Pentecost 12 (Matthew 18:15-20)
Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
A solitary soul is a soul in disintegration.
Moses was very clear when he declared God’s word: it is not good for man to be alone. The Biblical teaching of creation is the teaching that God created human beings as a community. We are each unique in our personality and gifts. And, we are part of a greater whole.
The Anglican poet priest John Donne said it best: no man is an island.
Jesus tells us he is present to us most fully and completely in community. Those who are baptized into Christ are one with The Father, through the Son, in the Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit. Through our baptism we are reunified with God. We discover the astonishing reality that the One God is a community of three persons.
To be in Christ is to be in a new relationship with God, other people and the truth of our own soul.
Our Heavenly Father designed the fullness of humanity to be the forever companion of the co-eternal Beloved Son. The Father designed each of us individually and all of us as a unified species according to the pattern, plan and purpose of the Beloved.
The pattern is love. The love is what defines God and expresses the oneness of God in three persons: the One who loves (the Father), the Beloved (the son) and the very power and presence of love (the Holy Spirit). The pattern of human life as designed by God is to be in an active, dynamic, spontaneous, creative and never ending community of love.
The plan is love. God the Father created humanity by the power of God the Holy Spirit to share the Love of God the Son. Through the Son God pours his love into us. Through the Son we pour forth our love to God, other people and to ourselves.
The purpose is love. God the Father designed humanity to be dependent on Him and interdependent with each other. It is in God and God alone that we live and move and have our being. The highest form of our original purpose is worship. Through worship we make a real choice to immerse the totality of our being, our mind, heart and will, in the eternal love of the Triune God.
We have life only through God. God just doesn’t have life. God is life. God is eternal life. We live because God created us. We die because we as a species made an original choice to separate from God. We live again as we reunite with God according to the original blessing of God. That original blessing is the Beloved, Jesus Christ.
The original blessing becomes real to us and present to us in the three loves that define our essence and can form our existence. Those three loves are love of God through worship, love of other people through service, and love of self through personal transformation.
Our Heavenly Father has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to call all people to receive the gift of the original blessing in the co-eternal Beloved, Jesus Christ. The call of God is the call to worship, the highest form of love. The call to worship is the call to reunify with the Father through the Son. The call to worship is the call to transform our mind, our heart and our will in the living presence of God the Holy Spirit.
The call to transformation is the call to service. It is the call to ask the question of other people: how may I help? It is the call to humility in the way we relate to each other. It is the call to practice compassion.
Our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation is to restore a lost, broken and disintegrating humanity to wholeness, health, happiness and holiness.
There can be no rugged individual in the new life of Christ. There can be no solitary spiritual pioneer in the new way of living in the Holy Spirit. There can be no exclusive right to rule or dominate.
God created our species to be a unified interdependent whole. Jesus reminds of this truth when he teaches that if one of us suffers we all suffer. The apostle Paul reveals to us that we collectively, not individually, are the Body of Christ. The Beloved apostle John reveals to us that we collectively are the Bride of Christ.
We enter into the waters of baptism lost in separation. We rise to the new life of Christ as a unique individual member of the Body of Christ. We come to the altar of sacrifice only in community. As a priest I cannot celebrate the holy sacrifice of the Mass alone. At least one other person must be present.
We learn to become who God created us to be at the altar, in the family and in our service to other people. We diminish our selves as we choose separation and isolation. We become less human as we live from the place of self will. We acquire free will only as we pray the prayer Jesus taught us: heavenly Father, your will be done.
The new life is a gift of God in Jesus Christ. The new way of living this new life can produce is a choice we make in the Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit. This new way of living is the Way of Jesus Christ, the way of surrender in love, through love and for love.
Jesus never asks us to submit to the power of God. Jesus asks us and shows us how to surrender to the love of God.
The Plan of Salvation is not for us to grovel in fear before Divine Majesty. The Plan of salvation is for us to feel the loving embrace of the co-eternal Beloved. The result is for us to share what God has given us in Christ and what God daily offers us through Christ.
God gives us his unmerited favor. And so, God asks us to give that same unmerited favor to others. We do not deserve God’s favor. And others do not deserve our favor. In Christ, God pours his favor, his grace, into the souls of all seven billion human beings on this plant. It is our choice to receive the grace. And, it is our choice to be an open channel of grace. It starts when we make a monumental decision to give other people the benefit of the doubt and to offer them what God is pouring into our hearts. Grace.
The Bible is very clear. God created the heavens and the earth. God created all life including our species according to one divine principle and pattern. God has a plan for our species and a unique purpose for each of us.
The principle, the pattern, the plan and the purpose are all revealed to us and for us in Jesus Christ. In this teaching Jesus reminds us of who God created us to be. We are most human and most alive within a community of unconditional love. We cannot experience the reality of that love apart from its source. We cannot fulfill the purpose of that love in isolation.
In Christ we have been reunified with the Triune God. In Christ we are being reunified with the fullness of the human species. Christ has already accomplished these things for us. Our choice is to be who God the Father has created us to be as we become whom God the Son has given us to be.
No man is an island. We are only human as we participate in the human community. We are most fully human as we participate in the human community with the very source of our being: Jesus Christ. The unfailing promise of Jesus Christ is: where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Pentecost 11
Pentecost 11 “Take up your cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:21-28)
Divine revelation does not restrict human choice.
We heard in last week’s gospel reading how Peter had declared Jesus to be the Messiah. Peter not only stated that Jesus was the Messiah, he also asserted that Jesus was the Son of God.
It is easy to miss the impact of that statement. In our time and culture we assume that if God exists then all people are God’s children. The Bible and the people who lived in the ancient world believed God created all people but all people were not his children.
The Bible speaks in terms of “sonship”. Sonship had a very precise legal meaning in the ancient world. When a Roman child was born the attending midwife laid the infant at the father’s feet. If the father picked up the child he acknowledged it as his and it became a real person and a member of the family and society. If the father refused to pick up the child and walked away, the baby was a non person. A slave would take the child outside the city walls and abandon it.
