12-10-19 - Spiritual Leaders

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

What do you think a holy man or woman should look like? What should be the markers of "success" for spiritual leaders? This is what Jesus asks the crowds about how they viewed John the Baptist. "What did you go out there to the desert to look at? Were you just spiritual tourists gawking at the latest guru? Did you think you were going to see a smooth-talking, well-dressed leader, get a little charge, and leave your life unchanged?"

Advent is a good time to examine our spiritual motivations, what is it we are truly yearn for, why we engage or disengage from spiritual community. It is easy to become disenchanted with church and clergy - or to expect too much. Today, let's do a little inventory. When we can name our expectations, we can better manage them.

What are your expectations of your spiritual community? When you are disappointed or disaffected, what is the cause? Do you communicate that, distance yourself, or engage more?

What are your expectations of your spiritual leaders? 

In what ways do they bless you? How do they disappoint?

As you name these truths, think how you want to respond. Don't forget to pray for your community and your clergy - they are a part of you, and you of them. (I am spending today in an Advent retreat with fellow clergy. I invite your prayers for us, as I will pray for you.)

The role of spiritual leaders can be described in the words Jesus used about John, "This is the one about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'"

Clergy can be messengers of God's Word, God's love, God's calls and invitations.At our best, we help people to prepare a spiritual way, and help them walk it, without getting in the way. The more clarity you have about how you want to grow in faith, the better your leaders can help prepare the way.

And the more you grow, the more you can help your pastor walk the way of truth and grace - and then our congregations truly become spiritual communities.

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12-9-19 - Are You the One?

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

Fast forward several months or years from the scene we reflected on last week. John, the vital, vivid, vigorous prophet of the wilderness, calling people to repentance at the Jordan, is now languishing in Herod’s dungeon for the crime of having called out the king for marrying his sister-in-law. Speaking truth to power can get you burned. Herod kind of likes having him there – we are told he enjoyed theological conversations with John – but the prophet is not free. Captivity can do things to even the strongest of people.

Here we get a glimpse of John in despair, perhaps wondering if he was wrong after all. Among the most poignant words in the Bible are these:
“When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’

This is the man who pointed to Jesus and said, “Look! ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Now it's, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” John's question speaks for all of us at one time or another, when suddenly we’re not sure, when too much time has passed without a sign of God’s power at work. "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"

Jesus’ response is to point not to himself, but to his works, to the fruit of his ministry: 

‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

When our faith dims and our hope weakens, we can remind ourselves of the goodness of God which we have tasted. We can remind each other of the answered prayer and amazing “coincidences” that led to even more amazing outcomes. We can sharpen our awareness of divine activity around us. We can focus our vision on how we see the Spirit at work in other people – it’s often easier to see God working in others than in ourselves.

This week, keep watch: where are you catching glimpses of holiness? Write it down. Remind yourself. Remind a friend.

We all have moments like John, even without the suffering he endured. And we all know people asking that question. Jesus' answer is for us as well: "Go and tell what you hear and see." I pray you will hear and see amazing things today, this week, for all time, and that you get really good at telling it. For God is still doing amazing things in us and through us and around us, and there are a lot of people in captivity waiting to hear that Good News.

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12-6-19 - Water and Fire

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

John the Baptizer was absolutely clear about his mission: he was not the main attraction, but an advance man for a much bigger show. He attracted a lot of attention – ordinary people who wanted the spiritual experience he was offering, and authorities investigating whether or not he should concern them. But he stayed very focused on his mission:
"I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Water and fire – two elements that cannot dwell together, except in a Christian. John’s baptism was a way for people to enact repentance, to experience the water of cleansing. But the fire that Jesus brings, John said, is another force altogether, one that will do more than warm us:
“His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Unquenchable fire. That doesn’t sound like something I want to be around. Fire scares me, unless it’s in a hearth or cooking something on a stove. The unquenchable fire is one image of eternal damnation.

