Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Trinity Sunday Readings


Isaiah 6:1-8


In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory."

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!

A vivid scene, and one with lots to think about! Isaiah has a direct experience of the grandeur of God, and the Spirit helps him convey a sense of that to us. The hem of God’s robe fills the temple, which makes it the equivalent of several city blocks in area (dwarfing even the most spectacular Coronation dress.) Heavenly six-winged creatures sing God’s praises. But at the same time, this is all grounded in a concrete place and time, the year good King Uzziah died. For Jews, God is transcendent, above all, but He also makes Himself known to us in the concrete realities of our history. Christians think the same way. For instance, in the creed we say that Jesus was ‘crucified under Pontius Pilate’, that is, at a particular point in real history, and in a real place. For Jews and Christians, in the Old Testament and the New, God works out his plan in the broken, but good, real world He has created.

There’s a liturgical side to this (of course, I think there’s a liturgical side to everything!)  We know the words of the heavenly song, because we sing them as we prepare to gather around the altar at the Eucharist. Our hymnal has no less than sixteen musical settings for this hymn. However we choose to sing it, we are doing exactly what the citizens of heaven are doing in Isaiah’s vision: we are in God’s presence, singing about His glory. In the Eastern Church, this is the point in the liturgy when we are actually united with Heaven, all singing together. A powerful thought! Sing out!

Romans 8:12-17


So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

This little reading packs a radical punch: Paul insists on retelling the story of God and humanity in a new way. For Paul, the only criterion for someone’s being a child of God is whether they allow themselves to be led by the spirit of God. Family history, ethnic identity, genetics, have nothing to do with it. In fact, those are the things Paul means when he talks about living ‘according to the flesh’: trusting one’s status as a Jew, trusting signs of the old covenant, like circumcision, or the Law, are all matters of ‘the flesh’, the deeds of the body. The point is not that Jews are to be excluded. The point is anyone led by the spirit, Jew or gentile, slave or free, man or woman, is now included. 



John 3:1-17


There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

"Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."



A novice was once sent to a wise old priest for spiritual direction. The novice was very intelligent and enthusiastic, and had read all kinds of books about the life of prayer. While the old priest made tea, the novice told him all about the wonderful things he had discovered in his research. The old priest poured tea into the novice’s cup, but he didn’t stop when it was full. He just kept pouring and pouring until tea had spilled everywhere.

“What are you doing, Father? The cup is full, there’s no more room.”

“You are the same”, said the old priest. “How can you learn from me, if you are already full of all your own thoughts and opinions? Come back next week, and bring an empty cup.”

Nicodemus comes to Jesus with a full cup. The first words out of his mouth are “We know”. He assumes that Jesus is another teacher, like other Pharisees. He may have a style of his own, but Nicodemus thinks he knows pretty much what Jesus is about. Jesus spends the rest of the conversation trying to empty Nicodemus’ cup, trying to get him to let go of what he thinks he knows about God, and God’s plans. For a Pharisee, a person whose reputation was built on knowledge, this is a hard thing for Nicodemus to do, and he seems to go away puzzled, even when he hears that most powerful summary of the mission of Jesus, John 3:16.

It’s a hazard of the life of faith, walking around with a full cup. Trinity Sunday is challenging, because it reminds us, we never really completely understand God. We are being guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth, but complete understanding is always a little beyond our grasp. Maybe it’s best to say that a mystery, like the Trinity, isn’t really something we never understand, it’s something we never stop understanding, as long as we keep some room in our cup.  






Thursday, May 24, 2012

Pentecost Reflections

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Acts 2:1-21
Two years ago, I had the opportunity to go to Turkey for a Paul and Early Church course. We traveled all around Turkey (and actually got to see a number of the places listed in the reading). We happened to be in Antalya, just south of Cappadocia, on the Feast of Pentecost.
After making my way to this church (which was really the upper room of a coffee shop), I was greeted by a number of people and shortly we began the service. It was a non-liturgical church, so Pentecost was not being celebrated, but what I experienced nothing could have prepared me for.
Attending the service were five Americans, three Turks, two Russians, a Ukrainian, and myself. The sermon lasted for over an hour, because it had to be translated into our respective languages! Finally it came time to sing, and the song we settled on was “Amazing Grace.”
I expected a horrific sound. Instead, I heard the Holy Spirit sing through us as the four languages were being brought together into one. Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and English somehow molded together, and Pentecost was experienced again. In Genesis 11, God confused the language of the people of Babel because they tried to build a tower to reach God. On Pentecost, and that day in Antalya as well, God reunited the tongues to proclaim his Gospel of love.
Scott D. Parnell
Director of Youth Ministries


