Lent II

2^nd Sunday in Lent (John 3: 1-17)

      February 17, 2008

      by Freda-Marie S. Brown 

      Nicodemus had decided that tonight would be the night.  He knew something was missing, so he was going to see Jesus.  He only told his wife when he left home; he hadn't bothered to tell his colleagues at the council when he'd left them that day.  They probably would have laughed him to scorn.

• "Why are you going to see him?"
• "You're a well-educated man; a man of power and authority…a member of the Sanhedrin for crying out loud, what are you searching a man---an itinerant preacher who probably doesn't even have a GED?"

But Nicodemus wouldn't have been dissuaded.  He had seen this man do things others couldn't.    He had heard him speak once and something he heard made him want more.  Yes, Nicodemus was a learned, educated man of Torah; he was an educator and a judge of the people--- but something was still missing.  And so he went to Jesus.

       And when he met Jesus, Jesus tells him, (and I paraphrase here) "if you want to know God truly--- if you want to live in a way of knowing God's continuous presence and activity in your life--- you must be born again from above."   It's important to note that the actual Greek word used here is anothen meaning both again and from above.

      Now this confuses Nicodemus and it confuses us now as evident by the way we have misinterpreted and misused Jesus' response to Nicodemus.  These words are sometimes used to essentially mean 'speaking in tongues" or some other validation of a personal experience of God or of personal holiness.  But a reborn spirit by the Holy Spirit is a total reorientation to life and a testimony of God's Presence and activity in a community of believers to the world!  As a community we are called to be faithful witnesses of God's love for all of humanity.   Our personal piety is only the beginning; our personal piety ends in the building up of the community of faith for the life of the whole world.  Why?  Because "God so loved the world…."  Almost everyone can quote John 3: 16.  So what is missing????

      In the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, we receive this rebirth of new life.  As a matter of fact on page 306 of the Baptismal rite we see that we are both buried in Christ's death and raised in new life of the Spirit.  God gives this to us as GIFT.  It is not earned; it is not worked for…it is gift.  But, in order to receive new life and incarnate or en-flesh this new life, the old life must die.  Old attitudes, prejudgments, agendas (especially hidden agendas), indeed the entire way we make sense of life in the world must go.  Often, what must die first is the way we view ourselves.  We have a tendency to identify ourselves by what we do or see ourselves as valuable according to the particular role we play in our family, on our job, or in society-at-large.  But what we do and our role in life isnot who we are!  Our new life causes us to perceive our value in God's role for us as a son or daughter in Jesus Christ.  So, what's missing????

      I believe there are at least 2 steps to take in order for us to discern what's missing in our lives and how God wants to fill and satisfy those open spaces.  The wonderful season of Lent affords us the opportunity to be intentional about taking those steps.  Nicodemus, in the gospel for today, models them for us. We must both, humble ourselves to seek AND get still enough to listen to the still, small voice of God.  It is only when we are willing to seek and to question what we think we know that God can break out in our lives in new and refreshing ways showing us just how little we do know.    Lent calls us to the discipline we need to search for God with all of our hearts so that we might find what might be missing in our lives.

      As a hospital chaplain for several years, I have had the opportunity to provide pastoral care for people undergoing tremendous medical crises in their lives.  I've spent time with fellow members of the body of Christ and sometimes have asked where they discern God's Presence in the midst of their particular circumstance.  I have been saddened by those who felt they could not question God.  Some felt they couldn't even ask "God, where are you?"  Even in the midst of the sudden and unexpected death of a child, or spouse, or their own impending death they felt it was too much to call out in anguish and to seek God in this way.  That God is somehow above and beyond such questioning.  Yes, God is transcendent…like no-thing we know…beyond all that is; but God is also immanent in Jesus Christ.  In Jesus, we see the very face of God…all that God desires for us. 

      Nicodemus went to Jesus to ask and Jesus did not turn him away.  Jesus rather explained to him the truth of the reality of life.  We must not let false humility or pride keep us from seeking God's face more earnestly…from maybe asking hard questions of God.  God is BIG Enough to handle any question we can ask…God LOVES us enough to respond. 

      But, we will never hear God's response with the ears of our hearts unless we are intentionally present to God's Presence.  In fact, one of my favorite prayers before devotional time begins:  "Come, Holy Spirit.  Make us present to your Presence and accompany our thoughts…" God is ALWAYS Present to us, but are we always present (intentionally present) to God?  What do we need to do to become more attentive to God?  What's missing????

