Christmas II (Matthew 2: 13-15; 19-23)
Out of Egypt have I called my Son. (Hosea 11:1)
Not all paths lead to God. But God can turn all paths back to him.
Jacob and his large family understood this when they left the promised land and settled in Egypt. At first it seemed to be their salvation from starvation, suffering and death. In a very few years it became a trap. The trap was the spiritual slavery to the false gods and goddesses of Egypt. That idolatry led to the economic slavery of forced labor to build the temples and tombs dedicated to those idols.
Through Moses, God called the descendants of Jacob, whose other name was Israel, out of spiritual and economic slavery into the new life and new way of living God offered them. It was a way of freedom and responsibility. It was a way of faith and hope. It was a way of unconditional love and compassion. It was not the way that generation wanted. And so, that generation never entered the promised land.
Their children inherited the promise. Sadly, their children and their descendants never fully claimed the promise. The promise is grounded in the personal relationship God offers his people.
God led the people out of Egypt but the people carried Egypt with them. They carried the attitudes and actions of spiritual and economic slavery into the Sinai. They grumbled, they complained, they rebelled against Moses’ leadership.
God told the people he would be their king. The people rejected God’s offer. They complained: why should we of all people not have a king of our own choosing? Despite God’s warnings that the kings of men dominate and destroy the people demanded a king. And, that king and his descendants abused their power as God had warned.
The greatest abuse of power is to reject the sovereign plan and purpose of God.
It doesn’t take a king to exercise this kind of power. We each have the capacity to rebel against God and to reject God’s plan and purpose. When a king, a ruler, does this the entire nation is affected.
King Herod had met with the Wise Men. He recognized their insights and discernment. He consulted his own wise men, the priests and scholars of his court. He formed an image of what they all told him. King Herod concluded that the child they spoke of was a real and present danger to his power.
King Herod believed the prophets could see into the future. He lacked the faith that the prophets spoke God’s sovereign and infallible word. He heard the prophetic message of salvation as a threat to his personal power. In his pride he thought he could eliminate this threat. He missed his moment of conversion. He missed his moment of salvation. He rejected the Way of divine love and compassion. He pursued the way of dominance and destruction.
King Herod killed many children in Bethlehem and its surrounding villages. His missed his target. It was not time. A descendant of that King Herod would participate in the murder of Jesus Christ. He too would meet his moment of grace and reject the invitation to salvation.
Our Heavenly Father wove the events of the past into the present. As Jacob, also known as Israel, had taken his family into Egypt for safety, so Joseph took his family into Egypt for safety. As God had revealed to the prophet Hosea that he had called his Son, Israel, out of Egypt so in the fullness of time God called Joseph to bring his family back from Egypt into the promised land.
By these events molded in the crucible of absolute power and violent death, God revealed how his Son, Jesus Christ, was the pattern, the plan and the purpose of God.
Jesus is Israel. Jesus is a particular person. In his humanity he is the descendant of Judah and the line of kings descended from King David. In his divinity he is the one true and eternal king whom the people of Israel had once rejected.
Many centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, Israel had rejected the kingship of God. They demanded and received human kings who brought high taxes, war and oppression to the nation. In Jesus Christ, God healed the covenant Isreal had broken. In Jesus Christ God united the human line of kings with the divine kingship of the Plan of Salvation.
As an infant and young child, Jesus relived the experience of his human ancestors. He fled death in the promised land. He lived in exile in Egypt. He experienced the exodus from Egypt in his return to the Promised Land. He lived with the threat of arrest and execution as an exile in his own country.
In Jesus, God took the many detours the people of Israel had embraced and wove them back into the Plan and Pattern and Purpose of the Way of Salvation.
There is a way that seems right to people. It is the multi faceted way of self will, pride and fear. It goes by many names and offers many promises. Whatever it is called and whatever it promises it cannot deliver what people truly desire. It can only deliver temporary pleasure. It can only follow the path of command and control. It can only lead to murmuring, grumbling and the non negotiable demands and threats of the will to power.
This is not the way of salvation. This is not the way of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ God offers a very different way. It is the way of reunification. It is the way of conversion.
Conversion does not happen once. Reunification with the Father through the Son in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit takes place once in a moment of time. Conversion is a life long process.
Jesus lived that process. He relived the process for Israel and offered to that nation what they themselves refused to accomplish. He lived that process for us.
The process is the way of salvation.
The moment of salvation is the real choice we make to receive Jesus as our personal lord and savior. That choice reunites us to God the Father. That choice allows God the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. That choice gives us a new life which is eternal.
The process is the new way of living that proceeds from the new life, the eternal life. Every day we live God invites us to make choices about the path we follow in this world. The one true way of eternal life is Jesus Christ. All other ways lead to suffering and death.
The Way of Jesus Christ for humanity is the way of daily conversion. Every day in every way Jesus invites us to give our sins to him. As we give our sins to him he transforms them back into their original blessing.
The choice is always ours. The way of the world ( our culture) is the way of self will and pride. The way of the flesh ( our sin nature) is the way of self indulgence, demand and rebellion. The way of Satan ( the angelic being who presumes to set himself in God’s place) is the way of the exaltation of the will to power.
Jesus relived the ancient history of his people in his own life. He took the failure of that history and healed it. He restored the Plan, the Pattern, and the Purpose of God to Israel and offered them a second chance to enter into a personal relationship with God.