Romans 8:22-27


We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

   As often happens with Paul, a lot is packed into a few words! The first thing to notice is, there's a whole lot of groaning going on: creation, we ourselves, and the Holy Spirit, are all groaning, in expectation of something new and wonderful beyond words. Paul compares this to the groans of a woman in labor: the present time is difficult, but it contains the promise of a time when the pain will be in the past, and new life will begin. Also notice that all of creation is awaiting renewal. This is a pretty important point for understanding Paul: God's plan is not just to get individual people into a distant place called heaven. God's plan is to renew the face of the Earth, to redeem the creation he loves, and bring it all back into a close, loving, trust-filled relationship with Him.
   I find great comfort in the description Paul gives of the Holy Spirit. We are a culture of words, especially written ones; we want to be able to say the right thing. I remember beginning a course in Clinical Pastoral Education, and being all excited that I would finally learn the right words to say to people in difficult situations. The first thing the instructor said was, "In this course you are not going to learn all the right words to say to people in difficult situations." What we learned was more about a "ministry of presence"; giving up the false hope of fixing things with words, and learning to be with people to listen, to pray, to just be there. Because the Holy Spirit is with us, these prayers beyond words are heard and understood, just as surely as the most eloquent collect from the Prayer Book. And that's a very good thing.



John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15


Jesus said to his disciples, "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

"I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But, now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

Henry the Eighth's favorite preacher was a priest named Lancelot Andrewes (without a doubt the coolest name in anglican history, IMHO). Andrewes made one of the first homeletical jokes ever recorded, preaching about this passage. Why did Jesus have to go up before the Holy spirit could come down? Were they like buckets in a well, on the same rope? Does pulling one up send the other down? History does not say if Henry cracked up. But the question is a legitimate one.
   Part of the answer is this: Jesus is clearing the stage for the disciples. Part of The Plan is that His ministry, His role, be carried on by the Church. Unlikely as it seems, we are now the ones who carry God's redeeming work into the world, it is through us that God's presence finds its way into this crazy, mixed-up world. Funnily enough, this makes me think of Groucho Marx: do I really want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member? 
   But of course we are not alone. The Holy Spirit is at work, in us. The Holy spirit is also at work in the world, bearing witness to the ministry, the teaching, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. That can be hard to see sometimes, but something tells me it's true. For instance, even my most unspiritual, secular friends are willing to talk about Jesus, even admire him. Somehow, they see his importance, though they might find faith difficult. Maybe the Spirit is still working?
   Jesus says there are things the disciples are not ready to hear, but the Spirit will guide them into the truth. I wonder if that is true for all disciples, including us. Each generation has to come to an understanding of what the work of Jesus means in their world, and that doesn't always happen quickly. Maybe the important thing isn't having all the answers, but being willing to become lifelong learners.    

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Acts 1:1-11


In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

   Luke begins the second part of his two-volume work with another address to Theophilus, the patron of his work. We don't know who Theophilus was, but it is interesting that his name means 'lover of God'.
   Luke begins Acts the same way he ends his Gospel, with an account of the ascension.The disciples have learned a lot, but they still have a way to go. They ask if this is the time the Kingdom would be restored to Israel: a reversal in the national fortunes of Israel, perhaps the restoration of a monarchy like David's. Jesus deflects the question, but the answer is 'yes', though 'the Kingdom' is much broader than the disciples are thinking, 'Israel' will be redefined as all who accept the gospel message, and 'now' is not a day or a moment, but a new era, beginning after the resurrection, spanning to the present day, and continuing until the final completion of God's great plan of new creation. Notice how Jesus gently nudges the disciples into a broader view of things: they are not to get impatient and try to guess the timing of all this; they must prepare for faithfulness over the long haul. And this vision will encompass not onyl Israel, but Samaria (a bit of a shock) and the ends of the earth (an even bigger shock).
  Do we sometimes narrow down the scope of what God is doing in Christ, and in the Church, like the disciples did?  Some of Paul's most inspiring passages suggest the scope of god's plan goes way beyond 'Samaria and the ends of the Earth': God is preparing a whole new creation, where heaven and earth are no longer divided. How would the disciples have reacted to that? How do you react? 

