Thoughts on the Fourth of July for Sunday July 10
Isaiah 55:10-13
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Today is the Fourth of July - a big day in the life of this small Western town. We have a parade, a buffalo barbecue, and rodeo. Fireworks of all sorts up to almost "dynamite" size are available - so it sounds like a war zone all weekend. On Saturday evening the local orthodontist put on a fireworks display to rival many towns. We can sit on our deck and watch it across the valley. Tonight the town will have another display. We can watch it from our back deck. We are surrounded by festivities celebrating our country's birthday. This year, however, I don't feel like celebrating - I just feel sad. To me the country seems to have gotten off track. We are mired down in a war that was started on false pretenses but cannot really abandon now. We can't leave the people whose lives we have changed until there is more stability and infrastructure in place. We seem to be sliding backwards in the founding ideals of the Declaration of Independence - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Some seem to feel that safety comes from restricting rights of individuals and their ability to make personal choices. The current taxation policy is growing the gap between rich and poor, and financing our lavish spending by selling our selves to the Chinese and others willing to lend us money. Health care is a scandal. Basic preventative care is unavailable so people wait until they are desperate to go to the doctor. Children are growing up - sick, uneducated and hungry. What kind of future does all of this portend? Is there Good News anywhere? Does the hope foretold in the passage from Isaiah exist or is it just wishful thinking?
Jesus tells a parable in the lesson from Matthew for Sunday
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
"Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!"
"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
I have always believed that the "soil" of this country was good - with abundance for all. It seems this year that the soil has become hard and rocky. I think it is going to take some tilling and fertilizing - the difficult work of gardening to get the soil back in shape. The promise of the Statue of liberty burned brightly for my maternal grandmother's family form Scotland and my father's family from Norway as they stepped off the boat just a generation ago. I hope we can continue that legacy for those who have always been here, for those who came unwillingly and for those yet to come.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Monday, June 20, 2005
A week ago I awoke to find that my voice had gone, totally, even whispering would only start a coughing fit. A marathon week of a meeting, visit with our grandson, a quick trip to Jackson Hole for a funeral service, and services on Sunday in Rock Springs and Eden together with a cold left me voiceless. First thing I learned was - I talk more than I listen (big surprise to my friends LOL). It has been a good time - listening and knowing that I cannot respond. This caused me to listen more fully without preparing my response as the person is talking.
Now I am recovered - will I continue to live the learnings?
Now I am recovered - will I continue to live the learnings?
Saturday, May 21, 2005
TRINITY SUNDAY Click here for Readings
The concept of the Trinity was developed by the early church to clarify the boundaries of acceptable belief in Christianity. Although many of the same questions remain about the nature of God, and different religions and denominations give various answers, the concept of the Trinity has captured an idea of God that is really breathtaking. It is not an answer that limits but one that invites. In the Rublev icon there is space at the table for the viewer - as if to say join us in our contemplation. There are many depictions in art of the Trinity. Using the image search function on Google will bring up a variety. The Celtic designs feature abstract interweaving often forming a heart in the center. Another that reveals the passion of God is by Pieter Coecke Van Aelst. Art and dance seem to be able to express this idea better than words. As a revelation of God words fail to catch all the nuances of the Divine - the dance of relationship between the Creator, the Christ, and the Spirit - all participating in one another and yet separate manifestations of the Holy One.
I think it expresses a balance of life in this time and space and all that belongs to life beyond. The Navajo concept of Ho'zho' - Walk in Beauty - captures this balance, as do other religious traditions. The Trinity reveals perfect balance that we are called to find in our own lives.
The creation story from our readings today speak of God creating through the breath/Spirit to incarnate life as we know it. At each stage of creation the writer of Genesis says "and God saw that it was good." Good or Tov (in Hebrew) is more than our concept of good vs. bad - it has the sense of "order" or being in right relationship. All things in creation are good - they are in balance and in right relationship to the divine. Part of the story of the fall is that humans get out of this balance - they forget their relationship to the Holy. Nevertheless, humans cannot destroy the essential goodness of creation and our essential goodness as created in the image of God, all of us, unique, yet bearing the image of God.
The Trinity calls us back to our essential being - calls us to join the dance of creation, learn the steps of the dance, bringing our selves into the sphere of the divine. No wall flowers at this dance - all are invited.
