So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"
Maybe it simply my perception of Jesus or simply my perception of how Jesus was presented by his followers but more and more am I impressed with how wrong I understood Jesus to be. My perception was that Jesus was soft... almost needy. There is a reason for this. I've seen countless images of Jesus holding little lambs and children. I've heard the parables that express this idea that God's love goes out to all... that God will seek out the lost sheep...that God waits in the field for his lost son... that he knows us and has knit our very bones together in the womb. Combine these images and stories together and one begins to have the impression that God simply loves everybody and that Jesus, as God's most effective sacrament, is constantly seeking everybody out and following them around...like a puppy dog almost.
Granted, most of my perception about faith and Christ has been wrong before.
I also don't doubt that God does love everybody and seeks all to come to Him.
What surprises me however is that while God might be soft... even cuddly at times (when we need him to be) Christ is anything but needy. He offers salvation to all but he is not going to chase you down the street and force you to take it. Christ as I now understand it is anything but co-dependent... and this is exactly what you want of your Rock to begin with.
In today's Gospel Jesus lays it on the line for the twelve... he asks, "Do you also wish to go away?" The New American Bible poses the question this way, "Do you also want to leave?" Jesus says this to only a few men. Jesus in his life on earth, in his three years of earthly ministry did not exactly have a mass movement going. Sure he had some crowds when it came to healing but these seemed to drift off as soon as he got going with what it takes to follow. Today's particular passage reveals that some who followed "no longer accompanied him." So even in his ministry he was not able to communicate his message... to be really heard... by many.
And then, with those few he has in his back pocket to begin with, with those die hard followers, he has got the self assurance to offer them a way out. "Do you also wish to go away?"
Jesus is there when you turn but he is not going to chase you down the street when you turn and run the other way.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
For May 24th
Judas turned aside to go to his own place
This line comes from the place in Acts where the disciples must decide on what to do with Judas' apostleship. He had obviously left following Christ. The disciples sought to maintain the original 12. One had to be appointed. One had to be left aside.
What grabs me though is not the decision to call Matthew in his stead but the lonely, quiet line "Judas turned aside to go to his own place." It brings to the surface all those ways we humans talk about other people being careful not to really acknowledge their difficulty while acknowledging there absence. It makes me think of funerals or weddings when people gather in small circles to gossip. You might hear " it was his..." with some visual accompaniment of a person drinking. It is similar to past understandings of Cancer... when it was not polite even to say the word for fear it might strike. Thankfully we are more open about cancer now but I think we as people, especially church folk, still find things to talk about that we don't want to talk about. "Well, he beat his wife" "She had affairs" " He stole the money." "He was one of those" and you fill in the blank.
We don't like to acknowledge sin. It is all around us but there can be this mental understanding that to acknowledge it would be to take it on.
Today's reading has me thinking of Judas. Judas certainly does not come off well. It certainly does not end well for Judas. The one who betrays God to death... a little bit bigger sin than stealing candy from the local 7-11. We want to talk of Judas but do we often think about Judas the man. Did he fully know what he was doing? Did he really understand Jesus to be The Christ? Did he portray Jesus out of malice or to the best of his ability was he convinced he was walking the right path. If we are not to careful we make Judas the black sheep... the anti-Jesus- that sheep sent out into the desert to carry the sin of the people. Isn't it Christ who takes on all sin? Does not he take on even Judas' sin?
No, what haunts me in the line above is the how we care for those who go their own way. It very well may be true that we can do nothing... that folks who have gone their own way are choosing to remove themselves from grace... yet as people of grace we do not have to heap condemnation on top of the hopelessness these people already feel. I can not convince the Judas' of the world to return if I do not allow them the opportunity for them to do so.
This line comes from the place in Acts where the disciples must decide on what to do with Judas' apostleship. He had obviously left following Christ. The disciples sought to maintain the original 12. One had to be appointed. One had to be left aside.
