John
1:1-14
The Word is the creative power of God. It is truth, the essential message, the purpose of our existence, and the light that shines in the darkness. It heals us. It is God.
The Word is incarnate. Jesus is the Word. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ or Jesus' spirit, is also the Word. The Bible is often called God's Word. These are all God with us, and God's means of communicating with us.
The Word is the way God teaches and speaks to us. It is God's transcendent presence
God brought all of life into being by mere words. This life that God created is described as the light within, the light that shines in the darkness. This is the life energy that supports our very existence. It is spirit, the essence of our being, and the essential truth that we all hold inside. It is the truth that no lie can ever cover over, because it is the truth that gives life.
Nothing can overcome it, not even ignorance. The Word is God's will. It is the cause of progress. It is the victory of the just. It is God's vision for the future. It is God's desire for us and for the world. It is love.
God sends us to be a witnesses to this light. God wants all to believe that God's will for the world is inevitable. The world will not decline into chaos or Armageddon, because God loves the world. This is enligthenment. God enters the world through us.
The world does not fully know the Word. People reject it. They are caught up in the material world. They only recognize material illusion, not spiritual reality. They don't believe God's message to the world: that God can enter the world through flesh and blood, through us.
Being children of God is to embody God's love for humanity. When we believe in transformation, when we believe in the light within, when we believe in one another, we are born of God. This is true repentance, the belief that God's plan for this world, God's will, is manifesting in the world through us all the time. God's creative power to change lives and transform the world lies within us as children of God.
Those who put their faith in the world, in material security, in the will of man rather than the will of God, cannot manifest the power of transformation. They live in darkness even when the light is present and before them. They do not know God, they do not even know who they really are, because they don't name it, their life energy, their creative power, as God within. They do not receive God even while their lives, their existence, depends upon God. They have God within them but do not accept God. They do not see within them the light of the world, the transcendent radiance, the power and glory of God.
Jesus represents that power and glory. The glory of the son is the light within. It is the knowledge that we can embody God's transcendent nature. The light within in the source of all understanding. It is the truth that transforms us, and it is the grace by which transformation is made possible.
Jesus came into the world full of this shining light. John was not the light. He represents our material existence. He pointed us toward the light. He sought to bring the light into the world, to make us aware of the light within so that we believe that a better world is possible, that there is a way to salvation, to justice, to love for one another, and to peace between nations.
The Word is in us. Therefore, a part of us existed in the beginning. A part of us was and is with God. A part of us is full of light and glory. A part of us, the most essential part, the part that gives us life, the part that is who we are, our spirit, is in communion with God. We are part of the light and the truth, because God is with us and we are with God.
It's up to us to find that part of ourselves and to live by it. It is our true self. It is our essence, our being. It is purpose, God's purpose for us, for our nation, and for the world.
During this Christmas season we remember that God is with us. When we call for peace on earth, we are calling for the light to enter the world. We remember God's gift to the world, the true light within. We celebrate the symbol of the embodiment of that light as expressed by a flesh and blood man, Jesus, God's only son, begotten by spirit and born by the will of God.
The message of the incarnation is God entering the world through flesh and blood, through Jesus and then through us. Jesus exemplified that true spirit. He gave his life for truth, for God's glory, for the actualization of God's will and the manifestation of God's kingdom on earth.
We should do the same. Our lives should reflect the light, not in puritanical self imposed restrictions that do nothing to change the world, but in public action for the common good.
The light within is compassion. Jesus taught us this. He was the light of the world, and we are to emulate him and his love for the poor and marginalized, his calls for justice and equality, even his love for his enemies. We, like Jesus, are God's emissaries to the world. Pray that we act like accordingly.
Merry Christmas.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
GOD'S PROMISE: Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 18, 2001
God promised to provide a "place" for Israel where evildoers shall no longer afflict them. God made this promise during the reign of King David about three thousand years ago.
For the person who reads the Bible literally, this is a problem. God's promise is still pending. Israel is still surrounded by enemies. It's been three thousand years and still Israel is afflicted. Terrorists still attack Israel as well as innocent people around the world, especially Muslims who suffer the most terrorist attacks.
So this promise has yet to be fulfilled. A three thousand year old promise is a promise not kept. Simple answers are insufficient. God's time may be different, but our time is known. It's unsatisfying to think that God would leave a promise left undone for so long.
