Ephesians 4: 23-32
But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ's body we're all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can't work. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Don't grieve God. Don't break God’s heart. The Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for God. Don't take such a gift for granted.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 6: 35-38
"I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Creator lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our God is kind; you be kind. "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don't condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you'll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Winter Walk—An Entirely New Way of Life 1-29-12
Father, Mother God, we come to this stop-over in our journeys from so many different places. We seek wisdom and guidance from You, our very source of life. Grant that the words I speak and the meditations of all our hearts be full of Your grace and peace. Amen
I believe that we as a human race are incredibly attracted to the concept of a new life. How many of you have at least one Self-Help book sitting on your shelves, your Nook, or your Kindle that promises a new way of at least some aspect of living? Now how many of you have read those books? And, the hands go down…I will admit it, I was, at one point in my life almost addicted to self-help books. I wasn’t happy, and I really believed that somewhere in one of those books would be the key to my starting a new life. If you were in a room of church leaders the question would sound like this—“how many of you have books on making your congregations new and vibrant?” And the rate of actual readership would probably be much the same. We want ‘new’—new houses, new cars, new churches, and new ways of thinking…and, in the end; we find it in a very old place, in the beginningless and endless God, creator of all.
Our scriptures today lead us to our spiritual walk in community—to this and every community where we gather in God’s name. And we hear first what Paul had to say to the Christians at Ephesus in a letter that is different from his others. Most of the time, Paul would get wind of some crisis or another, and, as the Great Pastor of the early church, he would send off a letter addressing that crisis, and leading the Christians back to the center of their faith—Christ. Strangely enough, there was no crisis at Ephesus and so this letter is more like a pastoral letter that reads a little like “All you ever wanted to know about being a Christian, but were afraid to ask”. In an outline of this letter, our passage today falls in the second half, the more practical half and has to do with all kinds of ways to fulfill God’s purpose in the Church. Chapter 4 begins with Paul’s request of them, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” In the verses right before our passage, Paul engages in a not very generous description of the lives of non-believers. And, then, “But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! He urges us to get rid of our old ways of thinking, “and then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces the [divine character] in you.”
Because Paul is writing to a church, he is focused on behavior in the community which leads to a new way of living together. He asks us to look at the behaviors that generate this new way of living. First, ‘speak truth’. I tell you, I just don’t know why it seems so difficult for us as Christians to speak the truth—the verb that Paul uses means speak the truth continually. And, he gives us a reason why—because we are all members of one body-Christ’s body. When we gossip and lie either about ourselves or each other, we damage the whole community. Paul calls us to the essential truth, the indwelling truth of the triune God; but he also calls us to be trustworthy—as trustworthy as God. This trustworthiness requires that we speak truth to our neighbor, particularly to those who are a part of God’s community. Additionally, and I am going to be so bold as to suggest, that when we lie to each other or about each other, we damage not only those who are a part of this body with us, we damage our very selves as a part of this same body of Christ.
Second, ‘be angry’. This is no regular anger; this is divine anger—anger at injustice. Again, the form of the verb that is used means that we are to be continually angry, angry at sin and at those who greedily take from those who need the most. We are to be angry when people lie about the people of God, all the people of God. We are to be angry when one member has the arrogance to say, I belong to the people of God, but you don’t. We are to be continually angry, when one expression of the body of Christ says to another expression of the body of Christ—you cannot be gay, or transgender, or poor, or black, or any other characteristic that is used to set people apart.
We are, however, in the same phrase, told to ‘sin not’. We are to know the difference between righteous anger and walking around ticked off at someone or someones. We are to control our anger, and in every case when anger exists among two or more of us, we are to resolve it immediately. Anger must cease at sunset. Anger, held on to, even for a night, breeds a dangerous tendency to engage in sinful behavior and challenges us to speak what we know to be the truth. I don’t know about you, but the longer I hold on to something, the ‘worser’ and ‘worser’ it seems.
This leads us to two more imperatives: “give no place to the Devil’ and “do not grieve the Holy Spirit”. When we hold on to anger, mistrust, and doubt about each other we open the door to the forces of evil to invade the precious sacred space that God has given us in this church or any other church where God’s people gather. And, yes, I do mean forces of evil. And when these forces of evil start working among us, and we do nothing to stop it, we most certainly engage in sin. This sin, this failure to value above all individual agendas, the body of Christ in which we are members, most certainly, fails Paul’s final imperative—‘do not grieve the Holy Spirit’. God’s people have been grieving the Holy Spirit throughout time. But, we are, as Christians, both individually and corporately, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Having received the Holy Spirit and been renewed in mind and spirit by the Holy Spirit, we are honored to have this divine guest in our lives. And we depend on the Holy Spirit throughout our spiritual walk to make us holy.
Paul lists 6 things that we are to throw off as individuals and as a church: bitterness, rage, animosity, brawling, slander, and malice. One commentator that I read suggested that those Christians who walk around constantly bitter “appear to have been baptized in lemon juice”. They refuse to be reconciled and actually seem to enjoy their bitterness particularly when they can use their bitterness to control others. And, rage, here, does not mean an overly aggressive display of anger, the Greek word, thumos, refers to a deep, explosive rage which hasn’t yet manifested. Paul suggests that we should rid ourselves of that rage. By brawling, Paul is speaking of the person who erupts in rage or anger in all the wrong places. Feeling wronged, this person spews nastiness and is out of control. Not caring who is present to hear, this person does great damage to the church, especially to the seekers among us who have come looking for something more in their lives. Slander, speaking in ways about our brothers and sisters that will destroy their reputation, either behind their backs or in full view, does great damage to the church as well as well as every form of malice. Malice is described as “badheartedness”—when we fail to lift our brothers and sisters up, and spend our time seeking ways to destroy their spirit of joy.
Then there are the imperatives we seek. Paul’s use of the verb--to ‘continually become’—allows us to journey on our own paths toward the call of the Spirit to become all we are created to be. These simple imperatives lead us on the path of the growth of the inner life of the Spirit in ourselves and in our church. First, BE KIND. The Greek word is chrêstoi and means to be kind to those in the community, especially folks who you may have wronged in the past. It is not a feeling, it means concrete acts that not only help others, but build up the community. Secondly, BE COMPASSIONATE. Unlike the hardhearted unbeliever, the Christian’s heart is soft and tender. When we entered into the new covenant as we celebrate each week in the Eucharist, our hearts are changed and we not only love God, we love all the others and will actively seek ways to help and bless them. And, finally, FORGIVE EACH OTHER. We are always to be ready to forgive and to forgive every real and perceived wrong. What an amazing place the Body of Christ becomes as we live in constant readiness to forgive even before we are wronged.
Jesus calls us as well--"Live out this God-created identity the way our Creator lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our God is kind; you be kind. Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing.” And so, we walk in our God-Created identity, we love, and we are loved in return. To God be glory in the Church, now and forever. Amen and amen.
Welcome!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Winter Walk-A Spiritual Understanding 1-22-12
The Reading: Colossians 1: 9-11
Therefore, since the day we heard about you, we’ve been praying for you unceasingly and asking that you attain the full knowledge of God’s will, in perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding. Then you’ll lead a life worthy and pleasing to our God in every way. You’ll multiply good works of every sort and grow in the knowledge of God. And by the might of God’s glory you’ll be endowed with the strength needed to stand fast and endure joyfully whatever may happen.
The Gospel: Matthew 14: 34-36
After making the crossing, they landed at Gennesaret. When the people of that place had knowledge of Jesus, they sent word to the surrounding villages. They brought to Jesus all those who were sick, who begged him to let them just touch the hem of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teach us, Good Lord, of how to walk in Your ways. Give us the courage to seek Your will for our lives. May all that I say and all that we think on bring You glory now and forever. Amen
Today we continue our Winter Walk in the Spirit. I hope by now, that you have begun to identify some patterns for your own spiritual growth. There are two main reasons that I like to preach sermon series. One is that God’s truths are so abundant that it is difficult to adequately address most of them in one 12 or 15-minute sermon. And since I don’t advocate returning to the 19th Century tradition of 2-hour or more sermons, it makes sense to continue from one week to another. Secondly, I believe that the Spirit uses the time in between the sermons to raise questions in our hearts, if we will listen. I hope that many of you take the time to ponder or discuss with another the insights that you gain along the way.
Our story today about Jesus is a profound one and, yet, it is so small that many fail to give it much notice. These three small verses record what happened after Jesus had performed some pretty memorable miracles. He had already fed the thousands with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. He had already scared the disciples to death by walking on the water across the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a storm. He had already stilled the storm and His disciples had recognized Him as the Son of God. So after all these marvelous, powerful works, it would be easy to miss completely the significance of these few verses.
