God vs. The Golden Calf

Monday, April 30, 2012 -- Week of 4 Easter
Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, Editor and Prophetic Witness, 1879

Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms  41, 52 (morning)        //        44 (evening)
Exodus 32:1-20
Colossians 3:18 - 4:6(7-18)
Matthew 5:1-10

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

Power and control; greed and gluttony; money and sex.  How powerfully these drive us.  These are our "golden calves." 

It might be interesting to take these emotional drives and take note of how many times they are stimulated today.  Notice the commercials and ads on TV, billboard, radio or online; in newspapers or magazines.  How many appeal to our needs for power and control, greed and gluttony, money and sex?  Monitor your own inner stimuli and motivation.  How often do you have emotional reactions that are triggered by the desire for power and control, greed and gluttony, money and sex?

Today in our Exodus epic, there is a vacuum of healthy leadership.  Moses has disappeared on the mountain.  There he is talking with God.  This is the God who brought the people freedom from the oppression they had suffered at the hands of the Egyptian culture which was a culture driven by power and control, greed and gluttony, money and sex.  God rescued them.  But now they find themselves in a desert wilderness feeling vulnerable and powerless, living simply and dependently, learning the new rules of communal living -- compassionate, mutual regard.  The old ways and old days haunt them. 

The golden calf was a powerful symbol.  Archeologists have uncovered idols and statues of bulls from many ancient cultures.  The idol represented the needs of the people: power, wealth, and sex.  The bull is powerful.  Large and strong, with dangerous horns, a fighting bull is ferocious and deadly.  We want a god who is powerful enough to fulfill our needs.  Male bulls with large sexual organs are an image of sexual prowess.  The gold statue mirrored the people's desire for wealth and prosperity.  Rituals of bull worship also included the sacrifice of great animals, with the burning of the inedible parts as a gift to the gods and the eating of the steaks as the core of a great feast and banquet.  In a culture that rarely ate meat, such festivals were a great attraction.  With abundant food and drink, suggestive dance and music, sexual urges and tensions could be released, sometimes with the aid of religious prostitutes.

This was Moses' competition:  the revelry of a celebration of power, gluttony and sex.  The golden calf is still God's competition.  Politics, economics and personal status are all driven by power, gluttony and sex. 

Most of us become addicted, in one form or another, to power, gluttony and sex; to control, greed, and money.  The symbols of their possession are the symbols of status in our culture.

God's invitation to real life is not as flashy.  Moses found that the Ten Commandments were a hard sell.  The Beatitudes of Jesus which we read today aren't as hot and sexy as the lure of the bull.  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, ...those who mourn, ...the meek, ...those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, ...the merciful, ...the pure in heart, ...the peacemakers, ...those who are persecuted for righteousness sake."  On the elementary school playground and in many corporate settings, these aren't the qualities that get reward and respect. 

In our culture, most people try the path of power and control, greed and gluttony, money and sex first.  Only when it leaves us hurt and unfulfilled do we tend to turn to the alternatives.  Three thousand years later, and its still God vs. the golden calf.  

Lowell

_______________

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

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 http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

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.

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

A Better Resurrection

Friday, April 27, 2012 -- Week of 3 Easter
Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894

Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms  105:1-22 (morning)        //        105:23-45 (evening)
Exodus 24:1-18
Colossians 2:8-23
Matthew 4:12-17

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

...when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  (Colossians 2:12)

Today is the day for our observance for Christina Rossetti, noted poet of the Victorian era who wrote many devotional poems.  Episcopalians probably know her best as the author of two Christmas hymns.  In the bleak midwinter, so beautifully set to the Gustav Holst tune (Hymn 112) is a carol that often chokes me, especially its last verse:

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a wise man, I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him:  give my heart

There is also the lesser known carol, Love came down at Christmas, Hymn 84.