The Shaker hymn Simple Gifts embodies this sense of finding our delight in the steps of the dance of the Holy in the Trinity.
Some poetry by John Donne
Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Father, part of his double interest
Unto thy kingdom, thy Son gives to me,
His jointure in the knotty Trinity
He keeps, and gives to me his death's conquest.
This Lamb, whose death with life the world hath blest,
Was from the world's beginning slain, and he
Hath made two Wills which with the Legacy
Of his and thy kingdom do thy Sons invest.
Yet such are thy laws that men argue yet
Whether a man those statutes can fulfil;
None doth; but all-healing grace and spirit
Revive again what law and letter kill.
Thy law's abridgement, and thy last command
Is all but love; Oh let this last Will stand!
The concept of the Trinity was developed by the early church to clarify the boundaries of acceptable belief in Christianity. Although many of the same questions remain about the nature of God, and different religions and denominations give various answers, the concept of the Trinity has captured an idea of God that is really breathtaking. It is not an answer that limits but one that invites. In the Rublev icon there is space at the table for the viewer - as if to say join us in our contemplation. There are many depictions in art of the Trinity. Using the image search function on Google will bring up a variety. The Celtic designs feature abstract interweaving often forming a heart in the center. Another that reveals the passion of God is by Pieter Coecke Van Aelst. Art and dance seem to be able to express this idea better than words. As a revelation of God words fail to catch all the nuances of the Divine - the dance of relationship between the Creator, the Christ, and the Spirit - all participating in one another and yet separate manifestations of the Holy One.
I think it expresses a balance of life in this time and space and all that belongs to life beyond. The Navajo concept of Ho'zho' - Walk in Beauty - captures this balance, as do other religious traditions. The Trinity reveals perfect balance that we are called to find in our own lives.
The creation story from our readings today speak of God creating through the breath/Spirit to incarnate life as we know it. At each stage of creation the writer of Genesis says "and God saw that it was good." Good or Tov (in Hebrew) is more than our concept of good vs. bad - it has the sense of "order" or being in right relationship. All things in creation are good - they are in balance and in right relationship to the divine. Part of the story of the fall is that humans get out of this balance - they forget their relationship to the Holy. Nevertheless, humans cannot destroy the essential goodness of creation and our essential goodness as created in the image of God, all of us, unique, yet bearing the image of God.
The Trinity calls us back to our essential being - calls us to join the dance of creation, learn the steps of the dance, bringing our selves into the sphere of the divine. No wall flowers at this dance - all are invited.
The Shaker hymn Simple Gifts embodies this sense of finding our delight in the steps of the dance of the Holy in the Trinity.
Some poetry by John Donne
Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Father, part of his double interest
Unto thy kingdom, thy Son gives to me,
His jointure in the knotty Trinity
He keeps, and gives to me his death's conquest.
This Lamb, whose death with life the world hath blest,
Was from the world's beginning slain, and he
Hath made two Wills which with the Legacy
Of his and thy kingdom do thy Sons invest.
Yet such are thy laws that men argue yet
Whether a man those statutes can fulfil;
None doth; but all-healing grace and spirit
Revive again what law and letter kill.
Thy law's abridgement, and thy last command
Is all but love; Oh let this last Will stand!
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
EASTER 7 and ASCENSION Click Here for Readings.
Ascension is one of those church holy days that is a mystery to me. The whole idea of Jesus ascending through the air into heaven is hard for someone who has seen the pictures of earth from space taken by the Astronauts. Instead I think of Glinda in the movieThe Wizard of Oz rising up into the air in her bubble with all the Munchkins waving and shouting "Goodbye, Goodbye" in their little squeaky voices. There are many artistic depictions of the Ascension. Salvador Dali shows Jesus from the disciples point of view and some androgynous heavenly being receiving him. There is an icon showing just Jesus feet as he goes into the clouds and leaving footprints on the rock below. If you use the image search on google you will find all sorts of conceptions of this event. The gospels also have varying accounts. At some time Jesus parted from his followers - there was a sense that they would not see him again in quite the same way. But as he left them it was as though the heavens opened again. As when Jesus was baptized, at the crucifixion when the veil of the temple was torn in two, so at this event the doorway to the full reality of God was wide open - it would never been seen as closed again. I love the response of the angel in Acts - "why are you standing around looking up into heaven?" In another place they are told go to the city and wait for power from on high. The time between Jesus' Ascension and Pentecost is called a time of impotence or a time of waiting by John Westerhoff. Between his apparent disappearance and the coming of the power of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it is a time when we need to wait - not an easy thing for modern day life. We want to learn patience and we want that now as the old joke goes. The disciples gathered to pray, study and worship as they waited. It was a time of preparation for the ministry that would soon envelop them. Perhaps that is something for us too.
