Water Stone Blogs

Reflections Feb 26, 2012 Creation Care

2012-02-26T09:34:00.000-08:00

Reflections on the Season Lent 1 February 26, 2012

Today’s readings are

Genesis 9:8-17, Psalm 25:1-10, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15

Imagine you’re college student and have signed up for a course called “ecology of snakes and amphibians in western Florida”. I said “imagine”. Then you find out that the “lab” in this course will consist of several weekend field trips. You will be experiencing the tangled vine and mangrove wetlands and their inhabitants first-hand...in the water…mostly at night. Hold that image for just a minute while we look at the readings for this week.

The readings start with the legend of the great flood, Noah’s ark, and God’s blessing of every creature: "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

The Gospel reading is another water story: In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild animals; and the angels waited on him.

The Epistle connects the two stories in a reading that may have been part of an early church baptism ritual: “And baptism, which this (the ark) prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”

Now back to the swamps of Florida. My daughter called from college last week in exactly this situation. Her concern, however, was how to pay for the wetsuit and headlamp. She couldn’t wait to get off campus and into the water. Her passion is for saving as much precious wetland habitat as possible, and protecting the lives of each native species in them. Her passion is shared by a large and rapidly growing number of young people around the globe. There is an ark-like quality to the nature preserves and marine set-asides and humans-in-habitat projects multiplying around the globe. It is interesting that the sciences of ecology and psychology now understand what the ancient story of the Ark is saying: the human species really can’t live without the rest of Creation. We can read the Gospel story “against the grain” of the usual interpretation of the wilderness as a fearful testing place. Of course it is fearful for those of us who are separate from it and don’t know it. But the Spirit moved Jesus right into that holy place of wild creatures, the undomesticated and free. For growing number of Christians, re-reading the Ark story, knowing an undomesticated Jesus and experiencing the fullness of baptism means taking on God’s care of creation as a central tenant of faith.

All I want to know is, are cottonmouth snakes nocturnal?

John+

Notes:

Interfaith Power and Light, Green Cross, and Creation Care are just three examples of networks of Christians living to put this faith into action.

Reflections on the Season, Feb 5, 2012

2012-02-05T09:22:00.001-08:00

Reflections on the Season Epiphany 5 February 5, 2012

Today’s readings are

Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, 20c, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39

Isaiah says

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? The One who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because God is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

And the Psalm says

¹Praise you God! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for God is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

²God builds up Jerusalem; and gathers the outcasts of Israel.

³God heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.

⁴God determines the number of the stars; and gives to all of them their names.

My son, Lucas, got us into astronomy. We gave him a telescope a few years ago, and have identified the various “seas” on the surface of the moon and viewed the row of tiny lights lined up either side of a brighter dot …the moons of Jupiter! Every time I slow down to really see, it is truly awe-inspiring. It makes me yearn to praise God, and not just myself, together as a community, to worship in awe and wonder -- “There’s a song that’s inside of my soul; it’s the one that I’ve tried to write over and over again”.¹

But I have trouble praising God freely, wildly, openly, publicly, deeply, and truly. And from the tenor of many worship services and gatherings I’ve been part of over the last ten years or so, I wonder if many of us are somehow impeded from praising God. There are a number of issues here 1) First off, we’re busy with important must-do tasks, and praising and worshiping God just does not get much done. Part of a psalm or a couple of songs are ok, but more would really be a “royal waste of time”². 2) I think enthusiastic praise and deep worship are somehow (in the U.S. at least) associated with right-wing political, moral majority evangelical fundamentalism, and we in no way want to look like or be otherwise associated with that kind of thing. 3) Losing ourselves in praise takes and certain kind of humility and letting go of self-sufficiency, and that’s never easy 4) Wait, is there really a God who names stars, anyway? Seems like a quaint anachronism to many (more on that in a later blog). 5) Then there is also the problem of how to do communal worship when we have so many various styles of worship. It is risky to lead worship where one person’s great experience is another’s fingernails on the chalkboard.

My point is that it is no wonder our worship may be lacking in depth and length, zest and vigor. It takes courage to be in praise and worship these days. But as Matthew Fox points out “Courage is the first sign of the Spirit. It is the root of all the other virtues.”

Well, I am not often very courageous. But I do have this question: if a few of us were to en-courage each other, could we water the seeds of the Spirit to expand and deepen our worship together? God invites us to respond to God’s love with extravagant praise. I would value a conversation about what you make of my reflections today. How can we overcome the impediments and find a way? What are you finding as positive group worship practices?

