6-30-20 - You Big Baby

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

How do you feel about being likened to an infant?
At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”

Some might consider it an insult. We might rather receive it as an invitation to total trust in God. Infants are receiving machines - they do not feed, clothe or even move themselves. The only thing they can “do” is ask for help by using their voices – and reward their helpers with big smiles, which they quickly learn will get them far. The most challenging part of faith-life for many is our dependence upon the grace and mercy and power of God for what matters most in the long-term. Learning to receive God’s goodness and not worry so much about repaying – for we cannot – is a mark of maturity in faith.

Infants are fully in relationship with their care-givers. They are clear about their needs and quick to ask. We can learn from them to go first to God when we need something instead of making it our last resort. And, like those babies who reward us with gurgles and smiles, we can hone our praise response so that it becomes automatic when we’ve received a gift.

Of course, infants are anything but simple. In their tiny minds and bodies are contained all the equipment and systems adults have, just waiting to mature. Similarly, whether we are young or mature in faith, we have everything we need to live a God-reliant, praise-filled life. It is all given to us by the Holy Spirit in baptism, maybe even in birth, waiting to be developed.

What are some attributes of infants that you would like to borrow and try on as you approach God?
What things can you not do for yourself, that you are afraid to trust God with? Or eager to?

Today in prayer try an imagination exercise – visualize yourself as an infant being held or watched over by Jesus… how does he interact with you in that imaginary prayer space? Does he say anything? Do you? What do you feel?

Infants have a huge learning curve, because they have everything about life to learn. As Christ followers, we are in a similar position – we have everything about Life to learn. Let’s open our spiritual senses and breathe it in.

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6-29-20 - Hidden From the Wise

You can listen to this reflection here.

Summertime – and the living is easy… or should be. In order to shorten Water Daily, I will just focus on the second part of this week’s Gospel reading, especially as it contains Jesus’ beautiful invitation to “come to me, all ye who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Perfect for a holiday week, right?

In the section we are skipping, Jesus inveighs against the faithlessness of his critics, chiefly the Pharisees and their ilk. He is also ticked off at the fickleness of the crowds and lack of faith he encounters among his own people relative to that shown by Gentiles. He is in a mood.

At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

Sometimes our knowledge can get in the way of our understanding; our expectations cloud our ability to see the surprising; familiarity obscure the fullness of revelation. I admire those who have a “simple faith,” an ability to say “yes” to the story of God’s revelation in Christ, and to participate in that. Blessed are the simple-hearted – for they are often better able to get on with living by the Spirit.

Yet the Gospel is also received by those of us who think too much. We just often make it harder for ourselves. In the final analysis, analysis will not yield full understanding, any more than playing with the food on our plate is going to get us fed. The Good News is a gift to be taken and received, ingested, allowed to play in our minds, hearts and spirits.

Is the life of faith simple or complex for you?
How do you most fully connect with God – through your mind or your emotions or both?

If your analytical self gets in your way spiritually, try on a prayer practice inviting Jesus to make his presence known, and just be with him, letting your feelings become known.

And if you generally shy away from theological thinking, try a bible study and let your mind play (Join me on Wednesday evenings via Zoom for a lively bible study - we have fun!)

Thanks be to God, even the most “wise and intelligent” among us are also invited to be “infants” in Christ, to put all our weight on the One who made us, loves us and renews us.

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6-26-20 - Summertime Spirituality

You can listen to this reflection here.

Having exhausted the themes I could dredge up in our very short Gospel reading for Sunday, I would like to talk about something else. (Yes, there are other readings appointed for Sunday, but they require way too much unpacking for this space.) Today, I invite us to consider how the gifts of summertime can help us refresh our connection to God.

The long days and warm weather which most Water Dailyreaders are enjoying, based on our location, offer occasions for spiritual connection, on our own and in groups. I don’t know about you, but my spirit is fed and expanded by being outdoors, feeling a breeze, watching the sunlight play on leaves, admiring the strength and beauty of trees and flowers, observing the antics of animals large and small. The form of praise called exaltation rises in me more readily, and gratitude becomes a more dominant theme in my prayer.

Summer offers more time for spiritual activities as well. Whether we sit outside or enjoy a long walk after dinner (or before breakfast…), we can enter into conversation with God because we’re not rushing as much. Long dinners with friends (outdoors? six feet apart?) allow time and space for the conversation to get spiritual as well. May I commend a few spiritual practices to try on during this season?

Mindfulness walks – Take a walk in the woods or a meadow or anywhere that you find beautiful. Pause before you start to breathe deeply and to attend to each of your senses, ending with the eyes. What do you hear? What do you feel on your skin? What do you smell and even taste? Finally, what do you see? Take your time to tune each of these senses, and as you walk, try to notice and appreciate without engaging your thoughts – and when you find your mind is busy, come back to the now by noticing with your senses again.

Sabbath – if this is not already your practice, try it for a season; sometimes people have more flexible work hours in summer and can set apart a full day to rest, recreate and relax. My rule for Sabbath is not to do anything that has a “should” attached, and avoid anything that would be considered productive, unless it is also creative and life-giving and joy-inducing. Making a fine meal for friends might count, but nothing from a to-do list. Cleaning can wait. Take some time in your Sabbath to sit with God, and some time to enjoy the beauty of outside. Mostly, just be! And listen.

Feasting – I love summer eating, and since I’ve expanded my appreciation of vegetables and fruits I find making food and eating it, alone or with others, an increasingly delightful adventure. Food makes real the incomprehensible abundance and variety of God’s creation, and variety and abundance seem particularly vivid in the summer. Make a spiritual activity of planning a menu, acquiring ingredients (especially if it can involve a garden or farmer’s market), grilling if you like that. I love to sauté on my grill’s extra burner, even chopping the vegetables outside, adding herbs from my garden. My deck becomes a kitchen and dining room all in one. Praise the Creator with each phase of preparation; invite Jesus to join you as you eat – he was no stranger to dinner tables or kitchens. Savor the richness of fine food – and know that God is in the middle of it all.

