12-1-20 - Voice In the Wilderness

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

Oh, for the placement of a comma! Is John the Baptist “one crying out in the wilderness?” (as Hymn 75 in the Episcopal hymnal would have it), or is he one crying out, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord?” The lack of punctuation in New Testament Greek leaves plenty of room for confusion. Luckily in this case, the gospel is quoting from a section of Isaiah in the Old Testament:  A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

The comma confusion has always left me an impression of John as a lone voice crying in the wilderness for God’s people to repent and return to their Lord. Clarification reminds me that his invitation is to prepare a way for God in the wilderness. And that generates all kinds of other questions. Why in the wilderness? Why make straight a highway for God in the desert? Is there too much clutter in our urban and suburban lives, too much noise to hear a voice crying out, “Prepare the way?”

Or shall we take “wilderness” as a metaphor, internalizing it to represent the chaos of our multiply committed lives? Wilderness can suggest a stark emptiness. It can also invoke chaos, lack of order. Which description better fits your inner landscape today?

Perhaps preparing a way for God in our wilderness means locating the wild, untamed places within ourselves, our most essential “me-ness.” That is surely the place God’s spirit best meets our own. Or maybe it means that the messiest parts of our lives are where we are invited to prepare a way for the Lord – de-cluttering in order to access our most essential selves.

We may be quite cut off from our own wilderness, so distracted by our tasks and data, our commitments and the priorities others impose upon us, that we haven’t dealt with or dwelt in our own wilderness for quite some time. Advent offers a particular invitation to do that – to intensify the spiritual practices that connect us to God and to ourselves; to take some retreat time either daily or going on an actual retreat; to rediscover the desert within and straighten out the highway for God’s presence to enter our lives with more fullness.

Lots of questions today – where did they hit you? Where did you feel yourself reacting?
What invitation to prayer do you discern out of your reflection on inner wilderness?
Where in yourself do you want to “prepare the way for the Lord, make straight a highway for our God?”

I get an image of a community-service gang in orange jumpsuits, clearing up litter by the side of the highway. Not a bad Advent image for us to entertain today; we are all prisoners of our selves, to some degree, on the way to liberation. Why not clear a highway for our Liberator to hasten our freedom?

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11-30-20 - Into the Desert

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

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Black Friday is over. Colored lights are blinking on every other house. Must be about time for John the Baptist to saunter out of the desert just as our tinkly-twinkly Christmas frenzy revs up – even if “frenzy” is a little strong this year.

We only let him out once a year, this not-so-cuddly prophet of repentance. Repentance is never popular, and John is more than a bit odd, in his weird attire and diet of locusts and wild honey. We could consider him a proto-vegan, but for the camel skin coat and leather belt he sported (makes him sound like a fashion icon… not!)

But John is where all four gospels begin to tell “The Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” John is the one sent to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord,” as the angel Gabriel told his father Zechariah when announcing John’s improbable conception. (Luke 1:17) Zechariah himself sings out when John is born: "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins." (Luke 1:76-77)

This suggests that repentance is our entryway into the “knowledge of salvation.” Repentance is a pre-requisite to feeling the need of salvation – it reminds us what we need saving from. If we feel we’re hunky-dory without Jesus, there was really no need for him to have bothered with all that incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and redemption business. We need to buy some level of estrangement with God, and accept some degree of human culpability for the state of the world, in order to comprehend salvation.

Accepting those realities is repentance. Repentance doesn’t have to be a laundry list of personal sins and short-comings. It is an awareness of being less than what we were created to be, acknowledgment that we hurt ourselves and others, and a desire to invite the kind of healing that remedies the fault.

So let’s begin Advent with repentance, since that is John’s specialty. Like those who traveled out of their safe zones to see him in the wilderness, to hear his call to repent, to receive his baptism of cleansing, let’s wander away from our patterns of stuckness, our self-justifications, our self-saving strategies, and ask the Holy Spirit to show us how we have grown apart from God. We might try this each day this week, and see what gets freed and released.

Where does our pride kick up? Where do our relationships cause us to wince or get defensive? Where is shame rooted in us, a deep sense of unworthiness? Whatever comes up, bring it into the light of God’s love, feel the feelings related to each root of bitterness, and begin to release it to God for forgiveness and healing.

The forgiveness has already been given. The healing begins as we accept the forgiveness and desire new growth.

On Wednesday evenings, I lead an online Bible Study from 7-8, followed by Night Prayers (optional). Now that geography is no issue, you're most welcome - 7 pm here. If you need a passcode, it's LPWay. This Advent we'll explore how we live in an upside world - and hint, Jesus already turned it upside down. Or did he turn it right side up?

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11-27-20 - Rattling the Powers

You can listen to this reflection here.

The theme for Advent at my Christ Churches is “The Word’s Turned Upside Down.” 2020 has been a year of such traumatic turmoil and terror, so much in our daily lives upended in addition to the national and global disruptions. In many ways, this year has teed us up for Advent, that paradoxical season of darkness and foreboding, expectation and hope. Our gospel reading starts us off in the shadows, with Jesus’ perplexing discourse about cataclysmic suffering soon to befall his followers. Is he talking about Roman persecution, or the end of the world?

“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

Jesus sounds most like Israel's prophets here, foretelling gloom and doom. In what comes before this passage, he’s been discussing the onset of a crisis in human terms. Here the warning signs are cosmic, with a darkened sun, a weakened moon, falling stars. And what does it mean to say that “the powers in the heavens will be shaken?”

“The heavens” is bible-speak for the spiritual realm where both good and evil operate. Jesus' mission involved engaging spiritual warfare. Indeed, in much of his ministry he was doing battle with forces of evil, reclaiming and freeing people from bondage to sin and death. That work he supremely accomplished on the cross, and he invites us to help bring it to completion in the fullness of time. When Christ is on the move, then and now, it rattles “the powers in the heavens.” In light of the victory he has already won, still unfolding in our view, that’s good news.

