Friday, February 26, 2010

A Fundamental Truth

Friday, February 26, 2010 -- Week of 1 Lent, Year Two
George Herbert, Priest, 1633

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 95* & 40, 54 (morning)       51 (evening)
Genesis 40:1-23
1 Corinthians 3:16-23              * for the Invitatory
Mark 2:13-22

I've got an early appointment today (and I slept an extra hour), so I need to run. 

But there is a deep peace in the brief passage from 1 Corinthians today.  Paul offers a very "high view" of our humanity.  First he tells us that we are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in us.  We are tabernacles of the divine.  Of course, Paul articulates an ancient tradition when he says this.  Genesis insists that we are created in the image of God. 

Every human being is a word of God to the world.  That reality is part of the reason why we are prohibited from killing another human being, as Paul remarks today.  "For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." 

But Paul continues to keep the focus where it should be, on God and on God's indwelling presence.  We are dependent and finite creatures in whom God dwells.  He cautions us from "the wisdom of this world" which is foolishness to God.

Instead, Paul insists that "all things are yours...  All belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God."  Christ has given us all we need in the radical acceptance that is God's gift to us -- justification by grace is the theological word Paul uses for that reality.  We are God's.  We always have been; we always will be.  We live in God and God lives in us.  We don't have to become something we aren't.  We don't have to prove anything.  We don't have to use the world's standards to compete for and claim the world's symbols of success, security, esteem or power.  All is given.  All is well and all manner of things shall be well, as the mystic St. Juilan of Norwich said.

Within that security of being God's temple, having been given all -- which is God's unqualified grace and love -- we are free.  With that freedom we can do what God does -- love and heal.  We are free to care for others extravagantly, to reach out to others compassionately, to bring the good news that everyone is God's temple. 

Later on we'll get into some of the frustrations Paul lives with when people fail to see the presence of God within them and live arrogant and selfish lives.  Sometimes it is hard to see God's image in others.  But Paul gives us today the fundamental truth that echoes from Genesis:  We are God's temple and all things are ours.

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, February 25, 2010

Forgiveness

Thursday, February 25, 2010 -- Week of 1 Lent, Year Two
John Roberts, Priest, 1949

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 50 (morning)       [59, 60] or 19, 46 (evening)
Genesis 39:1-23
1 Corinthians 2:14 - 3:15
Mark 2:1-12


First, a note about today's new commemoration from Holy Women, Holy Men, our proposed calendar:
John Roberts [1853-1949] Welsh Anglican missionary, who came to the Wind River mission in Wyoming in 1883. He founded schools among the Shoshone and Arapaho peoples so that children might be educated. Roberts translated most of The Book of Common Prayer into Arapaho and served among native peoples for 66 years. He worked closely with Chief Washakie [c. 1804-1900] of the Shoshone people, whom he converted from Mormonism to the Episcopal Church. He also claimed to have buried Sakajawea who, he said, had returned to her people after the Lewis and Clark Expedition. (Feb. 25)
_____

One of the major revelations of Jesus is the insistence that God is near, accessible, and exceedingly compassionate.  God is love, intimate and present.  God is with us, and human beings have ready access to the divine.  In fact, as the Gospel of John particularly insists, we are in a vital, living union with God and with one another.  Jesus reveals to us a God who is not distant, but close; a God who is not exclusive and unapproachable, but one with us; a God who is not angry and punishing, but loving and compassionate.

We see one aspect of this revelation in today's story of the healing of the paralytic.  This is a wonderful story when read at a literal, physical level.  The friends of a paralyzed man use their ingenuity to bypass the crowd by lowering his mat from the roof.  It is also a wonderful story when read, as the ancient interpreters encourage us, on a symbolic or metaphorical level.  People get stuck, emotionally frozen and paralyzed.  Sometimes they can't get themselves out of their darkness without the help of others.  If there are barriers in the way -- too many people, I can't get an appointment -- it takes friends to help them through the obstacles.  The metaphorical interpretation is especially helpful when we hear Jesus' healing word to the paralytic:  "Son, your sins are forgiven."  Sometimes it is our sins, our paralyzing guilt or a sense of deep unworthiness, that can get us stuck and paralyze us. 

Jesus speaks with intimate, gentle familiarity -- "Son."  And Jesus speaks what tradition says is reserved only to God, words of absolution and forgiveness.  In that day, the Temple held a monopoly on forgiveness, and it was big business.  Jesus makes forgiveness immediate, accessible, and free.  Matthew's version of this same story (9:1-8) frames this as an issue of authority.  The authorities say that Jesus is blaspheming by declaring forgiveness, but Jesus replies, "So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- then Jesus heals the paralytic.  The crowds were "filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings."

