Trinity Sunday 2010
The Spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth.
Today we celebrate the truth that the one God is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This is not a truth we can analyze, categorize and reduce to a simple formula. Many people have attempted to over define, over complicate or over simply the truth of the Trinity. The Trinity is a reality that we can experience. We experience the reality and the truth of the Trinity in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Many people in our modern world have the mistaken idea that the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century created the idea of the Trinity and then used the Council of Nicea to write the Nicene Creed and impose the Trinity on the Church. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The four biographies of Jesus that were written by eyewitnesses of his life all struggle to explain the unexplainable but inescapable truth that Jesus is both man and God. It is the truth that the One God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses and the prophets, had in fact united His divinity with our humanity in a single individual, Jesus Christ.
The revelation of the incarnation is the revelation of the Trinity. At the incarnation God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to the blessed Virgin Mary to accomplish the incarnation of God the Son. At the incarnation God confirms and clarifies the revelation he had given to Moses and the prophets. That revelation states that God is One. It clarifies that the One God is transcendent, immanent, and personally present. Why is this important?
When Jesus came into the world there were two basic misconceptions about God that produced two fundamental misconceptions about the human condition.
The first misconception about God is that God is so completely transcendent and holy that God is unknown and unknowable. This God can only relate to human beings through a series of intermediary spiritual beings, lesser deities or angels. These lesser beings bring to humanity the Law.
This misconception about God leads to the misconception about the human condition. The God of pure transcendence is the God of Law. The God of Law is the God who maintains the moral order in the universe through a system of rewards and punishments. The lesser gods, angels, prophets, priests and teachers who represent this God teach that if you obey God’s laws then God is obligated by God’s own Law to bless you. God is also obligated under the Law to punish you if you break the Law.
The assumption is that human beings are born morally neutral with the free will to choose obedience or disobedience, blessing or punishment, heaven or hell. Incidentally, this is not what the Bible teaches about God, the Law, or the human condition. It is a distortion of the truth that leads to a dualistic world view cast in terms of absolute good at war with absolute evil.
The second major misconception about God is that God is all and all is God. This is the distortion of immanence. This distortion produces religious forms characterized by mysticism. It teaches that not only is God everywhere but that God is everything, including you.
This form of religion teaches that the problem confronting human beings is not disobedience but rather ignorance. The solution to the problem is knowledge acquired through a process called enlightenment. The goal of this knowledge is to recognize that you are merely God playing hide and seek with God. You are already perfect. Good and evil are an illusion that we choose to create to hide from our true divine nature.
The God of Law is the God of rewards and punishments who demands submission and authorizes aggression against the unrighteous. The God of Enlightenment is the God of passive withdrawal, fantasy, and self indulgence.
The One God seeks to rescue humanity from these distortions by uniting the principles of transcendence and immanence with incarnation.
In Jesus Christ God reveals that He is real, He is personal, He is love. In Jesus Christ God reveals that the problem confronting humanity is not disobedience or ignorance, it is separation. Since separation is the problem the only solution is reunification. God himself accomplishes this reunification by uniting his divinity with our humanity in Jesus Christ. This reunification is what the Bible calls salvation.
As the apostles and their students pondered this truth they received two important insights from the Holy Spirit to help us understand how the reality of the incarnation and the Trinity impact our lives.
These insights are: What he did not assume he could not redeem. And, he became as we are so that we might become as he is. In Jesus Christ God recreates humanity and offers us all a new life and a new way of living. It is the fullness of God incarnate in Jesus Christ who reunites us to God.
Jesus is not a religious category. He does not just show us how to be good so we can earn God’s favor. Neither does he inspire us to acquire the knowledge we need to manifest our inner divinity. Jesus is God seeking us out, finding us, and calling us into a personal relationship with himself.
Jesus reveals to us that God eternally manifests His One Divine Nature in three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
God the Father is God transcendent. He is the one who eternally loves.
God the Son is God incarnate. He is the co-eternal Beloved.
God the Holy Spirit is God immanent, God everywhere, the co-eternal Love that manifests the One God as three persons and the three persons as One God.
The Trinity assures us that God is Love because the One God is a community of Love. The Trinity assures us that Love is available to all people everywhere. To be saved is to be reunited to God the Father, through God the Son, by the transforming Presence of God the Holy Spirit.
We cannot define or dissect God. We can only experience Him in His incarnate form: Jesus Christ.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Pentecost
Pentecost 2010
I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate who will be with you forever.
Faith plus obedience equals transformation.
We see this principle illustrated throughout the Bible. It is particularly evident in the story of Pentecost.
When Jesus ascended into heaven he instructed his apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles had a choice. Wait or act. The basis for their choice was their faith.
Christian faith focuses on a person, Jesus Christ. Christian faith is the product of a personal relationship. Belief involves ideas, laws, rituals, doctrines. Faith, Christian faith, is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The apostles walked with Jesus for three years. They witnessed his miracles. They heard his teaching. They observed his behavior. They knew he was different than all other religious teachers. However, it wasn’t until the resurrection that they finally came to accept the reality that Jesus was not only fully human but fully God. Only God has the power to transform death into life.
Jesus had told them that he and the Father are one. Yet, they did not understand just how that could be true until after the resurrection. Jesus had also promised to send them another Advocate.
An Advocate is one who speaks on your behalf. The Holy Spirit speaks on our behalf to God the Father. The Holy Spirit also speaks on our behalf to other people. And, the Holy Spirit speaks to us to lead us into Faith in Jesus Christ.
The Apostles received Jesus’ instruction to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit with no clear idea as to who the Holy Spirit is.
The Apostles knew that the Holy Spirit had spoken through the prophets. The apostles also knew that the Messiah would initiate a new age of grace that would involve an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The apostles struggled to understand that the kingdom of God was not about command and control but rather about love and holiness.
On the Day of Pentecost, Jesus fulfilled his promise. Jesus prayer to the Father was fulfilled ten days after the Ascension. We heard the description of that amazing event in the reading from the Book of Acts.
The Apostles expressed their faith in Jesus by obeying his last command. Wait. As they waited they gathered for prayer with Holy Mother Mary. They did not wait passively. They waited with expectation. They waited with trust.
The Day of Pentecost is the birth of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The agent of this birth is the Holy Spirit. The evidence of this birth manifests in the outward and visible signs of the wind and fire and in the Apostles preaching the message of salvation in languages they had never learned. The evidence of this birth comes from the inward and spiritual grace that led three thousand people to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and savior.
On the day of Pentecost the number of believers increased from 120 to 3, 120 in a matter of minutes. As wonderful as the miraculous signs of wind and fire were, still more wonderful was the response of faith from the crowds who heard the apostles preach.
It was the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who gave life and power to the apostolic preaching. It was the Holy Spirit who spoke to the souls of people who had only recently rejected Jesus and led them to proclaim their faith and trust in Jesus. And. It was the Holy Spirit who transformed fearful and confused men into the preachers who went into the world with the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit gave birth to the church in Jerusalem that day. He reveals the purpose for the church. The purpose of the church is to be the instrumentality of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit fills, directs and comforts the church to accomplish that task. He inhabits the soul of everyone who proclaims faith in Jesus Christ. He speaks in many and various ways to all people everywhere so that they would open their minds and hearts and wills to be found by God in Jesus Christ.
The work of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the continuation of the ministry of Jesus Christ. It is the proclamation of the Plan of Salvation, the invitation to Faith, and the very power of personal transformation into a new way of living.
Jesus not only promised to send the Holy Spirit, he promised that the Holy Spirit would be with us forever. The new life Jesus gives us through the Holy Spirit is forever. The new life is now. The new life is God with us in every moment of our lives and in every joy and every sorrow.
As we live into that new life, the Holy Spirit will enable us and equip us to accomplish amazing things for God. As we just heard read in the scriptures, the most amazing accomplishments will be in the re birth of a soul into the new life of eternal love in Jesus Christ.
Today, this moment, ask the Holy Spirit to release His divine power into your life. Ask him to be for you who Jesus wants him to be: the Presence of God in your soul now and forever. Amen.