Every time we carry out an apostolic ministry, we rattle the powers of heaven. Every time we challenge untruth or injustice or misused power, we rattle the powers of heaven. Every time we defend the vulnerable from bullies, whether personal or corporate, we rattle the powers of heaven. Every time we invoke the power of God to forgive, heal and restore the broken, we rattle the powers of heaven. Sometimes it gets us in trouble, but Jesus promises to be with us.

What "powers in the heavens" are you feeling called to rattle? Political powers, emotional powers, corporate powers, social powers, cosmic powers? Name a realm and ask Jesus what action he is preparing for you to take. Pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and you can be sure you are fighting with God, serving God’s purposes.

“The world is about to turn,” goes the chorus to Canticle of the Turning, a hymn setting of the Song of Mary which we will sing throughout this season. We can help to bring about that turning in our time.

On Wednesday evenings, I lead an online Bible Study which now has participants from Toronto, Connecticut and Georgia. Why not Water Daily Land? If you'd like to join, you're most welcome - 7 pm here. If you need a passcode, it's LPWay. This Advent we'll be exploring how we live in an upside world - and hint, Jesus already turned it upside down. Or did he turn it right side up?

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11-26-20 - Spiritual Lessons From the Turkey

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

Who wants to talk about the end of the world on Thanksgiving? Who wants to be told to “Keep Awake!” in the one guaranteed, nap-allowing four-day weekend in our ever-more-jammed national calendar? How will we engage Advent today when we’re preparing stuffing, preparing pies, preparing turkeys, pre…

Wait a minute. What’s that word? Preparing? Isn’t that the quintessential Advent word? Prepare ye the way for the Lord? Maybe this won’t be so tough. We’ll just have to mash up our holidays a little before we mash our sweet potatoes.

We might take a spiritual lesson or two from preparing a turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner – and no, I’m not going to compare the turkey’s sacrifice to Jesus’. What I will do is invite us to think about the things we do to get a turkey ready to be feasted upon, and see how those might be applicable to our spiritual growth.

First, we buy the turkey. We have decisions to make about what kind – fresh, organic, frozen. We don’t expect the turkey to plop into our lap – we select it. We might be as intentional about our choices to grow spiritually as we are about selecting our turkey.

We prepare the turkey – we wash it (baptism? repentance?). We might brine it in salt water - Jesus did say his followers were to be like salt for the world, tenderized, full of flavor…

On the big day, we get up early to get that thing ready for the oven. What if we regularly got ourselves up early to get ready for the world, spending some of our prep time in prayer and quiet with God?

Next we oil or butter the outside of the turkey so it shines with a nice glow as it bakes. Some add some paprika to that process, to enhance the golden color. (The first time I ever roasted a turkey, I mistakenly grabbed cayenne instead of paprika – that was a spicy bird!) In the same way, we as Christ-followers can be anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, to shine with joy whatever our circumstances.

And we stuff that bird full of good things that help make it moist and flavorful. So we might stuff ourselves with holy-making ingredients… the bread of life, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, worship with others, prayer, ministry, contemplation, the sacraments, ministry to others. All these things make us tender and flavorful too, more conscious as disciples.

Then we roast the bird… we allow heat to transform it into something we can consume. I would like to think we do that as Christians too – really allow the heat of the Spirit to get to us, to transform us so we become more useful to the people around us.

And while the bird is roasting, we baste it, frequently, so it doesn’t dry out. Our regular immersion in worship and spiritual practices are meant to serve the same function, to keep us well-oiled and limber. If you feel dried out as a Christian, get more basting! That might be a good prayer for us today.

If we can be as intentional about our spiritual lives as we are about our Thanksgiving turkeys, I have no doubt God will feed many, many people through us. Here endeth the metaphor! Gobble, gobble.

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11-25-20 - You Are. Now

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

Most years, the day before Thanksgiving is one of the most stressful of the year. Many people travel on that day, with delays on planes, trains and highways. Those staying home and hosting face crowded grocery stores and homes in need of cleaning. We may not be dealing with as much of that this year, but our lives have been upended and families disrupted. Any of these stresses can be a good metaphor for the Advent season.

Whether we’re waiting to get there, or for someone to arrive, or for a viable vaccine to come along to end this Covid nightmare, we face a lot of waiting. Waiting for God to show up – cataclysmically, at the end of the ages, or here and now, in the midst of a crisis – can also feel like that. Though we often look back on events and say that God’s timing was just right, in the moment it can feel like we’re waiting forever.

When we’re little, Advent is about waiting for Christmas, with its huge build-up. As we get older, we learn that Advent is really about waiting to celebrate the birth of Christ, the inbreaking Word of God, come to take up residence in us. And we know that, as wonderful as that story is, as fully as we have embraced it, it’s still incomplete, because we’re still waiting for the fullness of that revelation of God to be completed. There's too much pain and evil around to think we’ve seen the end of the story.

Is there anything we can do to be more with our waiting and longing? Yes – and it happens to be the one thing most sages and philosophers suggest we do to live more fulfilled lives: be present. Now. Focus on where you are in this moment, not the next, not the one that just passed. Now.

If we were to do that in a terminal, or at home preparing, we might find ourselves focusing on the people around us. Focusing on our feelings of waiting and not knowing when we will see our loved ones. Focusing on our breath and our life, on our gifts and our thoughts, on what we love, on who we love, and who loves us. This is a way to transcend the waiting and receive an opportunity to tune our awareness to the breath of those around us, to the pulse of the community, to the yearnings of the universe. That’s not wasted time… that’s a form of prayer, of connecting to the Holy. It is Advent life.

Eternity is an forever of Now. Learning to wait with anticipation while fully content will serve us well in this life and in the life to come. It creates in us a capaciousness and a serenity in which others can seek shelter. It creates space in which the Holy Spirit can dwell and bless others.