Jesus reveals that forgiving is no longer only a divine prerogative, it is freely accessible from God and it is a human endowment.  Elsewhere we will learn that the well of forgiveness is infinite.  When Peter tried to set a boundary around forgiveness, "How often should I forgive my neighbor, as many as seven times?"  (Seven is a symbolic word meaning "complete.")  Jesus multiplied the answer. 

The God that Jesus points us to, the God that Jesus incarnates, is a God of infinite love, compassion and forgiveness; a God who comes to us in human flesh, and who blesses us by being one with us -- "I in you and you in me."  This is the radical rebellion that Jesus brought to religion, and it earned him the accusation "blasphemer" from those who believed they were protecting God by keeping God as a distant judge. 

"We have never seen anything like this!" the crowd remarked.  The stuck, paralyzed man stood up, picked up his mat, and walked away into new 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, February 24, 2010

Early Away

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 -- Week of 1 Lent, Year Two
St. Matthias the Apostle

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

EITHER
the readings for Wednesday of 1 Lent, p. 953
Psalms 119:49-72 (morning)       49, [53] (evening)
Genesis 37:25-36
1 Corinthians 2:1-13
Mark 1:29-45

OR
the readings for St. Matthias, p. 997
Morning:  Psalm 80 / 1 Samuel 16:1-13 / 1 John 2:18-25
Evening:  Psalm 33 / 1 Samuel 12:1-5 / Acts 20:17-35


I had to leave early this morning to see someone off to surgery. 

Here are the readings.

Lowell

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

God's Hidden Work

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 -- Week of 1 Lent, Year Two
Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr of Smyrna, 156

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 45 (morning) 47, 48 (evening)
Genesis 37:12-24
1 Corinthians 1:20-31
Mark 1:14-28

It is easy to become discouraged, even despairing. We humans seem such a stupid lot. Over and over we fail to see clearly and to act wisely. We have the capability to wipe out extreme poverty globally, to extend health benefits to every American, to offer education and digital connections to virtually everyone on the planet, and yet we squander our potential in self-centeredness, greed and silly distractions.

God intends good for us, however. No matter how difficult we make it for God, the divine love and wisdom is working to overcome our stubborn hearts and to bring us blessing.

Jealous brothers plan violence against their kin. They will tear the sign of privilege away from Joseph, the coat with long sleeves (or many colors), and will throw him in a pit to die. But God will use their evil plot to bring them eventual blessing. Before the blessing comes, Joseph will have to endure slavery, however.

Paul bemoans the fact that nearly everybody missed the coming of God's anointed one. The religious Jews demanded signs that fit with their religious expectations -- expectations grounded in the Biblical prophecies of political domination and military triumph. Jesus wasn't that kind of leader. They wanted that kind of leader. They wanted their nation to kick butt and take names, and so they missed the opportunity when God sent them a different kind of leader. Jesus' triumph over Israel's enemies was his own cross.

The Greeks demanded a wisdom that fit with their philosophical traditions. They wanted to debate in the abstract the virtues that create honor among the wise. Jesus wasn't that kind of leader either. He was counted among the peasants, condemned as a state enemy, and executed not in a noble way as a hero, but in a disgusting death as a criminal-traitor.

Jewish fishermen from Galilee. It's like the pipe-fitters' union from Springdale. Not the place you would look for God's revelation. The Gospels never mention the two significant cities in Galilee, Sepphoris and Tiberias. Can anything good come out of Galilee anyway?

In and through it all, God is working. God uses our jealousy and violence to open new ways for life. God takes our blindness and pride and moves below the surface to bring life out of death. God takes the unlikeliest people and opportunities and turns them into blessing.

We need God to work right now. There are so many opportunities to extend community and peace, opportunity and health. Every time we try to do so, the demons scream. When Jesus taught love of neighbor and when he extended healing to where it was lacking, the demons screamed, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?" Yes. Jesus intends to destroy all demonic systems that deny the values that would connect all of us together into one human family, bringing nurture and care, empathy and hope, to encourage individual and social responsibility to make ourselves and the world better. The demonic voices of self-interest and pride, of greed and division, continue to bluster with their threatening rhetoric, just as the demons did to Jesus.

But somewhere there is a Ruben who is quietly working behind the scenes to rescue Joseph from the pit, somewhere there is a Paul holding up the path of the cross, somewhere there are the fishermen doing their humble work -- to save the vulnerable, to soak up evil with non-violent love, to gather people gently into nets of love.

Faithful hearts pray for God's hidden work, and we seek to be the quiet instruments of God's accomplishment. Are you today's Ruben? Are you today's cross follower? Are you today's fisher of love? God doesn't need very much, to do so much.