There are many more spiritual practices that are particularly wonderful to embrace during the summer, but these are enough for today. As we move into the vacation season, I pray you will have many opportunities to draw near to God and experience the presence of the Spirit this summer.

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6-25-20 - Sent

You can listen to this reflection here.

Just when I think I can’t squeeze one more word out of this week’s tiny Gospel passage, another one pops up: Sent. It is implied in what Jesus says about people welcoming those who come in his name as prophets and righteous folks, that they are sent, as he was sent.
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

What does it mean to be sent? Messengers are sent, ambassadors are sent, representatives are sent, teams are sent out on the field, troops sent to war, ambulances sent to accident sites… To be sent means to be deployed for a specific purpose. Most often in life our being sent bears some relation to our skills or connections.

Jesus sent his disciples to proclaim Good News of God’s activity in the world, to announce freedom to the poor and those in captivity, to love the outcast into community, to heal the sick and raise the dead. Those are still the reasons he sends his followers out. Do you feel sent to any particular place or people? Where do your skills and connections and passions point you?

I feel a call to forge relationships with people who don’t look or think like me. I’m not sure I can say “sent” yet, for I don’t really know where to start, and coping with Covid is taking a lot of my personal bandwidth. But today I will chair an inaugural meeting of an interfaith coalition to connect faith communities in my county. That's a start. As the Spirit leads me, I pray the sending will become more clear.

That's the thing with God - the One who sends also leads and equips us. Unlike a courier who goes out and reports back, apostles of Jesus Christ get to carry his presence and power as we go. It takes off some of the pressure, if we can allow the Spirit to do the work and stop taking it on ourselves.

When have you felt sent by God, short or long-term?

What inner urges are you discerning – or trying to push down? 

Where would you like to be sent?  Where are you afraid to be sent?

Being sent starts, like everything in the Christian life, with relationship. We strengthen our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that we can better understand God's prompts. They come through our own desires, sometimes, or through discerning a need or a lack. Sometimes God makes it really clear through dreams and “coincidences” that cannot finally be denied. (Talk to my friend Martha Hoffmann sometime about how God blitzed her with references to Uganda, leading to an incredibly fruitful ministry there.) We can check with others if a calling seems really odd or risky – and if we go forward, it will only be fruitful as we are aware of going with God, not for God.

And wherever we are sent by God, when we get there, we find God there too. Funny how that works.

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6-24-20 - With, Not For

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

“…And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

People often take Jesus’ remark about bringing cups of water to “these little ones” as a prompt to do outreach. While Jesus is big on caring for people in need, that is not his meaning here. He is saying that those who do ministry with us, “in the name of a disciple,” are to be blessed.

When my previous church did its monthly meal at the Men’s Shelter, I’d bring my guitar and sing a few songs while the crew was readying the meal in the kitchen. The gentlemen waiting for dinner were generally very appreciative; “dinner and a show!,” some remarked. But sometimes someone would ask if he could play my guitar – I’d hand it over and let him entertain the group, using his gifts. That was true joy.

We need to invite people to participate in our “good works.” We can offer ministry to, or we can offer ministry with – and “with” is much more inclusive and empowering. Just think which you would prefer if you were in need. Inviting other people to join us as we go about ministries of help and transformation is one of the most powerful ways to share the Gospel with others. It makes the Good News visible as people see a community of Christ-followers in action – that witness is often as vivid and appealing as the work being done.

Many churches find they connect better with people by giving them opportunities to serve than by trying to entice them to worship. That puts the onus on us to be open to relationships as we go about serving food and delivering clothes and visiting those in prison, to get out from behind the counters and talk with the people we are serving, find out what their gifts are. I dream of a church where the well-fed and the hungry worship and serve together in one diverse community. I know such congregations exist. For a while, two gentlemen who live in homeless encampments in the woods near La Plata started first showing up for food at our coffee hour, then worshipping with us, and then serving as crucifers. It was a start of ministry with instead of to. (Then they got jobs and worked on Sunday mornings and now have both moved away… back to square one!)

What forms of helping or outreach or volunteering are you involved in? Is there room for inviting recipients of that help to participate in helping others? Can you think of ways to form community with the givers and the receivers until we are all aware of being both?

It makes sense to do ministry with the ones for whom we offer our time and resources, because God has invited us to do ministry with her. We don’t work “for” God either – we work with God, at the direction and power of the Spirit moving through us. If we give someone else the opportunity to offer a gift to someone in need, we have given them a chance to live more deeply.

From God’s perspective, we are all “these little ones." We are all in need of the water of life.

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6-23-20 - Are We Prophets?

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

“Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous.”

I’ve puzzled over these words – what sort of axiom is this? Then I realized Jesus was telling his followers before they went out “on mission” that they were the prophets, they were the righteous whom others would welcome, or not. By giving people the opportunity to welcome them, they were giving those people a chance to be greatly rewarded.

If we don’t think we’re offering a gift when we share our stories and our prayers with other people, of course we’ll fear rejection. Many churchgoers are so afraid of “bothering” people who don’t go to church, it doesn’t seem to occur to them that they are withholding from others something that is so precious to them they’re willing to make significant sacrifices for it. That’s all God asks of us, that we not hide under a bushel the light we feel comes into our life through Christ, that we not keep to ourselves the healing, restoring, transforming love of God we share in our communities.

Prophets are simply those who convey messages for God. When we speak God’s message of love and forgiveness and justice, we are acting as prophets – and we give people the opportunity to receive us as prophets, and thus to receive a prophet’s reward themselves (whatever that is...).

Who has functioned as a prophet for you, reminding you of your belovedness, or calling you to amend your thinking or behavior in some way? Who invited you to consider a relationship with Christ – maybe in words, and maybe just by living with a kind of hope and joy and peace that you found compelling? They gave you that gift of welcoming a prophet, and so receiving a prophet’s reward.

For whom may you have functioned as a prophet? In prayer today you might ask God whether God has a message to share through you with someone in particular or a group in general. The message may be given through a conversation or writing a poem or article or blog, or by something you post on social media… there are all kinds of ways.

