Friday, January 29, 2010

Numbers

Friday, January 29, 2010 -- Week of 3 Epiphany, Year Two
Andrei Rublev, Monk and Iconographer, 1430

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, 945)
Psalms 40, 54 (morning) 51 (evening)
Genesis 17:15-27
Hebrews 10:11-25
John 6:1-15

Biblical commentators always say that whenever a number appears in a gospel story, pay attention. Numbers have symbolic meaning in ancient writing. Scholars of the Gospel of John emphasize that John's writing is particularly theological. John uses the narrative to convey his theology.

So what meaning is John communicating; what do the numbers mean in this story of the feeding of the multitude?

My first answer -- I don't know. When it comes to assigning meaning to numbers there are lots of imaginative schemes throughout history. Some numbers have a strong tradition of interpretation in Jewish and Christian tradition or in the neighboring cultures. So most of these numbers, I'm just guessing. But for one of these numbers in this story, there's a strong clue.

The first number that pops up is Philip's answer to the question, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." A denarius was the usual day's wage for a laborer. Two hundred days of labor would not be enough to buy bread. Ten is a number that has a traditional meaning in scripture. Ten represents a totality. Multiples and repetitions of numbers intensify them. So maybe 200 denarii is a way of saying "a whole lot" -- the totality of a day's wage doubled and multiplied. The New Revised Standard Bible takes the more mundane approach and translates it "six months' wages."

A boy brings five barley loaves and two fish. That's not much. First, it is from a boy. Feeding a hungry multitude would seem like a man's problem. But a child brings a meager offering, and it will be enough. (That'll preach.) What about the number five? And the detail that these are barley loaves? Here I'm not so sure. As far as I know, five is not a number that has a strong interpretive tradition. There are the five books of the Torah -- the heart of the Jewish Scripture, the Law. The Torah was given by Moses, who led the people through the wilderness where they were fed by the miraculous Manna. Five is also a number of life -- five senses, five fingers and toes. In some symbolic schemes it is a number signifying action. Jesus, the Bread of Life (as John will say later), creates action with these five loaves to feed the people as Moses did. He will be the new Moses, the new Torah, the new Life.

Barley is the bread of the poor. Jesus' act of feeding is among the poor and is facilitated by the modest gift from a poor child. (That'll preach too.)

One more possible meaning for the number five. It can be the number for grace. Four is the number of the created order (four corners of the earth, four winds, four directions). That's a very established meaning. Five is the created order plus something. The created order plus God is grace. These five loaves are the means of grace for God's divine activity through Jesus within the created order.

What about the two fish? I really don't have much of a clue. Two is usually a number meaning division or harmony. From one comes two. Either/or; yin/yang. Two can represent conflict or balance. There is also the requirement in Jewish law that there must be two witnesses to establish evidence in a legal matter. (There are two witnesses on the mountain of Transfiguration and two angels beside the tomb in Matthew's account.) But two fish as witnesses doesn't sound very compelling. I know that the fish became an early symbol for Jesus and for Christians. Maybe somebody reading this will have a better idea about the meaning of the two fish in this story.

The crowd was five thousand people. Five -- a lively, active group -- multiplied significantly. One little detail that gets missed in the NRSV translation. It is the men who sit down, and who are presumably numbered. In Jewish tradition, it requires ten men to be present for public worship in the synagogue. The counting of the men helps make this a religious assembly. It is also a large multitude.

But here's the number that caught my eye and started this whole thought process about numbers. "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." From the fragments of the barley loaves "they filled twelve baskets." Twelve is an important number. Twelve is the number of God's people. There are the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve disciples. Twelve is the product of three (the spiritual order) and four (the created order). In this miracle of feeding, all of the fragments are to be gathered up, all of God's people will be included, "so that nothing may be lost."

We have a similar gathering in Mark's gospel, but this time in Gentile territory. (Mark 8) That crowd of 4,000 (the created order multiplied) is fed with seven loaves and there are seven baskets of fragments collected. Seven is the number of perfection, the sum of three (the spiritual order) and four (the created order). Jesus performs the same miracle of feeding for the Gentiles as he does for the Jews, and the fragments are collected wholly in both contexts, "so that nothing may be lost."

All are fed. All are included. All fragments are gathered. It is a message of universal grace and inclusion, "so that nothing may be lost."

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 28, 2010

Slept In Today

Thursday, January 28, 2010 - Week of 3 Epiphany
Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Theologian, 1274

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 945)Psalms 50 (morning) [59, 60] or 118 (evening
Genesis 16:15 - 17:14
Hebrews 10:1-10
John 5:30-47

Read tired. Slept in today. Here are the readings.

