All Saints 2015

All Saints Sunday (Matthew 5:1-12) “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

 The principles of God’s Kingdom subvert the expectations we learn from our culture.

Human designed culture values power, pride, pleasure, possessions and prestige. It is a culture designed by the lost to keep us lost. We stay lost by following the way of individual pride, self-will, and fear. Once we have been found in Jesus Christ, Jesus gives us a new life that initiates a new way of living.

On this All Saints/All Souls Sunday we have the opportunity to consider what that new way of living is. We can only allow ourselves to be found as we recognize we have been lost. We can only receive the rich abundance of spiritual blessings as we accept our spiritual poverty.

Presently, the Church- The Body of Christ- manifests in three distinct forms. We here and now and those like us across the world form the Church Militant. We are called to action and are being equipped for action.

Jesus himself gives us the direction for this action in the Great Commission. He told his disciples (including us) to GO into all the world, BAPTIZE them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, MAKE disciples of all nations, and TEACH them all that he taught while he was on Earth. Then, he gives us a promise: as we do this he is with us always.

As the Church Militant, the Body of Christ on Earth, we have been assigned four very specific tasks in four very active commands: Go, Preach, Baptize. Teach.

We grow and prosper as the Body of Christ only as we follow the plan- the Plan of Salvation.

Are we going into our world- amongst our families, friends, neighbors and acquaintances? Or are we sitting back and holding back? Jesus commands us as the Body of Christ on Earth to GO. He expects us to be actively engaged in the work of the Holy Spirit to bring a blessing and be a blessing to the lost who do not want to be found. Our assignment is to be an active blessing the Holy Spirit can use to find the lost and help the lost allow themselves to be found.

Are we sharing the Good News of divine love in Jesus Christ? We do not have the authority or the luxury to use Christianity to support or advance any political agenda. Jesus commands us and expects us to follow his agenda. That is our divinely designated priority. Could you explain to someone how to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior? Could you be an agent of grace in offering the gift of reunification with God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son? It is OK if you answered “no” or “not sure”. That is your cutting edge of growth. That is where you need to take personal responsibility for asking the Holy Spirit to help you modify your beliefs and behavior.

Jesus expects the lost who allow themselves to be found to come to the church to receive the gift of baptism. If someone has already been baptized before making a choice to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior they do not have to be re baptized. They do need to become a member of a local church. Baptism spiritually grafts us into the Body of Christ. An individual Christian who is not actively participating in a local congregation is an oxymoron. He is a living contradiction of belief and practice.

Once we are part of a local congregation we are called to become students and teachers. As students we read the Bible, study the Bible and memorize the Bible. After worship- our first and highest prority, this is our next highest priority. As students we adjust our attitude away from the pride of knowledge to the humility of teachability. In that humility the Holy Spirit will form us to share what we learn with others. We become teachers as we follow the path of a student.

Could you help someone who has just accepted Jesus as their savior to understand the steps they need to take to follow him as Lord? In terms of the Plan of Salvation, you can only teach from your own experience.

The threefold priority of the new life in Christ for the Church Militant is the threefold manifestation of love. It is worship, acts of kindness and compassion, and personal growth and transformation. That is the new life and the new way of living of the Kingdom of God.

Sadly, many and perhaps most who claim the name of Christ do not follow the way of Christ. We have accepted the gift of reunification with the Father through the Son. We refuse to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the meaning and purpose of the new life Jesus gives us.

For those, life in this world is a holding pattern. We circle around the church but never land and start working with the Holy Spirit. When those who choose to stay on hold die they are not ready for Prime Time. It is not that God punishes them. It is rather that they carry a multitude of belief and behavior patterns they can no longer pursue. They have departed the world of duality, the world of choice, and entered the world of unity. But, they have formed their souls and personal identities in desires and expectations that Heaven cannot fulfill.

They are the Church Expectant. Some Christians identify their experience as Purgatory. Anglicans use an older and more Biblical expression; Paradise. They are in a place of rest and refreshment where the Holy Spirit helps them to surrender their attachments to false beliefs and debilitating behaviors. It isn’t easy.

It is far easier to make the choice to surrender our attachments to pride and self-will here within the context of the Church Militant than it is in the context of the Church Expectant. We can and should pray for the souls in the Church Expectant. One of their tasks is to learn how to pray for us.

Their primary task is to learn the fundamental lessons of love they failed to learn on Earth. Their primary task is to learn how to transform pride into humility, self-will into love for God and other people, and fear into hope.

