Never Judge a Book By Its, Cover, or Maybe You Should

27 May 2012 3 Comments

by Sherry in Bumps in the Road of Life, Catholicism, Marriage, Parish, Pentecost, Spiritual Growth, Worship Tags: , ,

Today I went to St. Albert the Great. It serves the NMSU and the surrounding neighborhood. I expected, (hoped?) to find a younger, more tolerant crowd. That didn’t happen, but what did was not unpleasant or disagreeable either.

I arrived a bit early. The church is in the adobe style, modern, meaning post Vatican II. It was pleasant inside although the pews were without kneelers. For those who don’t know me much, I am, good or bad, rather impressed or depressed by the physicality of a church. Some leave me flat and spiritless, others inspire. I prefer the latter.

This did inspire, until I sat down. For the next 10-15 minutes I was hailed by a variety of aged men and women, who chattered so loudly that at times I thought I was in a sports arena filling for a title bout. The usual complaints and explanations of physical ailments, treatments and medications ensued. Hardly the place where one can quiet one’s mind turn toward God. You can make the usual arguments, I’m well aware that I’m being petty.

About three minutes before Mass, the place began to fill with the families and the college fare until it was fully bursting at the seams.

The music began, part in Spanish and part in English, which I find utterly delightful, and voices rose in harmony and vigor.

So far, my experiences in New Mexican Catholic churches suggest that most homilies are left to the deacon. This one was neither especially good or bad, average, which most are. Father was attentive and friendly.

I learned that the diocese is getting a new bishop and the parish a new priest. This suggests to me a great time to schedule an appointment and go in and talk to Father about my marriage issues, and get a feel for the reception I might receive there as a permanent member. It will be a bit of drive when we move to our new house (should we get it), but still it is only 20 minutes, and frankly the only one close to our new house has an awful mass time of 11 am which I dislike. And I’m not particularly fond of Saturday evening masses, though I will surely do it at least once to give it a chance.

All in all, my first impression was bad, but my the end of the Mass I found myself quite taken with it. It was much more warm it seemed to me than the Cathedral which is no cathedral at all, and cannot even maintain a piano player for the Sunday mass.

I find all this surprising, since New Mexico is overwhelmingly Catholic. I expected to find really old churches here, instead I find that most are modern and rather unappealing architecturally speaking. The one closest to our new home, looks from the outside to be a warehouse that has been converted. It’s long and low. Where are my spiraling and soaring vaults to heaven?

Again, I know, the place is not important. But frankly it is to me. This has always been the case and frankly I don’t think I’ll be changing now.

Anyway, it was a good Pentecost.

Amen.

I Myself Am Also a Human Being

13 May 2012 1 Comment

by Sherry in Acts, Bible Essays, Dissent, Early Christianity, Easter, Holy Spirit, Jesus, John, Magisterium, Teaching, Theology Tags: , , , ,

Having settled all the immediate issues of moving to a new state, I decided that it was time to get to Mass. Here in Las Cruces, which is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, I figured I wouldn’t have much trouble finding an appropriate parish church. I settled on the Cathedral known as the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

But this is not about that, it merely sets the stage for the operation of the Holy Spirit. My experience with the Spirit, is that it usually surprises me. It pops up when I least expect it. I read the readings yesterday and was fairly certain that I would speak about Jesus’ radical statements in Jn 15: 9-17. In it Jesus sets a shocking standard–love others as GOD loves you. Since God loves with pure and complete unconditionality, it is far beyond the standard of loving others as we love ourselves.

But as I heard the first reading from Acts read this morning, I was struck by it in a way that had not been clear upon the first reading. It perhaps speaks to my ongoing tension with Mother Church–its determination to make decisions about who is and who is not welcome at the table of Christ.

In Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48:

When Peter entered, Cornelius met him
and, falling at his feet, paid him homage.
Peter, however, raised him up, saying,
“Get up. I myself am also a human being.”

Then Peter proceeded to speak and said,
“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.”

While Peter was still speaking these things,
the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.
The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter
were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit
should have been poured out on the Gentiles also,
for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.
Then Peter responded,
“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people,
who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?”
He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Most Christians would agree that Peter was given “custody” of the religious movement that Jesus instituted. He was the Lord’s most trusted disciple, the one, presumably that he shared the most with and taught in the fullest. Certainly the other disciples were privy to most of all this knowledge as well. The Gospels report, individually and collectively, those issues and teachings that they thought were the most important, those things Jesus stressed the most.

