3-9-23 - True Worship

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

When Jesus names some uncomfortable truths about her life, the woman he has met at a well does not comment. She changes the subject, bringing up the source of division between Jews and Samaritans: “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

I always saw this as an evasive pivot away from the topic of her personal life. But I wonder – is she actually trying to deepen the conversation? “Okay, Mister, if we’re going to talk truth, let’s talk about why your people and mine don’t get along. Let’s talk about our relationship. Why do you say we all have to worship in Jerusalem?”

Jesus gives her a full and perhaps surprising answer, not condescending: 

“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

This truth Jesus offers should be emblazoned on our church buildings and service bulletins. How and where we worship can both lead us into divine presence, and keep us far away. It is human nature to seek connection with the holy – and when we find it, to attempt to recreate the circumstances we believe led to that moment. Thus we get ritual, and we repeat it and soon deem it sacred, and then all kinds of actions and objects and spaces and even clothing accrue – and before we know it, we may put our focus on all the apparatus and lose sight of the divine connection we were seeking in the first place.

Worship, as Jesus defines it, is not something we do. It is how we open ourselves to encounter with the Living God. It is a spiritual activity, engaging our spirits – and, because our spirits are embodied, also our senses, minds and bodies. And worship is truth-seeking. We don’t need to be in church to worship – church can help sometimes, and get in the way others. What we need is an open heart and humility.

When do you feel yourself most fully alive in worship? Is it during a service? If so, what elements draw you in? Music? Prayer? Proclamation? Teaching? Movement? Sacrament?
It’s good to be aware of how you feel most connected to God.

Maybe you feel yourself most worshipful in silence or in solitude or in nature or doing something for someone else – it’s good to know that too, to honor that as worship.

If you don’t feel you connect to God in worship of any kind, you might ask the Spirit to show you a way for you.

Worship, above all else, is encounter – a profoundly cross-cultural encounter across boundaries of difference more pronounced even than the ethnic, religious and gender barriers Jesus and this woman were bridging. Worship is an encounter between a mere human, unique and ordinary, and the God who made all things, holy and transcendent. Yet this God invites us to meet, to break bread, even to dance.

The hour is coming – and is now here – when God is in our midst, in spirit and in truth. God has shown up. Will we?

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3-31-22 - Anointing

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

When Mary of Bethany poured a full jar of expensive oil of nard all over Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair, she wasn’t just trying to relax him with a little aromatherapy. She was anointing him, while she still could, guessing that his time on earth was short. Nard, an essential oil derived from spikenard, a flowering plant in the Valerian family (thanks, Wikipedia…) had many uses, although, except for a reference in the Iliad to its use in perfuming a body, it does not appear to have had funerary use. The spices brought after Jesus’ crucifixion were a mixture of myrrh and aloes.

Yet Jesus answers Mary’s critics with this cryptic observation: “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.”

The Bible relates many kinds of anointing – of priests and prophets, of kings and kings-to-be; anointing for healing; the hint of anointing in baptism; and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. This act of Mary’s doesn’t fit any of those categories. And if she bought the oil for Jesus’ burial, why does she use it all now?

Knowing the danger he was in, perhaps she wanted him to feel in a tactile way the love of those who surrounded him. Perhaps she had a sense of the horrors ahead, and wanted him to have one moment of pampering. Perhaps she wanted to show the others how to give it all. Perhaps she thought the day of his burial would be too late to do him any good.

And six days later, Jesus will be washing the feet of his disciples, perhaps inspired by this incident? He will let them know in a tactile way what love feels like, the love of one who lays aside his power and prerogatives for the beloved. They don’t really understand then, any more than they likely understood Mary’s gesture. But later they would.

Who in our lives needs to feel our love in that way? Who needs us to relinquish power or privilege and give of our time, our gifts, our pride? Maybe someone to whom we are close; maybe someone we don’t know at all.

Feet are intimate, way too much so for many people; some churches wash hands instead of feet on Maundy Thursday. That breaks my heart a little: intimacy is the point. Being met at the place of our least attractive feature is the point. Being pampered and loved – and yes, anointed – is how God makes effective saints out of ordinary people. All it requires is submitting to love. Even Jesus did that.

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3-29-22 - Extravagant Love

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

There are some who suggest that Jesus of Nazareth was not the celibate religious leader depicted in the Gospels, that he was intimately involved with, perhaps even married to Mary Magdalene. Certainly, a married religious leader would have been more normal in that place and time than a celibate, but the Gospels convey not the slightest suggestion that Jesus was romantically linked to anyone.

