Water Daily

8-2-23 - Company You Keep

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

I confess I am a name-dropper. If I have a connection with someone considered important or influential in some realm or other, and I can work it into the conversation at all naturally, it’s in. I’m not unique; many people bask in the reflected glow of the company they keep.

Well, Jesus one-ups all the name-droppers in the world. His important friends – about as influential as they come in the history of Israel – simply materialize up on that mountain, to the astonishment of his three followers: Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Not only can Peter, James and John see these men with Jesus, they can hear their conversation. Moses and Elijah and Jesus are speaking outside of time as we know it. They are discussing future events, Jesus' upcoming passion, death, resurrection and ascension, as fully as if they had already occurred. In God-time, Eternal Time, they already had.

Why would Moses and Elijah show up in this transcendent experience? In part because they represent the Law and the Prophets, the foundation of Israel’s religious tradition. In part because they were among the few recorded as having seen God, or having close encounters with God. And maybe they were there as a confirming sign to Jesus’ followers that the claims he made about himself and his mission in this world were true. At times when they might doubt, they had this memory to keep them on track.

When we are getting to know a friend or partner, we soon find ourselves curious about their friends and connections. People can rise and fall in our esteem based on who they surround themselves with, who admires and respects them, or not. So these disciples, already drawn close into a relationship with Jesus, aware of the lowliness of many of his companions, are given this glimpse into his more exalted connections. "Wow, he even hangs out with Moses!"

As we try to get to know this Jesus better ourselves, without the benefit of his incarnate form, we too can explore who his friends and connections are. And as we seek to make him known, we might “out” ourselves as his friends, so others can learn more about him through knowing us. How well does our church convey the grace and love for which Jesus is known? What kind of representatives are we?

It’s a big responsibility. Thankfully, it gets easier the more comfortable we get knowing Jesus. There is no higher name to drop - and he told us to drop his name liberally. Indeed, heaven and earth are waiting for us to do so.

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8-1-23 - Dare To Dazzle

You can listen to this reflection here.

The word “dazzling” doesn’t appear enough in the Bible, in my opinion. Nor do “marvelous,” “enchanting,” “super” or other movie poster adjectives. No wonder people think it’s a dull book, full of platitudes and proscriptions. But we do get dazzled in this week’s story – blindingly so.

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.

One can read a story a hundred times and form one view, and on the 101st reading suddenly see it in a new way. I’ve always thought Jesus was somehow glowing, radiating light from within, as though the veil of his human body became translucent and revealed his form as pure energy. Maybe. But then why did his clothes become dazzling white? How would light from within do that?

Could he have been reflecting the light of God, suddenly revealed up there on that mountain? Was God both within Jesus and without, all around? The Exodus story (our Hebrew Bible reading this Sunday) tells us that “Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” Maybe Jesus was reflecting light, not generating; reflecting enough light to make his face look different, his whole being dazzle.

Does it make any difference, you may be asking, whether the light came from within or without? I am interested in whether and how we might reflect the light of God, since it can grow dim inside us, and what it might do to our faces. I don’t mean that our faces will light up like Christmas trees in the presence of God – though that would surely get some attention. But what if others could see that we reflect a presence, a holiness, a power from outside us? I’ve been told that sometimes when I lead worship songs, my face glows, and sometimes when I pray for healing, I feel an exhilaration that must show on my face. Is that a tiny, tiny bit of what Jesus manifest that day?

Or perhaps you’ve known someone’s facial expressions to change when they’ve begun to center their lives on Christ. Our “default expressions,” which we sometimes catch in store windows or mirrors, often reflect care, or anxiety, or weariness, or bitterness. What if they reflected the love and grace and assurance of God?

How might that happen? I guess by spending more time intentionally in God’s presence, and letting that relationship shape us. It always seems to come back to that. Shedding our human nature and taking on God-Life doesn't come from a book or a building; it comes from relationship with Jesus.

I don’t know that we will see Jesus lit up this side of glory, but I do believe that his light reflected in us can be dazzling. So dare to dazzle!

7-31-23 - Up the Mountain - Again

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

Next week we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, as it falls on a Sunday this year. What a great opportunity to do some summer climbing with Jesus. In the Bible, mountains are places where people often encounter God. On Mount Moriah, Abraham is spared by God from sacrificing his son Isaac. On Mount Sinai, Moses meets with God, his face so bright when he descends that people are blinded. On Mount Horeb, Elijah glimpses God. Something about the height and majesty of mountains makes them fertile ground for theophanies.

Maybe it's because mountain tops are “away places.” They generally take some effort to reach. We need to plan our expeditions, bring lunch and water - or, if it’s a really BIG mountain, weeks’ worth of supplies. We have to make sure we’re fit enough to make the climb, and maybe surround ourselves with people to hike with.

And we have expectations – of beauty and grandeur, of great vistas and intimate moments with the natural world. We expect hard climbs but also some flat ground and downward slopes. And we expect to see something at the top that we can see from nowhere else on earth, the big picture that puts our lives into perspective.