It is, in itself, a humble story compared to the ones who come before, almost like a bridge in a song that mostly serves no purpose other than to get you from one verse to the next. But, this story has much to tell. I like this story—it gives me hope and something interesting to ponder about my own life. When Jesus and the disciples crossed over into Gennesaret, something very amazing happened. People knew who He was and seemingly what He was. No huge crowds gathered to hear Jesus speak, though the crowds did come. They came for healing. They came to stand next to this man who merely stood or walked among them and allowed people to touch the hem of His garment.
Gennesaret was an interesting little piece of land. It lay along the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, just a little south of Capernaum, which is where Jesus did so much of His earthly ministry. Gennesaret was only 3 ½ miles long and in some places only 2 miles wide. But it was great farming country—its name means “Garden of Riches”. It was a beautiful, but fairly ignored place filled with humble farmers. No rich rulers or learned theologians here, just farmers who cared enough about their neighbors to run tell them of the special Man who had come into their village.
All that it took was for people to know who He was. Our scripture says, “when the people of that place had knowledge of Jesus, they sent word to the surrounding villages”. And the crowds flocked to him for healing and they were healed by touching the hem of His garment. In other words, they were healed because they recognized in their hearts and spirits that He, by His mere presence was able to restore them to health and wholeness.
Is this not the essence of spiritual knowledge? Knowing not only Who Jesus is, but what He can do merely by being present. And growing in spiritual knowledge means that, we like Jesus, can become healing agents in others’ lives merely by being present to them. Ultimately, this is what it means to walk in the Spirit, and to be used by God to heal others. But wait, my mind cried, “surely there is more, perhaps knowing the right words to say, having worked out ahead of time how I’m going to invite this person to church, having all the psychological and emotional insight to say just the perfect thing to this person who is hurting—surely there is something that I must do, or learn to do.” Following the example of Jesus, in this passage, we are confronted with the sometimes hard to hear fact, that there is nothing we must do, we must just be.
And how to describe this be-ing? We are trained to think and reason from a young age. How many of us have heard as children or said to our own children, “now, do you understand this or that?” This does not serve us well in our spiritual lives. This need for reason and explanation stops our spiritual pilgrimage cold as we claim a need to understand and then experience faith rather than experience faith which leads to understanding. We struggle to appreciate the mystery of the sacred journey. The people who came running to Jesus to stand near him, to touch him, to be healed by him believed because of what they had heard, not because they understood how or why Jesus healed, but, simply, because they believed.
Paul, in our passage, which is really a prayer, speaks eloquently to this: “We’ve been praying for you unceasingly and asking that you attain the full knowledge of God’s will, in perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Paul has been praying to God, that the Colossians will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Paul is asking God to do this—the point is clear—we cannot do this for ourselves, God must grant us this blessing of knowledge and spiritual understanding. Sometimes, I think we read Paul’s letters and believe that they are all prescriptions for what our lives should look like. We miss the very real truth that Paul is praying for the churches and asking God to do for the people what they cannot do for themselves. That’s right, we as people can seek God, but only God can fill us with perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding.
It’s a very practical and useful prayer when you think about it this way, and we must not miss the point that Paul is asking God for us to become filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Now as human beings, we often think about God’s will, but, quite frankly, it happens most often when we honestly don’t know what else to do. And so we turn to God—where to work, when to retire, where to volunteer, where to give our money or time. And those are all good reasons to seek God’s will. One pastor I know suggests that those prayers often sound like this, “O Lord, show me your will so I can carefully consider it to see if it fits into my plans.” Ah, honesty, hurts like you know what sometimes, but opens our hearts to something more.
So let’s return to Paul, and here is where it becomes connected with our brief story of Jesus’ ministry in Gennesaret. Paul is talking about a level of knowledge where we are completely filled to overflowing with the knowledge of God’s will. Is it not possible that Jesus was able to heal scores of people merely by allowing them to touch the hem of His robe, because He was filled to overflowing with God’s perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding—that God, the Creator, would continue creating in these people’s lives and by so doing, heal and make whole—that wholeness is God’s will for all creation—that it is good, and pure, and complete.
Jesus, in touch with God, as no other, did not have to ‘figure it out’. He stood and quietly let God do what God does. When we can wrap our hearts and heads around this, it comes as a great relief in ministry and in life itself. But here is where many of us get stuck. We think of doing God’s will as something akin to diagramming sentences or reciting the periodic chart of the elements or memorizing mathematical formulas. And this is where we fail to open our hearts. When we wholly trust God to have at the core of the Divine Heart our best interest, hearing the will of God for our lives becomes a sacred journey that grows more vivid and exciting with each turn. God’s will for us, in itself, is our passion for life. Our passion—what we long to do more than any other thing, becomes one with God’s will for our lives. When we open our hearts to the full knowledge of God, we are brought alive—alive to be all that we are created to be. That may well look different for each and every one of us here and well it should. Think of the overwhelming joy and celebration that we are experiencing as this church becomes the place where anyone who seeks will experience the full knowledge of God. Freed from the world’s expectations of us and propelled forward by the Divine Mystery, we learn that by opening our lives to the overflowing will of God, we will be used, as Jesus was used, to bring wholeness and healing to the world. Amen and amen.
Therefore, since the day we heard about you, we’ve been praying for you unceasingly and asking that you attain the full knowledge of God’s will, in perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding. Then you’ll lead a life worthy and pleasing to our God in every way. You’ll multiply good works of every sort and grow in the knowledge of God. And by the might of God’s glory you’ll be endowed with the strength needed to stand fast and endure joyfully whatever may happen.
The Gospel: Matthew 14: 34-36
After making the crossing, they landed at Gennesaret. When the people of that place had knowledge of Jesus, they sent word to the surrounding villages. They brought to Jesus all those who were sick, who begged him to let them just touch the hem of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Teach us, Good Lord, of how to walk in Your ways. Give us the courage to seek Your will for our lives. May all that I say and all that we think on bring You glory now and forever. Amen
Today we continue our Winter Walk in the Spirit. I hope by now, that you have begun to identify some patterns for your own spiritual growth. There are two main reasons that I like to preach sermon series. One is that God’s truths are so abundant that it is difficult to adequately address most of them in one 12 or 15-minute sermon. And since I don’t advocate returning to the 19th Century tradition of 2-hour or more sermons, it makes sense to continue from one week to another. Secondly, I believe that the Spirit uses the time in between the sermons to raise questions in our hearts, if we will listen. I hope that many of you take the time to ponder or discuss with another the insights that you gain along the way.
Our story today about Jesus is a profound one and, yet, it is so small that many fail to give it much notice. These three small verses record what happened after Jesus had performed some pretty memorable miracles. He had already fed the thousands with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. He had already scared the disciples to death by walking on the water across the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a storm. He had already stilled the storm and His disciples had recognized Him as the Son of God. So after all these marvelous, powerful works, it would be easy to miss completely the significance of these few verses.
It is, in itself, a humble story compared to the ones who come before, almost like a bridge in a song that mostly serves no purpose other than to get you from one verse to the next. But, this story has much to tell. I like this story—it gives me hope and something interesting to ponder about my own life. When Jesus and the disciples crossed over into Gennesaret, something very amazing happened. People knew who He was and seemingly what He was. No huge crowds gathered to hear Jesus speak, though the crowds did come. They came for healing. They came to stand next to this man who merely stood or walked among them and allowed people to touch the hem of His garment.
Gennesaret was an interesting little piece of land. It lay along the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, just a little south of Capernaum, which is where Jesus did so much of His earthly ministry. Gennesaret was only 3 ½ miles long and in some places only 2 miles wide. But it was great farming country—its name means “Garden of Riches”. It was a beautiful, but fairly ignored place filled with humble farmers. No rich rulers or learned theologians here, just farmers who cared enough about their neighbors to run tell them of the special Man who had come into their village.
All that it took was for people to know who He was. Our scripture says, “when the people of that place had knowledge of Jesus, they sent word to the surrounding villages”. And the crowds flocked to him for healing and they were healed by touching the hem of His garment. In other words, they were healed because they recognized in their hearts and spirits that He, by His mere presence was able to restore them to health and wholeness.
Is this not the essence of spiritual knowledge? Knowing not only Who Jesus is, but what He can do merely by being present. And growing in spiritual knowledge means that, we like Jesus, can become healing agents in others’ lives merely by being present to them. Ultimately, this is what it means to walk in the Spirit, and to be used by God to heal others. But wait, my mind cried, “surely there is more, perhaps knowing the right words to say, having worked out ahead of time how I’m going to invite this person to church, having all the psychological and emotional insight to say just the perfect thing to this person who is hurting—surely there is something that I must do, or learn to do.” Following the example of Jesus, in this passage, we are confronted with the sometimes hard to hear fact, that there is nothing we must do, we must just be.
And how to describe this be-ing? We are trained to think and reason from a young age. How many of us have heard as children or said to our own children, “now, do you understand this or that?” This does not serve us well in our spiritual lives. This need for reason and explanation stops our spiritual pilgrimage cold as we claim a need to understand and then experience faith rather than experience faith which leads to understanding. We struggle to appreciate the mystery of the sacred journey. The people who came running to Jesus to stand near him, to touch him, to be healed by him believed because of what they had heard, not because they understood how or why Jesus healed, but, simply, because they believed.