Lowell

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Family Tragedies

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 -- Week of 3 Epiphany, Year Two
Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe, Witnesses to the Faith

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, 945)
Psalms 119:49-72 (morning) 49, [53] (evening)
Genesis 16:1-14
Hebrews 9:15-28
John 5:19-29

So much jealousy, sadness and tragedy is contained in this story from Genesis. How does it happen that nations and races and peoples become divided and hostile toward one another. Which came first the legend or the division?

Poor Hagar. She is the powerless one in this story. A slave who is given to her master to produce a child. Then the oppressed one becomes the oppressor. She taunts and provokes Sarai, who then reacts harshly.

God's angel comes to help. But there is enmity and division that will last. Our contemporary world several millennia later suffers violence, threat and tragedy that seems to have its roots in the legend of this domestic conflict.

Yet blood is a powerful bond. Ishmael and Jacob are brothers. Abraham has many offspring. We are all children of God.

Hebrews speaks of the power of blood to forgive. After so much shared bloodshed from the offspring of Hagar and Sarai, can we find ways to bring reconciliation within the family?

We say that Jesus lived to reconcile the world. We call him the Prince of Peace. He reached out beyond the boundaries of race, tribe and religion to heal and to bring compassion and understanding to all, not just to his own Jewish brothers and sisters.

It is our heritage and our duty to accept the vocation of peacemaking. Blessed are the peacemakers. It is our calling to share in the reconciling work of Jesus. Can we in our lifetime do our part to reverse the sad tragedy of conflict between siblings? Few things could be more important work.

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 26, 2010

The Promised Inheritance

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 -- Week of 3 Epiphany, Year Two
Timothy, Titus, and Silas, Companions of Saint Paul

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, 945)
Psalms 45 (morning) 47, 48 (evening
Genesis 15:1-11, 17-21
Hebrews 9:1-14
John 5:1-18

Abraham is called the "Father of Faith" because he believed that God would fulfill the divine promise to make his descendants like the stars and to give his descendants a land to call home. When Abraham trusted God's promise it seemed an unlikely future. Abraham and Sarah were old. She was barren and his heir was his household slave. Nevertheless Abraham trusted that God would find a way, and God reinforced the promise by making a covenant, binding God unilaterally to the promise God had made to Abraham.

Many centuries later, the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews connects the death and resurrection of Jesus to a new covenant that transcends and perfects the relationship of humanity and God. For centuries the people had offered daily sacrifices to petition God's blessing, and once a year, on the day of atonement, the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies to sprinkle sacrificial blood on the altar for the purification of the sins of the flesh. Now a greater atonement has occurred. Jesus has become the Temple of God in his own body. He has given his own life as a sacrificial offering, and has entered the heavenly Temple to stay forever in the presence of God, sitting at God's right hand in the eternal Holy of Holies. With that final act of atonement, absolute and permanent forgiveness is established, and God's Spirit is released to liberate us for abundant life. We are forgiven, loved and free.

John's gospel gives us a story of one who is forgiven, loved and free. It is the story of a sick man who has lain by the pool of Bethzatha for thirty-eight years. What a symbol of habitual entrapment. Most of us have habits, addictions, behaviors, and histories that seem to compromise our freedom and health. When we have lived with these limitations for decades, they seem intractable.

Jesus asks the man by the pool, "Do you want to be made well?" It's a good question. He's used to his situation. It seems to work for him. He's lived that way for thirty-eight years. He doesn't have to work, or carry water, or cook or raise children. He hasn't made the effort to change his situation. Does he indeed want to be made well? In answer to Jesus' question, he just gives an excuse. I can't help it. Someone else always beats me into the water when the angel stirs it. According to legend, the first one in the water will be healed.

Jesus tells him to take responsibility for his life. "Stand up, take your mat and walk." The man could have continued to make the same excuses. "Stand up? How? I can't walk." But, with a faith like Abraham, he stood up, took his mat and walked.

Only now do we learn that this story happens on a Sabbath. It is against the Sabbath law, established in Scripture and interpreted through centuries of Rabbinical tradition, to carry a burden like a mat on the Sabbath. The healed man's act is a religious scandal. The religious authorities confront him. He passes the blame and informs on Jesus, setting in motion a fatal conflict.

Yet that fatal conflict is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews sees is the creation of the new covenant that frees us. Part of our freedom is a liberation from religious laws and traditions that limit love and freedom. We are to believe like Abraham that Jesus has opened to us our access to unlimited divine forgiveness and unqualified love. We are invited to live in a new Spirit of an intimate relationship with God through the Son. If there is ever a conflict between law and love, between tradition and life, between custom and freedom, we are to choose love, life and freedom because they are already our inheritance -- like the stars in the sky.

