3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Why are you afraid?
Fear is one of three major distortions in the human soul that perpetuates separation from God. The other two distortions are self will and pride. In this passage of scripture Jesus addresses fear.
Now, not all fear is a spiritual distortion. Fear in the sense of caution and respect has an important survival value. There is nothing inherently fearful about fire. But, we need to have a healthy respect for fire and approach it with caution.
The Bible teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Once again, that kind of fear is the respect and reverence we are invited to have when we approach God. If we approach God with self will or pride we miss who God is. We miss the blessing. And, when we miss the blessing we blame God. In reality, it is not God who with held the blessing. It is our own attachment to separation that blocks the blessing.
The apostles experienced a different kind of fear. Had Jesus not been who he claimed to be, the fear might have been justified. If you have ever been caught in a windstorm you know the justifiable fear. It is self preservation. It motivates you to seek cover and to protect yourself.
The apostles were in an open boat in the middle of the sea. They were sinking. They were in danger of death. Yet, Jesus was sleeping through the storm. The wind and waves and the water filling the boat failed to wake him.
The apostles wakened Jesus with a rebuke. Don’t you care? They asked. Don’t you care that we are all about to die? They were in a state of panic and despair.
They had already witnessed the amazing miracles Jesus performed. They could have awakened Jesus with the words, save us. Help us. But, their faith was weak. Their fear was strong. Mixed in with that strong fear was frustration, anger and demand.
The apostles were not yet living by faith. They had not yet accepted the reality that the Messiah was, and is, and forever will be the Infinite and Eternal Love of God in human flesh.
They were still living from the place of demand, fear, and anger.
Fear always lives from the place of demand. Fear says: give me what I want and what I need- now. Because, if I don’t get it my life will be painful. Fear based living produces fear based religion. And, fear based religion always produces suffering.
The suffering of fear comes from recycled pain. In our state of separation from God we seek substitutes for God in other people, in our possessions and in our pleasures. We seek to impose our will in all situations at all times. We live in a state of constant agitation, worry and anxiety.
Some times we mask our fears with distractions. We see this modeled in the experience of the apostles. When Jesus performed his miracles they were elated. But, they missed the meaning and the purpose of the miracles. They immediately interpreted the miracles as a display of divine power rather than an outpouring of divine love. They thought in terms of command and control rather than love and compassion.
When Jesus stills the storm he does not impose command and control. When Jesus stills the storm, he manifests peace. He says: Peace. Be still. He is speaking as much to the troubled souls and agitated hearts of the apostles as he is to the wind and the waves.
And then, there was a dead calm. The miracle was instantaneous. From a tempest to calm in less than a second. It was like turning on a light switch in a dark room.
In that calm, Jesus begins to teach. As is often the case with Jesus he teaches by asking questions. Why do you fear?
That is a good question. There is no record of an answer. The apostles were filled with awe. They were amazed. In fact, their amazement reveals the first part of the answer they might have given Jesus. Lack of faith. Lack of trust. Fear based religion.
An expectation that life will in the end only result in suffering and death.
The second part of the answer to Jesus’ question comes in what the apostles did say and to whom. Instead of speaking with Jesus and seeking clarification and wisdom they talked to each other. They shared their bewilderment about Jesus with each other. They could have simply spoken to Jesus. He was right there in the boat with them. They didn’t.
They didn’t speak to Jesus and seek clarification because they were still living from fear. They were still attached to separation. The simple and straightforward reality of God with them was too much for them to accept. They turned away from Jesus and spoke about him, not to him, or with him.
These events are recorded for our benefit. Implicit in all of the Bible stories about humanity’s fear, self will and pride is the question Jesus asked the apostles that day: Why are you afraid?
Where is your faith?
Fear can only transform to faith through love.
Fear based religion cannot produce faith. It can produce submission to a set of laws. It can produce a will to power that seeks to convert and conquer. It can produce a pride that says: I have it all figured out and you don’t. I am righteous and you are not.
