Friday, April 29, 2011

Imagine

Friday, April 29, 2011 -- Friday in Easter Week

To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgical.wordiness.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 958)
Psalms 136 (morning)        118 (evening)
Daniel 12:1-4, 13
Acts 4:1-12
John 16:1-15

It must have been hard for the disciples to imagine what Jesus was talking about.  Today Jesus tells them, in essence, it's a good thing that I leave you.  I'll send the Advocate in my place.  It'll be better.  You'll have the Spirit of truth to guide you.  There is so much more for you than I can give or teach you.  But the Advocate will guide and teach you, opening you more and more to God's light.

At that time, all the disciples could hear was that Jesus sounded like he was preparing to leave them.  When?  You said "in a little while."  How long is that?  They felt threatened.  Their teacher -- the focus of their hope -- was talking about leaving.  Oh, no.  What will we do?  They probably couldn't hear or imagine what he was telling them about the Advocate.

Only later would they learn.  The Advocate is the very presence and reality of God's Holy Spirit with and among them, unencumbered by time and space, flesh and blood.

Filled with that Spirit, we read a couple of days ago about Peter and John healing a man lame from birth.  He was asking for money.  They gave him his legs.  In the lyrical words of the King James Version, Peter said:  "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."  The ensuing attention in the Temple drew the officials' ire, so they arrested the pair.  Today we see Peter and John before the ruling authorities, including four officials who at one time or another occupied the office of High Priest.  The group is not dissimilar to the body that condemned Jesus to death and handed him over to the Romans for execution. 

The governing council of the Temple was dominated by Sadducees.  The Sadducees were wealthy and powerful.  They collaborated with the Romans, keeping religious order for the right to have considerable power and influence.  They ran the Temple, and its profitable monopoly on forgiveness and purity.  The Sadducees were conservative traditionalists.  They did not believe in resurrection, a new-fangled idea not found in the ancient Torah.  Their imaginations were conscribed and bounded.  If it wasn't in the Torah, they didn't believe it.  If it troubled the good order, they stopped it.

Peter, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, stands bulletproof in front of this threatening and powerful assembly.  He tells then that a man born lame has indeed been healed.  He has been healed by the name of Jesus whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead.  It is unlikely that this entrenched, powerful group of conservatives are going to be able to wrap their imaginations around this.

So often our problems are a crisis of imagination.  We're so used to thinking about things one way that we can't imagine another way.

I heard a story the other day about a consultant who was working with a high tech firm that was foundering.  The company president blamed it on the elevator.  It seems the company was on the top floor of an old warehouse.  The only way to get there was by riding a cramped, very smelly, slow elevator.  By the time the R&D team got to their work, the president was convinced they had lost their creative spark.  Nobody could figure a way to fix the elevator or provide an alternative route to the office.  They were stuck.

The consultant talked about the dilemma at home with his family.  His son laughed, somewhat mockingly.  "It's simple, Dad.  Cookies!"  The dad didn't find this particularly funny.  So he asked his son what he meant.  But he got no reply except a very serious, "Cookies."

Several days later, as he was riding the maddening elevator, the consultant understood in a flash.  Cookies!  The problem wasn't the elevator, it was how the R&D team felt when they left the elevator.  So he set up a table with juices, fruit and healthy cookies right outside the elevator door.  So even though the elevator ride was terrible, the people spent the whole ride in anticipation of the goodies that awaited them.  The paradigm had shifted.

Imagine!

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 missionstclare.com -- Click for online Daily Office
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 --  Click for Divine Hours

Discussion Blog:  To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, or click here for Lowell's blog find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

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

See 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, April 28, 2011

"There"

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 958)
Psalms 146, 147 (morning)        148, 149 (evening)
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Acts 3:11-26
John 15:12-27

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

Two core principles of the Jesus story -- 1. it's all about love; 2. death opens the door to life.

One might make the same point about organic life.  Life is sustained by reproduction, which, raised to its highest forms, is an expression of love -- the love that unites to create new life; the love that nurtures and sustains life.  And for any life to live, something must die.  The food chain and the chain of being are deeply entwined.

Our spiritual traditions tell us that our deepest, truest life begins in death.  Baptism is our incorporation into the Body of Christ.  Baptism is a ritual death and rebirth by drowning and being raised from the depths.  An old identity is stripped away and a new identity is given.  The breath of the Holy Spirit breathes us into new life.

Every day we are invited to die to a self-centered, self-powered way of life and to surrender to the wisdom and love of God directing us by the winds of the Spirit.  We are told to surrender self-control and to trust God to give us our direction and calling.  We are to let love be our guide -- to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  To love one another as Christ has loved us.  Such love is death to self-centered projects.

Maybe the greatest death is to quit making life into a project -- to die to making our selves, to quit turning our own life into a project.  The late Gerald May wrote this:
 
The fantasy is that if one heads in the right direction and just works hard enough and learns enough new things and grows enough and gets actualized, one will be there.  None of us is quite certain exactly where "there" is, but it obviously has something to do with resting.  As Joseph Conrad put it, 'What all men are really after is some form, or perhaps only some formula, of peace.' 

'There' has something to do with being able to stop all the existential struggling, and finally, just being able to let one's self be.  Just to be.  Fully and freely, unfettered and with wholeness.  To be able to relax and be all right.  To take a deep breath and lean back and sigh and
be and have it somehow be just fine.  To rest.  (from Simply Sane, p. 6)

To be.  In love.  Resting, in love.  Peace.  All it takes is a little death.  Just quitting all the "existential struggling," as Gerald May says.  Then we find we live in the very atmosphere of love, where everything is a gift.  You wake up in the morning -- your spouse is still here.  Amazing!  There is cereal in the pantry.  How marvelous!  Look at the water coming out of the faucet.  How lucky I am!