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 25, 2010

The Converstion of St. Paul

Monday, January 25, 2010 -- Week of 3 Epiphany, Year Two
The Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer)
EITHER
The Readings for Monday of 3 Epiphany, p. 945
Psalms 41, 52 (morning) 44 (evening
Genesis 14:(1-7)8-24
Hebrews 8:1-13
John 4:43-54
OR
The Readings for The Conversion of St. Paul, p. 996
Morning Prayer Evening Prayer
Psalms 19 Psalms 119:89-112
Isaiah 45:18-25 Ecclesiasticus 39:1-10
Philippians 3:4b-11 Acts 9:1-22

I chose the readings for the Conversion of St. Paul

"If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more... I regard everything as loss, because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:4b, 7b-8a

Paul had an outstanding resume. He had done as well as you can do. He was disciplined, accomplished, prayerful, observant. He knew the religious expectations for a moral and pious life, and he had lived up to those expectations. He obeyed the law. He was zealous and obedient. He had done life right. But he was miserable. Perpetually anxious.

Performance anxiety. He asked himself constantly: Am I doing everything right? Am I forgetting anything? Is my heart pure? Have I treated all with proper respect? Have I neglected anything? His vigilance was so constant, that he could always aquit himself. Yes, he was following the straight and narrow. No one could fault him. He obeyed every law of God, he observed the statutes and commandments, he crossed every "t" and dotted every "i." No one could touch him for his conscientiousness and scrupulosity.

So why was he miserable? Perpetually anxious.

He wanted to feel that he was okay. He wanted to know that he was okay with God. He wanted the comfort of knowing that he was accepted and acceptable before God. The old words were "justified" and "righteous." That's what he wanted to be. A person who could live in the comfort of knowing that he was justified and righteous before God, that God accepted him. And he did his best. He followed every moral and religious expectation of uprightness. But he was miserable. Perpetually anxious.

He was trapped in a condition of anxiety. Performance anxiety. He did his best, but was it good enough? And maybe he had done everything right yesterday, what about today? ...and tomorrow? What if he missed something? What if he let his guard down for even a moment? What if he failed? If he ever failed, would that ruin everything? Forever? Those "what-ifs" haunted him. Deep within he wanted to escape them. What if it wasn't so hard? What if God wasn't a judge demanding perfection? What if God really loved him, really accepted him?

Don't think about that. Just stay vigilant and never let down your guard.

Like so many of us, Paul projected his misery on to others. It disperses your anxiety and self-questioning if you can find someone whom you know has failed and correct them. Take out your misery and anxiety on someone who really deserves it, someone you know is worse than you, someone you know is living in the wrong.

So Paul persecuted a sect who followed the false Messiah Jesus. But as he persecuted them, he saw in them a joy and freedom that eluded him.

On the road to Damascus, armed with arrest warrants to purge the wrongdoers from the earth, it all became too much for him. The righteous indignation and internal anxiety was too much to hold together. His whole world imploded. He was struck blind. He realized he was wrong. You can't earn your place before God. Paul couldn't. Nobody can. He had been wrong about that for his whole life. It's not all about performance. Nobody can perform perfectly enough to stand before God. But, it struck him, it doesn't matter. That's what the Jesus followers were saying. God loves us anyway. It's all about love. Paul was blinded by love.

It's all a gift. God's gift. God chooses us before we can earn it. Even while we are failing, God loves and forgives us with infinite grace. Just because that's the way God is. That's the God Jesus points to. It's all in the cross. The cross is the ultimate human failure, human evil. In Christ, God soaks up our failure and evil, and gives back nothing but love -- love that overcomes evil; love that overcomes even the last evil -- death. God swallows up death with resurrection.

And Paul's eyes were opened to the light. He knew that he was accepted by God -- justified, made righteous, in a right relationship with God. His justification was pure gift. Grace. It was God's pleasure to love Paul and to declare him beloved. All Paul had to do was accept the gift. That's faith. Trust that God loves us and accept the gift of unqualified love that frees us. Justification by grace, through faith.

Anxiety goes away. It's not about performance anymore. It's about love. We are loved. We are accepted. It's a gift. We are free.

Out of the energy of that loving acceptance, Paul found he was free to love as he had never loved before. As God as loved us, so we can walk in love. It's the most natural thing in the world. No more anxiety. Just love. And when you are loved so fully, you are free. Free to respond in a spirit of love. That's life in Christ. Everything else is just rubbish. Paul's only desire was to live "in Christ," and "be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection of the dead."

As the old hymn says, "I once was blind, but now I see."

Lowell
_____________________________________________

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

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


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

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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

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

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

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Away from the Computer

I'll be away for a few days to attend the ordination of my friend Scott Benhase as Bishop of Georgia. Here are the readings for the rest of the week.