Paul, in our passage, which is really a prayer, speaks eloquently to this: “We’ve been praying for you unceasingly and asking that you attain the full knowledge of God’s will, in perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Paul has been praying to God, that the Colossians will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Paul is asking God to do this—the point is clear—we cannot do this for ourselves, God must grant us this blessing of knowledge and spiritual understanding. Sometimes, I think we read Paul’s letters and believe that they are all prescriptions for what our lives should look like. We miss the very real truth that Paul is praying for the churches and asking God to do for the people what they cannot do for themselves. That’s right, we as people can seek God, but only God can fill us with perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding.
It’s a very practical and useful prayer when you think about it this way, and we must not miss the point that Paul is asking God for us to become filled with the knowledge of God’s will. Now as human beings, we often think about God’s will, but, quite frankly, it happens most often when we honestly don’t know what else to do. And so we turn to God—where to work, when to retire, where to volunteer, where to give our money or time. And those are all good reasons to seek God’s will. One pastor I know suggests that those prayers often sound like this, “O Lord, show me your will so I can carefully consider it to see if it fits into my plans.” Ah, honesty, hurts like you know what sometimes, but opens our hearts to something more.
So let’s return to Paul, and here is where it becomes connected with our brief story of Jesus’ ministry in Gennesaret. Paul is talking about a level of knowledge where we are completely filled to overflowing with the knowledge of God’s will. Is it not possible that Jesus was able to heal scores of people merely by allowing them to touch the hem of His robe, because He was filled to overflowing with God’s perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding—that God, the Creator, would continue creating in these people’s lives and by so doing, heal and make whole—that wholeness is God’s will for all creation—that it is good, and pure, and complete.
Jesus, in touch with God, as no other, did not have to ‘figure it out’. He stood and quietly let God do what God does. When we can wrap our hearts and heads around this, it comes as a great relief in ministry and in life itself. But here is where many of us get stuck. We think of doing God’s will as something akin to diagramming sentences or reciting the periodic chart of the elements or memorizing mathematical formulas. And this is where we fail to open our hearts. When we wholly trust God to have at the core of the Divine Heart our best interest, hearing the will of God for our lives becomes a sacred journey that grows more vivid and exciting with each turn. God’s will for us, in itself, is our passion for life. Our passion—what we long to do more than any other thing, becomes one with God’s will for our lives. When we open our hearts to the full knowledge of God, we are brought alive—alive to be all that we are created to be. That may well look different for each and every one of us here and well it should. Think of the overwhelming joy and celebration that we are experiencing as this church becomes the place where anyone who seeks will experience the full knowledge of God. Freed from the world’s expectations of us and propelled forward by the Divine Mystery, we learn that by opening our lives to the overflowing will of God, we will be used, as Jesus was used, to bring wholeness and healing to the world. Amen and amen.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
A Winter Walk 3--the Sermon the People Wrote 1-15-12
The Reading: Ephesians 3: 17b-21
May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love and, with all God’s holy ones, experience this love that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. To God—whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine—to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world with end! Amen.
The Gospel: Matthew 16: 13-18
When Jesus came to the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples this question: “What do people say about who the Chosen One is?” They replied, some say John the Baptizer, others say Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “And you”, he said, “who do you say that I am?” “You are the Messiah,” Simon Peter answered, “the Firstborn of the Living God!” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon ben-Jonah! No mere mortal has revealed this to you, but my Abba God in heaven. I also tell you this: your name now is ‘Rock’, and on bedrock like this I will build my community, and the jaws of death will not prevail against it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Creating and loving God, You’ve brought us this far by faith and we sing the rest of the old song as a prayer—no, no, no we won’t turn back, we’ve come this far by faith. May all of our thoughts this day bring glory to You and fill our hearts with hope. Amen
What a delightful past few weeks I have had receiving almost daily from one or more of you your thoughts about Open Circle. As I suspected, your thoughts generated some wonderful themes for our remembering and rejoicing—the ideas of home, family, and acceptance and the spiritual nature of our journeys together. I couldn’t be happier or prouder then to be able to share with you a sermon that you wrote with me with the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit. Please know though, in some cases, I had to do some editing so all could be included.
Our reading from Ephesians has a similar pattern of themes. First, St. Paul talks of experiencing our faith with others—“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love and, with all God’s holy ones…” From a fairly new member: “Although I am relatively new to Open Circle, I will ALWAYS remember the feeling of being home when I attended services for the first time.” And from two long time members—“We are Home!” Home—that place in our hearts that almost all of us long for, a place where we can sit and breathe deeply. Some of you helped me with my definition of home—“[Open Circle] means ‘home’ a place I can fit in and not be uncomfortable or have others judge me for who they think I am, a place where me, the person, is more important than outer physical appearances or who I choose to live my life with…” You spoke often of the “others” who live here with you—“Open Circle is my spiritual home. When I attend services, I look around at the congregation and know that I’m right where I belong.”
One of our regular visitors says this, “Open Circle is my home away from home; my constant that is always there with open arms for us anytime that we can get there to worship with my family.” Reflecting on the meaning of family, one of you said, “Open Circle means faith, home, family and hope to me. Having the church in my life has given purpose to my life. The church and its members have filled a void in my life that I had not realized was there.” Some of you talked about what makes this family so different for you—“Our church is a blessed family, within God’s total family. This wonderful Church is showing the pathway to a true personal relationship with Christ—one that we can enter into with the confidence of complete approval from our Lord and Savior.”
A few of you shared your deeply personal stories of entrance into this family. They touched my heart. “I was alone in my living room, after losing my partner of twenty years, feeling so lonely, and lost! I prayed for weeks, for God to open doors. Doors that only He knew existed! After an hour or so, …a voice in my head said.. You are going to church TODAY. God lifted me off my recliner, led me to the shower, I dressed and went to [the office] where the service was being held. Now I have family and friends…and my Faith is So much stronger than it’s ever been!”
Another one of you who battles daily with pain and physical challenges offered us this beautiful passage—“ The English language (probably no language) is equipped to enable me to verbalize the depth of spiritual growth that has opened up to me as a result of becoming a member of Open Circle. But then, the Spirit led me to find Open Circle through an unexpected circuitous route. Now I have a new family, a reason to live, a community in which to share my talents and skills, and also be the joyful receiver of others’ gifts. I understand the mysteries of life in Jesus to a depth I never have before, knowing there is much more growth yet to happen. And how exciting is that! My life has more meaning and makes more sense than ever. WHAT A JOY!...MOSTLY, I NOW BELIEVE IN MIRACLES.”
And one of you summed it up for all of us—“MCC is the best thing that ever happened to me. God and all of the people in the church are really all the family anyone could love and want.” St. Paul, in his description of the kind of church that he prays for the Ephesians, tells us that when we experience and grasp Christ’s love, with all God’s holy ones, we will experience this love that “surpasses all understanding, so that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Many of you spoke of the acceptance and grace that you experienced here—perhaps, for the first time. For you, Open Circle is “a very warm and welcoming place to worship—a wonderful group of genuine, caring individuals.” And, from another one of you—“Open Circle is a place I can worship God as I am and not as what I am supposed to be. It radiates love, understanding and caring for me as a child of God. It is a family and not a bunch of parishioners.” And, finally—“ I have been blessed to have found this church and church family. They have taught me that no matter where I have come from or what I have been told in the past, that God loves me just as I am. I am loved and perfect in God’s eye, no matter what!” For some, this is a new journey after a faith journey somewhere else, “I was brought up Catholic, became an Epicopalian for 25 years with my beloved partner, and now I'm on a new journey. I found this wonderful church, and I need all these beautiful people in my life.”
Some of you talked about the welcome you received on your first visit—“ As we walked in those large double doors, there was a lady smiling from ear to ear she greeted me saying welcome , get your name tag here fill out your information here and put your money in this envelope . (Just kidding about the envelope ). That was Laura , I now tell her she is my # one because she was the first to greet us. I then walked into the Sanctuary I heard beautiful sounds coming from the pianist , oh my, that put us in a reverent frame of mind .We knew right away this is the place we want to worship our Christ . Things started to happen in perfect order; the service was moving along with all focus on Christ .The choir sang, oh, so nice; then we heard a voice that stood out from all the rest it was as if a angel were in the back ground singing a higher part. Then the sermon started with the perfect message . All of a sudden we were in a circle singing the Lord’s Prayer. Wow, what a way to close . We looked at our watch and thought where has the worship hour gone . A couple of Sunday's later we attended the Annual Meeting . We were so impressed… We could tell everything was a team effort . To make a long story short , we are now members of Open Circle MCC.”