And had he been, my candidate for the identity of the lucky girl would be not Mary of Magdala, but Mary of Bethany. She’s the one who neglected her household duties to sit at his feet, taking in his teaching while her sister prepared a meal alone (Luke 10:38-42). When Jesus finally arrived days after their brother Lazarus had died, he asks for Mary. And when she comes to him and gently rebukes him for having arrived too late, it is her tears, and those of onlookers, which appear to move him to action (John 11). There is no reason to imagine their connection went beyond friendship, but it seems to have been a deep one.

This is evident in the enormous intimacy and generosity of Mary’s gesture at the dinner in her home in this week's story: 

Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

This act is shocking on several levels. First, there is the intimacy of anointing Jesus’ feet, well beyond the expected hospitality of washing the feet of one’s guests. Mary's using her hair to wipe the oil suggests such physical closeness it must have made onlookers uncomfortable. And to kneel at someone’s feet and tend to them with your own hands and hair is a posture of profound worship and devotion.

Then there is the shocking extravagance, wastefulness even, of using the entire jar of ointment. Nard was extremely precious and very potent; no one would need a whole jar for one use. Learning that the house was filled with the fragrance tells us how excessive this gesture was.

And its very excess is what commends Mary’s action to us. She holds nothing back, not for economy or propriety. Spiritually connected to Jesus in a way few others are, she acts upon her instinctive knowledge that his time among them is coming to an end and seizes the opportunity to demonstrate her great love for him while he is yet with her.

We are in a different situation – Jesus is not going anywhere; in fact, we’re waiting for him to return in fullness. But our time in this world is limited. Don’t we want to fully embrace God’s love in the here and now?

Where in our lives do we hold back on expressing our love for Jesus, for God? Do we content ourselves with the hour or so a week we spend in church; the amounts we give that stretch our budgets but little; short prayers at the beginning and end of the day and anytime a crisis arises in between?

And in what ways do we lavish our time and resources on God and God’s people? Can we think of times when we have left nothing in reserve? Those are occasions.

Mary demonstrated her extravagant worship in both quality and quantity. She held nothing back, lavishing love and care on her Lord. How might we love Jesus the way she did?

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3-2-22 - Worship

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

They say in advertising it’s important to know your audience, especially their vulnerabilities. You’d think the Tempter would have done better market research on Jesus before he tried to sway him by offering him adulation and authority. Jesus showed very little interest in such things.

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

This is like trying to sell somebody a priceless work of art they had donated in the first place. Did the devil did not know that Jesus had had all authority in heaven and earth, that he had voluntarily given it up in order to enter into human nature and submit himself to our condition? He wasn’t interested in that kind of glory, especially not at the price of worshipping the enemy of human nature. Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

Does this suggest that when we stray from the presence of God, when we go against God’s will and choose our own gratification, that we are worshiping the devil? No – but it does mean we have turned our worship away from the Living God. Whatever it is that tempts us away from the Lord – whether a behavior, or a commodity, or letting a feeling run riot in us – in that moment that becomes the object of our worship. We don’t think of it as worship, but that’s what it is. We have placed that thing or person or condition at the center of our life and oriented ourselves around it. If it’s a big temptation, it becomes all we can see.

Thanks be to God, it’s not difficult to turn back. We need only become aware that we’ve redirected our attention to an unworthy object, and turn our gaze back toward the God who loves us. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which suggests turning, turning away from what is less than life-giving and turning back to the Source of our life. Worship means worth-ship – ascribing worth to someone or something. When we turn back to God, we once again ascribe all worth to God.

If you go to church today for the Liturgy for Ash Wednesday, you will be invited into a lengthy and thorough confession of sin and repentance. There is no one who can avoid being snagged by at least one part of that litany. So let’s go through it aware of how we have turned toward some of these things we confess, and see how they've become central. And let’s enact this repentance with joyful hearts, for God delights in seeing us turn back toward him, which we do, over, and over, and over again, until at last we are Home and there is no more turning to be done, for we are in God. A blessed Ash Wednesday to you.

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10-9-20 - The Way of Love: Worship

My congregations are exploring the Way of Love this fall, with different gospel readings. On Fridays, Water Daily will take up the Way of Love topic for the week – today that is the fourth practice: Worship. You can listen to this reflection here.

When I think of spiritual practices, I think of quiet, focused, soul-searching activities – prayer, bible study, confession, retreat. Even as I consider regular engagement in corporate worship fundamental to a thriving Christian life, I never thought of it as a “practice.” But spiritual practices for a Jesus-focused life are those activities of the heart, body and mind which bring us more fully into relationship with Jesus – and we often meet Jesus most fully when we come together as the church.

In the gospels, we see Jesus interacting with people in groups, whether his chosen disciples or throngs of thousands. He was present for people, even in great crowds. So he is present when we gather in his name – that was a promise he made. When believers gather, we make a space for seekers and newcomers to enter and encounter God in community. Christian faith cannot thrive in isolation – especially not in such challenging times.

