11-29-18 - Standing Before God

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

Jesus certainly paints a frightening picture of the end times in the portion of Luke’s gospel we hear next Sunday. Perhaps his mood was colored by what was coming next for him – betrayal, arrest, trial, torture and execution, experiencing the full range of human capacity for cruelty. But the apocalypse he foretells is one all of his followers would face. Whether that prophecy was realized in persecutions wrought by the Romans, or whether it is a cosmic cataclysm still to come, he urged them to stay alert and prayerful:

"Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

The end of the world has come many a time upon people and families and communities and nations. It comes in natural disasters and in man-made horrors like war and famine. The Syrian people have been enduring it for far too long. Is there a final “end” for which we are to be ready at all times?

The early Christians thought so. They took Jesus’ words at face value and thought his return would be imminent. This assumption led some to religious rigor, and others to licentiousness – if the world is going to end any minute, why bother with rules? As weeks turned to years and to decades, people realized they needed to focus on living in the now, releasing the power and joy that are our inheritance as beloved of God. So Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonika (in a passage we'll hear for this Sunday), says:

"May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints."

This is another way to prepare ourselves to “stand before the Son of Man” – to learn to love more wholly, to train our hearts in the ways of holiness, to practice repentance and forgiveness, and excel at showing love and hospitality when it is challenging to do so.

We don’t have to wait for the end of the world to stand before Jesus, though one day, we’re told, this present reality will end and we will face him as judge. If we turn our hearts toward that relationship in the here and now, the “then and later” will become something to anticipate, not to fear, no matter how traumatically it occurs.

Practice in your prayer today – stand before Jesus and say, “Make me ready. Make me ready for your life in and around me.” I believe he will answer that prayer in amazing and wondrous ways.

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11-28-18 - En Garde!

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

En garde! That’s about all I know of the sport – or is it the art? – of fencing. But it’s what I think of when I read Jesus’ warning to his disciples:
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.”

If ever there were an apt warning for the season of Yuletide stress and indulgence, this is it. Don’t be caught unawares… the cards need writing, the cookies need baking, the gifts need buying, not to mention all the normal responsibilities… And yet, here is Jesus: “Do not let your hearts be weighed down by dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.”

This is an instruction for life, not just for a Wednesday in November. It invites us to live in a state of preparedness such as we might develop during times of crisis, but without the terror. How might we cultivate a state of "en garde-ed-ness" without kicking up those nasty, free-radical stress chemicals? How can we be at peace, serene, and also alert?

Maybe the stylized movements of fencing have something to teach us. “En garde” is the instruction given when two players face off; it begins the match (bout? I’ve already spent more time on fencing terms than I intended.) The phrase invites the combatants to assume a defensive posture, yet one that distributes their balance in such a way that they can thrust and parry, light on their feet.

As followers of Christ, we are to be alert and on our guard against the temptations sent our way by the enemy and the trials that test our faith. Yet we are to hold that defense lightly, remembering that it is Christ who fights for us, with us. Our posture of readiness allows us to yield to God’s power coming through us.

Balance implies an equilibrium between rest and movement, thought and action, receiving and giving. What if we made it our spiritual goal this Advent to find this balance, to be on guard but without fear, ready at all times to fight for justice and faithfulness with love and mercy, wielding the “epee d’Esprit,” the sword of the Spirit, in the name of peace?

When do you feel most relaxed? Think about how you might cultivate that feeling more of the time, even during stress. How better to prepare for the advent of the Prince of Peace.

If you’re stressed out today, try it now. En garde!
Now relax and stand in balance on both feet.

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11-27-18 - Reading the Leaves

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

Living in a four-season climate offers ever-unfolding lessons in cycles of life, birth and death, faith and resurrection. As fall wanes and trees shed the last of their leaves, we learn about letting things drop, letting things die. When winter comes, and the barren landscape hides all the life teeming below ground, we are reminded that there is more than meets the eye. And when things thaw in springtime, that life becomes manifest above the surface, “first the blade, then the ear and then, in time, the full corn.” (Mark 4:28), teaching us yet again about the indomitability of growth.

Jesus was also a student of the seasons: Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”

The “things” Jesus’ followers were to watch for were astral signs, turbulence in the seas, and human distress. Hmmm… there is pretty much always something to see if you’re looking in those places. And we can always find in such things harbingers of an unfolding cataclysm. Famines, floods, earthquakes, terrorists… aren’t we really in for it now? Maybe – but I always like to remember that things looked a lot worse in the 14th century.