I hope today is a wonderful day for you, wherever you are and wherever you are going, whoever you’re with and whoever you miss being with. I pray you will be amazed at the peacefulness, even joy, you can experience whatever the stresses. They are temporary – you are eternal. Already.

You... Are.

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11-24-20 - Elected?

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

It’s been a challenging few weeks in Gospel-lectionary Land for people who believe in universal salvation, the doctrine that all are saved by Christ’s redeeming work, regardless of what they believe or whether they want to be included. We heard about the talent-burying steward condemned to outer darkness, the unprepared bridesmaids shut out of the banquet. Last Sunday it was Jesus’ vision of the final judgment, with the righteous sorted from the damned. This week we hear about the end times, and this troubling verse: “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”

Just what, or who, is meant by “his elect?” Can anyone join that party, or do you have to be invited or, worse, elected? For us, “election” connotes a democratic process, but theologians of old used that word to mean God’s choosing us for salvation. It’s more selection than election; in some passages Jesus suggests it is not automatic, giving rise to the idea of predestination, the doctrine that some are chosen for salvation – or not.

There is some comfort in the notion that there is nothing we can do to secure eternal salvation – that is grace, which is pure gift. But most folks like to be able to control their destinies, to earn their way. And what if some get the gift and some do not? What if “winning the lottery” on earth, by where we are born, and in what color skin, and with what accompanying resources and privileges, means we are shut out of the heavenly courts? What about faith and belief? Some passages imply this is the key, the one response required from us to what God freely offers.

It is human nature to look at a phrase like “his elect” and immediately wonder about the opposite – who loses? Yet nothing in that word implies a limit – everyone might be God’s “elect.” If the love of God is as merciful and all-encompassing as Jesus implies in some of his teaching, then we might imagine that those being gathered from the four winds includes most if not all of humanity. It's one reason we are to make the love and power of Jesus known in our lives.

It is not given to us to know who is or is not “elect.” Christians who presume to judge that for others are usurping a role reserved strictly for God. Jesus told us only to love one another as God has loved us – with mercy and compassion and healing and truthfulness. That should keep us busy enough not to have time to worry about who’s “in” and who’s “out,” even ourselves.

A parishioner of mine once told me of her grand-niece, then four years-old, speaking about her recent baptism at Show & Tell. Asked by a teacher what baptism meant, the girl said, “It means that even when you’re not perfect, God forgives you.”

Instead of worrying about whether or not we’re included, let’s set about being the kind of Christian community in which that girl, and all her peers, grow into adulthood holding that perfect knowledge. A church that knows that in its guts can transform the world in Amazing Grace.

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11-23-20 - Are We There Yet?

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

We may be staying put this year, but most years, Thanksgiving involves long car trips for many families, with that conversational staple, “When are we going to get there?” or its variant, “Are we there yet?”

Jesus’ followers had a similar question for him. If he was indeed the promised Messiah, shouldn't he be ringing down the curtain on the bad old days? After all, things weren’t so good – the Romans on their backs, their own tax collectors squeezing them for every penny, not to mention the temple taxes. Life was hard and often brutal. When was Jesus going to do something big?

In the gospel passage with which we begin the season of Advent, Jesus links this “end” with his own return. “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”

Pretty dramatic. But as to the “when,” not even Jesus knew: "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.”

These questions did not go away after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. His followers were all the more convinced he was indeed the Messiah – so how long did the world have to wait? When would he return to usher in the New Age?

That question may be less urgent for many Christ-followers two millennia hence. Yet, whether it’s imminent or far-off, we are invited to live in readiness for the advent, the coming of Christ, all year-round, not only during the season named for that.

What does it mean to “live ready?” I think of people who sign up for courier services – they get to go to all kinds of exotic places all expenses paid – but they have to be ready on 24 hours’ notice to hand-deliver letters and packages all over the world. They stay packed, and shots up-to-date, and ready. Or people trying to sell their homes have to keep them neat so that agents can bring over prospective buyers at any time. Imagine how clean our kitchens would be if we always had to keep them de-cluttered! Imagine if our minds and hearts maintained such discipline.

As we get ourselves ready for this season of getting ourselves ready, we might take some time to examine our state of “readiness” for a radical change of life. This might raise our anxiety levels, as we often assume change will be unpleasant – and Jesus’ imagery of stars falling and a darkened sun, not to mention our daily newsfeeds, reinforce that view. So instead, imagine a delightful change, and ask the same question: how ready am I? What would I want to do or have done? How might I want to develop my relationship with God in order to be ready? Just asking those questions can create openings for the Holy Spirit to guide us.

The key to living ready, living “awake,” is intentionality. When we choose not to drift, choose to choose the light, we become bearers of it, no matter how dark the sun gets.

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11-20-20 - Can You See Me Now?

You can listen to this reflection here.

In this Sunday's gospel reading, Jesus says that when we give to people in need, we give to him. He says people in need are “his family.” So… what does that make us?

When we try to wrap our minds around this vision Jesus lays out, it can be easy to get into “us” and “them” thinking. If weare to care for the hungry, the naked, the incarcerated, the stranger, the thirsty, the sick, then we must be okay. They are “the needy,” we are “the givers.” We can forget how often we are on the receiving end of someone else’s giving… sometimes the very people we think we are caring for. Tax breaks for the well-off are funded in part by taxes faithfully paid by undocumented laborers in need of food and shelter; land, wealth, and education handed down through generations often came about through laws and policies favoring the white and wealthy. The “us” and “them” lines can get very blurry.

Some years ago, my congregation in Stamford had a thriving ministry among people who were homeless in the city’s south end. It started with a monthly meal at a shelter, which launched a monthly healing service, which generated a weekly bible study at another shelter, and then spilled onto the streets as we reached out to those who wouldn’t come in. A few parishioners made sandwiches and brought soup and offered them to a group that hung out on the sidewalk, partying. And then they said, “Anybody want a prayer?” Every hand went up. Even the biggest, toughest guys wanted prayer. So they prayed.