Ascension is one of those church holy days that is a mystery to me. The whole idea of Jesus ascending through the air into heaven is hard for someone who has seen the pictures of earth from space taken by the Astronauts. Instead I think of Glinda in the movieThe Wizard of Oz rising up into the air in her bubble with all the Munchkins waving and shouting "Goodbye, Goodbye" in their little squeaky voices. There are many artistic depictions of the Ascension. Salvador Dali shows Jesus from the disciples point of view and some androgynous heavenly being receiving him. There is an icon showing just Jesus feet as he goes into the clouds and leaving footprints on the rock below. If you use the image search on google you will find all sorts of conceptions of this event. The gospels also have varying accounts. At some time Jesus parted from his followers - there was a sense that they would not see him again in quite the same way. But as he left them it was as though the heavens opened again. As when Jesus was baptized, at the crucifixion when the veil of the temple was torn in two, so at this event the doorway to the full reality of God was wide open - it would never been seen as closed again. I love the response of the angel in Acts - "why are you standing around looking up into heaven?" In another place they are told go to the city and wait for power from on high. The time between Jesus' Ascension and Pentecost is called a time of impotence or a time of waiting by John Westerhoff. Between his apparent disappearance and the coming of the power of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it is a time when we need to wait - not an easy thing for modern day life. We want to learn patience and we want that now as the old joke goes. The disciples gathered to pray, study and worship as they waited. It was a time of preparation for the ministry that would soon envelop them. Perhaps that is something for us too.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
EASTER 5 Click HERE for Readings.
Often when we read this gospel we only think of afterlife. Perhaps this is because it is read at funerals and preached as an afterlife passage. Rarely does Jesus intend his messages to apply to "heaven" as in after we are dead. His concern is with life here and now. The kingdom of God is in your midst is how Luke reports it. Heaven (afterlife) is interesting but as the father, in a Woody Allen movie, answering the main character's question about whether he worries about what happens, you know, after? says "after? after? who cares - I will be dead."
Only God knows what happens after and God in Christ challenges us to make this world a place where all can experience the realm of God. In the Lord's Prayer we say each Sunday "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earthas in heaven." When we begin to read this Gospel through that lens we hear Jesus assuring us that no matter where we go we will find a home. He will prepare that place for us and be there wherever life takes us. buckaroo Banzaiin the 80s cult film says "wherever you go there you are." We learn as we grow up that the grass in not always greener somewhere else, we will not be a different person, we still take ourselves and our gifts and challenges with us. Without help we cycle around the same old stuff. The promise Jesus makes is that he will prepare a place for us by being the way, the truth, and the life. This is not a message of exclusion and damnation for those who are someplace else in their walk - it is a message of hope for us.
It is like going camping with an expert guide who knows the challenges and rewards of the wilderness. One who is with us showing us the path, who can read the signs of the wilderness, and who is ahead of us at the campsite with the tent set up and the dinner on the fire at the end of a long trek. It is a relationship with the One who can be trusted to lead us and who as the Psalmist says "holds our souls in life, and will not allow our feet to slip." and "who brings us to a place of refreshment."
Last night (Saturday, April 23) Passover began for our Jewish sisters and brothers. Our reading from Deuteronomy contains the question of why Passover is celebrated. "we were slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out with a mighty hand" With out liberation we are all slaves to things that do not matter ultimately. We get caught in the struggles of position, power, honor, shame, addiction, abuse --- God wants something else for us. God wants us to live with justice and peace, and in community with one another and the creation. When we become children of God we are expected to assist with the bringing of this "heaven" to the world. As the letter of Peter says "Once you were no people, but now you are God's people:" "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the might acts of the One who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
The many mansions tells us that there are many places where we may find ourselves, there are many ways that God has of calling to people to join in bring heaven to earth, but we are assured that no matter where life takes us - Christ will be there preparing a home for us. We will never be strangers again - not to one another, not to the world, not to God.
