So that you may love one another

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."

I would like to consider Jesus' admonition that we are to keep his commandments combined with his comment that he has kept his Father's commandments.

We can all agree that he fulfilled the Father's will, but given how much he trashed the purity laws - touching corpses and stuff lie that, while defending his disciples on matters of food and hygiene, not to mention working, that is, healing on the Sabbath - you have to concede that in a literal and legalistic sense he did not keep the commandments very well at all. Which gets us back to the beginning of this paragraph: he fulfilled the Father's will by keeping the spirit of the Torah and the prophets and the writings.

I say this in order to take seriously Jesus' call for us to obey him without turning such a sublime passage about love into a legal code, ammunition for moralistic finger wagging.




An Episcopalian canon lawyer pointed out to a group one evening that the Roman Catholic Codex Iuris Canonicis concludes with an amazing sentence declaring that the salvation of souls is the supreme law of the Church.

Can. 1752 - In causis translationis applicentur praescripta canonis 1747, servata aequitate canonica et prae oculis habita salute animarum, quae in Ecclesia suprema semper lex esse debet.

Can. 1752 In cases of transfer the prescripts of can. 1747 are to be applied, canonical equity is to be observed, and the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes.

In today's Gospel Jesus says that his purpose in giving us commands is so that we may love one another.

One cannot hear me preach many times without hearing me say something that may be new to someone reading here, namely that Grace precedes Law, in the Hebrew Scriptures as in the New Testament. If you were raised on "first the law, then grace," unlearn it right now. It is a lie that has been foisted on you.

Witness: Exodus comes before Sinai. The people are delivered, saved, first and then the Torah is given to show them and assist them in living like a delivered people. It is not to gain God's favor but to live like a people who have experienced God's favor and saving power. The Law is a gracious gift to an already saved people. Let that sink in.

The purpose of Jesus' command is not gain God's favor but so those who are already beloved and redeemed may live like a beloved and redeemed people.


Let us then revel in the astounding graciousness of today's passages and may love abound in, around, among, and through us.

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

--the BB

Sunday reflectons - Advent 3

Update:
I am adding a bit of music. This Guadete by Steeleye Span is anticipatory, since it is Christmas music - Rejoice, Christ is born of the Virgin Mary.



Now, here is the actual introit for today:



We have come to one of the year's two "Rose Sundays," so named for the liturgical color. At the current price of vestments, few churches have rose vestments and altar hangings. It is the one liturgical color I had not added to my own collection, though I have sufficient yards of rose moiré fabric to make them. Just never got around to it.

Gaudete Sunday is named for the opening word of the traditional Latin introit for this day, taken from Philippians 4.4 (see graphic above).


John the Forerunner is featured in the lessons of Advent 2 and 3 since he is the hinge person between the pre- and post-Incarnation eras. Standing in the line of prophets calling people back to God, he represents the heritage of God's spokespersons. Pointing to the one who comes after him, he signals the way forward into God's promised future. In the icon above we see him clothed like Elijah and pointing toward Christ.

I believe today's Gospel calls us to join John in bearing witness.

ουκ ην εκεινος το φως αλλ ινα μαρτυρηση περι του φωτος
--John 1.8

"He was not that light but that he should bear witness concerning that light"

Bearing witness, testifying, speaking up and speaking truth - this is a critical element in both doing justice and proclaiming Good News.

Scholars of the Hebrew Scriptures tell us that it was a shared belief that words DO something. The prophetic word, once uttered, unleashed the process by which God's message became a reality, whether the word was judgment or salvation (and they usually went hand in hand and in that order).

One can see that in order to take action on the injustices and ills of the world we need first to become aware. Those who speak up repeatedly about genocide, torture, climate change, corruption, disease, etc. keep reminding us over and over until, collectively, we pay attention. We first become aware, then uneasy, then sufficiently troubled (or frightened) to act. It may take a long time, way too long, before action is taken, but the first step is bearing witness.

Those who bear witness often feel that their words fall on deaf ears. This was not unknown to the prophets of old nor is it unknown to the prophets of our own era. Still, one must speak.