But I'm thinking of a note I got yesterday from a parishioner who is at her mother's side as her mother is dying.  She was looking for some devotional words.  Here is a fine poem from Christina Rossetti, called A Better Resurrection --

I have no wit, no words, no tears;
         My heart within me like a stone
Is numb'd too much for hopes or fears;
         Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimm'd with grief
         No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
         O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,
         My harvest dwindled to a husk:
Truly my life is void and brief
         And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
         No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall—the sap of Spring;
         O Jesus, rise in me.

My life is like a broken bowl,
         A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
         Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perish'd thing;
         Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
         O Jesus, drink of me. 

Lowell

__________

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

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 http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

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.

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

Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

Thursday, April 26, 2012 -- Week of 3 Easter
Robert Hunt, Priest and First Chaplain at Jamestown, 1607

Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms  37:1-18 (morning)        //        37:19-42 (evening)
Exodus 20:1-21
Colossians 1:24 - 2:7
Matthew 4:1-11

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

There is a phrase in today's reading from Colossians that jumps out at me -- "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (1:27)

That says so much is so few words. 

What a wonderful mystery and reality -- Christ is in you.  Christ lives in us, with us, and through us.  Our deepest reality is that God in Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit.  We walk about the earth clothed in divine raiment. 

That identity is our hope.  When we are discouraged or tired, Christ in us is our revival.  When we are lost or confused, Christ in us is our grounding.  When we are alive and active, Christ in us is our energy.

In and through all of this is the glory of the divine.  We live in divine life and light.  We strive for the all, fullness.  Glory is our destiny.  We walk in glory even as we journey toward it.  Christ is the journey and the journey's end.

"Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Lowell

___________

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

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 http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

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.

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

The Experience of the Holy

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 -- Week of 3 Easter
St. Mark the Evangelist

Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer)

EITHER the readings for Wednesday of 3 Easter, p. 961)
Psalms  38 (morning)        //        119:25-48 (evening)
Exodus 19:16-25
Colossians 1:15-23
Matthew 3:13-17

OR the readings for St. Mark (p. 997)
Morning Prayer:  Psalm 145; Ecclesiasticus 2:1-11; Acts 12:25 - 13:3
Evening Prayer:  Psalms 67, 96;  Isaiah 62:6012;  2 Timothy 4:1-11  

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

I chose the readings for Wednesday of 3 Easter

The Experience of the Holy

In Exodus we read of when God descended upon the top of Mount Sinai in fire, smoke and thunder to speak to Moses and to appear to the people.  Their sense of awe is palpable.  To get too close would be to die.  In Colossians we read of the growing sense of deepening reality that the early Church experiences as they reflect on the wonder of God mediated through Jesus Christ.  What they have experienced in his incarnation is an expression of God's creative presence at all times.  And today's Gospel recalls the baptism of Jesus when the heavens open and God declares him beloved.

From time to time I think each of us experiences the holy.  I think every human being has sensed the presence of the More, the Awesome, the Wonderful.  Such experiences are so different from our ordinary consciousness; I'm not sure we are always able to appreciate and treasure those holy moments.  It's too easy to let them fade or to rationalize them as something merely odd because we don't have reality-categories to fit them into.  Without categories, we can dismiss the penultimate as merely unreal.

There are times when contemplative prayer goes especially deep.  In those experiences, "I" disappear.  Any sense of my self as separate from the all evaporates.  There is no experience of time.  There is only everything.  The only sense of having experienced anything comes as "I" emerge out of the state of "no-I."  What is left is a deep sense of peace and connection with all that is.  A calm gladness that feels completely rested, at ease, present, content with what is.  It is like the echo of a fine vibration that continues in the background.  There is an exhilarated "yes" underneath whatever may have happened.

If that is what it is to experience God, then it is exquisite.  If that is what it is like not to exist, then it is fine with me.  The experience is so self-authenticating, that it feels much more real than ordinary life or ordinary consciousness.  It seems like a peek at the reality that is below appearances.  I can believe or hope, that in the deepest reality, in God, all opposites resolve, everything is truly reconciled, and a joyful peace that passes all understanding heals and unites everything, even the horrors of this world.

