Water Daily

7-1-22 - Exulting

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

There is no joy quite like the joy we get when we're filled to the brim with the Holy Spirt as we engage in some ministry and the outcomes are strong and good. Anytime I’ve dared to go out in public with a sign reading, “Want a Prayer?” I’ve experienced that. We think living by faith, walking in radical trust is difficult. But so often when we actually do it, we are blitzed by such euphoria, it’s a wonder we don’t make more of a habit of it. That seems to have been the experience of the seventy disciples Jesus sent out:

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

The disciples exulted not only because they’d had human success – it was that they had felt the spiritual power Jesus had promised would be theirs. They had been able to exercise authority over demons and diseases, to navigate the welcome and unwelcome of different towns and households. And Jesus affirmed their sense. “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning” might have been his statement about a cosmic past event, or his recognition that his power was now working through his followers, and that spelled the end for the reign of evil and its master.

But he is also quick to say that such power and euphoria should not be the root of their joy – their inclusion in God’s realm for all eternity is where their sense of well-being should rest. When we are rooted in that identity, as God’s chosen, delighted-in daughters and sons, we are paradoxically better able to take those leaps of faith in ministry that bring about more euphoria. It’s a wonderful cycle.

We do not have to undertake risky ministries to be loved by God; that gift is already ours. But as we step out from that belovedness to walk in Jesus’ name into places we cannot yet know, relying on resources we cannot yet see, we receive more gifts that God wants to give us. We receive the Spirit in such measure, so much peace and love and joy and purpose, we can’t wait to do more.

And when we all live like that, evil is done for good.

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6-30-22 - Stay Put and Receive

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

As a Foreign Service family, mine moved a lot. Someone once gave my mother an inspirational poster with the words, “Bloom Where You Planted,” which she amended to read, “Bloom Where You Are Trans-planted.” I thought of that poster when I read Jesus’ instructions to his followers as they head out to proclaim the Good News and heal the sick:

“Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”

Remember, Jesus has already told them to go without any luggage, money or protection. They are to rely on hospitality offered to them. They are not to pick and choose, trying out the beds or finding out the menu before selecting a place to stay. Wherever they land, they are to remain until they leave that town and go to the next.

How does this advice relate to us in our contexts and ministries? There is counsel here to let others give to us, not go looking for the best deal or seeing what we can arrange for ourselves. Receiving hospitality is hard for many of us, wired as we are to give – which is also a way of staying in control. Many Episcopal churches have embraced the concept of “radical hospitality,” signaling that all are welcome, whether or not they know our secret handshakes, or what (or where…) an undercroft is. Jesus invites us to an even more challenging place: to be “radical guests,” just appreciating what is offered us, not even trying to return the favor.

This teaching is also about staying focused on our mission in God’s life. Picking and choosing the places we want to stay and what we want to eat and how we want to schedule our days takes energy and attention that might be better directed toward being open to the leading of the Spirit and where we see God-energy around us. I just came back from an overseas trip, and as always, I found the Holy Spirit was the best travel agent, arranging blessings I could not have planned or anticipated.

Above all we are called to live in a mode of radical trust as followers of the One who was always on the move, always eating at the tables of others or on what his supporters could rustle up. That doesn’t mean we can never host or give; it just means we have to increase our capacity to receive if we truly want to be filled with the love and grace that only God can give.

Only as we are filled with the full measure of God-Life can we proclaim “The kingdom of God has come near to you,” because we’re bringing it. Only as we trust in God’s provision can we bloom where we are planted, at least until God transplants us somewhere else.

6-29-22 - Boomerang Peace

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

I tend to think of peace as a static thing; I associate it with stillness, stability, rootedness. The way Jesus describes peace, though, it is dynamic, bouncing from person to person, house to house, community to community. This peace sounds downright restless: “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.”

What is the peace of God? It is power and purpose and presence. Different from ordinary human peace, the peace of God is strong as iron, filling us unexpectedly, able to keep us rooted in times of anxiety or conflict. As I have grown in faith, I’ve often been surprised by the peace I’ve experienced; sometimes I just can’t find the anxiety I expect to be there. The peace of God is pure gift – Paul says it is a gift that comes when we make our petitions known to God with thanksgiving. (Philippians 4).