Jesus does the same for us. There is only one way to God. There is only one way that brings forth eternal life here and now. It is the way of Jesus Christ. Jesus meets us on the detours we have taken and offers to help us return to the way of divine love and compassion.
That way is the way of personal daily conversion. That way is formed and directed by the questions the Holy Spirit encourages us to ask. The sign posts on that way are the Bible, the Sacraments, the saints, the liturgy, and the lives of other believers.
On this second Sunday of Christmas Jesus is asking you: where do you need to experience conversion? Where have you taken a detour off the way of eternal love? Where do you need to make a course correction and a change?
Those who live the old way live in slavery. Those who live in slavery are those who symbolically live in Egypt. God calls you out of slavery. God calls you out of Egypt even as we hear this day that God called his Son, his only begotten Son, out of Egypt in order to fulfill the prophecies of the Plan and Pattern of Salvation.
As it was for Jesus so it can be for you. Out of Egypt have I called my sons and my daughters.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Christmas 2010
Christmas 2010 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us
At Christmas time each year we remember God united his divinity with our humanity in the person of Jesus Christ.
God has visited this planet in person twice so far in our history. The first time was in Eden. God the Son appeared to us in his pre incarnate form. He walked with us. He spoke with us. He shared with us the wonder of creation. He invited us to complete our own creation by making a real choice to be his eternal companion.
Humans made a different choice. We chose to become God’s equal. There is no equal to God. God is infinite, eternal, the very source of life, the very essence of unconditional holy love.
In the effort to become God we lost the original blessing of being human. We plunged our species and our world into the chaos of rebellion, sin and death. The co-eternal Son left this planet. His Heavenly Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world to prepare for that very specific moment in time that we are gathered here to celebrate.
On this Christmas 2010 we remember and we celebrate the second time God visited this planet. This time, the co-eternal Son of God united his divinity with our humanity.
God the Son became a human being. He embraced our human nature in the most amazing and miraculous event. He fused his divine nature with our human nature in the very ordinary and incredibly miraculous event of conception, fetal development and birth.
Jesus Christ is one person with two natures. His divine nature is eternal. His human nature came into existence in a moment of time in the same way we come into existence.
The birth of God’s son as a helpless and completely dependent infant is an expression of Divine love, Divine Holiness, and Divine Compassion. The co –eternal of Son did not just casually visit this planet. He poured himself out for us so he could be one of us. He emptied himself of all the attributes human value most about God: knowledge and power. He came into the world as all children come into the world: naked and cold and fragile and dependent.
The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge to us that he loves us so much he has freely chosen to become one of us.
The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge that holiness is not condemnation. Holiness is unification. In Jesus Christ, God fully and completely identifies with us to experience life in all of its joys and sorrows as we experience life.
The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge to us that he is real, he is personal, he is love, he is Jesus Christ.
Jesus entered into a world at war with itself. He came as the Prince of Peace.
Jesus entered into a world of fear. He came to offer faith.
Jesus entered into a world defined by the human will to power to command and control. He came to show us a life that is formed by love, a way of living that expresses itself through an attitude and an action of compassion.
Jesus just doesn’t have love or show love. Jesus is love. He is the eternal Beloved of the Father. That is why Jesus just doesn’t show us a way to find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.
That way is incredibly, almost scandalously, intimate and personal. God irrevocably chose to unite his divinity with our humanity so he could restore to us what we so foolishly abandoned. He has physically united himself to us so we may have the real choice to unite ourselves to him.
The gift of God to all people every
where is himself. In that gift lie all of the fullness of the original blessing God offered our species and our species rejected. In Jesus God not only tells us but shows us how our lives can be different if we choose the gift of the original blessing.
We see some of that blessing at this time of year. We feel the difference in the songs of joy and the hymns of peace. We hear that peace is possible and love is real. The Christ child reminds us of the innocence and tenderness we so seldom experience in our daily lives.
The image of Joseph, Mary and Jesus surrounded by animals, shepherds, Kings and angels offers us a alternate vision of how life can be different.
Savor the sentiments of Christmas. They are real. They are, as we all know, temporary. The Original Blessing the Christ Child brings is not temporary. The Original Blessing is a new life and a new way of living. It is a life characterized by the blessings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control.
These are only some of the blessings the Christ Child brings to us and offers to us. We receive these blessings, these original blessings, these eternal blessings that never fade away, as we receive the one who embodies them.
Through original sin humanity chose to separate from God. In Jesus Christ God has chosen to unite himself to us. He now offers us a second chance to live the Original Blessing of Divine love. The second chance is the gift of Jesus Christ.
The Christ Child is more than an example of blessing. He is the blessing. He offers himself to us this time of year when we may be just a little more receptive to hearing the message. From the manager in Bethlehem he reaches across time to seek and to find each one of us where we are. The Christ child is the unconditional love of God offering himself to us.
The reality of God is his gift to us, to each of us, to all of us. It is the first Christmas present ever given. It is a gift that God continues to offer. It is the gift of eternal love in the person of Jesus Christ.
At Christmas time each year we remember God united his divinity with our humanity in the person of Jesus Christ.
God has visited this planet in person twice so far in our history. The first time was in Eden. God the Son appeared to us in his pre incarnate form. He walked with us. He spoke with us. He shared with us the wonder of creation. He invited us to complete our own creation by making a real choice to be his eternal companion.
Humans made a different choice. We chose to become God’s equal. There is no equal to God. God is infinite, eternal, the very source of life, the very essence of unconditional holy love.
