Easter IV I am the good shepherd.
People tend to define God in their own image. The Bible observes this and predicts this tendency. There are three very broad categories people use to define God: Absence, Immanence, and Transcendence.
Some people, particularly in our modern secular civilization, reject the idea of God completely. Whether they manifest this rejection in a tightly reasoned active atheism or a lazy and passive indifference their view is that God does not exist.
Or at least, that which they perceive other people to declare divine does not exist.
The active form of this atheism asserts that there is no God and I defy anyone to prove otherwise. The passive form of this atheism simply rolls over in bed on Sunday morning and goes back to sleep. Or, it seeks out the diversions of the many pleasures and entertainments the world offers in place of worship.
The god of immanence is the all pervasive but hidden Spirit of all that is. This is an ideal do it yourself religion for the enlightened few who can perceive the inner secret of the universe. It produces a religion of mysticism. It is grounded in the pursuit of knowledge, often the secret occult knowledge whose goal is to produce enlightenment.
There is an active and passive form to this approach also. The active approach is the spiritual seeker who keeps the self help authors and enlightenment seminars in business. This active approach is more interested in the quest than the holy grail at the end of the quest. In its passive form this approach rolls over in bed on a Sunday morning and goes back to sleep. Or, it takes a walk in nature to commune with Spirit and the esthetics of the natural world.
The god of transcendence is all too often the god of rigid and inflexible law. The active form of law based religion asserts the individual will to power to dominate the self and others. It seeks to impose the absolute law of God in all situations and for all people. It is sometimes willing to kill to impose what it perceives to be divine law.
The passive form of legalism is the loophole religion. It produces a religion of masks and self deceits, of hypocrisy, judgment and condemnation of others. It may also turn over and go back to sleep on the day of worship but it will cite chapter and verse and perhaps even a theological treatise to justify its choice.
The unifying principle of these three distortions of the divine is separation. Human beings have identified the divine with two very narrow attributes of God: knowledge and power. As a result, people separate from the truth of God in order to claim the power of God. Once separation begins in the human soul it leads to greater levels of distortion in the mind, heart and will.
That is why God did not rely just on law, or ritual, or spiritual disciplines or knowledge when he revealed himself to humanity. God chose to become one of us. The Transcendent God became a human being in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God Incarnate.
Jesus Christ is God with us and God for us. Jesus Christ is God not only teaching us or commanding us but demonstrating for us exactly who He is. God’s identity, the essence of his being and nature is steadfast holy love.
In Jesus Christ God tells all of us, each of us, I am the good shepherd. I am here with you as one of you. There is nothing you have experienced or will experience in this life that Jesus did not also experience.
In terms of sin, Jesus met every temptation we meet but with divine love and compassion. From that place of love, Jesus never sinned. He never sinned because he never chose separation from his Heavenly Father. He shows us the way to over come sin. He is the way to overcome sin.
In terms of holiness, Jesus always placed the worship of God first in his life. Jesus never rolled over in bed on the Sabbath and decided to skip worship. Jesus never said, well I have tickets to the chariot races today and God will understand why I am not in the Temple for worship. Jesus never allowed the distractions of pleasure and entertainment to separate him from the highest form of love a human being can experience. That highest form of love is worship.
In terms of the will to power, Jesus’ constant prayer was and is: Father, not my will but your will be done. Jesus learned from observation that self will is not free will. Self will is the illusion of free will that produces slavery to separation, fear, pride and despair. Only Divine Will is free will. Jesus never separated from Divine Will and so Jesus always exercised free will.
In terms of power, Jesus had at his disposal the omnipotence and omniscience of the Transcendent God. He could have come into the world with the power to command and control. He could have brought confrontation and condemnation. He didn’t. Jesus never separated from Divine love and compassion and so Jesus was and is the good shepherd who lives with his flock, watches over his flock, tends his flock, feeds his flock and leads his flock.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus gave his life for us on the cross. He continues to give his life to us in the blessed sacrament of the altar. Jesus unites the Absence of God, the Immanence of God and the Transcendence of God by the Love of God. In that unification Jesus offers us the gifts of reunification with the Transcendence of God. Jesus offers us transformation through the Immanence of God. Jesus offers us the clear, steady and calm voice in the darkness of the Absence of God as the good shepherd calls his sheep and leads them to green pastures and pure living waters.
Jesus comes to us today and speaks the holy word of the living God who through Jesus tells us: I am eternal love and compassion reaching out to you and inviting you to find the fulness of abundant life here and now. I am the good shepherd.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Easter 3 sermon
Easter 3 Touch me and see.
Jesus never invites people to make a blind leap of faith. A blind leap of faith is like a leap into a dark abyss with no evidence or guarantee that there is anything out there to catch us or to support us. So writes Soren Kirkegaard the Christian existentialist who attempted to reconcile faith with the claim of philosophers that any thing relating to God is unknown and unknowable.
In Jesus Christ, God has made himself known. In Jesus Christ, God has made and continues to make himself knowable.
In the incarnation at Bethlehem, God not only made himself known, he made himself vulnerable, he made himself knowable. The co eternal Son emptied himself and came to Earth to experience life as we experience life. Through his own experience Jesus came to know how people react to the challenges of life and the uncertainties of life.
Jesus knew that his followers would not believe he had risen from the dead. He knew they would not only need tangible proof but the Biblical context and personal reassurance that life as they knew it had changed in the most amazing and unexpected way.
The apostles and those others who witnessed the resurrection had no context in which to place the risen Christ. They all knew and knew from experience and without doubt that dead is dead. They all knew that the only way God had worked in the past was through powerful kings like David and wise kings like Solomon. They all knew that the problems confronting Israel required a political and military solution. They knew these things because they had come to believe this is how the world has always been and would always be.
Jesus was asking them to believe in a new way of living. Jesus was asking them to accept a new context for their human experience. It wasn’t easy.
Curiously enough, John was the one apostle who did believe apart from the physical presence and spiritual teaching Jesus provided. And, John was the only apostle who remained loyal to Jesus to the end. John followed Jesus along the way of sorrows. John comforted holy mother Mary. And with Mary, John stood at the foot of the cross and watched Jesus die in physical agony and spiritual desolation as Jesus embraced human separation from God.
The others had run away. They hid in fear and glimpsed the crucifixion from afar. They had already given up on Jesus. They had already decided it was all a wonderful but impossible dream.
John did not think in these terms. With holy mother Mary, John only saw Jesus, his friend. John only saw Jesus whom three times God the Father had audibly declared in John’s hearing: this is my Son, the Beloved.
It was love that brought John and Mary to the foot of the cross. It was love that brought John running to the empty tomb that first Easter morning. And it was that love, that new context of experiencing the world, that allowed John to believe where all others still doubted.
Jesus had much work to do with the other apostles. His resurrected presence frightened them for they still lived from the place of fear. His resurrected presence bewildered them for they still lived from the place of self will. His resurrected presence challenged their way of experiencing the world for they still lived from the place of pride.
It took most of the apostles almost two months to accept the new reality that stood before them, spoke to them, ate with them, taught them and embraced them with his strong arms of love and compassion.
It was important that the apostles make the transition from fear to love so that they might have faith. Jesus was asking them to do a new thing. Jesus was asking them to bring a new message into the world. Jesus was asking them to wake up from the dream of power and command and control that governs human life and to embrace steadfast holy love.
Jesus never asked the apostles to establish a new religion, or a philosophy, or a spiritual discipline. Those things would come later and would exist to support what was truly essential. Jesus invited the apostles into a new relationship with God, the creation and other people. And through the apostles, Jesus invited all people, Jesus invites us, into that new relationship.
It is the new relationship that creates the new reality. It is the new reality that makes faith possible. It is the reality that John and Mary experienced at the foot of the cross. It is the reality that God is real, God is personal, God is love, God is Jesus Christ.
This new reality is not a secret, although it can be difficult for people to discern. This new reality is not just for the enlightened few, although most people hide from it. This new reality is the personal presence of Jesus Christ reaching out to us with divine love and compassion.
For the leadership of that first generation of Christians, Jesus took the time personally to be with them and to teach them the new context in which they could transform their fear into love.