Jesus goes even further, speaking of peace as a force that can be directed to another person. The idea of saying, “Peace to you,” or “Peace to this house” when we encounter another person, and really meaning it – speaking it as a command to heavenly powers – could be world-changing. What if, instead of “Hello” we said, “Peace” – which, after all, is what the greeting “Shalom” or “Salaam” means. And what if, as we were saying it, we prayed that God would fill that person with the peace we feel? “Peace” to institutions we deal with. "Peace" to Congress. “Peace” on the highway, train, in the grocery store, at family dinner. Really sharing our peace at church instead of just saying hi.

That’s all we would need to do. If the person had no interest in the peace we have to give, it would bounce back to us. But if we don’t even offer it, someone who really needs God’s peace might miss out.

God’s peace becomes part of us, something we can share, the same way we share our intellect, our compassion, our money and time. We could give our peace a shape or color so we can become more conscious about sending it to others. Like any good boomerang, it will always come back to us.

6-28-22 - Traveling Light

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

No purse, no bag, no sandals? Jesus obviously hasn’t packed for a beach vacation! The trip he offers is for people who like a little danger with their sight-seeing, who are willing to be vulnerable among strangers and live off the local economy. As he sent out the seventy disciples to proclaim his message of the realm of God, Jesus said this:

“Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.”

There are virtues to packing light, but these instructions go beyond that. Those who go out in God’s mission are to carry no baggage whatsoever, to bring no resources beyond their faith and radical trust. Without money, you’re forced to rely on what you can find or what is offered to you. Without a bag, you cannot accumulate anything for later. Without sandals you become like the poorest itinerant. And going like a lamb amidst wolves means you go defenseless. Who would sign up for that trip?

At least seventy people did that day, and many millions more since then. Over the centuries, though, missionaries started to carry baggage – literally, bringing to foreign places the comforts and customs of home; politically and economically, imposing their priorities and categories upon new friends; intellectually, insisting on their values and beliefs; and spiritually, offering a system of salvation that often became codified and rigid. Many went vulnerable and defenseless, and sometimes paid the price in blood; many others went weighed down with possessions and assumptions.

And many more of us don’t go at all, don’t even think of letting the world know about our faith in God’s goodness and love. This week’s story (every week’s story, really….) is an invitation to examine that reluctance and ask the Holy Spirit to nudge us out. In your own community, among those you know, what would it look like to go without purse, bag or sandals? What would it feel like to bring a meal to a homeless shelter not as providers but as people who want to get to know the men and women there? How would it be to go to community meetings not with answers and proposals, just to listen? How would it be to sit with friends who are sick or scared and not try to fix it or “do something?”

The last part of this passage is curious, “Greet no one on the road.” I can’t be sure what Jesus meant, but to me it says, Don’t get distracted from your mission. If you feel a Holy Spirit nudge to call someone, or do something, or go somewhere the light of God’s love needs to be shown, don’t dither or dally. Don’t let people divert or dissuade you.

It must have been scary for those men (and women?) to head out into strange towns with not so much as a toothbrush. But think how open their arms were, unburdened by baggage!

6-27-22 - Jesus' Advance Team

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

We don’t think much about mission these days – that’s something for “missionaries.” But if we become more intentional about thinking of ourselves as agents of Jesus Christ, we might see opportunities every day to proclaim the Realm of God and offer healing love. Jesus’ instructions to his followers as he sends them out in mission tells us a lot about how we might go out in his name in our own places and times.

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

This sending comes after a foray undertaken by the twelve, Jesus’ closest disciples. That was a successful initiative, judging from the elation both they and Jesus expressed upon their return. Now he’s scaling up the operation – seventy (or 72 in other versions) are being sent on mission. They are to go in pairs – no one walks alone in God’s realm – and they do not go to random places. They go to each place Jesus intends to go. This suggests to me that they went out as his “advance team,” to size up a community, see what opportunities there might be for proclaiming the Good News, what obstacles might be set in their way.

Political advance teams arrive ahead of candidates to do that kind of reconnoitering and to prepare the populace for the candidate’s message. They set up communications, build a grassroots operation, generate anticipation and enthusiasm for the candidate’s arrival. The prepare the ground for planting, as it were, make everything ready for a successful campaign in that place.