I often discuss really uncomfortable topics on this blog: genocide and torture being, perhaps, the most disquieting. Corruption, natural disasters, and the unspeakable price of war add to this. I do not expend this effort to dwell on the negative; I do it to bear witness, to remind myself and you of things we should not brush aside and ignore.

Now I know that the likelihood of my changing the course of history is pretty slim. For that matter, I am mostly preaching to the choir since we all tend to read the blogs of those we find to be congenial and like-minded sorts. So there is little chance that I am changing minds or behavior.

Nonetheless, I hope to provide information and encouragement to the chorus of witnesses overall. Just my drop in a vast ocean yet the ocean is made up of water that comes in drops.

[At the moment it is coming in snowflakes that are dancing in front of my window, swirling about in the breeze.]



Because the Holy One loves justice, we are called to love justice and to do it. We cannot remain silent and still be faithful.

This has its positive side also. The old prophetic refrain is "turn and live." The turning may list all the ills from which we need to turn but it is always, ultimately, a turning TOWARD, a positive turn toward God and toward life.

For this reason we bear witness also to love, and life, and faith, and hope, and humility, and steadfastness, and loving-kindness.

One Ash Wednesday I preached on our need to deal with both the shit and the Shekinah. I did not use either of those words. The former is not suitable for sermons and the latter is too much technical jargon for the average person. I spoke of the sin and misery and mess of our lives that we resist acknowledging and also the glory and grace of our lives that we also resist acknowledging. Facing reality and becoming whole involve both of these and we need to break out of denial and integrate it all.

So we must bear witness to Good News. We need to be a people of, and voices for, hope. The disciples were not turned into valiant witnesses on Good Friday. Though they proclaimed a crucified Savior they would not have proclaimed anything if he were not also a risen Savior. We are an Easter people and our lives need to be shot through with alleluias.

So even in the midst of the faithful waiting and eager readiness of Advent we are called to rejoice. Not in an empty manner devoid of context. This is not an abstract imperative to be happy. We are called to rejoice IN THE LORD. And we are called to rejoice always.


We have a long story, one that is anchored in slaves being set free, in exiles coming home, in love being stronger than death, in compassion outlasting evil, in light that darkness cannot overcome.

We bear witness to that heritage every day in the way we live, the way we see, the way we respond, the way we take action, and the words we share with others.

And because of this heritage of a collective experience of grace we are enabled to give thanks in all circumstances.

As I look at the graphic immediately above I think not of Hobbes the tiger but of the late Alice Higgins, my neighbor in West Hollywood. Mrs. Higgins led a severely circumscribed life yet whenever anyone greeted her and asked how she was she invariably replied, "I have a lot to be thankful for."

She stands high on my list of the living saints in my life.

I have a long way to go to be as grace-filled as she.

May we all grow in grace and rejoice in the Lord always.



Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.



--the BB

Sunday Reflections - Advent 2 - updated

Incipium evangelii Iesu Christi Filii Dei
The incipit of Mark's Gospel
Lindisfarne Gospels

At the core of the Christian faith lies the belief that Good News becomes incarnate. God's love for creation takes material form. This was, and remains, shocking for those whose ideal of divinity must be "above" matter and temporality.

Incarnation is more than a matter of God taking human form; it applies on many levels. The moral attributes of deity such as goodness, wisdom, love, righteousness, mercy - these are all supposed to be realized in the friends and followers of such a deity. They are to take flesh in us.

This morning I ran across a quote attributed to Cornel West:

"Justice is what love looks like in public."

That is a very incarnational attitude. We are surrounded with sentimental gushings about love, in society and in the church, many of them quite false or misleading. If we ask ourselves, "What does love look like?" our minds may quickly rush to images of young lovers kissing or old ones holding hands or a child with a puppy. It is more profound and accurate to to think of actions that build an equitable and humane society, providing accessible health care for everyone, struggling for decency and upholding the dignity or all, preventing disease and slaughter, healing the planet, and carrying out the trash. These are the public incarnations of love and correspond with the divine injunctions to do justice and love mercy.