The next time, after offering prayer, the leader said, “I’ve got a cold. Would you pray for me?” She was engulfed in the group as everyone came and laid hands on her and prayed for her. And then they went back to drinking and cussing!

Who was the giver? Who was the givee? We became one community out there on the sidewalk, with Christ discernible in all of us. Jesus invites us to find him in people to whom we offer love. Remember that others have found him in us.

Can you think of a time when someone regarded you with eyes of love, maybe when you didn’t feel you deserved it? Did you know Jesus was looking at you?

Can you think of a time you found yourself able to love someone unlovable, or care for someone in extreme need when you didn’t particularly feel like it? Did you feel Jesus loving through you? I want to develop the spiritual practice of remembering in such encounters, “This is a child of God,” to start by honoring God’s creation in front of me. I’m praying for the grace to make that my first response. I might even try it when I read the newspaper!

Let’s pray to be given the faith vision to see Jesus in unlikely people. Ask for the Holy Spirit to make Christ visible in us, and for the grace to become more transparent.

Remember those mobile phone ads that had the guy going all over the country saying, “Can you hear me now?” to demonstrate the breadth of the network? I think Jesus is saying to us, “Can you see me now? Look, now I’m in this person, now I’m in that one.” And also in you, and in me, in a network that has no end.

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11-19-20 - Jesus' Family

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

Thanksgiving is a week away. In normal years we'd be planning family gatherings over laden tables. Is that a foretaste of heaven or hell? Jesus draws a sharp distinction between those two realms in this vision of the End. Behind Door#1 is an inheritance of infinite and eternal value: 

"Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'”

Behind Door #2? Damnation: "Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Jesus so wants to emphasize this teaching that he repeats the whole narrative of “hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, in prison,” in almost the same words – but the second time he is indicting people for what they did not do: “…for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, etc. …

Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

It’s a pretty low bar, to have to serve only “one” of the least. Maybe the folks in the "cursed" line could not even do that, and are left to the consequences of their self-gratifying narcissism and cruel neglect of those with whom they shared this planet. Let’s hope there aren’t too many in that line.

The folks on the right are presumably continuing a relationship with God they embarked upon in their earthly life. In taking care of the “least of these” members of what Jesus calls his family, they have become part of the family themselves and thus inheritors of the Realm of God.

This parable goes much deeper than merely “doing good,” or “charity,” or taking care of the “less fortunate.” The blessed are those who not only serve but identify with the stranger, the sick, the incarcerated, the hungry, the naked, the thirsty. They don’t see themselves as “other” or “better.” Maybe they help because they don’t believe they are any better, just more fortunate. Or they offer care because, like Mother Teresa with the lepers of Calcutta, they experience Christ’s presence in the ones in need.

Do you ever have the experience of helping someone and feeling you’re connected to Jesus in that moment? Or feel related to people in extreme need? When I pray with men or women in a homeless shelter, occasionally a moment of camaraderie will break through my sense of being different from them. Then I feel like I'm their sister, not a "helper."

How might we become more open to people who seem so different from us – living hand to mouth, unable to stay sober, manipulating their way through life? If Jesus says those people are his family, and we’re his family, how might we share Thanksgiving with them?

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11-18-20 - Blessed Are the Unsuccessful

You can listen to this reflection here.

In this week’s gospel story, Jesus speaks of what will be “when the Son of Man comes in his glory.” I assume this means the end of the world as we know it – after all, when Jesus returns in glory and ushers in the reign of God’s perfect peace and justice, we’re kind of done. Roll up the sidewalks and repair to those heavenly mansions prepared for us, to enjoy an eternity of love at a never-ending banquet.

Yet according to this vision not everyone will be there – the “cursed” will be sorted out, the “blessed” invited in. And what is the criteria for this sorting? How we treat the hungry, thirsty, the naked, sick, imprisoned; in other words, the marginalized:
“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

Jesus anticipates that the blessed will be baffled – “When did we see you hungry and feed you?” He says the king will answer: “Truly, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

We know that by “me,” Jesus means himself – he, who called himself the "Son of Man," is the king in the story, and the marginalized are his family. This give us two big clues about how we might find ourselves on the right side in glory:
1. We will give ourselves to those who are not successful in worldly terms; being hungry, thirsty, unclothed, sick, or imprisoned are not markers of worldly success, right? And
2. We will give ourselves to Jesus, who said we’d find him in exactly those people.

The world looks for Jesus in fancy churches and gilded mosaics – and where has he always been found? In a stable amidst the straw; on the road, nowhere to lay his head; at dinner with roughs and lowlifes – and, finally, in a god-forsaken killing ground, the “Place of the Skull.” The only time we see Jesus in palaces is when he’s being interrogated in Herod and Pilate’s kangaroo courts.

This is the beauty of our salvation story: this unfathomable lowering of God himself into human form; the mystery that the One who IS outside of time and space consented to be bound in those dimensions, to live and die at the mercy of the very people he came to save, forgive, heal, redeem, set free. We see the Anointed One disguising his royalty in the rags of beggars and harlots, lepers and prisoners. And, as Martin Luther noted, we are the beneficiaries of this Great Exchange, as we trade in our rags for his royal robes.

Where do you usually look for Jesus? I often seek him in my prayer imagination, as that’s how he’s been most real to me. I forgot to look for him among the "unsuccessful." Do you know anyone you’d categorize as “unsuccessful” by measures the world uses? Have you seen Christ in that person? Is Jesus inviting you to look for him in a particular person or sort of person? What happens when you pray for that person today? What happens when you ask Jesus to reveal himself in that person or persons?

When we seek to love Jesus in an “unsuccessful" person we show them love too. They don’t know it’s Jesus we’re loving – they just know someone is seeing them, honoring them, feeding, tending to them. And gradually, as we keep it up, they become stronger and transformed into the very image of a “successful" person. Just like you and me, right?

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11-17-20 - The Great Sorting

You can listen to this reflection here.