Wednesday's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 945)
Psalms 38 (morning) 119:25-48 (evening
Genesis 9:18-29
Hebrews 6:1-12
John 3:22-36

Thursday's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 945)Psalms 37:1-18 (morning) 37:19-42 (evening
Genesis 11:1-9
Hebrews 6:13-20
John 4:1-15


Friday's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 945)Psalms 31 (morning) 35 (evening
Genesis 11:27 - 12:8
Hebrews 7:1-17
John 4:16-26


Lowell

John 3:16

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 -- Week of 2 Epiphany, Year Two
Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, 1095

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 945)
Psalms 26, 28 (morning) 36, 39 (evening
Genesis 9:1-17
Hebrews 5:7-14
John 3:16-21

John 3:16. I remember the first time I saw that sign being waved at a football game. For a while, "Rainbow Man" became a celebrity, with his multi-colored afro hair, waving his "John 3:16" sign at sports events, positioning himself behind the goalposts for extra points, and other key places where he was likely to be on camera. Some have said John 3:16 is the most recognized verse of the Bible. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."

Rarely do you hear John 3:17 quoted, however. "Indeed, God did not sent the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

Sometimes John 3:16 has been used like a bludgeon or an ax, to threaten people with eternal death if they do not believe in the Son. Believe in Jesus or die.

What kind of God do we believe in? Is it Jesus' purpose to give eternal life to those who believe in him and to deny it to those who do not? What about the faithful lives of holy people like Gandhi or the Dalai Lama?

In 1997 the Committee on Theology and Faith of the United Church of Canada offered a study that described four approaches to other religions based on Biblical passages. Here is a portion of what they offered:

How are we to understand the saving significance of Jesus Christ in a pluralistic world in which we are called to love our neighbour? It would seem that we have two obligations in this matter: first, to affirm that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Godself; second, to love our neighbour as Christ loved us.

As we come in contact with neighbours, co-workers, or casual acquaintances who embrace other faiths, we see that the same capacity for good and ill that shapes us, shapes them. We are often struck by the "Christian" quality of their lives. How are we to understand our own convictions and commitment to Jesus Christ in relation to them? Can we proclaim God's salvation in Jesus Christ in a way that respects the convictions of those whose faith is different? Can we understand Christ in a way that values other religions and God's work in them? When we say, "Jesus is Saviour," does it mean a clear line is drawn between who is saved and who is not?

There are many ways to describe the relationship of Christianity to other faiths. Here are four approaches (listed alphabetically). You may find that no one approach fits your own understanding.

Exclusivist Approach

* the only path to God and salvation is an explicit confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord
* Jesus Christ is the sole mediator between God and humanity
* God's revelation and saving work in the incarnate Christ possesses finality in determining the destiny of all creatures
* this approach proclaims the importance of membership in the Christian community
* this approach believes that evangelistic mission is vital
* those who do not make an explicit confession of faith in Jesus Christ may be excluded from the love and ultimate purposes of God
* texts such as John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 are cited in support of this position.

Inclusivist Approach

* the reconciliation of the world takes place uniquely through Jesus Christ
* the saving work of Christ is essential for peace with God
* there is room for the salvation of those who make no explicit profession of faith in Christ
* grace is experienced and Christ is present wherever people experience the goodness of God's creative love and redemptive mercy
* Jesus Christ is the Wisdom/Word through which all things were made and through whom all things will be restored and perfected
* the purpose of evangelistic mission is not so much to save as to enlighten
* John 1:1-5 and Colossians 1:15-20 are cited in support of this position.

Pluralist Approach

* there are many paths to God
* there is no absolute "court of appeal" by which to evaluate the different paths
* Jesus is the way for Christians, but not necessarily the path for all
* no single religious tradition can speak with finality about God/spiritual truth/ultimate truth
* our relationship with other faiths is to be one of respectful dialogue
* co-operation with other faiths is for the sake of the common global good
* Isaiah 55:8 and I Corinthians 13:12 are cited in support of this position.

Transformationist Approach

* no single religion has a monopoly on truth
* from its beginning, Christianity has been a constantly evolving expression of faith
* respectful dialogue and mutual learning may lead to transformation for all participants
* Christian faith may be transformed by such encounters in ways that we cannot imagine
* Christians can expect to experience Christ in their encounter with people of other faiths
* Mark 7:24-30 and Acts 10:1-16 are cited in support of this position.

I find I agree with something in each of these approaches, though less in the Exclusivist approach than the others. I find that the understanding of God as Trinity opens a Christian path for interfaith understanding. The Word of God and the Spirit of God is ubiquitous, present wherever the divine character is manifest.