John+

Notes:

¹ Song “Only Hope” by Switchfoot

²A Royal “Waste” of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World. Marva J. Dawn. Eerdmans Press, 1999.

Reflections on the Season Epiphany 2 January 15, 2012

2012-01-16T19:30:00.000-08:00

Reflections on the Season Epiphany 2 January 15, 2012

For the past two weeks I have had a growing sense of profound movements taking place. In prayer, the sense I get is of massive columns of rock shifting deep in the earth and opening up dangerous crevasses. Yet there is also cool artesian water flowing through these cracks, upward to the surface. Friends in Lindisfarne and Living Hope have seen ruptures and separations in relationships: dear friendships and marriages are on the rocks. Some have recently had to leave jobs and go out on their own, searching for livelihood and meaning. Some of us have been witness to children or friends being racked with painful illnesses and facing death. Some of us are in the midst of intense birth-like personal experiences that are hard to put into words.

So this morning I am laying aside this week’s lectionary readings and choosing instead to reflect on a passage that speaks directly to this time. It is one that many have learned by heart:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It is from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:37-39). It speaks to a community and individuals who are going through all kinds of uncertainty, dislocations, pain, trauma, and serious threats to their very survival. And the message that permeates these experiences is that no matter what is going on, God’s love is assured. In the letter, the description of the trials and forces is bracketed by love, surrounded by love; “Christ behind me, Christ before me” as the Celtic prayer goes. No matter what happens, it is the very nature and essence of Jesus to be always self-giving, in a love that is always with us, fused into us, welded to us inseparably. We sing a Taize song with words from Teresa of Avila, in Spanish "nada de turbe, nada de spante, solo Dios basta" -- Let nothing upset you, let nothing startle you, God alone is enough" When it seems that bedrock is no longer bedrock, but is shaking beneath our feet, know that God’s love cannot be shaken loose.

So I invite you, at this very moment, to stop, be still, and soak in this great truth: God’s love is all we really need, and nothing can separate us from God’s love.

John+

Reflection for Sunday, December 18, 2011

2011-12-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

Reflections on the Lectionary December 18, 2011

2 Samuel 7:1-16, Psalm 89, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38

As Abbot Andy pointed out in last week’s reflection, Advent and Lent are the two seasons in our church year set aside for special focus on our inner life. The Gospel reading this week celebrates Mary’s encounter with the angelic messenger, and her response. I wonder about Mary’s inner life and how I can learn from Mary.

The phrase that struck me most as I read this very familiar passage from Luke was “Do not be afraid, Mary, the Lord is with you”.

One of my favorite people, Weldon Nisely of Seattle Mennonite Church often starts conversations with these two questions: What are your greatest fears? What are your wildest hopes? Two good questions to consider, especially in this season.

As I write this I am about to join my teenage children on an outdoor adventure of high ropes and sliding down a zipline cable. With snow flying. Hmmm. I am not particularly phobic about heights, but there I can already feel my heart beat a bit faster and some tightness in my chest as I imagine clinging to a cable above 40 or 50 feet of open air. I’ve never done anything quite like this before. This is the kind of fear that is a gift of biology. It is how my forbearers survived and thrived. I know that in my head, but my body still reacts, and sometimes I can overreact and become immobilized by fear. Simply telling me not to be afraid does not help much. But when my daughter tells me, “Really, don’t worry, I have done so many high ropes. I’ll coach you through it.” That is different. She is going to be with me through every step and handhold. I feel my body start to relax and be able to respond appropriately. This is possible because I know she loves me and I have confidence in her abilities.

It is the same two-fold message as the angel’s: Do not be afraid, the Lord is with you. I think Mary’s famous response shows something about her inner life. It showed that she had an inner confidence in God, a knowledge of the deep, deep love of a God who would be with her, through it all. It is the “love that casts out fear”( 1 John 4:18).

Advent Blessings,

John+

Happy Advent - reflections on today's readings

2011-11-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

Reflections on the Lectionary Advent 1 November 27, 2011

Isaiah 64:1-9, Psalm 80:1-7, 1 Corinthians 1: 3-9, Mark 13: 24-37.