In Abraham God adopted a single family as his children. In Jesus, God offers adoption to all people everywhere. In Jesus God unites the co-eternal Beloved Son with human nature. In Jesus, God incorporates humanity into His own Triune Life.
The adoption is available to all. The adoption is not imposed on any.
Peter exemplifies this as he makes a choice to reject the inward and spiritual meaning of the new reality our Heavenly Father revealed to him. Peter was just not ready to enter into the fullness of God’s unmerited favor and unconditional love.
Peter had the words but he not only missed the meaning he refused to accept the meaning.
Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. He assumed the sonship was the adoption through Abraham. He refused to accept the reality that God was truly Jesus’ father. Peter also assumed that the Messiah would do the things and be the person everyone expected.
The expectation for the Messiah was very precise. The Messiah would be a military leader who would destroy Rome, enslave the nations, execute corrupt priests and impose one religion on everyone. It was an imperial vision of religion and politics united in a new king.
When Jesus told Peter the Plan of Salvation involved suffering, death and resurrection, Peter would not accept God’s Plan. Peter had his own plan and Jesus identifies the source of Peter’s plan as Satan. It is Satan’s Plan because it does not derive from the teachings of Moses and the Prophets. It is Satan’s plan because it is a distortion of the grace, peace and mercy God had revealed to Moses and the Prophets.
Satan had tempted Jesus in the wilderness three years before this moment. Satan had attempted to convince Jesus to pursue the path of power and abandon the path of sacrificial love.
The outward and visible sign of sacrificial love is the cross. Death on a cross was shameful and excruciating. The man who died on the cross died as a rebel against human government and divine order. Whoever died on a cross died under a divine curse.
The way of salvation is the way of the cross. Only by dying on the cross could Jesus trap sin and death in order to transform them into love and life. Jesus was no mere mortal. He was fully human and fully divine. As he suffered and died he literally assumed the sin and death of the entire human race. Since he was fully human he suffered unimaginable torment. Since he was fully divine he transformed sin and death by the power of his own infinite and eternal love.
The Plan of Salvation is reunification and transformation.
Peter missed that reality. He was looking for a quick fix that would impose divine will on human will through human politics and institutions. Peter was working with the wrong assumptions about God and humanity.
It just wasn’t Peter. And, it just isn’t Peter. God revealed to Moses and the Prophets that the problem that defines human nature in separation. We as a species chose to separate from God. In that separation we are lost. We are not only lost we do not want to be found.
We don’t like the world we have created but we want a solution to the problem that allows us to be in charge and impose our will on others. This is where Peter was stuck. This is why Peter missed the point and refused to accept our Heavenly Father’s Plan of salvation.
And, this is why Jesus teaches that whoever follows him must follow the Father’s Plan of Salvation. God only has one Plan of Salvation. It is Jesus Christ.
Satan offers an amazing array of alternate plans in religion, philosophy, science and politics. They all rely on the human will to power. They all encourage us to say: my will be done. They work within the context of fear, self will and pride.
The way of the cross is the way of Jesus who prayed: heavenly Father not my will but Thy will be done. This is not just religion. It is a new life that produces a new way of living.
The way of the cross is the way of salvation. It is the way of God’s unmerited favor towards us and God’s unconditional love for us. It is the only way of Salvation because it is the way our Heavenly Father designed and accomplished in His only Son, Jesus Christ.
Peter offered a different Plan of Salvation. It seemed very reasonable and in keeping with the cultural expectations of the day. It was not our Heavenly Father’s Plan. Jesus not only rejects Peter’s Plan he tells Peter in no uncertain terms that his plan is really Satan’s Plan. It is a Plan of Damnation grounded in separation and formed to suit the human will to power.
The Way of the Cross begins at the cross and then continues forever both in this world and in the life of the world to come. It is the way of reunification and transformation. It is the way of sacrificial love that seeks wisdom and practices compassion.
Above all else, the Way of Salvation is the way of self examination and purification in the unmerited favor of God and the unconditional love of God. As St. Paul wrote, now we understand in part. In this life we will always understand in part. We will always grow and transform as we practice the Presence of God in worship and service to others.
The way of the cross is not the way of submission to Law or even religion. It is the way of surrender to Divine Love. Jesus is the way of salvation because Jesus is the Divine Bridegroom who invites us to participate in the joys of the wedding feast.
The way of salvation is Jesus because Jesus is the gift of reunification with God the Father, transformation in God the Holy Spirit and celebration in the eternal love of God the Son.
Divine revelation does not restrict human choice.
We heard in last week’s gospel reading how Peter had declared Jesus to be the Messiah. Peter not only stated that Jesus was the Messiah, he also asserted that Jesus was the Son of God.
It is easy to miss the impact of that statement. In our time and culture we assume that if God exists then all people are God’s children. The Bible and the people who lived in the ancient world believed God created all people but all people were not his children.
The Bible speaks in terms of “sonship”. Sonship had a very precise legal meaning in the ancient world. When a Roman child was born the attending midwife laid the infant at the father’s feet. If the father picked up the child he acknowledged it as his and it became a real person and a member of the family and society. If the father refused to pick up the child and walked away, the baby was a non person. A slave would take the child outside the city walls and abandon it.
In Abraham God adopted a single family as his children. In Jesus, God offers adoption to all people everywhere. In Jesus God unites the co-eternal Beloved Son with human nature. In Jesus, God incorporates humanity into His own Triune Life.
The adoption is available to all. The adoption is not imposed on any.
Peter exemplifies this as he makes a choice to reject the inward and spiritual meaning of the new reality our Heavenly Father revealed to him. Peter was just not ready to enter into the fullness of God’s unmerited favor and unconditional love.
Peter had the words but he not only missed the meaning he refused to accept the meaning.
Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. He assumed the sonship was the adoption through Abraham. He refused to accept the reality that God was truly Jesus’ father. Peter also assumed that the Messiah would do the things and be the person everyone expected.
The expectation for the Messiah was very precise. The Messiah would be a military leader who would destroy Rome, enslave the nations, execute corrupt priests and impose one religion on everyone. It was an imperial vision of religion and politics united in a new king.