Should we blame Jesus for the age-old bias against left-handers? In this week’s Gospel reading, he spins a vision of the Son of Man seated in glory, with all the nations gathered before him, sorting people like livestock. The blessed go to his right hand, the cursed (sinister?) to his left: “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.”

Why do goats stand in for the cursed? Why must any be cursed? For that matter, why must the judgment involve separating the sheep from the goats? (Or, for Episcopalians, the chic from the gauche… ba-dum-bum…) Why must there be a judgment at all? And need we fear it?

How literally should we take Jesus’ words here? Though this is not a parable in the same way as his other stories, Jesus does use symbolic language to convey a spiritual truth. He wants his followers to know that our choices in this life have consequences – and that we will be judged in large measure by how we do or do not care for the most vulnerable among us. Or, put another way, How well did you love your neighbor as yourself?

Most church-goers I encounter these days are profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of a Final Judgment. I am too. We don’t know what will be. We only know that in the gospel accounts handed down to us, Jesus referred to such an event occurring at the “end of the age.” He was right in line with the testimony of Israel’s prophets, all of whom refer at some point or another to the Judgment or the Day of Wrath or the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.” Christian preachers who try to “scare folks into heaven” come by that approach honestly – our scriptures are full of dire warnings.

Of course, our New Testament also affirms that we are saved by Christ's righteousness, not our own. I prefer the “love people into heaven" approach. As we will see with deeper exploration, Jesus associates salvation not only with how we treat others, but how well we recognize him. He is our “ticket to heaven,” if you will.

But I wonder: do we want a heaven from which some are excluded, even if they’ve excluded themselves? Do we want a sorting? I can think of few visions sadder than people sent to the left side, cut off from the Promise. Well... what about torturers or terrorists? Would I be sad to see them sorted out? On some level yes,. I don’t want to think anyone is beyond hope, beyond the reach of God’s power to transform. Black hearts have turned before. Witness John Newton and a thousand others.

It is hard for me to find the Good News in this scenario. It’s not enough to think “I’m safe.” I want the promise to be eternal, the offer good forever, for all time, all people. So I will pray, pray for those who seem to turn their back on God, on Jesus, on the good, whether it’s because of disorder or trauma, or because they’ve made a full-on choice to get what they can in this world, no matter who they destroy.

Maybe as we pray we can see a speck of room for Jesus in them. We can pray that he will heal and gently guide them home with the rest of the sheep. And the goats.

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11-16-20 - King of All Nations

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

We are nearing the end of our church year – next Sunday is celebrated as “Christ the King” Sunday in many churches. This is not an official feast day, but a focus that brings our whole year of Jesus-stories to their ultimate end: that this strangely born infant who was honored as king; this crucified teacher who was lauded and then mocked as king; truly was, is, and is to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We also come to the end of three weeks in Matthew 25, a chapter full of rich parables and images. Once again, Jesus has a story to tell, but not this time a parable. Parables are allegorical tales Jesus told to describe the Kingdom of God. Here he spins a vision of our future. Jesus images himself as a king, seated on a throne, overseeing a gathering of all nations and peoples. He is predicting his future when he is no longer cloaked in human flesh with all its limitations, but fully revealed, radiantly triumphant.

This is what he says will happen:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him.

At the very beginning of our salvation story, God makes Abraham a series of promises. Each one includes this: that through Abraham all nations will be blessed. Psalmists and prophets later picked up the theme of all nations; Isaiah foretold the day when all nations will stream to the light of the one true God (Isaiah 60:3). Later still, St. Paul echoed Jesus’ vision in his letter to the church at Ephesus (also a reading appointed for Sunday):

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.

The promised, in-breaking reign of God is not only for those who follow Jesus in this life. It is a promise of peace for the whole cosmos, a vision of nations coming together. In our ever more fractured world, it can be hard to believe in such a vision – but our believing is one of the ways God brings it into being. When we believe in that vision of unity, it is harder to perpetuate enmity and violence. As we put our faith in that vision, we desire it and work toward it, becoming the peace-makers and justice-seekers Jesus wants his followers to be.

Here’s a prayer exercise for us to try: Pick any two bitter world enemies. Imagine people from those two nations (or enemies in the same nation…) streaming toward a light-filled mountain, merging as they come together to climb toward the light. That’s a way of praying. Take another two enemies, do it again. Think of an enemy of your own country. Imagine being part of a stream of your fellow citizens moving together toward the Light of the World, the King to whom all earthly powers will yield authority. That’s the future we proclaim. THAT’s the Gospel, the Good News we have to share.

I know a woman who prays daily for peace in the most unlikely places, for the conversion to love of the most hate-filled souls. She is actively exercising faith, speaking God’s future into being now. Let’s join her, that all nations will be blessed through us.

 

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11-13-20 - The Rich Get Richer

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

Maybe we can empathize with the folks in many of Jesus’ stories who get thrown into outer darkness “where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Apparently, in the time of Covid-19 and increased national tensions, Americans are clenching their jaws in sleep to the point that there is a dental epidemic of cracked teeth. Jesus used this phrase often; I wish he was being funny.

I don’t like these unhappy endings Jesus sometimes put on his stories. I prefer the ones that emphasize mercy and forgiveness. There seems to be no mercy for this hapless servant who hid the talent entrusted to him. He comes and says his piece to the master, and gives him back the coin, saying, “Here you have what is yours.” But the master is livid and replies,

‘You wicked and lazy servant! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless servant, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Wow. This poor guy may have thought he was doing the right thing, the safe thing. But the safe thing seems not to be what the master considers the right thing. He is not going to give this one a second chance, but will take the resources from him and give it to the one who already doubled his money.

Is this right? Is this fair? Is that how God regards us when we don’t use the riches we’ve been given to bless others? Well, God’s ideas of equity and ours often differ. If God wants to see God’s mission accomplished, and God has chosen to work through humankind, it makes sense to give resources to people who have the faith, the vision and the courage to implement them. If we feel impoverished as people or communities of faith, it’s not that we’re bad, or wrong – it may just be that we’re timid, risk-averse, inward-looking. That's not what God needs us to be.