Incarnation can also take very small-scale and even humorous forms. When I left New Orleans to return to Albuquerque I could not help thinking of Isaiah 40, that great passage of good news for exiles whom God was bringing home again. I even sang (silently in my mind, with Handel's setting, of course) "make straight in the desert a highway for our bear." It was grace and joy and a lifted heart and I did not mean it blasphemously at all. The promise that day was for me, and it took the form of a couple of Southwest Airlines jets that were going to carry me toward the high grasslands where I live.

I also thought of the verse during the September road trip as we drove through long, straight, level stretches of desert (cf. the photo above) in Arizona and California (where they were especially level).

We, all of us, experience various forms of exile. The geographic kind is both the most obvious and probably the most superficial. One of the most insidious and pervasive is being exiled from our own hearts. We become displaced: alienated from God, from others, from creation, from ourselves.


Into our dislodged existence there breaks a cry that shakes our wilderness existence and calls us home.

Advent ask us if we are ready to hear it.

Have we become so accustomed to our exile, so comfortable in the ways we cope with alienation, that we cannot hear Good News?

Are we ready to go home?

Are we willing to go home?

Will we allow our exilic coping patterns to be disrupted so we can move into a more authentic existence?

Have we become so at ease in Babylon that we resist the call to return to Zion?


Make no mistake. Returning to our deepest reality - in God and in our own heart - involves upheaval and change. That is the threat of joy; it shatters bonds and it rips veils of illusions, forcing us into often painful reality - the prelude to new life.

This is why John the Forerunner and Jesus the Christ both called for repentance. We must turn around. We must have a renewing of mind. We must learn to see things from a fresh and greater perspective. We must leave the shallows and head out into the deeps. We must leap into God's promises. And, most terrifyingly, we must allow ourselves to be changed.

The "get ready" theme of Advent carries within it all these questions and challenges.

Are we willing to get ready?

Are we willing to come home?

Are we willing to come more alive than we have ever been?


Today, while preparing the graphic immediately above, I thought of it in a different perspective. Perhaps if we got real, let go of our lies, became honest, and allowed truth to spring up from the earth then righteousness would shower down from heaven.



Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Update:
I meant to include this song and just found it.



--the BB

Sunday reflections - Advent 1

I cannot say why I have always been struck by and attracted to the phrase from Isaiah "O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down" but it seems quintessentially "adventine." [You may have noted that I go for the older translation; I think "rend" is much more elegant than "tear open" - ugh.]

The verse captures something of our yearning for God to DO SOMETHING about the mess in which we find ourselves, so much of it of our own making.


A great deal of apocalyptic imagery plays on this theme, with the Son of Man coming in the clouds much like images of YHWH the divine warrior striding on the clouds (or Marduk of Babylon and other storm deities before him). The divine warrior comes charging in, like the cavalry in the final reel, to rescue everyone from all manner of evils and disasters.

The Bible seems replete with instances of tweaking the listener/reader, however. We want a Messiah like King David and we get a very different sort of king in Jesus, for instance.


In the season of the Incarnation this imagery is drawn on, though with less violent overtones, with the Word leaping down from the heavenly throne to come to earth.

Yet what we see happening in the First Advent is something that really challenges our three-story universe and our imagery of God, or the appointed Savior, "coming down." Or, for that matter, overturning the universe and the laws of physics.

A child is born. Incredibly ordinary. Happens every day all over the planet.

In other words, the cry of the human heart may be answered but the answer does not come in the form we expect.

So as we continue to echo ancient yearnings for an apocalyptic sorting out of things we might do well to keep an eye out for other ways God might be at work. After all, God keeps coming when and where and how we least expect.

I believe God comes to us all the time. And that God's saving actions are, by and large (if not entirely) in the form of an emerging from within rather than an intrusion from without.

Norm Pittenger has a lot to say about this in his book The Incarnate Word. If I took nothing else from wading through that dense tome I did take this: a new way of seeing God at work. I now see the Incarnation as the flowering forth of that which has always been there (or, if you will, God was always with us).


In any case, Jesus clearly tells us to stay awake, alert, open, ready.

And as for all the false prophets out there, and deranged bible teachers and prophecy interpreters, a gentle reminder: no one knows when and we must always be ready. So when it comes to all your "prophetic" details, you would do well to just be silent. There is a long history of erroneous identifications and every generation was certain it had it right.