What grabs me though is not the decision to call Matthew in his stead but the lonely, quiet line "Judas turned aside to go to his own place." It brings to the surface all those ways we humans talk about other people being careful not to really acknowledge their difficulty while acknowledging there absence. It makes me think of funerals or weddings when people gather in small circles to gossip. You might hear " it was his..." with some visual accompaniment of a person drinking. It is similar to past understandings of Cancer... when it was not polite even to say the word for fear it might strike. Thankfully we are more open about cancer now but I think we as people, especially church folk, still find things to talk about that we don't want to talk about. "Well, he beat his wife" "She had affairs" " He stole the money." "He was one of those" and you fill in the blank.
We don't like to acknowledge sin. It is all around us but there can be this mental understanding that to acknowledge it would be to take it on.
Today's reading has me thinking of Judas. Judas certainly does not come off well. It certainly does not end well for Judas. The one who betrays God to death... a little bit bigger sin than stealing candy from the local 7-11. We want to talk of Judas but do we often think about Judas the man. Did he fully know what he was doing? Did he really understand Jesus to be The Christ? Did he portray Jesus out of malice or to the best of his ability was he convinced he was walking the right path. If we are not to careful we make Judas the black sheep... the anti-Jesus- that sheep sent out into the desert to carry the sin of the people. Isn't it Christ who takes on all sin? Does not he take on even Judas' sin?
No, what haunts me in the line above is the how we care for those who go their own way. It very well may be true that we can do nothing... that folks who have gone their own way are choosing to remove themselves from grace... yet as people of grace we do not have to heap condemnation on top of the hopelessness these people already feel. I can not convince the Judas' of the world to return if I do not allow them the opportunity for them to do so.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Mother's day service
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
I am flip flopping my preparation for the weekend f May 8th. It comes right quick and I am seeking to prepare two sermons. The sunday service is also mothers day and will emphasize the children of the parish.
What grabbed me this morning was this identification with children in the epistle. Now obviously this refrence to children is for adults but as a society we often do not identify with children... I think this speaks to the fact that as a society we have lost a sense of hierarchy of any sort. Our emphasis on personal strength and personal liberty tends to cast a shadow on anything showing a lower status.
so here the epistle calls all those ready to listen children... this idea that we are not autonomous but the children of God... a statement about our place and our need. Children after all can not take care of themselves fully... they need a father... or parent... who will watch out for them. A parent who will guide them.
I think here there is a link that should unite all the children and the adults for this sermon. Our need as children for good guidance. What might work would be to parse out how little children know about how they need their mothers and then use that to demonstrate spiritual depth. Little children especially reveal many things that would apply to the spiritual life if we are able to quicken their material nature and apply toward the depth that God calls us to.
As we understand that the bread is more than the bread then we should also be encouraged by the words of our little ones to understand our need to follow God.
the visual idea that I would like to include in this sermon is the idea that God often turns what we know upside down. Therefore if I had the word MOM it becomes WOW... this could be a visual to build off of.
Next- what are those things that little ones might say?
I am flip flopping my preparation for the weekend f May 8th. It comes right quick and I am seeking to prepare two sermons. The sunday service is also mothers day and will emphasize the children of the parish.
What grabbed me this morning was this identification with children in the epistle. Now obviously this refrence to children is for adults but as a society we often do not identify with children... I think this speaks to the fact that as a society we have lost a sense of hierarchy of any sort. Our emphasis on personal strength and personal liberty tends to cast a shadow on anything showing a lower status.
so here the epistle calls all those ready to listen children... this idea that we are not autonomous but the children of God... a statement about our place and our need. Children after all can not take care of themselves fully... they need a father... or parent... who will watch out for them. A parent who will guide them.
I think here there is a link that should unite all the children and the adults for this sermon. Our need as children for good guidance. What might work would be to parse out how little children know about how they need their mothers and then use that to demonstrate spiritual depth. Little children especially reveal many things that would apply to the spiritual life if we are able to quicken their material nature and apply toward the depth that God calls us to.