“I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
-Ephesians 1:15-23
I remember when I first visited my uncle in France, I had to learn that you couldn’t just sit anywhere at the table: you had to be placed. My mother instructed me about the special designation of sitting to the right of the host who was at the head of the table. The last night we were there, I was granted such honor… and it was a big deal. Who knew being on the right offered so much more honor than being on the left.
Jesus actually used this as an example in St. Luke’s Gospel on what the Kingdom of God will look like (Luke 14). The apparent moral of the story deals with not presuming to be entitled to anything, particularly the Kingdom of God. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, missed this and started arguing about who would sit on Jesus’ left and right when He came into power (Mark 10). I suppose it was hard to answer the brothers’ question about who would be on Jesus’ left since he’s suggestively not the host.
Along with the right hand being the place of honor, the man standing to your right is the way you get something done… much like you’d turn to your right hand man to make sure that a job gets done and gets done well. This picture St. Paul paints of Jesus ascending to the right hand of the Father makes a statement about how God was now going to work in the world: his right-hand man, Jesus.
When we say weekly in the creed, He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, we’re not commenting on the place cards on dining room table in heaven. We’re affirming our hope as Christians that it is Jesus whom God works through in the world. And as the Body of Christ, it is our privilege to continue Jesus’ ministry in caring for the poor, neglected, sick, and lonely.
Scott D. Parnell



Luke 24:44-53


Jesus said to his disciples, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. See, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

   In some ways, this is a retelling of the same story we heard in Acts, though this time we are more focussed on the past than the future. As he did with the men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus opens the scriptures to the disciples. This is not just about finding little snippets of scripture which predict some of the things that happened to Jesus (though you can find plenty of those). It is more about learning to see the story of Jesus as the great final chapter in the whole scriptural drama. God's plan to bring His wayward creation, and all His wayward people back into a loving trustful relationship with Him is reaching its final payoff, its great climax, in the story of Jesus.
   Both accounts of the Ascension have images of Jesus being carried up. One very ancient painting of the Asenscion shows a cloud with two feet sticking out. We respect the vividness of the scriptural account, but at the same time it can be helpful to remember the thoughts of Martin Luther: where did Christ ascend? To the right hand of the Father. Where is the right hand of the Father? Everywhere.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Lectionary Thoughts for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 10:44-48


While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

   How embarassing! An interruption, just when the guest preacher was really getting warmed up!What's going on here?
   Clearly, we are walking in on something. Let's fill in some background. Peter has received a vision, telling him that three men are looking for him, and telling him not to call things unclean which God has made clean. (This is the famous vision of a sheet being lowered from heaven, with all kinds of un-koscher critters in it. Peter is aghast when a voice tells him to "kill and eat", but the voice insists Peter leave behind the old categories of clean and unclean.)  Meanwhile a man named Cornelius has had a vision in which he has been instructed to send for Peter, and listen to what he had to say. Cornelius is a gentile. In fact, as a Roman centurion, he is about as gentile as you can get! Both men are faithful to their visions. Peter and some Jewish friends come to Cornelius' house. Peter proclaims the good news of Jesus, and that's where we walk in: Peter's carefully crafted proclamation is interrupted by a totally unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
   But Peter is ready for this. He has been thinking of the prophecy of Joel: "It will come to pass that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions." He sees the interruption for what it really is: the Holy Spirit accomplishing what has been promised. God's great rescue mission, to bring all peoples back into relationship with him, is being accomplished, through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the lives of these gentiles. Peter knows better, now, than to call unclean things or people which God has made clean. He baptizes them into the body of Christ.
   As Episcopalians, we appreciate order and predictability in our times together. And these things  are important. But are there things we can learn from Peter, about being open to the unexpected leading of the Holy Spirit? How can order and openness to the Spirit live together? How can we prepare ourselves to recognize the Spirit's unexpected visits?



1 John 5:1-6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
The desire to conquer the world is not exactly a new idea. People have been trying for a very long time, and some have actually gotten quite close. St. John’s immediate audience would have been a people who were quite familiar with conquerors: the Ephesians. The Persians, Greeks, and Roman had all had a hand in the Ephesians’ history and they knew how conquerors ruled: fear.
Fear is the easiest way to gain dominion over another and finds its origin as a result of the first sin. God was walking in the Garden after the man and woman had eaten the forbidden fruit and unable to find them, God called out, “Where are you?” The man responded: “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid…” (Gen 3:10). To be ruled by fear is an unnatural thing, but it is something we all have to engage.
The excerpt from John’s epistle for this Sunday begins to tie the past few weeks together together. Three weeks ago, we learned that we can know what love is by the example of Jesus laying down his life, and last week we read that “God is love” and that “perfect love casts our fear” (1 John 3:16, 4:8, 18). Here we have hope for the remedy of the fear caused by the original sin. God’s love made manifest to us in Jesus Christ casts out all fear. It is our faith in this, John writes, that conquers the world.
The world will not just be restored, but it will be conquered by love. We will no longer be prisoners to fear, shame, or guilt: compassion, mercy, and charity will be the instruments that rule God’s people. The Christians in Ephesus were invited into a life of conquering the world through love, something they had never experienced before in their history. Today, so many of our neighbors are ruled by fear of insecurity. Let us receive the same invitation from John to go and conquer that fear with Christ’s love.
Scott D. Parnell
Director of Youth Ministries