The readings this first Sunday of Advent are all about the in-breaking of the presence of God. The prophet cries out for a dramatic shredding of the heavens. The bard of the psalms sings directly to God to stop hiding and light up the darkness with the divine face. The apostle gives thanks for a community being strengthened and empowered as they wait for the revealing of their Lord Jesus Christ. And in the Gospel of Mark we hear Jesus as a prophet echoing and confirming an earlier prophet’s vision of a world way out of balance, followed by God’ arrival at an unknown hour. And then the teacher’s instruction to keep awake.

It is easy to dismiss these cries and prophesies by saying they are merely within the well-worn apocryphal literary tradition. But what are the underlying truths there for us? These prophetic voices seem to be shouting a wake-up call to a people on autopilot, thinking that their way of life would just keep on going indefinitely. One critical truth is than when a society takes much more than it gives, from the poor, from neighboring peoples, from the earth, when it is self-absorbed and ignores God, then it is poised for a downfall, which can actually be quite dramatic and sudden.¹ The powerful yearning for God’s presence is the other underlying truth expressed in today’s readings.

The Celtic monastics spoke of the “thin places” and experiences of the divine breaking into the common life. Birds and deer, mice and even flies could bring God’s message of love, caring, and companionship. Midnight and early morning prayers and all-night vigils were common. Occasionally, an extreme inner urging to find more of Christ drove them to solitude or to leave their homeland entirely to spend the rest of their lives traveling through foreign lands “for the love of Christ”. ²

In this age, it seems that the popular culture and the prevailing economic system has re-directed this inner urging to create a compulsion for literally “something more” to fill the void. It is no accident that its extreme form comes precisely in the season that was previously focused on the yearning for God’s revealing and filling. This year the season started with a midnight vigil. The Associated Press reports that “A shopper in L.A. pepper sprayed her competition for an Xbox and scuffles broke out elsewhere around the U.S. as bargain hunters crowded malls and big-box stores in an earlier-than-usual start to the madness…” Indeed.

But, as a modern-day bard sings,

“Voice of the nova, Smile of the dew, All of our yearnings, Only come home to you”.³

I think the current secular monastic movement is an alternative that stands in stark contrast to consumerism. Jesus calls us to stay awake. Stirred by urging of the Spirit, we hunger and thirst to find Christ and to give of ourselves like Christ in a more fully integrated life.

With Advent Blessings,

John+

¹ For a reasoned analysis of our current predicament (sadly minus any mention of the spiritual dimensions) see ChrisMartensen.com. The book Collapse by Jered Diamond also comes to mind.

² There are many popular and scholarly books describing the early CeItic monastics. I am reading Celtic Christianity by Timothy Joyce.

³Bruce Cockburn “Lord of the Starfields” from his album "In the Falling Dark" (True North/Island, 1977).

Lectionary Reflections for October 30, 2011

2011-10-30T12:50:00.001-07:00

Lectionary Reflections for October 30, 2011

Today’s readings differ among the Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of England and Roman Catholic. I’m going with the Church of England because I think that is what Lindisfarne usually follows. Someone please correct me if this is not right.

Micah 3: 5 - 12

Mica 3:5 (NRSV) Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets

who lead my people astray,

who cry "Peace"

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against those

who put nothing into their mouths.

6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without revelation.

…

Psalm 43

1 Thessalonians 2: 9 - 13

Matthew 24: 1 - 14

Matt 24:1 (NRSV) {The Destruction of the Temple Foretold} As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 Then he asked them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."

3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" 4 Jesus answered them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, "I am the Messiah!' and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

9 "Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.

These readings warn about false prophets and raise questions about forecasting the future.

These readings warn about false prophets and raise questions about forecasting the future. They remind me of the problem today facing those who want to prepare for the future.

Environmentalists like me have a credibility problem. In the 1972 I eagerly read the “Limits to Growth”, which remains the best-selling environmental book (12 million copies, 30 languages). It made predictions about future conditions based on a model with 200 variables that took into account earth’s finite resources and demands of a world population growing exponentially. The predictions were dire, and the oil crisis of 1974 seemed to confirm the fear that we would all soon “freeze, hungry, in the dark”. But a few years later it was clear that the predictions were way off and a follow up report was required “Mankind at the Turning Point”, using 2000 variables in the model. When predictions were shown to be off again, further revisions were made, but by this time, much of the public had dismissed the “environmental prophets” as doomsayers and naysayers who were just plain against industry, progress and the American Way, false prophets. Since that time about half of the US public has pretty much discounted all such predictions. Political leaders stay far away from taking much action based on such predictions, fearing they might “end up like Jimmy Carter”.