When Jesus told Peter the Plan of Salvation involved suffering, death and resurrection, Peter would not accept God’s Plan. Peter had his own plan and Jesus identifies the source of Peter’s plan as Satan. It is Satan’s Plan because it does not derive from the teachings of Moses and the Prophets. It is Satan’s plan because it is a distortion of the grace, peace and mercy God had revealed to Moses and the Prophets.
Satan had tempted Jesus in the wilderness three years before this moment. Satan had attempted to convince Jesus to pursue the path of power and abandon the path of sacrificial love.
The outward and visible sign of sacrificial love is the cross. Death on a cross was shameful and excruciating. The man who died on the cross died as a rebel against human government and divine order. Whoever died on a cross died under a divine curse.
The way of salvation is the way of the cross. Only by dying on the cross could Jesus trap sin and death in order to transform them into love and life. Jesus was no mere mortal. He was fully human and fully divine. As he suffered and died he literally assumed the sin and death of the entire human race. Since he was fully human he suffered unimaginable torment. Since he was fully divine he transformed sin and death by the power of his own infinite and eternal love.
The Plan of Salvation is reunification and transformation.
Peter missed that reality. He was looking for a quick fix that would impose divine will on human will through human politics and institutions. Peter was working with the wrong assumptions about God and humanity.
It just wasn’t Peter. And, it just isn’t Peter. God revealed to Moses and the Prophets that the problem that defines human nature in separation. We as a species chose to separate from God. In that separation we are lost. We are not only lost we do not want to be found.
We don’t like the world we have created but we want a solution to the problem that allows us to be in charge and impose our will on others. This is where Peter was stuck. This is why Peter missed the point and refused to accept our Heavenly Father’s Plan of salvation.
And, this is why Jesus teaches that whoever follows him must follow the Father’s Plan of Salvation. God only has one Plan of Salvation. It is Jesus Christ.
Satan offers an amazing array of alternate plans in religion, philosophy, science and politics. They all rely on the human will to power. They all encourage us to say: my will be done. They work within the context of fear, self will and pride.
The way of the cross is the way of Jesus who prayed: heavenly Father not my will but Thy will be done. This is not just religion. It is a new life that produces a new way of living.
The way of the cross is the way of salvation. It is the way of God’s unmerited favor towards us and God’s unconditional love for us. It is the only way of Salvation because it is the way our Heavenly Father designed and accomplished in His only Son, Jesus Christ.
Peter offered a different Plan of Salvation. It seemed very reasonable and in keeping with the cultural expectations of the day. It was not our Heavenly Father’s Plan. Jesus not only rejects Peter’s Plan he tells Peter in no uncertain terms that his plan is really Satan’s Plan. It is a Plan of Damnation grounded in separation and formed to suit the human will to power.
The Way of the Cross begins at the cross and then continues forever both in this world and in the life of the world to come. It is the way of reunification and transformation. It is the way of sacrificial love that seeks wisdom and practices compassion.
Above all else, the Way of Salvation is the way of self examination and purification in the unmerited favor of God and the unconditional love of God. As St. Paul wrote, now we understand in part. In this life we will always understand in part. We will always grow and transform as we practice the Presence of God in worship and service to others.
The way of the cross is not the way of submission to Law or even religion. It is the way of surrender to Divine Love. Jesus is the way of salvation because Jesus is the Divine Bridegroom who invites us to participate in the joys of the wedding feast.
The way of salvation is Jesus because Jesus is the gift of reunification with God the Father, transformation in God the Holy Spirit and celebration in the eternal love of God the Son.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Pentecost 10
Pentecost 10 “You are the Christ. You are Peter. (Matthew 16:13-20)
“Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asked his apostles.
This was a very important question with serious implications. Jesus clearly was a unique and powerful individual. If he were a prophet he could speak the word of God and write scripture. If he were the Messiah, he could fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah. For many if not most people in Israel that had a significant political, economic and military impact on society.
Peter had the right answer. You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Unfortunately in the verses that follow this passage we read that Peter also had the wrong understanding.
Peter had the right answer because God the Father had revealed it to him. As we see in this passage, the revelation of God does not over ride the personality or the will of the person who receives the revelation. There is no guarantee that the person who receives the revelation will accept the new reality the revelation brings.
This was certainly true for Peter. He got the point that Jesus was the Messiah. Then, by his own will he chose to define the Messiah within the politics of his time.
We see this as Jesus begins to explain just what the Messiah must do. He must go to Jerusalem. He must be betrayed. He must be tortured, tried, convicted and executed.
This was not what people expected of the Messiah. It was contrary to what Peter and the other disciples wanted from Jesus. So Peter says, God forbid that this should ever happen to you.
Peter missed his moment. Revelation did not override Peter’s sin nature or guarantee Peter would have the infallible understanding of divine truth. Peter chose to rely on his cultural bias rather that the Bible to understand the revelation he received. It was the first time Peter had faltered. It would not be the last.
Peter never was the rock upon which Jesus would build the Church. No human being can hold such a burden. The rock is Christ himself. Only he has the ability to sustain the church, the body of Christ, you and I and all believers everywhere.
When Jesus says to Peter, you are Peter, the Greek text is very precise in its choice of words. A more literal translation of the verse reads: You are Peter (a stone) and on this the rock (Christ himself) I will build my church.
In the metaphorical language of the Old and New Testament the “rock” is always a symbol of God. It never represents a political or religious leader, a prophet, priest or king.
The church is the body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. Christ did not create the church through Peter. Christ sent the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Church on the day of Pentecost.
Peter was certainly a respected leader in the early church. He did not have a unique leadership role. James, the step brother of Jesus, held that role as the first bishop of Jerusalem.
None of the other apostles believed Peter was the rock on whom Jesus was building His church. We read in Scripture how Peter was wrong on two very important issues: should the church preach the gospel to the Gentiles? And, do the Gentiles need to become Jews before they can become Christians?