In the effort to become God we lost the original blessing of being human. We plunged our species and our world into the chaos of rebellion, sin and death. The co-eternal Son left this planet. His Heavenly Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world to prepare for that very specific moment in time that we are gathered here to celebrate.
On this Christmas 2010 we remember and we celebrate the second time God visited this planet. This time, the co-eternal Son of God united his divinity with our humanity.
God the Son became a human being. He embraced our human nature in the most amazing and miraculous event. He fused his divine nature with our human nature in the very ordinary and incredibly miraculous event of conception, fetal development and birth.
Jesus Christ is one person with two natures. His divine nature is eternal. His human nature came into existence in a moment of time in the same way we come into existence.
The birth of God’s son as a helpless and completely dependent infant is an expression of Divine love, Divine Holiness, and Divine Compassion. The co –eternal of Son did not just casually visit this planet. He poured himself out for us so he could be one of us. He emptied himself of all the attributes human value most about God: knowledge and power. He came into the world as all children come into the world: naked and cold and fragile and dependent.
The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge to us that he loves us so much he has freely chosen to become one of us.
The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge that holiness is not condemnation. Holiness is unification. In Jesus Christ, God fully and completely identifies with us to experience life in all of its joys and sorrows as we experience life.
The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge to us that he is real, he is personal, he is love, he is Jesus Christ.
Jesus entered into a world at war with itself. He came as the Prince of Peace.
Jesus entered into a world of fear. He came to offer faith.
Jesus entered into a world defined by the human will to power to command and control. He came to show us a life that is formed by love, a way of living that expresses itself through an attitude and an action of compassion.
Jesus just doesn’t have love or show love. Jesus is love. He is the eternal Beloved of the Father. That is why Jesus just doesn’t show us a way to find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.
That way is incredibly, almost scandalously, intimate and personal. God irrevocably chose to unite his divinity with our humanity so he could restore to us what we so foolishly abandoned. He has physically united himself to us so we may have the real choice to unite ourselves to him.
The gift of God to all people every
where is himself. In that gift lie all of the fullness of the original blessing God offered our species and our species rejected. In Jesus God not only tells us but shows us how our lives can be different if we choose the gift of the original blessing.
We see some of that blessing at this time of year. We feel the difference in the songs of joy and the hymns of peace. We hear that peace is possible and love is real. The Christ child reminds us of the innocence and tenderness we so seldom experience in our daily lives.
The image of Joseph, Mary and Jesus surrounded by animals, shepherds, Kings and angels offers us a alternate vision of how life can be different.
Savor the sentiments of Christmas. They are real. They are, as we all know, temporary. The Original Blessing the Christ Child brings is not temporary. The Original Blessing is a new life and a new way of living. It is a life characterized by the blessings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control.
These are only some of the blessings the Christ Child brings to us and offers to us. We receive these blessings, these original blessings, these eternal blessings that never fade away, as we receive the one who embodies them.
Through original sin humanity chose to separate from God. In Jesus Christ God has chosen to unite himself to us. He now offers us a second chance to live the Original Blessing of Divine love. The second chance is the gift of Jesus Christ.
The Christ Child is more than an example of blessing. He is the blessing. He offers himself to us this time of year when we may be just a little more receptive to hearing the message. From the manager in Bethlehem he reaches across time to seek and to find each one of us where we are. The Christ child is the unconditional love of God offering himself to us.
The reality of God is his gift to us, to each of us, to all of us. It is the first Christmas present ever given. It is a gift that God continues to offer. It is the gift of eternal love in the person of Jesus Christ.
Advent IV
Advent IV Emmanuel (Matthew 1:18-25)
God’s math is not like human math.
In God’s math one plus one plus one equals one. The three distinct persons of the Holy Trinity are one God.
In God’s math, one divided by two also equals one. Jesus Christ is one single person with two natures: human and divine. Jesus is not half human and half divine. He is one person who is fully human and fully divine.
Jesus is Emmanuel: God with us.
Human math insists that God is either one or three. Human math insists that Jesus is either human or divine. Of all of the people on earth it was holy mother Mary who knew that Jesus was fully human and fully God. Mary had the knowledge of personal experience.
We cannot have the same kind of knowledge Mary had. We can not have the same personal experience. We can have the knowledge that comes from faith. We can have the personal experience of Jesus Christ that comes from grace.
The incarnation of the second person of the Eternal Trinity is the reality that God not only wants to be found by human beings, he has in fact come to earth to find us- all of us, each of us.
Jesus is God with us.
Jesus is God fully embracing human nature. Jesus is God who has become a particular human being so he can relate to us the same way a friend relates to a long lost friend. We are the lost. Jesus is the friend (and more than a friend) who seeks us out and finds us.
Jesus finds us where ever we are. Jesus accepts us as we are. Jesus invites us to enter into a new place. The place is at the altar of sacrifice.
The altar of sacrifice is where Jesus pledges infallibly to be here for us, to be here with us.
Jesus invites us to become more than we are now. He invites us to give him our sins so he can transform them back into virtue. He invites us to surrender our self will so he can transform it by divine will into free will.
Jesus offers us a new life- eternal life. He offers us a new way of living- holy living. The world exalts separation, rebellion and self indulgence. Jesus very patiently asks: so, how is that working out for you? Are you tired yet? Are you tired of feeling tired? Are you tired of the skepticism, the cynicism, and the spite? Are you tired of a world at war with itself? Are you tired of fighting and accusing, of using and being used?