They are assisted by the prayers of the Church Militant and the intercessions of the Church Triumphant. The Church Triumphant is the place of the saints. The saints are those who made the real choice on Earth to embrace the three fold path of love. No saint was ever perfect. Each saint had a besetting sin. All saints pledged their loyalty to the Plan of Salvation and accepted the threefold path of love.

You are called to be a saint. You are called and equipped to enter into the new way of living the three fold path of love: worship, kindness and compassion, and personal transformation. The saints in the Church Triumphant continue to grow and transform in love. They are not perfect. But, they no longer follow the path of pride and self-will. They pray for us in the Church Militant to make wise choices in the here and now so they may expand their joy as they welcome us into their fellowship. They pray for the souls of the Church Expectant so they can do the hard work they chose not to do on Earth. That choice is the threefold pattern of love.

The hardest choice is worship. At the risk of offending, if you can’t make worship your priority in the here and now you are going to have a very difficult experience when you enter the hereafter.  Embracing the highest form of love that is God and defines Heaven is far easier here on Earth than in Paradise. God designed this world to facilitate that choice. Here and now is the best time and place to choose love. Here and now is where the blessing resides for us to claim. Here and now is how we choose to form our souls and manifest our unique personal identity.

Eventually, the Church Militant, the Church Expectant and the Church Triumphant will merge into the unified and purified Church Glorified. We will jointly become the Bride of Christ. We will experience the new life Jesus has given us in the Great Mystery and the Great Adventure unfolding in  infinite and eternal love.

Pentecost 22

Pentecost 22 (Mark 10:46-52)

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Faith is not magic.

Magic resides in the will to power. It is the illusion that secret knowledge applied by focused will can alter and sometimes annul natural law. Magic in that sense does not exist. God designed the world according to a pattern, the pattern of the Logos- the active, dynamic, rational and creative pattern of the universe. The laws that govern the universe, including our species, are grounded in the logos. The most fundamental law of the universe is cause and effect.

Faith is also not belief. Faith may encompass belief. Belief does not necessarily produce faith. Indeed, the great obstacle to faith is not doubt. The great obstacle to faith is belief.

A persistent belief that defines our species is the belief in rewards and punishments. This belief is a distortion of the law of cause and effect. In its religious expression this belief asserts that if you do good you get good. If you do bad then bad things happen to you. More than that, it defines lists of beliefs and behaviors to define the standard of righteousness. The Bible describes how different religious leaders and teachers produce different lists. They compete for public attention and sometimes engage in conflict with each other over who has the correct list.

We hear in this story how people did not want the blind man, Bartimaeus to bother Jesus. This attitude is a result of  a distorted belief about righteousness. The fact Bartimaeus was blind was evidence he was not righteous. People believed that if he were righteous God was obligated to preserve his health and reward him with wealth. Since he was blind and an impoverished beggar it was obvious to everyone he was not righteous. He was a sinner. The attitude of the righteous religious is: sinners need not apply. Sinners are not welcome. First stop sinning then you can approach the righteous for advice on how to speak with God.

This is not the Plan of Salvation. Jesus welcomed sinners and continues to welcome sinners. Sickness is not a sign of sin. Righteousness is not about conformity to lists of beliefs and behaviors. And, faith is not the same as belief.

Faith is substance and evidence. The substance of faith is our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The substance of faith is trust.

There is no “one size fits all faith”. Faith is personal. Belief tends to be both individual and impersonal. Faith is grounded in fact. Belief can easily detach from fact. Faith is personal trust. That is why Jesus asks Bartimaeus an amazing question. Jesus asks: what do you, Bartimaeus, want me, Jesus, to do for you?

The religious people were offended by the question. They not only believed Bartimaeus was a sinner under judgment- they knew it. There was no room in their system of belief for Bartimaeus to be healed.  For them, as the true righteous, the law defined who deserved a blessing and who deserved a curse.

Jesus brings a very different message into the world.

Jesus says that if you define righteousness within the categories of right belief and right behavior then no one qualifies. No one deserves a blessing. Jesus defines righteousness as right relationship.  It is God Himself who initiates the relationship based on grace not law. No one deserves a blessing but God graciously offers a blessing to everyone.

God not only offers a blessing to everyone he personalizes the blessing. He sends Jesus to engage us in a personal relationship. He asks us questions. He waits for an answer. He leads us through a process of self-discovery.  Sometimes, we walk through the valley of shadows and he is right there with us. Sometimes we walk across verdant green pastures filled with fresh springs of living water and he is there with us.