The question led to the first serious dispute within the Church. The apostles did not turn to Peter and say: you are the infallible vicar of Christ on earth. You decide. The apostles turned to James who convened a council. The council studied scripture, prayed, heard testimony from Paul about the amazing response among the Gentiles to the message of Christ.
The council decided. James issued the decision. Peter accepted the decision. This in fact was the pattern for the church for the first thousand years of its history. No one bishop claimed universal leadership and lordship over the entire church. When the bishop of Rome later made such a claim, the universal church split into two branches in the Great Schism of the year 1054 and finally fractured into thousands of denominations during the 16th century Reformation religious wars.
The purpose of this passage of scripture was never to address the issue of who is in charge. The purpose is to reveal that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God; and, that his own disciples could not accept the meaning and purpose of the Messiah. All people tend to redefine Jesus according to our own needs, desires, and cultural bias.
That is why the solid rock foundation for the Church can only be Jesus himself. The rest of us are fallible, confused, and growing in grace. Only Jesus is the infallible representative of God the Father to a lost and rebellious humanity.
Jesus and Jesus alone is the intermediary between God and humanity.
We dishonor Peter if we attempt to make him hold the impossible burden of being the solid rock foundation for the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. No human being can hold that role.
When Jesus speaks the words: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, he speaks to all of the apostles not just to Peter. How do we know this? The apostle John clarifies this for us when he records Jesus repeating these same words to the apostles after his resurrection. John is very clear that Jesus speaks to all of the apostles and not just to Peter.
What are the keys? They refer to the sacrament of reconciliation. The apostles conferred this authority to the bishops and the bishops conferred it to the priests. It is the authority of the clergy to pronounce the abolution and forgiveness of sins in Jesus name and by Jesus’ steadfast holy and eternal love.
Peter wasn’t quite there yet that day. He had the words. He missed the meaning. That is the human condition. We are all a work in process. We are all on a spiritual pilgrimage. None of us will ever be perfect or infallible in this world. That is why Jesus told his apostles that leaders need to be servants who cultivate humility.
The constant prayer of all believers is the prayer Jesus prayed: Heavenly Father, not my will but your will be done.
The keys to the Kingdom are the unmerited favor of God combined with the unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ. The solid rock foundation of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church is and can only be the incarnate co-eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.
It is as we say to Jesus you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God that Jesus says to us: and you are you. You are the beloved of the co-eternal beloved. And, in that love, the gates of hell will not prevail against you.
“Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asked his apostles.
This was a very important question with serious implications. Jesus clearly was a unique and powerful individual. If he were a prophet he could speak the word of God and write scripture. If he were the Messiah, he could fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah. For many if not most people in Israel that had a significant political, economic and military impact on society.
Peter had the right answer. You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Unfortunately in the verses that follow this passage we read that Peter also had the wrong understanding.
Peter had the right answer because God the Father had revealed it to him. As we see in this passage, the revelation of God does not over ride the personality or the will of the person who receives the revelation. There is no guarantee that the person who receives the revelation will accept the new reality the revelation brings.
This was certainly true for Peter. He got the point that Jesus was the Messiah. Then, by his own will he chose to define the Messiah within the politics of his time.
We see this as Jesus begins to explain just what the Messiah must do. He must go to Jerusalem. He must be betrayed. He must be tortured, tried, convicted and executed.
This was not what people expected of the Messiah. It was contrary to what Peter and the other disciples wanted from Jesus. So Peter says, God forbid that this should ever happen to you.
Peter missed his moment. Revelation did not override Peter’s sin nature or guarantee Peter would have the infallible understanding of divine truth. Peter chose to rely on his cultural bias rather that the Bible to understand the revelation he received. It was the first time Peter had faltered. It would not be the last.
Peter never was the rock upon which Jesus would build the Church. No human being can hold such a burden. The rock is Christ himself. Only he has the ability to sustain the church, the body of Christ, you and I and all believers everywhere.
When Jesus says to Peter, you are Peter, the Greek text is very precise in its choice of words. A more literal translation of the verse reads: You are Peter (a stone) and on this the rock (Christ himself) I will build my church.
In the metaphorical language of the Old and New Testament the “rock” is always a symbol of God. It never represents a political or religious leader, a prophet, priest or king.
The church is the body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. Christ did not create the church through Peter. Christ sent the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Church on the day of Pentecost.
Peter was certainly a respected leader in the early church. He did not have a unique leadership role. James, the step brother of Jesus, held that role as the first bishop of Jerusalem.
None of the other apostles believed Peter was the rock on whom Jesus was building His church. We read in Scripture how Peter was wrong on two very important issues: should the church preach the gospel to the Gentiles? And, do the Gentiles need to become Jews before they can become Christians?
The question led to the first serious dispute within the Church. The apostles did not turn to Peter and say: you are the infallible vicar of Christ on earth. You decide. The apostles turned to James who convened a council. The council studied scripture, prayed, heard testimony from Paul about the amazing response among the Gentiles to the message of Christ.
The council decided. James issued the decision. Peter accepted the decision. This in fact was the pattern for the church for the first thousand years of its history. No one bishop claimed universal leadership and lordship over the entire church. When the bishop of Rome later made such a claim, the universal church split into two branches in the Great Schism of the year 1054 and finally fractured into thousands of denominations during the 16th century Reformation religious wars.
The purpose of this passage of scripture was never to address the issue of who is in charge. The purpose is to reveal that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God; and, that his own disciples could not accept the meaning and purpose of the Messiah. All people tend to redefine Jesus according to our own needs, desires, and cultural bias.
That is why the solid rock foundation for the Church can only be Jesus himself. The rest of us are fallible, confused, and growing in grace. Only Jesus is the infallible representative of God the Father to a lost and rebellious humanity.
Jesus and Jesus alone is the intermediary between God and humanity.
We dishonor Peter if we attempt to make him hold the impossible burden of being the solid rock foundation for the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. No human being can hold that role.
When Jesus speaks the words: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, he speaks to all of the apostles not just to Peter. How do we know this? The apostle John clarifies this for us when he records Jesus repeating these same words to the apostles after his resurrection. John is very clear that Jesus speaks to all of the apostles and not just to Peter.