Faith based religion is formed by love. It is an invitation, not a command, into a new way of living. It engages the human soul in a life long process of transformation. It reveals to us that God is real, God is personal, God is love, God is Jesus Christ. It is a relationship with the Living Lord. We grow in faith as we cultivate the relationship. We transform our minds, hearts and wills in faith as that relationship builds trust, and confidence and courage.
The experience of a life of faith produces peace. It is the peace that passes understanding. It is the peace that stills the agitation of the soul and fills us with divine grace. It is the growing confidence that Jesus is the good shepherd who walks with us in all the stages of our life and is with us even in the valley of death.
This faith is a gift God gives us in his word, in his sacraments, in the liturgy, in private prayer and in the relationships we have with other believers.
The Bible says; Perfect love casts out fear. That perfect Love is Jesus Christ. Draw close to him. Speak with him, not just about him. Seek the moments of grace as the Holy Spirit makes them available to you.. Experience the faith. Experience the peace.
Jesus says: why do you fear. Receive my peace. Be still and know that I am God with you, God for you, God ever at your side now and forever.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Pentecost II
2nd Sunday after Pentecost
The Kingdom of Heaven is like....
Jesus taught in many forms. One form he used frequently was the parable. A parable is a story drawn from ordinary life. It is a story crafted to communicate a truth.
Parables are not unique to Jesus. Jesus did use them in a very powerful way to accomplish several goals.
A parable is not a carefully reasoned analytic presentation of facts that lead to a narrow definition. A parable is a story that not only engages the mind but the heart and the will. It is a story that engages the listener in a process of discovery. The process is open ended. The process itself invites the hearers to discover more about God, other people and themselves.
Jesus’ use of parables reveals what St. Anselm of Canterbury expressed about God. St. Anselm said: God is greater than that which we can conceive. God is greater than the rational arguments and logical definitions people use to speak of God.
There is certainly nothing wrong with the use of reason and logic. We just need to be careful we avoid the intellectual pride that reduces the infinite and eternal God to a set of rational principles.
There are certain things we can know about God. God is real. God is personal. God is love. God is Jesus Christ. There are many things we can only appreciate about God in the experience of the Great Mystery of Divine Love.
Jesus used simile and metaphor to remind us all that God is the Great Mystery. God is infinite and we are finite. God is eternal and we live in the realm of time.
Parables also reveal to us that the Creation is essentially good. And, the creation in all of its unique particularity reveals the divine rational and transcendent pattern of the Logos, the co-eternal Word of God.
God reveals himself to us through the natural order because every aspect of the natural order bears the imprint of the logos, the Word. The seed reveals the mystery of new life, growth and transformation. Night and day come and go in a steady rhythm.
Both are necessary for the seed to sprout and to grow. Sun and air, earth and water all play their part in the development of the seed to produce the abundance of the harvest.
The parable reveals to us that the creation is profoundly sacramental. Through the parable we learn that there are no ordinary moments. God infuses the ordinary with the extraordinary. God infuses the creation with grace.
The parable also helps us understand the Great Mystery of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ. The underlying reality of Jesus Christ is the incarnation. In Jesus, the co-eternal Word of God becomes a particular human being. The Word sanctifies human flesh and incorporates it into the divine life of the Blessed Trinity. Incarnation overcomes separation.
Jesus taught in parables because all people live from a place of separation. All cultures design ways of thinking and indeed ways of knowing that perpetuate separation. There is nothing inherently wrong with rational thought. What is wrong, and more than that, what is deadly wrong is the way people use reason to preserve separation.
The problem of separation is not in the mind, or the heart, or even in the will. The problem of separation lies in the soul. It lies in the real choice the human species has made and continues to make in all of its societies, cultures and religions.
The parable reaches past our reason based defenses and invites us into a different vision of the Creation itself. It is a vision of meaning and purpose. It is an experience of personal love and compassion. It is not anti intellectual. It is both transcendent in its vision and tangible in its experience.