What if we looked for more subtle signs that the realm of God is near? Outbreaks of generosity, life-affirming discourse, spiritual revivals, an increase in the numbers of people worldwide claiming the name of Christ and living in continuity with his life and the values of that kingdom he proclaimed? Now there’s a sign I’d love to see.

I’ve always been puzzled by this passage, because Jesus had already proclaimed that the kingdom of God had drawn near, was in fact made real and present in himself. His miracles were simply demonstrations of that kingdom life, and his stories and teachings explanations of kingdom values. Sure, there will be a cosmic ending, but if we spend our time reading the leaves for when that is coming, we will miss all the signs of God-Life around us now. It might even distract us from our call to be signs of God-Life for other people.

Advent invites us to be watchful and aware, to seek the Christ who came, who is present with us now through his Holy Spirit, who will come again at the end of the ages. Let’s not be so busy looking for signs we miss Jesus right in front of us.

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11-26-18 - Climate Change

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

We’re talking about the end of the world; it must be Advent. And the end of the world, Jesus suggests, will not sneak up on us: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken."

Nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves; sounds like the latest warnings from environmental scientists and most world leaders. Those who track the melting of our ice caps and rising of our seas, the increasing ferocity of storms and fragility of food production, also sound the alarm about the conflicts the resultant scarcity will unleash among humans. What are we doing to each other, and to the planet we call home, with its wondrous diversity of creatures and abundant food supply?

Will the end of this world, when it comes, be man-made or God-ordained? Are we to work to preserve God’s creation or hasten its implosion? I’m betting on the former. I don’t believe God invites us to destroy the earth she created, but to reveal his realm in the here and now, bringing about a just and merciful creation built on the promises of God. In that sense, we are all to be about the business of climate change. And by that I mean much more than environmental ministry.

Those of us who follow Jesus as Lord are commanded to foster a climate of godliness, humility, generosity, justice-seeking, peace-making, love-giving. Not only are we to live this way – we are to create a climate in which others can experience transformation and live this way too. That is the pattern we see in the community of sinner-saints who surrounded Jesus, and later among his apostles.

What marks the emotional climate in your community? On your social media feeds? In your local media? Is it a climate of suspicion and division, or honest inquiry and supportive assistance? Is it a climate of violence in word and deed, or of generous debate? Does it celebrate death or nurture life?

And then this: how are you being called to change that climate? Where does God want you to show up? What does God want you to say? Who does God want you to love, to challenge, to break down, to build up?

We are responsible for the climates in which we live, in more ways than one. I pray we can truly be climate changers in the best sense, creators of emotional, political and spiritual climates in which children can thrive and all who are wounded can be loved back into wholeness. Even our beloved planet Earth. Even us.

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11-23-18 - Truth To Belong To

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

It is a surreal scene, this genial interrogation by the governor of an occupied territory of an itinerant holy man with no visible support – whose life hangs on the outcome of this interview. These two do a conversational dance, Jesus never answering a question directly, making no effort to defend himself or suggest a scenario in which his life might be spared. When asked directly, “So you are a king?,” Jesus only says, “That’s what you say,” and that his purpose in being born was to testify to the truth.

And then he says enigmatically, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

This is an odd way to put it – we don’t think of "belonging to the truth,” so much as having the truth, possessing the truth, grasping the truth, denying the truth. Jesus suggests that the Truth is much bigger than we are; we can no more possess it than we can contain the ocean or corral the stars in the sky.

This truth that encompasses us, Jesus suggests, is an objective reality – which prompts Pilate to pose his famously early post-modern question, “What is truth?” I don’t think that’s a question on many people’s lips these days. There is your truth, my truth, the media’s truth, doctored distortions of history masquerading as truth. In the age of “truthiness” and “fake news,” how can anyone know the truth, much less get lost in its vastness?

Those who follow Christ are given a clue – he said he was the Truth, the Way, the Life. Coming to know Jesus as he was, and is, and is to come is one way we enter into the Truth. The time we invest in growing our relationship with this Lord who calls us friend brings us deeper and deeper into the ultimate reality of things – the Truth.