We need to see God's promise differently. We need to see God's promises as spiritual rather than worldly. We need to interpret the text metaphysically, as metaphor and allegory. We may also use our intuition to interpret it spiritually. Following is something that this might look like.
Here, God makes a number of promises to King David. God promises to establish King David's throne forever. God promises to make David's kingdom "sure forever before" God.
There is no way to interpret these literally. Even if you see this promise fulfilled in Jesus or Israel, that would be a figurative interpretation, not a literal one. In fact, David's kingdom splits in two not long after his death.
Leaving the literal approach behind, let's consider the text. King David lives in a house of cedar. He asks the prophet Nathan whether he should build a house of cedar for the Ark of God. Nathan at first tells David to do what he has in mind, that God was with him; but then God comes to Nathan that night and says that David should not build the house. God says to tell David that God will make a house of David.
God doesn't live in a box. God lives among the people. God is omnipresent and is with us always, just as with David. The house God makes for us is a spiritual house and a legacy. God gives us spiritual refuge from our enemies. God is among us, leading us, protecting us, empowering us. Have faith. What we do because of faith has lasting effects.
There are many who try to put God into a box. They say you have to believe this or that. In fact, they have a whole list of beliefs that you must "believe" to be saved. But these things are just ways of putting God into a box then putting the box away for some future date that is often said to accompany days of terrible horror and destruction before God. If you don't believe as they do, or don't say the right things, they question whether you are a Christian. God is bigger than that.
God escapes any litmus test. God is beyond place and time. God is moving about among us. God is everywhere in every time. God is as much in China as in the United States. God is as much the God of Israel as the God of other nations. God is among Christians just as God is among all peoples. God defies limitations.
Some say that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise, that Jesus represents David's kingdom and throne. This figurative interpretation has some merit.
The angel Gabriel makes similar promises to Mary. She is favored. God is with her, too. Mary is to conceive someone great. She will name him Jesus and he will be called "Son of the most high." Again, he will reign forever and his kingdom will have no end.
Like in Samuel, Gabriel is referring to a spiritual kingdom. God's power overshadows Mary, and she becomes pregnant. Her pregnancy represents spiritual fullness such that she bares a spiritually gifted child.
This child we know as Jesus. He has taught us many things. One of the most important things Jesus teaches us is compassion. Through him God scatters the proud and brings down the powerful. God lifts up the lowly and sends the rich away empty. By this, God does great things. Nothing is impossible.
God did this through Jesus. By Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and the following raise of a movement, this movement in the name of Jesus Christ is the greatest movement in history. It spawned the world's largest religion. It was started by an act of nonviolence, and an act of protest.
The resurrection represents the rise of this movement. This movement also has a spirit. The spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, showed itself incredibly powerful. It also spawned the world's largest religion. Now our objective is get back to that spirit, to make Christianity spiritual again, to bridge the gap between spirituality and religion.
Now Spirit gives us strength to proclaim the good news: The lowly will be lifted up; the proud and the rich, our enemies, will be cut off. This is the mystery made know to us. The spiritual is real and lasts forever. Those who find salvation in the material world are ignorant. God has revealed this through the prophets. The prophets teach us by narrative and poetry, by story and parable. Reality is primarily spiritual. This is revealed to us by faith, by wisdom and compassion, and by steadfast love and faithfulness.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
HOW GOD WORKS: Third Sunday of Advent, December 11, 2011
Isaiah 61: 1-4
All of us are anointed by God. All of us are called to proclaim good news. In Isaiah, that good news is deliverance from political oppression, specifically return from exile from Babylon. The good news is freedom from captivity and prison. The "day of vengeance" is a day of rescue from oppression.
The rescue from exile is both political and spiritual. Obviously, war and oppression have spiritual costs. The loss of friends and loved ones and the destruction of homes and cities break the hearts and spirits of the people.
The good news is that God can heal us, and we can rebuild our lives. God has anointed us to do the work. The spirit of God leads us to bring positive change that heals our communities and the world.
We bring good news by comforting and providing for members of our community and country. We "give them a garland instead of ashes" when we take positive approaches to solving our social problems, rather then punitive or divisive ones. The "oil of gladness" means to use our resources to sooth the wounds of the broken. The "mantle of praise" is to manifest goodness and well-being by positive thought and action. To be "oaks of righteousness" is to stand firm for what is right.