John 15:9-17


Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

   English pop singer Elvis Costello asked the musical question, "What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?" Maybe we've been around too long and seen too much, but exhoratations to love, pleas that we all"just get along", often seem silly, naive, and, well, funny.
   Whatever Jesus might have been, he was certainly not naive. He knew the limits of human goodness. He knew, better than anyone, the human capacity for cruelty. And yet he commands us to love. He doesn't wish we would try to love. He doesn't urge us to do our best to love. He commands us to love. Clearly something deeper is going on here.
   In regular talk, we use the word 'love' in lots of different ways, but most often we are talking about a feeling, a pleasurable set of emotions we experience in the presence of another person. We talk a lot about how unpredictable it is; we mention things like "chemistry" or even "fireworks"! We don't often talk about choosing to love, or deciding to love. We talk about falling in love, like love is an open manhole we didn't see in front of us. This isn't what Jesus is talking about. His love is  a deliberate commitment to treat the true well being of another person as equally important to our own. It is a decision to commit ourselves to a common future with a fellow disciple. Warm feelings aren't a big part of the equation: discipline and commitment are.
    The funny thing is, when we practice this kind of love, we get better at it. We learn to accept people for who they are, rather than demand that they provoke nice feelings in us. We put common ministry ahead of private feelings, and often we end up feeling very close to one another. Think of people you've worked with on something really meaningful, something bigger than yourselves, something demanding. Chances are you feel a bond with that person, a connection which goes deeper than feelings. I call this 'vocational' love. Not a very inspiring name. I'd be grateful if someone could suggest something better!
   Vocational love requires practice. What are some of the ways we can deliberately choose a path of vocational love? How can we get better at it?     


 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 6, 2012

Acts 8:26-40


An angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.


   This wonderful story is organized around three questions from a very unexpected person, a court eunuch, employed by the queen of Ethiopia. 
   First he asks, "How can I understand, unless someone guides me?"  The Ethiopian man needs help bringing scripture off the page and into life. Tom Long, a professor of homeletics, says he needs someone who not only knows scripture, but also knows the God of scripture. He needs someone who understands the words, but also understands the One to whom the words bear witness. We all need that. At the same time, we can all be that person for someone else. Who has mentored you in this way? Whom have you mentored? 
   The Ethiopian then asks, "About whom does the prophet say this, himself or someone else?" He is asking a crucial question in a subtle way: "Is this a story concerning someone else, in the distant past, or is it still happening, and does it concern me?" Philip shows how the words of Isaiah describe God at work, now and in the future, in the person of Jesus Christ. Scripture may be written in the past tense, but it is never just about the past. Scripture witnesses to God at work in the past, so that we can learn to recognize him at work in the present, and be confident he will continue to work in the future.
   Finally, he says, "Here is some water. What is to prevent me from being baptized?" From a narrow, human perspective the answer is "Plenty!"  He is from the wrong background, the wrong race, the wrong sexual status (eunuchs were not allowed to sacrifice in the temple), and he serves the wrong royalty. But the answer of the Spirit is "Nothing. Nothing prevents it." Notice this does not mean there are no requirements at all: the Ethiopian man has listened to Philip, his mentor, and been guided into understanding. On the basis of that understanding, he has decided to put his trust in Jesus, and to become part of Jesus' people: he has made a commitment. In this beautiful little scene of Christian teaching, we see what it means to be ready. Baptize him Phil!




John 15:1-8


Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."


   In these later Sundays of Easter, we switch from accounts of encounters with the risen Jesus to teachings which help explain the significance of the resurrection for the disciples and for us. In this portion of John, one of the things Jesus is trying to convey is that the disciples can join Jesus in his new risen life. They can be part of his flock, they can be branches of his vine. Resurrection is new life for them, as well as for Jesus.
   Notice that Jesus says he is the vine, and we are the branches. He does not say he is the root, or the trunk, or the stalk; he is the whole vine. And we aren't branches of him so much as we are branches in him. He isn't just the trunk of the vine, giving support and nourishment to the independent, separate branches. The relationship is much closer than that. He is the whole vine, and all the branches are united in him. The best word to describe this sounds a little old fashioned, but I can't think of a better one: we abide in Him, and He abides in us. 
   Jesus' words about pruning and cutting will ring true to all the gardeners out there. But they can sound harshly judgmental in our ears. How do we tell who is a good branch and who isn't? My short answer is: we don't, God does. There are people who try to cut themselves off from God; it is the tragic side of our free will. But is anyone ever completely lost to God? I try to avoid the temptation to speculate much about this, and leave it to God. And anyway, there are lots of places in my own life that are unfruitful, places in me that could use a darned good pruning, please. I try my best to remember that, and offer it up to God, when I'm tempted to start judging my fellow branches.