For the Gospel of John, believing in the Son is key. But the word believe can have much more content than a mere acceptance of fact. The word believe has a heart relationship as well, as in to "belove." The Latin "credo" - I believe - can also mean - I set my heart on. And John's imagery of the "light" and of the "Word" are both images that resound with trans-religious power.

The story of Jesus expresses God's loving intention to save the world and to rescue us from our deadly ways. It violates our understanding of Jesus' basic mission and of the fundamental nature of the God Jesus points us toward if we turn his good news into yet another way to divide and condemn.

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 18, 2010

Ark and Spirit

Monday, January 18, 2010 -- Week of 2 Epiphany, Year Two
The Confession of St. Peter the Apostle

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

EITHER
The Readings for Monday of 2 Epiphany, p. 945
Psalms 25 (morning) 9, 15 (evening
Genesis 8:6-22
Hebrews 4:14 - 5:6
John 2:23 - 3:15
OR
The Readings for The Confession of St. Peter, p. 996
Morning Prayer Evening Prayer
Psalms 66, 67 Psalms 118
Ezekiel 3:4-11 Ezekiel 34:11-16
Acts. 10:34-44 John 21:15-22

I chose the readings for Monday of 2 Epiphany

The stories of the flood (there are two versions woven together) speak of God's frustration with the corruption of the creation and a determined solution to drown the earth and to start over. At the end of the process, (in the Yahwist version) God recognizes that the flood did not work to change the basic problem, "for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth." So God decides to live with that reality and work with fallen humanity. Then God promises to uphold the basic agricultural rhythms of seasons and days.

The book of Hebrews sees the High Priesthood of Jesus as a new and better divine solution for our corruption and sin. Jesus is our great High Priest, who knows us so intimately -- "one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin." Jesus intercedes for us, and Jesus' sacrifice and exaltation to the throne of God gives us intimate access to the heart of God and to God's mercy and compassion for us. This is the new solution for the problem of humanity.

In John's gospel we have a different reference to the waters. The earlier Noah-story spoke of the corruption of all flesh and the destruction of the flesh through the waters of flood. This Nicodemus-story speaks of those born of the flesh and invites them to be "born of water and Spirit." (The word "Spirit" can also be translated "wind.") To be born of water and wind is to be born from above, or born anew. One who is born from above follows the wind of the Spirit which blows where it chooses. It is a new way of starting over. It is a different form of living in the ark.

I am reminded of my teacher Alan Jones' prayer that he used each morning as he settled into his period of silence with God.

In your hands we rest
In the cup of whose hands sailed an ark
Rudderless, without mast.

In your hands we rest

Who was to make of the aimless wandering of the Ark
A new beginning for the world.

In your hands we rest

Ready and content this 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

Friday, January 15, 2010

Water into Wine

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 943)
Psalms 16, 17 (morning) 22 (evening
Genesis 6:1-8
Hebrews 3:12-19
John 2:1-12

This story of Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana has an underlying extravagance. The number and size of the water jars is unusual -- 120 to 180 gallons of water. Jesus provides an immense abundance of wine for the wedding party. The steward of the party also remarks on the wine's quality, saying to the host "you have kept the good wine until now."

It is interesting to think what is at stake in the situation that Jesus' mother (not named in John's Gospel) brings to him. "They have no wine." The lack of wine would certainly put a damper on the party and on the wedding celebration. But more than that, it would have been an occasion of great embarrassment and shame for the host family. The family would have lost face and standing in a culture where honor is a critical commodity. In an honor-shame society such as first century Israel/Palestine, one's standing is much more important than money. To run out of wine at a wedding feast would be a family catastrophe that could bring substantial ruin to them.

This is Jesus' first miracle, first sign, in John's gospel. It is full of symbolic significance.

In what ways does the presence of Jesus in our lives change our vitality from water to wine? ...good wine? ...excellent wine?

We might think of the significance of the change of properties that this water undergoes. The water jars are present for the rites of purification. This is the water used to cleanse that which is dirty -- to wash away impurities and to restore a person to community after they have been defiled in some way, usually something pretty ordinary, like a woman's menses. The purpose of the water is to wash.

The purpose of the wine is to celebrate. A wedding feast celebrates love, family and community. It is the ritual for increase and futures. Wine is a festive beverage that gladdens the heart and relaxes the body. Wine also has its dark side when used to excess.

Jesus changes the water of cleansing into wine of celebration. I think there is a metaphor for our lives here. Sometimes people think of religion as a cleansing project. I'm dirty; I sin; I'm no good; I don't deserve -- therefore I come to religion to be washed, forgiven, cleansed, accepted (at least until I go out and screw up again). Yes, religion does give us that cleansing.

But the religion of Jesus is so much more. It is celebration, joy, abundance. It is nearly 200 gallons of water turned into party.