While the Gospel today reminds us that Jesus said that our love for each other must be radical and extreme–as God’s love for us is, still we learn that the disciples were often surprised and found themselves in disagreement on many issues as the fledgling church gathered itself and became a church in fact.

Peter of course, reminds the pagan centurion, Cornelius, that he, Peter is a mortal and not to be bowed to. Peter hears Cornelius’s story about how an angel told him to locate Peter and listen to him. When he has finished describing this vision, Peter realizes that God must speak to all nations, not just the Jewish one.

And when the Holy Spirit descends indiscriminately upon the Jewish followers and the Gentiles, he realizes and proclaims:

“Can anyone without the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?”

This is something apparently that had not occurred to Peter beforehand, and this is confirmed when we recall the arguments held between himself and the Jewish community and Paul and his new community of Gentiles. The question was, to what extent these Gentiles were required to take on the Jewish faith in order to be these new Christians.

So what is my point?

Peter and the other disciples, male and female had spent three years with the Lord. They had lived with him almost day and night. They had been privy to his every thought, his every expression. He explained the parables to them, he taught them as carefully and fully as he deemed necessary. No one could claim to know more than they.

And yet, they almost to a man and woman were not prepared to understand the breadth and depth of what Jesus taught. The fullest and deepest meaning still escaped them.

Are we to assume any more ability than they? Are we as Church, able to discern without error who is welcome at the Lord’s table?

As we are instructed to accept this or that teaching as “given”, as we are instructed not to discuss this or that rule, as we are instructed who is in sin and who is not, and how to be “reconciled”, should we not  question these limitations? For Jesus placed no limitations–love others in the radical unconditional way that God loves you. Make no distinctions, make no judgement–love period.

Peter, the disciple we trust without question to be the titular head of the Church, thereby living in perfect understanding of Jesus’ teachings, proved to not have that perfect understanding. Are our bishops and priests to be given more faith in truth than him?

Truly the Spirit seems to teach the lesson that every time you think you have loved enough, double, and triple it. Every time you think you have reached the goal, look toward the horizon and see Me beckoning you further.

God’s love is all-encompassing. Can we turn anyone away from the table except at our peril? I think not.

Amen. 

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Journeys on the Road

22 Apr 2012 1 Comment

by Sherry in Bumps in the Road of Life, Easter, Jesus, Luke, Spiritual Growth Tags: , , ,

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way,
and how Jesus was made known to them
in the breaking of bread.

Thus we hear of how those two men, on the road, discovered the risen Lord was their traveling companion.

I suppose it is much the same for us. That is a direction that is obvious in the reading–how and what prompts our first encounter with Jesus. What triggered our realization that we were in the presence of the Holy? What meaning did that have for us as we realized that our experience, our very existence, is part of God’s world and life.

Yet, we can apply the lessons of Emmaus to a much more general arena. That is, if you are like me, about to make an epic journey half way across the country.

It is all too easy at this hectic and chaotic time in one’s life, to forget God.

“I’ll be back with you Lord, just give me a few weeks to get this packing done, this traveling done, this house found and bought, this moving in, this. . . . I’ll be back in the pew, back in my mediation, back in my rosary, my study. I will, I promise. I’m just too busy right now. You understand don’t you?”

And we trust that God does understand. Why?

Because he is right here, experiencing my panic, my excitement, my fears and anxiety as I careen every faster down this road to a new future. And I don’t realize that most of the time. I’m too busy you see.

I’m too busy with maps and with not forgetting this or that. I’m too busy with real estate agents and Internet pictures of houses that exist “down there” where I am heading. I’m too busy trying to make simple meals and eating out the freezer, and remembering to call and cancel all this stuff that has framed my life for so long.

But God doesn’t forget.

I can imagine the shaking of the head. “If only she’d let me help her a bit more. I hate to see her so filled with anxiety. I can ease that tension and bring peace. If only she’d remember me, for just a minute or two.”

If only I would.

But I am blessed with people who very long ago, experienced these things, and actually met our Lord in their journey. And they were so ever-changed by the experience, that they told it far and wide, literally to everyone they met. And somebody decided to gather all these stories and write a coherent statement of what Jesus had meant to him through the stories and through the people who told them.

And some how these stories in the form of a Gospel, were copied and copied and saved and passed down and I had my own encounter finally. Just enough of one for me to see out the book and read and study, and learn. And thus this passage came to be my reminder that I can find this peace just for the asking.

Bless us on our journey, on the Road. For He is with us.

Amen.