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, February 22, 2010

Three Stories for Lent

Monday, February 22, 2010 -- Week of 1 Lent, Year Two
Eric Liddell, Missionary to China, 1945

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 953)
Psalms 41, 52 (morning) 44 (evening)
Genesis 37:1-11
1 Corinthians 1:1-19
Mark 1:1-13

First a word about our new commemoration from the proposed calendar Holy Women, Holy Men:
Liddell, Eric [Jan. 16, 1902-February 21, 1945] One of the Olympic medalists commemorated in the movie Chariots of Fire, Liddell was born in China. His parents were Scottish missionaries, and he became a missionary to China as well. After he won his Olympic medal running, he was ordained (1932) and returned to China. He elected to stay when British citizens were evacuated because of the fighting between Chinese and Japanese, and was eventually put in an internment camp where he died in 1945. (Feb. 22)
________

We begin three stories today that will take us through much of Lent.

The Joseph saga is the longest story in Genesis. It tells how the family of Jacob becomes a great people. Like the nation, Joseph will be enslaved and rescued. God's hand will be present throughout the drama.

In first Corinthians we join a conversation already in progress between Paul and the urban congregation that he founded in Corinth. He is writing, probably from Ephesus, to answer questions and address issues that have come up in the life of the congregation.

And Mark is the earliest Gospel that we have. I think it is an especially appropriate Gospel to read in Lent, for the passion of the cross looms over the entire narrative.

All three of these stories open with conflict. Joseph, the youngest and favored child, is having arrogant dreams with images of his entire family, even his mother and father, bowing down to him as if he were their patron and superior. We can feel the resentment and jealousy brewing within the family.

Paul writes to a congregation that is in the middle of potentially divisive quarrels. There are various cliques and parties within the Corinthian church. We can almost hear echoes of a future history: "I belong to Luther's people; I belong to Calvin; I belong to Peter; I'm the only one who truly follows Christ." Paul will warn the congregation about the destructiveness of these proud divisions, and urge them toward union in Christ.

Mark opens his "good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" with the herald call of John, preparing the way from the wilderness in the tradition of the ancient prophets. Jesus comes to John and is baptized. Jesus experiences a theophany -- he sees the heavens torn apart, the Spirit of God descends upon him, and a voice speaks of him as God's Beloved Son. Immediately Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, like the Exodus story of God's people, where he meets the evil powers of chaos.

Resentment, jealousy, division, conflict, wilderness, evil and power. This is the backdrop of our three stories that will walk with us into our Lenten pilgrimage. Whatever is broken or askew in the human experience is part of the Biblical stories. Yet we know, God works with our soiled and weakened stuff to bring about unexpected blessings. As we enter the anger, pain and even violence of these ancient stories, we also know that God is moving beneath them to save.

God's story isn't set among the diamonds of exemplary, good people living charmed lives of peace and obedience. God's story is always set within the challenges and tragedies of our sad limitations. God works in and with our brokenness. God uses our evil for good.

As we enter this Lent, we ask God to do for our generation what God has shown in past days. Work within the conflicts, jealousies, violence, lostness, evil and misuse of power that is so present in our age, and bring us the salvation that Joseph, Paul and Jesus reveal. We need your help once again.

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, February 19, 2010

Early Away

Friday, February 19, 2010 -- Week of Last Epiphany, Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 951)
Psalms 95* & 31 (morning) 35 (evening)
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
Philippians 4:1-9
John 17:9-19

I have to be somewhere early today. Not time to write.

Note. Part of the significance of Ezekiel 18:4 is to change a tradition found in the Ten Commandments and elsewhere. No longer will God hold the people responsible from one generation to another. "It is only the person who sins that shall die." It is very significant that Ezekiel felt free, as a prophet, to speak in God's name and to change an ancient Biblical commandment.

And I love the passage from Philippians 4 -- "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice..." (It's Kathy's favorite passage.) However, the footnote offers an alternative translation for "Rejoice" -- "Farewell." Interesting how that affects the reading.

Today the diocese gathers for our annual Convention. In the spirit of John 17, may we be "sanctified in truth."

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, February 18, 2010

Slept In Today

Thursday, February 18, 2010 -- Week of Last Epiphany, Year Two
Martin Luther, Theologian, 1546

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 951)
Psalms 37:1-18 (morning) 37:19-42 (evening)
Habakkuk 3:1-10(11-15)16-18
Philippians 3:12-21
John 17:1-8

I slept wonderfully and long last night and this morning. Past time for writing. But I really like the end of the passage from Habakkuk.

Lowell

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ash Wednesday Readings

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 -- Week of Last Epiphany, Year Two
Ash Wednesday

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 951)
Psalms 95* & 32, 143 (morning) 102, 130 (evening)
Amos 5:6-15
Hebrews 12:1-14
Luke 18:9-14

It seems like one of those days when different things pop out to me from each of the readings.