It might surprise you to discover that not all of you wanted to get acquainted with this family at all. One of you tells it like this—“ I came to Open Circle kicking, screaming, and resisting, while being drug by a friend of mine to come to church. I had not done “church” in a very long time and I liked it that way… But, my friend kept insisting that I go, so I went. What I found when I arrived at Open Circle MCC was a loving, supportive, friendly family that actually cared about me and cared about whether I came to church or not...The more I came, the more love I found. And, the more love I found, the more support and friendships I made. I feel I am at home. Open Circle has touched my life in a very profound way and has made me feel a part of a much larger family. I am forever grateful for this wonderful experience.”
Many of you wrote to me of profound spiritual insights and I am honored to share them with your family. Some of you were concise and to the point—“I have found a place where I do not have to choose between my heart and soul. A place where I feel one in the spirit of God.” Or, “Open Circle completes the space that was vacant in my circle of life.” Another one of you said, “Open Circle was the missing piece to my life’s puzzle. With that piece in place, I feel more fulfilled than ever in my lifetime.” Or, “Open Circle is the rose in the desert of my broken spirit. I love this church!”
One of our friends from another church, watching us become who we are, wrote us a brief poem:
I stand outside the gates of the temple
and cast my eye inward to see the soul
that for too long is as fire frozen -
bless the meltdown!
This friend from a distance concludes, “Every week I read your wonderful newsletter and am inspired by the commitment of the community to the true meaning of the Christ-Consciousness. [The poem] is a testimony to the richness of what happens when people accept their goodness and Light.”
Several of you spoke specifically of finding a way to return to a former place of faith here—“Open Circle MCC is my faith community where the Word speaks through scripture, sermon, and song, and where the human is invited to become united with the Divine in the breaking of the Bread and acceptance of the cup--Christ among us. In this community of faith I have returned to His call: loving, supporting, and journeying with each OC member in building the City of God until all are One.” Another one of you said, “Open Circle has helped me to find God again - I know He never left me, it was I who left Him. Being a member of OCMCC my heart …has been opened and I have come to the realization that God loves me and that he is always there for me.”
Two more of you reflected specifically on the difference this community has made in your life, “Open Circle has done exactly that for me ...opened my circle! It has given me the freedom and the strength to be who I am. God makes a difference in my life every day and in joining this faith community He has blessed me with so many loving, kind and God-Loving friends.” And then, “Open Circle has given me the peace, joy, happiness, love and friendship of a community that I have been searching for all my life. The closeness I have found with God has been enhanced by the love I have experience at OCMCC. I feel God has put His arms around me and has pulled me into His heart. I see OCMCC filling the hearts of many with our Creator's love, and that one day we will do so in our own church building.” Ah, bless you, hope springs eternal…
Some of you were extremely creative. I even received an email from one of your four-legged children who told me, “since my mom found Open Circle or Open Circle found her, she is much happier…I know because she talks to me all the time.” And, you will not be surprised to discover that one of you, quoted a Broadway show tune in your response—he says, “From my visits to Open Circle, reading your e-newsletter, discussions with friends who are church members…, there is an Open Circle “Excitement” and it reminds me of the song from West Side Story “Something’s Coming”
“I got a feeling there's a miracle due
Gonna come true
Coming to me
Could it be?
Yes it could
Something's coming
Something good
If I can wait
Something's coming I don't know what it is
But it is gonna be great”
And great it is!. Finally, some of you simply stated your gratitude—“We attempted to create a GLBT faith community several years ago but failed. Now with the proper planning and structure we are so grateful that Open Circle MCC has been born out of our community…” Or, “SPIRIT has given me the opportunity to sing once again, I have found my voice once more…” Perhaps, for some of you, Sunday has become a special day again—“I am deeply and spiritually moved as I enter the door; from the welcoming greeters to the tinkling of the piano keys and the beautiful voices of the Spirit Choir. Finalizing the circle of worshipers singing the Lord’s Prayer. Thank you Open Circle for starting out my Sunday’s with reverence.” And, finally, “Thank You Jesus for bringing us this house of worship.” And, “It is a privilege to be part of Open Circle and I feel this deeply in my heart.”
One of you wrote this beautiful description of Open Circle and I share it with you as we come to a close. “This is a safe place, where broken and bruised souls can come to be loved and healed. This is a learning place where we can glean understandable theological and philosophical explanations. This is the place where sharing the bread and wine is encouraged to feed our souls. This is the place for prayer, private and public. This is the place for fellowship where we can enjoy each other. This is the place where music becomes a living prayer. This is the place that the Lord has made. He sees that it is good and He is glad indeed.
My friends, what a year it has been—what a new year it will be. I am blessed to be your pastor and I take these thoughts and place them in my heart’s center. Thank you for being who you are. And so, “To God—whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine—to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world with end!” Amen and Amen.
May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love and, with all God’s holy ones, experience this love that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. To God—whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine—to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world with end! Amen.
The Gospel: Matthew 16: 13-18
When Jesus came to the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples this question: “What do people say about who the Chosen One is?” They replied, some say John the Baptizer, others say Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “And you”, he said, “who do you say that I am?” “You are the Messiah,” Simon Peter answered, “the Firstborn of the Living God!” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon ben-Jonah! No mere mortal has revealed this to you, but my Abba God in heaven. I also tell you this: your name now is ‘Rock’, and on bedrock like this I will build my community, and the jaws of death will not prevail against it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Creating and loving God, You’ve brought us this far by faith and we sing the rest of the old song as a prayer—no, no, no we won’t turn back, we’ve come this far by faith. May all of our thoughts this day bring glory to You and fill our hearts with hope. Amen
What a delightful past few weeks I have had receiving almost daily from one or more of you your thoughts about Open Circle. As I suspected, your thoughts generated some wonderful themes for our remembering and rejoicing—the ideas of home, family, and acceptance and the spiritual nature of our journeys together. I couldn’t be happier or prouder then to be able to share with you a sermon that you wrote with me with the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit. Please know though, in some cases, I had to do some editing so all could be included.
Our reading from Ephesians has a similar pattern of themes. First, St. Paul talks of experiencing our faith with others—“May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ’s love and, with all God’s holy ones…” From a fairly new member: “Although I am relatively new to Open Circle, I will ALWAYS remember the feeling of being home when I attended services for the first time.” And from two long time members—“We are Home!” Home—that place in our hearts that almost all of us long for, a place where we can sit and breathe deeply. Some of you helped me with my definition of home—“[Open Circle] means ‘home’ a place I can fit in and not be uncomfortable or have others judge me for who they think I am, a place where me, the person, is more important than outer physical appearances or who I choose to live my life with…” You spoke often of the “others” who live here with you—“Open Circle is my spiritual home. When I attend services, I look around at the congregation and know that I’m right where I belong.”
One of our regular visitors says this, “Open Circle is my home away from home; my constant that is always there with open arms for us anytime that we can get there to worship with my family.” Reflecting on the meaning of family, one of you said, “Open Circle means faith, home, family and hope to me. Having the church in my life has given purpose to my life. The church and its members have filled a void in my life that I had not realized was there.” Some of you talked about what makes this family so different for you—“Our church is a blessed family, within God’s total family. This wonderful Church is showing the pathway to a true personal relationship with Christ—one that we can enter into with the confidence of complete approval from our Lord and Savior.”
A few of you shared your deeply personal stories of entrance into this family. They touched my heart. “I was alone in my living room, after losing my partner of twenty years, feeling so lonely, and lost! I prayed for weeks, for God to open doors. Doors that only He knew existed! After an hour or so, …a voice in my head said.. You are going to church TODAY. God lifted me off my recliner, led me to the shower, I dressed and went to [the office] where the service was being held. Now I have family and friends…and my Faith is So much stronger than it’s ever been!”
Another one of you who battles daily with pain and physical challenges offered us this beautiful passage—“ The English language (probably no language) is equipped to enable me to verbalize the depth of spiritual growth that has opened up to me as a result of becoming a member of Open Circle. But then, the Spirit led me to find Open Circle through an unexpected circuitous route. Now I have a new family, a reason to live, a community in which to share my talents and skills, and also be the joyful receiver of others’ gifts. I understand the mysteries of life in Jesus to a depth I never have before, knowing there is much more growth yet to happen. And how exciting is that! My life has more meaning and makes more sense than ever. WHAT A JOY!...MOSTLY, I NOW BELIEVE IN MIRACLES.”