There is another way. Jesus himself is that other way. Jesus is that other way because he is Emmanuel, God with us.
God wants to be found. He reaches out to find us in Jesus Christ. What keeps us lost is our own self will, fear and pride. What keeps us lost is sin. The sin is the log in our eyes that blinds us from the reality of the Living Lord Jesus Christ.
Where do you live from the place of self will? Where you live from the place of demand? Where do you live from the attitude of judgment and exclusion? It is in that place that Jesus offers to become real to you as you surrender your sins to him . It is as he transforms those sins from selfishness into selflessness that Jesus becomes more real to us.
Despite the many distortions of the secular holiday season there is still an important insight in all of the materialism. The insight is that life is more blessed as we give. We are more blessed as we open our hearts to become channels of giving.
The world narrows the concept to a single day in a single way- the way of materialism. Jesus opens and expands this concept from an infinite and eternal way. It is the way of grace- unmerited favor, unconditional love.
As we open to the way of grace we open to the reality of God. And God finds us in that moment. Every time we approach life from the way of unconditional love we encounter Jesus Christ at our side. We find him who first finds us.
Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us in a single moment of grace.
God’s math is not like human math.
In God’s math one plus one plus one equals one. The three distinct persons of the Holy Trinity are one God.
In God’s math, one divided by two also equals one. Jesus Christ is one single person with two natures: human and divine. Jesus is not half human and half divine. He is one person who is fully human and fully divine.
Jesus is Emmanuel: God with us.
Human math insists that God is either one or three. Human math insists that Jesus is either human or divine. Of all of the people on earth it was holy mother Mary who knew that Jesus was fully human and fully God. Mary had the knowledge of personal experience.
We cannot have the same kind of knowledge Mary had. We can not have the same personal experience. We can have the knowledge that comes from faith. We can have the personal experience of Jesus Christ that comes from grace.
The incarnation of the second person of the Eternal Trinity is the reality that God not only wants to be found by human beings, he has in fact come to earth to find us- all of us, each of us.
Jesus is God with us.
Jesus is God fully embracing human nature. Jesus is God who has become a particular human being so he can relate to us the same way a friend relates to a long lost friend. We are the lost. Jesus is the friend (and more than a friend) who seeks us out and finds us.
Jesus finds us where ever we are. Jesus accepts us as we are. Jesus invites us to enter into a new place. The place is at the altar of sacrifice.
The altar of sacrifice is where Jesus pledges infallibly to be here for us, to be here with us.
Jesus invites us to become more than we are now. He invites us to give him our sins so he can transform them back into virtue. He invites us to surrender our self will so he can transform it by divine will into free will.
Jesus offers us a new life- eternal life. He offers us a new way of living- holy living. The world exalts separation, rebellion and self indulgence. Jesus very patiently asks: so, how is that working out for you? Are you tired yet? Are you tired of feeling tired? Are you tired of the skepticism, the cynicism, and the spite? Are you tired of a world at war with itself? Are you tired of fighting and accusing, of using and being used?
There is another way. Jesus himself is that other way. Jesus is that other way because he is Emmanuel, God with us.
God wants to be found. He reaches out to find us in Jesus Christ. What keeps us lost is our own self will, fear and pride. What keeps us lost is sin. The sin is the log in our eyes that blinds us from the reality of the Living Lord Jesus Christ.
Where do you live from the place of self will? Where you live from the place of demand? Where do you live from the attitude of judgment and exclusion? It is in that place that Jesus offers to become real to you as you surrender your sins to him . It is as he transforms those sins from selfishness into selflessness that Jesus becomes more real to us.
Despite the many distortions of the secular holiday season there is still an important insight in all of the materialism. The insight is that life is more blessed as we give. We are more blessed as we open our hearts to become channels of giving.
The world narrows the concept to a single day in a single way- the way of materialism. Jesus opens and expands this concept from an infinite and eternal way. It is the way of grace- unmerited favor, unconditional love.
As we open to the way of grace we open to the reality of God. And God finds us in that moment. Every time we approach life from the way of unconditional love we encounter Jesus Christ at our side. We find him who first finds us.
Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us in a single moment of grace.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Advent III
Advent III (Matthew 11: 2-11) Rejoice!
Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.
All blessings come to earth from Jesus Christ.
This is a hard saying for most human beings most of the time. It was difficult for the people of First Century Israel to hear. It is no less difficult for the people of twenty first century to hear it and to accept it.
The Bible is a thousand year record of the observations of dozens of people who recorded their experiences under the supervision of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brought order to these observation. From time to time Moses and the prophets offered a theory to explain why people acted the way they did. These theories are remarkably consistent.
The Bible describes, classifies and then offers an opinion about the human condition. Jesus invites us to test the conclusions Moses and the prophets offer.
The Bible observes the virtues and vices of individuals, tribes and nations. It presents the observations in history, metaphor, poetry, song and saga. Based on the analysis of a thousand years of observation, the Bible makes two fundamental assertions, theories, about humanity.
The first assertion is that human beings are lost. Not only are we lost we are willfully and spitefully lost. Since we are lost we exist in a state of terrible emotional, psychological and spiritual pain. By our own choice and contrary to all reason we recycle that pain into suffering.
The second assertion is that we are lost because we have chosen to separate from the pattern, plan and purpose for life. Dogs always act in accord with their canine nature. Cats always act in accord with their feline nature. Of all the life forms on earth only human beings act contrary to our own self interest and contrary to our human nature.