What are the keys? They refer to the sacrament of reconciliation. The apostles conferred this authority to the bishops and the bishops conferred it to the priests. It is the authority of the clergy to pronounce the abolution and forgiveness of sins in Jesus name and by Jesus’ steadfast holy and eternal love.
Peter wasn’t quite there yet that day. He had the words. He missed the meaning. That is the human condition. We are all a work in process. We are all on a spiritual pilgrimage. None of us will ever be perfect or infallible in this world. That is why Jesus told his apostles that leaders need to be servants who cultivate humility.
The constant prayer of all believers is the prayer Jesus prayed: Heavenly Father, not my will but your will be done.
The keys to the Kingdom are the unmerited favor of God combined with the unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ. The solid rock foundation of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church is and can only be the incarnate co-eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.
It is as we say to Jesus you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God that Jesus says to us: and you are you. You are the beloved of the co-eternal beloved. And, in that love, the gates of hell will not prevail against you.
Friday, August 12, 2011
St. Mary the Virgin
Feast of St. Mary the Virgin 2011
My soul magnifies the Lord. (Luke 1: 46)
Mary was an ordinary person who lived an extraordinary life.
Mary held no political office, wrote no books, and had no titles of honor in her lifetime. She was among the humble and meek of the working poor who live and die in quiet obscurity.
Mary also placed God first in her life. When the archangel Gabriel greeted her he said: “Hail Mary, full of grace.” Even before Mary became the holy mother of God she was filled with grace.
Grace is God’s unmerited favor towards us. Grace proceeds from God’s unconditional love. Where so many people have said and continue to say to God: “what’s in it for me?” Mary simply said: “Amen, let it be.”
Where so many people approach God from the perspective of a discriminating religious consumer, Mary said: “I am the Lord’s servant.”
Where so many people demand the right to define God according to our individual needs and desires, Mary said: holy is His Name.
Mary is a unique personality in human history. She plays a unique role in our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. She heard the word of God, believed the word of God and brought forth the word of God in a way no one else ever has or ever will.
By grace through faith Mary chose to accept our Heavenly Father’s invitation to be the theotokos, the bearer of God. The story of the Annunciation reminds us that the incarnation began when the co-eternal Son permanently and irrevocably united his divinity with our humanity. At the moment Jesus was conceived Mary became the Holy Mother of God.
Alone of all people who will have ever lived on this planet Mary experienced the reality of the incarnation in the most intimate way possible. God’s choice of Mary was not random. Mary’s choice to say “yes” to God was no accident.
God pours out His grace on all people but not all people respond by saying: “Amen, so be it.” God offers all people His unconditional love but not all people respond by saying: “holy is God’s Name.”
The life of the blessed Virgin Mary evokes the teaching of Moses and the prophets that God favors the poor, the meek and the humble. God blesses the weak in order to confound rich and the powerful. God does this so all may see and understand the reality that God is holy unconditional love.
As God is holy unconditional love so he has created us to bear the image of that love and the likeness of that holiness.
Jesus honored his mother with position and titles only after her death. He granted her the gift of immediate resurrection. And, he crowned her Queen of Heaven, Queen of Israel and Queen of the Church. The Bible very clearly states that the Queen of Israel was the Queen Mother. A king would have many wives but only one mother.
The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church honors Mary because Jesus honors Mary. Through her humility and willingness to serve she has become Queen of Heaven and Earth. Her role in the church today is twofold. She is the preeminent intercessor in the Church Triumphant for the salvation and sanctification of souls. And, she is the preeminent model for the statement: you are saved by grace through faith.
Mary models the basic principle of the Summary of the Law. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul; then love your neighbor as you also love your self. Mary understood that love expresses itself in worship, service and personal transformation.
Mary’s title as “theotokos” bearer of God, is the first line of defense against false teachers who reject the incarnation. Mary’s words: “Amen, so be it,” are the first line of defense against self absorbed self indulgent religion. Mary’s role as Queen of Heaven embodies the reality that it is through humility that we bring forth the blessing of divine grace to other people and the world.
Jesus entrusted Mary to the care of the one disciple who remained loyal to Jesus to the end. Jesus gave that disciple the unique title: the beloved. John is the beloved of the co-eternal beloved. Jesus charged Mary, the theotokos, the God Bearer, with the responsibility to complete John’s education.
Mary wrote no books, But the writings of John in the New Testament bear the teaching of Mary. Mary had no honors or titles during her lifetime. But, Jesus revealed to John that Jesus had taken Mary’s body into heaven at her death and crowned her Queen.
The reredos over our altar depicts the Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven. From the very beginning, the Church honored Mary for her unique role in our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. We give no greater honor to Mary than Jesus gave.
Mary embodies St. Paul’s teaching: you are saved by grace through faith. Mary embodies St. James’ teaching: faith without works is dead. Mary embodies the teaching of Moses and the prophets that God favors the poor and exults the humble and meek. Finally, Mary helped the beloved apostle John understand that God just doesn’t have love, God is love.
Mary made a real choice to live by grace through faith in the steadfast holy love of God. As we honor Mary we join our voices with her as she declares to God: Amen. So be it.
My soul magnifies the Lord. (Luke 1: 46)
Mary was an ordinary person who lived an extraordinary life.
Mary held no political office, wrote no books, and had no titles of honor in her lifetime. She was among the humble and meek of the working poor who live and die in quiet obscurity.
Mary also placed God first in her life. When the archangel Gabriel greeted her he said: “Hail Mary, full of grace.” Even before Mary became the holy mother of God she was filled with grace.
Grace is God’s unmerited favor towards us. Grace proceeds from God’s unconditional love. Where so many people have said and continue to say to God: “what’s in it for me?” Mary simply said: “Amen, let it be.”
Where so many people approach God from the perspective of a discriminating religious consumer, Mary said: “I am the Lord’s servant.”
Where so many people demand the right to define God according to our individual needs and desires, Mary said: holy is His Name.
Mary is a unique personality in human history. She plays a unique role in our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. She heard the word of God, believed the word of God and brought forth the word of God in a way no one else ever has or ever will.