And one of you summed it up for all of us—“MCC is the best thing that ever happened to me. God and all of the people in the church are really all the family anyone could love and want.” St. Paul, in his description of the kind of church that he prays for the Ephesians, tells us that when we experience and grasp Christ’s love, with all God’s holy ones, we will experience this love that “surpasses all understanding, so that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Many of you spoke of the acceptance and grace that you experienced here—perhaps, for the first time. For you, Open Circle is “a very warm and welcoming place to worship—a wonderful group of genuine, caring individuals.” And, from another one of you—“Open Circle is a place I can worship God as I am and not as what I am supposed to be. It radiates love, understanding and caring for me as a child of God. It is a family and not a bunch of parishioners.” And, finally—“ I have been blessed to have found this church and church family. They have taught me that no matter where I have come from or what I have been told in the past, that God loves me just as I am. I am loved and perfect in God’s eye, no matter what!” For some, this is a new journey after a faith journey somewhere else, “I was brought up Catholic, became an Epicopalian for 25 years with my beloved partner, and now I'm on a new journey. I found this wonderful church, and I need all these beautiful people in my life.”
Some of you talked about the welcome you received on your first visit—“ As we walked in those large double doors, there was a lady smiling from ear to ear she greeted me saying welcome , get your name tag here fill out your information here and put your money in this envelope . (Just kidding about the envelope ). That was Laura , I now tell her she is my # one because she was the first to greet us. I then walked into the Sanctuary I heard beautiful sounds coming from the pianist , oh my, that put us in a reverent frame of mind .We knew right away this is the place we want to worship our Christ . Things started to happen in perfect order; the service was moving along with all focus on Christ .The choir sang, oh, so nice; then we heard a voice that stood out from all the rest it was as if a angel were in the back ground singing a higher part. Then the sermon started with the perfect message . All of a sudden we were in a circle singing the Lord’s Prayer. Wow, what a way to close . We looked at our watch and thought where has the worship hour gone . A couple of Sunday's later we attended the Annual Meeting . We were so impressed… We could tell everything was a team effort . To make a long story short , we are now members of Open Circle MCC.”
It might surprise you to discover that not all of you wanted to get acquainted with this family at all. One of you tells it like this—“ I came to Open Circle kicking, screaming, and resisting, while being drug by a friend of mine to come to church. I had not done “church” in a very long time and I liked it that way… But, my friend kept insisting that I go, so I went. What I found when I arrived at Open Circle MCC was a loving, supportive, friendly family that actually cared about me and cared about whether I came to church or not...The more I came, the more love I found. And, the more love I found, the more support and friendships I made. I feel I am at home. Open Circle has touched my life in a very profound way and has made me feel a part of a much larger family. I am forever grateful for this wonderful experience.”
Many of you wrote to me of profound spiritual insights and I am honored to share them with your family. Some of you were concise and to the point—“I have found a place where I do not have to choose between my heart and soul. A place where I feel one in the spirit of God.” Or, “Open Circle completes the space that was vacant in my circle of life.” Another one of you said, “Open Circle was the missing piece to my life’s puzzle. With that piece in place, I feel more fulfilled than ever in my lifetime.” Or, “Open Circle is the rose in the desert of my broken spirit. I love this church!”
One of our friends from another church, watching us become who we are, wrote us a brief poem:
I stand outside the gates of the temple
and cast my eye inward to see the soul
that for too long is as fire frozen -
bless the meltdown!
This friend from a distance concludes, “Every week I read your wonderful newsletter and am inspired by the commitment of the community to the true meaning of the Christ-Consciousness. [The poem] is a testimony to the richness of what happens when people accept their goodness and Light.”
Several of you spoke specifically of finding a way to return to a former place of faith here—“Open Circle MCC is my faith community where the Word speaks through scripture, sermon, and song, and where the human is invited to become united with the Divine in the breaking of the Bread and acceptance of the cup--Christ among us. In this community of faith I have returned to His call: loving, supporting, and journeying with each OC member in building the City of God until all are One.” Another one of you said, “Open Circle has helped me to find God again - I know He never left me, it was I who left Him. Being a member of OCMCC my heart …has been opened and I have come to the realization that God loves me and that he is always there for me.”
Two more of you reflected specifically on the difference this community has made in your life, “Open Circle has done exactly that for me ...opened my circle! It has given me the freedom and the strength to be who I am. God makes a difference in my life every day and in joining this faith community He has blessed me with so many loving, kind and God-Loving friends.” And then, “Open Circle has given me the peace, joy, happiness, love and friendship of a community that I have been searching for all my life. The closeness I have found with God has been enhanced by the love I have experience at OCMCC. I feel God has put His arms around me and has pulled me into His heart. I see OCMCC filling the hearts of many with our Creator's love, and that one day we will do so in our own church building.” Ah, bless you, hope springs eternal…
Some of you were extremely creative. I even received an email from one of your four-legged children who told me, “since my mom found Open Circle or Open Circle found her, she is much happier…I know because she talks to me all the time.” And, you will not be surprised to discover that one of you, quoted a Broadway show tune in your response—he says, “From my visits to Open Circle, reading your e-newsletter, discussions with friends who are church members…, there is an Open Circle “Excitement” and it reminds me of the song from West Side Story “Something’s Coming”
“I got a feeling there's a miracle due
Gonna come true
Coming to me
Could it be?
Yes it could
Something's coming
Something good
If I can wait
Something's coming I don't know what it is
But it is gonna be great”
And great it is!. Finally, some of you simply stated your gratitude—“We attempted to create a GLBT faith community several years ago but failed. Now with the proper planning and structure we are so grateful that Open Circle MCC has been born out of our community…” Or, “SPIRIT has given me the opportunity to sing once again, I have found my voice once more…” Perhaps, for some of you, Sunday has become a special day again—“I am deeply and spiritually moved as I enter the door; from the welcoming greeters to the tinkling of the piano keys and the beautiful voices of the Spirit Choir. Finalizing the circle of worshipers singing the Lord’s Prayer. Thank you Open Circle for starting out my Sunday’s with reverence.” And, finally, “Thank You Jesus for bringing us this house of worship.” And, “It is a privilege to be part of Open Circle and I feel this deeply in my heart.”
One of you wrote this beautiful description of Open Circle and I share it with you as we come to a close. “This is a safe place, where broken and bruised souls can come to be loved and healed. This is a learning place where we can glean understandable theological and philosophical explanations. This is the place where sharing the bread and wine is encouraged to feed our souls. This is the place for prayer, private and public. This is the place for fellowship where we can enjoy each other. This is the place where music becomes a living prayer. This is the place that the Lord has made. He sees that it is good and He is glad indeed.
My friends, what a year it has been—what a new year it will be. I am blessed to be your pastor and I take these thoughts and place them in my heart’s center. Thank you for being who you are. And so, “To God—whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine—to God be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, world with end!” Amen and Amen.
Monday, January 9, 2012
A Winter Walk-2-Moving in the Spirit
First Reading— Acts 17: 24-28
“For the God who made the world and all that is in it, the Sovereign of heaven and earth, doesn’t live in sanctuaries made by human hands, and isn’t served by humans, as if in need of anything. No! God is the One who gives everyone life, breath—everything. From one person God created all of humankind to inhabit the entire earth, and set the time for each nation to exist and the exact place where each nation should dwell. God did this so that human beings would seek, reach out for, and perhaps find the One who is not really far from any of us—the One in whom we live and move and have our being. As one of your poets has put it, ‘We too are God’s children.’”
The Gospel Lesson— Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to dissuade Jesus, saying, “I should be baptized by you, and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it this way for now. We must do this to completely fulfill God’s justice”. So John reluctantly agreed. Immediately after Jesus had been baptized and was coming up out of the water, the sky suddenly opened up and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and hovering over him. With that, a voice from the heavens said, “this is my Own, my Beloved, on whom my favor rests.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Winter Walk 2—Moving in the Spirit 1-8-12
Come, Spirit, come our hearts control; our spirits long to be made whole. Let inward love guide every deed; by this we worship and are freed. May my words be inspired by this same sweet Spirit, and may our thoughts and reflections bring you honor and praise. Amen
As I often do, I went to the internet to see what I would find if I googled the title of the sermon or the scripture. What I found were a lot of pages about living in the Spirit—but most, if not all, of the descriptions of what that looks like, left me cold—lots of talk about denial, control, and restraint. Not too appealing to most of us; certainly not too appealing to me. And then I happened upon a website movinginthespirit.org. Aha! I thought—this should do it—when my computer brought up the website, I was somewhat surprised to find that it is the website for a program in Atlanta that teaches inner-city kids to dance and through their dancing to find purpose and respect, a place to belong, and adults to guide them into discovering who they are and want to be. The description on their webpage says this: “Moving in the Spirit reaches over 250 young people annually through dynamic programs that educate, inspire and unite young people through dance in order to help them become successful, compassionate leaders.” In other places, the website talks about celebrating diversity and making a difference in the world. Almost forgetting that I was reading about a dance program, I found myself reflecting on a life spent moving in the Holy Spirit in similar terms.