The third assertion is that God is real. God is the plan, the pattern and the purpose for creation and for human nature.
The fourth assertion is that human beings are lost in separation because we have rejected God. Religious people attempt to create a god in their own image. Secular people see no value in the very concept of God. Not only are we lost, we don’t want to be found. We value our independence. We resist any effort to limit our self will. We fear any intrusion into our world view.
So it was, that the students of John the Baptist were confused about Jesus. John had proclaimed Jesus the Messiah. But, John was arrested and Jesus did nothing. Surely the true Messiah would use his divine power to rescue his own cousin, whom Jesus very openly declared to be the last of the Prophets.
That is part of the Biblical observation of human nature. It forms the theory the Bible sets forth that not only is humanity lost it is willfully and spitefully lost. And, humanity suffers from self created and self inflicted separation.
John sent his students back to the one person who could answer their questions. John sent them back to the one person who not only had the answer but is the answer. This revelation that Jesus is the answer is not what any one expected.
People were looking for some one to state the answer. They were looking for some one with the knowledge and the power to solve their problems and to give them victory over their enemies. They missed the teaching of Moses, the Prophets, and John that the root problem that brings so much pain and suffering to human existence is our own choice to separate from the Pattern, Plan and Purpose of Creation.
Moses and the Prophets assert that God is that Pattern, Plan and Purpose. John, the last of the prophets, declares that Jesus is God reaching out to humanity. Jesus is not the way we find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.
The long history of human separation and rebellion recorded in the Bible leads to the inescapable conclusion that people are lost and don’t want to be found. When our Heavenly Father sent his son, his only Son, into the world to seek and to find the lost the result of his coming was entirely predictable based on past observation of human behavior.
The lost don’t want to be found and so the lost will react to the one who has come to seek and to find. That reaction will lead to willful misunderstanding, rejection, and murder.
That dynamic of willful reaction continues to this day. Amazingly, in our culture, we manically celebrate the generic holiday season even as we demand that all references to Jesus Christ and even the word “Christmas” be removed from the public arena.
The Bible predicts this. Jesus experienced it. He knew he was coming to a planet where the dominant species had chosen separation. He knew our species would not only reject his message, as we had previously rejected the message of Moses and the Prophets, but would reject him.
Jesus just doesn’t teach about God’s love. Jesus just doesn’t show us God’s love. Jesus is God’s love made flesh in a particular person at a particular place and time. Jesus is the reality of God with us. That is just too much God for a species that has chosen separation and seeks the knowledge and the power to define the universe according to our own needs, desires and insights.
Jesus said: blessed is those who take no offense at me. Blessed are the ones who are not ashamed to claim the name of Christ and to proclaim the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
The blessing is not in the religion we form to help us draw closer to Christ. The blessing is not in the commentaries or assertion of self will by which we declare what we have concluded and what we believe.
The blessing is in the personal relationship God offers us in his co-eternal Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to earth to seek and to find the lost. People reacted to Jesus by attempting to redefine him, to mold him and to shape him according to their own needs and desires. Yet, Jesus continued to reach out to the lost.
Jesus continued to ask questions and to invite questions. Jesus continued to encourage people to listen to Moses and the Prophets. Jesus continued to heal the sick, to feed the hungry, to raise the dead, to be the friend of the friendless. And, he continues to do these things today.
The Blessing is in the relationship.
The relationship is a new life that produces a new way of living. That new life is based in reunification with the Father, through the Son. That new way of living is expressed in daily transformation through the indwelling Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit.
The blessing is unconditional love made real, made personal, made flesh in Jesus Christ.
Jesus asked the crowd- what are you looking for? What were you looking for in John? What are you looking for in me? Jesus continues to ask us the same question. He continues to invite us to test the observations and assertions recorded in the Bible. He continues to offer himself to us.
Jesus is the gift of God for all people. He is the unconditional love of God for all people. He never imposes himself. But, he continually offers himself. What are you looking for?
Moses, the prophets and the apostles offer us an answer to that question. Our heavenly Father sent Jesus Christ to be the answer to that question. It is as we make a real choice to allow ourselves to be found in Jesus Christ that we receive the blessing and in the blessing experience the joy.
Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.
All blessings come to earth from Jesus Christ.
This is a hard saying for most human beings most of the time. It was difficult for the people of First Century Israel to hear. It is no less difficult for the people of twenty first century to hear it and to accept it.
The Bible is a thousand year record of the observations of dozens of people who recorded their experiences under the supervision of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brought order to these observation. From time to time Moses and the prophets offered a theory to explain why people acted the way they did. These theories are remarkably consistent.
The Bible describes, classifies and then offers an opinion about the human condition. Jesus invites us to test the conclusions Moses and the prophets offer.
The Bible observes the virtues and vices of individuals, tribes and nations. It presents the observations in history, metaphor, poetry, song and saga. Based on the analysis of a thousand years of observation, the Bible makes two fundamental assertions, theories, about humanity.
The first assertion is that human beings are lost. Not only are we lost we are willfully and spitefully lost. Since we are lost we exist in a state of terrible emotional, psychological and spiritual pain. By our own choice and contrary to all reason we recycle that pain into suffering.
The second assertion is that we are lost because we have chosen to separate from the pattern, plan and purpose for life. Dogs always act in accord with their canine nature. Cats always act in accord with their feline nature. Of all the life forms on earth only human beings act contrary to our own self interest and contrary to our human nature.