But I don't know with full certainty that this is really real.  It might be a trick of my imagination.  Or just some odd brain chemistry.  It might have no exterior reality beyond my brain.  It would be easy to dismiss.  There is nothing outside to authenticate, except the witness of religious mystic traditions.  And they could all be as crazy and deluded as I am. 

It is a choice for me to accept this experience as real, as an authentic experience of the Holy.  That choice changes my frameworks.  It influences my interpretations.  It grounds me in a faith in something more; something unifying and wonderful.  Living out of that reality feels more alive than dismissing or forgetting that reality.  If it is truly real, then life is more wonderful than I can imagine.  If it's not, that's okay too.  Just touching the possibility is fulfilling in and of itself.

Lowell

______________

 Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

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 http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

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.

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

Genocide Remembrance

Tuesday, April 24, 2012 -- Week of 3 Easter
Genocide Remembrance

Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms  26, 28 (morning)        //        36, 39 (evening)
Exodus 19:1-16
Colossians 1:1-14
Matthew 3:7-12  

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

There is a voice of rebellion deep in the heart of the wicked; *
     there is no fear of God before their eyes.  (Psalm 36:1)

I am utterly numb and crushed; *
     I wail, because of the groaning of my heart.
My friends and companions draw back from my affliction; *
     my neighbors stand afar off.  (Psalm 38:8, 11)

Today in the church's proposed calendar we remember those who have died and who have been hurt by acts of genocide.  Genocide is "the systematic and intentional destruction of a people by death, by the imposition of severe mental or physical abuse, by the forced displacement of children, or by other atrocities designed to destroy the lives and human dignity of large groups of people."  (Holy Women, Holy Men, p. 342)

Yesterday President Obama visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum with Elie Weisel.  Reports of their visit were moving.  I am encouraged that last year the President established the Atrocities Prevention Board and announced a policy to make the prevention of atrocities a key focus for the U.S.  There is now a structured way to monitor and report on current and potential acts of genocide.  Too often our attention has been narrowed only by focus on our own vital interests.  Genocide happens when the world averts its eyes and turns away.

I tend to be one who favors diplomatic and police responses to international threats.  I opposed the Iraq war from the outset.  Yet I also tend to be one who wishes the U.S. would lead more prompt military responses in situations of genocide.  I thought President Clinton was slow to respond to the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.  The success of that U.N. operation to stop the systemic murders is a reminder that the world can act to prevent and to stop genocide. 

I wonder how many lives might be saved if the U.S. and U.N. would act now with significant force to save the people of Darfur, South Kordofan and Nuba Mountains, and the Blue Nile from the atrocities and systematic attacks that have killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than a million people.  I am particularly proud of Dr. Sam Totten of Fayetteville for his tireless work and advocacy to prevent genocide, especially in and around Sudan.

The prevention of genocide seems to me to be one of the few compelling arguments for military action.  Can a criminal like Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir be that immune from superior military power? 

Elie Weisel reminded us that the civilized world failed to speak up and take measures to prevent the Holocaust of Nazi Germany, and he shown a light on the threats that Syria's Bashar al-Assad and Iran's leadership pose to the Middle East. 

Lower on the world's radar is the systemic cultural genocide that China pursues against the Tibetan and Uyghur peoples.  I'm proud of the University of Arkansas' oral history project to capture the stories and memories of Tibetan refugees who recall their country before the Chinese invasion. 

And so today, we remember and we pray.

Almighty God, our Refuge and our Rock, your loving care knows no bounds and embraces all the peoples of the earth:  Defend and protect those who fall victim to the forces of evil, and as we remember this day those who endured depredation and death because of who they were, not because of what they had done or failed to do, give us the courage to stand against hatred and oppression, and to seek the dignity and well-being of all for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, in whom you have reconciled the world to yourself; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.  (from Holy Women, Holy Men)

Lowell

__________

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

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 http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

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.