When we use our resources to provide services for the needy we are giving the "oil of gladness." When we focus on positive approaches to social problems, we use the mantle of praise to lift up the base of our society. As "oaks of righteousness", our policies are based on reason and compassion rather then fear and prejudice.
When we do these things, we plant the seed of God in the hearts of others and display God's glory by positive change. We rebuild our infrastructure, heal old wounds, and make a better nation and world.
Isaiah 61:8-11
God loves justice and hates robbery. The widening gap between rich and poor is little more than robbery. It is stealing to continue demanding tax cuts for the rich while our infrastructure crumbles. It is robbery to dismantle our social safety net while the rich earn more and more off the labor of workers. It is robbery and wrongdoing for the "too big to fail" to accept a bailout then blame consumers for the malfeasance. It is robbery and wrongdoing to take this country from its citizens using corporate money to fund political candidates who favor corporations rather than the interests of the nation and its citizens.
When we instead take care of one another, we all benefit. We invest in our children: we bless them with good health care and opportunity. God clothing us "with the garments of salvation" refers not only to clothing but to protection from exploitation and abuse. We are oaks of righteousness when we rebuild our communities and provide needed services to people.
We are adorned and decked out with love and service to others. Positive things grow out of positive actions. Right action leads to more right action. Then we become an example to all nations, because we make ourselves a fairer, more equitable and compassionate people.
Luke 1:52-53
Mary's Song of Praise says it succinctly: "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty." This expresses God's priorities and prescribes a public policy. We need government programs to lift up the poor. Programs that provide wellness and opportunity are good ways to use our resources. [Luke 1: 52-53]
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 reminds us to manifest a better world and to resist oppression. God wants us to do this. God wants us to be compassionate and powerful, to listen to those who stand up to authority, to question those in power, to do good, and to oppose injustice.
God promises to be there. God brings peace into the world not war. God fills our spirit and heals us for our work. We are cleansed and purified when we glorify God by positive thought and action. Then God comes. Jesus returns. Right then and now.
John 1:6-8, 19-28
John 1:6-8 describes God coming into the world as true light "which enlightens everyone." The priests and Levites, the powerful question John's authority to proclaim this. Who was he to baptise? Similarly, who are we to testify to the light? By what authority do we invite people into God's kingdom?
John answers: God is among us already. [John 1:26-27] God in immanent, and God enters the world mostly through human beings. We are the ones charged to do God's work. We embody God when we act compassionately. God comes when we actualize God's intention for the world. God's intends spiritual growth, compassion, and justice.
Those who say God has yet to come are pushing God away. God is among us today. We are God's servants. We are to make God more and more a reality in this world both for ourselves and others. We may not do it perfectly, but it is sin not to try.
God's power can transform nations as well as individuals and communities. Don't be convinced to push God away into the future. Welcome God into the present. Anticipate a better world, not a horrible Apocalypse. It's not what will happen, it's what's happening now. "Make straight the way of the Lord." This can only mean to do right.
All of us are anointed by God. All of us are called to proclaim good news. In Isaiah, that good news is deliverance from political oppression, specifically return from exile from Babylon. The good news is freedom from captivity and prison. The "day of vengeance" is a day of rescue from oppression.
The rescue from exile is both political and spiritual. Obviously, war and oppression have spiritual costs. The loss of friends and loved ones and the destruction of homes and cities break the hearts and spirits of the people.
The good news is that God can heal us, and we can rebuild our lives. God has anointed us to do the work. The spirit of God leads us to bring positive change that heals our communities and the world.
We bring good news by comforting and providing for members of our community and country. We "give them a garland instead of ashes" when we take positive approaches to solving our social problems, rather then punitive or divisive ones. The "oil of gladness" means to use our resources to sooth the wounds of the broken. The "mantle of praise" is to manifest goodness and well-being by positive thought and action. To be "oaks of righteousness" is to stand firm for what is right.
When we use our resources to provide services for the needy we are giving the "oil of gladness." When we focus on positive approaches to social problems, we use the mantle of praise to lift up the base of our society. As "oaks of righteousness", our policies are based on reason and compassion rather then fear and prejudice.