And when we gather in Jesus’ name, even during this time when we’re often in our own homes, connected by spirit and technology, we are his Body. We reconstitute the Body of Christ so it is visible to the world. Each of us can make Christ known, but when we put our faith together, God’s power to love and transform and make whole becomes concentrated and explosive and world-changing.

We also gather for worship because Jesus always shows up. The Way of Love gospel for Sunday tells the story of an encounter two people had with Jesus as they walked to a village called Emmaus on what we now call Easter Sunday. They are still reeling from Good Friday, grief-stricken at the brutal death of their Lord, and now confused by reports that his body is missing. They are joined by a stranger, who asks why they are sad – that would be like someone today not knowing about coronavirus. As they tell him of the recent events, he links those with their scriptures, explaining the meaning of the sacred texts.

When they arrive at Emmaus, they prevail upon him to have supper with them – and at table, he takes bread, blesses, breaks and offers it. The familiarity of that movement ignites their awareness: they realize they have been with Jesus this whole time. “Were not our hearts burning within us, when he opened the scriptures to us?” They high-tail it back, seven miles in the dark on the road they’d just traveled, to tell their companions in Jerusalem, “We have seen the Lord!”

Our weekly worship mimics the movements of this story. We come, bearing the joys and sorrows and stresses of our lives. We are invited to view those in the context of our sacred story of redemption and restoration – at its best, a sermon offers the space for that. We gather at table and discover Jesus again in the breaking of the bread and sharing of the cup. The power of that encounter can send us out, telling our companions of the places we have encountered God. And if, as happened for those disciples, Jesus vanishes as soon as we recognize him, we know he’ll materialize again somewhere else, often when we least expect it.

When we gather for worship, we praise God joyfully, we offer the prayers of the community, we tell again and again the stories of God’s great love for God’s creation. And we participate in the holy meal which is itself a re-telling of our most central story, of how Jesus, God in flesh, gave himself up to restore all of creation to wholeness, and told his followers to recall him (call him back) in the simple, quotidian substances of bread and wine.

We can see in the patterns of Christian worship a form of play, serious play, the way children will celebrate and express themselves and play through a story over and over again, finding new ways into it, drawing new meanings from it. So, In our worship we “make believe” and come more deeply into relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

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9-14-20 - God Is Not Fair

You can listen to this reflection here.

This week we come to one of my favorite parables, about workers in a vineyard. No blood or violence here, just grace beyond measure. And boy, does that make some people mad!

You can read the whole story for yourself; here’s the “nutshell” version: A landowner hires day laborers for his vineyard, agreeing to a standard wage. They’re happy, he’s happy. As the day progresses, he goes back out to the marketplace at intervals and hires more workers, even at 5 in the afternoon, when the workday is nearly done. At quitting time, he instructs his manager to pay everyone a full day’s wage – what could be more fair than that? But the ones who worked the whole day feel they should get more than those who worked less time.

"And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’"

Now, we could argue that their workload grew less as more workers were added to the staff… but even so, they have a point, don’t they? We almost always have a legitimate grievance when we compare ourselves to other people. But when we stand alone before God’s grace we are apt to find ourselves grateful for the abundance of mercy we receive.

Like many of Jesus’ parables, this one is aimed at those who believe they are “in” in God’s realm by virtue of their hard work and righteousness. If we all get the same reward no matter how hard we work, what’s the point of working hard?

Precisely! The Kingdom of Heaven is not for strivers – it is for what we become when we’ve finally reached the end of our striving and give up. Give in. The currency of the Kingdom of Heaven is grace, unmerited love and forgiveness in abundance. Grace goes beyond contract. By its very nature, it is “unfair.” We cannot earn it. It is totally up to God to give, to whomever God wants, no matter how much or how little we try to please God.

How does that sit with you? On our best days we say, “Whew!” because we know we get a pass. On our worse days, we say, “Hey! How come that one got a break?”
What kind of day are you having? A “thank God for grace” day or a “I want them to get what’s comin’ to them” day? If you’re in the former position, amen! You are in in the Life of God. Spend some time in prayer giving thanks for all the ways you see and pass on God's grace.

If the idea of mercy for another – even a heinous monster – is troubling you, sit with that. We feel what we feel. Let those feelings push you to pray for those undeserving people. Pray that they would somehow feel the fullness of God’s true blessing. That’s the only force I know of that can transform the blackest heart. It's happened before...

Six years ago this week, I-Tunes users received a free gift of a new U2 album, whether or not they wanted it. It made some people mad, to receive something they had not earned or asked for. Yet U2 understands the dynamics of “Grace:
What once was hurt/ What once was friction / What left a mark / No longer stings /
Because Grace makes beauty out of ugly things.