When we come to the Eucharist, we participate in the wedding banquet of the Son. It is a cosmic party.

When we pray, we are in communion with the one who turns water into gallons of wine. We have an invitation into abundant, extravagant joy. It is a communal joy. There is wine enough for everyone. Shame is turned to triumph. The best wine is saved for last. Rejoice and be glad. Cheers!

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 13, 2010

Cain and Abel

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year Two
Hilary, Bishop of Potiers, 367

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 943)
Psalms 119:1-24 (morning) 12, 13, 14 (evening
Genesis 4:1-16
Hebrews 2:11-18
John 1:(29-34) 35-42

Today we begin with the story of Cain and Abel, two brothers. It is a story that ends in bloodshed, the first murder. Cain resents God's greater acceptance of Abel's offering, and reacts with violence.

John's gospel also gives us a story of cousins and brothers.

John the Baptist sees the Spirit descend and remain upon his cousin Jesus, and John recognizes that this is "a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me." Even though John is older than his cousin, John blesses the greater blessing that God gives to Jesus, and calls him Lamb of God and Son of God.

In our gospel story we also have two brothers, Andrew and Peter. Andrew is with his teacher John the Baptist when John points out Jesus, the Lamb of God. Andrew follows Jesus, who invites him to "Come and see." After being with Jesus for the day, Andrew seeks out his brother Simon Peter and brings him to Jesus, who names him "Cephas," Aramaic for "rock" (i.e. Rocky). Peter will become the leader of the early church. Andrew, the brother who brought him to Jesus, will continue in harmony with his brother and the community of disciples.

Jealously and violence. Blessing and community.

Some have said that the Cain and Abel story symbolically represents the conflict between herdsmen and agrarian farmers. Besides the prejudice that so regularly occurs between peoples of contrasting lifestyles, there was true conflict when these different groups competed for the same resources of water and land. If the herdsmen allowed their cattle to stray into fields they would damage the farmers' crops. If the farmers fenced the land they inhibited the herds from traveling to green fields and water. It makes me think of the Broadway play Oklahoma, and lively song that starts, "Oh, the Farmer and the Cowman should be friends" -- a tame representation of a bitter feud.

We have in today's story the first use of the word "sin" in scripture. When Cain becomes angry that his offering of the fruit of the ground is not accepted, God says, "Why are you angry...? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."

But Cain broods and does not master his afflictive emotions. He lures Abel to the field and kills him. In a powerful moment, God tells Cain that he cannot hide his act. "Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground!" God hears and knows the secret violence and injustice of the earth.

Cain's curse is a profound one. He is a farmer. A settled man of the soil. Now he must become a wanderer, and the soil will not yield to him. For a farmer to become a wanderer is a bitter curse indeed. As a wanderer, he has no rights or protection of tribe or belonging. He would be vulnerable to blood revenge for his act of murder.

God places a mark upon Cain as a warning, to protect him from death. The mark of Cain has a terrible history. During much of Christian history the mark of Cain was believed to be his black skin. The tradition justified racist theologies that saw the black race as cursed by God and therefore destined to slavery and oppression. The Southern Baptists split from Northern Baptists using the curse of Cain as justification for their defense of slavery and their opposition toward the education of slaves. How ironic that the story of one brother's violence toward another became a justification for centuries of oppression and violence of brother upon brother.

Jealousy, prejudice and violence is healed by blessing and community. John the Baptist and Andrew are models for us. They see God's blessing upon their brothers and they rejoice. When Jesus accepts his death on behalf of the sin of the world, he becomes the Lamb of God who takes away our sin, heals our division, and consumes our violence with peace. The farmer and cowman, the black and white should be friends.

Our reading in Hebrews says that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters. It says that through his death, Jesus destroyed the power of death and freed us whose lives are "held in slavery by the fear of death." "For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father... Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested." We are called into the universal community that restores peace to the human family.

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 12, 2010

The Fall into Consciousness

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year Two
Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 943)
Psalms 5, 6 (morning) 10, 11 (evening
Genesis 3:1-24
Hebrews 2:1-10
John 1:19-28

The second creation myth of Genesis is such a rich interpretation of our reality.

First we see a picture of harmonious life. The humans live an innocent life together, in union with each other, with God and with their world. There is something simple and instinctive about their life.

But complexity faces them. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil stands within their grasp. If they eat of that fruit, their eyes will be opened, their consciousness will be raised. They will know something that will bring them inevitable suffering and alienation. They will know shame. They will know the division if their own hearts, and the bonds of simple, intimate trust will be broken. The serpent who tempts them tells them that they "will be like God, knowing good and evil." He tells the truth.