When we do these things, we plant the seed of God in the hearts of others and display God's glory by positive change. We rebuild our infrastructure, heal old wounds, and make a better nation and world.
Isaiah 61:8-11
God loves justice and hates robbery. The widening gap between rich and poor is little more than robbery. It is stealing to continue demanding tax cuts for the rich while our infrastructure crumbles. It is robbery to dismantle our social safety net while the rich earn more and more off the labor of workers. It is robbery and wrongdoing for the "too big to fail" to accept a bailout then blame consumers for the malfeasance. It is robbery and wrongdoing to take this country from its citizens using corporate money to fund political candidates who favor corporations rather than the interests of the nation and its citizens.
When we instead take care of one another, we all benefit. We invest in our children: we bless them with good health care and opportunity. God clothing us "with the garments of salvation" refers not only to clothing but to protection from exploitation and abuse. We are oaks of righteousness when we rebuild our communities and provide needed services to people.
We are adorned and decked out with love and service to others. Positive things grow out of positive actions. Right action leads to more right action. Then we become an example to all nations, because we make ourselves a fairer, more equitable and compassionate people.
Luke 1:52-53
Mary's Song of Praise says it succinctly: "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty." This expresses God's priorities and prescribes a public policy. We need government programs to lift up the poor. Programs that provide wellness and opportunity are good ways to use our resources. [Luke 1: 52-53]
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 reminds us to manifest a better world and to resist oppression. God wants us to do this. God wants us to be compassionate and powerful, to listen to those who stand up to authority, to question those in power, to do good, and to oppose injustice.
God promises to be there. God brings peace into the world not war. God fills our spirit and heals us for our work. We are cleansed and purified when we glorify God by positive thought and action. Then God comes. Jesus returns. Right then and now.
John 1:6-8, 19-28
John 1:6-8 describes God coming into the world as true light "which enlightens everyone." The priests and Levites, the powerful question John's authority to proclaim this. Who was he to baptise? Similarly, who are we to testify to the light? By what authority do we invite people into God's kingdom?
John answers: God is among us already. [John 1:26-27] God in immanent, and God enters the world mostly through human beings. We are the ones charged to do God's work. We embody God when we act compassionately. God comes when we actualize God's intention for the world. God's intends spiritual growth, compassion, and justice.
Those who say God has yet to come are pushing God away. God is among us today. We are God's servants. We are to make God more and more a reality in this world both for ourselves and others. We may not do it perfectly, but it is sin not to try.
God's power can transform nations as well as individuals and communities. Don't be convinced to push God away into the future. Welcome God into the present. Anticipate a better world, not a horrible Apocalypse. It's not what will happen, it's what's happening now. "Make straight the way of the Lord." This can only mean to do right.
Friday, November 25, 2011
PREPARE THE WAY: Second Sunday of Advent, December 4, 2011
Unlike the apostles, John the Baptist didn't perform miracles. Instead, he anticipated something greater then himself. He envisioned it. He proclaimed it. He was a prophet, but more importantly, he taught us how to be disciples. He taught us to prepare a path for God.
John the Baptist's dress and lifestyle represents our wrestling with our undisciplined minds. Unfocused, distracted, caught up with our own lives, we "cry out" from our confusion. Our thoughts are undisciplined and turn every which way, yet we continue to seek God and enlightenment.
Isaiah compares us to grass and flowers that wither and fade. We have difficulty staying in a state of pure consciousness. We need to clear away negative thinking, focus our attention on God, practice patience with ourselves and others, and be the image of God, that is to be God's message just as John the Baptist was with his camel hair and leather belt.
Follow your higher self. We have an innate desire to know God. Still, we feel emptiness where there should be God's love. But then spirit works through us. The Holy Spirit fulls that emptiness. We actualize our spiritual potential and apprehend our message so that God can speak through us.
God can use us no matter who we are. Whether we are in prison or in the boardroom, God can still use us. We need to access our higher selves. Our higher self is our connection to God.
John the Baptist was poor and lived a life of bare subsistence. Still, he was able to focus people on their relationship with God. He caused them to have a change of heart and mind. He challenged the nation's leaders and confronted them with their hypocrisy. He baptised thousands with a baptism of forgiveness of sin; he invited people to transform their lives and the world.