And he offered another clue: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” I see many who claim to follow Christ responding out of deeply human emotions these days, showing little evidence that they are listening to the Prince of Peace who commanded us to love our neighbors, to tend the wounds of those considered outcast, to lead with humility and not with combative fear and rage.

How do we listen to Jesus’ voice? We study his word. We listen for him in our interior prayer. We follow his commands and teachings. We engage other followers of Christ. We pay attention to where his Spirit is bringing life to dead places around us, and join him there.

As we listen, we will hear, and we will know the truth, and the Truth will set us free.

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11-22-18 - Testifying to the Truth

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

It is human nature to categorize people, try to put them into a definable box and label them. Pilate was trying to get a handle on who Jesus is, and asked him, 

“So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”

I wish it could be said of more kings that they were born to testify to the truth. Leaders like that are more often exception than rule. And perhaps testifying to the truth is incompatible with the demands of political power. I don’t mean that political leaders have to be liars (though many are…), but they need to live in a strategic relationship with the truth, speaking the right things to the right people at the right times, and knowing when not to speak at all.

And what is the truth to which Jesus testified? The truth about God: that power belongs to God.
The truth about justice: that God alone is qualified to judge the human heart. The truth about love: that God operates in an economy of love, a love so deep and vast it can be dangerous to the human spirit. As Miroslav Volf puts it, this God who is Love is compelled to love, cannot but love, even the worst in us, with a love that has the power to transform that which it loves into its best.

Those who follow Christ are also born to testify to the truth – and in our tradition, the Truth is personal, the Truth is Jesus. In these days, many who claim to follow Christ are allowing fear and bigotry to draw them away from the very clear teachings of Jesus, from faith in the goodness of our God. Shutting our doors to refugees fleeing for their lives is never a valid choice for Christians, not if we’re serious about Jesus. Closing our hearts to those who look, think, act, love, vote, and live differently than we do is never a valid choice for Christians. We don't have to agree or always condone, but we are not entitled to condemn or close our hearts. If ever there was a time to testify to this truth in our national discourse, it is now.

Jesus could not have been a political leader; his allegiance to the truth made him too threatening to the powers that be. We need to stand up to our political leaders when they turn their back on the truth, and stand with those who have the courage to speak for justice. We need to be bearers of this dangerous love of God – maybe because it is inevitably diluted in us, and therefore tolerable for mere humans.

On this national day of giving thanks, and every day, let us be bearers of Christ's truth. Let us be bearers of Christ, bearing witness to overwhelming Love.

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11-21-18 - E.T., Phone Home

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

A persistent allegory of the Christ story compares it to aliens coming to this planet. Artists as disparate as C.S. Lewis and Steven Spielberg have explored the Incarnation through science fiction. It is not a stretch to regard Jesus the Christ as an alien life form, masquerading as a human being. In a way, he even invited it. Replying to Pilate’s question, “What have you done?,"

Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’

Of course, orthodox Christian doctrine teaches that Jesus was not an alien; he was fully human even as he was fully God, not pretending to be either. But time and again he spoke of the realm of God as a place distinct from the realm of this world – contiguous with it, even infusing it, but a different address entirely. And the values of that realm, as he taught and demonstrated them in what looked like miracles – but in fact just revealed how the energy of that realm works, even within this one – are quite distinct from purely human patterns of thinking and being. Jesus said as much to Pilate: were he operating by the principles of this world, he’d have whipped up his followers to do battle. But he wasn’t from here, and thus his response reflected the principles of God-Life.

As followers of Christ, we’re not from here either, not once we’ve accepted citizenship in the realm of God. Oh, we may carry a dual passport, but Home is not this earth or this life. Home is a full, unmediated, unadulterated experience of the presence of God. It’s a place we may visit in our earthly lives, but mostly it’s a reality we are ever moving towards.

The writer to the Hebrews said this of the great heroes of faith, “All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland." (Hebrews 11:13-14)

It is a tricky spiritual balancing act, to truly love and accept the gifts of this life, yet not get so cozy we forget where we ultimately belong. When we are able to maintain this balance, we are able to love more wholly, less dependently.

What, or who, do you find yourself clinging to in this world? How might you move into deeper relationship with your heavenly father/mother in that other realm to which you claim allegiance?

We can start with the practice of prayer. E.T., phone home!

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