Every time we see a plant growing we have the opportunity to remember the parables of the seed and witness the reality of the living God working in the natural order. And then, we can remember Jesus saying; the kingdom of heaven is just like that. The kingdom of heaven is as close as the winter rain and as sweet as the summer fruit. It has all of the promise of Spring planting and all of the celebration of the Fall harvest.
It is present sacramentally in the waters of baptism, in the bread and wine of holy communion because the creation itself holds the pattern, the plan and the purpose of the co-eternal Word of God. The Kingdom of God is present to each of us because that co-eternal Word became a human being, Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom of heaven is not found in narrow definitions, laws or spiritual disciplines. The Kingdom of Heaven is the reality of the infinite and eternal Word of God implanted in our souls and made manifest in all aspect of the Creation.
Separation blinds us to that reality. It reduces all of our senses to the minimalist outward and visible form. It so distorts our reason, will and emotions that we come to call good evil and evil good without any concern for the consequences of our choices.
The parables invite the soul to consider the inward and spiritual grace. Jesus invites us into an opened ended exploration of reality and experience of truth. Jesus invites us to wake up and pay attention. To ponder the truth, not just to encapsulate it in some narrow categories. To savor the moment of grace when God speaks to us and invites us to experience a new and more abundant way of living. Jesus invites us to consider how our lives can be transformed in the personal relationship with God he offers us in the ordinary moments that hold extraordinary grace.
The kingdom of heaven is not narrow and restrictive, it is like the most amazing miracles that form every day life. It is like the miracle of life itself. It is the Great Mystery of Creation, Incarnation, and Transformation in Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like....
Jesus taught in many forms. One form he used frequently was the parable. A parable is a story drawn from ordinary life. It is a story crafted to communicate a truth.
Parables are not unique to Jesus. Jesus did use them in a very powerful way to accomplish several goals.
A parable is not a carefully reasoned analytic presentation of facts that lead to a narrow definition. A parable is a story that not only engages the mind but the heart and the will. It is a story that engages the listener in a process of discovery. The process is open ended. The process itself invites the hearers to discover more about God, other people and themselves.
Jesus’ use of parables reveals what St. Anselm of Canterbury expressed about God. St. Anselm said: God is greater than that which we can conceive. God is greater than the rational arguments and logical definitions people use to speak of God.
There is certainly nothing wrong with the use of reason and logic. We just need to be careful we avoid the intellectual pride that reduces the infinite and eternal God to a set of rational principles.
There are certain things we can know about God. God is real. God is personal. God is love. God is Jesus Christ. There are many things we can only appreciate about God in the experience of the Great Mystery of Divine Love.
Jesus used simile and metaphor to remind us all that God is the Great Mystery. God is infinite and we are finite. God is eternal and we live in the realm of time.
Parables also reveal to us that the Creation is essentially good. And, the creation in all of its unique particularity reveals the divine rational and transcendent pattern of the Logos, the co-eternal Word of God.
God reveals himself to us through the natural order because every aspect of the natural order bears the imprint of the logos, the Word. The seed reveals the mystery of new life, growth and transformation. Night and day come and go in a steady rhythm.
Both are necessary for the seed to sprout and to grow. Sun and air, earth and water all play their part in the development of the seed to produce the abundance of the harvest.
The parable reveals to us that the creation is profoundly sacramental. Through the parable we learn that there are no ordinary moments. God infuses the ordinary with the extraordinary. God infuses the creation with grace.
The parable also helps us understand the Great Mystery of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ. The underlying reality of Jesus Christ is the incarnation. In Jesus, the co-eternal Word of God becomes a particular human being. The Word sanctifies human flesh and incorporates it into the divine life of the Blessed Trinity. Incarnation overcomes separation.
Jesus taught in parables because all people live from a place of separation. All cultures design ways of thinking and indeed ways of knowing that perpetuate separation. There is nothing inherently wrong with rational thought. What is wrong, and more than that, what is deadly wrong is the way people use reason to preserve separation.