Psalm 32 speaks of a joy that comes with confession and forgiveness. "Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is put away." The Psalmist speaks of the turbulance that comes when we live with the burden of our sin and alienation, with the inner dialogue of rationalization and conscience. "While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long... I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to God.' Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin." Instantly the Psalmist is relieved and revived. He knows himself to be led by God. "Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in God; shout for joy, all who are true of heart."
___

Several metaphors from Psalm 143 caught me today. "My soul gasps to you like a thirsty land." What a beautiful expression of our desire for the dew of God's blessing. And I like the phrase, "show me the road that I must walk, for I lift up my soul to you."
___

While the Psalmist speaks to our personal condition, Amos addresses our social, economic and political condition, and our responsibilities in that wider sphere. He decries the injustice that does not support the needs of the poor, and he condemns those who live comfortably in "houses of hewn stone" and who drink pleasant wine. The system can be bought. The rich buy influence. "They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth." Amos speaks judgment on the whole thing. Unless we change radically, disaster awaits, he says. Maybe God will help those who remain after catastrophe. "Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph."
___

Hebrews offers an encouraging word for Lent. Embrace discipline. What is the discipline God would call you to today? How would God commend you to a discipline that would strengthen you? The writer uses athletic images. "Lay aside every weight and the sin the clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us... Discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."

What discipline is set before us as we enter this Lent? What exercise should we practice in order to become stronger, healthier in mind, body and soul?
___

Finally the Gospel offers us perspective. Don't compare. There are two men praying. One looks like everything a good person should be. And he thanks God for all his blessings, that he is not like so many others. The other looks like a failure. He doesn't come close, but stays on the back pew. He doesn't look up, but grieves saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!"

Though neither may be aware of it at all, Jesus says that the latter man walked home with God's blessing and joy upon him, and the other did not. Luke adds a punch line: "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Good readings for Ash Wednesday.

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, February 16, 2010

Standing

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 -- Week of Last Epiphany, Year Two
Shrove Tuesday
Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, and Martyr, 1977

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 951)
Psalms 26, 28 (morning) 36, 39 (evening)
Proverbs 30:1-4, 24-33
Philippians 3:1-11
John 18:28-38

We have discussions about "standing" in each of the readings today.

Psalm 26 is one of my least favorite. The writer is so sure of his righteousness and integrity that he asks God for judgment, particularly a judgment that will justify him in the presence of those integrity he challenges.

How different appears the stance of the oracle in Proverbs. "I am weary, O God, I am weary, O God. ...Surely I am to stupid to be human..." The writer looks upon the vastness of the universe and recognizes his limitations. He is incapable of wisdom and cannot know the divine. He closes with a poem about small animals who demonstrate amazing skills, and he cautions against self-aggrandizement.

Our reading from Paul is particularly interesting to me. Paul is reflecting on a conflict between those in the congregation who are Jewish Christians and those who are Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christians are insisting that they have a higher standing than the others because they have inherited and followed the traditions of Judaism. They obey and follow the Biblical law of the Torah, given by Moses. The sign of their obedience and their standing before God is the sign of circumcision. These Jewish Christians are telling the Gentile converts, if you want to have standing before God, as we have, you must also follow these sacred traditions; you must also be circumcised.

Paul disagrees vehemently. The essence of our standing before God is the gift of grace, acceptance before God through Jesus. Our standing is sheer gift. There is nothing we must do to earn or achieve it. The only thing we need to do is to accept the gift. That's faith. Justification before God comes by trusting that God gives us the gift of full standing before God through the life and death of Jesus. Justification by grace, through faith.

Paul turns to the Jewish Christians, who think they have more standing than the Gentile Christians, and he calls them dogs. (A dog was a metaphor of shameless greed.) Paul asserts his standing under their system and says it is rubbish. Paul is circumcised; a zealous, law-observant Jew; fully accounted as righteous under the law. That is rubbish, he says. He puts his faith in Christ, and he gains "the righteousness from God based on faith." No more performance based standing. No more achieving your own standing before God. That's rubbish. "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 from the dead."

For Paul our standing is our relationship with Christ, a living relationship based on his goodness, not ours. We live in him, and out of his energy we respond with lives of thankfulness and service.

Finally we have the ironic confrontation between Pilate and Jesus. Pilate appears to have the power of life and death over all, including Jesus. He charges Jesus with claiming to be the King of the Jews. Jesus asserts his royalty. "My kingdom is not from this world." His is not a kingdom of violence and fighting, like the famous "Pax Romana" -- a peace imposed by the force and bloodshed of the Roman Legions. "If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting..." Jesus redefines his role as king. "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." The world-weary sovereign, Pilate shrugs, "What is truth?" He gets no answer except the One who stands before him -- Truth personified.