As we understand that the bread is more than the bread then we should also be encouraged by the words of our little ones to understand our need to follow God.
the visual idea that I would like to include in this sermon is the idea that God often turns what we know upside down. Therefore if I had the word MOM it becomes WOW... this could be a visual to build off of.
Next- what are those things that little ones might say?
Friday, April 24, 2009
May 8th wedding
I am working on two sermons at present. One for May 8th for a wedding and one for Good Shepherd on May 9th. I am attempting to stay on topic and flip flop my way to two decent sermons.
In the chosen selection from Mark there is a word that grabs at me to some thinking that I am doing about this sermon. That word is unite. In marriage we become united. To unite is to make one and immediately what jumps to the fore is the Eucharist service itself where we hear that through the sharing of bread and wine that we are united" in Him and He in us" In Rite II form B of the Great Thanksgiving it writes, "We pray you, gracious God, to send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts that they may be the Sacrament of the Body of Christ and his Blood of the New Covenant. Unite us to your Son in his sacrifice..."
Form A writes, which is not as strong in this unifying theme does state, "All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ. By Him, and with Him, and in Him..."
Yet it is Rite I that best speaks to this idea of unity in Eucharist where in the Great Thanksgiving this is highlighted when the priest asks that all present who receive the" body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him."
So as two become one it will be into what one will that unity be maintained, enriched, made full? For while these Eucharistic prayers remind us in worship that we need continually to recognize who fill us up so that we may serve and witness as Christians in the world, the same need is made present in marriage. Where and how will you recognize that it is God who unites you to himself in marriage so that as two made into one you may reaveal Him in the world. Where and how exactly will you do that?
I think now of two becoming one is really the willinging action of two to become bound to one another. Now bondage is a tricky word from the pulpit. You say bondage and some in the audience might travel in all sorts of mental directions... for example Uncle Frank who may not come to church often might think this might be a better topic for the honeymoon than for the marriage itself... Hey don't blame me, blame uncle frank... he's the one with the issue.
Or if I say bondage one might think of people being tied up and there is some type of bad person who has limited the freedom of some hero or heroine. The task in that mental scenario is to get out of bondage as quickly as possible. Certainly with a mental image like this the concept of bondage seems silly or neive. In fact one of the reasons I think that marriages that end in divorce is because of the fact that it is just as the marriage needs to remain bound one or both of the participants chaff at the linkage. We joke about this and our very joking reveals a sort of negative vision of this unity. We might call her the old ball and chain. Either might joke of being whipped... suggesting this sort of Master/ Servant relationship where power is held by one or where the one can not break free. Again it is negative but it does draw attention to the fact that there is this established unity and to be and remain in unity there is a challenge. The individual and his or her needs and wants will be tempered by the collective needs and wants... and at times this bond does chaff.
What comes next is to flesh out the mental image that it is when there is the most strain that the link that unites two to become one... must hold. That is the strength and need of the bond that is most essential and often where one or both become cognizant that there is another player who can bring blessing out of derision.
Joke that might fit- purpose is to listen that you don't have to figure out everything yourself.
A bear, a rabbit, and a fox go out hunting for deer. They have a successful day and come home having bagged a deer. The bear asks, "how should we divide this deer up to eat?" The rabbit pipes up, " I think we should divide it up evenly three ways." Upon hearing that the bear reaches over, grabs the rabbit and eats him. The bear then asks the fox, "how should we divide up this deer to eat?" The fox answers "I think you should figure that out." The bear now pleased asks, how did you come up with such a good idea? he asks the fox. The fox answered.
The rabbit taught me that one.