Let’s give people the opportunity to receive a reward by giving them the chance to share in a gift we have been given, without trying to pressure or persuade. That’s not bothering someone; it’s honoring their spirit by sharing your own.

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6-22-20 - Welcome x3

You can listen to this reflection here.

What is wrong with the Sunday lectionary? Grrr. Yesterday’s Gospel was 315 words of dense, challenging, provocative, hard-to-find-the-Good- News-in teaching from Jesus. And next week’s? 82 words in 2 sentences, four clauses, saying not all that much. Come on!

Okay, end of rant. Let's dive down and welcome the gifts of this very brief passage… which is all about welcoming. After Jesus gives his followers hard instructions about going out to proclaim the Good News and heal the sick, he softens a bit, saying, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

Welcoming was a big theme in Jesus’ sending talk, because his followers were to go out to villages and towns taking nothing along, no extra tunics, no clean underwear, no toothbrush, no money. They were to rely on the hospitality of those who welcomed them. And if they were not welcomed, they were to move on, save their breath.

This is important for us to hear. So often churchgoers express anxiety about discussing faith with others; they assume that conversation will not be welcomed. Well, so what? Some will, some won’t. Move on, Jesus says, because you will find someone who does welcome that conversation, and will welcome you, and will be grateful that you had the courage to engage them in a matter close to the heart.

Our culture makes little room for the spiritual, though it is working its way in from the margins into corporate retreats and yoga weekends (maybe because Christians have left such a vacuum?). When we introduce spirituality and faith into a conversation, whether with friend or stranger, we are making space for a holy connection. We rely on the hospitality of the other person to welcome us into that space. If the other person doesn’t want to, no problem. Try again with someone else. Be open to the conversation if someone else introduces it. Let’s invite people to see our connection to God.

Do you anticipate welcome when you contemplate talking about God with someone, or do you anticipate rejection? Either way, we can be surprised…
Can you think of a person with whom you might want to start that conversation? What do you think her or his reaction would be if you raised a spiritual subject?

We don’t have to go out cold-calling people. We can respond to the Spirit’s prompts about who might be open. We can pray, even over a period of weeks or years, “Shall I talk to that person about my faith? What’s the best approach? When do you think I should do it?” That is a prayer God will answer… maybe with a sign of some kind, or by our getting a feeling of “wait” or “go,” or there being an opening to talk. That very prayer will open our spirits and prepare us.

Jesus implies that someone will welcome us as we go about the mission of God to restore all things and all people to wholeness. And when they do welcome us, as we go in Christ’s name, they are welcoming him, and in welcoming him, they are welcoming our Father in heaven. It’s like a CEO showing up on a sales call, or the chief of surgery administering a blood draw. We get to be the advance folks; God does the work.

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6-19-20 - God's Dream

You can listen to this reflection here.

This is the year many Americans finally became aware of Juneteenth, a holiday long marked in many Black communities. It commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States – two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect January 1, 1863. June 19, 1865 was the day that word came to Texas with the announcement by Union troops that the Civil War had ended and slaves had been freed -

two and a half years earlier, except in Texas.

That two-and-a-half-year gap strikes me as significant, as though the celebration had to wait for the fulfillment of the promise. Of course, we know the promise has not been fulfilled. Abolishing slavery did not abolish racism or terrorism or prejudice, lynching, red-lining, disenfranchise-ment, or any of the structures of institutional racism that continue to disadvantage people of color economically, socially, judicially, politically. If anything, many black and brown people in our nation are more at risk in America today than even forty years ago – or maybe we’re just finally paying more attention.

What does this have to do with the gospel for this coming Sunday? These hard teachings we’ve wrestled with this week are chiefly about reordering our priorities, learning to put God’s priorities first. And friends, justice is God’s priority. Equity is God’s priority. As the prophet Micah reminds us,

God shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, 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, and no one shall make them afraid;for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. (Micah 4:3-4)

As long as people of color are denied the same access to resources and privileges; as long as they routinely face harassment in stores and on the streets; as long as young black and brown men in this country fear for their lives whenever they leave the house, our work is not done.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Jesus clearly redefined family; he said it wasn’t our blood kin, it was those who followed him – and he said loving God comes first, no matter what. That must be reflected in how we care for those who may not look, love, vote or think like us, if we claim to be followers of Jesus.

TThe priorities the world presents us are: “Take what you want, when you want it, with whom you want it.” Jesus says, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’ve entered the relationship into which Jesus invites you, or you are curious and exploring it. Maybe you’ve already discovered what Christians have known for 2000 years, that life is infinitely richer – though no less painful – when we follow the Way of Love. The Way of Love cannot bypass the pursuit of “liberty and justice for all.”

This Juneteenth, take up the call to educate yourself on systemic racism (the Christ Churches are beginning a study of Waking Up White), advocate for laws and practices that can level the playing field, and take action in solidarity with those being harmed. Many in our country and world are waking up to this persistent nightmare so many have lived for centuries; may we find our lives in bringing God’s dream to fruition. Then we can truly celebrate.

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6-18-20 - A Sword

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword," said Jesus. Could he have known how much carnage would be wrought in his name because of these words attributed to the Prince of Peace. Would he have said them? Did he say them? By the time Matthew was writing his account of Jesus’ life, these words would have passed through quite a few reporters. Maybe they got skewed? How I wish they had never been written down.

Yesterday I mentioned an account of the historic and ongoing clashes between Muslims and Christians along the Tenth Parallel. There have been crusades and counter-crusades, attacks and massacres and reprisals and counter-reprisals, often going back centuries, between these two faiths, both of which uphold an imperative to win converts. Rivers of blood have flowed as corrupt politicians hungry for oil money and other resources have joined with zealots to cloak their murderous agendas in religious language. And both of these religions, which claim to preach peace, have enough violent rhetoric in their scriptures and traditions to fuel endless bloodshed. The issues and conflicts are perpetuated, as we see in the plight of kidnapped Nigerian school girls and countless other crises.

And Jesus isn’t even talking about conflict between enemies but in families. He goes on to say, “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.”