      I am a truly southern woman and I LOVE potato salad.  I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of sorts.  I'm pretty good at making my own, too. All cooks know that there are bad potato salads in the world and there are good ones. They have to have the right texture, consistency, and color in addition to flavor and taste.  Potato salad is one of those dishes requiring a taste tester.  What do you ask when you've finished preparing your potato salad and have given your tester a forkful to taste?  "What's missing?" 

"Does it need just a pinch or dab of something else?  A splash of vinegar perhaps?"

      Lent is the season for us to ask "what's missing" in our journey with Christ as individuals and a community.  Let us pray to God for the grace of humility to ask what is missing in our walk with God; let us pray for the grace to be present to hear and let us pray for the grace to be open to respond in obedience for we live in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.       Amen.

Lent I

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Lent I

10 February 2008 

Text:  Matthew 4: 1-11

Others: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19 

      Today's opening collect probably sounds like most of us when we're at the end of one rope or another in our lives:  "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. . . ." 

      "Come quickly to help us. . ." we cry when we're boxed into a corner or we're just sick & tired of being sick & tired.  At this season of Lent, this 6 weeks preceding Easter, we turn our attention to self-examination & getting our own spiritual house in order so when we celebrate Jesus' victory over death on Easter morning, we will be free both of petty daily sins & also deeper sins of jealousy, anger, appetite & greed. "Come quickly to help us" is a necessary plea for those of us who are ever in the process of making Jesus the Lord of our lives.  In fact, we are not able even to see ourselves clearly—warts & all—without the eyes of God to guide us.

      Immediately after John baptized Jesus, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for retreat where we know Jesus fasted, & we also assume he prayed, read or recalled scripture, & contemplated just what form God wanted his ministry to take.  Jesus was tempted by those things which one would assume would make him a more effective representative of God.  Notice that the tempter didn't arrive on Day 1 but waited until Jesus was good & famished before beginning the temptations. 

      Jesus fasted 40 days & 40 nights, just as Moses did on the mountain when he received the 10 Commandments.  When he returned from his rendezvous with God, what did the Hebrew people cry out for in the wilderness?  Bread, of course, the same thing Jesus was tempted to make out of stone during his wilderness experience.  How many of us find that our temptations originate with our taste buds or our growling tummies? Though we are sometimes mildly hungry, how often does our attention turn to those who do not have adequate nourishment when our own hunger pangs begin?  Such a discipline is appropriate spiritual reason for fasting rather than a desire to lose weight, for example. It's curious, isn't it, that Jesus is later able to feed thousands of people from just 5 loaves & 2 fish? This isn't about his ability to perform the miracle but rather about who is in charge of his life. 

      Further, Satan tempts Jesus with his ability to do good works, to influence others, to broaden his sphere of influence as he goes about bringing God's Reign into the world of that day.  When Satan takes Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple, he questions Jesus' very identity, "IF you are the Son of God. . . ."

Notice that the tempter—that's the true meaning of the word we translate "Satan"—has studied his scripture well & uses it to tempt Jesus.  He quotes from Psalm 91 [from which we sing today], "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."  Here certainly we have a 21^st Century ploy full-blown:  battering someone with scripture quotes.  Jesus doesn't need to prove his identity with miracle-working, does he?  If Jesus could accept his own boundaries as a human being, why do we continue to push the boundaries of what it is to be human & to be obedient? 

      In fact, our story from Genesis in today's lectionary is a great example not only of people's misusing scripture, in this case to blame the evil in the world on the woman, but also of taking a story literally & thus missing the more cogent & universal point.  Adam & Eve are easy to take pot-shots at because they remind us so much of ourselves; temptation to sin has always been part of human nature.  As inconvenient & downright devastating as our own tendency to sin is, such is a necessary part of being humans who have free will;  otherwise we'd simply be puppets.  Notice the tree is of the knowledge of good AND evil, not just one of them.  Adoration of God as well as obedience to God's will would be meaningless if we had no choice. 

      Scripture scholar the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Wright points out:

"The knowledge referred to is not limited to moral knowledge; rather, it is the tree of infinite knowledge, of knowing all that it is possible to know.  The point is not that trying to discern between good & evil is somehow wrong or at least prohibited, but rather that trying to have all knowledge is a grasping to be God, to be without limit.  That may be what God is warning the first gardener."  Whether we call that desire to accumulate all knowledge pride or self-sufficiency, when we think we don't need God, that in itself is a misuse of knowledge & therefore sinful.