Next- The wedding service / Sacrament/ what it says about Unity
In the chosen selection from Mark there is a word that grabs at me to some thinking that I am doing about this sermon. That word is unite. In marriage we become united. To unite is to make one and immediately what jumps to the fore is the Eucharist service itself where we hear that through the sharing of bread and wine that we are united" in Him and He in us" In Rite II form B of the Great Thanksgiving it writes, "We pray you, gracious God, to send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts that they may be the Sacrament of the Body of Christ and his Blood of the New Covenant. Unite us to your Son in his sacrifice..."
Form A writes, which is not as strong in this unifying theme does state, "All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ. By Him, and with Him, and in Him..."
Yet it is Rite I that best speaks to this idea of unity in Eucharist where in the Great Thanksgiving this is highlighted when the priest asks that all present who receive the" body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him."
So as two become one it will be into what one will that unity be maintained, enriched, made full? For while these Eucharistic prayers remind us in worship that we need continually to recognize who fill us up so that we may serve and witness as Christians in the world, the same need is made present in marriage. Where and how will you recognize that it is God who unites you to himself in marriage so that as two made into one you may reaveal Him in the world. Where and how exactly will you do that?
I think now of two becoming one is really the willinging action of two to become bound to one another. Now bondage is a tricky word from the pulpit. You say bondage and some in the audience might travel in all sorts of mental directions... for example Uncle Frank who may not come to church often might think this might be a better topic for the honeymoon than for the marriage itself... Hey don't blame me, blame uncle frank... he's the one with the issue.
Or if I say bondage one might think of people being tied up and there is some type of bad person who has limited the freedom of some hero or heroine. The task in that mental scenario is to get out of bondage as quickly as possible. Certainly with a mental image like this the concept of bondage seems silly or neive. In fact one of the reasons I think that marriages that end in divorce is because of the fact that it is just as the marriage needs to remain bound one or both of the participants chaff at the linkage. We joke about this and our very joking reveals a sort of negative vision of this unity. We might call her the old ball and chain. Either might joke of being whipped... suggesting this sort of Master/ Servant relationship where power is held by one or where the one can not break free. Again it is negative but it does draw attention to the fact that there is this established unity and to be and remain in unity there is a challenge. The individual and his or her needs and wants will be tempered by the collective needs and wants... and at times this bond does chaff.
What comes next is to flesh out the mental image that it is when there is the most strain that the link that unites two to become one... must hold. That is the strength and need of the bond that is most essential and often where one or both become cognizant that there is another player who can bring blessing out of derision.
Joke that might fit- purpose is to listen that you don't have to figure out everything yourself.
A bear, a rabbit, and a fox go out hunting for deer. They have a successful day and come home having bagged a deer. The bear asks, "how should we divide this deer up to eat?" The rabbit pipes up, " I think we should divide it up evenly three ways." Upon hearing that the bear reaches over, grabs the rabbit and eats him. The bear then asks the fox, "how should we divide up this deer to eat?" The fox answers "I think you should figure that out." The bear now pleased asks, how did you come up with such a good idea? he asks the fox. The fox answered.
The rabbit taught me that one.
Next- The wedding service / Sacrament/ what it says about Unity
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Mothers day service
I wonder...I am thinking aloud about a possibility for an upcoming church service... this is intentionally a children's service for us. That means for me that we will be seeking to have the message be appropriate for children. The day's Gospel speaks of Jesus as the vine and ourselves as the branches.
I wonder if we could make this visual? Would it be possible to stretch some type of string or rope from some type of centerpiece to every row in the church. If we were able to do it would it then be possible to hand out small sections of string to each parishioner and have them tie it on the main rope (vine) so to speak. Thus the center of the sermon would be the implied and demonstrated reality that we are all tied together and only effective if we as a community are tied to Christ.
We could even decorate the doors leading into the sanctuary with vines, leaves, and grapes.
I might even come out in farmer clothes....
hmmmmmm?