But fire is also one of our symbols for the power of the Holy Spirit. Our life in Christ begins with water, the transforming water of baptism by which we are made one with Christ and members of God’s family. Then God’s life is released in us as we are baptized with the fire of the Holy Spirit. That’s where we get the power by which God works transformation through us. We need water and fire.

I once heard a story from someone who had visited Christians in Indonesia. He was at a prayer service that was about the most intense he’d ever witnessed. A woman was leading the prayer, and she was calling down the Spirit upon them, praying fervently, passionately, inviting God to make himself known in power, calling down Holy Spirit fire. This prayer went on for quite a while, and then suddenly the woman went quiet and a silence descended upon the group for three, four, five minutes. Then the woman spoke: “Fire is now,” she said. And they were all filled with heat, like they were burning, but it didn’t hurt. Manifestations of the Spirit began to be seen and heard, and many were healed. “Fire is now."

If we want to open ourselves to a deeper experience of God’s love and power, we don’t stop with water – we move on to fire. Are you willing to ask God for a greater filling of Holy Spirit? There may be parts of your life you don’t want to see scorched - can you offer God access anyway? Are they keeping you from expanding your capacity for God-life, or do they help you make a way?

Fire is now. What happens if you let it in?

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12-5-19 - Good Tree/Good Fruit

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

John the Baptizer lays into those who wear their religion on their sleeves, but do not allow their hearts and behaviors to change. And his invitation to true repentance comes with a bite: 

“Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Later, Jesus uses the same metaphor, saying that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree good fruit. It seems that judgment awaits us, and we will be judged by the fruit our lives bear.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St. Nicholas, the fourth century Bishop of Myra in modern-day Turkey. Legends about the goodness and generosity of St. Nicholas abound, and over time became conflated with the legend of the "Bishop of the North Pole," Santa Claus. Santa is also known for gift-giving – with conditions: "He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice / gonna find out who’s naughty or nice / Santa Claus is coming to town."

I give thanks for the promise that, as members of God’s household united with Christ, it is his deeds by which we will ultimately be judged (whew!). Yet Jesus also spoke of a judgment and a sorting. So let’s do another inventory today – let’s assess the fruit we bear, the outward evidence of our life, the good and not-so-good. (Get out the journal...)

What is the fruit of your relationships? Name some.
What is the fruit of your work life? Name some.
Your recreational life? Your financial life? Your engagement in activities that help people in need?
What is the fruit of your spiritual life – 

   what are the outward manifestations of your faith and prayer?

How is your health as a tree, emotionally, physically, spiritually? 

Any pruning or fertilizing needed? How might you become more fruitful?

Whether we’re singing, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” or “When the Man Comes Around,” a Johnny Cash song based on Revelation with strong Advent themes (and not a whole lot of grace), I thank God for the greatest gift – freedom from the ax and the fire. God is an arborist extraordinaire, who tends the trees we are and makes us trees of love. In fact, today let's give Bono and B.B. King the last word - they say it all: "When Love Comes to Town."

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12-4-19 - Fruit of Repentance

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

I can almost see the sneer on John’s face as he sees the professional religious folks coming to be baptized by him: 

“But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”

Translation: "Who warned you to get your act together? Stop resting on your laurels as 'keepers of the law,' as inheritors of the promises given to your ancestors. What fruit are we going to see in your lives?"

What does, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance” mean? In part, that it’s really easy to say “I’m sorry,” and a lot harder to make the kinds of changes that render our “I’m sorry’s” unnecessary. John didn’t want people undergoing his baptism for show – he wanted them to take a serious look at themselves and recognize the ways in which their behavior or attitudes damaged other people.

Few of us in this era feel the need to mount a religious display for the attention it’ll get us, yet the call to repent and amend our lives comes to us as well. One way to meet it is to undertake an inventory of confession, to get below the surface at the more stubborn patterns of sinfulness that persist in us. This week you might try one of those. Here is a simple one – and it’s a good idea to write down your answers:

When did I last hurt someone I love? What did I do or say? Why did that happen – what “hooked” me?
When did I last hurt myself in some way? (Include food, insufficient rest and self-criticism…) 

  How did that come about?
When did I last hurt the creation around me in some way, nature, animals. Why did that happen?
When did I last hurt God – by ignoring or avoiding or defying? What happened?