This is truly the beginning of the good news. God wants to save everyone. [2 Peter 3:9] God doesn't ask us to be perfect. God only asks us to prepare the way. To make straight the path of God to us and others. This is the process by which we follow our higher selves, even as we stumble along the way. We strive to be pure in thought and deed. We eat locusts and wild honey. We often fail. We feel unfit. We have difficulty even being good servants. But we continue working knowing that something greater is coming. That something is the "glory of the LORD", revealed.
Simply believing isn't enough. Belief is a shallow form of spirituality. We need to question our beliefs to discern God's message. For God's purpose is much broader than any single thought or belief.
Christianity is not about saying, believing, and thinking the same thing over and over and over again until you die. It's about change and transformation. It's about redemption and enlightenment It's about God entering the world today. It's about bringing God and the Kingdom into our world now.
Additionally, when we don't question, we risk being mislead and misinterpreting our calling. It's important to be thoughtful.
To discern our calling we do spiritual work. Mediation, study, prayer, and fellowship can clear our mind and prepare our spirit. Reason can help us understand scripture and discern God's messages. Discussing scripture openly and with an open mind helps us to understand God's purpose for our lives. We discern God's calling in community, not alone.
We baptise with water, with good intentions and in celebration of our spiritual potential. Recognizing our spiritual potential, we strive to do our best. We anticipate that the Holy Spirit will teach and guide us, and that God will use us.
Friday, November 18, 2011
THE SECOND COMING IS NOW!: First Sunday of Advent Year B
Mark 13:24-37
In these days our spiritual and personal intelligence, our awareness and understanding, is diminished. We suffer. We become distracted and confused. Our spiritual vision darkens. Possibilities for revelation fall away. Our very ability to connect to God is shaken. [Mark 13:24-25]
Then there is a great awakening. The presence of God descends upon us. We receive God's messages and understand. Our vision is restored, and God calls us from all around the world to a new consciousness. [Mark 13:26-27]
During our times of coming into consciousness awareness, God is closest to us. God is "at the very gates." At this time we can see through the gates into God's Kingdom, that is we begin to understand God's vision for our lives and the world. Then we begin to do God's work. We begin to make the world a better place. [Mark 13:29]
All of this is very near. The early Christians believed that Christ would return within their lifetimes. They thought Jesus would return in the first century. Only later did the Church Fathers develop, out of necessity, an eschatology that pushed Christ's return further into the future. [Mark 13:30]
Many Christians today are waiting for the end of the world. The belief in a horrible armageddon is popular. Many believe God will bring horrible suffering upon humanity. Most people in the world will spend eternity enduring unbearable suffering. And the reason humanity will suffer is that people deserve it. God may chose to save a few, but the rest will go to hell. This is sadism, not Christianity.
The Bible is right even when Christians are wrong. It is our expectation, perception and understanding of the second coming that is limited. For example, many Christians look for a time of mass suffering, even more then there is today, as a sign of the second coming. Instead, what these scripture readings really teach us is that even in our darkest time God can come shinning through. [Mark 13:30]
We are the fig tree. This passage from Mark is more about events in our own hearts, our consciousness, and less about an external god who suddenly appears in the sky. The story is a metaphor for God coming into the world through us. We are the ones about to bear fruit. [Mark 13:28]
We are told that heaven and earth will pass away, but Christ's words will not pass away. Words represent the creative power of God. This creative power is channeled through humanity. God's creative power is eternal. It is the cause and sustainer of the universe, and it is expressed through God's creation, though us. [Mark 13:31]
Our connection to God is through consciousness or awareness. That's why Jesus admonishes us to "keep alert." We never really know when God's light will come shinning through. It can come even in our darkest hour, especially during our most trying times. [Mark 13:32-33]
We can't create it or make it happen, we can only look for it and recognize when it happens.
Our experience of God often comes in what seems like fleeting glances. We look for it as a servant looks for his master to return, by doing our spiritual work. Mediation, prayer, and other spiritual practices help to calm our minds and cultivate awareness so that we can be sensitive to God's presence. [Mark 13:34]
Without the experience of God's presence, we have little reason to be Christian. If we don't have God in our lives, then we have nothing.
The whole idea of going to Church is to experience the Holy Spirit. If you are not experiencing God's presence in Church, then why go? Why believe?