The problem of separation is not in the mind, or the heart, or even in the will. The problem of separation lies in the soul. It lies in the real choice the human species has made and continues to make in all of its societies, cultures and religions.
The parable reaches past our reason based defenses and invites us into a different vision of the Creation itself. It is a vision of meaning and purpose. It is an experience of personal love and compassion. It is not anti intellectual. It is both transcendent in its vision and tangible in its experience.
Every time we see a plant growing we have the opportunity to remember the parables of the seed and witness the reality of the living God working in the natural order. And then, we can remember Jesus saying; the kingdom of heaven is just like that. The kingdom of heaven is as close as the winter rain and as sweet as the summer fruit. It has all of the promise of Spring planting and all of the celebration of the Fall harvest.
It is present sacramentally in the waters of baptism, in the bread and wine of holy communion because the creation itself holds the pattern, the plan and the purpose of the co-eternal Word of God. The Kingdom of God is present to each of us because that co-eternal Word became a human being, Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom of heaven is not found in narrow definitions, laws or spiritual disciplines. The Kingdom of Heaven is the reality of the infinite and eternal Word of God implanted in our souls and made manifest in all aspect of the Creation.
Separation blinds us to that reality. It reduces all of our senses to the minimalist outward and visible form. It so distorts our reason, will and emotions that we come to call good evil and evil good without any concern for the consequences of our choices.
The parables invite the soul to consider the inward and spiritual grace. Jesus invites us into an opened ended exploration of reality and experience of truth. Jesus invites us to wake up and pay attention. To ponder the truth, not just to encapsulate it in some narrow categories. To savor the moment of grace when God speaks to us and invites us to experience a new and more abundant way of living. Jesus invites us to consider how our lives can be transformed in the personal relationship with God he offers us in the ordinary moments that hold extraordinary grace.
The kingdom of heaven is not narrow and restrictive, it is like the most amazing miracles that form every day life. It is like the miracle of life itself. It is the Great Mystery of Creation, Incarnation, and Transformation in Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday
God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world.
Jesus Christ is the fullness of God in human flesh. The central teaching that Jesus brings is love. Divine Love. Pure unconditional compassion. Eternal steadfast holy love.
The Holy Spirit selected a teen ager by the name of John to experience the reality of that divine unconditional love and compassion in a unique and powerful way. For, it is John who remembered and recorded Jesus teaching Nicodemus, an elder and a religious leader, that there is no condemnation in divine love.
This must have astonished Nicodemus. In Nicodemus’ time the religious schools of Israel had finally overcome the trap of polytheism after over a thousand years of struggle. They had come to understand that there is indeed only one God. Their view of God was so lofty and so transcendent that they feared even to speak the name God had revealed to Moses. And that was the problem that first century Judaism faced. The problem of fear.
The thirty or so sects of Judaism in the First Century bitterly and some times violently disagreed over what the One God wanted. But they all agreed there was only one God. Sadly, as is all too common amongst human beings, they formed a conclusion that the one God only related to human beings through the Law. The Law could reward. And the Law could punish. The Law could commend. And, the Law could condemn. Condemnation was the great fear underlying religion.
As a law based religion, first century Judaism asked the question what must I do to earn my reward and avoid punishment. This question was not unique to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the other sects of Judaism. Human beings have a tendency to bend and shape and eventually warp religious insights into two molds.
One mold is held by pride. The other mold is held by despair.
Both are supported by the pillars of fear and self will.
Pride based religion asserts that I can do it myself. I can discern who God is, what God wants, and how to get what I want from God. The fear in this religion is the fear that some one else will some how stop me or prevent me from accomplishing this. The self will in this religious approach leads to conflict and wars.
Pride has a tendency to morph into despair. That process has an intermediate step: indifference. The fear is that I can’t figure it out. It is too complex. Or, that since I can’t figure out it must be that the universe really has no underlying meaning and purpose. The self will asserts, if I cannot have the proof I demand to know who God is and what God wants in a way that makes sense to me, then I will not believe.