What is the greatest gift God has given us? According to St. Paul, it’s love. (I Corinthians 13) Today I suggest we read through this parable again today, substituting the word “love” for “talents.” How that opens it up!

Do we invest the love we have in loving others – which is about the most risky thing we can do in this life? Are we spending all we have in love?

Or have we buried our love, or some of it, in a hole, covered over, "safe?" Do we bury our love in over-work or stress or sadness, afraid to risk losing what little we have?

That’s a thing about love – if we’re afraid of losing it, we’ve already lost it. And when we give it away lavishly, we seem to find it multiplying in our lives. That’s how the “rich get richer” in the Life of God. That’s how we create enough wealth to provide for everyone – a wealth of love, enough to reclaim, restore and renew this world and every person it.

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11-12-20 - The Joy of God

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

Some see God as a “watchmaker” – a creator who made the world and set it in motion, and sits back watching it tick, for good and ill. This would not be a deity who intervenes in the affairs of her creation; this God privileges free will to the max.

At first glance, the “master” in the parable of the talents could bolster such a view of God. He heads off on a journey, leaving resources and instructions – but not too specific – with his employees. And, like the long-delayed bridegroom in last week’s parable, he stays gone awhile, so long that perhaps his employees think he’s gone for good, that they run the business now. But no: “After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.”

The way he goes about the accounting suggests an ongoing relationship, not diminished by his absence. To each of the two servants who doubled their money he says, “Well done, good and trustworthy servant; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Inviting others into his “joy” does not sound like an aloof watchmaker boss.

Why, I wonder, did Jesus tell of two servants who had differing amounts to invest? Saying it twice to make the point? Maybe. And maybe he wants to be sure we get the message that it’s not the amount that matters, it’s the act of investing, of taking risks, of seeking to grow what we’ve been given. Investing our gifts is not only for the wealthy or the multiply blessed – it’s for all followers of the Way of Jesus. The master's praising each of these servants the same way, regardless of how much they earned, suggests that God is more interested in our engagement than our results. No matter the total, if we invest we are invited into God's joy.

Joy is a state of being that incorporates contentment, trust, serenity, happiness, but is deeper and more encompassing than any one of these. We can experience joy in the midst of pain and loss. Joy is one of God’s greatest gifts to us.

Have you experienced the joy of God during or after some ministry you’ve been engaged in? It might not have looked like “ministry.” It might have been when you followed an impulse to help someone or some time of praise. We get a certain kind of kick when we allow the Holy Spirit to move through us.

If you can recall a time when you’ve felt “the joy of the master,” consider it. What were you doing? How did you feel you were working with God when you were involved with that? How did you feel later? Can that happen again?

If joy has not been much part of your experience of church, God, Christianity – there’s something to ponder too. What’s in the way – something in the institution, something in you, or both? If we're aware of the barriers we can pray them down.

Jesus told his followers on the night before he was arrested and killed, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”(John 15:11) Even then, knowing what was before him, he spoke of his joy and wanting them to have it. He’s already given it to us. We need to keep unwrapping that gift.

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11-11-20 - Choose It Or Lose It

You can listen to this reflection here.

Some years ago I attended a seminar on personal finance and learned something that should have been obvious: if you do not choose to invest your money, you are in effect choosing to lose your money, as it gradually loses value with the rate of inflation. Not choosing means losing.

A biblical exemplar of “not choosing” is the third servant in Jesus’ story of the talents (or 'coins'): “The one who had received the five coins went off at once and traded with them, and made five more coins. In the same way, the one who had the two coins made two more coins. But the one who had received the one coin went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”

Why would he think it wise to hide the money? He was afraid of losing it; this seemed a risk-free strategy. Turns out he was also afraid of his master, telling him upon his return: “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.”

This servant thinks little of his master’s integrity – he as good as calls him harsh, dishonest, a thief "appropriating" what is not his. He does not appreciate the trust placed in him; in fact, he can’t wait to be rid of the burden: “Here you have what is yours.”

Who does Jesus intend this servant to represent, I wonder? Another way of getting at that question is to ask what it means to invest our "talents" in the spiritual life. To me, investment means full-on engagement in the life of faith – orienting our lives to moving in the mission of God, praying with bold expectation, taking risks in ministry, risking some disorder, disappointment, disdain. It is radical trust in the Spirit of God to lead and guide us. It is saying and praying, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

By contrast, burying our “talent” is playing it safe, laying low. Instead of radical trust, we exhibit radical mistrust in the power and promises of God. We pay way more attention to the unanswered prayers and things that didn’t work than to our victories in God. We allow ourselves to become bench-warmers (or pew-warmers…), disabled and sidelined. The master in Jesus’ story has no patience with this:

“But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the coin from him, and give it to the one with the ten coins.”

Which servant do you feel most like today? The big risk-taker investing all five of her coins, the moderate one with the two – or the one who plays it so safe he accomplishes less than nothing?

If you’re in the latter category, faith-wise – what’s holding you back? Do you mistrust God because of some pain that you feel God allowed, did not prevent? Prayers you did not see answered in the way you needed to? Do you see God as a harsh judge, or as loving father? You can afford to be honest with God. Allow the Spirit to pour some healing balm into those wounds, and think about trusting again.

The great thing about being a servant and not a master is that we don’t have to worry about results. We just have to follow orders and give it our all, and let God worry about the outcome. The very act of stepping out in faith, Jesus suggests, allows God to work through us – and the yield is abundant.

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11-10-20 - Double Your Money

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

I wish I knew the investment strategy operating in Jesus’ story: “The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents.”

I’m not sure what a “talent” is worth, but I know that doubling your money is always a good deal. If my math is correct, each of these servants got a 100% rate of return. I don’t know how sophisticated Jesus’ math was (hey, if he could conquer death he could handle calculus, right?), but I read into that percentage a symbol of wholeness. (And do the number crazy want to do anything with tomorrow’s date...11-11-2020?)