We stand in a heritage of truth. The truth of Jesus who shows us the way of God -- the way of love, compassion, non-violence, and justice. Our standing is not something we earn through knowledge or performance. Our standing is God's gift to us, freely offered for us merely to accept. It is not a standing to be lorded over others in pride or exclusion, but a standing to be lived out in love and service.

Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, we come to God in humility and penitence. We will acknowledge our standing as mere mortals before the divine. "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Out of that humble start, we will be invited to walk the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, which leads to resurrection. We are given standing to walk with God. It is God's gift to us, humble dust, raised to divinity.

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, February 15, 2010

Paul's Ethic

Monday, February 15, 2010 -- Week of Last Epiphany, Year Two
Thomas Bray, priest and Missionary, 1730

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 951)
Psalms 25 (morning) 9, 15 (evening)
Proverbs 27:1-6, 10-12
Philippians 2:1-13
John 18:15-18, 25-27

Paul offers a profound commentary on humility and service today. He grounds his argument in the character of Jesus. Though Jesus "was in the form of God," he "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave." Paul tells his followers to do likewise. "Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others." This is the path of divine glory, Paul says.

How might such an ethic play out if it were followed universally?

How might our families fare if each of us served the interests of others before ourselves? Note that even in this section, Paul is not withholding correction or instruction. He is not indulgent in an overly permissive way. He tells the church in Philippi to continue to obey him even in his absence as they did when he was with them. But he exercises his authority over them as a servant or a slave. He places their needs and their good above his own. How might our relationships as spouses or parents be improved if we were to live as Paul insists?

How might we apply the same attitude in our work and vocation? Is there a way that every job and every function can be embraced as an act of service? Is there an attitude of service and consideration for others that can inform and characterize our focus and our labor? A good business provides service and value to others. How can a business be healthy while also doing "nothing from selfish ambition or conceit," looking to the interests of others more than self-interest?

How might Paul's moral vision be a foundation for political and social life? What if political parties, candidates and government officials consistently looked not to their own power or self-interest, but focused entirely on the needs and interests of others? We read the other day Paul's command that we give greater honor to the weaker members of our society. How different, how much more compassionate and benevolent might our nation and our world be if we adopted Paul's vision as our political mandate?

Maybe it is more interesting just to look at the contrasts between Paul's ethic and the actions and statements that define our family, economic and political life. For whose benefit do we act? What actions do we take in our families and among our friends that are contrary to Paul's admonitions? In what ways is our work and our business more self-interest than service? How do politicians ignore the needs and interests of others and appeal to power and self-interest?

Paul grounds his entire argument in the example of Jesus. Paul says that to follow Jesus in the path of humility and service is to share eventually in his destiny of glory. "Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." Paul encourages us to share that destiny by walking in that same love.

He closes this section by telling his friends to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." The translation lacks a bit. It might be better rendered "work forth" or "demonstrate" your own salvation. Salvation is the life that we live in as followers of Christ, a life that we enjoy now and which will come to fullness in the future. When we act as willing servants, following the example of Christ, we are working forth our own salvation even as we anticipate its fulfillment. It is to walk in love as we live in hope.

That's a good resolve with which to start this new week.

Lowell
_____________________________________________

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

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


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

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


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

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

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

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

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Psalm 88

Friday, February 12, 2010 -- Week of 5 Epiphany, Year Two
Charles Freer Andrews, Priest and "Friend of the Poor" in India, 1940

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 947)
Psalms 88 (morning) 91, 92 (evening)
Genesis 27:46 - 28:4, 10-22
Romans 13:1-14
John 8:33-47

First, a word about today new observance in our trial calendar:
Andrews, Charles Freer [1871-Feb. 12, 1940] Anglican priest and friend of Gandhi, he felt called to service among the poor in India. He was deeply involved with the struggle for Indias independence, and worked so tirelessly to bring races and castes together that he eventually resigned his own orders so they would not stand as a separation between himself and those he served. Later he worked in Fiji, parts of the South Pacific and Africa to help free indentured Indian servants. (Feb 12)
_____________

I have a very early meeting today and don't have enough time to write.

Here's a reflection from Nov. 11, 2006 that reflects on this morning's Psalm 88.

As far as I know, Episcopalians do something in worship today that is unique among Christians. Everywhere that we gather in public prayer of the Daily Office of Morning Prayer, we will read Psalm 88. When the famous Old Testament scholar Bernhard Anderson was on sabbatical at my seminary, he taught a class on the Psalms and remarked that he knew of no denomination that used Psalm 88 in public worship. One of the students pulled out a Prayer Book and pointed to a day like today -- a Friday in the cycle of the Daily Office -- and showed him that we do. Anderson seemed to like that very much.