In the meantime, we do well to call upon God and wait upon God. And, in the classic formulation, pray as if all depends on God and work as if all depends on us. It's really an excellent combination.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

--the BB

Emmaus Sunday

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 13:35)

They recognized Jesus when he did once more what he had done so many times with his friends.

At every Eucharist he still does the same.

And as my friend Helen always said, "Every meal is Eucharist."


I believe it is important that we come to table together to be fed by Christ. To say we will not eat together with certain persons is to cut ourselves off from the feast of grace.

It would not be easy for me to stand about the altar (or kneel at the altar rail) next to certain persons (and of course I could name names). That is all the more reason to come, broken and messed up as I am yet signed with the Cross, and be fed with my sisters and brothers in their brokenness, and behold the same Cross blazoned on their brow.

This is where we find forgiveness and healing, where we find nurture and renewal, where we are bound once more to God and to each other, where we feed on the divine life and are changed from glory into glory.

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
--the BB

Fifth Sunday in Lent

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:11)

When it comes to our views on death, most Christians I meet are more Greek than biblical. By this I mean they hold to the idea of an immortal soul temporarily inhabiting a material body, from which the soul escapes at death, leaving it's "house" behind.

That is a very unbiblical notion. In Genesis we read of the clay ("matter") breathed upon by the spirit/wind/breath ("spirit") and the mixture of these two becoming the "nephesh chayya" or "living soul" (what we ordinarily think of and experience as the person).

That divine creative act is echoed in the story of the dry bones being clothed in flesh yet still dead until the spirit/wind/breath "quickens" them (makes them alive).

The human person (or soul) is as much matter as spirit. It does not take that much reflection to realize the extent to which our sense of self is shaped by physical experience, nor that much science to recognize thought as a phenomenon arising from neurochemical activity.

A biblical Christian faith is an incarnate faith, a faith that takes creation, matter, and the body very seriously and sees them as central to our understanding of reality and of God's purposes.

I am not going to elaborate at length about this; merely summarize that in the Creed we confess a belief NOT in the immortality of the soul but in the resurrection of the body.

Those of us who understand theology as metaphorical discourse about the ineffable need not turn into wooden-headed literalists and debate how the dust that so many bodies have shared over the millennia can be reconstituted into multiple specific bodies. We don't have to resolve issues of physics to affirm imagery of renewed creation (new heaven and new earth--note: not just heaven without earth) as an expression of a transcendently new reality that, like our current reality, embraces both matter and spirit.

In the meantime, though God alone may be the source of life, we who are co-creators and co-agents of redemption CAN roll stones away and unbind cloths. Let's do our part to help people out of their graves. There is a lot of living to be done.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
--the BB

Fourth Sunday in Lent

You have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup is running over.
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16:13)

The Sunday Lectionary in Year A features the great catechetical lessons that were traditionally used to prepare individuals for Baptism at Easter. Today we get lessons related to anointing, something the catechumens will experience soon.

Samuel anointing David
Dura-Europos (via Wikipedia)

Although anointing was used in other contexts in ancient Israel, the term "Anointed" came to refer to the Kings of Israel. The Hebrew word is מָׁשִיַח, (Mašíaḥ) which has been anglicized as Messiah. The Greek translation of this is χριστος (khristos), the source of "Christ." Most of those looking at this post already know this, but I want the imagery involved to be clear.

Today's first lesson tells of the anointing of David to be king. This is a treasonous act since Saul, the previously anointed king, is still alive and on the throne. That explains why Samuel was nervous about this and why there is so much anxiety and secrecy involved in this episode.

Peter's "confession" is a turning point in Mark's Gospel. When he says to Jesus "You are the Messiah" (Mark 8:29), this acknowledgment by a follower (not a stranger, a demon, or outsider) concludes Jesus' early ministry in Galilee and its environs. From here we move into the vision of the Transfiguration and Jesus' new course toward Jerusalem and the Cross.

We do not hear of a literal anointing of Jesus with oil until his feet are anointed in unwitting anticipation of his burial but Christians understand his anointing to be with the Holy Spirit, of which oil is a symbol, in his Baptism. There the Spirit descends upon him.