This parable is not about finance but faithfulness. When we invest faithfully the gifts and assets God has given us, we realize wholeness. And if we say that the mission of God is to restore all of creation to wholeness, we get a big clue about how we as followers of Christ are to go about participating in God’s mission. One message of this parable is: Our acts of faith will yield fruit, 100% worth. Our holding back in fear? Nothing.

We should expect big yields! We’ve grown so timid, so many of us nth-generation Christ-followers. For too long we have dwelt in the land of diminishing returns, our attendance and budgets and staffs shrinking, our giving tepid, our children fleeing what we know as “Church,” our neighbors disinterested in joining us. So we adjust our expectations downward – and maybe we hold back on our investment of faith and energy too. And all the while it may just be that God is leading us to do church in a new way. Certainly this season of pandemic is inviting us to break out of some moldy old molds.

This parable invites us to look up and remember who called us to these tired buildings in the first place. The Lord of Heaven and Earth says, “Join me – I am making all things new! I give you all these riches, freely, your inheritance. Now plow it back into our Family Business. Let’s see what 100% growth looks like.” And you know, when we expect 100%, we’re more apt to realize it.

In what places in your life do you believe you reap a mighty return on investment of your time and energy? What feels fruitful? Why do you suppose that part works?

Where do you feel you get nothing back, or see diminishing returns? Might you ask Jesus to show you a new way to invest in that area? Maybe we need some new methods.

100% growth starts with our hearts and our faith and our actions, as we open ourselves to the nudgings of the Holy Spirit. We can’t do it without God, and it seems God won’t do it without us.

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11-9-20 - Investment

You can listen to this reflection here.

Jesus was a versatile communicator, ably connecting with multiple audiences. To teach about the realm of God, he told stories of sheep, vineyards, bread-baking and house-cleaning, seeds, crime victims, rebellious sons, foolish bridesmaids. This week we explore a parable set in the world of finance, a story of investment, stewardship, trust and mistrust. Like last week’s, this parable illuminates Jesus’ warning: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” – of the final judgment, that is.

To give his followers a clue as to what it means to live “awake,” he tells a story about three servants to whom a man entrusted his wealth: “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”

A simple enough story on the surface; if you read to the end (spoiler alert!), you know that the two who invested their funds were rewarded, while the one who protected his master’s investment was roundly condemned. We'll focus on those another day. For now let’s consider how the language of investment can draw us into the Life of God.

"Investment" is a word I like to throw around as I invite people to make pledges of financial giving on which our churches base their 2021 budgets. We are not seeking "support." We are inviting investment in what God is up to at Christ Church. Investment is active, participatory – when we invest in something, we look for returns, maybe even work to improve the returns.

The life of faith might be seen as an exercise in wealth management. Our God, who made it all and owns it all has invested tremendous wealth in us. God has given us life, gifts, relationships, work, ministries, joy, love – you name it – not to keep and hoard but to tend and nurture for growth. God wants to see great returns on the investments God makes with us – our children growing healthy and independent, our marriages becoming more than the sum of two partners, our work lives fruitful in ways that expand possibilities for others, us all working for peace and equity.

All of this “good fruit,” to use Jesus’ phrase, rests on our returning the trust God has invested in us by our investing in one another, in this world, and in the mission of God to reclaim, restore and renew all things to wholeness in Christ.

What are some assets you feel you have been given?  

Make a comprehensive list – and don’t forget to include the intangibles, spiritual and emotional and relational gifts, along with the quantifiable ones.
In what ways have you invested these assets so they grow? 

Are you clinging to any, afraid to risk losing them?
This is good prayer fodder. Chat with God about your answers to these questions, asking for some “stock tips,” places God particularly wants you to invest yourself.

Jesus invites us to step out in faith, investing our energy and resources, not sure of the return. The faithfulness God seeks is in the act of investing, not in the dividends.

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11-6-20 - Dancing With Fire

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

“Don’t play with fire,” is an instruction we receive early in life from parents, camp counselors, Smoky the Bear. Fire, so cozy and warm in a fireplace, so romantic and spiritual on the ends of candles, can be so destructive if uncontained.

In our faith lives, however, we are invited not only to play, but to dance with fire, the fire of God. Perhaps I’m overly taken with this notion that the bridesmaids in Jesus’ story needed their lamps to dance in procession through the streets, escorting the bridegroom to his waiting bride and wedding banquet. I love the image of these lights weaving through darkened streets, building up anticipation of the joyful union to come. It’s a beautiful metaphor for how we can live out our mission as Christ followers bearing his light into the world.

Do you wake up every morning and think, “I am a bearer of light?” I don’t, though given our times, I intend to start. The shortening days in the northern hemisphere can be a good reminder. And if we commit ourselves to being light-bearers, we’ll need to maintain our oil reservoirs.

In the early church, oil was a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Some early baptismal rites relied heavily on oil for anointing as a sign of the imparting of the Spirit. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, reminds them that they were “marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” as a pledge of their spiritual inheritance, already available to them in Christ. We received the same sign, the same pledge, at our baptisms.

It is the Holy Spirit who inspires us to ministries, large and small, often quite specifically through suggestions or signs. It is the Spirit who equips us with the gifts we need for what we feel called to do. It is the Spirit who empowers us, working through us to do so much more than we can ask or imagine, to quote Paul again. It is the Spirit who brings peace, and Christ's presence.

How do we keep our reservoirs filed with the Spirit? Pray. The prayer, “Holy Spirit, fill me…” is one God answers. We often need to pray to be refilled, for we are leaky vessels. But the prayer itself reminds us that if we would accomplish any light-bearing that makes a difference to the people walking in darkness, it will be by the Spirit’s power in us, not ours alone. We can’t lose with the prayer to be filled with the Spirit.