For all subsequent generations of Christians, Jesus reaches out to us in a myriad of ways. Some of us first hear his voice in the Bible. For some of us, it is the touch of the chalice and the first sip of sacramental wine. For some, it is in the invitation of a stranger or a friend to receive a gift so different than anything we experience in this life that we react with fear and describe the invitation as a blind leap in the dark.
What we all need to remember, is that even the apostles who saw the resurrected Jesus had trouble believing the evidence of their own senses. For the apostles, seeing was not believing. It was their belief in separation, fear, self will and pride that kept them from believing the evidence of their senses.
Faith is not a blind leap in the dark. The blind leap is a leap of fear. Faith is the embrace of the Beloved, the co eternal Son of God. Love transforms the eyes so they may see and the ears so they may hear and the soul so it may believe. John and Mary knew this love on Good Friday. It prepared them to accept the new reality of Easter morning. It prepared them for faith.
Jesus invited his apostles, touch me and see. He invites us in the same words in a very real and personal and unique way that is designed for each of us specifically. It is the touch of a new life and a new way of living. It is the touch of Divine Love and compassion that releases us from the blindness of false belief into the sight of transforming faith.
Jesus never invites people to make a blind leap of faith. A blind leap of faith is like a leap into a dark abyss with no evidence or guarantee that there is anything out there to catch us or to support us. So writes Soren Kirkegaard the Christian existentialist who attempted to reconcile faith with the claim of philosophers that any thing relating to God is unknown and unknowable.
In Jesus Christ, God has made himself known. In Jesus Christ, God has made and continues to make himself knowable.
In the incarnation at Bethlehem, God not only made himself known, he made himself vulnerable, he made himself knowable. The co eternal Son emptied himself and came to Earth to experience life as we experience life. Through his own experience Jesus came to know how people react to the challenges of life and the uncertainties of life.
Jesus knew that his followers would not believe he had risen from the dead. He knew they would not only need tangible proof but the Biblical context and personal reassurance that life as they knew it had changed in the most amazing and unexpected way.
The apostles and those others who witnessed the resurrection had no context in which to place the risen Christ. They all knew and knew from experience and without doubt that dead is dead. They all knew that the only way God had worked in the past was through powerful kings like David and wise kings like Solomon. They all knew that the problems confronting Israel required a political and military solution. They knew these things because they had come to believe this is how the world has always been and would always be.
Jesus was asking them to believe in a new way of living. Jesus was asking them to accept a new context for their human experience. It wasn’t easy.
Curiously enough, John was the one apostle who did believe apart from the physical presence and spiritual teaching Jesus provided. And, John was the only apostle who remained loyal to Jesus to the end. John followed Jesus along the way of sorrows. John comforted holy mother Mary. And with Mary, John stood at the foot of the cross and watched Jesus die in physical agony and spiritual desolation as Jesus embraced human separation from God.
The others had run away. They hid in fear and glimpsed the crucifixion from afar. They had already given up on Jesus. They had already decided it was all a wonderful but impossible dream.
John did not think in these terms. With holy mother Mary, John only saw Jesus, his friend. John only saw Jesus whom three times God the Father had audibly declared in John’s hearing: this is my Son, the Beloved.
It was love that brought John and Mary to the foot of the cross. It was love that brought John running to the empty tomb that first Easter morning. And it was that love, that new context of experiencing the world, that allowed John to believe where all others still doubted.
Jesus had much work to do with the other apostles. His resurrected presence frightened them for they still lived from the place of fear. His resurrected presence bewildered them for they still lived from the place of self will. His resurrected presence challenged their way of experiencing the world for they still lived from the place of pride.
It took most of the apostles almost two months to accept the new reality that stood before them, spoke to them, ate with them, taught them and embraced them with his strong arms of love and compassion.
It was important that the apostles make the transition from fear to love so that they might have faith. Jesus was asking them to do a new thing. Jesus was asking them to bring a new message into the world. Jesus was asking them to wake up from the dream of power and command and control that governs human life and to embrace steadfast holy love.
Jesus never asked the apostles to establish a new religion, or a philosophy, or a spiritual discipline. Those things would come later and would exist to support what was truly essential. Jesus invited the apostles into a new relationship with God, the creation and other people. And through the apostles, Jesus invited all people, Jesus invites us, into that new relationship.
It is the new relationship that creates the new reality. It is the new reality that makes faith possible. It is the reality that John and Mary experienced at the foot of the cross. It is the reality that God is real, God is personal, God is love, God is Jesus Christ.
This new reality is not a secret, although it can be difficult for people to discern. This new reality is not just for the enlightened few, although most people hide from it. This new reality is the personal presence of Jesus Christ reaching out to us with divine love and compassion.
For the leadership of that first generation of Christians, Jesus took the time personally to be with them and to teach them the new context in which they could transform their fear into love.
For all subsequent generations of Christians, Jesus reaches out to us in a myriad of ways. Some of us first hear his voice in the Bible. For some of us, it is the touch of the chalice and the first sip of sacramental wine. For some, it is in the invitation of a stranger or a friend to receive a gift so different than anything we experience in this life that we react with fear and describe the invitation as a blind leap in the dark.
What we all need to remember, is that even the apostles who saw the resurrected Jesus had trouble believing the evidence of their own senses. For the apostles, seeing was not believing. It was their belief in separation, fear, self will and pride that kept them from believing the evidence of their senses.
Faith is not a blind leap in the dark. The blind leap is a leap of fear. Faith is the embrace of the Beloved, the co eternal Son of God. Love transforms the eyes so they may see and the ears so they may hear and the soul so it may believe. John and Mary knew this love on Good Friday. It prepared them to accept the new reality of Easter morning. It prepared them for faith.
Jesus invited his apostles, touch me and see. He invites us in the same words in a very real and personal and unique way that is designed for each of us specifically. It is the touch of a new life and a new way of living. It is the touch of Divine Love and compassion that releases us from the blindness of false belief into the sight of transforming faith.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Low Sunday
Sunday School Questions For Youth Sunday April 19, 2008
I really enjoy questions from children, teens and college students. They ask some amazing things from a fresh perspective. Their questions remind me of the maxim that we learn best when we teach. Thanks to all of you for submitting these questions.
Do angels really fly? Do all angels have wings? If not, how do they get around? Do angels have babies?
Angels are a popular topic for many people. There have been many movies and TV programs about angels in the last generation or two. People seem fascinated by the angels. To answer the immediate questions: some angels fly some don’t. Some angels have wings and some don’t. Most angels never leave Heaven so it is unknown how they travel. Angels do not have babies.
More broadly, there are several things about angels the Bible reveals. God created the angels before He created human beings, and in fact before He created the universe. A popular 20th century belief was that human beings become angels when we die. The Bible teaches that humans and angels are completely separate beings. Humans do not become angels.
The number of the angels is finite but so vast that no human mind or human constructed computer can number them. God created the angels all at once so there are no baby angels. Jesus himself taught the angels do marry and so do not have babies. There are at least nine different kinds of angelic beings: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Principalities, Powers, Dominions, Virtues, Archangels and Angels. Of the nines kinds of angelic beings, only the Cherubim are described as having wings- and in fact the prophet Ezekiel describes each Cherub as having six wings.
The angels in the Bible who speak or interact with human beings are the Messenger Class angels. They always appear as young men and do not have wings. They appear as young men, teens, because in the ancient world the armies assigned messenger duty to young men. There were two reasons for this. The messenger had to be able to run fast to escape an enemy. And, the messenger had to be expendable in case he was captured. A teen would have limited knowledge an enemy could use to harm the kingdom.
Messenger class angels are often depicted in religious art as having wings and wearing halos. Ancient peoples understood this as symbolic of the messenger’s swiftness and holiness. Modern people look at ancient art and misunderstand the symbolism since we thunk in the very limited categories of rational analysis. We are trained to look for the facts, just the facts. We are trained to miss the reality and so we also miss the truth. Ancient peoples thought in four modes: literal, moral, spiritual, symbolic.
Most modern people think only in one mode: the rational analytical mode of the literal. Our reredos shows renaissance depictions of angels as young girls or winged babies. This representation has more to do with the artistic revolution of the time than any theological meaning.