I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate who will be with you forever.
Faith plus obedience equals transformation.
We see this principle illustrated throughout the Bible. It is particularly evident in the story of Pentecost.
When Jesus ascended into heaven he instructed his apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles had a choice. Wait or act. The basis for their choice was their faith.
Christian faith focuses on a person, Jesus Christ. Christian faith is the product of a personal relationship. Belief involves ideas, laws, rituals, doctrines. Faith, Christian faith, is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The apostles walked with Jesus for three years. They witnessed his miracles. They heard his teaching. They observed his behavior. They knew he was different than all other religious teachers. However, it wasn’t until the resurrection that they finally came to accept the reality that Jesus was not only fully human but fully God. Only God has the power to transform death into life.
Jesus had told them that he and the Father are one. Yet, they did not understand just how that could be true until after the resurrection. Jesus had also promised to send them another Advocate.
An Advocate is one who speaks on your behalf. The Holy Spirit speaks on our behalf to God the Father. The Holy Spirit also speaks on our behalf to other people. And, the Holy Spirit speaks to us to lead us into Faith in Jesus Christ.
The Apostles received Jesus’ instruction to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit with no clear idea as to who the Holy Spirit is.
The Apostles knew that the Holy Spirit had spoken through the prophets. The apostles also knew that the Messiah would initiate a new age of grace that would involve an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The apostles struggled to understand that the kingdom of God was not about command and control but rather about love and holiness.
On the Day of Pentecost, Jesus fulfilled his promise. Jesus prayer to the Father was fulfilled ten days after the Ascension. We heard the description of that amazing event in the reading from the Book of Acts.
The Apostles expressed their faith in Jesus by obeying his last command. Wait. As they waited they gathered for prayer with Holy Mother Mary. They did not wait passively. They waited with expectation. They waited with trust.
The Day of Pentecost is the birth of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. The agent of this birth is the Holy Spirit. The evidence of this birth manifests in the outward and visible signs of the wind and fire and in the Apostles preaching the message of salvation in languages they had never learned. The evidence of this birth comes from the inward and spiritual grace that led three thousand people to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and savior.
On the day of Pentecost the number of believers increased from 120 to 3, 120 in a matter of minutes. As wonderful as the miraculous signs of wind and fire were, still more wonderful was the response of faith from the crowds who heard the apostles preach.
It was the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who gave life and power to the apostolic preaching. It was the Holy Spirit who spoke to the souls of people who had only recently rejected Jesus and led them to proclaim their faith and trust in Jesus. And. It was the Holy Spirit who transformed fearful and confused men into the preachers who went into the world with the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit gave birth to the church in Jerusalem that day. He reveals the purpose for the church. The purpose of the church is to be the instrumentality of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit fills, directs and comforts the church to accomplish that task. He inhabits the soul of everyone who proclaims faith in Jesus Christ. He speaks in many and various ways to all people everywhere so that they would open their minds and hearts and wills to be found by God in Jesus Christ.
The work of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the continuation of the ministry of Jesus Christ. It is the proclamation of the Plan of Salvation, the invitation to Faith, and the very power of personal transformation into a new way of living.
Jesus not only promised to send the Holy Spirit, he promised that the Holy Spirit would be with us forever. The new life Jesus gives us through the Holy Spirit is forever. The new life is now. The new life is God with us in every moment of our lives and in every joy and every sorrow.
As we live into that new life, the Holy Spirit will enable us and equip us to accomplish amazing things for God. As we just heard read in the scriptures, the most amazing accomplishments will be in the re birth of a soul into the new life of eternal love in Jesus Christ.
Today, this moment, ask the Holy Spirit to release His divine power into your life. Ask him to be for you who Jesus wants him to be: the Presence of God in your soul now and forever. Amen.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Easter 7 The Sunday after the Ascension
Easter 7 the Sunday after Ascension Day
That they all may be one.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has many titles and two names.
Jesus holds the title of Christ. It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew title “Messiah”. It means “anointed.” Jesus Christ means Jesus the anointed.
Jesus also holds such titles as King, Lord, Teacher, High Priest, Healer, God with us, logos and many others.
Jesus is the name the archangel Gabriel revealed to Holy Mother Mary. The name “Jesus” means “savior”. It is the descriptive name which defines the reason and purpose for Jesus’ life on earth.
Jesus has another name. It is far older and far more profound. Three times in Jesus’ life His Heavenly Father audibly spoke and revealed this other name. It is the name: “The Beloved”. In Greek it is the word “ o agapetos”. It is the name that reveals the transcendent reality of who Jesus really is.
As Jesus prays his high priestly prayer he manifests this reality.
Before the world came into existence the Father loved the Son and named him “The Beloved”. The Father did not create the Son in a moment of time. The Son eternally proceeds from the Father. The One God is a community of Infinite and Eternal Love. Jesus is the co-eternal Beloved of the Eternal Father. The Holy Spirit is the Infinite love that binds the Father and the Son together as one God in three persons.
In this last portion of the high priestly prayer that we heard read this morning, Jesus prays for us. He prays for those who will believe on him without ever having seen him. He prays for those who believe based on the eye witness accounts of the apostles. And, he prays that we all may be one.
Jesus prays: Heavenly Father, grant that those who believe in me may experience the same unity of love that I experience with you. The unity is the love, steadfast, holy, unconditional, infinite and eternal love.
There are three areas of unity in Jesus’ prayer. He prays that we may be one with the Father. He prays that we may be one with each other. And, he prays that we might be one within ourselves.
As we enter into those three areas of unity Jesus tells us there will be a result. The result will be that the world, the lost and broken souls who have separated from God, will come to receive the love Jesus brings.
In this prayer, Jesus shows us that there is a relationship between our choice to immerse ourselves in Divine love and our obedience to his command to offer the gift of salvation to all people everywhere. The promise is that through our obedience to immerse ourselves in Divine Love others will come to understand and to choose that love for themselves.
The Beloved came into this world to bring Divine Love to a separated, lost and broken species. Jesus did not come into the world to tell us how we can reach God. Jesus came into the world as God reaching out to us. We do not find God. God finds us. And, God finds us by sending the Beloved to seek us out.
Jesus reminds us that there is no condemnation in God. God just doesn’t have love. God is love. The invitation to salvation is the invitation to be found by the Divine Love of God in Jesus Christ.
The great challenge to salvation is the human will to power that in every way demands: my will be done. That will to power molds and shapes a soul to reject Divine Love. That will to power forms a soul in the three categories of rebellion: pride, self will and fear.
The separated soul living from the place of rebellion creates religion or philosophy in a vain effort to tell God how God must accept it and reward it with heaven. It works under the assumption that the doors to heaven are shut and it must somehow bribe or demand they be opened.
Jesus brings to us a very different message. Jesus brings the Good News that the doors of Heaven are wide open. The Holy Spirit stands at those doors and announces to the entire world: Come. The saints of the Church Triumphant stand at those doors and proclaim to all people every where: Come!
Jesus not only tells us but demonstrates for us that Heaven is available to all and denied to none. Jesus teaches that we can only come to Heaven through love, with love and in love. We cannot come with a single condition or demand. Jesus reveals to us that Heaven is nothing more and nothing less than a personal relationship with the co-eternal beloved, Jesus Christ.
Since Heaven is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Heaven is available to everyone as a gift. The love of God in Jesus Christ is unconditional and all inclusive. Jesus loves all human beings. He prayed for those who killed him. And, he prayed for us who would receive his love through the eye witness accounts of his apostles.
Since Heaven is the gift of a new and personal relationship with Jesus Christ we begin to experience the joys of heaven here and now in this life. The joys begin at baptism. The joys find greater reality as we immerse ourselves into the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament of the altar.
For those who have chosen to enter into that new life of unconditional love death is simply a transition into a greater experience of something we already value and desire.
It is only as we make a real choice to immerse our minds, our hearts our wills into the unconditional love of Jesus Christ that we find the fulfillment of this His high priestly prayer for us.