It's easy to see why leaders of public worship have shied away from Psalm 88. It's pretty depressing. "O Lord, my God, my Savior, by day and night I cry to you." The mention of God as Savior is about as good as it gets. "You have laid me in the depths of the Pit, in dark places, and in the abyss. ...You have put my friends far from me; you have made me to be abhorred by them... My sight has failed me because of trouble; Lord, I have called upon you daily; I have stretched out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead?" (The presumed answer is "no.") "...Lord, why have you rejected me? Why have you hidden your face from me? Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the point of death; I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind. Your blazing anger has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me."

The psalmist not only cries out to God the passion of his misery, but also lays his circumstances upon God as the source of his suffering. Such boldness is not unknown, or even that uncommon in Hebrew tradition. But the unusual thing about this Psalm is that the prayer never mitigates the completeness of his plight with any hint of hope or praise.

There are other psalms of lament, but they usually find some expression of relief, even if only a verse. "But I put my trust in you, O Lord, and you will come to my aid." No so in Psalm 88. This is a cry of unbroken distress. No pious words of trust or hope soften the words of grief, accusation, anger, and questioning.

There are many psalms that speak of the horrors of human suffering. Psalm 22 finds its way into much of our Holy Week liturgy -- "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?" All of the other psalms employ some expression of hope, some commitment to praise. Psalm 22 changes tone after 20 verses when the psalmist says, "I will declare your Name to my brethren; *in the midst of the congregation I will praise you." Eight more verses of praise and hope then follow.

That's not the path of Psalm 88. It ends alone and dark: "My friend and neighbor you have put away from me, * and darkness is my only companion." That is the closing image -- "darkness is my only companion."

No gentle encouragement. No "It'll work out." No "Take heart, God is with you." This is the cry of unbroken misery.

I'm glad we have Psalm 88. I'm glad we read it out loud in public. There are times and conditions that we experience as unmitigated sadness. There are circumstances that are hopeless.

This Psalm stands to affirm that such expressions of grief are legitimate. It is not faithless to cry out in helpless and hopeless anguish. It is not wrong to place responsibility for such wrongs at the feet of God. And you don't have to appease God with some word of piety, hope or praise.

We can be completely honest toward God with our thoughts and feelings. And God is big enough to take it all. God won't punish us for being hurt and angry, even hurt and angry at God.

In fact, only God can take this kind of suffering. To give it to God might restrain us from internalizing our angry grief into a depression or externalizing by lashing out at someone else. Only God is great enough to take this kind of misery and not compound it.

I wonder what happened when this poet finished his lament. What happened when he moved into the silence after he uttered "darkness is my only companion"? I don't know. But I'll bet thousands of his descendants have prayed this Psalm with tears and somehow felt understood.

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, Ark

Paul's Ethic

Thursday, February 11, 2010 -- Week of 5 Epiphany, Year Two
Frances Jane (Fanny) Van Alstyne Crosby, Hymnwriter, 1915

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 947)
Psalms [83] or 146, 147 (morning) 85, 86 (evening)
Genesis 27:30-45
Romans 12:9-12
John 8:21-32

First, a note about today's observance from Holy Women, Holy Men:
Crosby, Frances Jane (Fanny) Van Alstyne [1829-February 12, 1915] American hymn-writer. Having lost her eyesight in infancy, she was educated at the Institute for the Blind in NY, then became an instructor there. She worked closely with Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey. She wrote over 9,000 hymns, including Blessed Assurance, under her maiden name, Fanny Crosby. (Feb 11)
___

Several phrases from today's reading from Romans show up in an ancient blessing that I often use at the end of our Eucharists:

Go forth into the world in peace.
Be of good courage.
Hold fast to that which is good;
render to no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak;
help the afflicted; honor all persons.
Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit,
and the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you and remain with you always.

This blessing has a special resonance for me because it was the characteristic blessing given by my bishop in Mississippi, Duncan M. Gray, Jr., who is for me a model of Christian living and leadership. Some years ago Will Campbell wrote a book that was largely biographical about Duncan Gray -- And Also With You -- and Will used this blessing as the chapter outline. The book is the story of Duncan's courage in the days of segregation, particularly when he was rector of my home parish in Oxford, Mississippi. It was a time of great fear and conflict, as our culture felt challenged and threatened by the claims of equality from our black neighbors.

St. Paul's guidance is worth re-reading (and actively typing):
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. (note: other manuscripts read this passage as "serve the opportune time") Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

A sound and fundamental ethic of life could be built from these admonitions.

Paul goes on to offer some commentary on the complicated business of living in a world of conflict and disagreement:
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; (again, there is an interesting alternative reading: "give yourself to humble tasks"); do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' No, 'if you enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I wonder how different the history of this past decade might have been had our nation followed this moral outline rather than the choices we made. The Hebrew Scripture makes it clear that God reserves vengeance as a Divine prerogative. Human beings do not have the wisdom or the means to administer vengeance without creating more injustice.