The third assertion is that God is real. God is the plan, the pattern and the purpose for creation and for human nature.
The fourth assertion is that human beings are lost in separation because we have rejected God. Religious people attempt to create a god in their own image. Secular people see no value in the very concept of God. Not only are we lost, we don’t want to be found. We value our independence. We resist any effort to limit our self will. We fear any intrusion into our world view.
So it was, that the students of John the Baptist were confused about Jesus. John had proclaimed Jesus the Messiah. But, John was arrested and Jesus did nothing. Surely the true Messiah would use his divine power to rescue his own cousin, whom Jesus very openly declared to be the last of the Prophets.
That is part of the Biblical observation of human nature. It forms the theory the Bible sets forth that not only is humanity lost it is willfully and spitefully lost. And, humanity suffers from self created and self inflicted separation.
John sent his students back to the one person who could answer their questions. John sent them back to the one person who not only had the answer but is the answer. This revelation that Jesus is the answer is not what any one expected.
People were looking for some one to state the answer. They were looking for some one with the knowledge and the power to solve their problems and to give them victory over their enemies. They missed the teaching of Moses, the Prophets, and John that the root problem that brings so much pain and suffering to human existence is our own choice to separate from the Pattern, Plan and Purpose of Creation.
Moses and the Prophets assert that God is that Pattern, Plan and Purpose. John, the last of the prophets, declares that Jesus is God reaching out to humanity. Jesus is not the way we find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.
The long history of human separation and rebellion recorded in the Bible leads to the inescapable conclusion that people are lost and don’t want to be found. When our Heavenly Father sent his son, his only Son, into the world to seek and to find the lost the result of his coming was entirely predictable based on past observation of human behavior.
The lost don’t want to be found and so the lost will react to the one who has come to seek and to find. That reaction will lead to willful misunderstanding, rejection, and murder.
That dynamic of willful reaction continues to this day. Amazingly, in our culture, we manically celebrate the generic holiday season even as we demand that all references to Jesus Christ and even the word “Christmas” be removed from the public arena.
The Bible predicts this. Jesus experienced it. He knew he was coming to a planet where the dominant species had chosen separation. He knew our species would not only reject his message, as we had previously rejected the message of Moses and the Prophets, but would reject him.
Jesus just doesn’t teach about God’s love. Jesus just doesn’t show us God’s love. Jesus is God’s love made flesh in a particular person at a particular place and time. Jesus is the reality of God with us. That is just too much God for a species that has chosen separation and seeks the knowledge and the power to define the universe according to our own needs, desires and insights.
Jesus said: blessed is those who take no offense at me. Blessed are the ones who are not ashamed to claim the name of Christ and to proclaim the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
The blessing is not in the religion we form to help us draw closer to Christ. The blessing is not in the commentaries or assertion of self will by which we declare what we have concluded and what we believe.
The blessing is in the personal relationship God offers us in his co-eternal Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to earth to seek and to find the lost. People reacted to Jesus by attempting to redefine him, to mold him and to shape him according to their own needs and desires. Yet, Jesus continued to reach out to the lost.
Jesus continued to ask questions and to invite questions. Jesus continued to encourage people to listen to Moses and the Prophets. Jesus continued to heal the sick, to feed the hungry, to raise the dead, to be the friend of the friendless. And, he continues to do these things today.
The Blessing is in the relationship.
The relationship is a new life that produces a new way of living. That new life is based in reunification with the Father, through the Son. That new way of living is expressed in daily transformation through the indwelling Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit.
The blessing is unconditional love made real, made personal, made flesh in Jesus Christ.
Jesus asked the crowd- what are you looking for? What were you looking for in John? What are you looking for in me? Jesus continues to ask us the same question. He continues to invite us to test the observations and assertions recorded in the Bible. He continues to offer himself to us.
Jesus is the gift of God for all people. He is the unconditional love of God for all people. He never imposes himself. But, he continually offers himself. What are you looking for?
Moses, the prophets and the apostles offer us an answer to that question. Our heavenly Father sent Jesus Christ to be the answer to that question. It is as we make a real choice to allow ourselves to be found in Jesus Christ that we receive the blessing and in the blessing experience the joy.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Christmas letter 2010
Advent 2010
Dear family and friends,
Knowledge, understanding and wisdom are three of the seven gifts the Holy Spirit gives at Confirmation. The gifts are given in a single moment of time but unfold throughout time and beyond time.
I have sought knowledge this year in my ongoing Pathwork studies with Carol Day. The Daily Office is an amazing educational tool. Perhaps the most outstanding source of continuing education for me comes from the questions and observations of the children, teens and college students of the Parish.
Understanding is a gift that unfolds in the duality of the world as it is. For me, the Rosary is the pattern of this duality. Joy and sorrow interact within Divine Grace to produce an awareness of the Glory of God. The Glory of God manifests in each singular moment of life within the light and life and love of Jesus Christ.
There has been a fair amount of sorrow with the unexpected death of my father in early August, the death of an old childhood friend, Rick, in late August, and the death of my Confessor and advisor, the Very Reverend Lloyd Chattin, in September. The Curtin family has had more than its share of illness this year. And, I am still recovering from “minor surgery” I had in late August.
Through knowledge and understanding come wisdom. The wisdom I have experienced is the wisdom of the Great Mystery of Divine love. As I age I recognize the imperfection and transitory quality of knowledge. More and more I understand St. Paul’s statement ” now I know in part.” Since I am beginning to appreciate the temporal imperfection of knowledge I am more comfortable stepping back from the illusion of knowing and stepping into the Mystery of Faith.