Is Heaven above space?
Yes and no. Heaven is outside what we in our modern scientific mythologies call the space time continuum. Ancient peoples understood Heaven as the transcendent eternal realm of the divine. Since humans do not experience that reality with our senses, ancient peoples described Heaven in earthly terms as being "above" the Earth.
The first Cosmonaut mocked Christianity when he went into space and declared. I have entered heaven and found no god there. Of course, once again, the cosmonaut was simply reflecting his very one dimensional mode of thought. Ancient peoples, had they achieved the technology to travel into space, would never have presumed to make such an simple and unsophisticated statement.
How did people know what to write in the Bible, how did they know what happened?
This is an excellent question. The Bible is a collection of 80 books divided into three parts. The Torah, what we call the Old Testament, has 39 Books subdivided into the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. The Apocrypha consists of 14 books describing the history of Israel between the time of Alexander the Great and the birth of Jesus Christ. The 27 books of the New Testament include the biographies of Jesus (the gospels) the history of the early Church (the Book of Acts), the apostolic letters, and the Book of Revelation.
There are many different kinds of books in the Bible. There is history, written by historians to record past events for future generations.
There is the Law. God revealed the Law to Moses and Moses wrote it down or dictated it to his scribes, people who were trained to write books.
God spoke to the prophets who like Moses either wrote down what they heard God telling them, or had a scribe record their words.
One of the most passionate romantic poems ever written is the Song of Solomon. Many rabbis, bishops and priests are very embarrassed that the Song of Solomon is even in the Bible.
Most of the New Testament is simply an eye witness account of what people saw, and heard. They wrote down what they experienced so we would know what had happened, how it had changed their lives and how it can change our lives.
The Bible was written by many people over the course of a thousand years. On one human being could coordinate such a project. The Holy Spirit inspired all of the writers, scribes and editors and then helped the rabbis assemble the Old Testament and the Bishops of the Church to assemble the Apocrypha and the New Testament.
Why did He create people to look like people?
This is a very complex question. Modern scientific mythology helps us understand that how we look, in general, is a result of the conditions for life on this planet. For example, if we were too tall we would not be able to move well in the gravity field of earth. Large animals who live on land are usually very slow moving. Large animals are better able to live in the sea where gravity is less of a problem. We have the bodies we have because those bodies are best suited for us to survive and thrive on this planet.
The Bible also tells us that God delights in creation. God created an enormous variety of living creatures. And, God creates each of us to look like we do specifically because God likes variety. There is only one you because you are a unique image of the infinite and eternal love of God.
Why did the people in the Bible want to kill Jesus on the Cross?
God created all people to live in a relationship of love and holiness with the Son. The essence of love is real choice. In order for people to live a life of love and holiness we had to make a choice to accept the relationship with God the Son or to reject it. The Bible tells us that all people have rejected the relationship in an effort to acquire divine knowledge and power apart from divine love and holiness.
We rejected the Son in the Garden of Eden and the Son left this planet. But, the Son did not stop loving us. He returned to Earth in Jesus Christ. People killed Jesus for many different reasons. Some were afraid of him. Some were jealous. Some were angry. Some did not care about him at all. And some ran away when he did not give them what they wanted. What really killed Jesus was separation. Jesus was, and is, God up front and personal. Human beings want to preserve their separation from God. We don’t want a personal relationship with God. If we believe in God we want his knowledge and power but not his friendship. And so, when the Son visited this planet for the second time, humans killed him.
Why did God want to raise Jesus from the Dead?
Even though people do not love God, God loves all people. Separation traps humans in pain and suffering. The pain and suffering affects our minds, hearts and wills so we make poor choices and bring anger, fear, hatred and despair into our lives. Jesus took all of this pain into himself. It killed him. But, Jesus is the very love of God in human flesh. True love is eternal. It has no beginning and it has no end. When human separation killed Jesus his divine love transformed death back into life. Jesus did this in order to set us free from separation (what the Bible calls sin) and death ( the end result of sin). Jesus died to save us from sin and death. God raised Jesus from the dead to give us the gift of a new life and a new way of living: the way of steadfast holy love.
Everything that people invented, did God really invent them?
Yes and no. God created people to be co creators with him. God certainly knows all things and could help people invent things. But, God loves us and wants us to make responsible choices. So, God gives different people different talents and the ability to use our minds, hearts and wills to investigate the world, make inventions, create art, and co create our own personalities according to God’s laws.
When will Jesus come back again?
This is a very important question and Jesus himself gives us the answer. The answer is: no one knows. If any one tells you they have it figured out they are not being truthful. One thing we can know is that every day Jesus does not return brings the day of his return one day closer.
Nothing has to happen as a condition for Jesus to return. When he returns, everyone in the world will know for sure that he has returned. He will not return in secret. The arch Angel Gabriel will announce to the entire world that Jesus is coming.
Do Jews believe?
Yes and no. As will all people on Earth, some believe and some do not. Some believe in God and some do not. Some believe in God’s Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ and some do not. Jesus never allows us to force people to believe anything. Jesus never allows us to kill people to impose a religion. Jesus does ask us to share our experience of his love with all people. Jesus does ask us to offer the gift of his love to all people.
What is the second most important holiday in the church if Easter is the first?
Pentecost. Pentecost is the second most important holiday in the Church since it is the day the Holy Spirit gave birth to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It wasn’t until the industrial revolution in Western Europe and North America that people started using Christmas to sell things and Christmas became such a spectacular holiday that even many non Christian countries celebrate it with no reference to the birth of Jesus Christ.
Are there ghosts?
No. There are no ghosts. In the ancient Mediterranean world people believed that dead is dead. The Egyptians and the Hebrews believed that God would grant some people a new life through resurrection. No one believed in a personal immortal soul. By Jesus’ time some people believed that a shadowy after image of the dead descended into the underworld. The Greeks called this place Hades. The Jews called it Sheol. The English word "hell" is derived from a similar word in German and is used to translate the Greek and Hebrew words but the meaning has shifted over the centuries.
Very briefly: St. Paul teaches that for the Christian absent from the body is present in the Lord. When a Christian dies the soul is immediately with Christ because the soul has already been unified with Christ in baptism.
Those souls pray for us and we can pray for them.
The souls of those who are not in Christ awaits final judgment in Sheol.
There are fallen angels, demons, who some times pretend to be ghosts to confuse people. But, the souls of the departed do not walk the earth after death. And, the Bible is very clear that those on earth are forbidden to attempt to communicate with those in Heaven or Sheol.
Why lilies for Easter?
For many people they are a symbol of new life. There use is not Biblical but neither is it contrary to scripture.
Why no altar flowers in Lent?
The church sets Lent aside as a time for quiet reflection. We refrain from the Alleluias and remove ornamentation as a means for self examination. One of the great problems Western Christians face is distraction. The more stark simplicity of Lent helps us identify other distractions in our lives that keep us from the eternal gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness and self control. We chose not to decorate the altar with flowers as a temporary reminder that our joys are not based in the distractions of this world but in the relationship God offers us in Jesus Christ. We restore the flowers on Easter as a reminder that all of God’s creation is essentially good and has its proper place in our lives.
What about all of the errors and contradictions in the Bible?
This is an enormously important question. It is important because it assumes much that is simply not true. Modern Western Intellectuals simply assume there are a multitude of errors and contradictions. Fee people actually can recite any. Fewer still have taken the time to investigate the matter.
Generally, virtually all so called errors and contradiction are a result of the one dimensional rational analytical mode of thought currently embraced by most people in our Western civilization. Such errors and contradictions fall within ten main categories of misunderstanding:
1. Perceptual
2. Cultural
3. Linguistic
4. Translation
5. Phenomenology
6. Literary form
7. Prescriptive vs descriptive
8. Context
9. Levels of meaning
10. Purpose
Very briefly, the peoples of ancient civilizations were more sophisticated and subtle in their use of language than modern people. Virtually all so called errors and contradictions in the Bible result from the way language is used and the inclination of moderns to try to find problems where no problems exist. The use of numbers in the Bible is a perfect example. In biblical times people used numbers to communicate concepts more than numerical accuracy. The way people counted days is another example. For the people of Israel the day began at sunset and any part of a day was considered equal to a full day.