I don’t think Jesus was saying he came to bring conflict, but that conflict would be an inevitable consequence of his mission, of following him. Jesus came to stand up to the evils of this world, injustice and oppressive, racist systems; corruption and complacency. That doesn’t make for a peaceful life. Those whose mission is peace often provoke conflict and die violently – Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King being two obvious examples. Oh, and Jesus…

Jesus was not promoting violence. He said "not peace but a sword." Look at some of the other ways the word “sword” is used in the New Testament: The sword of the Spirit is one of the defensive weapons we take up against the devil. In Hebrews we read that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, “…dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow…”That is surgically sharp!

Jesus is saying there is evil in the world, that his followers need to be able to distinguish the Kingdom of Light from the realm of darkness. The sword Jesus refers to can be a sword of distinction, which distinguishes good and evil, what will bless us and make us effective as disciples, from what will harm us and make us complacent and weak. Jesus does divide families sometimes. He demands our fidelity over all other claims. The priorities of this world – family, wealth, convenience, distraction – do not make us effective disciples. Jesus is just calling it. We can be fuzzy, or we can be clear. Jesus came not to bring peace but reality and radical freedom to move in God’s Spirit.

Have you ever had to choose to disassociate from people or practices that were destructive for you? Do you face such dilemmas in your life now?
Might we ask for the Spirit's help to marry “mission clarity” with our calling to be peacemakers?

Jesus paid the ultimate price for his mission, at least in worldly terms. In eternal terms, he was just getting started.

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6-17-20 - Acknowledging Jesus

You can listen to this reflection here.

We are often judged by the company we keep. Are we willing to let the world know we hang out with Jesus? He lays it on the line in this week's passage. After telling his disciples to go forward boldly, proclaiming the good news, healing the sick, raising the dead, he says, “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”

I don’t like it when Jesus raises the stakes like that. Where’s the mercy? As he is depicted in the gospels, Jesus more often showed mercy to outsiders or underdogs than to his own peers; he seems to have felt very little mercy toward religious insiders who refused to accept the good news of God-With-Us that had been revealed to them. Perhaps he knew time was short; that those who said “Lord, Lord” really had to stand by their allegiance to him, and not go quiet when the association proved inconvenient or dangerous. I doubt he'd be any easier on us.

It is unsurprising that people in need would more readily accept Jesus’ revelation of his messiahship than “insiders” who were so sure they knew what God would look like. I read a book by Eliza Griswold on the clashes between Christianity and Islam along the “Tenth Parallel.” She investigated Muslim and Christian communities in Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. In Malaysia she met an indigenous Orang Asli, who is a convert to Christianity (many Orang Asli are trying hard to hold on to their traditional beliefs and practices under threat of extinction, but some do convert). Christians and other religious minorities suffer harsh persecution in Malaysia, which has a vigorously conservative and oppressive Muslim majority.

This pastor said to her, “’Americans don’t care what’s happening in other places, do they?’ - a sentiment she also encountered among persecuted Christians elsewhere. "He pondered aloud if need kept people closer to God and God closer to them. ‘I wonder, is there a place for God’s word in the lives of people who have everything?’”

I am part of a denomination that is largely wealthy and privileged, and often muted in its proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord. To some Episcopalians, even saying “Jesus” smacks of fundamentalism, while others are openly hostile to the word evangelism, as though there were only one (obnoxious) way to share faith. Many are happy to be affiliated with Jesus but reluctant to let that be known in the circles they travel the rest of the week.

Can we be public about our affiliation with Jesus, the Christ? Does it make us uncomfortable? Is Jesus, and proclaiming wholeness and peace in his name, important enough to us? This is as good a time as any to probe those questions and wrestle with the answers, and pray about them.

I need to sit under the judgment of Jesus’ words as well as the promise they contain. I stay so much in my own church circles, I rarely share my God stories with other people who need to hear them. What isthe place for God’s word in the lives of people who have everything?

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6-16-20 - Priorities

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

“Have no fear of them,” Jesus says, as he tells his followers of the enemies they may encounter on God’s mission. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

God knows the number of hairs on our head and values us even more than precious sparrows. That does not mean God promises us physical protection (read Psalm 79 sometime). It means simply that we are of infinite value to God, whose love for us is not diminished by our physical death. Oh, that helps, right?

People who have had near-death experiences frequently say they no longer fear death. And it is the fear of death that so often holds us back from fully living the life we’re given. It is a hard balance to strike as followers of the One who promised eternal life: to live fully in this life, loving its gifts and pursuing God’s mission in the world, the world for which Christ died, while holding this life lightly, knowing it is not our final destination.

Jesus is not minimizing the trauma of physical death, I don't think. He is inviting his followers to weigh that against the greater trauma of spiritual death, of apathy or even allegiance to the enemy who seeks to degrade and destroy the creatures of God. If fear of death, or fear of losing income or time or reputation, keep us from giving our hearts to God, we place ourselves in spiritual peril.

Following Jesus does not mean nothing else matters. It means we make the shift to putting him first, above every other thing and person who claims our love. It’s not either-or; it’s both-and. In the order of priority. God comes first.

And when God comes first, it lowers the stakes for everything else. We can be more confident taking risks when we value our God-Life more than our physical life. Not caring so much about our physical existence – while still investing in it (I did say it was a balancing act) – sets us free to discover who we most fully are, how exquisitely and uniquely we are made. Rather than seeing Jesus’ words as warning, might we take them as invitation to greater freedom?

What holds you back from making God your number one priority, if God is not? What fears impede your proclaiming to those you know your allegiance to God in Christ?

If we can name our fears, we can invite the Holy Spirit to transform them into freedom. “Perfect love casts out fear,” is a promise we are given in scripture. I’ve learned you can kill poison ivy by pouring boiling water on it; it withers and dies. Imagine doing that with your fear when it rises.

And then invite God to sow love – imagine God planting a seed of love in that spot. We can sit with the sparrows and watch our fear wither like a weed and the love grow strong and beautiful, knowing that God is keeping an eye on us... and counting our hairs (easier with some than with others...)