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*Gasp* They Were Communists!

15 Apr 2012 9 Comments

by Sherry in Acts, Bible Essays, Early Christianity, Easter, Jesus, John, Social Justice Tags: , ,

Indeed, it’s true. I’m not sure how some of our conservative friends explain this wonderful uplifting section of Acts.

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need. (Acts 4: 32-35)

It doesn’t get more Marxist than that. Imagine, being of “one heart and mind”. Imagine there being “no needy person among them”.  Imagine everything distributed “to each according to need”.

It is a beautiful model of how we should be. Sure, we can agree that room should be made for those who wish, because of their own personality, to work with greater effort. Sure, we can give them a bigger house, or a car with more accessories. That is, as long as there is “no needy person among (us)”.  For we should be of “one heart and mind” that no one should desire or receive the yacht of their dreams while one person lives in squalor.

How did we get so far afield? How did that model fail almost as soon as it was instituted?

Perhaps it was because it functioned within a small environment, among a subset of a larger community. Perhaps it was because it had at its base a sufficiently large wealthy group who could sustain the poor within their ranks. Perhaps it was because they were not yet actively engaged in surviving persecution. Any number of reasons might be advanced, and surely it was a composite of many that led to the end of the “to each according to need” philosophy.

We can see that this was true in Paul’s efforts to raise money for the “church in Jerusalem”, and surely throughout his letters we find efforts being made to raise funds to support various fledgling communities of faith throughout the Empire.

But there was something more, that is clear from the Gospel reading in John. By the time John wrote his Gospel, the church is under much more stress. Persecution is a real thing. And what to do about it no doubt engendered much discussion and difference of opinion. John speaks to this church which is in some disarray and under threat. He tells them this story about Thomas.

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (Jn 20: 19)

This is the state of the community–locked behind doors, fearful. Jesus appears, and as someone pointed out to me, his first words are PEACE. “Peace be with you” he says. These are people he knew, people he lived with, ate and slept with, prayed with. And the first word he says is peace. Can this mean that already the squabbling and arguing was afoot? I suspect so.

One has but to look at the history of the church down through the ages to realize that we are a contentious lot. We have managed to divide ourselves into tens of thousands of various sects, each claiming that it has the true, original, and correct interpretation of the three-year ministry of Jesus Christ. When Jesus returns to us again, more than likely the first word from his mouth will be peace.

I have no clue how conservative Christians explain the communism of the early church, or why at least it’s point: there was no needy person among them, isn’t upheld as the overriding standard. Should we not all, as Christians, demand that nothing less than this be the true state of affairs in our land before we talk of free markets and punishing people for being successful?

How do we get to prosperity gospels and such when millions of our brothers and sisters still live in squalor? How do we enjoy our cappuchinos when babies cry from hunger? How do we shrink in horror when government tries to step into the gap between the enormously wealthy and the terribly poor and provide minimum assistance? How dare we claim that this is the province of church–to take care of the poor.

How dare we use this language, when it is our province and when we have failed to do so. For 2,000 years we have tried, but we have failed. How dare we vilify the governments around the world who choose to step into that gap and fill it? They are only doing what the early church actually did aren’t they?

Aren’t they?

Amen.

 

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What Has He Risen To?

08 Apr 2012 4 Comments

by Sherry in Acts, Colossians, Easter, Faith, Jesus, John, Seasons, Social Justice Tags: , ,

The Lord is Risen!

Such exciting words, such a joyful song.

Our hope and our salvation reside in those words.

And for some, that is the end of the story. Jesus is risen, and we are saved.

But are we?

Is it that simple?

Plenty of folks would say that it is.

The evangelist Luke says as much in the words he places in Peter’s mouth:

 that everyone who believes in him
will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”  (Acts 10:43)

Plenty of evangelicals today tell you that you are saved if you are “born again”, accepting Christ as your savior.

And Paul, worse yet, encourages us to ignore the world that surrounds us.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. (Col 3:1-3)

All this will pass, seek heavenly things.

Yet we live in this place and time, living human lives. And we bear the responsibility for what we have “created”.

Jesus rises today to find a world divided in more ways than we can count.

We divide ourselves into “kinds” of Christians and “kinds” of people. We are “kinds” of religions, and “kinds” of political systems. We are “kinds” of economic plans, and “kinds” of social networks. We are all about division and exclusion and us and them and we and they and me and the Other.

Did Jesus rise for this?

Are we once saved, forever saved?