      In fact, returning to Jesus' temptations, Satan's final temptation is to power, so Jesus' influence will be great enough to be able to do all the good things he wants humans to do & be.  All Jesus had to do, & all we have to do, is worship Satan, & that tempter can be anything which we put in place of God.  In churchy language, we call that idolatry, putting something else in God's place.  Although we sometimes put raw power or an addictive substance in place of God, very common is for us to hold positive things up to be our gods such as making a living for our families or being good, upstanding citizens.  Very good goals as long as they do not take the place of God in our lives. 

      Yesterday, our youth group, their sponsor Elizabeth, & a whole group of supportive adults held a garage sale.  What an amazing assortment of "treasures" were donated for sale!  Many individuals cleared out garages & storerooms & closets to contribute to the garage sale.  Others saw the beauty or usefulness in those things that others discarded, & everyone won:  the givers, the buyers, & the youth who will be able to furnish their own space.  We need times like this to cleanse our insides, to empty out the clutter in our lives & leave space to invite God to fill that God-shaped hole in our hearts.  Lent is that time of year, needed every year.  This year its beginning even coincides with Asian New Year, for all cultures have representative times for starting over.

      And we don't just do this emotional & spiritual house-cleaning by ourselves.  Just as the youth needed a lot of help to hold the garage sale yesterday, so we need each other in community to shovel out the refuse from our lives & prepare to celebrate our resurrected Christ again.  Our Sunday & Wednesday Bible studies help us do that, prayer groups & spiritual directors & companions aid us in our house-cleaning, & our Wednesday evening Lenten programs will invite us to stay open to God's guiding us to be more fully human & more fully communal. 

      Further, if you believe your spiritual house-cleaning should be sacramental this year during Lent, I am available in one of my priestly functions for sacramental confession & reconciliation.  You may look at the services in the Prayer Book on page 446 & following.  Just call me for an appointment.

      As we journey through the 40 days of Lent,  let us pray for each other as a community & encourage each other to be open to how Christ calls us to give ourselves more fully to God's greatest gift, Jesus Christ, who is our redeemer.

Ash Wednesday

By the Rev. Martha Frances

Ash Wednesday

6 February 2008

Text:  Matthew 1-6, 16-21

Others: Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17; Psalm 103: 8-14; 2 Corinthians 5: 20b-6: 10 

      Lent begins very early this year so, despite the chill of the day, we enter into spring, for that is what Lent meant in Old English.  Yesterday's temperature was 80 degrees, & today I had to find a jacket to wear.  Spring is always a time of shifting & change—unsettling & restless as new life gathers its strength down in the soil & pushes up to glorious growth & color.  So Lent is a season of quiet, underground germination moving us forward to the new life that will blossom forth on Easter morning.

      Originally, Lent's dual purpose was to prepare new Christians for baptism at the Vigil on Easter Eve & to allow those who had been estranged because of flagrant sins to be purified so as to return to their Christian family, intending to lead a new life.  Neither new Christians nor those who are separated by sin journey alone, so the whole Christian community walks with them to prepare for renewal & rededication at Easter Eve & then for Resurrection glory at Easter.

      All our scriptures today call us to return to God with our whole hearts, turning our will & our lives over to God's care anew this year.  The psalm is comforting to someone like me who has a hard time trusting anyone else.  It tells us the God to whom we give our lives is full of compassion & mercy, slow to anger & of great kindness.  Thank God, God has not dealt with us according to our sins nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.  God cares for those who fear him—which means those who recognize that God is God & we're not—that God cares for us just as fathers & mothers care for their children.

      Then the psalm says God remembers how we are made—that we are but dust.  What does this mean?  We look back to Christmas when God gave us Jesus, incarnated—with flesh on—so Jesus, the man, could fully embody being human, & we as humans can recognize what it means to be made in God's image & likeness.  So we come forward on Ash Wednesday & have smeared on our heads, if we so choose, a cross of ashes.  Ashes which symbolize our humanity in the form of a cross, the cross on which Jesus died so each of us can be resurrected with him.  Does this make any sense logically?  Not really, but there is something very meaningful about having these ashes placed on my forehead every year because it reminds me I was created human—one whom God says are very good—& I will return to earth when I die.  Meanwhile, I have the responsibility to live the life God has given me as faithfully as Jesus lived the life he God the loving parent gave him.

      Which brings us to Matthew's gospel reading today:  Jesus reminds us this living faithfully is not just for show.  Whatever our Lenten disciplines are to be this year, they're not meant to show others, especially God, how holy we are.  No, rather they are to help us establish habits of faithfulness to carry us throughout our lives. Matthew mentions the 3 traditional Jewish disciplines, also the deep roots of Christian piety also:  almsgiving, praying, & fasting.