By grace through faith Mary chose to accept our Heavenly Father’s invitation to be the theotokos, the bearer of God. The story of the Annunciation reminds us that the incarnation began when the co-eternal Son permanently and irrevocably united his divinity with our humanity. At the moment Jesus was conceived Mary became the Holy Mother of God.
Alone of all people who will have ever lived on this planet Mary experienced the reality of the incarnation in the most intimate way possible. God’s choice of Mary was not random. Mary’s choice to say “yes” to God was no accident.
God pours out His grace on all people but not all people respond by saying: “Amen, so be it.” God offers all people His unconditional love but not all people respond by saying: “holy is God’s Name.”
The life of the blessed Virgin Mary evokes the teaching of Moses and the prophets that God favors the poor, the meek and the humble. God blesses the weak in order to confound rich and the powerful. God does this so all may see and understand the reality that God is holy unconditional love.
As God is holy unconditional love so he has created us to bear the image of that love and the likeness of that holiness.
Jesus honored his mother with position and titles only after her death. He granted her the gift of immediate resurrection. And, he crowned her Queen of Heaven, Queen of Israel and Queen of the Church. The Bible very clearly states that the Queen of Israel was the Queen Mother. A king would have many wives but only one mother.
The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church honors Mary because Jesus honors Mary. Through her humility and willingness to serve she has become Queen of Heaven and Earth. Her role in the church today is twofold. She is the preeminent intercessor in the Church Triumphant for the salvation and sanctification of souls. And, she is the preeminent model for the statement: you are saved by grace through faith.
Mary models the basic principle of the Summary of the Law. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul; then love your neighbor as you also love your self. Mary understood that love expresses itself in worship, service and personal transformation.
Mary’s title as “theotokos” bearer of God, is the first line of defense against false teachers who reject the incarnation. Mary’s words: “Amen, so be it,” are the first line of defense against self absorbed self indulgent religion. Mary’s role as Queen of Heaven embodies the reality that it is through humility that we bring forth the blessing of divine grace to other people and the world.
Jesus entrusted Mary to the care of the one disciple who remained loyal to Jesus to the end. Jesus gave that disciple the unique title: the beloved. John is the beloved of the co-eternal beloved. Jesus charged Mary, the theotokos, the God Bearer, with the responsibility to complete John’s education.
Mary wrote no books, But the writings of John in the New Testament bear the teaching of Mary. Mary had no honors or titles during her lifetime. But, Jesus revealed to John that Jesus had taken Mary’s body into heaven at her death and crowned her Queen.
The reredos over our altar depicts the Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven. From the very beginning, the Church honored Mary for her unique role in our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. We give no greater honor to Mary than Jesus gave.
Mary embodies St. Paul’s teaching: you are saved by grace through faith. Mary embodies St. James’ teaching: faith without works is dead. Mary embodies the teaching of Moses and the prophets that God favors the poor and exults the humble and meek. Finally, Mary helped the beloved apostle John understand that God just doesn’t have love, God is love.
Mary made a real choice to live by grace through faith in the steadfast holy love of God. As we honor Mary we join our voices with her as she declares to God: Amen. So be it.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Pentecost 8
Pentecost 8 (Matthew 14:22-33) “Why did you doubt?”
Doubt from the reaction of fear erodes faith. Doubt from the response of love produces faith.
Doubt is a very curious human phenomenon. As far as we know, only humans experience doubt. Even Satan does not doubt the existence of God. Most, perhaps all, humans doubt the existence of God.
There is passive inherited doubt. This doubt is grounded in superstition, assumption, and a more powerful faith. It is reactive.
Some people doubt the reality of God because they have experienced pain. Some doubt because they have been taught that the world is a dangerous place filled with a myriad of supernatural powers that will just as likely hurt us as help us. Some doubt because they have been taught a very narrow limited and one dimensional world view which has no room for miracles or for God.
There is also an active aggressive doubt. This doubt is grounded in self will and pride. This doubt aggressively attacks faith because it does not want God to be personal and real. It will use the vocabulary of empiricism, materialism and science in order to make an external God vanish. The voice of this active aggressive doubt is the voice of pride which says: I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
Frequently, aggressive doubt is the justification for self indulgence. Some people actively reject and repudiate an image of God as a moral police man who seeks to inhibit the natural human desires for pleasure. This isn’t true. It isn’t true that God seeks to inhibit natural human desires. But, it also isn’t true that the path of self indulgence has any thing to do with natural human desire. Self indulgence is a distortion of natural desire that always produces suffering.
The soul that actively rejects God as a way of asserting the will to power to reject moral boundaries is a soul that seeks to define the universe by will and will alone.
Where passive doubt produces fear that the universe is meaningless, active doubt produces anger and arrogance as it seeks to impose its narrow vision and self will on a universe that is more complex and amazing than any of us can possibly imagine.
There is also an active doubt grounded in a substitute faith. This form of active doubt is what many modern atheists and agnostics practice. They simply believe the material world is the only reality. They also believe the only knowledge available to human beings comes from the experience of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Of course, they also believe that there can be no evidence of any other reality. They have embraced faith in a very narrow materialistic world view that is stuck in a blind feed back loop of absolute certainty.
There is one other form of doubt. This is the doubt of open, honest inquiry. This is the doubt Holy Mother Mary expressed when she heard the words of the archangel Gabriel, when she saw him standing before her. Mary said: how can this be? This is the doubt a scientist cultivates to explore and understand the world. This is the doubt many believers experience as they seek to follow God and understand God’s will. It is doubt in conjunction with humility that seeks understanding.
Certainly, Jesus walking on the water was a miracle. Of course, the disciples did not understand it that way. The Bible is brutally honest as it records how the disciples reacted to Jesus with fear and superstition as they watched him walking on the water. Despite all of the miracles they had witnessed Jesus perform they still thought in terms of the religious culture of their day.
It is important to note that the disciples were frustrated and exhausted by a long night of rowing against the wind. They were experiencing fatigue and that fatigue diminished both faith and reason. They saw Jesus walking on water- not something they or we see every day. In fact, of the thousand year history of the Bible only Jesus is recorded as having walked on water and only on this one occasion.