Pride, indifference, despair all share the common threads of fear and self will. They all proceed from and maintain the separation of the soul from God. They all avoid the real problem and so they all miss the real solution to the problem.
Jesus discerned that Nicodemus was searching. But, Nicodemus was also trapped in the internal logic of his culture. He thought in terms of law. He thought in terms of rewards and punishments. He was searching but he was searching blind. He could not see beyond fear and self will. Nicodemus not only needed a new insight he needed a new way of living. That insight is what the apostle John has recorded for all people and for all time: God is love. That new way of living is a person. Jesus Christ.
The one God is love. The one God is the Father who has sent the Son into the world to reveal Love. The one God is the Holy Spirit who invites all souls everywhere to experience a new reality by experiencing the love of God in Jesus Christ.
The apostolic teaching that the one God is three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit is grounded in Jesus’s teaching that God is love. That love is personal. That love is complete within itself. Divine love is a community of love that manifests for all eternity as the one who loves, the Father. The Beloved, the son. The very power of love the Father and Son share- the Holy Spirit.
Each person of the Trinity is unique and distinct. Each person of the Trinity is co eternally the God who is pure unconditional and self existing steadfast holy love. That love is active, dynamic, creative, self giving.
Jesus came not just to found another school of thought or a religion or a philosophy. Jesus didn’t come to discuss possible solutions to life’s difficulties. That is what Nicodemus was looking for: a nice, perhaps even stimulating, religious discussion to add just a little insight into what he already believed. To add just a little more vibrancy into how he had been living his life
Jesus came for a very different purpose. Jesus is the solution to the underlying problem that all human beings face. The problem is separation. That separation may manifest in pride, indifference or despair. That separation will lead the soul into fear and self will.
Jesus offers us an entirely different way. Jesus just doesn’t add to what already have or how we are already living. Jesus completely transforms us through a new way of living. It is the way of steadfast holy love. It is the way of reunification with God the Father. It is the way of transformation in God the Holy Spirit. It is the way of being reborn into God the Son, Jesus Christ.
In Jesus Christ there is no condemnation. In Jesus Christ we are one with the blessed and eternal Triune God who is love. In Jesus Christ we can, if we choose, enjoy a new way of living characterized no longer by pride, fear and self will but by faith, hope and charity. It is what some have called being born again.
Our first birth, a physical birth, is a birth into a species and a world that is lost in fear, separation, condemnation and death. The second birth, a spiritual birth, in a birth into eternal love.
There is no condemnation in love. There is only the joy of reunification with the divine. There is only the amazing adventure of continual transformation in the infinite and eternal love of God through our friendship with Jesus Christ.
John, the apostle discovered this friendship when he was a teen. He wrote about it for us. Through his writing, the Holy Spirit speaks to us and asks us: have you been born again? Are you still living under the fear of condemnation? If so- hear the words again and again. Believe the words for the first time. Renew your mind and heart and will in the words today, and tomorrow and forever.
God so loved the world.
God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world.
Jesus Christ is the fullness of God in human flesh. The central teaching that Jesus brings is love. Divine Love. Pure unconditional compassion. Eternal steadfast holy love.
The Holy Spirit selected a teen ager by the name of John to experience the reality of that divine unconditional love and compassion in a unique and powerful way. For, it is John who remembered and recorded Jesus teaching Nicodemus, an elder and a religious leader, that there is no condemnation in divine love.
This must have astonished Nicodemus. In Nicodemus’ time the religious schools of Israel had finally overcome the trap of polytheism after over a thousand years of struggle. They had come to understand that there is indeed only one God. Their view of God was so lofty and so transcendent that they feared even to speak the name God had revealed to Moses. And that was the problem that first century Judaism faced. The problem of fear.
The thirty or so sects of Judaism in the First Century bitterly and some times violently disagreed over what the One God wanted. But they all agreed there was only one God. Sadly, as is all too common amongst human beings, they formed a conclusion that the one God only related to human beings through the Law. The Law could reward. And the Law could punish. The Law could commend. And, the Law could condemn. Condemnation was the great fear underlying religion.
