Micah and continued drippings of sweetness- like apple pie bubbled over...

He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,neither shall they learn war any more;

Whether it is real blood or proverbial blood there is a promise delivered in these words. Conflict rarely shows what is the best in us. The conflict arrises, our hackles rise and we lash out. Enemies can come in many guises. They look different. They smell different. They wear their hair different. And as we so often see under our own Christian roof our enemies are not those on the outside but usually those within. They think different.

In Micah we are encouraged to take some important steps prior to the promise. Already the persons of faith have been called to go to the mountain. The first step is not act or react but pray. Wait on God. Seek first the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom? Seek first the kingdom! As creatures we are willfully ignorant. Like my 13 year old son who is convinced that anything that I might say is ignorant due to the fact he already understands. When we live with the idea we got it all wrapped up- taken care of- figured out- we are in contempt. Contempt! "Who are you to say there is no God?" or God's rant to Job "Have you created the heavens?" We are given a great gift with our intelligence but when we confuse the gift as the giver we are in contempt. It has been said, nothing will keep a man in everlasting ignorance but contempt prior to investigation. Micah reminds us first, "Go to the mountain." "that he may teach us his ways".

In our waiting on God, God will give us his instruction. "The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord." Fear in this context has been said to really mean Awe. That dramatic understanding of both terror and excitement. The understanding that when we wait on God we're not waiting on some two bit servant boy but the very creator and sustainer of the universe. We are waiting on the same Jesus who can command healing with his word. This is no patsy boy Jesus but a powerhouse..."The father and I are one." As Micah suggests here in our moving toward God, God will move toward us and is willing to teach us. If Micah is a good witness this is exciting stuff. Why do I so often go it alone- see first paragraph. On a larger level our going it alone in the church might undermine all our good intention. Seek first and the teaching will come. This brings us to,

He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,neither shall they learn war any more;

The promise is held out there before us. In our current political and ecclesiastical debates over sexuality and the faith I see and hope for the promise. God will judge. Period. He will judge. Whom will he judge? All of us. While initially daunting I find comfort in ABC Rowan Williams when he accentuates that judgement and grace come together. As we wait and he teaches I believe that he will uphold those things we have been faithful with while seeking to root out and destroy our faithlessness, resentment, anger, pity, and hardheartedness. God will arbitrate. We will suddenly realize that our war like stances need to be dropped. We will see with clarity the beauty of Christ in the gaze of our brother. Network will not lift up sword against ECUSA and the west will beat their swords into plowshares for their southern cone bishops.

Not possible you say? Have you sought first the kingdom?

koinonia

Meaning: 1) fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation, intercourse 1a) the share which one has in anything, participation 1b) intercourse, fellowship, intimacy 1b1) the right hand as a sign and pledge of fellowship (in fulfilling the apostolic office) 1c) a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution, as exhibiting an embodiment and proof of fellowship

The kind of fellowship the first letter of John is calling for is some serious stuff. Community, communion, intercourse, intimacy!?!? This isn't just Dunkin' Donuts and Coffee after church, this is FELLOWSHIP. In light of all the conversation going on in the run up to General Convention this passage can't help but catch my attention.

we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ... If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

As we struggle to stay in conversation (apologies to those who consider this a 4-letter word) we struggle to stay in communion, in fellowship. We share so that you might have fellowship with us... this conversation is Biblical. Keep talking for it is in sharing stories (not least of which the Gospel) that we find fellowship. And fellowship with you models fellowship with the father. "If we say that we have fellwoship... while we are walking in the darkness, we lie" I read this as "In order for us to be in fellowship we must be willing to admit, 'Yeah I might be wrong.'" Let's keep the conversationi going. Let's not run away to our camp. Let's not say things like, "we don't need you anyway" or "you'll come around." Let's enjoy the conversation, for that is were we find fellowship, koinonia, community, communion, intimacy.

Psalm 4 (RCL)

Psalm 4 Page 587, BCP

1

Answer me when I call, O God, defender of my cause; *
you set me free when I am hard-pressed;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

2

"You mortals, how long will you dishonor my glory; *
how long will you worship dumb idols
and run after false gods?"

3

Know that the LORD does wonders for the faithful; *
when I call upon the LORD, he will hear me.

How long, indeed will I run after dumb idols, how long will I run after false gods? What about the idol of grades, trying to get just a few more points on my GPA, for what? So I can feel smrt? So I can gain God's salvation? What about the idol of filling up my time all the time? Who do I think I am, God?....isn't this idolatry, not obeying the Sabbath, thinking that my work is what gets me into the promised land? So, I read, I write, I rush to field ed, I rush home, I go to forums, I get pooped. Then there is a moment, when I am rushing down the GW parkway in my painted trashcan of a car when I see the created world, not nature only, but that I see nature as the creation, and I reflect upon my own created being, and I see that so soon the ashes will not just be placed upon my forehead, but that my entire earthly body will be ashes, and I will return to my creator. I remember Yoda in Empire Strikes Back referring to his body as "this crude matter" ... he had a sense that his creation was contingent (for him the Force, for us God).