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6-15-20 - Training Talk

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

What comes after recruiting? Training. Last week we explored Jesus’ training talk to his new followers as he sent them out on their first mission trip:

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” 

He goes on to tell them to take nothing with them, no luggage or extra clothes; that they are to rely on the hospitality of those who welcome them and have nothing to do with those who do not. He talks about persecution: "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." He tells them to expect the resistance he himself has faced:  

“If they have called the master of the house [the devil], how much more will they malign those of his household!”

Would you have gone on this journey? It may be hard for us to imagine facing persecution for talking about our faith in Jesus as Lord – partly because many of us rarely do so, and because we’re more apt to encounter indifference or ridicule than persecution. We don’t have to look far in the world, though, to see Christians dying, attacked for their religious identity in addition to ethnic ties. Would facing danger for speaking of Christ embolden us – or send us into hiding?

Some preachers build huge congregations and rake in tons of money promising prosperity and good fortune for putting Jesus first – exemplified by the size of one’s donation. I sometimes wonder if they’re right; their churches sure seem blessed. Then I remember Jesus never promised anything but love and an odd kind of joy and peace amidst adversity in this life, and an eternity of relationship in the next. And he promised his presence with us, throughout, no matter what.

That is where I suggest we rest this week, as we explore a challenging passage, by opening ourselves to Jesus’ presence. That is where all ministry in his name begins – being filled with his Spirit.

Today we might take a few minutes to sit quietly, offering thanks for the gifts of the week past, repentance for our failures to demonstrate love, and naming those things that worry us about the week to come. And then let’s pray, “Come, Lord Jesus” (the ancient formulation is “Maranatha!”). And wait. See how Jesus draws near, or what comes up in you as you sit in stillness.

The prosperity preachers are right about one thing: cultivating an expectation of blessing yields blessing. God’s blessing, God’s “yes,” comes in many forms, not only material wealth. As we are open to it, look for it, name it, we will experience it more often, and proclaim what we’ve experienced. And then, whether we’re in the midst of wolves or complacent sheep, we can proclaim our good news, “The Life of God has come near to you!”

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6-12-20 - Wise As Serpents

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Adversity is part of the deal when we become ministers of the Gospel, especially when we invite people to re-examine long-standing beliefs and traditions. Jesus uses a potent image to warn his disciples about the challenges they will face as they proceed:

“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.”

The “wolves” in this scenario are Jesus’ fellow Jews, in particular those religious leaders benefiting from the status quo. Jesus knew they would oppose him and put obstacles in the way of his followers. He suggests meeting opposition with both cunning and transparency, a tricky combination.

It’s not hard to fathom what it means to be “innocent as doves” – it means to have an agenda of peace and goodwill, to be straightforward about your message and your aim. As we think of talking about our faith or introducing people to Christ as we’ve come to know him, it means being clear that this is part of who we are. No one needs a “bait and switch” approach to evangelism. If we’re sincere about building relationships AND about letting our spiritual selves be part of the encounter, we’re being innocent as doves.

Jesus’ exhortation to be “wise as serpents” is harder to parse. At what point does canny morph into cunning? Let’s consider what attributes of serpents we might adopt as we move out in mission. One is their ability to move quickly and nimbly and with great flexibility. When do our structures hold us back? Serpents are low to the ground, able to get where they need to be without drawing a lot of attention to themselves. So we might show up at opportune moments, and maneuver with grace around those who would shut us up, or tell us to leave our religion out of it.

Jesus was primarily trying to tell his followers that there would be resistance to their ministry which might well harden into persecution – and that no matter what, God would be with them, speaking his message through them: "When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

In a time in our national and global life when many Christians are following the call to protest and push for justice in the name of Christ, we may indeed encounter opposition. Some of my clergy colleagues in this diocese were among those peaceful demonstrators forcibly removed from the environs of St. John’s Lafayette Square last week, with tear-gas-like chemical spray and rubber bullets. My bishop faces daily hate mail and death threats. In the arena of faith-sharing, the resistance we encounter might take the form of social pressure "not to be so religious," and indifference.

Jesus’ counsel to be both winsome and wise, gentle and canny is as apt for us as it was for his disciples. We have a story to tell, truth to reveal, an invitation to offer, an introduction to make – let’s not let anything stop us from making Christ known.

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6-11-20 - Packing Light

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

Normally, this would be packing season – summer vacations, weekend getaways. We would be taking down suitcases and tote bags and deciding what to bring along and what to leave behind. What we pack depends largely on where we’re going – a weekend at the beach may call for shorts and t-shirts, while packing for a wedding can require five pairs of shoes.

And if we are packing for a mission trip? Jesus says, “Don’t. Just go.” His instructions are perplexing:
“Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.”

He wants his disciples to go out without any resources or safety net, to rely completely on the hospitality of those to whom they are sent. “Wait a minute,” they may have thought – “Aren’t we bringing the gift? Now you want us to ask them to take us in and feed us, so we can preach the gospel to them? What’s that about?”

It’s about vulnerability. It’s about mutuality, not going to people with the resources or answers we think they need, but inviting them into relationship in which they can meet Jesus. It’s about allowing people to give to us, so that we share on level ground, not from a place of power or control.

And for those who carry the Good News to others, it is also an invitation to build the kind of trust muscles we need in God's service. Having no money or change of clothes, no toothbrush or even a staff to lean on is an invitation to lean totally on God’s provision and love. “Do you put your whole trust in God's grace and love?” we ask baptismal candidates. It is very hard to put our whole trust in anything, let alone a force we can know but not see or feel. Yet that is the kind of faith Jesus invites us to grow.

When have you been in a situation where you had to rely totally on God? Where you couldn’t see what good was going to come, and could only trust that it would? (There’s a lot of that going around lately…) These are trust-building opportunities.

It is not easy, but the testimony of those who live this way is that God comes through, again and again, often in completely unforeseen ways, often through the very people they thought they were there to help. When we break down the "us" and "them" and become all "us," all kinds of mutual giving becomes possible.

This story was about being sent on mission. It is also an invitation to live more lightly always, less encumbered by stuff and space and security. Every day we have an invitation, right in our own lives, to simplify, to pack light.