Because faith is personal life with Jesus is a journey into  a Great Mystery. Jesus doesn’t give all of the answers to life in a single book or in a list of beliefs or a set of laws. Jesus invites us into a journey of faith through the duality of life.

For Bartimaeus, the journey led to his healing. He regained his sight. Jesus affirmed his worth to God by publically healing him in the presence of religious people who believed his blindness was punishment for sin.

The Great Mystery of the journey of faith is that sometimes we are physically healed and sometimes we are not. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Sometimes we get what we want and sometimes we don’t. Faith is not magic. Faith is not impersonal automatic law. Faith is a journey with someone who wants to be our forever friend.

Faith sets us free from anxiety and fear. Sometimes, that is enough to help us on our way through the duality of life. Sometimes we think God has abandoned us only to discover he is right there with us every step of the way.

As Jesus engaged Bartimaeus so he engages us. He is here for us. He is God with us and God for us. He invites us to walk through the duality of life with the unity of his unconditional love. He invites us to speak to him and converse with him. He invites us into the Great Mystery of infinite and eternal love here at the altar of sacrifice where he patiently waits for us to approach him and where he inquires of us: what do you want me to do for you?

St. Luke's Day 2015

St. Luke’s Day 2015 (Luke 4:14-21)

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus is the Good News.

Jesus is the Good News that God is real, God is love and God is personal.

Jesus is the Good News that there is no condemnation in God.

Jesus is the Good News that God loves us just as we are despite our failings, imperfections and open rebellion against him.

Jesus is the Good News that God loves us so much he will help us grow, mature and transform.

Do you believe this?

A basic biblical principle is: as you believe so shall you receive.

If you exist in a state of fear, frustration, anger and resentment you will see the world in those terms. You will interpret every aspect of life as a threat to be met with resistance. You will impose a rigid, inflexible and uncompromising grid of belief on all of your experiences and perceptions. You will miss the abundant life God the Father designed for you in the here and now.

Jesus, and only Jesus, can set us free from fear. Jesus and only Jesus is the union of humanity with divinity. Jesus and only Jesus is the incarnation of the co-eternal word of God- the very pattern of the universe and our species.

God the Father created all of us and each of us by the power of the Holy Spirit according to the pattern of the co-eternal Son. As the incarnation of the co-eternal Son Jesus is the meaning and purpose of life. We are less human as we persist in separation from the Beloved Son. We become more human as we receive the gift of reunification with the Father through the Son. We become more complete as we open our minds, hearts and wills to the transforming presence of God the Holy Spirit who indwells our souls.

The pattern of salvation is the pattern of a rich, active, dynamic abundant life in Jesus Christ. It is a life fully engaged in the duality of life- the pleasure and the pain, the joy and the sorrow, the life and the death. What makes life in Christ and with Christ unique is the real presence of Jesus in our midst, in our souls and in our way of living with duality.

Neither law based or knowledge based religion can cope with duality, Neither can the various secular political ideologies. Only love based faith manifesting through grace can hold the duality of existence. Only Jesus can accomplish the promise of God that all things will work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

The purpose of God is the love of God. The purpose of God is the co-eternal Beloved of God. Only Jesus unites and transforms. He can do this because he is the love of God personified.

 Have you made a real choice to accept reunification with the Father through the Son? Have you pledged your loyalty to Jesus Christ? Have you chosen to be found by the Beloved?

For those who have made that choice, are you growing? Are you surrendering the obstacles and barriers to love? Are you making a choice to pay attention to the Helper, the Holy Spirit as He works with you to reform the image and likeness of the Beloved in your soul?

God does not demand people to submit to an external law through fear. God invites us to surrender to His love by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. God the Father sent Jesus into the world to become our forever friend. Jesus is the loyal, trustworthy and faithful friend who is always with us and always for us. He is the plan of salvation. He is the way of abundant life.

As we follow the plan of salvation we enter into the Way of the Beloved. As we enter into the Way of the Beloved we will grow and transform and experience the original blessing of the Beloved in every aspect of our lives. We will change. In that change, we will become a blessing to other people. God the Father will send the Holy Spirit to invite people to meet Jesus here at St. Luke’s. As we walk in the Way of Jesus, the way of divine love, the way of salvation, we will in our own lives and in the life of this parish fulfill the scriptures as Jesus fulfilled the scriptures. We will experience the original blessing of God and become the present blessing of God for everyone we meet.

Pentecost 20

Pentecost 20 (Mark 10:17-31)

“Jesus looked at him and loved him.”

Love knows no law except the pattern of love.