The disciples saw Jesus and despite their experience of his teaching, actions and character they reacted with fear and superstition. They cried out ‘It’s a ghost”.
The Bible does not teach the reality of ghosts, the spirits of the dead walking the earth. Most religions in the Middle East did not teach the reality of ghosts. Only once does the Bible reference a departed spirit speaking to a living human being, King Saul. The message recorded is one of utter condemnation for King Saul abandoning faith in God and seeking out a medium to summon a spirit from the underworld.
Superstitious people sometimes interpreted dreams or unexplained events in terms of ghosts. Jesus was no ghost. The religion of Israel did not teach the reality of ghosts. Strangely, the presence of Jesus walking on water inspired a reaction of fear and terror amongst the disciples.
The disciples were trapped in passive doubt that comes from frustration, confusion, fatigue and fear.
Jesus allays the disciples’ fear by speaking to them. They hear and recognize his voice. He says three things that can help us in the moments of passive fearful doubt.
First, Jesus says: take heart. Compose yourself. Center your self in the truth of who you are. Find your courage to meet the world from a place of calm confidence.
Second, Jesus gives them the reason for confidence. It is I. He invites them back into faith through friendship and loyalty.
Third, Jesus addresses the fear. As you center yourself in the reality of who you are in the present moment and as you recognize the real presence of Jesus Christ you can access the very essence of the divine: steadfast holy love. Love transforms fear into faith.
Peter shifted his perspective. He no longer saw a ghost. He no longer felt paralyzed by superstition and fear. His passive doubt shifted into active open and honest inquiry. Peter expressed this honest doubt by saying a single word: if.
If it is you, Lord, command me to come to you on the water. Peter had not yet embraced active faith. But he no longer existed in passive doubt.
Jesus replies with a single word of command: “Come!”
It is Jesus inviting Peter to faith by taking an action based in courage, confidence and love.
Peter expresses this courage, confidence and trust by keeping his eyes fixed on Jesus. When he takes his eyes off Jesus he falls back into passive doubt, fear and despair.
As Peter keeps his eyes fixed on Jesus, Peter does what his belief systems teaches is impossible. He walks on water. Once Peter takes his eyes off Jesus, those old beliefs and unquestioned certainties reassert their hold on Peter. He looks at the wind and the waves and despite his own experience he says: this is impossible. I can’t walk on water. No one can walk on water. At that point, he creates his worst fear as he turns a miracle into a tragedy. He begins to sink.
Peter cries out in panic: “Lord save me!”
And Jesus does just that. He does it immediately without hesitation or delay. He picks up Peter, puts him back into the boat, and then enters the boat himself. Then he looks at Peter and says: O you of little faith. You were doing it Peter.
You were doing the impossible, Peter! You were walking on water. And, despite the record of your five senses you chose to reject the reality of the moment. You chose fear. You chose doubt. And in that choice, you sank.
Jesus speaks to all people everywhere in the single powerful and compelling word: Come. Many hear the word and say: not possible. This cannot be real. Others hear the word and say: I don’t want this Jesus to be real. If Jesus is real then my life will have to change and I don’t want to change. Still others react with defiance. No. I will not come to Jesus. I refuse to accept that he even exists. I am the lord of my own life and I will yield to no one.
It is OK to doubt. It is OK to respond to the teaching of Moses and the Prophets with an open honest inquiry: how can this be? It is OK to say to Jesus: if. If you are real help me to experience that reality. Help me to move from fear to faith.
Jesus is the assurance of the infinite and eternal God that human fear can transform into faith through love.
Christian faith is a reasonable trust in a real person. The enemies of Jesus made many accusations against him in the first generation after his death and resurrection. They never asserted he did not exist.
They rejected what Jesus taught but they never said this was not his teaching. They claimed he could perform miracles by deceit or by demonic activity. But, they never said he performed no miracles. They struggled to explain the empty tomb but they never disputed that the tomb was empty.
The evidence for the historic reality of Jesus Christ is compelling. But no amount of evidence can overcome the passive doubt of fear or the active doubt of self will and pride. At the risk of over generalizing from only thirty or forty personal experiences, most atheists and agnostics in the United States simply do not want Jesus to be real. No amount of evidence will convince them other wise.
Only a personal experience in the real presence of divine love can reach the lost masses of people who are enslaved by passive doubt. Only Jesus himself can speak the word to reach past the pride of self will that maintains the invincible fortress of active doubt.
Jesus actively asks the question that can open our minds and hearts and wills to the process of self examination and personal transformation. That question is: why do you doubt?
Doubt from the reaction of fear erodes faith. Doubt from the response of love produces faith.
Doubt is a very curious human phenomenon. As far as we know, only humans experience doubt. Even Satan does not doubt the existence of God. Most, perhaps all, humans doubt the existence of God.
There is passive inherited doubt. This doubt is grounded in superstition, assumption, and a more powerful faith. It is reactive.
Some people doubt the reality of God because they have experienced pain. Some doubt because they have been taught that the world is a dangerous place filled with a myriad of supernatural powers that will just as likely hurt us as help us. Some doubt because they have been taught a very narrow limited and one dimensional world view which has no room for miracles or for God.
There is also an active aggressive doubt. This doubt is grounded in self will and pride. This doubt aggressively attacks faith because it does not want God to be personal and real. It will use the vocabulary of empiricism, materialism and science in order to make an external God vanish. The voice of this active aggressive doubt is the voice of pride which says: I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
Frequently, aggressive doubt is the justification for self indulgence. Some people actively reject and repudiate an image of God as a moral police man who seeks to inhibit the natural human desires for pleasure. This isn’t true. It isn’t true that God seeks to inhibit natural human desires. But, it also isn’t true that the path of self indulgence has any thing to do with natural human desire. Self indulgence is a distortion of natural desire that always produces suffering.
The soul that actively rejects God as a way of asserting the will to power to reject moral boundaries is a soul that seeks to define the universe by will and will alone.