Note that Jesus did not pray that his followers, His Church, would be wealthy or powerful. He prayed that we would experience in our daily lives the same infinite and eternal love that forms his very being. The Kingdom of Heaven is the infinite abundance of eternal love. No one can take that love from us. We can not earn it or demand it. We can only receive that love as the gift it is.
It is the love that reunites our lost and broken souls to the wholeness and holiness of the Living God. It is the love that invites us to make a real choice to enter into a new way of living. That new way of living gives us a new set of values and a new sense of priorities. That new way of living gives us a new awareness of meaning and purpose.
In His High Priestly prayer Jesus gives us a glimpse into his vision for human life. It is a vision that proceeds from the infinite and eternal love of God. It is a vision that is grounded in the experience of particular individuals each time we make a real choice to say yes to God’s invitation to a new way of living in Jesus Christ.
At the right hand of the Father, Jesus now prays for each of us to make that one real choice. He seeks us out in the circumstances of our daily lives. He prays for each of us by name. He invites each of us by name to experience the same eternal love that he embodies and holds for us.
Jesus prays to the Father and says: Heavenly Father I desire that each person here today receive the love that forms the Divine Essence of our being. I desire this so that they each may know the glory of a life lived in conscious awareness of living a blessed life. I desire this so the lost may be found, the broken healed, and the separated fragmented souls find reunification and transformation. I desire this, Holy Father, so that all who believe may be one with us, with each other and with the pattern of original blessing in their own souls. Father, fill them with your steadfast holy unconditional love. Amen.
That they all may be one.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has many titles and two names.
Jesus holds the title of Christ. It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew title “Messiah”. It means “anointed.” Jesus Christ means Jesus the anointed.
Jesus also holds such titles as King, Lord, Teacher, High Priest, Healer, God with us, logos and many others.
Jesus is the name the archangel Gabriel revealed to Holy Mother Mary. The name “Jesus” means “savior”. It is the descriptive name which defines the reason and purpose for Jesus’ life on earth.
Jesus has another name. It is far older and far more profound. Three times in Jesus’ life His Heavenly Father audibly spoke and revealed this other name. It is the name: “The Beloved”. In Greek it is the word “ o agapetos”. It is the name that reveals the transcendent reality of who Jesus really is.
As Jesus prays his high priestly prayer he manifests this reality.
Before the world came into existence the Father loved the Son and named him “The Beloved”. The Father did not create the Son in a moment of time. The Son eternally proceeds from the Father. The One God is a community of Infinite and Eternal Love. Jesus is the co-eternal Beloved of the Eternal Father. The Holy Spirit is the Infinite love that binds the Father and the Son together as one God in three persons.
In this last portion of the high priestly prayer that we heard read this morning, Jesus prays for us. He prays for those who will believe on him without ever having seen him. He prays for those who believe based on the eye witness accounts of the apostles. And, he prays that we all may be one.
Jesus prays: Heavenly Father, grant that those who believe in me may experience the same unity of love that I experience with you. The unity is the love, steadfast, holy, unconditional, infinite and eternal love.
There are three areas of unity in Jesus’ prayer. He prays that we may be one with the Father. He prays that we may be one with each other. And, he prays that we might be one within ourselves.
As we enter into those three areas of unity Jesus tells us there will be a result. The result will be that the world, the lost and broken souls who have separated from God, will come to receive the love Jesus brings.
In this prayer, Jesus shows us that there is a relationship between our choice to immerse ourselves in Divine love and our obedience to his command to offer the gift of salvation to all people everywhere. The promise is that through our obedience to immerse ourselves in Divine Love others will come to understand and to choose that love for themselves.
The Beloved came into this world to bring Divine Love to a separated, lost and broken species. Jesus did not come into the world to tell us how we can reach God. Jesus came into the world as God reaching out to us. We do not find God. God finds us. And, God finds us by sending the Beloved to seek us out.
Jesus reminds us that there is no condemnation in God. God just doesn’t have love. God is love. The invitation to salvation is the invitation to be found by the Divine Love of God in Jesus Christ.
The great challenge to salvation is the human will to power that in every way demands: my will be done. That will to power molds and shapes a soul to reject Divine Love. That will to power forms a soul in the three categories of rebellion: pride, self will and fear.
The separated soul living from the place of rebellion creates religion or philosophy in a vain effort to tell God how God must accept it and reward it with heaven. It works under the assumption that the doors to heaven are shut and it must somehow bribe or demand they be opened.
Jesus brings to us a very different message. Jesus brings the Good News that the doors of Heaven are wide open. The Holy Spirit stands at those doors and announces to the entire world: Come. The saints of the Church Triumphant stand at those doors and proclaim to all people every where: Come!
Jesus not only tells us but demonstrates for us that Heaven is available to all and denied to none. Jesus teaches that we can only come to Heaven through love, with love and in love. We cannot come with a single condition or demand. Jesus reveals to us that Heaven is nothing more and nothing less than a personal relationship with the co-eternal beloved, Jesus Christ.
Since Heaven is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Heaven is available to everyone as a gift. The love of God in Jesus Christ is unconditional and all inclusive. Jesus loves all human beings. He prayed for those who killed him. And, he prayed for us who would receive his love through the eye witness accounts of his apostles.
Since Heaven is the gift of a new and personal relationship with Jesus Christ we begin to experience the joys of heaven here and now in this life. The joys begin at baptism. The joys find greater reality as we immerse ourselves into the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament of the altar.
For those who have chosen to enter into that new life of unconditional love death is simply a transition into a greater experience of something we already value and desire.
It is only as we make a real choice to immerse our minds, our hearts our wills into the unconditional love of Jesus Christ that we find the fulfillment of this His high priestly prayer for us.
Note that Jesus did not pray that his followers, His Church, would be wealthy or powerful. He prayed that we would experience in our daily lives the same infinite and eternal love that forms his very being. The Kingdom of Heaven is the infinite abundance of eternal love. No one can take that love from us. We can not earn it or demand it. We can only receive that love as the gift it is.
It is the love that reunites our lost and broken souls to the wholeness and holiness of the Living God. It is the love that invites us to make a real choice to enter into a new way of living. That new way of living gives us a new set of values and a new sense of priorities. That new way of living gives us a new awareness of meaning and purpose.
In His High Priestly prayer Jesus gives us a glimpse into his vision for human life. It is a vision that proceeds from the infinite and eternal love of God. It is a vision that is grounded in the experience of particular individuals each time we make a real choice to say yes to God’s invitation to a new way of living in Jesus Christ.
At the right hand of the Father, Jesus now prays for each of us to make that one real choice. He seeks us out in the circumstances of our daily lives. He prays for each of us by name. He invites each of us by name to experience the same eternal love that he embodies and holds for us.
Jesus prays to the Father and says: Heavenly Father I desire that each person here today receive the love that forms the Divine Essence of our being. I desire this so that they each may know the glory of a life lived in conscious awareness of living a blessed life. I desire this so the lost may be found, the broken healed, and the separated fragmented souls find reunification and transformation. I desire this, Holy Father, so that all who believe may be one with us, with each other and with the pattern of original blessing in their own souls. Father, fill them with your steadfast holy unconditional love. Amen.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Easter 6
Easter 6 Peace I leave with you.
How are you choosing to form your own soul?
To whom do you turn for advice, counsel and inspiration ?
What do you want?
A fundamental Biblical principle is that we become who we worship. That is why the first four commandments of the Ten Commandments deal with worship. That is why Jesus summarized all of the commandments and all of the Law in a single elegant and powerful statement: love God. Love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind.
That love is not just a feeling. That love is a real choice. It is the one real choice we can make that will impact and inform all other choices we make. It is the one real choice we can make that will answer such questions as: who am I? What is the meaning and purpose of my life?
Jesus states very simply and directly: those who love me will keep my word. Notice that Jesus didn’t say if you keep my word I will love you. He said: if you love me- then you will keep my word. The desire and the ability to keep God’s word comes from the love.