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

Rule with Righteousness

Monday, April 23, 2012 -- Week of 3 Easter
George, Soldier and Martyr, c. 304; Toyohiko Kagawa, Prophetic Witness in Japan, 1960

Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 961)
Psalms  25 (morning)        //        9, 15 (evening)
Exodus 18:13-27
1 Peter 5:1-14
Matthew (1:1-17); 3:1-6  

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

There are several psalms like Psalm 9, appointed for this evening, that seem to express my yearnings in an election year and during times of political conflict.  At the core of those psalms is something kin to Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God.  I want, I yearn for a world that is ruled by the values of God, not the oppression of the powerful.

Psalm 9 opens in a voice of anticipatory praise, thanking God for the day "when my enemies are driven back."  (v. 4)  For now, the psalmist lives under threat.  "Have pity on me, O God; see the misery I suffer from those who hate me..."  (v. 13)  The psalm closes with his cry for help:  "Rise up, O God, let not the ungodly have the upper hand; let them be judged before you.  Put fear upon them, O God; let the ungodly know they are but mortal." (v. 19-20)

Throughout the Psalm the writer professes trust that God will prevail, and the enemies will be defeated.  He invokes the qualities of God's reign.  "You rule the world with righteousness and judge the peoples with equity.  (v. 8)  "You are known, O God, by your acts of justice; the wicked are trapped in the works of their own hands." (v. 16)  "For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever."  (v. 18)

Although there may be a military threat implied in Psalm 9, the more dominant complaint is of economic oppression.  That complaint rings with emotion for me, for that is my predominant complaint in this day and time.  We live in a time when we suffer from a world wide economic depression triggered by the dishonesty and greed of powerful and wealthy financiers.  The wealthy do not want to pay for the economic ruin they have created, but seem to be using the crisis to cut the social programs that are most critical to the poor and needy.

I find I join the Psalmist, calling out to God.  "You are known, O God, by your acts of justice; the wicked are trapped in the works of their own hands.  ...Rise up, O God; let not the ungodly have the upper hand."  (v. 16a, 19a)

Many of the psalms and the prophets declare God's "righteousness".  "You rule the world with righteousness and judge the people with equity."  I read some preachers who think of righteousness only in ethical terms, a righteous person is one who follows a path of moral behavior.  Sometimes the word is reduced to proper religious belief and sexual restraint.  But in the scripture, "righteous" and "righteousness" is a much bigger word.  Usually it is an economic and political word.

Alan Richardson's study in "A Theological Word Book of the Bible" (1962) shows that the dominant use of the term "righteous" and "righteousness" in the Hebrew scripture (tsedeq and tsedaqah)  "involves the establishment of equal rights for all, and to this extent 'justice' is a sound equivalent.  ...The original Heb. words, therefore, include the idea of God's vindication of the helpless...  (L)ater developments of the world stress the aspect of generosity and benevolence to the helpless."  (p. 203)  

A world of righteousness is a world where the poor and needy enjoy security -- food, shelter, and opportunity to thrive; access to health care, education and transportation.  We have a secular way of expressing these hopes:  "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 

But for too many in our culture today, the pursuit of happiness is a pursuit of excess, an ethic of entitlement and greed that fails to recognize our responsibility toward our neighbors, especially the needy and poor.  The prophets and the psalmists speak of the ungodly as those who pervert equity and who eschew righteousness -- economic and social justice. 

I join the psalmist today in declaring, "You are known, O God, by your acts of justice; the wicked are trapped in the works of their own hands...  For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.  Rise up, O God; let not the ungodly have the upper hand."  (v. 16, 18, 19a)

Lowell

_______

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

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 http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

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.

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

Learning and Unlearning

Friday, April 20, 2012 -- Week of Easter 2

Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 959)
Psalms  16, 17 (morning)        //        134, 135 (evening)
Exodus 16:22-36
1 Peter 3:13 - 4:6
John 16:1-15  

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."  (John 16:12)

It is part of our condition of ignorance and finitude that we don't know now what we don't yet know.  I can think back to times when I had very different perspectives on some things that are important to me now. 