      First, giving alms.  Simply stated, we are to share with others the first-fruits of the resources we've been given.  In addition to our tithing to our church community, we have an obligation to alleviate suffering wherever we encounter it.  And we're to look for it; not try to avoid or ignore those in need but to actually to pray that God show us those places where we can make a difference.  Sometimes we do that by lending our time, our talent, our prayers.  Mostly, it means we are to have generous, giving hearts, ready to share what we have.  This Lent we will be exploring avenues where we can be instruments for God's healing the world in our Wednesday evening programs.  Please come at 6:00 to participate in soup & study & prayer.

      Secondly, praying.  Sometimes, we Christians talk more about prayer than we actually pray.  Often, people are concerned that they don't know how to pray correctly, so they avoid it altogether except in structured prayer settings.  Jean Gill says, "Pray as you can; not as you can't."  Our Prayer Book gives models of excellent prayer services & individual prayers that keep our prayers adequately broad & inclusive. The next 40 days plus Sundays is an excellent opportunity to explore new ways of praying & could also be an excellent time to try out a new prayer discipline.  I'll help you explore some of them if you want. The point is, DO IT!  Give thanks & praise to God, pray for this parish & your priest, pray for ways to be open to God's will for you & the courage to carry that will out, pray for God to give you the desire to pray & then put feet to your prayers.  Bask in receptive prayer when you silently wait upon God to speak to you, & don't be surprised if God speaks in new & amazing ways just because you give God space & time to do so.

      Third, Jesus recommends fasting as a spiritual discipline.  You may choose during Lent to eat more sparingly or to avoid some foods.  Some people give up certain foods during Lent or refrain from food one day a week & give that $10-20 they save to feeding those who are truly hungry.  Fasting is about self-discipline, especially in what we eat or drink, but in today's world, it is also about the judicious consumption of the world's goods of which we Westerners use much more than our share.  This isn't about just what we buy at the mall, but how we use the world's resources—water, the air around us, what we throw away, & how large a carbon footprint we leave.  How we use the blessings of creation has a vast relationship to how our neighbors near & far can or cannot also enjoy those blessings. 

      Several years ago, a non-Episcopal woman joined the staff of an Episcopal church in this diocese.  As the priest was preparing for Lent with the staff her 2^nd year with them, she exclaimed, amazed, "You mean we're gonna do Lent again this year?"  We "do Lent" each year, my friends, because each year we need anew to walk the way of Jesus' last days, to give space in our lives for Christ's death & resurrection to guide our own Christian growth, much of it under the surface, so that we may renew our baptismal vows at Easter, once again springing forth in Easter blossoms, resurrected with Christ.

Last Epiphany

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Last Epiphany

3 February 2008 

Text:  Matthew 17: 1-9

Others:  Exodus 24: 12-18; Psalm 2; 2 Peter 1: 16-21 

      We began the Epiphany season on Epiphany Day with uplifting stories of the Magi's visit to pay homage to the Christ child, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by his cousin John the Baptist, & Jesus' 1^st miracle at a Canaan wedding.  Throughout Epiphany we have emphasized the importance of Christ's light shining forth to all nations & races, recalling the part we play in sharing the gospel with others near & far.  Now, the last Sunday in Epiphany, we remember the ultimate showing-forth story as Jesus takes his closest disciples up the high mountain & is transfigured before their very eyes as God's light shines from him.  Again as at Jesus' baptism, we hear again the heavenly voice from the clouds, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased;" & the added admonition, "listen to him!" 

      We too listen to God's Word as we join Peter, James & John on the mountain, watching with amazement & some fear, perhaps, as Jesus' face shines like the sun & his clothes become dazzling white.  Here is their friend & leader with whom they've traveled & lived & ministered for the past 3 years.  These simple Galilean fishermen whose call to discipleship was last week's Gospel have known him as an extraordinary man who has connected them in remarkable & personal ways to the God of their ancestors, & now here in their midst he appears with Moses & Elijah, so much larger a figure than just the carpenter whom they've come to know & love.  They recognize Jesus as the fully human person they've eaten & drank & been empowered to teach & heal with, yet he's also larger than life, radically changed somehow as he joins the larger-than-life heroes of the faith. 