Another fundamental Biblical principle is that we always choose what we most want at the moment of choice. The choice doesn’t have to be rational. The choice reflects the desire of our heart at that moment.
The Bible is more concerned about who or what we love, about how and why we love, than about philosophical categories of free will. The will is simply the agency by which the soul expresses its innermost desire by bringing forth choice into the world of cause and effect.
Jesus preaches to the soul. He preaches to that part of us that is the depth of desire and the seat of our identity. That is why everyone who heard Jesus either misunderstood him or rejected him. Jesus speaks to that place within our souls that defines who we are and who we are choosing to become.
Jesus is not just an add on accessory to life. Jesus is life. The choice he offers us reminds us that all choices are eternal choices. The little choices, the big choices, the terrible and the wonderful choices all proceed from the depth of the soul, the seat of our personal unique identity.
Jesus preaches to the soul and offers steadfast holy unconditional love as the reality by which we experience a new way of living.
Jesus just doesn’t command us to do certain things. He just doesn’t command us to love. He offers us reunification with this love. In that reunification the love becomes the guiding principle by which we make a choice and exercise our will to initiate an action in the world of cause and effect. Jesus himself is that love, that steadfast holy unconditional love.
As we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ we enter into a new way of living. As we cultivate that personal relationship through prayer, Bible study, service to others and above all else: worship, we become more fully and completely a unique manifestation of that infinite and eternal love here in this world.
Those who love Jesus are those who offer themselves, their souls and bodies, at the altar of sacrifice to be immersed in the divine life and light and love of Jesus Christ. Those who love Jesus Christ are those who have made and continue to make a real choice to surrender self will to divine will, pride to humility, and fear to faith.
To love Jesus Christ is to enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ whereby he becomes the foundation for a new way of living. Jesus becomes the meaning and purpose for our lives.
As we make this real choice three things happen.
First, Jesus reunites us to God.
Second: Through that reunification Jesus initiates a process of personal transformation.
Third: Jesus sends the third person of the Holy and Eternal Trinity to be our teacher, advisor, courage and strength.
In this process there are three primary shifts in our soul substance:
First is the shift in our souls from separation to relationship. We begin to discern, experience and choose relationship over separation.
Second is the shift from fear, self will and pride to steadfast holy unconditional love. We begin to question the assumptions by which we make choices. We begin to ask the difficult question of our cultural values: is this true? As we make a real choice to live from the place of steadfast holy unconditional love we become more alive, more authentic, and more open to receive the blessings God has prepared for us.
Third is peace. It is not the peace the world offers. It is not peace through conquest of life, other people, our own human nature. It is not peace through submission to other people or circumstances. It is not peace through withdrawal from the challenges of life. It is God’s peace.
That peace emerges from the very center of our being as we make the choice to immerse our minds, hearts and wills in steadfast holy unconditional love. The source of that peace is Jesus Christ. The reality of that peace comes from our relationship with Christ. It is not dependent on external circumstances. And so, external circumstances cannot diminish or disrupt that peace.
As we choose to live from the place of separation we live in reaction to people and circumstances. From the place of reaction we do not keep the word of God. We do not experience the peace of God.
As we choose to live from the place of reunification and transformation we live from the new life of a personal relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ. That relationship transforms our desires so that we seek first to keep God’s word. We experience the peace of God because we live and move and have our being in that peace.
The great challenge in hearing Jesus’ words is the challenge to hear from the soul. It is the challenge to hear what Jesus is saying and not just what we want to hear. It is the challenge to make a more profound choice to hear past our self will, fear and pride. It is the challenge to hear through the confusion and distraction of our culture.
As we make those choices to hear the word Jesus speaks, we open our souls to be filled with the word who Jesus is. The peace that passes human understanding is the personal presence of Jesus Christ, God with us. Jesus says: those who love me keep my word. Those who love me live in my peace.
How are you choosing to form your own soul?
To whom do you turn for advice, counsel and inspiration ?
What do you want?
A fundamental Biblical principle is that we become who we worship. That is why the first four commandments of the Ten Commandments deal with worship. That is why Jesus summarized all of the commandments and all of the Law in a single elegant and powerful statement: love God. Love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind.
That love is not just a feeling. That love is a real choice. It is the one real choice we can make that will impact and inform all other choices we make. It is the one real choice we can make that will answer such questions as: who am I? What is the meaning and purpose of my life?
Jesus states very simply and directly: those who love me will keep my word. Notice that Jesus didn’t say if you keep my word I will love you. He said: if you love me- then you will keep my word. The desire and the ability to keep God’s word comes from the love.
Another fundamental Biblical principle is that we always choose what we most want at the moment of choice. The choice doesn’t have to be rational. The choice reflects the desire of our heart at that moment.
The Bible is more concerned about who or what we love, about how and why we love, than about philosophical categories of free will. The will is simply the agency by which the soul expresses its innermost desire by bringing forth choice into the world of cause and effect.
Jesus preaches to the soul. He preaches to that part of us that is the depth of desire and the seat of our identity. That is why everyone who heard Jesus either misunderstood him or rejected him. Jesus speaks to that place within our souls that defines who we are and who we are choosing to become.
Jesus is not just an add on accessory to life. Jesus is life. The choice he offers us reminds us that all choices are eternal choices. The little choices, the big choices, the terrible and the wonderful choices all proceed from the depth of the soul, the seat of our personal unique identity.
Jesus preaches to the soul and offers steadfast holy unconditional love as the reality by which we experience a new way of living.
Jesus just doesn’t command us to do certain things. He just doesn’t command us to love. He offers us reunification with this love. In that reunification the love becomes the guiding principle by which we make a choice and exercise our will to initiate an action in the world of cause and effect. Jesus himself is that love, that steadfast holy unconditional love.
As we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ we enter into a new way of living. As we cultivate that personal relationship through prayer, Bible study, service to others and above all else: worship, we become more fully and completely a unique manifestation of that infinite and eternal love here in this world.
Those who love Jesus are those who offer themselves, their souls and bodies, at the altar of sacrifice to be immersed in the divine life and light and love of Jesus Christ. Those who love Jesus Christ are those who have made and continue to make a real choice to surrender self will to divine will, pride to humility, and fear to faith.
To love Jesus Christ is to enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ whereby he becomes the foundation for a new way of living. Jesus becomes the meaning and purpose for our lives.
As we make this real choice three things happen.
First, Jesus reunites us to God.
Second: Through that reunification Jesus initiates a process of personal transformation.
Third: Jesus sends the third person of the Holy and Eternal Trinity to be our teacher, advisor, courage and strength.
In this process there are three primary shifts in our soul substance:
First is the shift in our souls from separation to relationship. We begin to discern, experience and choose relationship over separation.
Second is the shift from fear, self will and pride to steadfast holy unconditional love. We begin to question the assumptions by which we make choices. We begin to ask the difficult question of our cultural values: is this true? As we make a real choice to live from the place of steadfast holy unconditional love we become more alive, more authentic, and more open to receive the blessings God has prepared for us.
Third is peace. It is not the peace the world offers. It is not peace through conquest of life, other people, our own human nature. It is not peace through submission to other people or circumstances. It is not peace through withdrawal from the challenges of life. It is God’s peace.
That peace emerges from the very center of our being as we make the choice to immerse our minds, hearts and wills in steadfast holy unconditional love. The source of that peace is Jesus Christ. The reality of that peace comes from our relationship with Christ. It is not dependent on external circumstances. And so, external circumstances cannot diminish or disrupt that peace.
As we choose to live from the place of separation we live in reaction to people and circumstances. From the place of reaction we do not keep the word of God. We do not experience the peace of God.
As we choose to live from the place of reunification and transformation we live from the new life of a personal relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ. That relationship transforms our desires so that we seek first to keep God’s word. We experience the peace of God because we live and move and have our being in that peace.
The great challenge in hearing Jesus’ words is the challenge to hear from the soul. It is the challenge to hear what Jesus is saying and not just what we want to hear. It is the challenge to make a more profound choice to hear past our self will, fear and pride. It is the challenge to hear through the confusion and distraction of our culture.
