level in Jericho to 2500 feet above sea level in Jerusalem. 

In some places the path is fairly spacious and flat, but in others it is constrained by very narrow passages, with overhanging cliffs, and sharp turns that leave a walker blind to what might be just around the turn.  There are many places that are convenient for ambush. 

In Jesus' day the oasis city of Jericho was a preferred home for many who served the Temple.  There were an estimated 12,000 priests who lived in Jericho who took turns serving their two-week duties in the Jerusalem Temple.  Many Levites, who assisted the priests in their sacred duties, also lived in Jericho. They would travel between home and Temple via the Wadi Qelt.

Let's leave the geography for a moment, and go back to the conversation between Jesus and the lawyer.  Jesus is a rabbi.  The word translated "lawyer" really means "scribe," one who is a scholar of the scriptures and whose work is to interpret the Mosaic Law.  It was traditional, and a common custom, for scribes and others to question rabbis, both to test the rabbi and to learn from him.  It would have been perfectly normal for a scribe to ask Jesus a question such as, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" 

And it was not uncommon for a rabbi to answer a question with a question: "What is written in the law?  What do you read there?"  A perfectly appropriate question for a legal scholar. 

The scribe answers well.  First he quotes the famous Shema from Deuteronomy 6 – "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."  Then he combines that great commandment with the teaching of Leviticus 19 on the love of neighbor.  This answer is the correct answer, and might have been given by any scribe or rabbi of the first or the twenty-first century.

But then the lawyer asks for more clarity.  "And who is my neighbor?"  There is a correct answer to this question as well.  The correct, conventional answer to this question is "a member of one's family."  Let's go to Leviticus 19 to understand that orthodox answer. 

Much of Hebrew scripture is composed of parallelisms.  Parallelisms express one idea in two ways.  They say the same thing in two parallel forms.  An example from the Psalms (119:105): "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."  One idea expressed two ways.  Or from Proverbs (3:1): My son, my teachings you shall not forget and my commands your heart shall guard."  Parallelism is one of the most common forms of expression in the Hebrew Bible.

So let's look at the parallelism that expresses the sense of the conventional interpretation of love of neighbor as self, from Leviticus 19.  "You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself."  That's the first parallel phrase.  And the second is like unto it: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

You shall not hate your kin; you shall not begrudge your people.  You shall reprove your neighbor; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  Your neighbor is your kin, your people.  Your neighbor is your blood relative.  You owe the obligation to "love your neighbor as yourself" to the members of your own family.  That's the traditional answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?"

Now in that day, that answer could include a lot of people.  Extended families of three or four generations commonly lived under one roof.  And entire communities could make their connections with one another through their genealogies. 

It's important to know this, because when the lawyer asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" he expected Jesus to give him the right answer: "Your neighbor is any member of your family."  That's not the answer Jesus gave.

"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho..."  As so many had before him, the man fell afoul of robbers.  It is an important detail that they "stripped him."  You could usually identify someone's origins by their dress.  There were distinctive regional cloths and patterns, and even unique village markers of dress.  There is no way to tell if someone who is stripped is "one of us" or "one of them."  One of my neighbors, my family, or an "other."  He is left half dead.  Or can you tell whether he is really whole dead?

Enter two travelers on the Wadi Qelt, a priest and a Levite.  They are either traveling to Jerusalem to fulfill their scheduled duty, or eagerly returning home after two-weeks' service in the Temple.  They know the law.  If a priest comes within six feet of a corpse, the priest becomes unclean.  If he is headed toward the Temple, and he encounters a corpse, he could not assume his tasks until he went through the lengthy process of purification.  If he is headed home and nears a corpse, he must turn around, climb all the way back to Jerusalem, and be cleansed before he can return to his family.  It is the same for the Levite.  Any listener to Jesus' story would have understood this.  Who is the half-dead stranger?  Probably not family.  Maybe he is actually dead, an unclean corpse.  Everyone would have agreed with the caution of the priest and the Levite.  Besides, that is a dangerous road.  Who knows whether the stranger lying there is just a trap?  Are there robbers just around that rock?

"A Samaritan while traveling came near him..."  Jesus' words would have thundered like a bomb going off.  "A Samaritan."  The word was an obscenity to Jews.  It was the worst insult one Jew could call another.  "You Samaritan!"  Nothing could be nastier.  The story presumes the man in the ditch is a Jewish man.

Imagine yourself as the man in the ditch.  Is there anyone who you really do not want coming by here, seeing you, and offering help?  Is there someone that you would rather die rather than to accept help from them?  You would rather die than to let them think well of themselves by helping you?  A Samaritan.