The animals of the field and trees do not know good and evil. They live by instinct and do what their nature tells them. They are naked and unashamed. They do not know that they will die. Their relationship with nature and with God is intimate and without the complexity of morals, without the knowledge of good and evil. They eat and kill, they mate and raise offspring within the guiltless boundaries of instinct.

At some time in human history, our eyes were opened. Our consciousness expanded into the knowledge of good and evil. With that knowledge came the power to rebel. We could know the moral weight of choice, and we could act willfully. We could know how to choose the evil course. Before knowledge came, we knew no evil. With knowledge came the exquisite pain of shame and guilt. With knowledge came alienation. "They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God. ...[Adam said,] "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." Fear comes from alienation. With perfect love there is no fear.

As conscious suffering enters the world, there are two curses. The serpent is cursed, and there is enmity between the serpent and the humans. The ground is cursed and there will be toil to bring forth plants. The people, however, are not cursed. But they will now be conscious of suffering. Their equality is broken. They know they will die: "You are dust, and to dust you shall return."

In this sad moment, God does a tender thing. "The Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them." But they must leave the garden. There is no return to unconscious innocence. Once you know, you know. Once you know, you are responsible for your choices. East of Eden there is the toil of the moral universe. We have fallen into the anxiety and suffering of division, disobedience and rebellion.

There is yet to come the new Adam, Christ who initiates the new humanity, restoring intimacy and innocence, life and unity. Our reading from Hebrews tells us that by the grace of God Jesus tasted death for everyone. His faithfulness showed the way of eternal life, perfect love that casts out fear and reunites the broken. Elsewhere Paul insists that Jesus' act is as universally profound as Adam's. As in Adam, all die; so also in Christ, shall all be made alive.

Our ultimate journey is to return to innocence, intimacy and union -- to return to the garden, and know the place for the first time. Like the earlier experience, this new event is a change of consciousness. Our eyes are opened, and we see love. Enlightenment allows us to see beyond the evil and brokenness, through the cross to resurrection. We can become who we are, children of God who are empowered to "be like God." We have the moral power to love as God loves and to give generously as God gives -- consciously and with good intention.

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 11, 2010

Our History

Monday, January 11, 2010 -- Week of 1 Epiphany, Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 943)
Psalms 1, 2, 3 (morning) 4, 7 (evening
Genesis 2:4-9(10-15)16-25
Hebrews 1:1-14
John 1:1-18

In a sense, today we experience the entire scope of salvation history.

We begin with one of our ancient stories of creation. From a dry desert, God causes water to to rise up from the earth. Like a potter forming clay, from the earth (adamah in Hebrew) God formed an earthling (adam in Hebrew). (The word play humus/human also works well.) God proceeds to plant a garden as a place for human work. God forms all of the animals, with the intention that the human might have "a helper as a partner." God lets the man name each of the animals, but none is a satisfactory partner. So from the man's own flesh, God makes woman (Hebrew: man= ish; woman=ishshah). They live together in innocence.

Fast forward to Hebrews and the gospel of John. We read of Jesus. Hebrews calls him the Son, "the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word." John echoes the other Hebrew creation myth, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

So we have the picture of God's intimate, loving creation of humanity, providing for us everything necessarily for our abundant life. We are placed in an intimate relationship with the garden, which God created from the earth just as God created the human. We are placed in an intimate relationship with the animals, which God created as helpers, the same word used often to describe God's relationship with us in time of need, the same word given later for God's Holy Spirit. We are placed in an intimate relationship as humans, bone of bones, flesh of flesh, naked and innocent.

We know that this idyllic scene does not hold, and that things turn ugly for humanity. Yet with the coming of Jesus we see a renewal of the original intimacy. God is with us. God becomes our bone of bones, flesh of flesh, naked and innocent. The Gospel of John will continue to explore this coming of the Word made flesh, and show through Jesus the reincorporation of humanity into divinity.

John will insist on the unity between Father and Son. The loving intimacy between Jesus and God actualizes God's original intention for loving intimacy between adam/Adam and God. Then, Jesus invites everyone within this relationship of loving intimacy. Jesus creates union between himself and his friends while simultaneously sustaining his union with God, thereby bringing everyone into union with divine life.

The brokenness is restored. Once again humanity and God are united in a relationship of loving intimacy. It is this relationship of trust and faithfulness that we are invited to embrace as our own reality. God fashions and breathes us into being. God provides all things necessary for us. We are to live as mutual helpers with the animal world and all other human beings. We abide in Christ and he in us, one with God. Paradise restored.