Is there food in Heaven? Is there pizza?
Yes. There is food in heaven. In fact, the Bible speaks of heaven in terms of a Wedding Feast. And, the Book of Revelation speaks of trees bearing a different kind of fruit every month- the fruit of the month club. As to pizza- I defer to a quote attributed to Billy Graham: "if you want pizza in Heaven it will be there for you."
I really enjoy questions from children, teens and college students. They ask some amazing things from a fresh perspective. Their questions remind me of the maxim that we learn best when we teach. Thanks to all of you for submitting these questions.
Do angels really fly? Do all angels have wings? If not, how do they get around? Do angels have babies?
Angels are a popular topic for many people. There have been many movies and TV programs about angels in the last generation or two. People seem fascinated by the angels. To answer the immediate questions: some angels fly some don’t. Some angels have wings and some don’t. Most angels never leave Heaven so it is unknown how they travel. Angels do not have babies.
More broadly, there are several things about angels the Bible reveals. God created the angels before He created human beings, and in fact before He created the universe. A popular 20th century belief was that human beings become angels when we die. The Bible teaches that humans and angels are completely separate beings. Humans do not become angels.
The number of the angels is finite but so vast that no human mind or human constructed computer can number them. God created the angels all at once so there are no baby angels. Jesus himself taught the angels do marry and so do not have babies. There are at least nine different kinds of angelic beings: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Principalities, Powers, Dominions, Virtues, Archangels and Angels. Of the nines kinds of angelic beings, only the Cherubim are described as having wings- and in fact the prophet Ezekiel describes each Cherub as having six wings.
The angels in the Bible who speak or interact with human beings are the Messenger Class angels. They always appear as young men and do not have wings. They appear as young men, teens, because in the ancient world the armies assigned messenger duty to young men. There were two reasons for this. The messenger had to be able to run fast to escape an enemy. And, the messenger had to be expendable in case he was captured. A teen would have limited knowledge an enemy could use to harm the kingdom.
Messenger class angels are often depicted in religious art as having wings and wearing halos. Ancient peoples understood this as symbolic of the messenger’s swiftness and holiness. Modern people look at ancient art and misunderstand the symbolism since we thunk in the very limited categories of rational analysis. We are trained to look for the facts, just the facts. We are trained to miss the reality and so we also miss the truth. Ancient peoples thought in four modes: literal, moral, spiritual, symbolic.
Most modern people think only in one mode: the rational analytical mode of the literal. Our reredos shows renaissance depictions of angels as young girls or winged babies. This representation has more to do with the artistic revolution of the time than any theological meaning.
Is Heaven above space?
Yes and no. Heaven is outside what we in our modern scientific mythologies call the space time continuum. Ancient peoples understood Heaven as the transcendent eternal realm of the divine. Since humans do not experience that reality with our senses, ancient peoples described Heaven in earthly terms as being "above" the Earth.
The first Cosmonaut mocked Christianity when he went into space and declared. I have entered heaven and found no god there. Of course, once again, the cosmonaut was simply reflecting his very one dimensional mode of thought. Ancient peoples, had they achieved the technology to travel into space, would never have presumed to make such an simple and unsophisticated statement.
How did people know what to write in the Bible, how did they know what happened?
This is an excellent question. The Bible is a collection of 80 books divided into three parts. The Torah, what we call the Old Testament, has 39 Books subdivided into the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. The Apocrypha consists of 14 books describing the history of Israel between the time of Alexander the Great and the birth of Jesus Christ. The 27 books of the New Testament include the biographies of Jesus (the gospels) the history of the early Church (the Book of Acts), the apostolic letters, and the Book of Revelation.
There are many different kinds of books in the Bible. There is history, written by historians to record past events for future generations.
There is the Law. God revealed the Law to Moses and Moses wrote it down or dictated it to his scribes, people who were trained to write books.
God spoke to the prophets who like Moses either wrote down what they heard God telling them, or had a scribe record their words.
One of the most passionate romantic poems ever written is the Song of Solomon. Many rabbis, bishops and priests are very embarrassed that the Song of Solomon is even in the Bible.
Most of the New Testament is simply an eye witness account of what people saw, and heard. They wrote down what they experienced so we would know what had happened, how it had changed their lives and how it can change our lives.
The Bible was written by many people over the course of a thousand years. On one human being could coordinate such a project. The Holy Spirit inspired all of the writers, scribes and editors and then helped the rabbis assemble the Old Testament and the Bishops of the Church to assemble the Apocrypha and the New Testament.
Why did He create people to look like people?
This is a very complex question. Modern scientific mythology helps us understand that how we look, in general, is a result of the conditions for life on this planet. For example, if we were too tall we would not be able to move well in the gravity field of earth. Large animals who live on land are usually very slow moving. Large animals are better able to live in the sea where gravity is less of a problem. We have the bodies we have because those bodies are best suited for us to survive and thrive on this planet.
The Bible also tells us that God delights in creation. God created an enormous variety of living creatures. And, God creates each of us to look like we do specifically because God likes variety. There is only one you because you are a unique image of the infinite and eternal love of God.
Why did the people in the Bible want to kill Jesus on the Cross?
God created all people to live in a relationship of love and holiness with the Son. The essence of love is real choice. In order for people to live a life of love and holiness we had to make a choice to accept the relationship with God the Son or to reject it. The Bible tells us that all people have rejected the relationship in an effort to acquire divine knowledge and power apart from divine love and holiness.
We rejected the Son in the Garden of Eden and the Son left this planet. But, the Son did not stop loving us. He returned to Earth in Jesus Christ. People killed Jesus for many different reasons. Some were afraid of him. Some were jealous. Some were angry. Some did not care about him at all. And some ran away when he did not give them what they wanted. What really killed Jesus was separation. Jesus was, and is, God up front and personal. Human beings want to preserve their separation from God. We don’t want a personal relationship with God. If we believe in God we want his knowledge and power but not his friendship. And so, when the Son visited this planet for the second time, humans killed him.
Why did God want to raise Jesus from the Dead?
Even though people do not love God, God loves all people. Separation traps humans in pain and suffering. The pain and suffering affects our minds, hearts and wills so we make poor choices and bring anger, fear, hatred and despair into our lives. Jesus took all of this pain into himself. It killed him. But, Jesus is the very love of God in human flesh. True love is eternal. It has no beginning and it has no end. When human separation killed Jesus his divine love transformed death back into life. Jesus did this in order to set us free from separation (what the Bible calls sin) and death ( the end result of sin). Jesus died to save us from sin and death. God raised Jesus from the dead to give us the gift of a new life and a new way of living: the way of steadfast holy love.
Everything that people invented, did God really invent them?
Yes and no. God created people to be co creators with him. God certainly knows all things and could help people invent things. But, God loves us and wants us to make responsible choices. So, God gives different people different talents and the ability to use our minds, hearts and wills to investigate the world, make inventions, create art, and co create our own personalities according to God’s laws.
When will Jesus come back again?
This is a very important question and Jesus himself gives us the answer. The answer is: no one knows. If any one tells you they have it figured out they are not being truthful. One thing we can know is that every day Jesus does not return brings the day of his return one day closer.
Nothing has to happen as a condition for Jesus to return. When he returns, everyone in the world will know for sure that he has returned. He will not return in secret. The arch Angel Gabriel will announce to the entire world that Jesus is coming.
Do Jews believe?
Yes and no. As will all people on Earth, some believe and some do not. Some believe in God and some do not. Some believe in God’s Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ and some do not. Jesus never allows us to force people to believe anything. Jesus never allows us to kill people to impose a religion. Jesus does ask us to share our experience of his love with all people. Jesus does ask us to offer the gift of his love to all people.
What is the second most important holiday in the church if Easter is the first?
Pentecost. Pentecost is the second most important holiday in the Church since it is the day the Holy Spirit gave birth to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It wasn’t until the industrial revolution in Western Europe and North America that people started using Christmas to sell things and Christmas became such a spectacular holiday that even many non Christian countries celebrate it with no reference to the birth of Jesus Christ.