What if our instinctive reaction to evil and violence were to overcome evil with good, to seek to know what hurt or anger has motivated the evil action, to bring food and drink and understanding to bear rather than more violence in the ever widening cycles of violence and revenge? I'm reminded of the statement from C. S. Chesterton: "The problem with Christianity is not that it has been tried and found wanting, but that it has not been tried."

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, February 10, 2010

Reclamation Projects

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 -- Week of 5 Epiphany, Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 947)
Psalms 119:97-120 (morning) 81, 82 (evening)
Genesis 27:1-29
Romans 12:1-8
John 8:12-20

Life is unfair. Sometimes the schemers and dishonest win. Jacob deceived his father Issac. He stole his brother Esau's blessing and inheritance. His mother Rebekah planned the whole thing. Greed, ambition, favoritism. Intentional lying, deception, and disloyalty. It's not supposed to happen this way. This is a break in the natural order of things. A slick urbanite sticks the country rube again. The threat of violence, and later of war, hangs over the whole scene.

You could play these features out in hundreds of scenarios. The cunning financiers figure out ways to stifle the regulatory system and rig a complicated scheme of sub-prime mortgages that they hawk to naive people who think they have been given entrance to the American dream -- to own my own home. It's a lie. It's not supposed to happen that way. But a sales commission happens quickly, and greed blinds common sense. The whole deck of cards tumbles, bankrupting people out of their homes, plunging a worldwide economic system into chaos and recession. But some of these players are too big to fail. They get bailed out, despite their wrongdoing. And when they turn a fast buck again, the same scoundrels reward themselves again.

At stake is trust. Jacob broke trust with his father and brother. It will cause a break in their family that will last for decades. Financial systems are systems of trust. A trust is a legal financial document. A failure of trust sank our financial system. When you can't trust that a loan will be repaid, everything unravels.

God works in this mess. According to the stories that we have, God does the best divine work in the midst of bad things.

Jacob will become God's reclamation project. It will take decades. Jacob will always have that sneaky streak in him. But God can use even our faults. Eventually there will be a reconciliation between Jacob and Esau. But that is out of Jacob's power. It is Esau who will have to do the forgiving.

So we pray to God. Help us in our mess. Start the project to reclaim our nation and its financial system. Give us the discipline to restore trust. Teach us to exercise our greedy nature in a way that can bring prosperity to all rather than deceit and injustice. If God can make a man out of Jacob, God can make our nation into something respectable. No doubt, it will take decades.

Like Jacob, we will have to learn to discipline our greed, pride and selfishness. We will have to learn to see the ones that God sees first -- the poor, the weak, the marginalized -- and to see them for good, not for cunning. We will have to earn trust. We will have to pay the price. Earning trust is costly. You have to do right by people. You have to be willing to work for good, not just for your own self-interests. You have to use power righteously. You have to learn to live in the wider world.

Jacob will have to travel. He will have to learn to live with other families. He will wrestle with God. He will be wounded. But God will be with him, to bless and guide him.

God is with us too. God invites us to travel the world, to learn to live with other families. God challenges us to wrestle with the divine demands. God is with us, to bless and guide us too.

If God can reclaim and rehabilitate Jacob, God can reclaim and rehabilitate this nation.

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, February 09, 2010

Two Traditions

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 -- Week of 5 Epiphany, Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 947)
Psalms 78:1-39 (morning) 78:40-72 (evening)
Genesis 26:1-6, 12-33
Hebrews 13:17-25
John 7:53 - 8:11

It seems to me that today we have two stories that offer a traditional value for both Jews and Christians that each has historically violated.

First we have the stories of Isaac's early life among the Philistines. The location is the valley of Gerar, just a few miles from modern Gaza. It is a dry, arid area with an underground layer of clay which draws water that flows from the hill country. We read today of several incidents of conflict between Isaac and the Philistines. Much of the conflict involved water.

When Isaac dug a well and found a valley spring, the local herders complained, "The water is ours." So Isaac moved. He dug another well, and there was a similar quarrel. So Isaac moved again. On his third try, Isaac dug a well, and there was no complaint.

What happened? The first two wells tapped aquifers that affected and compromised the pre-existing wells of the native Philistines. Isaac acted honorable and traditionally by moving, eventually to a site where his use of water did not harm his neighbor.

Some of the anger and frustration that modern Palestinians report has to do with similar conflicts over water. In many places where Israelis have created settlements in the land formerly held by Palestinians, the Israelis have dug wells that have compromised or even eliminated the water sources that the Palestinians depended upon. Some native farmers have lost their livelihood because they could not water their crops or animals. Some communities have been severely disrupted. In many of the stories I have heard, the Palestinians have been unsuccessful in their appeals through the Israeli authorities. I'm sure there are stories in which their water rights have been upheld, but I've not heard any of those stories. (Maybe a reader can help me with a reference.)