Today's Epistle brings in the theme of light:

For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light--for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. (Ephesians 5:8-9)

We are not merely children of the light, called to walk in the light and bear the fruit of light, we are told that "in the Lord YOU ARE LIGHT." An astonishing assertion.

Now the anointing and the light come together.

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We* must work the works of him who sent me* while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. (John 9:1-7)

Intractable, incurable congenital blindness overcome by the power of God through the rather unsanitary method of an anointing of spit-mud. So tactile, so human, so dirty, so unexpected.


Into the formerly blind man's world light now comes flooding. The one thing he knew is that he used to be blind and now he can see. (Cue bagpipes for "Amazing Grace.")

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

We--lost in the darkness of ignorance, fear, willfulness, malice, brokenness, perversity, and desire--find the Holy One taking note of us (much as Jesus walked along and saw the blind man) and bringing us into the Light.
At our Baptism we are not daubed upon the eyes with a mud of clay and spittle, but we are anointed. The entire initiatory rite is, among other names, called Illumination. God's Light is given to us, who are now called light in the Lord.

Chrism is smeared on our foreheads with the sign of the Cross. We are anointed, christ-ened, made to be new messiahs, new christs, united to the Holy One of God.

The lessons for this Sunday are about us--about our being chosen of God and anointed, our being transferred from darkness into light, our being touched by Jesus and made to see, our experience of God as gracious Giver of Life, who renews and changes our lives, drawing us ever deeper into the Light, and making us vessels of light, healing, and love.



Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
--the BB

Second Sunday in Lent

Given the call to Abram in today's First Lesson, this week's reflection header with a sky full of stars may be nicely timed, since Abram (later Abraham) was promised descendants numberless as the stars.

I have written before on John 3:16, that classic and beloved Bible verse. Most of the readers who come here are familiar with the venomous ministry of Westboro Baptist Church, home of Fred Phelps and his family and their "God hates fags" movement. They maintain that the idea that God loves everybody is the greatest lie ever told. [I am not providing a link. You can find them if you want to.]

By way of contrast, I remember back in the days when I was memorizing Bible verses like crazy (the Navigators had a great program for this though nowadays I might do a somewhat different selection of verses to memorize), I learned not only John 3:16, which I knew since childhood, but also John 3:17, treating them as a single passage.

"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. (John 3:16-17)

That is really all I want to say today. It speaks for itself. That is was the conclusion of today's Gospel reading for most of us (except our Roman siblings), gave it some extra punch.
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

--the BB

First Sunday in Lent

Gospel of the First Sunday in Lent:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you”,
and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’ Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written, “Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.” ’ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

I have been reading John Bradshaw's book Healing the Shame that Binds You and this morning I preached on shame and identity. The shame theme comes in the first lesson (the "Fall") in which Adam and Eve experience shame for the first time. Identity is central to the gospel lesson above. A voice from heaven has just confirmed that Jesus is God's beloved Son, yet the tempter attacks precisely at that point. "If you are the Son of God...."

Healthy shame offers good boundaries. Toxic shame lacks boundaries. It is foisted by one person onto another and it undermines identity because when we have bad boundaries we do not have a strong sense of self. Instead of trusting in and living out of our identity as children of God we believe the toxic, shaming message that we are pieces of crap--stupid, lazy, ugly, useless, sinful, phony, incompetent, unworthy, unlovable, etc. This is the poison we acquire when we have been shamed and we often take this poison and internalize it and repeat it to ourselves over and over and over, often to our dying day.

It is the work of the accuser, the father of lies, the slanderer, the devil, Satan (to use the mythic language of the Bible). In other words, it is a false accusation with just enough truth to it that we believe it, to our detriment (and often destruction).

Yes, we are limited, incomplete, wounded, broken, willful, rebellious, damaged, warped, and wicked--sinners, in short. Well, big duh! But it does not then follow as the night the day that we are only sinful and therefore evil, useless, despicable. Our identity and our worth lie in God's creation of us: good creations, in the image and likeness of God, children by grace and adoption, beloved. This is truer of us than all our flaws and failures. This is the deep truth, the great truth, the lifegiving truth. We need to believe it, trust it, live out of it.