Are there ghosts?
No. There are no ghosts. In the ancient Mediterranean world people believed that dead is dead. The Egyptians and the Hebrews believed that God would grant some people a new life through resurrection. No one believed in a personal immortal soul. By Jesus’ time some people believed that a shadowy after image of the dead descended into the underworld. The Greeks called this place Hades. The Jews called it Sheol. The English word "hell" is derived from a similar word in German and is used to translate the Greek and Hebrew words but the meaning has shifted over the centuries.
Very briefly: St. Paul teaches that for the Christian absent from the body is present in the Lord. When a Christian dies the soul is immediately with Christ because the soul has already been unified with Christ in baptism.
Those souls pray for us and we can pray for them.
The souls of those who are not in Christ awaits final judgment in Sheol.
There are fallen angels, demons, who some times pretend to be ghosts to confuse people. But, the souls of the departed do not walk the earth after death. And, the Bible is very clear that those on earth are forbidden to attempt to communicate with those in Heaven or Sheol.
Why lilies for Easter?
For many people they are a symbol of new life. There use is not Biblical but neither is it contrary to scripture.
Why no altar flowers in Lent?
The church sets Lent aside as a time for quiet reflection. We refrain from the Alleluias and remove ornamentation as a means for self examination. One of the great problems Western Christians face is distraction. The more stark simplicity of Lent helps us identify other distractions in our lives that keep us from the eternal gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness and self control. We chose not to decorate the altar with flowers as a temporary reminder that our joys are not based in the distractions of this world but in the relationship God offers us in Jesus Christ. We restore the flowers on Easter as a reminder that all of God’s creation is essentially good and has its proper place in our lives.
What about all of the errors and contradictions in the Bible?
This is an enormously important question. It is important because it assumes much that is simply not true. Modern Western Intellectuals simply assume there are a multitude of errors and contradictions. Fee people actually can recite any. Fewer still have taken the time to investigate the matter.
Generally, virtually all so called errors and contradiction are a result of the one dimensional rational analytical mode of thought currently embraced by most people in our Western civilization. Such errors and contradictions fall within ten main categories of misunderstanding:
1. Perceptual
2. Cultural
3. Linguistic
4. Translation
5. Phenomenology
6. Literary form
7. Prescriptive vs descriptive
8. Context
9. Levels of meaning
10. Purpose
Very briefly, the peoples of ancient civilizations were more sophisticated and subtle in their use of language than modern people. Virtually all so called errors and contradictions in the Bible result from the way language is used and the inclination of moderns to try to find problems where no problems exist. The use of numbers in the Bible is a perfect example. In biblical times people used numbers to communicate concepts more than numerical accuracy. The way people counted days is another example. For the people of Israel the day began at sunset and any part of a day was considered equal to a full day.
Is there food in Heaven? Is there pizza?
Yes. There is food in heaven. In fact, the Bible speaks of heaven in terms of a Wedding Feast. And, the Book of Revelation speaks of trees bearing a different kind of fruit every month- the fruit of the month club. As to pizza- I defer to a quote attributed to Billy Graham: "if you want pizza in Heaven it will be there for you."
Friday, April 10, 2009
Easter Sermon
Easter 2009 Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Alleluia! Praise the Lord. Christ has risen from the dead. In Christ shall all be made alive.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a unique event in human history. People had and still do make miraculous recoveries from disease and injury. But, no one before Christ and no one since Christ has transformed death back into life and walked the Earth telling people about it.
The resurrection is a unique event because Jesus was and is unique. In Jesus Christ God fully and irrevocably united divinity with humanity. Jesus was, and is, fully God and fully human. He was, and is, one person with two natures: human and divine.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the transformation of sin and death back into the original divine gift of holiness and life. The power of the resurrection is no more and no less than the power of the infinite and eternal love of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.
It was sin that killed Jesus. That sin is the word the Bible uses to describe the choice humanity has made to separate from God, other people and our own true nature. Separation produces a spirit of rebellion. Together, separation and rebellion isolate the soul and produce a deeply rooted spiritual pain we all live with and all seek to hide from. That pain creates distortions in our ability to reason, in our emotional responses to life, and in the way we make choices.
It does not take an act of blind faith to believe what the Bible teaches about the human condition. It only takes the ability to observe how much of the human experience is lost in conflict, broken by suffering and isolated in loneliness.
It does not even take a blind leap of faith to accept the central teaching of the Christian faith. That central teaching is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All it takes is the ability to observe the response in the lives and actions of those who had abandoned Jesus at his arrest. Three days later their lives changed in an amazing and enduring way.
In fact, St. Paul records that some 500 people met and experienced the resurrected Living Lord Jesus Christ during the 40 days Jesus walked the earth after the resurrection. Each of those individuals experienced a reality so powerful and so profound that they described it as a new birth and a new life.
Those who went into the world telling the story of the resurrection never killed to establish a religion. They gave of themselves to invite people into a new relationship with God in the resurrected Living Lord Jesus Christ. Many of those eyewitnesses died for remaining faithful to what they had seen and heard and touched. It would have been so easy to allegorize the story. It would have been so easy to spiritualize the story. The scandal of the cross is the brutal and very public death of Jesus. The scandal of the resurrection is the personal and very physical reality of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
If the apostles had wanted to create and craft a new religion for a new age they could have designed something less threatening or more powerful. They did neither. They simply told people what they had experienced.
With brutal self honesty they told the story of how they completely misunderstood who Jesus was. How in his moment of need they had all run away and hid in fear. How they had witnessed from afar, with the sole exception of Mary and John, the brutal death of the man who only brought love and compassion into the world. And how, with the exception of John, none of them was willing to believe Jesus had literally and physically risen from the dead until he appeared before them in person and invited them to touch him and feel his human flesh solid and alive.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an historical event witnessed by some 500 different individuals. It was an event that changed their lives. It was an event they were so certain about beyond any reasonable doubt that they were willing to travel throughout the world to share their joy. And, it was a truth so profound that they were willing to die to remain faithful to their experience.
Every generation of humanity since the resurrection has an opportunity to hear the story and to experience the reality of the story. Christ died. Christ rose again. Christ lives now and forever. The apostles never invited people into a blind leap of faith but rather into the experience of a personal relationship with the resurrected Living Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is a living reality today we can all experience in our lives as we ask him to come to us and to transform us by his steadfast holy love.
The Alleluia, Praise the Lord, we say today is a shout of praise for a living, present and transforming reality. That reality is the living Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia. The Lord is real. Alleluia! The Lord is risen. Praise the Living Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia! Praise the Lord. Christ has risen from the dead. In Christ shall all be made alive.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a unique event in human history. People had and still do make miraculous recoveries from disease and injury. But, no one before Christ and no one since Christ has transformed death back into life and walked the Earth telling people about it.
The resurrection is a unique event because Jesus was and is unique. In Jesus Christ God fully and irrevocably united divinity with humanity. Jesus was, and is, fully God and fully human. He was, and is, one person with two natures: human and divine.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the transformation of sin and death back into the original divine gift of holiness and life. The power of the resurrection is no more and no less than the power of the infinite and eternal love of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.
It was sin that killed Jesus. That sin is the word the Bible uses to describe the choice humanity has made to separate from God, other people and our own true nature. Separation produces a spirit of rebellion. Together, separation and rebellion isolate the soul and produce a deeply rooted spiritual pain we all live with and all seek to hide from. That pain creates distortions in our ability to reason, in our emotional responses to life, and in the way we make choices.
It does not take an act of blind faith to believe what the Bible teaches about the human condition. It only takes the ability to observe how much of the human experience is lost in conflict, broken by suffering and isolated in loneliness.
It does not even take a blind leap of faith to accept the central teaching of the Christian faith. That central teaching is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All it takes is the ability to observe the response in the lives and actions of those who had abandoned Jesus at his arrest. Three days later their lives changed in an amazing and enduring way.
In fact, St. Paul records that some 500 people met and experienced the resurrected Living Lord Jesus Christ during the 40 days Jesus walked the earth after the resurrection. Each of those individuals experienced a reality so powerful and so profound that they described it as a new birth and a new life.