I have discovered and continue to discover the Mystery of Faith in a person, the living Lord Jesus Christ. He is real. He is personal. He just doesn’t speak of love or show love He is Love. He just doesn’t speak of God or offer a way to God He is God. He is Emmanuel, God with us.
A blessed Advent and a merry Christmas,
Dear family and friends,
Knowledge, understanding and wisdom are three of the seven gifts the Holy Spirit gives at Confirmation. The gifts are given in a single moment of time but unfold throughout time and beyond time.
I have sought knowledge this year in my ongoing Pathwork studies with Carol Day. The Daily Office is an amazing educational tool. Perhaps the most outstanding source of continuing education for me comes from the questions and observations of the children, teens and college students of the Parish.
Understanding is a gift that unfolds in the duality of the world as it is. For me, the Rosary is the pattern of this duality. Joy and sorrow interact within Divine Grace to produce an awareness of the Glory of God. The Glory of God manifests in each singular moment of life within the light and life and love of Jesus Christ.
There has been a fair amount of sorrow with the unexpected death of my father in early August, the death of an old childhood friend, Rick, in late August, and the death of my Confessor and advisor, the Very Reverend Lloyd Chattin, in September. The Curtin family has had more than its share of illness this year. And, I am still recovering from “minor surgery” I had in late August.
Through knowledge and understanding come wisdom. The wisdom I have experienced is the wisdom of the Great Mystery of Divine love. As I age I recognize the imperfection and transitory quality of knowledge. More and more I understand St. Paul’s statement ” now I know in part.” Since I am beginning to appreciate the temporal imperfection of knowledge I am more comfortable stepping back from the illusion of knowing and stepping into the Mystery of Faith.
I have discovered and continue to discover the Mystery of Faith in a person, the living Lord Jesus Christ. He is real. He is personal. He just doesn’t speak of love or show love He is Love. He just doesn’t speak of God or offer a way to God He is God. He is Emmanuel, God with us.
A blessed Advent and a merry Christmas,
Friday, December 3, 2010
Advent II
Advent II Repent (Matthew 3:1-12)
John the Baptist was a wild and crazy guy.
Our Heavenly Father sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify John at the moment of his conception. As John grew up he left his home village, lived in the desert, wore camel’s hair robes and ate bugs and honey.
As the last of the true prophets of God, John’s basic message consisted of just two words: repent and prepare. As with all true prophets of God, John looked back to the perfect Law of Moses and held up the Law as a mirror to the human soul. In that mirror we see where we have separated from God and where we fall short of God’s standard for life.
Repent means to stop. Look. Listen. Make a change. Correct our course in life.
The prophets all ask us to stop what we are doing and reflect. Just how do we make choices? Where are our priorities? What are we doing with our lives? How do we treat other people? How do we treat God? Repentance can only begin when we start asking these kinds of questions about our own attitude and action.
After we stop it is important to look, to examine our lives. Where are we not happy? Where is there meaning and purpose in our lives? How does the world around us attempt to mold us into its values and expectations? What does Moses teach about our actions and attitudes?
After we stop and look we need to listen. We need to listen to the voice of God speaking to us. God speaks through nature, other people, the Bible and in moments of silence. The prophets invite us to seek silence so we can hear God speak. The world seeks to inundate us with noise so we are constantly distracted.
People some times complain that God is not speaking. In truth, the Prophets declare God speaks clearly and concisely but human beings do not listen. Not only do we fail to listen, we make choices to fill our lives with so many distractions that we cannot hear the clear and present Word of God.
Take time for silence. Make time for silence. Turn off all of the electronic devices that so fill our lives with noise. Make a date with Jesus Christ to meet him in a moment of silence that you choose to set aside for that sole purpose. Mother Teresa once said if you are too busy to schedule ten minutes a day for silence then you are too busy.
Jesus Christ is the pattern, the plan and the purpose for our lives. There is a popular saying: when all else fails read the instructions. Don’t wait for failure. Don’t wait for a crisis. Live intentionally. Choose to reset the course of your life by the bright and morning star, Jesus Christ.
Stop. Look. Listen. Change. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one specific change you need to make in your life here and now.
The true prophet of God does not impel aggression. The true prophet of God does not demand submission. The true prophet of God does not lead us into esoteric withdrawal from the world. The True prophet of God encourages us to ask the hard questions. The True prophet of God asks us to seek the wisdom, the insight and the courage to change.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. Everything else in this universe of matter, energy, time and space is subject to change. Only human beings can choose to direct that change.
The Prophets remind us very bluntly that every choice we make has eternal consequences. More often than not the power in choice is in the little things of life- what the world calls the details of life.
Choices are cumulative.
Sin is a step by step journey of incremental compromises and distractions.
Our Heavenly Father invites us to enter into the journey of life in companionship with his only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. The surrounding culture, the distorted desires of our mind, heart and will and the subtle seductive half truths that Satan embeds in the world all seek to lead us into a journey away from that companionship.
The true prophet has been anointed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit to identify the logic junctions where we leave the path of steadfast holy love. The true prophet has the clarity of sight, the purity of heart and the singleness of will to discern how and when we are walking in the wrong direction.
John recognized the wrong direction the people of his time and culture had chosen. They had abandoned the way of love and compassion. They had embraced the way of command and control. They turned away from the one true path of life and walked in the multiple paths of self destruction and death.