In running after false gods, in making myself and my own study, busy-ness, and activity my idol, I do dishonor God's glory. Can't I see that this is just a short stop at the station of this world, and can't I accept the gift of the time here with gratitude and reverence?

I'm sticking with Micah- Sweetness 3

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

My handy, dandy Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church defines Zion as "the mount on which the temple stood, 'God's holy hill' at Jerusalem." Hence it is the home of God, the place of the seat of the Covenant. The home of God, the holy of the holies. As Christians we are heirs to our 'elder brothers'. JPII referred to the Jews as our 'elder brothers' when he came to Jerusalem and asked them for forgiveness. As Christians who claim their legitamacy by being chosen through God's grace we would be unwise to forget that an older tribe was chosen first to deliver this message. They were servants before we were servants.

Our history should not be forgotten in our rush to try and fix the world. I think specifically here of our mad dash toward San Fransisco seeking to put forward another homosexual bishop in the name of Justice. While certainly I do not want to forget the word of the lord that came out of Jerusalem "love one another as I loved you" I want to hold it in tension with more difficult words, "as he (Jesus) drew near (to Jerusalem), he saw the city and wept over it saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace- but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."(Luke 19:41-43)

I wonder in our rushing, seeing all those opposed to ECUSA's actions as enemies or worse homophobes we are not first ignoring Micah's simple prounouncement. Could we be failing to God to God first? Is God only found in the social gospel? Does God call us to fix the world or does God first seek us into relationship with Him. This is the message I think Micah is saying here to the ECUSA. First seek God. Seek God first to hear what the rest of the church is saying. Allow them to begin to understand. Trust that they are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Allow them to see that our Church seeks first the kingdom as Micah suggests. Allow them to see and discover the same spirit that you are witnessing to. To act now in civil disobedience will only convince the wider world not of our love of justice but our love of autonomy. Our call may be first to trust not in our own understanding of Justice but that our God seeks to guide us if we are but willing to listen.

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Have you read Acts?

When they had made the prisoners, Peter and John, stand in their midst, they inquired...


I'm rushing tonight to be done before American Idol. I know, I know, one shouldn't rush through a spiritual discipline. I know, I know, American Idol?!? I know, I know. But actually it was in my rushing (read reading in a different context) that I saw something I have yet to realize this week. Peter and John are in jail already, and its only Easter 3; its only Acts 4. Wow, how did we get here from the empty tomb? We're already in trouble, we're already causing problems, we're already blessed with the Holy Spirit (well sort of, we've got some time before Pentecost).

There seems to be a lot to reflect on as our Lectionary propels us so quickly from Resurrection to Martyrdom to the Catholic Epistles of John. Wow!

OK Rod Stewart Nite on IDOL!!!! Do you think I'm sexy?

Sweetness 2- BCP

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths."
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,

I must admit I am not happy. I had this great reflection on the first four lines of Micah. It was lost while attempting a spell check. ARRGGGGGG!!!! I reflected on Rowan Williams and his use of Richard Hooker. RW discusses in his last article on Hooker that Hooker while upholding Scripture was not, unlike his opponents the Puritans, bound to believe that Scripture was the only way to know the mind of God. Hooker upholds the idea, which struck me like a ton of bricks the first time I read it, that while we go to the Bible and read the witnesses of the Bible, we often lose sight of the fact that all the hero's of the Bible did not have a Bible. They had God and as Micah reveals, God is present to us here and now and can be sought. Micah reveals a witness and understanding that can shake the boots of any of us who tend to live in the illusion that I am here and God is in some high and distant place. Micah suggests not only are God's ways open to us but that God himself is close enough to teach us if we are willing.

Sweet! Micah! (BCP)

So glad to have written a one-page refelction on this text for OT just two weeks ago. I share it with you becasue I am still exhuasted from Easter but am trying to live into my Good Friday call to blog.

In the story of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11.1-10) it becomes very clear that the idol of self-help is one that is despicable to God, and yet it seems that the people of God still hadn’t figured it out. In reading Micah we see a time when many different nations had built themselves up on their own self-interests. We see, in fact, a time when the nation of Judah, part of God’s chosen people, had chosen to rely on its own political capital rather than the God of their ancestors who had shown over and over again his authority over even the strongest of political powers. The Judgment of Jerusalem which precedes this pericope calls forth – once again – God’s people to be God’s people.

And then… And then, Micah shows that this judgment is not without grace. That if/when the people do return to God it will not be just God’s chosen people, but instead all those dispersed at the Tower of Babel will be brought together again at the mountain of the Lord in search of his way. The people who had for so long relied on themselves would again turn to the will of the Lord. This returning to the Lord will bring about the kingdom of peace which God had in mind from the beginning.

As we know, however, this returning to the Lord will not happen on this side of the Eschaton. As Christians we live in constant hope for the Kingdom of God. In this time of war, terrorism, natural disaster, and the general polarization of society we are keenly aware that this time of peace is far, far away.

And then… And then we come to this passage of hope in the midst of great despair in Micah. We are called to look past this time of judgment to see the promises of God enacted as we ascend Mount Zion and are cleansed of the sin of pride.