So who do we believe? It seems obvious that we still live on a finite planet. Though we don’t like to think about it, the global financial system is based on the assumption that the future will be more productive than the past, with human innovation always trumping the limits to growth. Both our farming and food transportation systems depend upon cheap oil for their existence. Human beings are by far the most populous mammal on the planet, and the headlines say we are just about at 8 billion, and quickly rising. What is a faithful response? The readings today would warn us against following false prophets. Certainly that would apply to any of the continuing line of folks who claim to set an exact date for the end of the world, or I guess an exact date for peak oil. It’s just not like that. But on the other hand, we are called to be aware of the signs of the times, and to care for creation and each other, to be as Christ to our neighbor, including our future neighbor in the next generation.

Blessings,

John+

Lectionary Reflections October 2, 2011

2011-10-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

Lectionary Reflections October 2, 2011

Exodus 20:1-20, Psalm 19, Philippians 3:4-14, Matthew 21:33-46
I spent yesterday afternoon with members of Living Hope Fellowship ripping out the wet wallboards of a stranger’s house in Owego, New York. A month ago Hurricane Lee had caused the streets of Owego to be submerged in six feet of water. Entire neighborhoods were flooded and hundreds of families are living in shelters or with relatives. Those with flood insurance and resources have cleared out their basements and first floors and are getting the repairs done and moving back in. Those without insurance (the floodwaters were so high that many did not have it) and were just barely making their monthly bills have had to wait for volunteer efforts to get organized. The waters rose so quickly that most people were not able to move furniture upstairs and have lost almost everything. As we approached the neighborhood where we would work, I saw what used to be insulation and kids toys and sofas and crushed wallboards in piles of rubbish along the streets.
The small house we were working on is owned by an elderly woman who is now living with her sister several miles away. As I yanked the end of my crowbar to twist out more plaster wall in what used to be her living room, I wondered how she was dealing with this loss. It is not at all certain that her house will be rebuilt. I wondered how I would respond to “losing everything”.

⁷Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. ⁸More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…

This witness of the Paul in the letter to Philippians begs the same question and gives Paul’s answer --Christ. The Lindisfarne Community’s first understanding is that we seek above all else to be Christlike, as our prayer “to be as Christ to those we meet; to find Christ within them.” “We seek these understandings in the life of Jesus; shining, precious gems, winsome, lovely, drawing us out of ourselves and towards Christ”. In the midst of losses, great and small, we are called to encourage each other so that as a community, together we experience the “surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus”.

Blessings,

John+

Lectionary Reflections September 11, 2011

2011-09-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Lectionary Reflections September 11, 2011

Exodus 14:19-31, Psalm 114, Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18: 21-35

The lectionary readings, which are of course predetermined for the year’s cycle, are uncannily appropriate for this day. It is all about law and punishment contrasted with the radical way of grace and forgiveness. Each of the readings provide a lot to reflect on. I’m going to focus on the Gospel reading, on what is called the “parable of the unforgiving servant”. After spending some time with it, I’m calling it the “parable of the crazy king”!

The parable is Jesus’ expanded answer to the question “how many times must I forgive, even seven?” In the first answer, Jesus’ famous 77 or seventy times seven is a figure of speech meaning too numerous to count, infinite. Forgiveness is to be an ongoing practice fostered by an altered state of being, enveloped in grace, rather than a balanced accounting, in accordance with the rules of law and order. We get glimpses of grace now and then, such as the response of the Amish community to the school shooting in Nickel Mines, PA in 2006 (See the book and the film by the title Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy”. ) That kind of grace is deeply disruptive, radical to the bone.

The parable features a king and an indebted servant who begs forgiveness and is forgiven by the king. (by the way, it is for an incredible huge amount (1 talent was more than a year’s wages, so 10,000 talents is an unpayable debt, really). But the servant does not respond in kind to his own sub-servant who owes him much (well, a hundred days wages, but we are talking days versus years, so, you get the point). Now when the king learns of this, he reneges on the forgiveness of the debt and punishes the servant by torturing and jailing him. What!? Really?! I thought this was to be a picture of the kingdom of God? Hey Jesus, what happened to the forgiveness of 70 x 7? What happened to grace? The parable finishes with the command to forgive our brothers and sisters as we have been forgiven, or else! Or else God will punish us!