As we make those choices to hear the word Jesus speaks, we open our souls to be filled with the word who Jesus is. The peace that passes human understanding is the personal presence of Jesus Christ, God with us. Jesus says: those who love me keep my word. Those who love me live in my peace.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Easter 5
Easter 5 Behold I make all things new.
Jesus is not just an option.
Jesus is the fulness of God in human flesh. He is the eternal logos, the creative rational pattern of the universe.
Jesus did not come into the world to offer his opinion about God. Jesus is God.
Jesus is the very essence of the divine nature in human form. That divine nature is steadfast, holy, unconditional love. Since it is the very nature of God that love has no beginning and has no end. That love is eternal.
God created the vast host of angelic beings from that eternal love.
God created the universe and all of us, each of us, from that eternal love.
There is nothing and no one that God has created that God does not love unconditionally.
All who are created to love have the real choice to embrace love or to separate from love.
The Bible tells us that one third of the angels not only made a real choice to separate from love but also made a secondary choice to give themselves fully and completely to the one who set himself before them as God’s equal. Those separated angels chose to worship the attributes of God that Lucifer claimed God had given him. Lucifer, the great deceiver, promised his followers power but instead took power from those who united themselves to him.
Human beings also made a real choice to separate from God. But, human beings did not make that secondary choice to unite with Lucifer. Human beings chose independence.
In that choice, human beings are lost in separation and refuse to be found. The nature of a separated being is not love but the will to power. The echo of original love still lingers in our souls. It is God’s plan and purpose in Jesus Christ to restore that echo to its original vibrant life giving word.
What makes reunion with God possible for human beings is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the co-eternal Word of God.
In Jesus, God personally, permanently and irrevocably united his divinity with our humanity, never to be divided from it.
Jesus is fully God and fully human. Jesus is the God Man.
Jesus Christ makes all things new.
Jesus Christ restores human nature to its original plan and pattern and purpose. That plan and pattern and purpose is for human beings to be vessels of holiness and channels of love.
St. Paul teaches that Jesus is the second Adam. As the second Adam, Jesus gives us all a second real choice. It is the choice of how we will be human.
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The choice Adam offers is separation. The promise in separation is in the pride of independence from God, nature, other people, even our own limitations.
The practice of independence is in the assertion of self will, the will to power. It is the demand from the human soul that says I and I alone define myself, the world, and God if God even exists. At all times and in all ways: my will be done.
The consequence of separation is fear. It is a fear of loneliness, brokeness, lack of meaning, lack of purpose, lack of control and finally the reality of death.
There is another choice. There is another way of being human. It is the way of Jesus Christ. Jesus just doesn’t show us the other choice. He is the other choice. He is the other way of being human.
That other way of being human is the real choice to embrace steadfast holy unconditional love. It is the way of reunification with God the Father, through the second Adam- Jesus Christ, by the transforming power of God the Holy Spirit.
This other way of being human is grounded in the truth that free will is only possible for the soul that prays: heavenly Father, your will be done. That prayer sets us free from the fear that there is never enough to make us happy, healthy or secure.
The truth is that there in more than enough. There is in fact an extravagant abundance of blessing for the soul that makes a real choice to be human according to the pattern, plan and purpose of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
The consequence of choosing Jesus Christ is a new life of transformation. It is a new life immersed in the infinite and eternal love of God. It is not instantaneous perfection. It is not an escape from the world as it is. It is a way of living that makes all things new.
Jesus described this new way of living, this new way of being human, when he gave his disciples the new commandment. The commandment to love one another as I have loved you is the invitation to live and move and have our being from the place of steadfast holy unconditional love.
We can only fulfill this commandment as we make a real choice to immerse our minds and hearts and wills in the gift God gives us in Jesus Christ. This gift is what the Bible calls grace.
Grace is the new life that is formed by realigning our thoughts with God’s thoughts by reading, studying and memorizing the Bible. God has given us the Bible as a wonderful gift. It is our choice to use the gift. AS we use the gift God applies its benefits to our minds.
Grace is the new life that is transformed by the infusion of divine life into our souls in the blessed sacrament of holy communion. The gift is always here at the altar. It is our choice to come and receive the gift. As we make the choice to come and receive the gift God releases a blessing into our souls.
Grace is the new way of living that makes all things new. To be a Christian is not to escape, evade, or even to conquer the problems we face in this lost and broken world. It is a way of living by which we daily offer our selves, our souls and bodies to God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The blessing is the personal relationship. The personal relationship is that assurance that we are never alone. It is the assurance that we are loved with an everlasting love.
St. Paul knew much hardship in his life as did all of the apostles. St. Paul also said he rejoiced in all of the circumstances of his life through his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who makes all things, the good, the bad and the indifferent- new.
The love Jesus invites us to practice is the transforming love that makes everything in our lives new. That love can, if we chose to accept it and to practice it, transform our thoughts, our emotions and our choices.
In Jesus Christ God offers us a choice. The choice is how we will be human. We can choose the way of the first Adam. That is the way of separation and self will. It is also important for us to understand that is also the way of death.
Or, we can choose the way of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
That is the way of reunification and transformation. That is the way of an active personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. That is the way by which Christ in us makes all things new.
It is also the way by which Jesus overcomes death and gives us the gift of eternal life.
Jesus spoke to his beloved apostle John and said: behold, I make all things new here and now for you and for all who receive me in the steadfast holy unconditional eternal love of God.
Jesus is not just an option.
Jesus is the fulness of God in human flesh. He is the eternal logos, the creative rational pattern of the universe.
Jesus did not come into the world to offer his opinion about God. Jesus is God.
Jesus is the very essence of the divine nature in human form. That divine nature is steadfast, holy, unconditional love. Since it is the very nature of God that love has no beginning and has no end. That love is eternal.
God created the vast host of angelic beings from that eternal love.
God created the universe and all of us, each of us, from that eternal love.
There is nothing and no one that God has created that God does not love unconditionally.
All who are created to love have the real choice to embrace love or to separate from love.
The Bible tells us that one third of the angels not only made a real choice to separate from love but also made a secondary choice to give themselves fully and completely to the one who set himself before them as God’s equal. Those separated angels chose to worship the attributes of God that Lucifer claimed God had given him. Lucifer, the great deceiver, promised his followers power but instead took power from those who united themselves to him.
Human beings also made a real choice to separate from God. But, human beings did not make that secondary choice to unite with Lucifer. Human beings chose independence.
In that choice, human beings are lost in separation and refuse to be found. The nature of a separated being is not love but the will to power. The echo of original love still lingers in our souls. It is God’s plan and purpose in Jesus Christ to restore that echo to its original vibrant life giving word.
What makes reunion with God possible for human beings is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the co-eternal Word of God.
In Jesus, God personally, permanently and irrevocably united his divinity with our humanity, never to be divided from it.
Jesus is fully God and fully human. Jesus is the God Man.
Jesus Christ makes all things new.
Jesus Christ restores human nature to its original plan and pattern and purpose. That plan and pattern and purpose is for human beings to be vessels of holiness and channels of love.
St. Paul teaches that Jesus is the second Adam. As the second Adam, Jesus gives us all a second real choice. It is the choice of how we will be human.
\
The choice Adam offers is separation. The promise in separation is in the pride of independence from God, nature, other people, even our own limitations.
The practice of independence is in the assertion of self will, the will to power. It is the demand from the human soul that says I and I alone define myself, the world, and God if God even exists. At all times and in all ways: my will be done.
The consequence of separation is fear. It is a fear of loneliness, brokeness, lack of meaning, lack of purpose, lack of control and finally the reality of death.
There is another choice. There is another way of being human. It is the way of Jesus Christ. Jesus just doesn’t show us the other choice. He is the other choice. He is the other way of being human.
That other way of being human is the real choice to embrace steadfast holy unconditional love. It is the way of reunification with God the Father, through the second Adam- Jesus Christ, by the transforming power of God the Holy Spirit.