Often when we read this gospel we only think of afterlife. Perhaps this is because it is read at funerals and preached as an afterlife passage. Rarely does Jesus intend his messages to apply to "heaven" as in after we are dead. His concern is with life here and now. The kingdom of God is in your midst is how Luke reports it. Heaven (afterlife) is interesting but as the father, in a Woody Allen movie, answering the main character's question about whether he worries about what happens, you know, after? says "after? after? who cares - I will be dead."
Only God knows what happens after and God in Christ challenges us to make this world a place where all can experience the realm of God. In the Lord's Prayer we say each Sunday "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earthas in heaven." When we begin to read this Gospel through that lens we hear Jesus assuring us that no matter where we go we will find a home. He will prepare that place for us and be there wherever life takes us. buckaroo Banzaiin the 80s cult film says "wherever you go there you are." We learn as we grow up that the grass in not always greener somewhere else, we will not be a different person, we still take ourselves and our gifts and challenges with us. Without help we cycle around the same old stuff. The promise Jesus makes is that he will prepare a place for us by being the way, the truth, and the life. This is not a message of exclusion and damnation for those who are someplace else in their walk - it is a message of hope for us.
It is like going camping with an expert guide who knows the challenges and rewards of the wilderness. One who is with us showing us the path, who can read the signs of the wilderness, and who is ahead of us at the campsite with the tent set up and the dinner on the fire at the end of a long trek. It is a relationship with the One who can be trusted to lead us and who as the Psalmist says "holds our souls in life, and will not allow our feet to slip." and "who brings us to a place of refreshment."
Last night (Saturday, April 23) Passover began for our Jewish sisters and brothers. Our reading from Deuteronomy contains the question of why Passover is celebrated. "we were slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out with a mighty hand" With out liberation we are all slaves to things that do not matter ultimately. We get caught in the struggles of position, power, honor, shame, addiction, abuse --- God wants something else for us. God wants us to live with justice and peace, and in community with one another and the creation. When we become children of God we are expected to assist with the bringing of this "heaven" to the world. As the letter of Peter says "Once you were no people, but now you are God's people:" "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the might acts of the One who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
The many mansions tells us that there are many places where we may find ourselves, there are many ways that God has of calling to people to join in bring heaven to earth, but we are assured that no matter where life takes us - Christ will be there preparing a home for us. We will never be strangers again - not to one another, not to the world, not to God.
Monday, April 11, 2005
HUMOR ALERT
Inspired by Jon Carroll's article in SFGate:
From a breakaway group
MyUnitarian Jihad Name is: Sister Immaculate Sword of Grace. What's yours?
Inspired by Jon Carroll's article in SFGate:
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sibling Jackhammer of Sweet Reason.
From a breakaway group
My
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Easter 3 Click Here for Readings
Early thoughts for Sunday's sermon.
In our EFM online group on Monday evening we did Theological Reflection on a painting of Jesus at Emmaus. The angles and planes of the painting both separate and join the figures and objects. In the painting the wine in the chalice is split and the bread is still unbroken. It seems to be the moment before recognition of Jesus in their midst. It reminds me of all those moments just before the world can never been seen in the same way again. For the people of Israel the Red Sea split before their eyes and they can continue their journey to liberation from slavery. For the husband and wife at Emmaus all their preconceived ideas of life and death are about to be shattered. They could not see that it was the Risen Christ accompanying them on the road home because they could not see beyond their ideas about what happens when someone dies. All of us have opinions and positions about "how things just are" - and yet the Spirit comes and breaks through those ideas in the lives of our ancestors in faith. Journeying with Christ we will have these life changing, mind altering experiences. A wild ride with a wild God.
Early thoughts for Sunday's sermon.