We answer the slanders of the deceiver (and of those who have heaped toxic shame upon us) out of the divine affirmation of ourselves that needs to become our own affirmation. Yes, we ARE the children of God, and though we need to live out of it and live into it, we don't need to prove it. It is a given. (Thanks be to God.)

Let us trust God's great and precious proclamation of who we are. If we would love God with all our being and love others as ourselves, loving ourselves is a critical part of what we are made for and called to. Do not succumb to the lies. May we all grow in grace this Lent.

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. (Romans 8:11-17)

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
--the BB

Sunday reflections

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1: 16 – 21)

Everybody has their own favorite slant on the latter paragraph above. Some would emphasize the role of the Holy Spirit in the recording of scripture and others would emphasize the caution against private interpretation.

I have no problem affirming the role of God's Spirit in the faith responses of men and women that were recorded, transmitted, transmuted, and interpreted as writings the community recognizes as leading us to God. Just as Christians see Jesus as the Word of God, and speak in terms of fully human and fully divine, so they speak of the Bible as both human and inspired (θεοπνευστος = "God-breathed"). It is not necessary to assert "verbal plenary inspiration [in the original manuscripts]" to hear God speaking to us through those pages. Nor is it a denial of inspiration to say it is a collection of human documents that record faith responses to experiences of the Holy. We can do much better than either/or thinking.

Here you see my postmodern side, happily turning to the Bible in order to understand God while not identifying the words on the page with the ipsissima verba Dei (very words of God). As my biblical theology professor indicated many years ago, in the Gospels we may not encounter the exact words of Jesus but we do hear his voice (and we recognize it). That is the point of it all. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Through the pages of the Bible folks have heard God speak to them over the course of millennia, and we still do.

We should beware idiosyncratic interpretations and applications, however. To me, ignoring the last few centuries of biblical scholarship, or taking verses and applying them heedless of their context and historical constraints upon their meaning is not simply a matter of ignorance but of wrongheadedness. It simply won't do.

Biblical interpretation, as rabbinic scholars continue to teach us, is a matter of constant wrestling and debate in which all possible sides may be considered. It is the worst sort of hubris to think we ever arrive at a final and authoritative interpretation for all time, for in doing so we have asserted that the Holy Spirit has nothing new and nothing more to say, no matter how the new context for living one's faith may differ from that in which our forebears lived theirs. I do not want a stone age faith in a stone age deity; I want a living faith here and now in the living God.

The Bible itself shows instances in which faithful people found very new applications and meanings in earlier texts, creatively applying them and going beyond the original context and understanding while still seeking to honor the intent. In other words, biblical authors were themselves not "strict constructionists."

This is preaching to the choir on this site (which, though it involves exchanges, is not a debate forum) but I thought I'd put it out there since the text offered an opportunity.

The more important issue, on this Sunday of the Transfiguration, is are we--individually and collectively--opening ourselves more and more to the workings of the Holy Spirit of God so that we may be changed from glory into glory, into the likeness of Christ, into our own full participation in the divine energies of the Most Holy and Lifegiving Trinity? That is where we need to bend our energies and not to debates over books.

Come, O faithful, let us go up to the Mountain of God, to the house of our God, that we may see the glory of his Transfiguration: the glory as of the only Son of the Father, receiving light from Light; let us rise through the Spirit and praise the consubstantial Trinity for ever and ever. Amen.
Byzantine Rite Prayer at the Lete on the Feast of the Transfiguration
--the BB

Sunday reflections

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

CRUX fidelis,
inter omnes
arbor una nobilis;
nulla talem silva profert,
flore, fronde, germine.
Dulce lignum, dulci clavo,
dulce pondus sustinens!

FAITHFUL Cross!
above all other,
one and only noble Tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
none in fruit thy peers may be;
sweetest wood and sweetest iron!
Sweetest Weight is hung on thee!
--Venantius Fortunatus, tr. Edward Caswall

Sticking with the classics tonight.
--the BB

Sunday reflections

As we continue our journey, so early in Epiphanytide, still wet behind the ears with baptismal water, we do well to contemplate the objective reality of God's saving engagement with the beloved creation.

I love the way the Orthodox liturgies proclaim the whole mystery of the "Christ event," not just the Paschal Mystery contained in three days but the entire life of Christ. It is all one, inextricably interwoven. There is a shift in reality from the moment of Incarnation. New things come to pass. The world is different even as Christ rises from the waters of the Jordan, raising all creation with him.