Don’t you want to say: Are you kidding? Wait a minute, Jesus, what about the 70 x 7 from God? Does God go by a different rule? This parable makes me crazy. The Gospel is supposed to be not about getting what we deserve, but getting what we don’t deserve! It is especially disturbing because this not an isolated case, there are other parables like it (I’m told Matthew has 8 such stories that end in the nasty demise of someone). But no, we are left thinking maybe we need a stern warning and threat of punishment, to prevent us from depending on God’s “easy grace” to allow us to go on not forgiving our brothers and sisters.

I feel like saying, “could you please reframe that in a positive way?” Such as: “and the servant was so transformed by the experience of forgiveness that he forgave his debtors and even through them a party”. That sounds more like the realm of God as a banquet that Jesus is all about. Or, if you want a crazy, memorable parable, how about taking a line from Monty Python and abolishing the whole hierarchy thing …“I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective! …. we're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to be a sort of executive officer for the week... “ But no, instead we get what seems like a pretty twisted image of a God which has led to all kinds of terrible ramifications if read literally, which it has through history. So, is Jesus in Matthew making a big joke? Or maybe getting to us to us upset and bothered? That is the way I choose to read it, “against the grain” of the typical historical majority reading. After all, in the final analysis, Jesus’ actions in life speak more powerfully to grace, for when faced with the sword he had his followers lay down the sword, and forgave us all.

John+

Reflection for Sunday, August 28, 2011

2011-08-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Lectionary Reflections August 28, 2011

Exodus 3: 1 -15, Psalm 105, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 16: 21-28

Last week a colleague of mine scoffed at the re-scheduling I was doing because of hurricane Irene. A cleanup project in New Bedford harbor, Massachusetts was being shut down. The dismantling of a large crane would take at least a day, and another day to put it back up after the storm. I was delaying my trip there for a week. “I grew up near there, and the media always hype this sort of thing. By the time it gets all the way to New Bedford, the “hurricane” is just another rainy day”. Really? So sure?

Paul’s warning about not claiming to be wiser than we really are would be good advice for my friend, and for most of us, I suspect. Paul is speaking to a kind of arrogance that is fairly pervasive among our species that gets us into loads of trouble and ultimately builds a wall between each other and estranges us from God. In our Gospel reading Jesus speaks to the wisdom of Peter telling Jesus to play it safe. And in the next breath, Jesus invites us to “lose our life”, to lose ourselves in him. It is a radical invitation to being released from my need to always be right, and wise and self-sustaining. Dangerous, for sure, because the invitation is to a cross. But as Jesus is quick to point out in this Gospel, it is a cross with hope and always the in company of Christ. One of our central sayings is “to be as Christ to those we meet, and to find Christ in them”. When we are as Christ, I think we are finding our truest selves, and laying down the mask of always needing to be certain, or wiser than we really are.

Blessings,

John+

Lectionary Reflections June 26 "Welcoming"

2011-06-26T07:09:00.001-07:00

Lectionary Reflections June 26, 2011

Genesis 22:1-14 or Jeremiah 28:5-9

Psalm 13 or Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18

Romans 6:12-23

Matthew 10:40-42
Jesus said, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple– truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."

Some years ago we had a conversation in our church about how we could be more welcoming to all sisters and brothers in Christ. We made a commitment that our church would be “welcoming”, which was understood as including those with same-sex orientation. This was not a hypothetical situation for us, because two of our most active members at the time were a female couple. Through them I learned a bit about being at the margins of society and the church, including the pain and economic injustice for them of not being able to be married (as of yesterday, this has changed in New York!). But just when we were patting ourselves on the back for being so very progressive and inclusive, one of them said “you know, I actually think that was fairly easy to do. It’s also been fairly easy for us to hear from those of other religious traditions. We’ve welcomed Muslims from Iraq and Bhuddists from Tibet to share with us. It would be a lot harder to include a fundamentalist or right-wing Christian.” She spoke the truth. And that really made me wince.

When Jesus speaks of “these little ones” in the gospels, it is about the church or the disciples. With the raging of the “culture wars” dividing our society, this gospel calls to offer even small kindnesses to all of “these little ones” of whom we are a part, even “fundamentalists”, “evangelicals” and “right-wing Christians”. I don’t quite know how to do this. I don’t have much wisdom or cool stories of unity to share, but I would love to hear yours!