For each thing you list, offer your regret and think about what would have to change in you to avoid doing that again.
What spiritual practices and messages do you need to build into your life to bear better fruit?
Invite the Holy Spirit into each one of those areas and ask God to release more life and love in you.

When our repentance is genuine, we’re more inclined to move into fruitful patterns of being and relating. And as we bear the fruit of repentance, the people around us will be fed on God’s love.

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12-3-19 - The Level Road

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

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: `Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"

John had a message: repent and prepare. He was a profoundly counter-cultural figure out there in the desert, but people paid attention. Matthew tells us, “Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan...”
Even in his day he was linked with the prophet Isaiah’s prediction that a prophet would arise out in the wilderness crying, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

That prophecy in Isaiah says, 

“Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Making space for the life of God breaking into our lives means building a highway for Christ to travel, a straight and level road in the desert of this world. This “leveling,” the valleys being lifted and mountains brought low, the rough and rugged ground becoming plains, is a metaphor which has economic, political, even emotional dimensions.

Part of our spiritual work is making space for the life of God, the love of God, the justice of God. There is an equalizing element to this, a seeking of equilibrium. When we start to look for peaks and valleys, highs and lows, we can see them everywhere: environmentally, in toxic slag heaps and crater-filled mining areas; economically, in the income gap between rich and poor, widening at an alarming rate in our times – for countries as well as individuals. We can find disparity in our own moods, as we become hostage to pressure and stress from without and within.

As you survey the world and your own life, what hills might be brought low and what vacancies filled in?  A simpler way to ask that is: What do you have too much of in your life? 

(Think spiritually and emotionally as well as materially…)
What do you not have enough of? What feels empty in you that needs to be filled?

If we can answer those two questions, we have some prayer work laid out for the season of Advent, as we keep praying into those “too-much-es,” and “not-enoughs.” Why is the “too-much-ness” there? Has the deficiency always existed? Is there an external, justice dimension to our issues?

Christ has come, Christ is coming, Christ will come again.
How might we make a level road for him to walk - into our world, into our hearts?

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12-2-19 - John the Baptizer

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

In our first full week of Advent, we invite a strange figure into our lives and imaginations – John the Baptizer. Every December, as twinkly lights appear in our neighborhoods and tinkly music fills our stores, we church folk are confronted by this stark, uncompromising messenger from God calling us to repent and renew our commitment to God:

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near…" Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

John was a man completely committed to his mission, to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord,” the purpose an angel predicted to his bewildered father Zechariah (Luke 1:5-25) He stayed in desert places, eschewing all but the most rudimentary clothing, chewing on locusts and wild honey – a diet high in protein and low in fat, if a bit stark. Other Gospel references tell us that he had disciples, but he did not seem interested in building a following or winning popularity. His message is harsh and focused, confronting the materialism and corruption of his countrymen, and calling people back to reliance on God alone.

It can be hard to reconcile John’s message with our cultural preparations for Christmas. I once wrote a sermon drama imagining John the Baptist on the loose in a shopping mall, decking Santa and confronting carolers – it ended with him baptizing the mall cop in the fountain. Where do you imagine this single-minded messenger of God might turn up in your holiday preparations?

Today, how about calling to mind the image we’re given, the wild man in skins calling us to “Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand!” Imagine John on your street or in your office, or anywhere that comes to mind as you open your imagination in prayer. What do you hear him say to you? What do you say to him? Do you feel you have anything to repent of?

How does it feel to hear, “The Kingdom of God is at hand,” is right here, right now? Are there any changes you want to make in your life in the light of that reality?

John is strange company to keep for a month, but let's let him in – he is an important companion and antidote to the materialism and stress that rise around us in this season. Take him with you when you shop or decorate – he won’t sap the joy, just the superficiality. You can tell him to leave the locusts at home.

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