What if we saw our missional activities in such a light? We can assume Jesus wants to arrive at every place, every person, every heart. So what communities or people are you being assigned to prepare? We do this advance work by speaking naturally of our own experiences of love and freedom and healing through Christ. We invite people to consider learning more about him as he is revealed in the Gospels – and in our own lives, as we’re willing to tell our stories. We might even create some grassroots energy by inviting people into small groups for bible study or prayer or spiritual conversation. Like John the Baptist, we make ready a people prepared for their God.

Who were the “advance teams” that came into your life inviting you into a deeper relationship with Christ? Who planted seeds in you that resulted in your coming to faith more fully and profoundly?

This wording also reminds us that we don’t create the mission. God has already designed it, and will reveal to us more explicit instructions as we go. And we do need to go, even if we don’t leave home. Many of us have a huge reach online – don’t be afraid to be your spiritual self in digital space. Find a buddy and hit the road.

6-24-22 - Don't Look Back

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

Jesus was in a tough mood the day he was vetting would-be disciples. Not only did he tell folks not to run home to bury their dead ; he didn’t even want them going back to say goodbye before they threw in their lot with him: Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Okay – I get that our life as agents of God’s Realm of power and love may need to come before our other commitments – but do we have to throw away our other relationships completely? Just abandon our families and friends?

As with everything else in the Scripture, we have to hold this statement in tension with the other things Jesus is recorded as having said and done. I pray there is more than one pattern of becoming a disciple. And if we take ourselves off the “judgment hook” this statement can generate, we’ll be better placed to find the good news in what Jesus said. We all recognize the tendency to want to look back; where do we find life in not giving in to that impulse?

For me, it comes back to this: the life of God is always forward, always ahead of us on the road. What has been is real and important and shapes where we are now, but we do not need to look back at the last place we encountered God. We are to trust that those encounters will multiply as we follow Jesus – as we spend time with him in prayer; learn from him in scripture; work with him in apostolic action. The more we move forward, the less we need to look back.

And what about those goodbyes? Don’t they need to be said? Perhaps – and maybe we are invited to trust that we will encounter those beloveds again in different ways. Maybe we don’t need to spend a lot of energy on goodbyes, because in God’s economy we remain connected in spirit to those whom we love, even if we’re not with them in body.

Earlier this week we heard from the Shirelles and U2. Today, let’s give the last word to Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger (also frighteningly young in this video) doing “Don’t Look Back.” This song is NOT about following Jesus, but let’s just focus on the chorus, on the walking and not looking back part. God will take care of what’s behind us as we look forward.

So if you just put your hand in mine, We’re gonna leave all our troubles behind;
We gonna walk and don’t look back!

6-23-22 - The Walking Living

You can listen to this reflection here.

Oh, man! We missed by one week having this gospel reading fall on Father’s Day. What fun preachers might have had dealing with Jesus’ words about wasting our time burying our fathers: To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Sound a bit harsh? Isn’t it normal, a way of honoring your father and your mother, to give them a proper funeral? What kind of child would say, “Sorry – too busy,” to such a life moment? Well, maybe Jesus would answer, “The kind of child who sees himself first as a child of God. The kind of child who knows she is my follower first, and puts every other relationship second.” Does this sound like a cult? No doubt some of the families of those who left everything to follow Jesus did think they’d joined a cult. No one knew this “cult” would last 2,000 years and turn the world upside down.

What did Jesus mean by “Let the dead bury their own dead?” He meant that those who have been born anew in the Spirit are the living, and those who operate only out of their human, natural, “fleshly” life are as good as dead. (Perhaps he would also suggest that the energy and resources we put into tending and laying to rest the bodies of our loved ones after they have ceased to inhabit them is a misplaced priority for those who are called to proclaim life…)

Jesus was always redefining family values. Over and over he taught that the company of those who believe in him is the first family for his followers. Our primary job as followers of Christ is to proclaim the kingdom of God – the realm of God-Life. In the course of doing that we live in relationships with the people around us, including our families of origin, but we are not to value them more highly than we do our families of faith. And when our biological families distract from our discipleship, or worse become active obstacles to following in the Way of Jesus, we are to put Jesus first.

What reaction does this remark of Jesus’ provoke in you? Would it make you want to turn away and not follow him? Where might we see the life in his invitation to put our families of faith first?

It’s not all or nothing – at least I hope not. As we claim the Life of God already given to us we become not the walking dead but the walking living. And as we get about the business of proclaiming that Life of God unleashed in this world, and as we experience that Life, our priorities will be quite naturally reordered. Love is love.