John+

Like Real Life

2011-06-05T07:42:00.000-07:00

Lectionary Relections for Easter 7 A

Acts 1:6-14

Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11

John 17:1-11

Like Real Life

This past Thursday night we were treated to the annual Ithaca Festival “parade”. I put parade in quotes because this is not your typical marching- band-and-pretty- float parade. It is a celebration of the eclectic and the whacky, with what seems like every club and group in this town represented. I found myself cheering wildly as the folks from Green Springs Natural Cemetery rolled by. Green Springs offers an ecological alternative to your normal chemical-filled and wastefully expensive burial or energy intensive greenhouse-gas-belching cremation. They have a beautiful space on a lovely country hill where folks return to the clay in simple pine and cloth. Their exhibition featured someone lounging in a long wooden crate on wheels, draped with green foliage and signs reading “Think Outside the Box! ” and “Way to Go!”.

An ecological burial is certainly something to cheer about. But I think I was mainly cheering their unabashed acknowledgment of human mortality. Almost every day this past week death has reminded me of how very fragile life is, and how easy it is for me and an entire society to deny that.

³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

What strikes me about today’s Gospel reading are the words “eternal life” and the meaning provided for that phrase. In the original Greek it is aionios zoe, which could also be rendered something like “life within the coming age”. As it is used here, “eternal life” does not mean human immortality. It does not seem to address or explain what happens after our biological life has ended. The meaning of “eternal life” as a life after biological death is so deeply ingrained in my head that it is hard to shake out. But the Gospel here is talking about eternal life, or real life, as a relationship. It is a continuing to be knowing God and the Sent One. Maybe something like a way of living, starting right here and now.

John+

PS - I am a total hack when it comes to the Greek. I’m sure someone reading this has a more solid background of study and knowledge and could provide additional comment on aionios zoe and additional resources for study and understanding. Please comment!

Have you seen this Greek Bible help?

http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/joh17.pdf

Acts 2 and Intentional Christian Community

2011-05-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Lectionary Reflections Easter 4 May 15

Acts 2:42-47

Psalm 23

1 Peter 2:19-25

John 10:1-10

Dear friends,

My reflections today center on a passage that is both perplexing and dear to my heart, the passage from Acts 2:

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

This first intentional Christian community may be one of the first examples of a voluntary intentional community ever written down. My first response is to share in the in awe that came upon everyone at the wonder and sign of a this community being together with all things in common. And through the centuries that follow, this one little phrase "all things in common" has spawned countless attempts to create common-purse associations of believers around the globe. But why? Why did this first group happen, and why all of the imitations thereafter, even to this day?

If we read it carefully, we will see that the distribution of proceeds was to all, implying not just to the new believers, in the insular "new family" , but to "all, as any had need". This interpretation is corroborated by the statement that they had the goodwill of "all the people". There is not much detail to go on here, but it appears that they appear to be moved to the common purse and to the meeting of needs by compassion for those in need. They could also have been expecting Jesus to return any day. OK, maybe any week. That would give you a fearlessness about the future, and a sense of immediacy about each moment and each need in that moment. My mind immediately races to ask all of the programmatic and practical questions: how did they do it? how did they decide who got what? What was a need and what was a want, or even greed? Someone's doctor bill? funeral? fix their chariot so they could keep their job? How about funding the kids' education at the lyceum? And how long did they keep living like this? So what if it did not last... does that mean it was not good and right to try? All great questions, but I think I've raced ahead too fast.

Going back to the text, do you notice that the phase "breaking of bread" occurs twice? In last week's text, also from Luke, the two followers on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus when he broke and blessed the bread with them. I think the "breaking of bread" here in Acts may be much more than nourishing the body and have a community bonding experience, the "love feast" important as those are. The very presence of Christ is among them in the act of breaking bread. This would transform the whole endeavor from a “cool new group lifestyle” to a more full creation of the Holy Spirit, undergirded by the teachings of Jesus, and led by the living Spirit of Christ present as love manifested among them. Now we often tend to put the "early church" on a very high pedestal, and I’m not saying it was a perfect picture of the realm of God on earth. But something was happening.

And I think something is happening today, as we in the emergent church and new monasticism try on various ways to respond to the calls of the Wild Goose, in the presence of our Good Shepherd who says “I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly.”

PS I would love to hear others in the community and enquirers post about their experiences with community living, relational tithes and so forth, and I will post some more follow up questions and websites later this week for those who would like to engage in discussion.