Do we then go back to lives of cheating and lying, and mistreating of others? Do we claw to the top of whatever world we seek over the backs of those less able? Do we clutch in our hands all that we have and guard against sharing it, except most begrudgingly?

Do we decide how it is best to live and be and then demand that others conform to our standard of right?

Did Jesus rise for this?

Are we once saved, forever saved?

Do we invoke His name as a hammer to beat our “opponents” into submission. Do we use our religion as a wedge to force others to conform? Do we twist and warp history, using, always using, faith as some barometer of goodness? Do we say it, and not think about any of its implications?

Did Jesus rise for this?

Are we once saved, forever saved?

John informs us that the disciple whom Jesus loved came to the empty tomb.

and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead. (Jn 20: 8-9)

If he did not understand the meaning of the scriptures, then what was it he believed? What did he have faith in?

They believed, or retained their loyalty to all that Jesus had stood for, had lived for, and had finally died for.

He died for love and justice and equality, and fairness, and gentleness, and sympathy, and compassion, and brother/sister-hood, and caring, and laughter, and helping each other, and empathy, and peace, and for joy and kindness.

That is what he rose for.

And we are not saved unless every day we do our best to embody all those things. We are not saved unless we struggle with the issues that divide,  and overcome them. We are not saved unless we embrace humanity and realize that not a single one is excluded. We are not saved until we take ownership of all that we have created, and work to fix it all–to make amends for all the harm and ugliness we have allowed to happen.

We are not saved until we beg forgiveness of each other.

We are not saved until we forgive ourselves.

We are not saved until we finally LOVE HIM enough to BE HIM in the fullest way we mere mortals can.

Amen, and Happy and Joyous Easter.

The Most Perfect Disciple

01 Apr 2012 3 Comments

by Sherry in Bible Essays, Faith, Feminist Theology, John, Lent, Mark Tags: , ,

When he was in Bethany reclining at table
in the house of Simon the leper,
a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil,
costly genuine spikenard.
She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head.
There were some who were indignant.
“Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil?
It could have been sold for more than three hundred days’ wages
and the money given to the poor.”
They were infuriated with her.
Jesus said, “Let her alone.
Why do you make trouble for her?
She has done a good thing for me.
The poor you will always have with you,
and whenever you wish you can do good to them,
but you will not always have me.
She has done what she could.
She has anticipated anointing my body for burial.
Amen, I say to you,
wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world,
what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Mk 14: 3-9

One cannot but be awed by such an act. Crossan and Borg have suggested that this unnamed woman was the “first Christian”. And she might well be, although I might suggest that the Samaritan woman at the well has a claim on that title as well.

But at least we can agree, that in Jesus’ mind, she exemplified what is best and perfect in discipleship. She gave all she had in offering to her Lord. She recognized, as none of the others did, that they were in the final days of the Master’s earthly life.

One of the things that is most ironic in this passage, is that Jesus proclaims that her actions will never be forgotten. And that turned out to be true, but alas no one remembered her name. Unless we conflate it with John 12: 1-11. In that case, we would realize that it is our wonderful “friend” Mary of Martha and Mary, longtime friends of Jesus, and brother to Lazarus.

Since Mark is by far the older of the two texts, it’s unlikely that John suddenly discovered the name of the woman. I have not investigated the history of the passages however, and so it might be possible.

In any case, we are confronted with the stark differences between the perfect disciple and those who are caught up in the technicalities.  The technocrats worry about how much money has been wasted that could have been spent on the poor. She worries about nothing, not her even her own livelihood. She simply honors Jesus, and presages the burial process to come.

We too, can get lost in the weeds. Much is done in the name of religion and faith that would no doubt offend and shock Jesus. People cut corners and tell untruths in the name of greater good that they have so defined. They tell themselves that this lie or that turning away from righteousness is okay, because we must keep our “eye on the prize.”

But Jesus surely did not teach us that.

Do good.

No matter what it takes.

No matter how much it is unnoticed.

No matter how much it is ridiculed.

Just do the right and good thing. At every juncture. Not for some “greater good.

I have heard many a police officer justify lying under oath because “given the protections afforded the criminal, it’s the only way to convict the guilty.” Guilty in their minds. Perhaps guilty in reality.

But what do we do when we offer to those we wish to “redeem”, lies and cut corners? We do not offer truth. We offer nothing more than a new way to scam the system. We are the authors of every televangelist who promises prosperity if only we will send in our “love” in the form of a check.