Or thinking from the other direction.  Is there anyone who would rather walk by you and ignore you, letting you die rather than to help you?  A Samaritan.

For Vanderbilt New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine, who is Jewish, that person today for her is someone from Hamas.  We might imagine that person as an Islamic terrorist.  "An Islamic terrorist while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity." 

The Samaritan provides first aid and takes the wounded man to an inn.  A Jewish inn.  A Samaritan taking an injured Jewish man to a Jewish inn...  Imagine the Wild West.  An Indian brings a scalped white man into the town's hotel.  That's risky compassion.  Everybody knows Samaritans don't take risks to show kindness to Jews.  Everybody knows Al-Qaeda doesn't take risks to show kindness to Americans, the Great Satan.

The story has ended.  Jesus looks at the lawyer.  "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"  The lawyer can't say the word.  He can't say, "Samaritan."  I imagine he answers with clenched teeth, "The one who showed him mercy." 

Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Who is your neighbor?  To whom are we called to offer kindness?  To whom dare we refuse kindness?  Who is not our neighbor?  How would Jesus have us answer?
___________________________

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

For information about St. Paul's Episcopal Church and it's life and mission, 
please contact us at:
P.O. Box 1190, Fayetteville, AR 72702, or call 479/442-7373
 
More sermons are posted on our web site: www.stpaulsfay.org
Visit our web partners at www.explorefaith.org

Friday, July 09, 2010

Early Meeting Today

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 975)
Psalms 16, 17 (morning)       22 (evening)
Deuteronomy 31:7-13, 24 - 32:4
Romans 10:1-13
Matthew 24:15-31

I've got an early meeting today.  Don't have time to write.  Here are today's readings.
 
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, July 08, 2010

Matthew's Apocalypse

Thursday, July 8, 2010 -- Week of Proper 9, Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 975)
Psalms 18:1-20 (morning)       18:21-50 (evening)
Deuteronomy 3:18-28
Romans 9:19-33
Matthew 24:1-14

When we consider that Jesus probably exercised his ministry around 30 CE and that the Gospel of Matthew was written after 70 CE, it is easy to see how much scholarly debate ensues around the text.  Which sayings of Jesus have been preserved accurately?  What has been remembered in a general way?  What words important to the early church have been credited to Jesus in order to give important guidance in latter days?  These questions have fueled centuries of thought and debate.

The Jerusalem Temple was the center of Jewish life.  The first Temple of Solomon was not much larger than St. Paul's Church.  When the second Temple was built in the 6th century BCE, some of the elders wept because it paled in comparison with the original.  The Temple of Jesus' day was a relatively new building, and it was one of the glories of the Greco-Roman world.  Herod the Great built the new Temple, beginning around 20 CE.  The stones were massive, and scholars have speculated creatively on the complicated technology and labor that would have been necessary to quarry and to move the enormous stone bricks.  It was enormous and impressive.  It was also a significant military fort.

In 66 CE Jewish Zealots led an armed rebellion against the Empire.  After some initial success, the insurrection was defeated by Roman legions under the command of Titus.  The Temple was breached and burned in a massive fire. 

Matthew's congregation lived in the post-rebellion days.  They lived with many challenges and fears.  The Jewish sect called Christians, who proclaimed Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, had been expelled from the synagogues and officially rejected by their Jewish neighbors.  Their loyalty to Jesus as Lord made them appear suspicious and potentially traitorous to Roman civic authorities who insisted that all acknowledge Caesar as Lord. 

The section that we are reading in Matthew is sometimes called Matthew's apocalypse.  Many scholars see in this section a pastoral response composed by Matthew to encourage his congregation during difficult days.  Apocalypse has been a traditional form of encouragement writing, offering a vision of a more hopeful future during a time of crisis. 

The readers of this Gospel would have heard from the voice of Jesus a description of their own circumstances and a word of hope and encouragement.  Pointing to the Temple Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.  ...For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Messiah!' and they will lead many astray.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars...  For nation will rise and against nation, ...and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places...  Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.  Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another.  And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.  And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold."  These were things that were happening to the church that Matthew writes to.  They are a congregation under great stress and anxiety.

"See that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet...:  all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.... The one who endures to the end will be saved.  And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come."

What looks like a destructive and threatening ending is only the signs of a new birth, a new beginning.  Take heart.  Jesus is above all things.  Jesus is also the end of all things.  Be of good courage.  Endure.  Be of good heart.  Quicken the love that was yours from the beginning. 

These passages can remind us in times of threat and chaos that Jesus is with us and will carry us through whatever threats may haunt our generation.  Matthew's words can bring comfort not only for his own day, but for ours as well.

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