The creation of Israeli settlements in land occupied from Palestinians has been a primary source of conflict and bitterness. Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been a primary source of potential threat and violence for many years. What if modern Israelis had followed the course of their ancestor Isaac? What if they had planted settlements with sensitivity to the water needs of their neighbors already occupying the land? Had they done so, much suffering and conflict might have been avoided. They also would have been acting within the example and character of their own tradition and heritage as passed down by Isaac.

The story in John 8 is an ancient story of the Christian tradition, but its position in the Gospels is disputed. Some authorities place it after Luke 21:38, others in another place in John's gospel. Most ancient texts lack this story in this place, but it is an old story.

They have caught her red handed. The woman was in the very act of committing adultery. The scripture is clear. The law of Moses demands that "you shall purge the evil from your midst." (It is interesting. Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 demand that both the man and the woman caught in adultery should die. Where is the man in this story?)

Jesus arrests their act of judgment. "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." No one steps up.

I read from the Access Bible, and this is one of those days when it offers a very helpful annotation, saying, "The story illustrates 3:17; 12:47." Here are those verses. 3:17 -- "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." 12:47 -- "I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."

What if Christians would live with the same grace and tolerance that Jesus exhibited? As a culture, Christians have become so noted for their judging nature and intolerance, especially toward sexual things, that we know instinctively what people mean when they say of a woman, "She's a sinner." We know what the bumper sticker means, "Jesus, save me from your followers." What if Christianity were known more for its compassion and tolerance than for its judgment and condemnation? When will we learn to act within the example and character of our own heritage and tradition given to us by Jesus?

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, February 08, 2010

Surprise!

Monday, February 8, 2010 -- Week of 5 Epiphany, Year Two

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 947)
Psalms 80 (morning) 77, [79] (evening)
Genesis 25:19-34
Hebrews 13:1-16
John 7:37-52

We awoke today with a fresh blanket of snow covering the ground. Pretty modest fare compared with 20 inches or so that my sister outside of D.C. is coping with. I read in the paper that massive areas of coral have died of cold in the Florida keys. It appears that climate change has even extended into the netherworld. It is pretty obvious with the Saints win in the Super Bowl that hell has frozen over. And I'm not about to board an airplane until I know that the flying pigs have been accounted for.

(For those who aren't football fans, I grew up in Mississippi where our professional team was the New Orleans Saints. "Hapless" was the usual word applied to them. Just as Mississippi was always 50th in every ranking, the Saints were the worst franchise in the NFL. My college quarterback Archie Manning was one of the best quarterbacks ever. He led the Saints for ten years, never with a winning record. The team was so bad, that for a while fans wore bags over their heads to hide their identities and called the team the "Aints." Archie's young children asked their mother if they could join in the "boo-ing." When will the Saints win the Super Bowl? When pigs fly and hell freezes over!)

Yet God's doing the impossible and unexpected is a major theme of scripture. In Genesis today we read of the birth of twins, Esau and Jacob. Breaking with the strict traditions of hierarchy and inheritance, the younger Jacob becomes the dominant, often through questionable means.

In the Gospel reading from John today, we see a dispute about Jesus. The Biblical literalists close the book on him: "Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived? ...Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee." It is noteworthy that John's gospel has no story of Jesus' being born in Bethlehem. From the perspective of the Gospel of John, Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus comes from Galilee. Impossible? Unexpected? Open your eyes and see.

"Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings..." says Hebrews. The text is referring to Biblical laws that have been central to Biblical identity for centuries, the kosher dietary laws. In the name of a new way, Hebrews insists that our hearts "be strengthened by grace," not "by regulations about food." It is not hard to imagine the outpouring of objection from those who would have identified themselves as Biblically observant -- We follow the kosher laws God gave us from the Holy Word. Surprise! God changes the rules, says Hebrews.

In the same paragraph we read "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Yet the whole story of Jesus is the story of God's doing a new thing.

God's steadfast love endures forever and the compassion of Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. When we speak of that which is unchanging and enduring, we speak of the divine character of grace and love and the divine passion for justice, which is love expressed corporately. Too often, in the name of faith, people have made lesser things eternal. Yet, over and over God surprises us, bringing grace, love and justice through the unexpected person or the unexpected event. Literalists and legalists are always the last to recognize those divine actions. Established structures are usually slow to embrace God's new ways as well.

We can become anxious in a world where hell freezes and pigs fly, where the younger supplants the elder and treasured traditions are broken, where scripture is reinterpreted and things aren't as we always believed them. But God will not be defined. If we are to drink from the water of the Spirit that Jesus speaks of today, we must be willing to let God be manifest in Galileans and second-borns. We must be able to be surprised by the unexpected source of divine grace.

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