I strongly suspect that most of you, if you have been inviting people to come to Open Circle with you, have heard from at least one person—I’m a spiritual person, but I’m not religious. Or “I do my worshipping at the beach or under a tree.” On Dating/Relationship internet sites, under faith issues, “spiritual, not religious” appears as a choice—I assume so that you know that if you begin dating that person you won’t be drug to some church or another. This is all very sad to me—a life long practioner of “religion”, I consider myself a very spiritual person and have, indeed, like many of you, spent at least a few years, staunchly defending my religiously staying away from an organized faith tradition and finding my spirituality atop a mountain, on the meditation mat, or in the middle of a sun salutation in a yoga class. But, if I am honest, I must admit that I longed, even in the midst of anger, rejection, or betrayal for a way to be both spiritual and religious at the same time, in the same place, with the same people. For me, the seemingly necessary distinction between religion and spirituality just didn’t make any sense. I will be bold enough today to suggest that it doesn’t make any sense to God either. Our reading from Acts 17 comes from one of Paul’s most famous sermons. He has gone to Athens to wait for the rest of his group. He is intrigued and dismayed to see all the idols that the Athenians are worshipping. He, of course, begins to tell them of another way—a way consistent with the new covenant forged in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. In a meeting of the highest religious authorities in Athens, he gives this “sermon”.
"The God who made the world and everything in it, this [Creator] of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines… [This God] makes the creatures; the creatures don't make [God]. Starting from scratch, [God] made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find [the Divine Presence]… We live and move in [God]!” Then Paul uses the words of one of the Greek poets to make his point: “One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.' Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn't make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?” Now here’s what I think—I think Paul would encourage us to make the connection between the idols that the Athenians are worshipping which keep them from encountering the true God and all the rules and regulations that we have, over time, built into “religion”. And it may well be those very rules and regulations that cause people to reject what they see as “religion” and adopt, instead, a spirituality that is more in line with seeking the Creator God of whom Paul speaks in his sermon to the Greeks in Athens. I hope you are still with me—for this is the crux of life in the spirit—this moving and being and living in the spirit. And so, we watch, as the Spirit descends upon Jesus—freely, a gift from God. Hear what the scripture says about the gift of the Holy Spirit to Jesus—“The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my [Child], chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life."
And we, like Jesus, are chosen by God, marked by Divine Love, the delight of God. And all that God asks in return in that we yearn for the Perfect Presence of that Divine Love. Those who live a contemplative life in God, have long conversed about practicing this presence of God. N. Graham Standish, a Presbyterian minister in Pennsylvania, says this about staying in God’s presence: “Practicing the presence of God is simple, although it does require one major commitment from us. We have to actually believe and treat God as though God is with us. We have to believe that God permeates everything and everyone…We may not be God, and God may not be us, but certainly Christ is incarnated within us, and the Holy Spirit surrounds us and acts through us.” And, along comes Paul saying again, “we live and move and have our being in God”.
And in all of this, not one single rule appears—not one canon law, not one tradition that defies understanding. All that appears is our divinely born longing for the Divine, for the source of life. In the descent of the Holy Spirit on Christ who was, in every way, like us, we are gifted with the same Holy Spirit of God. Why then, is it so hard for us to learn of this in church—the faith family in which we gather to sing and praise, to listen and speak of God who loves us and treasures us as important as any other spark of creation throughout all of time. Let me ask this again—why is it so hard for us to learn of this, and, better yet, experience this in church? Bringing the practice of prayer in the presence of God to a deeper level, the Quaker writer Thomas Kelly has revealed a way to an even more authentic experience of the Holy. He suggests that living or praying in the spirit is to invite and allow the presence of the incarnate God, in Christ, flow through us. Kelly says:
“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with the intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life”. And I say to you, is it not amazing that nowhere is all our meditation and contemplation today do we find the rules of such a faith—no step-by-step instruction of some catechism or confirmation process. No memorized scriptures, no threats of eternal damnation for failing to worship aright.
And so I return to the young dancers in Atlanta—certainly there are patterns of dance to be learned, particularly patterns that protect young feet and legs from harm and enable scores of dancers to be on the dance floor simultaneously without running each over, or ending in a heap of tangled toes and fingers. But those are patterns of grace, grace which allows them and us, to move together with other creative beings journeying toward the purest form of worship or dance—pure beauty itself, not filled with unruly self-focus, but alive with the emphasis on the experience of Divine Joy far more than the perfect plié or recitation of creed or prayer. And so, whether at altar or dance studio, we join the creative dance of the gift of divine presence and grace. Come, Spirit, come our hearts control; our spirits long to be made whole. Let inward love guide every deed; by this we worship and are freed. Amen and Amen.
“For the God who made the world and all that is in it, the Sovereign of heaven and earth, doesn’t live in sanctuaries made by human hands, and isn’t served by humans, as if in need of anything. No! God is the One who gives everyone life, breath—everything. From one person God created all of humankind to inhabit the entire earth, and set the time for each nation to exist and the exact place where each nation should dwell. God did this so that human beings would seek, reach out for, and perhaps find the One who is not really far from any of us—the One in whom we live and move and have our being. As one of your poets has put it, ‘We too are God’s children.’”
The Gospel Lesson— Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to dissuade Jesus, saying, “I should be baptized by you, and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied, “Leave it this way for now. We must do this to completely fulfill God’s justice”. So John reluctantly agreed. Immediately after Jesus had been baptized and was coming up out of the water, the sky suddenly opened up and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and hovering over him. With that, a voice from the heavens said, “this is my Own, my Beloved, on whom my favor rests.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Winter Walk 2—Moving in the Spirit 1-8-12
Come, Spirit, come our hearts control; our spirits long to be made whole. Let inward love guide every deed; by this we worship and are freed. May my words be inspired by this same sweet Spirit, and may our thoughts and reflections bring you honor and praise. Amen
As I often do, I went to the internet to see what I would find if I googled the title of the sermon or the scripture. What I found were a lot of pages about living in the Spirit—but most, if not all, of the descriptions of what that looks like, left me cold—lots of talk about denial, control, and restraint. Not too appealing to most of us; certainly not too appealing to me. And then I happened upon a website movinginthespirit.org. Aha! I thought—this should do it—when my computer brought up the website, I was somewhat surprised to find that it is the website for a program in Atlanta that teaches inner-city kids to dance and through their dancing to find purpose and respect, a place to belong, and adults to guide them into discovering who they are and want to be. The description on their webpage says this: “Moving in the Spirit reaches over 250 young people annually through dynamic programs that educate, inspire and unite young people through dance in order to help them become successful, compassionate leaders.” In other places, the website talks about celebrating diversity and making a difference in the world. Almost forgetting that I was reading about a dance program, I found myself reflecting on a life spent moving in the Holy Spirit in similar terms.
I strongly suspect that most of you, if you have been inviting people to come to Open Circle with you, have heard from at least one person—I’m a spiritual person, but I’m not religious. Or “I do my worshipping at the beach or under a tree.” On Dating/Relationship internet sites, under faith issues, “spiritual, not religious” appears as a choice—I assume so that you know that if you begin dating that person you won’t be drug to some church or another. This is all very sad to me—a life long practioner of “religion”, I consider myself a very spiritual person and have, indeed, like many of you, spent at least a few years, staunchly defending my religiously staying away from an organized faith tradition and finding my spirituality atop a mountain, on the meditation mat, or in the middle of a sun salutation in a yoga class. But, if I am honest, I must admit that I longed, even in the midst of anger, rejection, or betrayal for a way to be both spiritual and religious at the same time, in the same place, with the same people. For me, the seemingly necessary distinction between religion and spirituality just didn’t make any sense. I will be bold enough today to suggest that it doesn’t make any sense to God either. Our reading from Acts 17 comes from one of Paul’s most famous sermons. He has gone to Athens to wait for the rest of his group. He is intrigued and dismayed to see all the idols that the Athenians are worshipping. He, of course, begins to tell them of another way—a way consistent with the new covenant forged in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. In a meeting of the highest religious authorities in Athens, he gives this “sermon”.
"The God who made the world and everything in it, this [Creator] of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines… [This God] makes the creatures; the creatures don't make [God]. Starting from scratch, [God] made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find [the Divine Presence]… We live and move in [God]!” Then Paul uses the words of one of the Greek poets to make his point: “One of your poets said it well: 'We're the God-created.' Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn't make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?” Now here’s what I think—I think Paul would encourage us to make the connection between the idols that the Athenians are worshipping which keep them from encountering the true God and all the rules and regulations that we have, over time, built into “religion”. And it may well be those very rules and regulations that cause people to reject what they see as “religion” and adopt, instead, a spirituality that is more in line with seeking the Creator God of whom Paul speaks in his sermon to the Greeks in Athens. I hope you are still with me—for this is the crux of life in the spirit—this moving and being and living in the spirit. And so, we watch, as the Spirit descends upon Jesus—freely, a gift from God. Hear what the scripture says about the gift of the Holy Spirit to Jesus—“The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my [Child], chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life."