Those who went into the world telling the story of the resurrection never killed to establish a religion. They gave of themselves to invite people into a new relationship with God in the resurrected Living Lord Jesus Christ. Many of those eyewitnesses died for remaining faithful to what they had seen and heard and touched. It would have been so easy to allegorize the story. It would have been so easy to spiritualize the story. The scandal of the cross is the brutal and very public death of Jesus. The scandal of the resurrection is the personal and very physical reality of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
If the apostles had wanted to create and craft a new religion for a new age they could have designed something less threatening or more powerful. They did neither. They simply told people what they had experienced.
With brutal self honesty they told the story of how they completely misunderstood who Jesus was. How in his moment of need they had all run away and hid in fear. How they had witnessed from afar, with the sole exception of Mary and John, the brutal death of the man who only brought love and compassion into the world. And how, with the exception of John, none of them was willing to believe Jesus had literally and physically risen from the dead until he appeared before them in person and invited them to touch him and feel his human flesh solid and alive.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an historical event witnessed by some 500 different individuals. It was an event that changed their lives. It was an event they were so certain about beyond any reasonable doubt that they were willing to travel throughout the world to share their joy. And, it was a truth so profound that they were willing to die to remain faithful to their experience.
Every generation of humanity since the resurrection has an opportunity to hear the story and to experience the reality of the story. Christ died. Christ rose again. Christ lives now and forever. The apostles never invited people into a blind leap of faith but rather into the experience of a personal relationship with the resurrected Living Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is a living reality today we can all experience in our lives as we ask him to come to us and to transform us by his steadfast holy love.
The Alleluia, Praise the Lord, we say today is a shout of praise for a living, present and transforming reality. That reality is the living Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia. The Lord is real. Alleluia! The Lord is risen. Praise the Living Lord Jesus Christ.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Maundy Thursday sermon
Maundy Thursday 2009
This is
People frequently see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. The power of separation at work in our souls all to often blinds us to the obvious and renders us deaf to the clear voice of God speaking to us throughout our lives.
The apostles embody this experience for us. It is not unique to them.
They certainly had all of the advantages of knowing Jesus personally, hearing his words, observing his actions. Despite those advantages they missed the obvious. They lived from a place of self delusion that inhibited their ability to receive the gift that God had given them.
At the Last Supper, Jesus told them plainly- in the familiar language of sacrifice used in the Passover meal, what was about to happen. Jesus was truly present to the apostles that evening. But, the apostles were not present to Jesus. They were stuck in the fears of past events. They were stuck in the anxiety of future possibilities.
And so, as Jesus explains his imminent betrayal and sacrificial death, the apostles are some where else. They are lost in their ambitions for greatness. They are asleep in the terrible dream of power that weaves a spell of illusion for most human beings most of the time. They are stuck in the question: what’s in it for me? They are trapped in the demand of self will that says: me first. Do it my way.
Because they are stuck, they miss the moment. They miss the last moment of peace and companionship with Jesus before his arrest. They are not seeing him for who he is and so they are not present to him. They miss the blessing in the moment which is the grace of God fully present to them.
Jesus knew all of this. He knew they were not present to him. He had lived on this planet for 33 years and he knew how the dream of power and the voice of demand obscures the grace of God in the present moment of their lives and of ours.
Jesus’ solution was to transform the Passover meal from a memorial to an ever present reality. Jesus says: this is. This is, here and now as I say these words, this is my body. This is, here and now as I say these words, this is my blood.
This is- here and now in this present moment- the only moment of time we can truly experience as real. This is everything that I am truly present for you.
The implied question is: are you truly present to me? After the resurrection the apostles would teach the profoundly transforming truth called the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In a single moment of time, the Holy Spirit transcends time and Jesus is as present to us as he was to his apostles that evening. He gives himself for us and to us in the bread and wine on the altar even as he gave himself to us and for us on the cross the perfect sacrifice for the terrible pain and distortion of separation.
In the sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus asks to wake up. Pay attention. Look. Listen. Be present to the moment as the timeless touches time in a single eternal moment of grace. That single eternal moment of grace is the fulness of the co-eternal Son, Jesus Christ, giving himself to us in the bread and wine so that we might be transformed and be as present to him, to each other and to our selves as he is present to us.
This is the acceptable time. This is the hour of salvation. This is the only moment that has any eternal significane: now.
Receive the gift of God in the conscious awareness of this present moment when God the Father speaks the word, when God the Holy Spirit manifests the word, and God the Son is the eternal word for us here and now in the bread and the wine.
Jesus said: this is my body. Jesus said, this is my blood. Jesus says to all of us and to all people everywhere: here in this present moment this is divine grace touching your soul.
This is
People frequently see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. The power of separation at work in our souls all to often blinds us to the obvious and renders us deaf to the clear voice of God speaking to us throughout our lives.
The apostles embody this experience for us. It is not unique to them.
They certainly had all of the advantages of knowing Jesus personally, hearing his words, observing his actions. Despite those advantages they missed the obvious. They lived from a place of self delusion that inhibited their ability to receive the gift that God had given them.
At the Last Supper, Jesus told them plainly- in the familiar language of sacrifice used in the Passover meal, what was about to happen. Jesus was truly present to the apostles that evening. But, the apostles were not present to Jesus. They were stuck in the fears of past events. They were stuck in the anxiety of future possibilities.
And so, as Jesus explains his imminent betrayal and sacrificial death, the apostles are some where else. They are lost in their ambitions for greatness. They are asleep in the terrible dream of power that weaves a spell of illusion for most human beings most of the time. They are stuck in the question: what’s in it for me? They are trapped in the demand of self will that says: me first. Do it my way.
Because they are stuck, they miss the moment. They miss the last moment of peace and companionship with Jesus before his arrest. They are not seeing him for who he is and so they are not present to him. They miss the blessing in the moment which is the grace of God fully present to them.
Jesus knew all of this. He knew they were not present to him. He had lived on this planet for 33 years and he knew how the dream of power and the voice of demand obscures the grace of God in the present moment of their lives and of ours.
Jesus’ solution was to transform the Passover meal from a memorial to an ever present reality. Jesus says: this is. This is, here and now as I say these words, this is my body. This is, here and now as I say these words, this is my blood.
This is- here and now in this present moment- the only moment of time we can truly experience as real. This is everything that I am truly present for you.
The implied question is: are you truly present to me? After the resurrection the apostles would teach the profoundly transforming truth called the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In a single moment of time, the Holy Spirit transcends time and Jesus is as present to us as he was to his apostles that evening. He gives himself for us and to us in the bread and wine on the altar even as he gave himself to us and for us on the cross the perfect sacrifice for the terrible pain and distortion of separation.
In the sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus asks to wake up. Pay attention. Look. Listen. Be present to the moment as the timeless touches time in a single eternal moment of grace. That single eternal moment of grace is the fulness of the co-eternal Son, Jesus Christ, giving himself to us in the bread and wine so that we might be transformed and be as present to him, to each other and to our selves as he is present to us.
This is the acceptable time. This is the hour of salvation. This is the only moment that has any eternal significane: now.
Receive the gift of God in the conscious awareness of this present moment when God the Father speaks the word, when God the Holy Spirit manifests the word, and God the Son is the eternal word for us here and now in the bread and the wine.
Jesus said: this is my body. Jesus said, this is my blood. Jesus says to all of us and to all people everywhere: here in this present moment this is divine grace touching your soul.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Good Friday sermon
Good Friday 2009
And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all people to me.
The image of Jesus dying on the cross is powerful and disturbing. It is probably the most unlikely religious image in a world filled with a myriad of religious images. It is an image of pain and death. It is an image of failure and defeat. It reveals betrayal, false accusation, rejection and abandonment.
Several people have commented to me over the years how they found the image of Jesus dying on the cross so disturbing and so offensive that they rejected the Christian Faith. One person mentioned to me how as she grew up she began to question how any Father could allow his son to die such a horrible death. Another individual questioned why the death of this one man, among so many thousands of men who suffered the same fate, should be any different and have any special meaning.