The life of faith can be like that, with hills and valleys. We know God is also found in the lowlands, but we hope to have a close encounter with God in the heights, one that will help us through the more challenging parts of our journey.

I don’t know what Peter, James and John expected when Jesus invited them along on his hike – certainly not what they experienced. They probably hoped for some rich time of conversation and contemplation with their master and friend. And so should we as we make this climb with Jesus.

What are your expectations of time with God? What do you dread?
What provisions do you want to carry for going deeper in the Spirit?

Who else do you want along?

This is a very familiar story to lifelong churchgoers, but I pray we will have a new encounter with it this week. After all, we can hike up the same hills time and again and never experience them quite the same way. May it be like that with this strange and extraordinary tale of Encounter.

7-27-23 - One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

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

Jesus uses a diverse set of characters and settings in his short parables of the Kingdom… agriculture, baking, real estate, commerce. And now we enter the realm of fishing, a milieu he must have come to know well. (Why didn't the carpenter ever tell a parable about woodworking?) Let’s examine this one, which brings us back to those lovely Last Judgment themes:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

On the surface, this one seems pretty clear – sorting is something we can all grasp. This story, like the one about the weeds and the wheat, depicts that aspect of the Kingdom that deals with final judgment. But here we get angels in waders (anglers!), separating the good fish from the bottom feeders. What wisdom can we find in this simple tale?

Well – there’s a randomness to the catching process, isn’t there? The kingdom of heaven doesn’t seem to be very discriminating – that net is thrown into the sea, the sea perhaps representing the entire creation, and any old fish can swim in. What constitutes a fish worthy of keeping and those to be tossed back is not articulated in this story – once again, it is not for us to judge our fellow fish, but to love.

Notice that the net is not drawn onto land until it is full. New Testament writings offer several hints that God is in no hurry to ring down the curtain on this age, preferring to wait until all have received and responded to the invitation to new life. It’s up to us to extend that invitation. That is called evangelism.

Some people do evangelism to save people from the fires of hell. I prefer to stress the joys of heaven and the fullness of God-Life we already begin to enjoy in this world. Offering other fish a swim in the Water of Life is a gift we can share – which would make the net a good thing.

Are you feeling fishy today? Willing to pray as a fish - which can breathe under the water, undisturbed by turbulence on the surface? Are you willing to be caught? Is there anyone whom you’d like to invite into the net with you?

Some fish, we know, will hop right into the frying pan, no matter what invitations we extend. Many others, I pray, will choose to join us in the life-giving waters of baptism.

7-26-23 - Infinitely Precious

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

Sharing is a social principle all children are taught. It must be taught, for it is not a natural human inclination. I would have thought that Jesus was all about sharing – but there is a possessive twist in the next two short parables he offers:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

The hidden treasure is puzzling – it is rare to find treasure in a field. And who hid it? It is obviously a treasure of great value, for the one who finds it hides it again, then quickly goes out to secure its possession by buying the whole field. Indeed, she gives up everything she has to buy that field.

In the story about the pearl, there is no hiding, but the merchant is certainly seeking. Among all the pearls he encounters and examines, he finds one of great value and gives up everything else he has to own it.

Is it we who are to find the treasure, seek the pearl, and upon finding, sell everything we have in order to secure that precious thing? Is Jesus, or the Life of God that precious to us? What would that look like to you? What would you need to sell, figuratively or literally?

Are we to keep the life of God for ourselves? Of course not – Jesus is always telling his followers to go out and proclaim the Good News. But when we understand the intimacy and love of God revealed in relationship through Christ to be a gift of such value, once we truly “find it,” we want to hold it close and not dilute it. I think of the parable of the wise maidens with their extra store of oil – if they were to share it with the foolish ones, no one would have any light. Jesus invites us to go “all in” and put our relationship with God first – that way, everyone will have light and to spare.

There is, of course, a whole other way to interpret these parables, turning them over and looking from another angle: Is Jesus saying that we are the hidden treasure found by God, who went and sold all that he had to buy the field (the world) that contains us? Is Jesus the merchant in search of the finest pearls – and seeing us as having infinite value, gave up everything he had in this world to secure us, redeem us? Are we willing to acknowledge that we are that precious?

How might we think or speak or move differently today, thinking of ourselves as pearls of great price? How might we engage in unearthing the hidden treasures in other people, perhaps obscured under layers of soil – wounds, disappointments, discouragement, shame?

In prayer, imagine yourself as treasure in a field or a pearl in a velvet box – highly prized, sought after, sacrificed for. Let your spirit offer praise to the God who delights in you, who has deemed you worthy of love, who has given all to secure your love. Bask in God’s love and pleasure. Luxuriate in it. Soak it in. Believe it.

Then share it with someone else who needs to know how precious he is, who needs to know she is a treasure found by the God who made her, and has gone to hell and back to secure her.

7-25-23 - Yeast

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

Many a Saturday, I bake bread to be blessed, broken and consumed at church on Sunday. I am grooving with Jesus: He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

How could the kingdom of heaven be like yeast? We appreciate the homey metaphor, and props to Jesus for getting a woman into the picture (and knowing the recipe…), but what might yeast have to do with the realm of God? Well, let’s do some wondering about yeast – and some pondering between paragraphs.