And we, like Jesus, are chosen by God, marked by Divine Love, the delight of God. And all that God asks in return in that we yearn for the Perfect Presence of that Divine Love. Those who live a contemplative life in God, have long conversed about practicing this presence of God. N. Graham Standish, a Presbyterian minister in Pennsylvania, says this about staying in God’s presence: “Practicing the presence of God is simple, although it does require one major commitment from us. We have to actually believe and treat God as though God is with us. We have to believe that God permeates everything and everyone…We may not be God, and God may not be us, but certainly Christ is incarnated within us, and the Holy Spirit surrounds us and acts through us.” And, along comes Paul saying again, “we live and move and have our being in God”.
And in all of this, not one single rule appears—not one canon law, not one tradition that defies understanding. All that appears is our divinely born longing for the Divine, for the source of life. In the descent of the Holy Spirit on Christ who was, in every way, like us, we are gifted with the same Holy Spirit of God. Why then, is it so hard for us to learn of this in church—the faith family in which we gather to sing and praise, to listen and speak of God who loves us and treasures us as important as any other spark of creation throughout all of time. Let me ask this again—why is it so hard for us to learn of this, and, better yet, experience this in church? Bringing the practice of prayer in the presence of God to a deeper level, the Quaker writer Thomas Kelly has revealed a way to an even more authentic experience of the Holy. He suggests that living or praying in the spirit is to invite and allow the presence of the incarnate God, in Christ, flow through us. Kelly says:
“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with the intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life”. And I say to you, is it not amazing that nowhere is all our meditation and contemplation today do we find the rules of such a faith—no step-by-step instruction of some catechism or confirmation process. No memorized scriptures, no threats of eternal damnation for failing to worship aright.
And so I return to the young dancers in Atlanta—certainly there are patterns of dance to be learned, particularly patterns that protect young feet and legs from harm and enable scores of dancers to be on the dance floor simultaneously without running each over, or ending in a heap of tangled toes and fingers. But those are patterns of grace, grace which allows them and us, to move together with other creative beings journeying toward the purest form of worship or dance—pure beauty itself, not filled with unruly self-focus, but alive with the emphasis on the experience of Divine Joy far more than the perfect plié or recitation of creed or prayer. And so, whether at altar or dance studio, we join the creative dance of the gift of divine presence and grace. Come, Spirit, come our hearts control; our spirits long to be made whole. Let inward love guide every deed; by this we worship and are freed. Amen and Amen.
Monday, January 2, 2012
A Winter Walk 1-Seeing in the Spirit
First Reading—Ephesians 1: 3-14
Praised be the Maker of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens! Before the world began, God Chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless and to be full of love; God likewise predestined us through Christ Jesus to be adopted children—such was God’s pleasure and will—that everyone might praise the glory of God’s grace which was freely bestowed on us in God’s beloved, Jesus Christ. It is in Christ and through the blood of Christ that we have been redeemed and our sings forgiven, so immeasurably generous is God’s favor given to us with perfect wisdom and understanding. God has taken pleasure in revealing the mystery of the plan, through Grist, to be carried out in the fullness of time, namely, to bring all things—in heaven and on earth—together in Christ.
In Christ we were willed an inheritance; for in the decree of God—and everything is administered according to the divine will and counsel—we were predestined to praise the glory of the Most High by being the first to hope in Christ. In Christ you too were chosen. When you heard the Good News of salvation, the word of truth, and believed in it, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance, the deposit paid against the full redemption of a people who are God’s own to the praise of God’s glory.
The Gospel Lesson—Luke 2: 22-32
When the day came for them to be purified, as laid down by the Law of Moses, the couple took Jesus up to Jerusalem and presented him to God. For it’s written in the Law of our God, “every firstborn heir is to be consecrated to God.” They likewise came to offer in sacrifice “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate of the Law of our God.
Now there lived in Jerusalem a man named Simeon. He was devout and just, anticipating the consolation of Israel, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. She had revealed to Simeon that he wouldn’t see death until he had seem the Messiah of God. Prompted by her, Simeon came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child to perform the customary rituals of the Law, he took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
“Now, O God, you can dismiss your servant in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GOD, we open our hearts to you—as we turn to you in this new year, may we become new in your spirit. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts bring praise to your name. Amen
I will admit it. I am one of those people who has quit making New Years’ resolutions. Couldn’t stand the pressure and that ugly, self-imposed feeling of guilt when I lost my commitment to whatever I thought was important on December 31st that just didn’t seem so important by, oh, say—January 10th or so. And the older I got, the more I realized that change comes gradually and grows out of a new way of seeing—it isn’t something that we can order ourselves to do and expect it to last much past the time it takes us to write it down. Growing spiritually is a very similar phenomena, and as much as we tell ourselves that this year I am going to pray more or study the Bible more or learn to meditate—none of that will happen unless the way we view our spiritual life and relationship with God changes—that is, unless we see with new eyes.
The story told in our Gospel lesson today is crucial in several ways to understanding the new sight that we will receive when we wait and prepare our hearts for our eyes to see. Now, at the time of Jesus’ birth and subsequent presentation at the Temple there were at least two kinds of Jewish Religious leaders. One is the kind we hear the most about—the ones who were waiting for a Messiah who would come as a military leader who would conquer all their enemies and restore the Jewish people to glory as God’s chosen people. They were not looking for a tiny baby to be born in a rough stable to a poor, insignificant couple from Nazareth. They were looking, all right—but in all the wrong places—they had a vision but no way to understand what was really happening. Failing to recognize that God was working out the divine plan in their midst, they were unable to see at all.
There was a second kind of Jewish people at the time of Jesus’ birth. Except for Simeon, we hear very little about them. They were called THE QUIET IN THE LAND. They read the ancient scriptures and spent their lives in constant prayer and quiet waiting for God to send the Messiah. They spent their lives in peaceful and patient readiness to see all that God would show them about the coming of the Messiah. Their lifestyle of unassuming spiritual insight primed them for when the “right time” should arrive.
Simeon was one of these “quiet ones”. He was also, really, really old. He hardly ever left the Temple, spending his days there in prayer and watchfulness. And he was ready. Several weeks after his birth, Jesus was taken by Mary and Joseph to the Temple for several reasons. First, there was the “redemption of the firstborn”. Because God had saved all the first-born sons of the Israelites when they were enslaved in Egypt, resulting in the celebration called the Passover, all first-born sons were presented to God at the Temple. There was a ceremony of dedication and redemption. Secondly, because Mary had given birth to a son, she was considered religiously unclean and needed to make an offering at the Temple. Those who were considered with means were to sacrifice a lamb and a pigeon. Women like Mary, because they were poor were allowed to bring two pigeons. This also confirms for us that Joseph and Mary were ordinary people who lived without luxuries and struggled financially. Nevertheless, Mary and Joseph were pious people who made every effort to obey all the laws of their religion.
Simeon was there in the Temple and watched all of this unfold. You can almost see him standing in the shadows, looking up from his prayers every once in a while. Simeon’s name is apt—it means “hear and obey”. All his life Simeon has watched, and prayed and waited for this precise moment. In one of his many conversations with God, the Almighty had promised him that he would live to see the coming of the Messiah and suddenly, the time is right. Simeon watches the sacrifice of the two pigeons, and then, he sees the child—a tiny baby, barely a month old. Led by the Holy Spirit, Simeon goes over to take a closer look. And, after years of waiting, Simeon knows the truth—that this one is the Messiah—this very baby, He is the one. Imagine his excitement—can you possibly put yourself in old Simeon’s place for just a moment? He walks, or shuffles, over to Mary and Joseph and asks to hold the child. Knowing by now, that the child belonged to more than just them, they handed him to Simeon. Holding the child who he knew to be the salvation of the world, Simeon breaks into song. It’s a simple song, but in those four lines, all the preparation and waiting has come full circle—God has made good on the promise--
“Now, O God, you can dismiss your servant in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”
As we start our Winter Walk in the Spirit, what can we learn from Simeon about living in the Spirit? First and foremost, we can learn that we need to be ready for God’s gift of insight and wisdom to be bestowed. Secondly, we learn that being ready is all we can really do. God’s Holy Spirit does not work at our command or on our time schedule. God works with us over time to ready us for spiritual insight. This is how we grow—this is how our walk becomes deeper and we understand more and more as we go along, ever watching, ever ready to hear and obey.
I’d like to tell you a story, a personal one. My call to preach and to sing came when I was 17 years old. And, I, immediately had a plan. I started singing first, because I already knew how to do that—and I grew some—but not so much. After college and a year or two of teaching, I decided to get serious about preaching and went to seminary. And I grew some—but not much there, either. And then, life happened—and I grew some—a little bit more. I dealt with all the confusing questions of life, of identity and of call. I was rejected and hated, and lost and then found—and I grew—quite a bit more. On my 50th birthday, I reminded God that I still believed that I was called to pastor and to preach. And I entered the discernment process for the Anglican priesthood. And God said “wait”—and I grew a lot. A little more than 40 years after my first experience of call—I became your pastor—and I continue to grow every day. I’d like to tell you that I knew all along what God was doing; and, every once in a while, I’d get a brief glimpse of what God could do. Working two jobs most of my life to keep me active in ministry, I grew—not so much in the direction of absolute clarity or revelation, but I became an expert in waiting—not always so patiently, but waiting nonetheless. And while my spiritual practices may have waxed and waned, my belief that God had made me for a special purpose never truly left my heart. And, most of the time, I had no clear understanding of why I thought God was at work in my life, preparing me for another time and place and people, I just did. And so I look at you, every one of you; and I hear, “now is the time”, and I weep, as Simeon must have wept, in joy and expectation.