A promise of God coming in the future or going to heaven after we die is a distraction. God wants us to know the Holy Spirit now. If you think this is too much, or something weird, then you believe in nothing, because that's what you are experiencing. This is particularly horrendous if you are looking for terror and destruction, for Armaggedon rather God's love for humanity.
God exists. God is something. So expect something. All we need to do is learn how to recognize the experience when it happens.
The experience of God's presence is often personal as well as communal. Currently, I experience the Holy Spirit as a healing emotion that washes over me suddenly and without warning. I never truely know when it will wash over me. It recently happened at work. I also experience it in Church. [Mark 13:35]
Often it happens as some point in the church service. Sometimes during the sermon. Sometimes during the song at the end of the service. Sometimes, like last week, it happens unexpectedly at the beginning of the service. I remember thinking "this never happens like this so near the beginning of the service."
It's a healing experience where I feel as if tears begin to well up in my eyes. It's like that warm, happy but sorrowful feeling one has upon reuniting with a lost loved one. It heals us.
It can be as simple as this. All one needs to be is open to it, to be awake and not asleep. [Mark 13:37][Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, 2006.]
In these days our spiritual and personal intelligence, our awareness and understanding, is diminished. We suffer. We become distracted and confused. Our spiritual vision darkens. Possibilities for revelation fall away. Our very ability to connect to God is shaken. [Mark 13:24-25]
Then there is a great awakening. The presence of God descends upon us. We receive God's messages and understand. Our vision is restored, and God calls us from all around the world to a new consciousness. [Mark 13:26-27]
During our times of coming into consciousness awareness, God is closest to us. God is "at the very gates." At this time we can see through the gates into God's Kingdom, that is we begin to understand God's vision for our lives and the world. Then we begin to do God's work. We begin to make the world a better place. [Mark 13:29]
All of this is very near. The early Christians believed that Christ would return within their lifetimes. They thought Jesus would return in the first century. Only later did the Church Fathers develop, out of necessity, an eschatology that pushed Christ's return further into the future. [Mark 13:30]
Many Christians today are waiting for the end of the world. The belief in a horrible armageddon is popular. Many believe God will bring horrible suffering upon humanity. Most people in the world will spend eternity enduring unbearable suffering. And the reason humanity will suffer is that people deserve it. God may chose to save a few, but the rest will go to hell. This is sadism, not Christianity.
The Bible is right even when Christians are wrong. It is our expectation, perception and understanding of the second coming that is limited. For example, many Christians look for a time of mass suffering, even more then there is today, as a sign of the second coming. Instead, what these scripture readings really teach us is that even in our darkest time God can come shinning through. [Mark 13:30]
We are the fig tree. This passage from Mark is more about events in our own hearts, our consciousness, and less about an external god who suddenly appears in the sky. The story is a metaphor for God coming into the world through us. We are the ones about to bear fruit. [Mark 13:28]
We are told that heaven and earth will pass away, but Christ's words will not pass away. Words represent the creative power of God. This creative power is channeled through humanity. God's creative power is eternal. It is the cause and sustainer of the universe, and it is expressed through God's creation, though us. [Mark 13:31]
Our connection to God is through consciousness or awareness. That's why Jesus admonishes us to "keep alert." We never really know when God's light will come shinning through. It can come even in our darkest hour, especially during our most trying times. [Mark 13:32-33]
We can't create it or make it happen, we can only look for it and recognize when it happens.
Our experience of God often comes in what seems like fleeting glances. We look for it as a servant looks for his master to return, by doing our spiritual work. Mediation, prayer, and other spiritual practices help to calm our minds and cultivate awareness so that we can be sensitive to God's presence. [Mark 13:34]
Without the experience of God's presence, we have little reason to be Christian. If we don't have God in our lives, then we have nothing.
The whole idea of going to Church is to experience the Holy Spirit. If you are not experiencing God's presence in Church, then why go? Why believe?
A promise of God coming in the future or going to heaven after we die is a distraction. God wants us to know the Holy Spirit now. If you think this is too much, or something weird, then you believe in nothing, because that's what you are experiencing. This is particularly horrendous if you are looking for terror and destruction, for Armaggedon rather God's love for humanity.
God exists. God is something. So expect something. All we need to do is learn how to recognize the experience when it happens.