In our EFM online group on Monday evening we did Theological Reflection on a painting of Jesus at Emmaus. The angles and planes of the painting both separate and join the figures and objects. In the painting the wine in the chalice is split and the bread is still unbroken. It seems to be the moment before recognition of Jesus in their midst. It reminds me of all those moments just before the world can never been seen in the same way again. For the people of Israel the Red Sea split before their eyes and they can continue their journey to liberation from slavery. For the husband and wife at Emmaus all their preconceived ideas of life and death are about to be shattered. They could not see that it was the Risen Christ accompanying them on the road home because they could not see beyond their ideas about what happens when someone dies. All of us have opinions and positions about "how things just are" - and yet the Spirit comes and breaks through those ideas in the lives of our ancestors in faith. Journeying with Christ we will have these life changing, mind altering experiences. A wild ride with a wild God.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
DYING, DEATH, and other thoughts
The media feeding frenzy surrounding the Schiavo and Schindler families has evoked all sorts of reactions. Politicians have tried to make political capital out of the case. Various groups have tried to convince the courts and the public of their closeness to God and what God would want. Others align themselves with the husband or with the wife or with the parents. The only thing I can discover in all this is a deep unknowing of motives, reactions, reports and the whole process of dying. We do not really know what Terri Schiavo wanted, what her husband is thinking in his heart of hearts, what the parents really want, or even if anyone is right about anything. Our thoughts are primarily a projection of our own hopes and fears.
Those who have disabilities are alarmed that the case is a sign of what might happen to them if this is just one step on a slippery slope to no medical intervention when people have conditions that are deemed inconvenient. There is good reason to be alarmed given our history as humankind on this earth. Those who have had to face death in their loved ones and the prolonging of life when there is no hope of recovery and nature would take over if it weren't for our medical techniques - fear the consequences of a wrong choice. Who ultimately gets to decide? The spouse, the parents, the courts, the legislature, religious institutions?
Out of all this I have had these thoughts but no conclusions:
1) Get a living will and end of life directives written up NOW!!! Spare your loved ones the agony of not knowing your wishes. There are lots of place to obtain a form - on the web, from hospitals and doctors, from attorneys - many are free.
2) Dying with dignity: guess what - death is not dignified, it is messy and terrible. Sometimes there is pain which one hopes medical care personnel can alleviate - but not always. One's body is taken over by others who must care for one's every need. This is not all bad. In my short time as a priest - I have witnessed amazing times in the process of death. Families are open to healing of relationships that seemed impossible. The power of the Spirit can strengthen the bonds of love and compassion. Not always, but as many times as I have seen it I come to expect it.
3) Judge not lest you be judged - the journey to death for the dying and those surrounding him or her is not an easy path. For those of us outside of the immediate circle - love and support is the best thing that can be offered. For those of us caught up in the whirlwind of last days, however long they last, give each other slack. Many things are said in grief that can cause further pain to one another. Remember the stages of grief are not linear or accomplished once and for all. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance are like the ball in a pinball machine - rocketing back and forth between the posts, getting stuck for a time, sometimes lighting up the whole body and sometimes causing everything to stop with a big TILT! Everyone make his own Tear Soup with her own ingredients and its own cooking time.
4) Live today. Be present with one another. Tell people you love them, you appreciate them. Don't wait. Death can come this moment as well as sometime off in the future. We will die - it is the only way to continue. For me it is a mystery and an adventure. I have written about it before and will probably write about it again.
5) And as Mary Oliver says in The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand …
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done? …
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
6) Alcoholics Anonymou puts it this way - when will you start showing up for your life?
The media feeding frenzy surrounding the Schiavo and Schindler families has evoked all sorts of reactions. Politicians have tried to make political capital out of the case. Various groups have tried to convince the courts and the public of their closeness to God and what God would want. Others align themselves with the husband or with the wife or with the parents. The only thing I can discover in all this is a deep unknowing of motives, reactions, reports and the whole process of dying. We do not really know what Terri Schiavo wanted, what her husband is thinking in his heart of hearts, what the parents really want, or even if anyone is right about anything. Our thoughts are primarily a projection of our own hopes and fears.
Those who have disabilities are alarmed that the case is a sign of what might happen to them if this is just one step on a slippery slope to no medical intervention when people have conditions that are deemed inconvenient. There is good reason to be alarmed given our history as humankind on this earth. Those who have had to face death in their loved ones and the prolonging of life when there is no hope of recovery and nature would take over if it weren't for our medical techniques - fear the consequences of a wrong choice. Who ultimately gets to decide? The spouse, the parents, the courts, the legislature, religious institutions?
Out of all this I have had these thoughts but no conclusions:
1) Get a living will and end of life directives written up NOW!!! Spare your loved ones the agony of not knowing your wishes. There are lots of place to obtain a form - on the web, from hospitals and doctors, from attorneys - many are free.