There is one whole category of changed perspectives that emerges from my critical reflection about things that I inherited from my family of origin and my culture. 

There is another category that seems to come from my growing beyond the need to belong and to identify with the values of groups that I have associated with.  After learning "what we believe" in order to belong, I've let go of some of those beliefs when they didn't hold up for me.

A physician friend of mine remembers a teacher telling the first-year students in medical school that 90% of what he'll teach them will be wrong by the time they finish their service as doctors, the problem is, he doesn't know which 90% it is.

So we move about in faith, trusting our best sense about things, but ready and open to surrender our notions as soon as some better knowledge comes to us. 

There is a positive and a negative road to travel here. 

The old proverb says "when the student is ready, the teacher will come."  We need to nurture our positive "hunger and thirst for righteousness," for deeper truth and fuller perspective. 

But there is also the need to jettison old ideas and attachments that no longer work.  I think it was Teresa of Avila who said something like, "God in mercy never makes us aware of our sin until God has also given us the grace to confess it."

I don't know now what I don't know, but God grant me the courage to turn away from my falseness whenever the Spirit of truth comes and guides me into new truth, no matter how scary or humbling it may seem.

Lowell

____________


Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html
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 http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

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.

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

The Authority of Human Institutions

Thursday, April 19, 2012 -- Week of Easter 2
Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Martyr, 1012

Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 959)
Psalms  18:1-20 (morning)        //        18:21-50 (evening)
Exodus 16:10-21
1 Peter 2:11-25
John 15:12-27  

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

Part of today's reading from 1 Peter is a scripture passage that sometimes shows up at events that have a tenor of civic religion -- the National Day of Prayer, inaugurations or swearing-ins of governmental officials, the 4th of July, or the "God and Country Sunday" that is a custom among some churches on the Sunday nearest the 4th of July. 

"For the Lord's sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right...  Honor everyone.  Love the family of believers.  Fear God.  Honor the emperor."  (1 Peter 2:13-14, 17)

One of the ironies of reading such Biblical instruction in an American context is that scriptures such as these were used to condemn democratic movements in the name of the Divine Right of Kings.  Tories who opposed the American Revolution could demand allegiance to King George III in the name of God -- "For the Lord's sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether the King as supreme, or governors, as sent by him..." 

The other great struggle for independence in our nation's history was similarly sabotaged by good Bible-quoting Christians familiar with this portion of 1 Peter some 85 years later.  "Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference..."  (1 Peter 2:18)

(We'll omit from our Daily Offices reading tomorrow the continuing instruction, "Wives, in the same way, accept the authority of your husbands...  Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing..." 1 Peter 3:1f)

There are tensions in both the Hebrew scriptures and the Christian New Testament between respectable conformity to social norms and the call to challenge unjust or oppressive authority in the name of God.  Moses would not have spoken like 1 Peter to Pharaoh.  Amos and Proverbs inhabit different worlds.  And while Paul encourages deportment that would allow the congregation to fly below the radar of civil authorities, he writes revolutionary rhetoric of Jesus, confiscating the emperor's divine titles for Christ.

There is an underlying consistency among these texts, however, and that is the affirmation of the dignity of one who honors God regardless of that person's social or political standing.  In God's eyes, the slave is honored, the subordinate respected, the prisoner cherished, the oppressed borne up.  It is out of this basic orientation of respect and dignity for all of God's children that Christians have embraced movements to expand freedom and equality in the name of God, including movements that challenge and attempt to destroy the authority of some human institutions. 

Since Jesus was a victim of the injustice of human institutions, we might keep a wary eye toward their tendencies for the abuse of power.  God's preferential option for the poor and for the oppressed is a far more frequent and persuasive theme throughout scripture than the occasional deference toward human institutions of authority.

Lowell

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Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

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 http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

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.

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