She, in her utter faith and simplicity offers nothing but the purity of her faith and love for her Redeemer. She offers no manipulation. She willingly accepts, without defense, the harsh words of her “betters” and the company men. She simply loves.

She is the true disciple. The one who has perfectly understood and answered the call.

Let us all reflect on Her.

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Fallen Grains

25 Mar 2012 3 Comments

by Sherry in Bible Essays, Faith, God, Jesus, John, Lent, Spiritual Growth Tags: , , ,

Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Jn 12: 24

This was Jesus’ response to a request by several Greeks to “see him.”

Surely the rest of his response must have been just as puzzling.

Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me.

“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour?’
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”

It must have been very mystifying to them. This demand that one lose one’s life for the love of life and to “preserve it”.

During this Lenten season we have journeyed in reflection of our lives, in our accomplishments and in our failures. We have done so knowing what the end will be. But that was not at all true of those who surrounded Jesus when he spoke those words.

How depressing it all must have sounded.

And we know that in truth most of his followers saw his death as the end. They walked away disheartened, thinking that the great odyssey they had become a part of was over. Many were deeply fearful, fearful that they would be next, rounded up and sent to a painful and humiliating death.

The words were, you see, just words.

We are human and weak. We need to SEE.

It was not until some members “saw” the risen Lord that the tide turned back, and the words gathered their deep meaning.

The grains of wheat must fall to the earth and “die” in order to rise again triumphant in LIFE.

We are those seemingly dead grains, dead in spirit and faith more often than not. And we must enter into that loamy soil, be watered, and benefit from the sunlight and warmth before we can sprout anew, renewed.

How more fallen are our brothers and sisters who are weakened by hunger and disease, from being abandoned and discarded by society as somehow “other”? How much harder the journey to break through the soil and reach for the warmth of God?

And is it not part of our growing and reaching to reach out? Can we not both rise with greater ease and grace if we do it hand in hand?

But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”

May we glorify God’s name by our growing in compassion,  empathy, and knowledge of truth. May we serve by following. May we be where the Son is. May we ALL be drawn until him and each other for the Glory of God.

Amen.

Ref: Jn 12: 20-33

Let There Be Light

18 Mar 2012 3 Comments

by Sherry in Bible Essays, Faith, God, Jesus, John, Lent Tags: , , , ,

We take light for granted. It is but a flick of the switch away.

But it was not the case for much of human history.

No, life was ruled for much of its existence by the natural movement from daylight to darkness.

Darkness was not evil, but it could be frightening. Darkness emboldened those carnivores that hunted by night, surprising their prey when it was too late to escape.

Fire was safety. It was warmth. And it was, believe it or not, a mechanism by which truth could be deciphered. How else the gauge the truth-telling of a speaker than to be able to see his face. How do his eyes react? Does his temple throb? Does his face twitch?

I don’t mean to make a great deal of this, but certainly we began to see light as having relationship to truth, a reality that is made clear to us in the Johannine passage for today: Jn 3:14-21.

that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

There can be no doubt as to the truth of this passage, yet, it is not universally the case is it? Those who still retain the now archaic means of producing photographs do so in a dark room. Light spoils the results. And surely the early Christians were often forced to the catacombs and other recesses to practice this new faith, done in the darkness away from the authorities who would arrest them.

Yet, the claim rings true. Jesus is the light.

Light is clean, bright, pure. It opens our vistas to broader seeing. It offers us the opportunity to move without groping and stumbling.

God is Light.

This Light, burns away, burnishes our very being.

And it is a gift freely given.

After all that Israel had done, God returns them to the land of Judah.

After all that Israel has done, indeed the world, God sends his Son.

All to remind us that we are Loved.

All to remind us that we are Forgiven.

All to remind us that we are called to the Light.

Called to be the Light.

All of us.

While no doubt most Christians would insist that John tells us most clearly that we can only share in God through believe and confession of the Son, I think it reads much more broadly.

Jesus is God among us. Jesus is Light. God is Light.

Believe in the Light, the utterly free offering of God to love you for no reason than that God created thee. Believe in that. Believe that all things may be proven false in the world, but never that.

The Love of God is for all, forever.

We need but say yes. We need but to step into the Light, to merge with the Light, to Live Light.

It is all one beautiful whole inclusive dance of light.

Come join in the dance of Grace.

 

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Let Us Cleanse

11 Mar 2012 2 Comments

by Sherry in Conversion, God, Jesus, John, Lent Tags: , , ,

It is ironic in a sense that we find John’s version of the cleansing of the temple as our Lenten reading today. For John, written last, perhaps in the very late part of the first century, or into the second, moves the time of this event in Jesus’ life.