Jesus once summarized the 616 Laws Moses wrote in one word: love. That love manifests in this world of duality, the world of choice, in three basic ways. Those three basic ways are worship, charity, transformation.

The rich young ruler apparently lived a righteous life according to the standards of religious law. He did not lie, cheat, steal or kill. He did not do bad things. In his society that meant he was righteous. Sadly, it was a righteousness of absence. He avoided certain behaviors. But, he felt an inner spiritual  void.

In the context of his religion and culture he was looking for something more or something different. He was looking for a law he might have missed. If he lived in our culture he might have thought in terms of a program he could buy- ten easy steps to the Kingdom of Heaven.

He was lost. Lost in separation from God. Sadly, one of the marks of being lost is the inability to recognize we are lost. He thought of eternal life as a reward for doing right and avoiding wrong. Jesus came to seek the lost who do not recognize they are lost. Jesus came to find the lost who do not want to be found.

Jesus came to help us understand that eternal life is a personal relationship with the pattern, plan and purpose of life. That pattern, plan and purpose is Jesus himself. It is not a law, a book, a ritual or a program. Those things have their place in the world to support the relationship. The reality of eternal life is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The rich young man knew he needed something. He came to Jesus looking for a law or a program. Jesus gave him something different. Jesus gave him a way.

Eternal life is not a reward; it is a gift. Eternal life is a personal relationship with God, the very source of life, in Jesus Christ. Jesus loved the rich man as Jesus loves all people regardless of who we are or what we have done or left undone. The man had asked Jesus- what must I do. Jesus looked into his soul and identified the barrier he had created. It was his attachment to his wealth.

The wealth was not the problem. There were other wealthy people who followed Jesus whom Jesus did not ask to give away their money and possessions. Jesus very personally answered the man’s question. What you specifically must do is to detach from your possessions. What you specifically must do is to divest of your material wealth. What you specifically must do is give your money to the poor. For you, not doing bad things is not enough. For you, doing a good thing is the first step into the Kingdom of Heaven, And the way to eternal life is Jesus. So, Jesus tells the man, once you do the things I have instructed you to do, come, follow me.

Giving to the poor is a gospel command. Giving to the poor is not eternal life. Jesus is eternal life. All people have created obstacles in our souls to keep Jesus out there. Jesus will help the lost identify the obstacle then send the Holy Spirit to assist the lost to permit themselves to be found. For all of their faults, the disciples had allowed themselves to be found. As we see in this account, the rich young man wanted the gift of eternal life as a reward for some law he could keep, some sin he could avoid.

He was unwilling to take an active positive step to receive eternal life as a gift. He was unwilling to surrender his belief in a rewards based righteousness for a grace based faith. He had called Jesus good and Jesus had questioned him on that. Only God is good, Jesus commented. Jesus is asking him: do just see me as one of many religious teachers or are you prepared to accept me for who I am. Jesus is God in human flesh. Jesus and Jesus alone can offer eternal life as a gift because Jesus and Jesus alone is eternal life.

It was too much for the man to accept. He could not detach from his possessions long enough to consider who he was speaking to. He could not detach from his religious belief in rewards and punishments long enough to receive the gift of God standing before him. He felt shock and grief at what Jesus told him. He wanted a quick and easy fix. He wanted to be righteous based on not committing certain sins. He was not ready to receive the gift that God was offering to him. He chose to remain attached to his possessions. He chose to remain lost.

Jesus still loved him. Divine love is universal and unconditional. The problem is not that God is distant. God is as close to us as the beating of our heart and the intake of our next breath. The problem is not that we sometimes do bad things- that we commit sins. That is a consequence of the problem. The problem is that we are willfully and spitefully lost in pride and self-will. The problem is that we want the attributes of God, the knowledge and the power so that we can earn our own way to claim a reward. The problem is that we tend to define ourselves as righteous based on what we don’t do. The problem is that we want to stay separate from God and equal to God in order to maintain control.

The solution is to receive the gift that God offers us. The gift is Jesus Christ. Jesus and Jesus alone is the Way of new life, of eternal life. Jesus is the way of love that reunifies us to the Father and fills us with the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit. It is a new way of thinking and a new way of behaving that can only come as we follow Jesus himself in the new way of living.

The rich young man wanted a quick fix. Jesus loved him and said there is no quick fix. There is only the way of love. Detach from the wealth that now defines you soul. Help the poor. And then, enter a new life and a new way of living in the way of universal unconditional and personal transforming love. If you want eternal life it is right here for you to receive. Come. Follow me.