From the dessert, John cried out to the people of the farms, the villages and the cities. From his own self chosen poverty John called out to the poor, the rich and the powerful. His voice was clear and unmistakable: Repent.
Repent. Stop what you are doing. Look at your lives. Listen to the voice of God revealed in Moses and the Prophets. Hear God speaking to you now in this time and in this place in a moment of silence. Repent. Change. Change now before change is too late. Choose the way that is life.
Change of this magnitude is only possible as we ask our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit into our minds and hearts and wills. The desire for change produces the invitation of the soul to experience change.
We experience change as we ask God to transform our basic desires. Jesus one said: blessed is he whose only desire is to do what God requires.
We all need to make a course correction in our lives from time to time. We all need to look up and find our way through the bright and morning star. He is always there for us. He is always willing and able to work our foolish and our sinful choices back into the Plan and Pattern and Purpose of Divine Love and Compassion.
Every choice is an eternal choice. And, Jesus can transform every choice by his own love and holiness into a choice that produces eternal life.
This course correction from the path of death into the path of life is only possible as we hear the word of the prophet: repent.
John the Baptist was a wild and crazy guy.
Our Heavenly Father sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify John at the moment of his conception. As John grew up he left his home village, lived in the desert, wore camel’s hair robes and ate bugs and honey.
As the last of the true prophets of God, John’s basic message consisted of just two words: repent and prepare. As with all true prophets of God, John looked back to the perfect Law of Moses and held up the Law as a mirror to the human soul. In that mirror we see where we have separated from God and where we fall short of God’s standard for life.
Repent means to stop. Look. Listen. Make a change. Correct our course in life.
The prophets all ask us to stop what we are doing and reflect. Just how do we make choices? Where are our priorities? What are we doing with our lives? How do we treat other people? How do we treat God? Repentance can only begin when we start asking these kinds of questions about our own attitude and action.
After we stop it is important to look, to examine our lives. Where are we not happy? Where is there meaning and purpose in our lives? How does the world around us attempt to mold us into its values and expectations? What does Moses teach about our actions and attitudes?
After we stop and look we need to listen. We need to listen to the voice of God speaking to us. God speaks through nature, other people, the Bible and in moments of silence. The prophets invite us to seek silence so we can hear God speak. The world seeks to inundate us with noise so we are constantly distracted.
People some times complain that God is not speaking. In truth, the Prophets declare God speaks clearly and concisely but human beings do not listen. Not only do we fail to listen, we make choices to fill our lives with so many distractions that we cannot hear the clear and present Word of God.
Take time for silence. Make time for silence. Turn off all of the electronic devices that so fill our lives with noise. Make a date with Jesus Christ to meet him in a moment of silence that you choose to set aside for that sole purpose. Mother Teresa once said if you are too busy to schedule ten minutes a day for silence then you are too busy.
Jesus Christ is the pattern, the plan and the purpose for our lives. There is a popular saying: when all else fails read the instructions. Don’t wait for failure. Don’t wait for a crisis. Live intentionally. Choose to reset the course of your life by the bright and morning star, Jesus Christ.
Stop. Look. Listen. Change. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one specific change you need to make in your life here and now.
The true prophet of God does not impel aggression. The true prophet of God does not demand submission. The true prophet of God does not lead us into esoteric withdrawal from the world. The True prophet of God encourages us to ask the hard questions. The True prophet of God asks us to seek the wisdom, the insight and the courage to change.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. Everything else in this universe of matter, energy, time and space is subject to change. Only human beings can choose to direct that change.
The Prophets remind us very bluntly that every choice we make has eternal consequences. More often than not the power in choice is in the little things of life- what the world calls the details of life.
Choices are cumulative.
Sin is a step by step journey of incremental compromises and distractions.
Our Heavenly Father invites us to enter into the journey of life in companionship with his only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. The surrounding culture, the distorted desires of our mind, heart and will and the subtle seductive half truths that Satan embeds in the world all seek to lead us into a journey away from that companionship.
The true prophet has been anointed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit to identify the logic junctions where we leave the path of steadfast holy love. The true prophet has the clarity of sight, the purity of heart and the singleness of will to discern how and when we are walking in the wrong direction.
John recognized the wrong direction the people of his time and culture had chosen. They had abandoned the way of love and compassion. They had embraced the way of command and control. They turned away from the one true path of life and walked in the multiple paths of self destruction and death.
From the dessert, John cried out to the people of the farms, the villages and the cities. From his own self chosen poverty John called out to the poor, the rich and the powerful. His voice was clear and unmistakable: Repent.
Repent. Stop what you are doing. Look at your lives. Listen to the voice of God revealed in Moses and the Prophets. Hear God speaking to you now in this time and in this place in a moment of silence. Repent. Change. Change now before change is too late. Choose the way that is life.
Change of this magnitude is only possible as we ask our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit into our minds and hearts and wills. The desire for change produces the invitation of the soul to experience change.
We experience change as we ask God to transform our basic desires. Jesus one said: blessed is he whose only desire is to do what God requires.
We all need to make a course correction in our lives from time to time. We all need to look up and find our way through the bright and morning star. He is always there for us. He is always willing and able to work our foolish and our sinful choices back into the Plan and Pattern and Purpose of Divine Love and Compassion.
Every choice is an eternal choice. And, Jesus can transform every choice by his own love and holiness into a choice that produces eternal life.
This course correction from the path of death into the path of life is only possible as we hear the word of the prophet: repent.
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