As a law based religion, first century Judaism asked the question what must I do to earn my reward and avoid punishment. This question was not unique to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the other sects of Judaism. Human beings have a tendency to bend and shape and eventually warp religious insights into two molds.
One mold is held by pride. The other mold is held by despair.
Both are supported by the pillars of fear and self will.
Pride based religion asserts that I can do it myself. I can discern who God is, what God wants, and how to get what I want from God. The fear in this religion is the fear that some one else will some how stop me or prevent me from accomplishing this. The self will in this religious approach leads to conflict and wars.
Pride has a tendency to morph into despair. That process has an intermediate step: indifference. The fear is that I can’t figure it out. It is too complex. Or, that since I can’t figure out it must be that the universe really has no underlying meaning and purpose. The self will asserts, if I cannot have the proof I demand to know who God is and what God wants in a way that makes sense to me, then I will not believe.
Pride, indifference, despair all share the common threads of fear and self will. They all proceed from and maintain the separation of the soul from God. They all avoid the real problem and so they all miss the real solution to the problem.
Jesus discerned that Nicodemus was searching. But, Nicodemus was also trapped in the internal logic of his culture. He thought in terms of law. He thought in terms of rewards and punishments. He was searching but he was searching blind. He could not see beyond fear and self will. Nicodemus not only needed a new insight he needed a new way of living. That insight is what the apostle John has recorded for all people and for all time: God is love. That new way of living is a person. Jesus Christ.
The one God is love. The one God is the Father who has sent the Son into the world to reveal Love. The one God is the Holy Spirit who invites all souls everywhere to experience a new reality by experiencing the love of God in Jesus Christ.
The apostolic teaching that the one God is three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit is grounded in Jesus’s teaching that God is love. That love is personal. That love is complete within itself. Divine love is a community of love that manifests for all eternity as the one who loves, the Father. The Beloved, the son. The very power of love the Father and Son share- the Holy Spirit.
Each person of the Trinity is unique and distinct. Each person of the Trinity is co eternally the God who is pure unconditional and self existing steadfast holy love. That love is active, dynamic, creative, self giving.
Jesus came not just to found another school of thought or a religion or a philosophy. Jesus didn’t come to discuss possible solutions to life’s difficulties. That is what Nicodemus was looking for: a nice, perhaps even stimulating, religious discussion to add just a little insight into what he already believed. To add just a little more vibrancy into how he had been living his life
Jesus came for a very different purpose. Jesus is the solution to the underlying problem that all human beings face. The problem is separation. That separation may manifest in pride, indifference or despair. That separation will lead the soul into fear and self will.
Jesus offers us an entirely different way. Jesus just doesn’t add to what already have or how we are already living. Jesus completely transforms us through a new way of living. It is the way of steadfast holy love. It is the way of reunification with God the Father. It is the way of transformation in God the Holy Spirit. It is the way of being reborn into God the Son, Jesus Christ.
In Jesus Christ there is no condemnation. In Jesus Christ we are one with the blessed and eternal Triune God who is love. In Jesus Christ we can, if we choose, enjoy a new way of living characterized no longer by pride, fear and self will but by faith, hope and charity. It is what some have called being born again.
Our first birth, a physical birth, is a birth into a species and a world that is lost in fear, separation, condemnation and death. The second birth, a spiritual birth, in a birth into eternal love.
There is no condemnation in love. There is only the joy of reunification with the divine. There is only the amazing adventure of continual transformation in the infinite and eternal love of God through our friendship with Jesus Christ.
John, the apostle discovered this friendship when he was a teen. He wrote about it for us. Through his writing, the Holy Spirit speaks to us and asks us: have you been born again? Are you still living under the fear of condemnation? If so- hear the words again and again. Believe the words for the first time. Renew your mind and heart and will in the words today, and tomorrow and forever.
God so loved the world.
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