For every day we have opportunities to go to someone in the name of Christ, seeing what meals are provided to us when we don’t try to get them for ourselves. We don’t get to set the menu, but we will be fed. That’s the life of faith.

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6-10-20 - Know Your Audience

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

It’s the first principle of marketing: know your audience, then shape your message and target your approach accordingly. Jesus knew that, sending out his disciples on their first mission foray: 

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

More than once Jesus declined ministry to people from ethnicities other than his own Jewish people (though he always relented, thus expanding his market share…) His teaching and activities suggest that he saw his initial mission as correcting misinterpretations of the Torah, and inviting God’s chosen people back into alignment with God’s love and God’s truth. Did reclaiming the whole world came later?

Similarly, he told his disciples they were sent not to everybody, not to the “other,” but to their own people – the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Eventually, outreach and evangelism to the “other” became central to missional strategy for the church. But maybe in this early stage of training Jesus didn’t want his disciples distracted by cross-cultural chasms or barriers of language and religion. Maybe he wanted them to get used to proclaiming the Good News, healing the sick, casting out demons, even raising the dead, and to start with those who already knew the basics about the One Holy God of Israel.

The targeting was even more precise: within that one ethnic group, they were to zero in on one "worthy" household, not broadcasting their seeds to see where they might take root, but planting by hand as opportunities were given:  

Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.

This last instruction may sound rude, even hostile to us. Perhaps Jesus was simply inviting them to develop a laser-like focus on building relationships with people with whom they shared a language, who might be open to the gift of Good News. The Good News is best spread through relationships, which grow organically.

Who do you know who needs to hear the Good News of freedom and grace, to know Jesus’ love? What “house” do you feel called to? Pray about how you might go about offering that Good News. And if you are rebuffed, move on to someone else. That’s not the “anointed appointment” God is inviting you to have.

The Spirit will lead us, as we ask and are willing, to those who are hungry for what we have to give.

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6-9-20 - Every and All

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

As we read the Gospels with an eye to getting to know Jesus, a principle becomes evident: abundance and fullness. Five vats of water turned into wine, food enough for 5,000 with twelve baskets left over. This applies to healing as well – Matthew tells us Jesus went to all the cities and villages, and cured every disease and every sickness.

And he expected and equipped his followers to do the same:
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.

Is Matthew just being hyperbolic? I don’t think so. None of the gospels show Jesus failing to heal someone in need of it, though at least once his disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a young boy and once Jesus prayed twice for the healing of a blind man. "All” and “every” meant just that.

If Jesus healed every disease and illness he encountered, and if he gave authority over disease and demons to his disciples, and if he empowered those disciples-turned-apostles with the Holy Spirit after his resurrection and ascension, and if we carry on the ministry of those apostles through an unbroken chain of laying on of hands In ordination and confirmation… then why don’t we heal every disease and every illness?

Such “why” questions are often a recipe for trouble. So much in the realm of prayer is mystery, we can only speculate, based on our reading of Scripture and our experience. I believe we see fewer healings because so often we don’t ask. And sometimes when we ask, it is with meagre faith. Let me be clear – faith needs to rest in the community. I’m not saying each person has to have a full and clear faith – but the community can and should. In my experience, communities that expect healing, that expect answers to prayer, often experience more. The more faith we bring to the exercise of healing prayer, the more healing we see. And where healing remains joined to the proclamation of the Good News, we may see even more positive outcomes.

Healing is fundamental to what it means to be Christians, apostles bearing witness to the power and love of God unleashed in the world through the Spirit of Christ. It is not meant to be reserved to a small cadre of “healing ministers” praying for five minutes during a church service. It is to be exercised by all of us, all the time, everywhere we go. I long to see a congregation where it is normal to see people praying with each other at coffee hour, in the parking lot, in each other’s homes, by faith, with thanksgiving.

Perhaps when every Christ follower exercises his or her faith in releasing God’s healing in the sick, the infirm, the despairing, all people will be healed. That’s how the Realm of God becomes visible. Through us.

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6-8-20 - Harassed and Helpless

You can listen to this reflection here.

Congratulations – we have made it through the seasons and festivals and holidays that span Christmas through Easter to Pentecost, and have arrived at that long stretch we call “Ordinary Time.” From now until Advent, minus a few feast days, we will hear stories from Jesus’ ministry and teaching. We have an opportunity to get to know him better, and to explore our own callings within his ongoing mission.

We come in at a good spot – next Sunday’s Gospel reading drops us at the start of Jesus’ travels, with his instructions to his disciples before their first foray out. Let’s listen as though we were one of them, for, indeed, we are, and the mission field Jesus described then, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few,” is as urgent today.

We will also find resonances in what Jesus encountered:
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus set out to proclaim the Good News of God’s mission to restore and renew all of creation to wholeness, and to demonstrate that mission by healing every ill person he encountered. As he went, he also responded with compassion to what he saw – people who were harassed and helpless, rudderless, leader-less.

The ones Jesus encountered lived in poverty and fear, under the thumb of the Roman occupiers and further oppressed by their own religious leaders. People of color we encounter may have grown used to harassment, discrimination, even fearing for their lives when they go out. Young people we meet may be furious at the legacies of inequity and a ruined planet we are leaving them. People of privilege we know may more often be harassed by the demands of wealth than poverty, but many are also seeking direction, to be led to safety and green pastures and still waters. So many people are hungry for meaning, thirsty for purpose and the kind of love only God can give. We have access to these gifts – will we share?

Who do you know who is harassed or helpless, or both? Who is awakening your compassion? How might God be sending you to that person or people with a message of promise and life?

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

This is a time of action, when churches are mobilizing to call and work for greater justice. Are we ready to be sent, to be God’s messengers of peace in the fray? Ask God in prayer to show you where and when and how and to whom. Just say the word – God will send you into the harvest fields.

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6-5-20 - Always With Us

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

I'm gonna love you for forever, that's what he used to say

Then you found out that forever ended last Tuesday…

So begins a song called “Life is Long” by Carolyn Arends. It comes to mind as I reflect on Jesus’ last words to his disciples on that hill near Jerusalem: “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age,” followed immediately by “Bye!”