Where passive doubt produces fear that the universe is meaningless, active doubt produces anger and arrogance as it seeks to impose its narrow vision and self will on a universe that is more complex and amazing than any of us can possibly imagine.
There is also an active doubt grounded in a substitute faith. This form of active doubt is what many modern atheists and agnostics practice. They simply believe the material world is the only reality. They also believe the only knowledge available to human beings comes from the experience of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Of course, they also believe that there can be no evidence of any other reality. They have embraced faith in a very narrow materialistic world view that is stuck in a blind feed back loop of absolute certainty.
There is one other form of doubt. This is the doubt of open, honest inquiry. This is the doubt Holy Mother Mary expressed when she heard the words of the archangel Gabriel, when she saw him standing before her. Mary said: how can this be? This is the doubt a scientist cultivates to explore and understand the world. This is the doubt many believers experience as they seek to follow God and understand God’s will. It is doubt in conjunction with humility that seeks understanding.
Certainly, Jesus walking on the water was a miracle. Of course, the disciples did not understand it that way. The Bible is brutally honest as it records how the disciples reacted to Jesus with fear and superstition as they watched him walking on the water. Despite all of the miracles they had witnessed Jesus perform they still thought in terms of the religious culture of their day.
It is important to note that the disciples were frustrated and exhausted by a long night of rowing against the wind. They were experiencing fatigue and that fatigue diminished both faith and reason. They saw Jesus walking on water- not something they or we see every day. In fact, of the thousand year history of the Bible only Jesus is recorded as having walked on water and only on this one occasion.
The disciples saw Jesus and despite their experience of his teaching, actions and character they reacted with fear and superstition. They cried out ‘It’s a ghost”.
The Bible does not teach the reality of ghosts, the spirits of the dead walking the earth. Most religions in the Middle East did not teach the reality of ghosts. Only once does the Bible reference a departed spirit speaking to a living human being, King Saul. The message recorded is one of utter condemnation for King Saul abandoning faith in God and seeking out a medium to summon a spirit from the underworld.
Superstitious people sometimes interpreted dreams or unexplained events in terms of ghosts. Jesus was no ghost. The religion of Israel did not teach the reality of ghosts. Strangely, the presence of Jesus walking on water inspired a reaction of fear and terror amongst the disciples.
The disciples were trapped in passive doubt that comes from frustration, confusion, fatigue and fear.
Jesus allays the disciples’ fear by speaking to them. They hear and recognize his voice. He says three things that can help us in the moments of passive fearful doubt.
First, Jesus says: take heart. Compose yourself. Center your self in the truth of who you are. Find your courage to meet the world from a place of calm confidence.
Second, Jesus gives them the reason for confidence. It is I. He invites them back into faith through friendship and loyalty.
Third, Jesus addresses the fear. As you center yourself in the reality of who you are in the present moment and as you recognize the real presence of Jesus Christ you can access the very essence of the divine: steadfast holy love. Love transforms fear into faith.
Peter shifted his perspective. He no longer saw a ghost. He no longer felt paralyzed by superstition and fear. His passive doubt shifted into active open and honest inquiry. Peter expressed this honest doubt by saying a single word: if.
If it is you, Lord, command me to come to you on the water. Peter had not yet embraced active faith. But he no longer existed in passive doubt.
Jesus replies with a single word of command: “Come!”
It is Jesus inviting Peter to faith by taking an action based in courage, confidence and love.
Peter expresses this courage, confidence and trust by keeping his eyes fixed on Jesus. When he takes his eyes off Jesus he falls back into passive doubt, fear and despair.
As Peter keeps his eyes fixed on Jesus, Peter does what his belief systems teaches is impossible. He walks on water. Once Peter takes his eyes off Jesus, those old beliefs and unquestioned certainties reassert their hold on Peter. He looks at the wind and the waves and despite his own experience he says: this is impossible. I can’t walk on water. No one can walk on water. At that point, he creates his worst fear as he turns a miracle into a tragedy. He begins to sink.
Peter cries out in panic: “Lord save me!”
And Jesus does just that. He does it immediately without hesitation or delay. He picks up Peter, puts him back into the boat, and then enters the boat himself. Then he looks at Peter and says: O you of little faith. You were doing it Peter.
You were doing the impossible, Peter! You were walking on water. And, despite the record of your five senses you chose to reject the reality of the moment. You chose fear. You chose doubt. And in that choice, you sank.
Jesus speaks to all people everywhere in the single powerful and compelling word: Come. Many hear the word and say: not possible. This cannot be real. Others hear the word and say: I don’t want this Jesus to be real. If Jesus is real then my life will have to change and I don’t want to change. Still others react with defiance. No. I will not come to Jesus. I refuse to accept that he even exists. I am the lord of my own life and I will yield to no one.
It is OK to doubt. It is OK to respond to the teaching of Moses and the Prophets with an open honest inquiry: how can this be? It is OK to say to Jesus: if. If you are real help me to experience that reality. Help me to move from fear to faith.
Jesus is the assurance of the infinite and eternal God that human fear can transform into faith through love.
Christian faith is a reasonable trust in a real person. The enemies of Jesus made many accusations against him in the first generation after his death and resurrection. They never asserted he did not exist.
They rejected what Jesus taught but they never said this was not his teaching. They claimed he could perform miracles by deceit or by demonic activity. But, they never said he performed no miracles. They struggled to explain the empty tomb but they never disputed that the tomb was empty.
The evidence for the historic reality of Jesus Christ is compelling. But no amount of evidence can overcome the passive doubt of fear or the active doubt of self will and pride. At the risk of over generalizing from only thirty or forty personal experiences, most atheists and agnostics in the United States simply do not want Jesus to be real. No amount of evidence will convince them other wise.
Only a personal experience in the real presence of divine love can reach the lost masses of people who are enslaved by passive doubt. Only Jesus himself can speak the word to reach past the pride of self will that maintains the invincible fortress of active doubt.
Jesus actively asks the question that can open our minds and hearts and wills to the process of self examination and personal transformation. That question is: why do you doubt?
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