It is not necessary for you to have all the spiritual insight that you think you need in order to grow. There is no list of characteristics that you might seek to develop in order to become, “spiritual”. This is not how God’s Holy Spirit works. Our only responsibility is to be found ready—ready and prepared to follow the soft, sweet call of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And, so, today we begin our winter walk in the spirit. These winter weeks give us time to ready our hearts, to seek the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to read God’s word and learn of Jesus whom we follow, and to open our hearts and minds to the wonder of prayer.
Now is the time because our eyes have seen the salvation prepared by God for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation for us all. Amen and amen.
Praised be the Maker of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens! Before the world began, God Chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless and to be full of love; God likewise predestined us through Christ Jesus to be adopted children—such was God’s pleasure and will—that everyone might praise the glory of God’s grace which was freely bestowed on us in God’s beloved, Jesus Christ. It is in Christ and through the blood of Christ that we have been redeemed and our sings forgiven, so immeasurably generous is God’s favor given to us with perfect wisdom and understanding. God has taken pleasure in revealing the mystery of the plan, through Grist, to be carried out in the fullness of time, namely, to bring all things—in heaven and on earth—together in Christ.
In Christ we were willed an inheritance; for in the decree of God—and everything is administered according to the divine will and counsel—we were predestined to praise the glory of the Most High by being the first to hope in Christ. In Christ you too were chosen. When you heard the Good News of salvation, the word of truth, and believed in it, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance, the deposit paid against the full redemption of a people who are God’s own to the praise of God’s glory.
The Gospel Lesson—Luke 2: 22-32
When the day came for them to be purified, as laid down by the Law of Moses, the couple took Jesus up to Jerusalem and presented him to God. For it’s written in the Law of our God, “every firstborn heir is to be consecrated to God.” They likewise came to offer in sacrifice “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate of the Law of our God.
Now there lived in Jerusalem a man named Simeon. He was devout and just, anticipating the consolation of Israel, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. She had revealed to Simeon that he wouldn’t see death until he had seem the Messiah of God. Prompted by her, Simeon came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child to perform the customary rituals of the Law, he took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
“Now, O God, you can dismiss your servant in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GOD, we open our hearts to you—as we turn to you in this new year, may we become new in your spirit. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts bring praise to your name. Amen
I will admit it. I am one of those people who has quit making New Years’ resolutions. Couldn’t stand the pressure and that ugly, self-imposed feeling of guilt when I lost my commitment to whatever I thought was important on December 31st that just didn’t seem so important by, oh, say—January 10th or so. And the older I got, the more I realized that change comes gradually and grows out of a new way of seeing—it isn’t something that we can order ourselves to do and expect it to last much past the time it takes us to write it down. Growing spiritually is a very similar phenomena, and as much as we tell ourselves that this year I am going to pray more or study the Bible more or learn to meditate—none of that will happen unless the way we view our spiritual life and relationship with God changes—that is, unless we see with new eyes.
The story told in our Gospel lesson today is crucial in several ways to understanding the new sight that we will receive when we wait and prepare our hearts for our eyes to see. Now, at the time of Jesus’ birth and subsequent presentation at the Temple there were at least two kinds of Jewish Religious leaders. One is the kind we hear the most about—the ones who were waiting for a Messiah who would come as a military leader who would conquer all their enemies and restore the Jewish people to glory as God’s chosen people. They were not looking for a tiny baby to be born in a rough stable to a poor, insignificant couple from Nazareth. They were looking, all right—but in all the wrong places—they had a vision but no way to understand what was really happening. Failing to recognize that God was working out the divine plan in their midst, they were unable to see at all.
There was a second kind of Jewish people at the time of Jesus’ birth. Except for Simeon, we hear very little about them. They were called THE QUIET IN THE LAND. They read the ancient scriptures and spent their lives in constant prayer and quiet waiting for God to send the Messiah. They spent their lives in peaceful and patient readiness to see all that God would show them about the coming of the Messiah. Their lifestyle of unassuming spiritual insight primed them for when the “right time” should arrive.
Simeon was one of these “quiet ones”. He was also, really, really old. He hardly ever left the Temple, spending his days there in prayer and watchfulness. And he was ready. Several weeks after his birth, Jesus was taken by Mary and Joseph to the Temple for several reasons. First, there was the “redemption of the firstborn”. Because God had saved all the first-born sons of the Israelites when they were enslaved in Egypt, resulting in the celebration called the Passover, all first-born sons were presented to God at the Temple. There was a ceremony of dedication and redemption. Secondly, because Mary had given birth to a son, she was considered religiously unclean and needed to make an offering at the Temple. Those who were considered with means were to sacrifice a lamb and a pigeon. Women like Mary, because they were poor were allowed to bring two pigeons. This also confirms for us that Joseph and Mary were ordinary people who lived without luxuries and struggled financially. Nevertheless, Mary and Joseph were pious people who made every effort to obey all the laws of their religion.
Simeon was there in the Temple and watched all of this unfold. You can almost see him standing in the shadows, looking up from his prayers every once in a while. Simeon’s name is apt—it means “hear and obey”. All his life Simeon has watched, and prayed and waited for this precise moment. In one of his many conversations with God, the Almighty had promised him that he would live to see the coming of the Messiah and suddenly, the time is right. Simeon watches the sacrifice of the two pigeons, and then, he sees the child—a tiny baby, barely a month old. Led by the Holy Spirit, Simeon goes over to take a closer look. And, after years of waiting, Simeon knows the truth—that this one is the Messiah—this very baby, He is the one. Imagine his excitement—can you possibly put yourself in old Simeon’s place for just a moment? He walks, or shuffles, over to Mary and Joseph and asks to hold the child. Knowing by now, that the child belonged to more than just them, they handed him to Simeon. Holding the child who he knew to be the salvation of the world, Simeon breaks into song. It’s a simple song, but in those four lines, all the preparation and waiting has come full circle—God has made good on the promise--
“Now, O God, you can dismiss your servant in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”
As we start our Winter Walk in the Spirit, what can we learn from Simeon about living in the Spirit? First and foremost, we can learn that we need to be ready for God’s gift of insight and wisdom to be bestowed. Secondly, we learn that being ready is all we can really do. God’s Holy Spirit does not work at our command or on our time schedule. God works with us over time to ready us for spiritual insight. This is how we grow—this is how our walk becomes deeper and we understand more and more as we go along, ever watching, ever ready to hear and obey.
I’d like to tell you a story, a personal one. My call to preach and to sing came when I was 17 years old. And, I, immediately had a plan. I started singing first, because I already knew how to do that—and I grew some—but not so much. After college and a year or two of teaching, I decided to get serious about preaching and went to seminary. And I grew some—but not much there, either. And then, life happened—and I grew some—a little bit more. I dealt with all the confusing questions of life, of identity and of call. I was rejected and hated, and lost and then found—and I grew—quite a bit more. On my 50th birthday, I reminded God that I still believed that I was called to pastor and to preach. And I entered the discernment process for the Anglican priesthood. And God said “wait”—and I grew a lot. A little more than 40 years after my first experience of call—I became your pastor—and I continue to grow every day. I’d like to tell you that I knew all along what God was doing; and, every once in a while, I’d get a brief glimpse of what God could do. Working two jobs most of my life to keep me active in ministry, I grew—not so much in the direction of absolute clarity or revelation, but I became an expert in waiting—not always so patiently, but waiting nonetheless. And while my spiritual practices may have waxed and waned, my belief that God had made me for a special purpose never truly left my heart. And, most of the time, I had no clear understanding of why I thought God was at work in my life, preparing me for another time and place and people, I just did. And so I look at you, every one of you; and I hear, “now is the time”, and I weep, as Simeon must have wept, in joy and expectation.
It is not necessary for you to have all the spiritual insight that you think you need in order to grow. There is no list of characteristics that you might seek to develop in order to become, “spiritual”. This is not how God’s Holy Spirit works. Our only responsibility is to be found ready—ready and prepared to follow the soft, sweet call of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And, so, today we begin our winter walk in the spirit. These winter weeks give us time to ready our hearts, to seek the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to read God’s word and learn of Jesus whom we follow, and to open our hearts and minds to the wonder of prayer.
Now is the time because our eyes have seen the salvation prepared by God for all the peoples to see—a light of revelation for us all. Amen and amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)