The difference is that Jesus meant it – and he had the resources to back it up. Having just told his disciples to go out and spread the Good News to the whole world, Jesus wasn’t about to leave them alone in that task. Nor has he left us alone. But it can be hard to be aware of his presence. Here are a few ways I know to draw on that promise of forever, one moment at a time:

Prayer – when we allow our minds to quiet and invite the Spirit to fill us, it is the Spirit of Christ who comes to us. The visually inclined can ask Jesus to show up in our imagination in some place and form that resonates for us, where we can talk and listen to him - and just hang out.

Praise – when we release our spirits in praise, singing or admiring beauty or enjoying an intimate meal, we often feel a presence in us and around us. That is Christ, joining our praises.

Eucharist – we say those words and embody those actions in order to remember him, because he said to… and remember means more than "recall." It means to re-attach, reconnect, reconstitute the members of a body. We receive the life of Christ in those signs of his body and blood – and Jesus has promised to be there with us.

In the Hungry and Forgotten – Jesus said when we feed and clothe and visit and tend to those in need, we do it for him (Matthew 25). Doing ministry among people with obvious needs – and many assets, don’t forget – is a wonderful way to be with Jesus. Ask him in advance to show himself to you.

Ministries of Power – Jesus told his followers that when the Spirit came, they would do even greater works than they’d seen him do. When we pray for healing or reconciliation or exercise spiritual power in Jesus’ name, we are invoking his presence in us. We certainly have many opportunities to exercise the power of the Spirit around us these days.

What are the ways you sense the presence of Jesus? Are there times you feel abandoned by him anyway? Those feelings are normal, especially when a lot of things seem to be going wrong. God invites us to pray through them, to pipe up and say, “What happened to, ‘I will be with you always?’ Not feeling it…"

Always is a long time. Moment by moment, we can experience Christ with us, and expand our capacity to perceive his presence. In some ways, the most powerful prayer we can offer is “Come, Lord Jesus.” I believe he always answers that one.

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6-4-20 - The Great Co-Mission

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

Jesus says, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Christians have replied, “Okay, boss – we’re ready! Here we go to save some souls!” And here the church has gone, for over 2,000 years, carrying the Good News to the ends of the earth, until those at the “ends of the earth” (from our Western perspective, anyway) have carried it back to reawaken discipleship in us - or to introduce us to Jesus for the first time. We are all about the Great Commission.

Yet, when we understand God’s mission as orders to follow, we lose sight of perhaps the most important word: “Co.” Co-mission means "mission with." Jesus never intended his followers to take the hand-off from him and run with the ball on our own. He promised his Spirit would be in us, confirming the power of our words with signs and wonders – aka miracles. When the Great Commission has run off the rails, often it’s when the “co” got dropped and it became just mission. Our mission. My mission.

Co-mission means we are always partners in God’s mission; we don’t recruit God as a silent partner to bless our missions. When we are partners in God’s mission, we can be sure that we’re in God’s will and that good fruit is promised. God is always creating new life, always restoring wholeness, so we can be sure God always has a mission for us to join into. God seems, in fact, to rely on our joining in, or that thing doesn’t get accomplished. It’s like an electrical current needing a conductor to carry it – we’re the wire, folks, literally wired in to what God has already purposed.

How do we know when it’s God’s mission? It might resemble Christ’s missions. Look around you: where do you see energy and passion that result in people being blessed, healed, fed, reconciled? There’s God’s mission. Where do you see hunger, fear, injustice or oppression? God may be inviting you to join God there. Where you see needs, frustration, wheels spinning? Maybe mission is being undertaken without God, like a wire with no current coming through.

God’s mission is not about meeting needs, though needs are often met as we go about God’s mission. God’s mission is about bringing life to things that are dead or on their way there. God’s mission is about freedom and peace. We’re about God’s mission when we feel our sails full of Holy Spirit wind; when we don’t know the route but know we’re going somewhere blessed. I fear that much of what I spend my time and energy on does not feel like God’s mission at all, but rather my attempt to help prop up old conveyor belts for human mission initiatives, my own included. If I could just surf on the Spirit all the time, it wouldn’t be work at all.

When do you feel you are “co-missioning” with God rather than “missioning” on your own? When do you feel your passion and energy rising in ministry? Start noticing what gets your attention, and when in conversation you become more focused and enthusiastic. You might ask God to wire you in to a mission, large or small – and to give you a clue that’s what’s happening by letting you see some fruit.

If God is always on the move, and if God needs us to carry the current of what God wants to accomplish… think how often God may want us just to show up and say, “Here I am. Use me.” That’s the Greatest Co-mission of all.

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6-3-20 - Making Disciples

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

It’s a muscular charge, the way Matthew renders Jesus’ last earthly instruction to his followers:
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Authority…. Go and make… Obey… Commanded…. This is not language of invitation and inspiration – or love. It has fostered some of the worst of Christian behavior in world history. It’s not so hard to justify crusades and conquistadors when you take your marching orders from this verse – and this verse has had more influence than many in the bible. We even call it The Great Commission.

We can chalk some of this up to Matthew’s style – his version of stories and sayings often seem to me more legalistic than others. Writing forty or so years after the events he records, in the face of persecution and unrest and competing factions in the Christian movement, he may have felt it important to stress Jesus’ authority and command. In answer to those who wanted to reserve Jesus’ blessing to Jewish believers, he may have wanted to remind them that these gifts were for all nations, that spreading the Good News is in the church’s DNA. In a time when alternate readings of Christian revelation were already sprouting, the apostles called people back to the teachings and commandments of Christ.

How do we take these words and live into them, aware of the harm and the good they’ve often caused? How might we rediscover the joy of sharing Good News in Jesus’ name, not holding back the blessing we have received?

Let’s ponder what it means to “make disciples.” It does not mean to force a discipline on another, or to manipulate allegiance. A disciple, one who takes on the discipline of a master or teacher, needs to choose that or they will lack the motivation to follow through. (Has anyone ever successfully been forced to diet?). Those who chose to follow Jesus in his earthly ministry caught his passion and wanted to be a part of what he was doing. That’s how people still become his disciples. If we want to share in this mission of God, we will rediscover and share our own passion for the love of God and the Way of Jesus. Otherwise, we’re just going to church.