      No wonder Peter, the man of action, wants to build 3 dwellings & hang on to the spiritual high they're experiencing!  Down below in the throes of life in the marketplace, life is becoming more & more dangerous for Jesus & his disciples with religious leaders' challenging him almost daily & the common people placing more & more demands on them.  Prolonging the marvel of this miracle appearance seems the logical thing to Peter who often speaks for all the disciples.  Don't we also want to settle in & bask in the good times in our lives?

      Yet God has more in store for them.  Not only do they see Jesus in glory, they hear again the sacred words uttered at his baptism, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased;" with God's new directive:  "Listen to him."  I'm surprised Peter doesn't immediately respond, "Whaddaya think we've been doing for the past 3 years.  We've been listening!  Enough already!"  But now even Peter is struck dumb, & Jesus encourages them not to be afraid.  Indeed, when they finally dare to open their eyes, only Jesus remains, & it is Jesus they are to focus on.  Just as these 3 aren't ready to view Jesus in this new way, Jesus knows that the larger community won't accept him as glorified until after his death & resurrection, so he tells them to save their breath for now; just LISTEN.

      This weekend, several of us have had the pleasure of enjoying the production of The Wizard of Oz out at Stratford High School at which our own Michael Fahey is directing the orchestra.  Long one of my favorite musicals—after all, the pilgrim is a young girl—such a fresh treatment of this journey story reminds me a lot of the 3 leaders with the larger fellowship of disciples.  Dorothy, finding herself in quite a pickle in a strange land, begins her journey home in fear & trembling, gathering around her a cadre of seeming-losers whose focus on their liabilities has kept them paralyzed & ineffective.  Along the yellow brick road, they encounter others imprisoned by the powers & principalities of the world, the flesh, & the devil—personified in this case by the Wicked Witch of the West.  Through the encouragement of the Good Witch Glenda, & by cooperating with each other, they accomplish incredibly liberating "magic," so that their journey brings them back home where they started strangely matured, grateful for each other now a true family, & capable of further healthy living & growth. 

      Of course, we should not push the metaphor too far, but the story is in the pilgrimage where they develop community just as Moses' Israelites did in the wilderness, & they spread Good News & liberation as they learn it themselves, accepting & using the God-given gifts they didn't realize they had until challenged to use them. 

      We at Hope are on a pilgrimage together, & this month marks 2 years since we have been Hope, an anniversary we celebrate next week, so please plan to be present.  It is fortuitous, I believe, that we begin each year anew as a parish just as Lent commences.  A common Lenten metaphor is that of journey or pilgrimage, a purposeful trip undertaken for a spiritual purpose to a shrine or other holy place in order to gain deeper insight & gifts from the Holy.  A Lenten pilgrimage allows the travelers to clean the cobwebs out of their spiritual houses in order to be a more faithful disciple & more effectively make disciples within & beyond your own community.

      The Lenten pilgrimage I suggest this year is to journey through the scriptures as well as some basic disciplines—prayer, fasting, alms-giving—to strengthen our own Hope family & to explore ways we can reach beyond our own community, both to make disciples & also to alleviate the pain & suffering of those less fortunate than we.  Come this Wednesday at noon or 7:00 p.m. to begin a Holy Lent in community & then each Wednesday throughout the 6 weeks to journey inward & outward together.  On Fridays we'll be walking the Way of the Cross, the Stations which have been a symbolic journey of Jesus' last days for most of the Christian era.  And Sundays we continue our sacramental pilgrimage of praising God in community, hearing & studying scripture together, & sharing the sacred meal of the Eucharist for our nourishment. 

      If we are journeying with Jesus Christ, along the way we will experience opportunities to reach out to others.  Today we launch a month-long drive for men's clothing to take to Lord of the Streets for those living on the streets.  They'll be needing summer clothing soon, so please think toward summer months.  Next Saturday the youth group holds a yard sale when we can let go of some of the baggage we have accumulated in our homes & perhaps find a treasure or two of our own while helping the youth with their projects.  While we are here, how many of us will remember to welcome other shoppers back to Sunday church?  Developing a more welcoming culture & reaching those in our sphere of influence is not only courteous but a natural way to grow the church. 

      Already in those few actions I've suggested, we can do little things to contribute to the Millennium Development Goals, therefore becoming more faithful members of our society.  I wonder how many more of our intentional actions can help eradicate extreme poverty & hunger, improve primary education for children, empower women, become more responsible environmentally, and partner with others to respond to Jesus' admonition to care for the least, the last, & the lost.  In our own willingness to journey together, we ourselves will be transformed.  Come, let us launch our Hope Lenten pilgrimage.