Yeast, like the mustard seed, is a tiny thing that generates a large outcome. Yeast must be activated by liquid and a sweetening agent of some sort, sugar or honey. So there is interdependence, as in the community of God. Once yeast is added to those other agents, it begins to bubble and move – we call that proofing. If the yeast is worn out, it won’t come to life, but if there is any life there, a little sweetness and water will bring it out. Sound like anyone you know?

Yeast is a catalyst. Just as it cannot achieve its “yeastiness” by itself, it does not work alone, but helps other ingredients to become a whole new creation, a loaf. The woman in the story adds it to three measures of flour. Why three? Hmmm – the Trinity? Parallels to community in Christ, the way different elements combine to achieve a greater result? What do you see?

Yeast works from the inside out. You can’t just sprinkle it on top and hope it “takes.” You must knead it all through, working it into every part of the dough – just as our formation as Christ-followers needs to become internal and organic, not just surface, one-hour-a-week-on-Sundays.

And the dough goes though some turmoil in the kneading process, as the baker smooths out air pockets and gets all the ingredients evenly distributed for a nice, fine grain. Sometimes, turmoil is how the leaven of the Holy Spirit gets worked all through us. When has that happened in your life?

And then there’s the result – the bread. At the point at which the loaf is baked, the yeast has ceased to be. It has become one with the dough, one with the loaf. Didn’t Jesus say, “Whoever loses her life for me and for the gospel will save it?” And the loaf itself cannot live out its destiny unless it is broken and given away. That’s what we enact as the Body of Christ each week – a making whole, re-membering, and then a breaking apart again to feed the world.

Yeast as the Life of God works as a metaphor in several ways. We can see it as the Spirit’s presence in us, a seemingly indiscernible force that heals and transforms and empowers us from within, making us finest bread. AND, turning the parable another way, we can see ourselves as the yeast Jesus is talking about, the leaven that works through the dough of the communities in which we find ourselves, sacred and secular, to bring life and air, transformation and healing. AND, turning the parable another way… what do you see?

How are you experiencing the Spirit of God as yeast in your heart, mind, spirit? In your life? How do you find yourself serving as leaven in the world around you? Are you willing to offer yourself in a particular context? That’s a prayer for today.

Without yeast, we would have no risen bread, a tragedy to those of us who love bread. Without the Yeast of Christ, we could not become Risen Bread – a tragedy for a world in need of resurrection life.

7-24-23 - God's Microchips

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

Jesus' parables come in all shapes and sizes, long, short, complex, simple. Some cover decades, with multiple characters and dialogue; others are extended examples. All are meant to convey in words and images the invisible reality he called the “Kingdom of Heaven.” Next Sunday we get a series of one and two-line parables. As we explore these small gems, turning them this way and that, seeing how the light shines through them, we just may find as many layers as in the longer ones.

We start with the Kingdom being compared to a tiny seed. He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

How is the realm of God like a tiny seed? Hmmm. Let’s wonder together. What is a seed? A nugget of life, a whole life hidden from view, disguised as something small, seemingly innocuous, yet containing its whole future. All that is to be, all the fruitfulness and loss, is right there, waiting to burst forth. Are we seeds in which the kingdom of God, the Life of God, is contained? Is the church?

Seeds must be sown to bring forth life. Where has God planted you? Do you like the field you’re in? Do you wish to be moved to soil more to your liking, or will you, as the old poster read, “Bloom where you are planted?” (We moved so much in my youth, my mother inserted “trans-“ to that.)

A seed must die if its life is to be released. That breaking open is pretty traumatic to the seed. What in us needs to be broken open so the God-Life inside can be made visible? What in us that is broken has yet to be healed, so that wound might bring healing to others?

Small things can wield a large impact. Witness the power of a baby or a kitten to garner the attention of a household. Witness a rudder on a large boat, or whole libraries resident on a microchip. Witness the impact one tired woman like Rosa Parks can have on a nation. What examples have you lived of small things with big influence? What comes to mind?

The tiny mustard seed in Jesus’ parable gives way to a bush, a shrub that becomes a tree – its blessings are multiple. It bears fruit and gives shade and provides dwelling places for the birds. Name some of the multiple blessings that the world sees from your life.

Today, let’s pray as seeds –

giving thanks for where we are planted, or asking to be planted elsewhere;
taking note of where we are being broken open and giving thanks for the new life to emerge;
taking note of our fruitfulness and who is being blessed by our being the fullest “me” we can be;
asking God where in the world the Spirit is inviting us to carry the seeds of more new life.

The growth cycle of God’s planting is never done. The fruit of each seed brings forth more seeds, which contain in themselves more life, and more life, and more life. We are a part of God’s great harvest, and as we bear fruit we are invited to carry seeds to the whole wide world, that the fruit of the Good News in the love of God will be made known to all God’s children. Amen!