One person remarked to me that the crucifixion proves that Christianity is death religion not a life affirming religion. I can remember my own shock as a college student when I considered the crucifix and decided Christianity was a barbaric religion from a distant age of barbarism that had no place in our modern civilized society. I was very naive.
The image of the cross is meant to shock. It is in fact the perfect mirror to our soul. The crucifix reveals to us that place of separation, rebellion and death that resides within each of us. The Bible calls this place sin. Jesus died on the cross to rescue us from this sin.
Jesus came into this world as we all come into this world: small, defenseless and weak. He embodied the fullness of the divine nature of love and the divine character of holiness. Jesus never separated from God the Father and so as the Bible tells us he was human in every way we are human except- except he never sinned. Because he never separated from the Father he never rebelled. Because he never rebelled his mind, heart and will never experienced the terrible distortions of fear, self will and pride.
In a world of people who are lost and lonely and broken Jesus brought faith, hope and love. The human reaction to Jesus was to make demands, react with fear, and finally to inflict on him all of the pain and torment we as a species carry within our souls.
And that was why Jesus had come into the world. And that is why the Father asked the Son to bear this terrible pain. If Jesus has just been another man his death would have been tragic, barbaric and all too commonplace. But, Jesus was not just a man. He was fully human and fully divine. He was, and is, the love of God in human flesh.
The perfect mirror of the crucifix reveals the spiritual state of humanity. It is a state of separation from love, rebellion against love, and the terrible pain of a species that has abandoned love for power. Jesus embraced this place of pain and death. He freely chose the death on the cross. He made that choice because Jesus just doesn’t have love, or show love, or teach about love. Jesus is eternal uncreated love in human flesh.
Sin killed Jesus. But Jesus was not just a man. He was a man who never separated from God, who never rebelled, who never sinned. He was a man who in fact was the incarnation of love.
That love gave him the strength and courage to do the unimaginable. That love gave him the ability to take the sin and death of the entire human species upon himself, to suffer the ultimate consequence of death, and then to transform sin and death back into holiness and eternal life.
Jesus did this because Jesus is the love of God in human flesh. That love is infinite and eternal. The crucifix is no longer just a symbol of death, It is now a perfect mirror to the human soul and God’s universal invitation to all people everywhere to receive the gift of reunification with the divine nature of eternal love in Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the great promise of God to all people that life overcomes death, holiness swallows up sin, and love transforms all things back into their original blessing.
The seal of love is in the real choice we make to receive the gift God offers us. The gift is reunification with the infinite and eternal love of God the Father, through the person of God the Son, by the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus freely gives himself for you. Will you give yourself to him?
And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all people to me.
The image of Jesus dying on the cross is powerful and disturbing. It is probably the most unlikely religious image in a world filled with a myriad of religious images. It is an image of pain and death. It is an image of failure and defeat. It reveals betrayal, false accusation, rejection and abandonment.
Several people have commented to me over the years how they found the image of Jesus dying on the cross so disturbing and so offensive that they rejected the Christian Faith. One person mentioned to me how as she grew up she began to question how any Father could allow his son to die such a horrible death. Another individual questioned why the death of this one man, among so many thousands of men who suffered the same fate, should be any different and have any special meaning.
One person remarked to me that the crucifixion proves that Christianity is death religion not a life affirming religion. I can remember my own shock as a college student when I considered the crucifix and decided Christianity was a barbaric religion from a distant age of barbarism that had no place in our modern civilized society. I was very naive.
The image of the cross is meant to shock. It is in fact the perfect mirror to our soul. The crucifix reveals to us that place of separation, rebellion and death that resides within each of us. The Bible calls this place sin. Jesus died on the cross to rescue us from this sin.
Jesus came into this world as we all come into this world: small, defenseless and weak. He embodied the fullness of the divine nature of love and the divine character of holiness. Jesus never separated from God the Father and so as the Bible tells us he was human in every way we are human except- except he never sinned. Because he never separated from the Father he never rebelled. Because he never rebelled his mind, heart and will never experienced the terrible distortions of fear, self will and pride.
In a world of people who are lost and lonely and broken Jesus brought faith, hope and love. The human reaction to Jesus was to make demands, react with fear, and finally to inflict on him all of the pain and torment we as a species carry within our souls.
And that was why Jesus had come into the world. And that is why the Father asked the Son to bear this terrible pain. If Jesus has just been another man his death would have been tragic, barbaric and all too commonplace. But, Jesus was not just a man. He was fully human and fully divine. He was, and is, the love of God in human flesh.
The perfect mirror of the crucifix reveals the spiritual state of humanity. It is a state of separation from love, rebellion against love, and the terrible pain of a species that has abandoned love for power. Jesus embraced this place of pain and death. He freely chose the death on the cross. He made that choice because Jesus just doesn’t have love, or show love, or teach about love. Jesus is eternal uncreated love in human flesh.
Sin killed Jesus. But Jesus was not just a man. He was a man who never separated from God, who never rebelled, who never sinned. He was a man who in fact was the incarnation of love.
That love gave him the strength and courage to do the unimaginable. That love gave him the ability to take the sin and death of the entire human species upon himself, to suffer the ultimate consequence of death, and then to transform sin and death back into holiness and eternal life.
Jesus did this because Jesus is the love of God in human flesh. That love is infinite and eternal. The crucifix is no longer just a symbol of death, It is now a perfect mirror to the human soul and God’s universal invitation to all people everywhere to receive the gift of reunification with the divine nature of eternal love in Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the great promise of God to all people that life overcomes death, holiness swallows up sin, and love transforms all things back into their original blessing.
The seal of love is in the real choice we make to receive the gift God offers us. The gift is reunification with the infinite and eternal love of God the Father, through the person of God the Son, by the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus freely gives himself for you. Will you give yourself to him?
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
RUMInations God?
Where is God?
Inquiring minds seek but hesitate to be found.
The search more easily takes the place of any
Common discovery through uncommon grace.
What is God?
Outside time and space tthe elements of style and sense
the binding force of fortuitious circumstance
the wishful dreaming of mortality.
How is God?
How indeed at last now in this gentle breath
found in your most recent embrace
an undying echo as I vanish without a trace.
The Beloved caresses my lips with the holy chalice and a gentle kiss,
"Hush! Come. let's meet and taste and touch truth in the garden of silence."
Inquiring minds seek but hesitate to be found.
The search more easily takes the place of any
Common discovery through uncommon grace.
What is God?
Outside time and space tthe elements of style and sense
the binding force of fortuitious circumstance
the wishful dreaming of mortality.
How is God?
How indeed at last now in this gentle breath
found in your most recent embrace
an undying echo as I vanish without a trace.
The Beloved caresses my lips with the holy chalice and a gentle kiss,
"Hush! Come. let's meet and taste and touch truth in the garden of silence."
Hosanna
Palm Sunday Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
The shout of the crowds in Jerusalem was Hosanna, Save us we pray.
The crowds that day had many things they needed to be saved from. There were high taxes, disease, hunger, a high infant mortality rate and a low life expectancy. There was a bitterly divisive religious culture of conflict and condemnation. There was a foreign occupation army of people who worshiped strange deities, spoke a strange language and practiced customs that seemed immoral and embarrassing. There was a low level but persistent insurgency against all authority that lashed out unpredictably at innocent civilians.
There was much the crowd needed salvation from. They saw in Jesus the one who would make it all better. They saw in Jesus the one who would defeat their enemies, provide them food, and impose order on a broken and disordered religious system. The crowd placed all of its frustration and hope on Jesus and greeted him with wild abandon. Save us Jesus. Save us we pray!
The religious and political authorities also heard the shout of the crowd. Where the crowd expressed a desperate hope the authorities reacted with fear.
Some feared that Jesus just might pull it off. He just might overthrow the established order. And, it he did, those who created and maintained that order would lose their position and quite possibly their lives. It was clear that many of Jesus’ followers were ready to take over positions in government and religion. According to the customs of the day there was no easy or peaceful transition of power. More often than not, those who took power destroyed those who lost power.