The experience of God's presence is often personal as well as communal. Currently, I experience the Holy Spirit as a healing emotion that washes over me suddenly and without warning. I never truely know when it will wash over me. It recently happened at work. I also experience it in Church. [Mark 13:35]
Often it happens as some point in the church service. Sometimes during the sermon. Sometimes during the song at the end of the service. Sometimes, like last week, it happens unexpectedly at the beginning of the service. I remember thinking "this never happens like this so near the beginning of the service."
It's a healing experience where I feel as if tears begin to well up in my eyes. It's like that warm, happy but sorrowful feeling one has upon reuniting with a lost loved one. It heals us.
It can be as simple as this. All one needs to be is open to it, to be awake and not asleep. [Mark 13:37][Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, 2006.]
Monday, November 14, 2011
CALLING ALL CHRISTIANS: Proper 29A, November 20, 2011
- Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Psalm 100 •
- Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Psalm 95:1-7a •
- Ephesians 1:15-23 •
- Matthew 25:31-46
The passage in Matthew serves as an example of how many Christians selectively interpret scripture. What we choose to emphasize in scripture is a reflection of ourselves. The Bible is like a mirror reflecting back to us who we really are, and sometimes it's not a pretty picture.
The first thing to recognize about this passage is that God addresses nations. Only after the Son of Man gathers the nations will he begin to separate people. So God judges us by our governments and communities as well as individuals. What this means is that God judges people by the policies they advocate more then by their personal failings or sins.
The king says: Come, inherit the Kingdom; "for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me."
They became confused. The righteous ask: "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison? The goats are Christians who thought they were right with God, but they were not.
When we look at our nation, we can see what Jesus was talking about. These problems are still with us. We still have the hungry, destitute, sick, and imprisoned. How we treat these people is how we will be judged by God.
Today we might say: I was destitute, hungry, and dry, and you cut the budget for the social safety net I depend upon. I was sick and you denied me health care. I was in prison, and you thought only about how to keep me there, failing to recognize my suffering, and failing to pay for programs and departments designed to protect children and address the problems that lead me to this life in the first place. You chose to see my suffering as my excuse, but it really describes the causes of crime. Children continue to suffer what I endured. You will never solve social problems by putting people in prison.
The result is that we all suffer. Rather than make the world more like God's Kingdom, we do exactly the opposite. We deny that we have any responsibility as a nation. We become enraged about taxes and careless toward public service. We respond negatively toward the poor and imprisoned. We are punitive rather than constructive. We blame others for community problems.
We cannot inherit the Kingdom of God this way. It's not just that God will exclude many who think of themselves as righteous but are instead deceived, the message is that we can tell whether we are being deceived. We can tell by whether we, as a nation, serve humanity rather than the rich. By reading Matthew, we know that the Religious Right is corrupt. So now we can choose not to follow them.So now we can inherit the Kingdom of God.
We choose the god we worship. The question is whether it's a false god. In Matthew, Jesus teaches us how to tell the difference. The answer is plain. We, individually and as a nation, are to serve the poor, sick, and broken.
Let this difference be known, and pray that we all come to know it. Let us choose the true God, and let us know our inheritance is real.
The god we see in scripture is determined by what we choose to emphasize in scripture. When we see the true God, we do the right thing. As a nation, the right thing is to serve the poor, sick, and broken.
Many Christians emphasize the wrong things. They are lead far away from the true message, so far away that they do the very opposite. They demand stiff prison sentences and justify waterboarding. They call for cuts in social programs and entitlements. They work to repeal healthcare and to cut Medicare.
We can make the world a better place. We can work together. And God says government has a role to play.
God separates people by nation. This is the true message of this scripture.
I call on all conservative Christians to reexamine their faith. I know that change is difficult and can take time, but when one's views are so far from God's commands, we must question their veracity.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
THE WRATH OF GOD: Proper 28A: Sunday, November 13, 2011
- Judges 4:1-7 and Psalm 123 •
- Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 and Psalm 90:1-8, (9-11), 12 •
- 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 •
- Matthew 25:14-30
Zephaniah warns us that the rich, powerful, and complacent will suffer God's terrible wrath. The wealth of the complacent shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. [Zephaniah 1:13] Neither their silver nor their gold will save them. [Zephaniah 1:18] A trumpet blast and battle cry will rise against their "fortified cities" and "lofty battlements." [Zephaniah 1:16]
We should be concerned, because we are the complacent. We are the world's wealthy. The United States has the most powerful military in the world. It is also the richest nation in the world. So we are the contemptuous and proud with our mighty military and gated communities. We, as a nation, are the ones who pursue peace though security rather than through God.