Instead of immediately preceding his arrest and trial and crucifixion, John places the event at the very start of his ministry. Let there be no doubt what Jesus came to do, John announces!

And John brings an added element of violence to the whole affair, introducing the whip to the story.

Jesus enters the temple and witnesses what were the normal goings on. The money changers were hard at work exchanging coin of the realm (Roman) for coin that was “legal” in the temple–coin that did not bear the idolatrous figures of Caesar on them. Animals, for purchase as sacrifice wander around in some disarray.

Jesus, sees that in some measure, what passes as worship has been reduced to financial transactions. Bonhoeffer would call it “cheap grace.” One buys one’s sacrifice, and presents it to the priest. Religious obligations fulfilled. No wonder Jesus was disgusted.

What Jesus is pointed to is that this building, this temple is not God, it is not even where God need by worshipped. He points to himself as the true temple, and prophetically indicates that he will be “raised up in three days.”

Of course, most of those who witnessed this event did not understand. John does, and he reminds his listeners that upon his death, his disciples remembered the words and fully understood at last that Jesus was the embodiment of God.

We are told too that we are “temples” of God.

We understand this since God is Spirit, and resides within us.

But we are not Jesus. We merely emulate him as best we can.

It thus stands to reason that our temple is prone to reflect that one in Jerusalem.

It is prone to contain all manner of extraneous stuff, adherence to rituals and practices that have become meaningless in their routine. We are prone to bringing into our temple those thoughts and beliefs not worthy of such a place. We bring our angers and our fears, our jealousies and house them in this holy place.

We allow our temple to be polluted with too much food and drink, and we fail to care for it in other ways. We lack the strength of will or physical ability to do the work we are called to do to welcome in the Kingdom.

Lent is a time of cleansing. It is a time of evaluating, of fasting, and reflection. It is a time of change, reordering, and prioritizing.

Are you cleansing your temple?

Isn’t it about time you did?

Amen.

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Our Test of Faith

04 Mar 2012 4 Comments

by Sherry in Faith, Genesis, God, Lent Tags: , , ,

I really hate biblical texts that start off with telling me that God put so and so “to the test.” Such is the case with today’s first reading, Gen 22: 1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18.

“God put Abraham to the test.”

Untold numbers of fundamentalists have taken this text and used it to explain why the earth is not really as old as it “appears” to be, and evidence of “early hominids?”, just another test by God to see if we are faithful to the Book.

So, you see, I dislike these kinds of stories, although I know it is not the story but the erroneous interpretation that is the culprit. When we accept stories word for word as written as utterly literally true, we miss the point. We miss in fact what the author intended, which is the lesson to be learned from the story. For that was the point of stories in ancient times, they were convenient vehicles to convey truth, convenient in that they were easier to remember than the tenets. Frankly, no story is easier to remember than the one filled with danger, mystery, and shocking turns.

The story of Abraham and the offering of Isaac delivers dramatically.

At first blush it is easy to dismiss the story as grandiose and hyperbole simply because God being omniscient, or so we all believe and contend, has not need to test anyone. God knows us, as we also say, down to having counted every hair on our head.

But it is just as simplistic to dismiss the story as one of “proof of perfect faith.” Abraham is seen thusly as the man willing to murder his most beloved and only son of his wife Sarai. Was this such a demonstration of faith? Maybe.

A wonderful reflection by Father Kavanaugh, based upon a lecture he heard given by Professor Eleonore Stump, suggests something rather different. Professor Stump suggests that Abraham did not offer to execute his son under some vague “God works in mysterious ways” kind of conclusion. But rather that God had made very specific promises to Abraham, among them being that nations would “issue” from Sarai.

Remembering that all the promises of children in old age had come true, Abraham believes that this God of his can indeed be trusted. God had promised that Ishmael would produce nations as well, and Abraham had sent him off into the wilderness with his mother Hagar. He trusted then. He trusts now.

As Kavanaugh says, God asks of Abraham no more than He asks of himself. He offers his son, who goes upon the cross. And yet that son’s death, was not forever, it was burst forth in glorious resurrection. Abraham of course could not have known this, but he trusts.

And the point of the story is not the grand trust of Abraham, but that we may be comforted in our own trials. God is faithful. God has given the great sacrifice, his only Son for our lives. We can trust in this God, we can weather the storms of life knowing that the promise is and was and will be forever.

Amen.

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