Anxiety (Not)

Thursday, January 31, 2013 -- Week of 3 Epiphany (Year One)
Juan Bosco (John Bosco), Priest, 1888

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

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
     (Book of Common Prayer, p. 944)
Psalms        50 (morning)     //       [59, 60] or  118 (evening)
Isaiah 49:13-23
Galatians 3:1-14
Mark 6:30-46

I remember a few years ago when this reading about Jesus feeding the multitudes came around I was living with a lot of anxiety.  We needed to raise around $500,000 for an expansion to 7hills Homeless Center that we were committed to, and I didn't see any way we could manage it.  The worry woke me from sleep on quite a few occasions. 

Even as I worried, I knew that the whole ministry had been an act of faith from the beginning, and we had always been given what we needed.  And yet, I was anxious.

Last week I attended a 7hills board meeting.  The program has never been in better shape.  Great staff and leadership.  Excellent support from the community and significant grants for new and effective programs.  It is so heartening.  And yet...  We've needed a new Day Center for a long time, and an opportunity has jumped up.  The first number that we've seen is...  you guessed it -- $500,000.  I had a little laugh inside myself.  I'm not taking the difficulty for granted or being presumptuous, but I'm also more confident than anxious.

"You foolish Galatians!" cries Paul.  He is scolding those who are opposing his gospel which is based entirely on trust in Christ.  He chastises those who are teaching others that they must earn their standing before God by being practically perfect.  He had tried that, and it only brought him anxiety.  His freedom came when he accepted the gift of acceptance and surrendered his life to Christ's guidance instead of his own competence. 

God is.  Christ loves us.  Let the Spirit run the world.  Trust.  Then, as we are led, do what we can so with a relaxed freedom, and leave the rest to God.  God can bring wonderful results even when we seem to have so little.

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

Faith In Christ; the Faithfulness Of Christ

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 -- Week of 3 Epiphany (Year One)

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

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
     (Book of Common Prayer, p. 944)
Psalms        119:49-72 (morning)     //       49, [53] (evening)
Isaiah 49:1-12
Galatians 2:11-21
Mark 6:13-29

This section of the letter to the Galatians is a snapshot of Paul's theology.  Paul's experience of Jesus freed him from the anxiety and self-concern that had troubled him so terribly before.  As a practicing and observant Jew, he had sought acceptance before God through his obedience to the Torah and other traditional laws.  He was zealous and careful to follow all the rules and ethical regulations.  Instead of feeling right with God, he only experienced "performance anxiety."

His liberation came with the realization that a right relationship with God is God's gift to us in and through Jesus.  Instead of relating to God by following the rules, now he related to God by accepting the gift of acceptance.

Here is his language.  The goal is to be "made righteous" or "justified" or "reckoned as righteous." (various translations)  In other words, to be okay with God.

"We know that a person isn't made righteous by the works of the law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ." (2:16, CEB)  For Paul, Christ is the object of our faith because we trust Christ as God's agent of justification.  Christ's own faithfulness to God is not only our example, but also enables and effects our salvation.  Paul can declare he is saved through "the faithfulness of Jesus Christ."  For Paul it is both "faith in" and "the faith of" Jesus Christ  that liberates him from being justified by his own performance. 

In Christ, Paul died to his old way of living by the law.  Now he lives by faith in Jesus and by the faith of Jesus.  "...Christ lives in me.  And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God's Son, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I don't ignore the grace of God, because if we become righteous through the Law, the Christ died for no purpose."  (20b-21)

It is easy to see how threatening Paul's gospel must have been to traditional Jews, including those who were Jewish Christians.   We see today a reflection of a conflict between Paul and Peter.  While visiting in Antioch, Peter was sitting at table eating with Gentiles in violation of kosher laws until conservative leaders came there.  Peter separated himself from the Gentile tables out of fear or respect for the "circumcision faction."  Paul berates Peter for his hypocrisy.

A comforting image -- In traditional Christian iconography, Paul and Peter are often pictured together as companions in ministry.  Their feast days are linked -- the Confession of Peter and the Conversion of Paul being one week apart, marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  Their conflict was overcome and transcended by the justifying grace of Jesus Christ.  So will ours.

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 Church Being the Church

Tuesday, January 29, 2013 -- Week of 3 Epiphany (Year One)
Andrei Rublev, Monk and Iconographer, 1430

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

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
     (Book of Common Prayer, p. 944)
Psalms        45 (morning)     //       47, 48 (evening)
Isaiah 48:12-21
Galatians 1:18 - 2:10
Mark 6:1-13

Paul is making his case passionately.  He is claiming his apostolic authority.  He had been a persecutor of the church, but God gave him a revelation and a calling to proclaim Christ.  Paul asked for no confirmation of that calling from human beings or from church leaders.  He was obedient to the divine revelation.

For three years he worked before meeting any of the church's apostles or other leaders.  Then he spent three days in Jerusalem with Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, who is traditionally called the first bishop of Jerusalem.  They parted on good terms, and Paul continued his missionary work for another fourteen years.

Paul then returned to Jerusalem to meet with the apostolic leaders, a meeting that is one of the great turning points of church history.  For more than a dozen years Paul has been organizing churches throughout the Roman Empire.  His message has been directed primarily to Gentiles.  His congregations include many Gentiles.  There is a critical division -- and this is the issue of the letter to the Galatians -- Can Gentiles become Christians without also becoming Jews, observing the Torah laws and being circumcised?  Paul emphatically said, "Yes."  Other Christian leaders said, "No."