God's wrath is also horrifying. It is described as "a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness." [Zephaniah 1:15] For the day of the LORD is bitter. [Zephaniah 1:16] Our "blood shall be poured out like dust, and [our] flesh like dung." [Zephaniah 1:17]
Judges chapter four offers another military description of God's wrath. It starts with the terse statement that the Israelites had again angered God. So the Lord sold them into the hands of King Jabin of Canaan. But when the Israelites cried out against the oppression they suffered under King Jabin, the Lord delivers them by slaughtering King Jabin's army. Again the powerful and oppressive are laid waste by God's wrath.
The Prayer of Moses elegantly describes our mortal lives as the result of God's wrath. "For all our days pass away under your wrath." Human suffering is connected to, if not caused by God's wrath. Even death is connected to God's wrath. "Our years come to an end like a sigh." God turns us back to dust. We are swept away like a dream. We are consumed by God's anger. [Psalm 90:1-12]
In the Parable of the Talents, God is described as casting a slave into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Matthew 25:14-30] In Thessalonians, God's wrath is described as "like a thief in the night."
God's wrath is violent. God inflicts human suffering. It's not so easy to say that the punishment always fits the crime, especially the analogy to life in Psalms which compares our mortal lives to God's wrath. Our lives are but "toil and trouble". We suffer God's wrath by living and dying We suffer God's wrath everyday.
In Matthew, God figuratively casts a slave into hell for being lazy. In Judges, God led the Israelites to kill thousands of Canaanites. It was cold blooded murder.
We know that the Bible has been used to justify many atrocities. It was no different in ancient times.
On the other hand, some argue that God would not be God without wrath. Bob Deffinbaugh of Bible.org writes:
"The wrath of God is an attribute of God as much a part of God as any other attribute, an attribute without which God would be less than God: 'Now the wrath of God is as much a Divine perfection as is His faithfulness, power, or mercy. It must be so, for there is no blemish whatever, not the slightest defect in the character of God; yet there would be if ‘wrath’ were absent from Him!"1
He adds that "many there are who turn away from a vision of God’s wrath as though they were called to look upon some blotch in the Divine character, or some blot upon the Divine government." He points out that the Bible makes no attempt to conceal the fact of God's wrath. Vengeance and fury belong unto God.1 He points out that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God than there are to God's love and tenderness.2
"Wrath" is defined, in part, as a "righteous anger aroused by injustice and baseness". God's wrath as described by today's scripture readings is related to suffering, death, and war. From our bodies war with the elements to war between nations, God's wrath is connected to our worst and hardest struggles.
I'm not entirely comfortable with God's wrath. I guess that's how it should be. If we were comfortable with God's wrath, it wouldn't be God's wrath.
I do agree, however, that God would not be God without some form of outrage. When the Israelites cried out against injustice, God responded. A God who is not at least bothered by injustice and all that goes on in this world, especially evil done in God's name, would lack compassion.
I can also see how God can become angry with us. We are destroying the planet. We are worse then the lazy slave in The Parable of the Talents. We take what God has given us, exploit it, and then destroy it leaving nothing for future generations.
But God has not destined us for wrath. We are to "put on the breastplate of faith and hope, and a helmet for the hope of salvation." This war terminology is in contrast to metal armor. I see in it a message of peace.
The peace of military security is peace at the point of a gun. The peace of God is much more profound. It is represented by Jesus' nonviolent act of dying on the Cross. [1 Thessalonians 5:1-11]
One lesson we might draw from the above scriptures is that it is important how we see things. Rather than interpret these scriptures literally, it's message may be that we need to look at things differently.
When we see ourselves as God's servants, God's shows us mercy. [Psalm 123:1-2] When we put on the breastplate of faith and hope, and the helmet for the hope of salvation, we stand bravely for what is right and good. When we use our talents to profit God, we create a better world.
So let us pray: "Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud." [Psalms 123:3-4]
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