This other way of being human is grounded in the truth that free will is only possible for the soul that prays: heavenly Father, your will be done. That prayer sets us free from the fear that there is never enough to make us happy, healthy or secure.
The truth is that there in more than enough. There is in fact an extravagant abundance of blessing for the soul that makes a real choice to be human according to the pattern, plan and purpose of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
The consequence of choosing Jesus Christ is a new life of transformation. It is a new life immersed in the infinite and eternal love of God. It is not instantaneous perfection. It is not an escape from the world as it is. It is a way of living that makes all things new.
Jesus described this new way of living, this new way of being human, when he gave his disciples the new commandment. The commandment to love one another as I have loved you is the invitation to live and move and have our being from the place of steadfast holy unconditional love.
We can only fulfill this commandment as we make a real choice to immerse our minds and hearts and wills in the gift God gives us in Jesus Christ. This gift is what the Bible calls grace.
Grace is the new life that is formed by realigning our thoughts with God’s thoughts by reading, studying and memorizing the Bible. God has given us the Bible as a wonderful gift. It is our choice to use the gift. AS we use the gift God applies its benefits to our minds.
Grace is the new life that is transformed by the infusion of divine life into our souls in the blessed sacrament of holy communion. The gift is always here at the altar. It is our choice to come and receive the gift. As we make the choice to come and receive the gift God releases a blessing into our souls.
Grace is the new way of living that makes all things new. To be a Christian is not to escape, evade, or even to conquer the problems we face in this lost and broken world. It is a way of living by which we daily offer our selves, our souls and bodies to God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The blessing is the personal relationship. The personal relationship is that assurance that we are never alone. It is the assurance that we are loved with an everlasting love.
St. Paul knew much hardship in his life as did all of the apostles. St. Paul also said he rejoiced in all of the circumstances of his life through his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who makes all things, the good, the bad and the indifferent- new.
The love Jesus invites us to practice is the transforming love that makes everything in our lives new. That love can, if we chose to accept it and to practice it, transform our thoughts, our emotions and our choices.
In Jesus Christ God offers us a choice. The choice is how we will be human. We can choose the way of the first Adam. That is the way of separation and self will. It is also important for us to understand that is also the way of death.
Or, we can choose the way of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
That is the way of reunification and transformation. That is the way of an active personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. That is the way by which Christ in us makes all things new.
It is also the way by which Jesus overcomes death and gives us the gift of eternal life.
Jesus spoke to his beloved apostle John and said: behold, I make all things new here and now for you and for all who receive me in the steadfast holy unconditional eternal love of God.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Easter 4
Easter 4 "My sheep hear my voice"
The Good Shepherd devotes himself to his sheep.
The good shepherd spends all of his time and talent and attention tending to the well being of his flock. He is always there for the flock. Gradually, the sheep learn to identify the shepherd’s form and voice with care and protection.
Not all who serve as shepherds act as shepherds. Some are less attentive and less devoted. The sheep are less likely to follow them and more likely to wander aimlessly into danger.
Sheep are sheep. They do not aspire to be shepherds. They have a fixed nature and character. The good shepherd spends time learning as much as he can about the nature and character of sheep. It doesn’t take long. Sheep need food, water, security and direction.
Only Jesus can use the metaphor of the shepherd and the sheep to apply to himself and the human race. Only Jesus has the time and the energy to study humanity and comprehend human character and nature.
Unlike sheep, human beings are not content to be who God created us to be.
God the Father created human beings to be self actualizing persons filled with love and holiness. The Father created us to be holy vessels of God the Holy Spirit. The Father created us to be in a spontaneous joyful, dynamic loving relationship with the co-eternal Beloved, the Son- Jesus Christ.
For a created being to be the vessel of holiness and the companion of the co-eternal Beloved the activating principle is real choice. Love and holiness cannot be compelled they can only be chosen.
The record of scripture is the observation and revelation that human beings chose to separate from love and holiness in order to embrace knowledge and power. Human beings are not content to be human. We are not content to be who God created us to be.
Human beings aspire to be like God’s attributes of omniscience and omnipotence rather than God’s character of holiness and nature of love. We seek to command and control our environment, our interpersonal relationships, our own souls and above all else: God. We end up lost, lonely, frustrated and broken.
Jesus, the good shepherd, knows that unlike real sheep we are not content to be who God created us to be. Jesus is the original pattern for humanity. He knows how and where and why we choose to break the pattern. He knows how to restore the pattern.
The restoration of the original pattern of humanity is not possible by law, religion, science or philosophy. Those things have their place in human life. Those things can not restore us to wholeness and health. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can do that because he is the original pattern by which, through which, and for which God the Father created us.
Jesus affirms this when he says: The Father and I are one.
Jesus alone is the universal Lord and the universal savior because Jesus alone is one with the Father. Jesus alone is the co-eternal Beloved of the Father. Jesus alone is the perfect plan, pattern and purpose for humanity.
There is a fundamental spiritual principle implicit in the Biblical observations about human behavior and human nature. The principle is real choice. There are three parts to this principle.
The first part of that principle is that we are lost and are stubbornly committed to our individual will to power to resist God’s solution to the problem we face. We are lost and we insist on our right to exercise our will to stay lost.
The second part of this principle is that God the Holy Spirit is reaching out to all people everywhere with the invitation to be found. The Holy Spirit whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks to us in the beauty of the natural world, the order of creation that science perceives in the universe, and in the desire of the heart for companionship.
The Holy Spirit also shouts to us in our pain. That pain may be physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual. Pain alerts us to a problem. The Holy Spirit shouts to us in our pain and he shouts out one word: Jesus.
The third and last part of this spiritual principle is that all who seek God for who he is will find him for who he is. And, we will find him for who he is in Jesus Christ.
There are three keys to finding God for who he is. These are the keys of surrender.
The first key is the desire to surrender our self will demand to define God for who we want God to be.
The second key is to surrender our fear that if we cannot impose our will to define God that somehow we will suffer and perish.
The third key is to surrender our pride, that fatal pride, that in all ways and at all times demands "my will be done."
Why some hear the invitation and choose the path of surrender is Divine Mystery. There were many in Israel who heard the words of Moses and still worshiped the golden calf. The were many in Israel who heard the call of the prophets and rejected the invitation to worship the living God. There were many in Israel who saw Jesus perform miracles and teach the love and compassion of God who yet rejected Jesus and plotted to kill him.
All who seek the truth find it. All who seek God find him.
All who seek with the three keys of submission are found by the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. It is they who recognize the voice of the One who has been caring for them despite their stubborn rebellion. They hear his voice and they make a real choice to believe.
That real choice to believe says: yes. I receive the gift of God in Jesus Christ. Yes. I receive the apostolic witness that Christ lived, died and rose again. Yes. I receive the testimony of the Holy Spirit as he speaks to me in the events of daily life and from the words of the Bible. God is real. God is personal. God is love. God is Jesus Christ.
The sheep who aspire only to be sheep hear the voice of the shepherd and rejoice to recognize that voice. The sheep who rejoice in the voice of the shepherd choose the path of surrender to the eternal love of the co-eternal Beloved. They are the ones who follow him into the green pastures fed by springs of living waters.
The voice of the Good Shepherd is the word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us this morning that all who seek him will be found by him. And he will give all who seek him eternal life. He can do this because Jesus is one with God the Father. Jesus is one with the infinite and eternal love of God.
The Good Shepherd devotes himself to his sheep.
The good shepherd spends all of his time and talent and attention tending to the well being of his flock. He is always there for the flock. Gradually, the sheep learn to identify the shepherd’s form and voice with care and protection.
Not all who serve as shepherds act as shepherds. Some are less attentive and less devoted. The sheep are less likely to follow them and more likely to wander aimlessly into danger.
Sheep are sheep. They do not aspire to be shepherds. They have a fixed nature and character. The good shepherd spends time learning as much as he can about the nature and character of sheep. It doesn’t take long. Sheep need food, water, security and direction.