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 07, 2010

The Way of Active Trust

Thursday, January 7, 2009 -- Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 943)
Psalms 103 (morning) 114, 115 (evening
Deuteronomy 8:1-3
Colossians 1:1-14
John 6:30-33, 48-51

The Deuteronomic editor establishes something fundamental in our reading today. Our relationship with God is exercised through active trust in God founded upon God's faithfulness. God led the people through the wilderness, feeding them with manna, "with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted." Therefore, trust God and follow in God's ways.

We pick up a similar theme in John's Gospel. The manna returns in Jesus. Just as God fed the people with manna in the wilderness, so God is feeding us, giving us life through Jesus, the bread of life, the living bread from heaven. We hear the eucharistic invitation to eat the bread of eternal life which is identified as the very life of Jesus, given for and to us.

We are invited to trust Jesus just as the Hebrew people were invited to trust God. We manifest that trust by following in the way of God, the way of Jesus. Walking in the way of Jesus exercises our active trust. What does it mean to walk in the way of Jesus and to trust him actively?

Fundamentally it is to follow the new commandment to love God, neighbor and self. It is to let compassion rule our hearts. It is to work for justice on behalf of all people. It is to trust God for our needs, and to release our grasping instincts for security, esteem, control and power. We do all of that living in community.

The Baptismal Covenant in our Book of Common Prayer does a good job of describing what it means to walk in the way of Jesus and to trust him actively. We will renew our Baptismal Covenant this Sunday, the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. Here are the five questions that we affirm following our embrace of the Apostles' Creed:

Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
I will, with God's help.


Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?

I will, with God's help.
W

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?

I will, with God's help.


Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

I will, with God's help.


Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

I will, with God's help.
That's a pretty good description of the Christian life.

Some say that the first name given to the early church was "The Way." To follow Jesus is to walk in his way. We live out our faith in active trust. The Way of Jesus is our food, our bread, our life.

Lowell
_____________________________________________

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

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


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

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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

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

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

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Gracious Meetings

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 -- The Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 943)
Psalms 46, 97 (morning) 96, 100 (evening
Isaiah 49:1-7
Revelation 21:22-27
Matthew 12:14-21

"I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Isaiah 49:6b

On the Epiphany we celebrate the manifestation of God's incarnate revelation to the world. At our Eucharists today (10:00 and 6:15) we'll tell the story of the visitation of the Magi to the Child. The Holy Family welcomes their gifts as these visitors from another land and another faith pay homage to the Child. Then the travelers return to their home country and their own customs. It is an image of a gracious meeting.

In 1984, Thomas Keating, an American Roman Catholic Benedictine monk, invited a group of spiritual teachers from various world religions to visit the monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, to pray together in silence and to share their own personal spiritual journeys -- Buddhist, Tibetan Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Islamic, Native American, Russian Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic. The group talked and prayed together.

Their visits were so stimulating that they continued to meet annually. They began to investigate points of agreement among them, and began to create a list. The initial list was published under the heading, "Guidelines for Interreligious Understanding." Here are its original eight points of agreement among the religions:

1. The world religions bear witness to the experience of Ultimate Reality to which they give various names: Brahman, Allah, Absolute, God, Great Spirit.

2. Ultimate Reality cannot be limited by any name or concept.

3. Ultimate Reality is the ground of infinite potentiality and actualization.

4. Faith is opening, accepting and responding to Ultimate Reality. Faith in this sense precedes every belief system.

5. The potential for human wholeness -- or in other frames of reference, enlightenment, salvation, transformation, blessedness, "nirvana" -- is present in every human person.

6. Ultimate Reality may be experienced not only through religious practices but also through nature, art, human relationships, and service of others.

7. As long as the human condition is experienced as separate from Ultimate Reality, it is subject to ignorance and illusion, weakness and suffering.

8. Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual life; yet spiritual attainment is not the result of one's own efforts, but the result of the experience of oneness with Ultimate Reality.

They subsequently added some things of a practical nature to their list of agreements. The full text is available at this address: http://www.scarboromissions.ca/Interfaith_dialogue/guidelines_interfaith.php which includes a marvelous collection of resources on interfaith dialogue. The last entry on that web page, ""Toward a Christian Biblical Understanding of World Religions" might be of particular interest to Christians who recognize that the Bible has various ways to approach our relationship with other faiths.

At the 1993 Parliament of World Religions, 142 representatives from all of the world's major religious faiths signed a remarkable statement of agreement titled "Towards a Global Ethic (An Initial Declaration)", inviting faithful people from every tradition to unite around some fundamental moral and ethical principles. http://www.religioustolerance.org/parliame.htm

In a decade where sectarian religious violence threatens so many parts of our planet, it is more important than ever for us to do the work symbolized in the gracious meeting of Magi and Christ. Today we honor the universal presence of God's revelation and manifestation throughout the world even as we name our experience of that Ultimate Reality through Jesus. May we share in the work of being light to the world, that God's salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

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