All this God does for love.

And now we are called into this saving mystery. Jesus calls the disciples to himself, he calls us to himself. Come. See.

He said to them, "Come and see." (John 1:39a)
The calling of the disciples by Ghirlandaio

And so we enter the mystery. We get a glimpse of a world in transformation--hints of what the reign of God is like, of what is possible, of what life in God really is--and in the process we start to notice that we are being transformed too.

Then we are informed that we shall be sent out as Jesus was sent, to proclaim and be agents of this transformation. Who are we that we should do such a thing?

We are the called. We are the gifted. We are the sent.

You are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 1:7)

Shall we hide this vision? Be silent about this message? Hold back what is so graciously given?

I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation; * behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O Lord, you know.

Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; * I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.

You are the Lord; do not withhold your compassion from me; * let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever.

Psalm 40:10-12 (BCP)

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

--the BB

Sunday reflections

Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
(Acts 10)

Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.
(Isaiah 42)
Fr Jake commented about the inhibition of former bishop Schofield:

The people of San Joaquin are now free to seek a new vision of what God is calling them to become.


I am rejoicing with them, and do not apologize for it. I feel no sadness. Bp. Schofield brought this on himself by his voluntary choice to leave. Consequently, he is no longer my concern. So now I choose to rejoice that the captives have been set free.

Leslie of St Francis in exile responded:

It truly does feel like freedom this morning. Praise God!

Let there be freshness and new life at every turn. May the churches of the San Joaquin know and feel that they no longer operate under a cloud but that the Light of God shines all about them. May all the faithful claim their calling to give light to the nations.

O God, open to us today the sea of your mercy
and water us with full streams
from the riches of your grace
and springs of your kindness.
Make us children of quietness and heirs of peace:
kindle in us the fire of your love;
sow in us your fear;
strengthen our weakness by your power
and bind us close to you and to each other.

--Iona Abbey Worship Book


Almighty and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift: Send down upon our bishops, and other clergy, and upon the congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and, that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.
(BCP, 817)

The Holy Theophany of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ

Christ is baptized:
he comes up out of the waters,
and with Him He carries up the world.

Today the creation is enlightened.
Today all nature is glad,
things of heaven and things upon earth.

At thine appearing in the body,
the earth was sanctified,
the waters blessed,
the heaven enlightened,
and mankind was set loose
from the bitter tyranny of the enemy.

When Thou, O Lord,
wast baptized in the Jordan,
the worship of the Trinity
was made manifest.
For the voice of the Father
bore witness unto Thee,
calling Thee the beloved Son,
and the Spirit in the form of a dove
confirmed His word as sure and steadfast.
O Christ our God who hast appeared
and enlightened the world,
glory to Thee.


Photos used in the graphics from byzantines.net
Texts from the liturgies of the Theophany in The Festal Menaion, tr. by Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware
--the BB

Sunday reflections – Advent 4

In 1960 Uruguayan Bishop Federico J. Pagura wrote a hymn: "Bendito el Rey que viene en el nombre del Señor." In 1973 Fred Pratt Green translated it. It may be found as Hymn # 74 in The Hymnal 1982, where it is set to the tune Valet will ich dir geben, aka St Theodulph, familiar to many who have sung it for years on Palm Sunday with the text "All glory, laud, and honor."

Blest be the King whose coming is in the name of God!
For him let doors be opened, no hearts against him barred!
Not robed in royal splendor, in power and pomp comes he:
but clad as are the poorest - such his humility.


Blest be the King whose coming is in the name of God!
By those who truly listen his voice is truly heard.
Pity the proud and haughty, who have not learned to heed
the Christ who is the promise and has our ransom paid.


Blest be the King whose coming is in the name of God!
He only to the humble reveals the face of God.
All power is his, all glory! All things are in his hand,
all ages and all peoples, till time itself shall end!


Blest be the King whose coming is in the name of God!
He offers to the burdened the rest and grace they need.
Gentle is he and humble! And light his yoke shall be,
for he would have us bear it so he can make us free.

--the BB