Only Jesus can use the metaphor of the shepherd and the sheep to apply to himself and the human race. Only Jesus has the time and the energy to study humanity and comprehend human character and nature.
Unlike sheep, human beings are not content to be who God created us to be.
God the Father created human beings to be self actualizing persons filled with love and holiness. The Father created us to be holy vessels of God the Holy Spirit. The Father created us to be in a spontaneous joyful, dynamic loving relationship with the co-eternal Beloved, the Son- Jesus Christ.
For a created being to be the vessel of holiness and the companion of the co-eternal Beloved the activating principle is real choice. Love and holiness cannot be compelled they can only be chosen.
The record of scripture is the observation and revelation that human beings chose to separate from love and holiness in order to embrace knowledge and power. Human beings are not content to be human. We are not content to be who God created us to be.
Human beings aspire to be like God’s attributes of omniscience and omnipotence rather than God’s character of holiness and nature of love. We seek to command and control our environment, our interpersonal relationships, our own souls and above all else: God. We end up lost, lonely, frustrated and broken.
Jesus, the good shepherd, knows that unlike real sheep we are not content to be who God created us to be. Jesus is the original pattern for humanity. He knows how and where and why we choose to break the pattern. He knows how to restore the pattern.
The restoration of the original pattern of humanity is not possible by law, religion, science or philosophy. Those things have their place in human life. Those things can not restore us to wholeness and health. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can do that because he is the original pattern by which, through which, and for which God the Father created us.
Jesus affirms this when he says: The Father and I are one.
Jesus alone is the universal Lord and the universal savior because Jesus alone is one with the Father. Jesus alone is the co-eternal Beloved of the Father. Jesus alone is the perfect plan, pattern and purpose for humanity.
There is a fundamental spiritual principle implicit in the Biblical observations about human behavior and human nature. The principle is real choice. There are three parts to this principle.
The first part of that principle is that we are lost and are stubbornly committed to our individual will to power to resist God’s solution to the problem we face. We are lost and we insist on our right to exercise our will to stay lost.
The second part of this principle is that God the Holy Spirit is reaching out to all people everywhere with the invitation to be found. The Holy Spirit whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks to us in the beauty of the natural world, the order of creation that science perceives in the universe, and in the desire of the heart for companionship.
The Holy Spirit also shouts to us in our pain. That pain may be physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual. Pain alerts us to a problem. The Holy Spirit shouts to us in our pain and he shouts out one word: Jesus.
The third and last part of this spiritual principle is that all who seek God for who he is will find him for who he is. And, we will find him for who he is in Jesus Christ.
There are three keys to finding God for who he is. These are the keys of surrender.
The first key is the desire to surrender our self will demand to define God for who we want God to be.
The second key is to surrender our fear that if we cannot impose our will to define God that somehow we will suffer and perish.
The third key is to surrender our pride, that fatal pride, that in all ways and at all times demands "my will be done."
Why some hear the invitation and choose the path of surrender is Divine Mystery. There were many in Israel who heard the words of Moses and still worshiped the golden calf. The were many in Israel who heard the call of the prophets and rejected the invitation to worship the living God. There were many in Israel who saw Jesus perform miracles and teach the love and compassion of God who yet rejected Jesus and plotted to kill him.
All who seek the truth find it. All who seek God find him.
All who seek with the three keys of submission are found by the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. It is they who recognize the voice of the One who has been caring for them despite their stubborn rebellion. They hear his voice and they make a real choice to believe.
That real choice to believe says: yes. I receive the gift of God in Jesus Christ. Yes. I receive the apostolic witness that Christ lived, died and rose again. Yes. I receive the testimony of the Holy Spirit as he speaks to me in the events of daily life and from the words of the Bible. God is real. God is personal. God is love. God is Jesus Christ.
The sheep who aspire only to be sheep hear the voice of the shepherd and rejoice to recognize that voice. The sheep who rejoice in the voice of the shepherd choose the path of surrender to the eternal love of the co-eternal Beloved. They are the ones who follow him into the green pastures fed by springs of living waters.
The voice of the Good Shepherd is the word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us this morning that all who seek him will be found by him. And he will give all who seek him eternal life. He can do this because Jesus is one with God the Father. Jesus is one with the infinite and eternal love of God.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Easter 3
Easter 3 "Do you love me?"
Jesus asked Peter a question Peter could not answer.
We miss the subtlety of the question. We miss it because unlike ancient Greek modern English has no vocabulary to express the rich subtle language of love. To some extent, this linguist poverty is a reflection of the spiritual poverty of our culture.
In this conversation between Jesus and Peter, Jesus twice asks Peter, do you pledge your life and loyalty to me unreservedly and unconditionally? And twice Peter replies, you know I am your friend. Peter doesn’t answer the question. He can’t really give Jesus what Jesus asks. Jesus is asking Peter to do something and to be something he has not yet experienced within himself.
That is why Peter and all of the disciples, except John, were so incredibly slow to believe the resurrection. That is why in this passage the apostles at first do not recognize Jesus. It is John, to whom the Holy Spirit has given the title: beloved, who recognizes Jesus.
The word the Holy Spirit uses to describe John is the same word Jesus uses when he asks Peter, do you love me. The word is agape. It means steadfast holy unconditional love. That was the kind of love John had embraced when he stood at the foot of the cross with Holy Mother Mary. Peter and the other disciples did not have that experience.
And so, Peter responds to Jesus’ question by altering the premise. Jesus uses the word agape, the highest form of love ancient peoples could imagine. Peter responds with the word phileo, brotherly love or friendship. It is more than some forms of love ancient peoples recognized, but less than the next higher form of love which is loyalty. And it is no where near the steadfast holy unconditional love Jesus asks of Peter.
There is a terrible struggle in this brief exchange. Jesus is asking Peter to be more than he is at that moment. Peter is trying to respond in the best way he can. Jesus asks: do you love me with divine love. Peter replies: I do have brotherly love for you. I am your friend.
Peter cannot yet comprehend agape. So, the third time Jesus asks the question he changes his question from agape to phileo. Peter, "are you my friend?" is the literal meaning of the third question Jesus asks.
And of course, that is the word Peter has been trying to use in answer to the previous two questions. Peter cannot ascend to the level Jesus holds before him, so Jesus descends to the level at which Peter lives. It is enough, for now. It is a start. It is the start of a life long process of transformation.
It is the beginning of the journey that will lead from self interest, to brotherly love, to friendship, then to loyalty and finally to agape itself: steadfast, holy, unconditional love. John adds his own personal interpretive note to the story when he references Peter’s death. In his execution for his testimony to the resurrection, Peter will experience and demonstrate for the Roman world that steadfast holy unconditional love he was slow to embrace in those early days of the resurrection.
No human being is capable of expressing agape. God the Father created us to be pure vessels and open channels of this kind of love. But only God can supply agape. Only God can supply this kind of love because that is the Divine nature. When the Bible says God is love it uses this word Agape: steadfast, holy, unconditional love.
The human choice to separate from God resulted in a soul cut off from the source of steadfast holy unconditional love. Apart from this love, we wither and perish. We struggle to find meaning and purpose. We become self absorbed and self preoccupied. We even lose the rich subtle vocabulary of love our ancestors once knew.
We are lost and broken in our separation from steadfast holy love. That was Peter’s condition. That was why he could not respond to Jesus’ question.
The solution is the process Jesus portrays for us in this encounter with Peter and the other disciples. John is already there. But John is still very young. He has many years of living before he can understand the fulness of the agape love his soul now holds.
Peter is older and has more life experience, but he hasn’t made that next step in faith that John made in the company of Holy Mother Mary. Jesus shows Peter, the disciples, and us what that next step is. It is service to others.
Jesus says: feed my sheep. Tend my flock, He who is greatest among you is servant of all. This is no mere title. It is the outward expression of a new attitude and aspect of the new life Jesus gives us.
The disciples had all argued amongst themselves about issues of command and control. They each wanted to be in charge. They each wanted to be the one Jesus would appoint to exercise lordship on his behalf over the rest. Each wanted to be in charge of the Kingdom of Heaven. Each wanted to be the infallible co-regent with Christ over the church on earth.