I wonder if we could make this visual? Would it be possible to stretch some type of string or rope from some type of centerpiece to every row in the church. If we were able to do it would it then be possible to hand out small sections of string to each parishioner and have them tie it on the main rope (vine) so to speak. Thus the center of the sermon would be the implied and demonstrated reality that we are all tied together and only effective if we as a community are tied to Christ.
We could even decorate the doors leading into the sanctuary with vines, leaves, and grapes.
I might even come out in farmer clothes....
hmmmmmm?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Beginning the work
How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him
I stand convicted from the above. The truth of the matter is that I have not formed the correct foundation. Since beginning this walk of mine as a priest I have struggled with where God has been leading. Mind you that God has not been overtly pressuring me to do anything... at least as I can tell... what has been happening has been a lot more subtle. Since becoming a Priest there has been this gentle pressure to take up or create for myself a foundation. And the rationale for such a foundation? Simply to allow God access to a life commited to His ministry yet fearful of really turning it over to him. My outsides have done better than my insides.
I was able to steal away for a few days after Easter. I ended up having the opportunity to spend some time at my folks house. It was good not because I did anything but because I really did nothing. For three days it rained. This was terrible for golf but good for the soul. The gem of the time away was my stepfather pushing a book in front of me. It was a short book and supposedly about Golf. Enough to spark my interest and far enough away from church work to have me look at it on my vacation. The books title is Golf's Sacred Journey... Seven Days at the Links of Utopia by Dr. David Cook. It turns out the book was a lot more than an interesting account of Golf. At it's center was a text about coaching and what one needs to be taught. One of the many things that got my attention was its assistance on preparation and building a proper foundation. One line that struck me was "If you want to lead a successful organization, you better build a bullet proof foundation for why you do what you do and how you do it."
The conviction of course was that as a man of faith and religious title, I have been building my foundation on sand. I mean intent is good but intent only gets one so far. Eventually one has to transform work into discipline and get to work. While there are many ways I could go deeper from the above quote from Sunday's epistle the key one that stood out for me was action. What actions am I taking on a consistent basis to sustain me in God to live through all the complexities and stressors of full time ministry? The reality is that I have not been disciplined as I could choose to be. And that is the knock that God has been knocking on my heart for some time. It is time to get to work in building such a foundation...
I stand convicted from the above. The truth of the matter is that I have not formed the correct foundation. Since beginning this walk of mine as a priest I have struggled with where God has been leading. Mind you that God has not been overtly pressuring me to do anything... at least as I can tell... what has been happening has been a lot more subtle. Since becoming a Priest there has been this gentle pressure to take up or create for myself a foundation. And the rationale for such a foundation? Simply to allow God access to a life commited to His ministry yet fearful of really turning it over to him. My outsides have done better than my insides.
I was able to steal away for a few days after Easter. I ended up having the opportunity to spend some time at my folks house. It was good not because I did anything but because I really did nothing. For three days it rained. This was terrible for golf but good for the soul. The gem of the time away was my stepfather pushing a book in front of me. It was a short book and supposedly about Golf. Enough to spark my interest and far enough away from church work to have me look at it on my vacation. The books title is Golf's Sacred Journey... Seven Days at the Links of Utopia by Dr. David Cook. It turns out the book was a lot more than an interesting account of Golf. At it's center was a text about coaching and what one needs to be taught. One of the many things that got my attention was its assistance on preparation and building a proper foundation. One line that struck me was "If you want to lead a successful organization, you better build a bullet proof foundation for why you do what you do and how you do it."
The conviction of course was that as a man of faith and religious title, I have been building my foundation on sand. I mean intent is good but intent only gets one so far. Eventually one has to transform work into discipline and get to work. While there are many ways I could go deeper from the above quote from Sunday's epistle the key one that stood out for me was action. What actions am I taking on a consistent basis to sustain me in God to live through all the complexities and stressors of full time ministry? The reality is that I have not been disciplined as I could choose to be. And that is the knock that God has been knocking on my heart for some time. It is time to get to work in building such a foundation...
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