Have you noticed some dark streets or darkened hearts that need some light? Do you feel you have some to share, or is your flame a bit dim? As the songgoes, "Keep your lamps trimmed and burning." (A more rocking bluesy version from the Tedeschi-Trucks Band here.) We’ve learned this week about keeping our lamps trimmed through spiritual practices that open us to God’s abundant life. Add to those a regular prayer of, “Holy Spirit, fill me,” and we are ready when the cry comes to greet the Bridegroom.

The world needs not only the light we bring. It also needs our joy. So we are invited to dance with our lights. Remember, the bridesmaids needed those lamps to dance the Bridegroom to his wedding feast and beloved bride. The bride is the church – a community of individuals in varying stages of coming to know Christ. Each time we dance Christ through the dark to a person waiting to receive him, we draw nearer to him ourselves. Why play with fire if you can dance with it? That is our sacred duty, our inheritance, and our glorious future.

We have begun a new 40-day cycle of prayer, for the healing of our nation. Click here if you'd like to sign up to receive each day's prayer, or if you want to jump off the list.

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11-5-20 - The Bouncer

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

I like happy endings. Yet I recognize that what is a happy ending for one is often not for another. Victory in a game, or a war, or – oh yeah, an election – means defeat for someone else. Not all happy endings have a sad flipside, but many do. So I’m not crazy about the way Jesus’ story of the bridesmaids ends. When the foolish bridesmaids discover their lamps are going out due to insufficient oil, they ask the ones who thought to bring extra to share some, and are told:

“No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”

I see a crowd outside a popular nightspot, with the bouncer letting in the “cool ones” and keeping out those who are not on the list, not connected. But these bridesmaids thought they were connected. “Check it again,” they cry, “I’m sure we’re on there. We’re bridesmaids! We just had to run and get ourselves some more oil.” But the answer is cold as ice: “I do not know you.”

Is this how Jesus will respond to us if we’re late or unprepared? His “punchline” to the story is: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Is there no room for complacency? No missing the boat? And what about those who never knew about the club in the first place?

This teaching comes up at the end of a few parables, and seems to counter to the message of acceptance and grace Jesus so often extended to people. Jesus often appeared most harsh with those who should know better – the religious leaders and his own disciples. These bridesmaids represent people who’ve already made a commitment to the realm of God, and there’s no excuse for them not being ready to fulfill their mission. Is there?

How do you feel as a disciple of Jesus Christ – prepared? Equipped? Your lamp lit and oil reservoir full? If not, what do you feel you are lacking? Might you come into conversation with Jesus about that today? Ask him where the resources are, and as you wait for response, think about your circumstances and the people around you. What else do you need, and who else do you need to more fully engage in God’s mission of reclaiming, restoring, renewing?

If you feel the foolish bridesmaids got a raw deal, and fear you’d be in the same boat, that is definitely something to talk over with Jesus in prayer. Relationships need honest communication.

At the end of The Story, I hope and pray that door stays open to all who come, at whatever hour, as another of Jesus’ stories teaches us. In the meantime, we are invited to trust in God’s mercy and live into the responsibility which Jesus has entrusted to us – always ready to carry the light.

We have begun a new 40-day cycle of prayer, for the healing of our nation. Click hereif you'd like to sign up to receive each day's prayer, or if you want to jump off the list.

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11-4-20 - Oil Shortage

You can listen to this reflection here.

Jesus’ parables often seem upside down to us. In this one we see half the bridesmaids rewarded for hoarding, and others facing irreparable consequences for what seems like the minor offense of insufficient preparation. Hmmm. The nap they all took while waiting for the bridegroom to show up does not seem to have been an issue, and each had taken care of preparing her own lamp. The problem was that half of them had not thought ahead.

“But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’”

Perhaps the lamps had been lit earlier, when they thought the bridegroom would come any minute. Perhaps they’d been burning while they napped. Whatever the reason, the five foolish bridesmaids had not foreseen the need for extra oil. They’d brought just enough, which turned out to be not enough at all. The wise (the “fuelish?”) were not inclined to help them out.

Wait a minute – isn’t Jesus for sharing? Loving your neighbor as yourself? Doing unto others? What’s up with the selfish bridesmaids, and why does he deem them “wise?” Well, let’s think about it. Sharing the extra oil they’d brought would have ensured that no one would have enough, and all the lamps would go out, and the bridegroom would arrive to darkness. No dancing, no procession, no light. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to find his bride. This is like the airplane instructions to put on your own oxygen mask before helping children and other passengers.

If Jesus’ story is a metaphor about God’s Bridegroom coming into the hearts of humankind to draw us into union with God, then the absence of light is a grave problem. The wise bridesmaids have an eye on the big picture, the over-all mission. The kind of disciples God needs, Jesus suggests, are those who are conscious, aware, prepared, and focused enough on shining God's light in this world to not allow distractions to pull them off-mission.

In this day we know a thing or two about distraction – media, data, noise, busyness. I know many people who let their workload dictate their priorities (too often I’m one of them…). And on this Day After Election Day, we may be beset by anxiety and outrage - from others, if not from within. Few things more effectively distract us from the love of God than fear.

It is not selfish to take time to be quiet with God, to foster your relationship with Christ. When we’re in love, we don’t question the amount of time we spend with our beloved. Jesus, Y'shua invites us into a relationship of love in which he becomes our first priority. If what we’re promised is true, he is our one eternal relationship – getting to know him and letting him get close to us is the greatest gift we can give to the people in our lives, no matter their short-term needs.

When we are refreshed, we are much more effective as representatives of God in the world. We are more finely tuned to discern need around us and the movement of the Spirit in us. We are quicker to recognize our own faults and invite Jesus to set us free. We become wedding attendants who can dance Jesus into the hearts of those who might be ready to fall in love with him. He’ll do the rest.

Today we begin a new 40-day cycle of prayer, for the healing of our nation. Click here if you'd like to sign up to receive each day's prayer, or if you want to jump off the list.

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