Paul writes that he presented his Gospel message in Jerusalem and the apostles acknowledged his teaching that Gentiles may become Christians without being circumcised and following Torah.  The authorities approved of his work as missioner to the Gentiles.  Paul notes the test-case.  The Jerusalem church accepted Titus among them, even though he was an uncircumcised Gentile.  Note that Paul reasserts that his authority is not derived from these "influential leaders."  He says he doesn't care what they thought they were as authorities, "because God doesn't show favoritism."  His authority is from the revelation he received from God and he is obedient to that vision.  He is grateful that "James, Cephas, and John, who are considered to be key leaders, shook hands with me and Barnabas as equals when they recognized the grace that was given to me." (2:9) 

Throughout his ministry, Paul had to claim and reclaim the legitimacy of his message that Gentiles can belong to the Church without following the Old Testament laws and customs and without being circumcised.  The Church remained conflicted and divided about this issue for his entire life.

In every generation God's people live with some form of conflict.  Usually it is a theological conflict between those who sense a call to a new interpretation and those who seek to defend a traditional interpretation.  Sometimes it is a call from comfort to discomfort.  Change is always difficult, especially for the religious.  Our religious trust is grounded in ancient things that have the quality of being unchanging in an unsteady world.  But over and over the ancient revelation has shown itself to be alive and resilient, able to be open to new interpretation. 

When the Apostolic Council recognized the presence of the Spirit in Paul's ministry among the Gentiles, even though centuries of practice and the word of scripture mandated circumcision and Torah observance, the decision to follow the Spirit rather than the traditional interpretation of the law set a critical precedent for the Church.  This letter to the Galatians is part of Paul's ongoing, lifetime struggle to confirm his ministry of inclusion in the face of conflict from those who were certain they were defending their religious tradition.  The Church was alive, and Paul's ministry was empowered by God's Spirit.

Historically, the presence of struggle is one of the signs of life among the people of God.  There is reason to be encouraged that we live in a time of religious conflict.  Traditionally, that has been a sign that God is working among us.  Our Church is alive and is empowered by God's Spirit.  In this generation, some Pauline Christians testify to the Apostolic Council the grace that God is manifesting among our gay and transgendered brothers and sisters.  We will be faithful to the revelation God has given us.  It will take more than a lifetime for us as well to see the fruits of God's revelation to us.  But that is just fine.  It's only the Church being the Church.

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

New Life

Monday, January 28, 2013 -- Week of 3 Epiphany (Year One)
Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Theologian, 1274

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

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
     (Book of Common Prayer, p. 944)
Psalms        41, 52 (morning)     //       44 (evening)
Isaiah 48:1-11
Galatians 1:1-17
Mark 5:21-43

One of the key assertions from the prophet Isaiah is that the true God declares ahead of time what will happen, and it comes to pass.  God fulfills the prophecies.  Yet, Isaiah complains, the people failed to trust in the prophecies of old, and now they are failing to believe in the new prophecies that he speaks.  Isaiah is telling an exiled and demoralized community that God now has raised up the Persian Cyrus to liberate God's people.

This was very political discourse.  Most prophecy is.  It raises the question in my mind -- what political  commentary has proved to be accurate, true, and trustworthy.  When have political predictions not come true?  Can that help us recognize true and false prophets?  (It seems to me that economist Paul Krugman has been an accurate predictor.)
___

Today we start Paul's letter to the Galatians.  It is a passionate, even angry epistle.  Paul charges certain Christian leaders with perverting the Gospel of Christ by insisting that Christians must follow the traditional laws of the Torah and must be circumcised.  Paul's opponents argued that without circumcision and Torah observance, Christians would be abandoning the revelation of God and the faith given to God's people.

Paul experienced Christ's revelation as a liberation from the law.  Trying to live up to the letter of the law had only made him anxious -- "Am I okay?  Am I doing right?"  Trying to live that "perfect life" made him both self absorbed and concerned with human approval.  The central gift of the Gospel of Jesus  was the experience of unqualified acceptance and love that freed him from such concerns.  Paul will use the strongest polemical language he can to condemn the return to legalism.

For many people who have migrated to the Episcopal Church, this letter reflects the same spirit of liberation that they have experienced having come out of fundamentalist traditions.  The combination of biblical literalism and moralistic preaching produced confusion and anxiety.  Trying to live that "perfect Christian life" became oppressive.  I often speak to people who have experienced liberation and a revived relationship with Christ because they have heard the Gospel of Christ's unqualified acceptance and love which freed them from the anxiety and confusion of following a path of literalism.  Like Paul, these converts can get pretty passionate.
___

Finally a note about this double healing in Mark's Gospel.  Jesus raises a 12-year-old child from death, and while he is on the way, a woman with hemorrhages for 12 years touches Jesus and is healed.  The dead child is raised to new life just at the age when she will begin her menses.  The woman's bleeding is probably vaginal, and now she is free to bear children.  Both are given the gift of fecundity -- new life.

Maybe on that point I would like to draw some connection among these lessons.  The work of God always brings new life.  Isaiah claims that God reveals this path of new life even before guiding God's people through it.  It is a path that can be rejected.  There are other, competing paths, but they fail to fulfill their promises.  Central to the experience of new life in Christ is the experience of unqualified love and acceptance whose source is God.  It is a gift to be accepted not an accomplishment to be achieved.  When we touch or are touched by this new life, it heals the old wounds and raises us to new possibilities.

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