Some feared that Jesus would not be able to pull it off. The High Priest Caiaphas was among this group. They listened carefully to what Jesus taught. The observed his actions, his miracles, his demeanor. Unlike most of Jesus’ followers and adversaries, this group knew that Jesus was no revolutionary. They knew Jesus was not coming to Jerusalem to kill any one. They knew Jesus wanted to bring peace into the very center of the conflicts that divided the people of Israel
Caiaphas did not fear that Jesus would succeed in his mission. Caiaphas and others like him feared that Jesus would fail. They feared that when he failed there would be chaos. They feared that the Romans would deal with that chaos in the only way Rome knew how to deal with conflict: total annihilation of those who threatened the security of the Empire.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem that day he knew all of these things. He knew how the crowds wanted him to be their new king. He knew the authorities feared he would destroy them. He even knew the priests feared he would fail and that the risk of failure was too high to allow him to live.
It didn’t take divine power for Jesus to discern these hopes and fears in the human heart. They are part of the human condition. They are fundamental to the way we all live our lives from the place of separation: separation from God, from each other, and from the image of divine love imprinted on our souls. A species that lives from the place of separation lives from the place of a deeply rooted transcendent spiritual pain.
That pain produces enormous distortions in the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we make choices. One of the fundamental distortions is the fear that we will not get what we want or what we need. Another distortion is that we, or to be more precise: I, and I alone know what is best. The third major distortion is the formation of a will guided by the principle of "me first". That distortion manifests in a life of rebellion, spit, anxiety and cynicism.
It doesn’t take divine power to discern the problems that define the human condition. It just takes a mind that pays attention to the world as it is.
It does take divine wisdom to discern the root of the problem. Because the root of the problem is that all people choose to maintain separation from God.. And, in that choice we defend our pride, self will and fear by finding someone else or something else to blame.
The three groups of people who witnessed Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem that day had different expectations and reactions. But, they shared the same common problem. They lived from the pain of separation and wanted the quick fix for the symptoms but not the long term healing of their souls.
Jesus knew the solution involved his choice to do what no other human being was willing to do. His choice is revealed to us in his prayer: Father, not my will but Thy will be done.
Jesus never chose separation. He never knew the pain of separation. Yet, he knew the only solution to the great tragedy of humanity was to embrace what we defiantly hold on to even though it leaves us miserable and eventually kills us. Jesus chose to embrace what he never in his life chose to manifest.
Jesus chose to embrace the pain, the distortion and the death of a soul that separates from God. In that choice Jesus brought the love and holiness of God right into the very center of human sin. By doing that, Jesus reunited humanity with divinity and restored to us what we abandoned.
He accomplished this amazing restoration through the divine power of eternal love. And, because he chose to bring love to the place of pain he offers reunification with God as a gift. The offer is not a command. There is no condemnation in the gift. There is no need to earn the gift. There is no body of knowledge we have to acquire first before we can accept the gift.
The gift is free to all. The gift is the love of God reaching out to a lost and lonely and fear filled soul with the words: I am here for you. I have already embraced that terrible pain in your soul that you fear to confront. Receive the gift and find the fulfillment of all of your dreams and desires in a new way of living.
The crowds had shouted out: Hosanna- save us we pray. Jesus answered their prayer. He answered it in a way no one ever expected. He answered it perfectly and fully. He answered it with the infinite love and compassion that embraced sin and death and rose again to bring us eternal life here and now.
That eternal life is not a duration of existence. It is a quality of being we can enjoy now. It comes to us when we, too, however imperfectly and selfishly cry out to God: save us we pray.
The shout of the crowds in Jerusalem was Hosanna, Save us we pray.
The crowds that day had many things they needed to be saved from. There were high taxes, disease, hunger, a high infant mortality rate and a low life expectancy. There was a bitterly divisive religious culture of conflict and condemnation. There was a foreign occupation army of people who worshiped strange deities, spoke a strange language and practiced customs that seemed immoral and embarrassing. There was a low level but persistent insurgency against all authority that lashed out unpredictably at innocent civilians.
There was much the crowd needed salvation from. They saw in Jesus the one who would make it all better. They saw in Jesus the one who would defeat their enemies, provide them food, and impose order on a broken and disordered religious system. The crowd placed all of its frustration and hope on Jesus and greeted him with wild abandon. Save us Jesus. Save us we pray!
The religious and political authorities also heard the shout of the crowd. Where the crowd expressed a desperate hope the authorities reacted with fear.
Some feared that Jesus just might pull it off. He just might overthrow the established order. And, it he did, those who created and maintained that order would lose their position and quite possibly their lives. It was clear that many of Jesus’ followers were ready to take over positions in government and religion. According to the customs of the day there was no easy or peaceful transition of power. More often than not, those who took power destroyed those who lost power.
Some feared that Jesus would not be able to pull it off. The High Priest Caiaphas was among this group. They listened carefully to what Jesus taught. The observed his actions, his miracles, his demeanor. Unlike most of Jesus’ followers and adversaries, this group knew that Jesus was no revolutionary. They knew Jesus was not coming to Jerusalem to kill any one. They knew Jesus wanted to bring peace into the very center of the conflicts that divided the people of Israel
Caiaphas did not fear that Jesus would succeed in his mission. Caiaphas and others like him feared that Jesus would fail. They feared that when he failed there would be chaos. They feared that the Romans would deal with that chaos in the only way Rome knew how to deal with conflict: total annihilation of those who threatened the security of the Empire.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem that day he knew all of these things. He knew how the crowds wanted him to be their new king. He knew the authorities feared he would destroy them. He even knew the priests feared he would fail and that the risk of failure was too high to allow him to live.
It didn’t take divine power for Jesus to discern these hopes and fears in the human heart. They are part of the human condition. They are fundamental to the way we all live our lives from the place of separation: separation from God, from each other, and from the image of divine love imprinted on our souls. A species that lives from the place of separation lives from the place of a deeply rooted transcendent spiritual pain.
That pain produces enormous distortions in the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we make choices. One of the fundamental distortions is the fear that we will not get what we want or what we need. Another distortion is that we, or to be more precise: I, and I alone know what is best. The third major distortion is the formation of a will guided by the principle of "me first". That distortion manifests in a life of rebellion, spit, anxiety and cynicism.
It doesn’t take divine power to discern the problems that define the human condition. It just takes a mind that pays attention to the world as it is.
It does take divine wisdom to discern the root of the problem. Because the root of the problem is that all people choose to maintain separation from God.. And, in that choice we defend our pride, self will and fear by finding someone else or something else to blame.
The three groups of people who witnessed Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem that day had different expectations and reactions. But, they shared the same common problem. They lived from the pain of separation and wanted the quick fix for the symptoms but not the long term healing of their souls.
Jesus knew the solution involved his choice to do what no other human being was willing to do. His choice is revealed to us in his prayer: Father, not my will but Thy will be done.
Jesus never chose separation. He never knew the pain of separation. Yet, he knew the only solution to the great tragedy of humanity was to embrace what we defiantly hold on to even though it leaves us miserable and eventually kills us. Jesus chose to embrace what he never in his life chose to manifest.
Jesus chose to embrace the pain, the distortion and the death of a soul that separates from God. In that choice Jesus brought the love and holiness of God right into the very center of human sin. By doing that, Jesus reunited humanity with divinity and restored to us what we abandoned.
He accomplished this amazing restoration through the divine power of eternal love. And, because he chose to bring love to the place of pain he offers reunification with God as a gift. The offer is not a command. There is no condemnation in the gift. There is no need to earn the gift. There is no body of knowledge we have to acquire first before we can accept the gift.
The gift is free to all. The gift is the love of God reaching out to a lost and lonely and fear filled soul with the words: I am here for you. I have already embraced that terrible pain in your soul that you fear to confront. Receive the gift and find the fulfillment of all of your dreams and desires in a new way of living.
The crowds had shouted out: Hosanna- save us we pray. Jesus answered their prayer. He answered it in a way no one ever expected. He answered it perfectly and fully. He answered it with the infinite love and compassion that embraced sin and death and rose again to bring us eternal life here and now.
That eternal life is not a duration of existence. It is a quality of being we can enjoy now. It comes to us when we, too, however imperfectly and selfishly cry out to God: save us we pray.
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