For three years the disciples thought in terms of religious laws, courts, prerogatives and privileges. That wasn’t why Jesus came. It wasn’t the Plan of salvation. Jesus never appointed co-regents to rule over a single world dominating religious institution. He came to reunify a lost and broken humanity to the source of light and life and love. He called his apostles to feed his sheep and tend his flock through preaching, teaching, healing and the sacraments.
John surrendered his self will and selfish desire for command and control when he stood at the foot of the cross. At that moment of tragedy, suffering, pain and loss- John lost himself in the steadfast holy love of Jesus Christ and found himself reborn as an open vessel of divine grace.
Peter and the others were a little slower. We all come to faith at a different time. We all grow in grace at a different pace. For that moment, it was enough for Peter to tell Jesus he was his friend. And, it was enough for Jesus to hear those words. It was enough for that moment. It was one step away from fear and one step forward into faith. It was one step beyond the pride of self will into the freedom of Divine will. It was enough. But, there was more to come. There is always more to come.
Agape, steadfast holy unconditional love, is infinite and eternal. We can never exhaust the height and depth and creative potential of Divine Love.
Within fifty days Peter and the others would receive an infilling of the Holy Spirit that would transform their fear into courage and their hesitant friendship into dynamic loyalty. Throughout his life Peter and the others would learn that the Kingdom of God is not about command and control but rather love and compassion.
The new life in Christ is a call to service. The new life in Christ sets us free from fear, self will and pride. The new life in Christ offers us the way forward through a life of service. For Peter, the disciples and us, the way forward has many dead ends and detours.
The Good News is that God is always there to get back on track. God is always there offering us a new opportunity to step back from the way of power and immerse ourselves in the way of service.
We become more of who God created us to be when we make a conscious choice to follow the path of steadfast holy unconditional love. After Jesus asks the three questions about love, he issues one single commanding invitation . He issued it to his disciples by the sea that day. And, he issues it to us.
Jesus asked the simple yet profound question: do you love me? Jesus invites us into a new way of living in the words: Follow me.
Jesus asked Peter a question Peter could not answer.
We miss the subtlety of the question. We miss it because unlike ancient Greek modern English has no vocabulary to express the rich subtle language of love. To some extent, this linguist poverty is a reflection of the spiritual poverty of our culture.
In this conversation between Jesus and Peter, Jesus twice asks Peter, do you pledge your life and loyalty to me unreservedly and unconditionally? And twice Peter replies, you know I am your friend. Peter doesn’t answer the question. He can’t really give Jesus what Jesus asks. Jesus is asking Peter to do something and to be something he has not yet experienced within himself.
That is why Peter and all of the disciples, except John, were so incredibly slow to believe the resurrection. That is why in this passage the apostles at first do not recognize Jesus. It is John, to whom the Holy Spirit has given the title: beloved, who recognizes Jesus.
The word the Holy Spirit uses to describe John is the same word Jesus uses when he asks Peter, do you love me. The word is agape. It means steadfast holy unconditional love. That was the kind of love John had embraced when he stood at the foot of the cross with Holy Mother Mary. Peter and the other disciples did not have that experience.
And so, Peter responds to Jesus’ question by altering the premise. Jesus uses the word agape, the highest form of love ancient peoples could imagine. Peter responds with the word phileo, brotherly love or friendship. It is more than some forms of love ancient peoples recognized, but less than the next higher form of love which is loyalty. And it is no where near the steadfast holy unconditional love Jesus asks of Peter.
There is a terrible struggle in this brief exchange. Jesus is asking Peter to be more than he is at that moment. Peter is trying to respond in the best way he can. Jesus asks: do you love me with divine love. Peter replies: I do have brotherly love for you. I am your friend.
Peter cannot yet comprehend agape. So, the third time Jesus asks the question he changes his question from agape to phileo. Peter, "are you my friend?" is the literal meaning of the third question Jesus asks.
And of course, that is the word Peter has been trying to use in answer to the previous two questions. Peter cannot ascend to the level Jesus holds before him, so Jesus descends to the level at which Peter lives. It is enough, for now. It is a start. It is the start of a life long process of transformation.
It is the beginning of the journey that will lead from self interest, to brotherly love, to friendship, then to loyalty and finally to agape itself: steadfast, holy, unconditional love. John adds his own personal interpretive note to the story when he references Peter’s death. In his execution for his testimony to the resurrection, Peter will experience and demonstrate for the Roman world that steadfast holy unconditional love he was slow to embrace in those early days of the resurrection.
No human being is capable of expressing agape. God the Father created us to be pure vessels and open channels of this kind of love. But only God can supply agape. Only God can supply this kind of love because that is the Divine nature. When the Bible says God is love it uses this word Agape: steadfast, holy, unconditional love.
The human choice to separate from God resulted in a soul cut off from the source of steadfast holy unconditional love. Apart from this love, we wither and perish. We struggle to find meaning and purpose. We become self absorbed and self preoccupied. We even lose the rich subtle vocabulary of love our ancestors once knew.
We are lost and broken in our separation from steadfast holy love. That was Peter’s condition. That was why he could not respond to Jesus’ question.
The solution is the process Jesus portrays for us in this encounter with Peter and the other disciples. John is already there. But John is still very young. He has many years of living before he can understand the fulness of the agape love his soul now holds.
Peter is older and has more life experience, but he hasn’t made that next step in faith that John made in the company of Holy Mother Mary. Jesus shows Peter, the disciples, and us what that next step is. It is service to others.
Jesus says: feed my sheep. Tend my flock, He who is greatest among you is servant of all. This is no mere title. It is the outward expression of a new attitude and aspect of the new life Jesus gives us.
The disciples had all argued amongst themselves about issues of command and control. They each wanted to be in charge. They each wanted to be the one Jesus would appoint to exercise lordship on his behalf over the rest. Each wanted to be in charge of the Kingdom of Heaven. Each wanted to be the infallible co-regent with Christ over the church on earth.
For three years the disciples thought in terms of religious laws, courts, prerogatives and privileges. That wasn’t why Jesus came. It wasn’t the Plan of salvation. Jesus never appointed co-regents to rule over a single world dominating religious institution. He came to reunify a lost and broken humanity to the source of light and life and love. He called his apostles to feed his sheep and tend his flock through preaching, teaching, healing and the sacraments.
John surrendered his self will and selfish desire for command and control when he stood at the foot of the cross. At that moment of tragedy, suffering, pain and loss- John lost himself in the steadfast holy love of Jesus Christ and found himself reborn as an open vessel of divine grace.
Peter and the others were a little slower. We all come to faith at a different time. We all grow in grace at a different pace. For that moment, it was enough for Peter to tell Jesus he was his friend. And, it was enough for Jesus to hear those words. It was enough for that moment. It was one step away from fear and one step forward into faith. It was one step beyond the pride of self will into the freedom of Divine will. It was enough. But, there was more to come. There is always more to come.
Agape, steadfast holy unconditional love, is infinite and eternal. We can never exhaust the height and depth and creative potential of Divine Love.
Within fifty days Peter and the others would receive an infilling of the Holy Spirit that would transform their fear into courage and their hesitant friendship into dynamic loyalty. Throughout his life Peter and the others would learn that the Kingdom of God is not about command and control but rather love and compassion.
The new life in Christ is a call to service. The new life in Christ sets us free from fear, self will and pride. The new life in Christ offers us the way forward through a life of service. For Peter, the disciples and us, the way forward has many dead ends and detours.
The Good News is that God is always there to get back on track. God is always there offering us a new opportunity to step back from the way of power and immerse ourselves in the way of service.
We become more of who God created us to be when we make a conscious choice to follow the path of steadfast holy unconditional love. After Jesus asks the three questions about love, he issues one single commanding invitation . He issued it to his disciples by the sea that day. And, he issues it to us.
Jesus asked the simple yet profound question: do you love me? Jesus invites us into a new way of living in the words: Follow me.
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