When someone has caught the passion for loving God, we invite her to be baptized to mark this new commitment. (Note the passive verb form... baptism is something we receive more than "do.") We invoke the Holy Spirit to fill and equip her. And yes, we teach him all that Jesus has commanded, in all its counter-intuitive glory – to love enemies, value the poor more than our own, seek peace over being right, to name a few. And we train her to walk in the Spirit, so that choosing to obey Jesus’ commands gradually becomes a desire, not just a duty.

Making disciples starts with us. Do you consider yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord? Why or why not? If you’re not, and you want to be, you can pray, “Okay, Jesus, I want to follow you… show me how.” And ask someone you consider to be a disciple already to walk alongside you.

Is there someone you know whom you might mentor in the faith, helping them discover discipleship? You can start by praying for God to bless that desire and give you openings.

Making disciples is a little more complex than “just add water.” Yet when it's God's work, we can entrust the outcome to God.

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6-2-20 - Doubt

You can listen to this reflection here.

The gospel reading set for Sunday is Matthew’s version of Jesus’ last encounter with his disciples:
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.

Some doubted? After running into the resurrected Jesus for several weeks, some still weren’t sure? It can be hard to overcome our belief in the impossible, even when it’s staring us in the face. An empty tomb and forty days were not enough for some, and still aren’t.

A healthy faith grows like a tree, its roots reaching deep into the soil of God-Life, accessing nutrients and building a stable base. It has a strong trunk able to support its growth. It reaches out branches toward God and toward other people, as in an attitude of praise and offering, allowing for the formation of fruit and leaves and shade. You’ll notice, though, that no two trees grow alike. They develop according to their situation, the nutrients available, sunlight and shade – and the winds. Some trunks are sinewy and gnarled, made stronger because of adversity. Some branches extend in long arcs, others divide and reach toward the light - and some break of their own weight and crash to earth.

Doubt can work like a strong wind on our trees of faith, its pressure causing us to grow stronger. Doubt is a natural part of a living faith. It’s how we respond to it that makes the difference. If we acknowledge doubt when it surfaces and bring it into our relationship with God, it can add texture and depth to our faith. If we allow doubts to inspire us to lean harder on God, even to test, to say, “I don’t understand; show me,” they can actually deepen our faith.

But if we stay shielded from doubt by a black-and-white certainty, we can be like trees that grow tall and uniform – and easily toppled in a crisis. And if our doubts cause us to turn away from God, we miss out on the joys of seeing that relationship grow.

The times we are living through are a challenge to faith. What can I say about God’s power to heal in the face of ever-rising pandemic death tolls? What can I say about the Christian enterprise when so many Christ-followers support oppressive, corrupt and racist practices on global, national and local levels? What about the days the scriptures seem so very, very human? I must bring these questions to God.

How often do you engage doubts about God, about Jesus, about the power of God in the world or your life? What tends to trigger it? How do you tend to respond?
Might you bring one of those trouble areas into prayer today? See what you discern in response.

As followers of the Risen Christ, we do not sign on to a set of doctrines. We enter into relationship with the multi-faceted triune God. There is room in God for our faith, our doubts, our loves, our fears, and a whole lot more. Our faith is strengthened as we allow God to water our roots every day, as we allow life to prune our branches, as we withstand the winds and rain – and as we are nurtured to bear abundant fruit.

So will we be “…like trees planted by streams of water; bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither.” (Psalm 1:3)

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6-1-20 - Trinity

You can listen to this reflection here.

Why three? Why not two, or four, or one – which would have been so much easier to explain. But no, the Christian understanding of God is as One, yet also Three. Three persons within the One Godhead. Why three?

The shortest answer I know is, because Jesus said so. He spoke of his Father in heaven, he spoke of himself as Son of God, and he referred in personal terms to the Holy Spirit, who would be given when he was no longer bodily present. And there were stories, like the one about the voice heard at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased,” and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. Early church preachers and thinkers, interpreting collected teachings and stories, had to wrestle with these references. Seeing God as triune was pretty unavoidable, given how often Jesus refers to these three distinct persons as God.

Unavoidable doesn’t mean simple. It took centuries to sort out and articulate Christian doctrine about God, and some of the process was torturous. So is any time we try to talk about the Unity and the Trinity of God (read the Athanasian Creed sometime…) And on the one Sunday each year when we highlight not an event but a doctrine, preachers twist themselves into pretzels trying to clarify a spiritual mystery. Sun, ray, beam... Water, ice, steam... Orange, peel, juice… Mother, wife, sister… Or the one I stumbled onto in Water Daily, which I rather like: sea, water-fall and spray.

A good formula for the Trinity does not allocate different functions to Father, Son and Spirit, but affirms each sharing in the full life of God. It conveys distinction between persons and the unity of the whole – and so affirms the principles of differentiation and wholeness that are so important for human health and thriving. It communicates the core Christian belief that God is One and also more than One; that God is so big, as it were, God could not be contained as just One but exists in eternal relationship of persons.

This ongoing, active, relational life of God is what we are invited to join. The Christian life is not assenting to a belief, but actively joining a relationship already in full swirl, and somehow richer when you and I join in. Some liken it to a dance, in which we are swept up, folded in, made whole.

What difference does understanding God as Trinity make to us? It gives us different ways to connect with God. Some relate to God as Spirit, unseen but powerful and present. Some connect better to God the Father, holy and transcendent, unknowable and yet perfect love. Some draw near to the Son who left his heavenly home to enter our world as human, so that God would be knowable to us.

Who do you find you most connect with in prayer?
Have you ever consciously tried to address another person of the Trinity just to see how you might experience God differently? You might try it today...

I will leave us with a great formulation written by my friend Willy Welch in a song for children:
God is one person, and he’s also Three. God is a person, and He’s a family.
One, he is the Father; Two, he is the Son; Three, he is the Spirit, and they’re never done.

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