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 missionstclare.com -- Click for online Daily Office
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 --  Click for Divine Hours

Discussion Blog:  To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, or click here for Lowell's blog find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

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

See 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, April 27, 2011

Abide

Wednesday, April 27 -- Wednesday in Easter Week

To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgical.wordiness.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 958)
Psalms 97, 99 (morning)        115 (evening)
Micah 7:7-15
Acts 3:1-10
John 15:1-11

"Abide in me as I abide in you.  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.  ...As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

I was visiting in a friend's office one day, she is a nun, and she pointed with bright-eyed energy to a significant sign prominent above the workspace of her desk.  There was one word:  "Abide."  She said something to indicate that this word had become something of a touchstone for her, especially as she became absorbed into her daily challenges and tasks.  "Abide."

I knew the nun well, and that an important part of her own spiritual practice was to meditate on scripture using the ancient discipline of lectio divina.  When she pointed at the sign and indicated its importance to her, I knew that she had experienced a profound period of lectio while reading John 15.  It had hit her in a deep place. 

To abide in Jesus is to live in an intimate, energizing connection with him, as a living branch abiding in the living vine.  Her prayer itself, listening deeply with open mind and heart, is an experience of abiding with God's word. 

It seems to me that there is a passive and an active dimension to this abiding. 

We abide when we do things like lectio, abiding with a passage of scripture.  Listening deeply.  Letting it feed us like the nutrient from the vine moving into the branches.  To abide with God awhile implies a resting, a contentment.  To abide is to simply be.  Here.  Awake, alert, yet still and restful.  It is the rich, trustful waiting, like the opening of today's reading from Micah:  "But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; God will hear me."

There is also an active form of abiding.  When we know our grounding and our source, we can move through our day with its busy demands and challenges, while having a portion of our consciousness aware that we are simultaneously abiding in the life and love of Christ.  The Holy Spirit is breathing and energizing us and we live and move and have our being in God.  We bear much fruit because we are connected to the divine life, abiding in God's love.  That Christ's joy may be in us, and our joy may be complete.

It may be that this notion of abiding can also help us recognize what parts of our life are not fruitful, but wasteful, draining and fruitless.  When we sense that some activities, relationships or passions do not maintain our grounded abiding in Christ, it may be a sign that these are the branches that need to be pruned in order that we might bear good fruit.

Abide. 

A good word for right now, this morning time of waiting -- reading, praying, reflecting.  A good word also for the active time of the day. 

"Abide in me as I abide in you.  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.  ...As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

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 missionstclare.com -- Click for online Daily Office
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 --  Click for Divine Hours

Discussion Blog:  To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, or click here for Lowell's blog find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

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

See 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, April 26, 2011

The Way

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 -- Tuesday in Easter Week

To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgical.wordiness.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 958)
Psalms 103 (morning)        111, 114 (evening)
Isaiah 30:18-21
Acts 2:36-41(42-47)
John 14:15-31

For weeks we have read from the prophet Jeremiah about the terrible consequences of injustice and unfaithfulness.  During the long weeks of Lent, we heard his plaintive cry as he sought to turn a people from their greed and irreverence.  His pleading was unheeded, so we heard him speak of the exile and suffering that their behavior would bring upon their society.  We felt Jeremiah's grief as he shared in the inevitable misery that accompanies folly and injustice.  From time to time, Jeremiah would speak of the hope that emerges following darkness.

Now we are in the light of the Great Fifty Days of Easter.  We hear the prophetic words of joyful promise.  "For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.  Truly, O people..., you shall weep no more.  He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.  Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.  And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"

How wonderfully Isaiah's words ring for the post-resurrection church.  They have seen the Teacher.  He is risen and he is walking with them to guide them in what they now call "The Way."  Soon they will receive the Holy Spirit, the Advocate and Guide, who will be the Word of God saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 

We've been reading from Acts -- Peter's sermon at Pentecost.  Today the people respond earnestly, and Peter promises them "that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  Three thousand persons were added to the followers of "The Way." 

The next verse has become the first sentence of our Prayer Book's Baptismal Covenant.  After the text speaks of the baptism of the three thousand at Pentecost, Luke summarizes his picture of the early church:  "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers."  We renew our promise to do just that at every baptism. 

Then Luke adds something that we seem to have lost.  He speaks of a characteristic of the early church that has vanished from all but monastic expressions of Christianity and a few rare movements.  "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need."  That is a verse that has inspired a number of committed communities as well as some economic expressions of Christian socialism.  It is interesting to realize that the early church's economic practices appear to be closer to a benevolent form of socialism or communism than individualistic free enterprise or capitalism.

What is the most loving form of living?  What is the most loving form of economics?  For Christians, it all comes down to love.  We have that reinforced in today's discourse from John.  Jesus says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.  This it the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive...  They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father."  Later in John's narrative, Jesus will give his disciples the new commandment:  "Love one another."

So we see the transition from injustice and its painful consequences to the message of Love and its communal healing Spirit.  It is now up to us to listen and respond.  We have seen our Teacher.  We have been given the Spirit.  When we turn to the right or to the left, the Spirit speaks to our intuition to say, "This is the way; walk in it."  We are those who walk in The Way of Jesus.  It is a Way that is stronger than death, full of generosity and love.

Today is a new day.  A new day to devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.  A new day to give to any as any have need.  A new day to love Jesus and to keep his commandment to love others.

Jesus tells us, "On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you...;  and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."  Let it be.  Amen.

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 missionstclare.com -- Click for online Daily Office
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 --  Click for Divine Hours

Discussion Blog:  To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, or click here for Lowell's blog find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

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

See 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