2) Dying with dignity: guess what - death is not dignified, it is messy and terrible. Sometimes there is pain which one hopes medical care personnel can alleviate - but not always. One's body is taken over by others who must care for one's every need. This is not all bad. In my short time as a priest - I have witnessed amazing times in the process of death. Families are open to healing of relationships that seemed impossible. The power of the Spirit can strengthen the bonds of love and compassion. Not always, but as many times as I have seen it I come to expect it.
3) Judge not lest you be judged - the journey to death for the dying and those surrounding him or her is not an easy path. For those of us outside of the immediate circle - love and support is the best thing that can be offered. For those of us caught up in the whirlwind of last days, however long they last, give each other slack. Many things are said in grief that can cause further pain to one another. Remember the stages of grief are not linear or accomplished once and for all. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance are like the ball in a pinball machine - rocketing back and forth between the posts, getting stuck for a time, sometimes lighting up the whole body and sometimes causing everything to stop with a big TILT! Everyone make his own Tear Soup with her own ingredients and its own cooking time.
4) Live today. Be present with one another. Tell people you love them, you appreciate them. Don't wait. Death can come this moment as well as sometime off in the future. We will die - it is the only way to continue. For me it is a mystery and an adventure. I have written about it before and will probably write about it again.
5) And as Mary Oliver says in The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand …
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done? …
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
6) Alcoholics Anonymou puts it this way - when will you start showing up for your life?
Thursday, March 24, 2005
EASTER
Last Sunday ended with these words:
"Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, `After three days I will rise again.' Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, `He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception would be worse than the first." Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can." So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone."
The stone blocking the tomb was sealed. It was sealed against any deception that might be perpetrated on the people. Like a letter with a big blob of wax imprinted with the seal of the sender, like a triple locked door of an apartment in the inner city, the stone covering of the door of the tomb received a seal of the Roman Empire. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saw it and the guards saw it. It was over - death was final - no going back. It was the end.
How often in our lives do we have times when we are as stuck as that tomb? Hearts sealed tight - holding ourselves in so we won't be hurt any more than we already are.
As a Larry Warren of Knoxville, TN says:
"A time of when all you could do was weep ... triggered perhaps by
Words from a doctor "I'm sorry the tests confirmed that it is malignant."
A phone call in the night "There's been an accident, come to the emergency room right away."
Words from your employer "We are going to have to let you go."
Words from a parent to a young child "You know honey that Mommy and Daddy have not been getting along lately. We have decided to get a divorce."
These are times we pull the cave around us and seal the doors against everything. Words intended for hope and comfort seem empty and meaningless. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the this place on that Easter Sunday 2000 years ago. They come with hearts sealed against hope, hearts heavy with grief and hands heavy with the things of death.
In the creative chaos of the moment they discover that it is not the tomb of rock that contains death and despair - that thief of hearts - Jesus - has slipped out into life and is now knocking on the sealed tombs of their hearts. Knocking, asking, seeking to be allowed into our places of despair and death and hopelessness. Calling us out like so many Lazurus' - be unbound, come follow me. Death is conquered. Christ is Risen.
It does not always happen in an instant - often it takes the word of someone who has been in this place before us. Christ speaks through those who have taken this journey and come through to a new place - a place of life and hope. Sometimes it is the healing of nature - Don Clendenin puts it like this:
"Despite the shadows of death that darken our world, if you look carefully you see Easter resurrection breaking out everywhere. In the boisterous laughter of a child rollicking with the family dog. In the bright orange poppies, red azaleas, yellow daffodils, pink dogwoods, and white apple blossoms that paint the neighborhood in an extravaganza of spring-time color. In a leisurely dinner with neighbors. In the human creativity of art and architecture, film and music, painting and photography. In the self-sacrificial goodness of so many people the world over. Magic is in the air."
Or in this poem by John Niehardt, 1908
Once more the northbound Wonder
Brings back the goose and crane,
Prophetic Sons of Thunder,
Apostles of the Rain.
In many a battling river
The broken gorges boom;
Behold, the Mighty Giver
Emerges from the tomb!
Now robins chant the story
Of how the wintry sward
Is litten with the glory
Of the Angel of the Lord.
His countenance is lightning
And still His robe is snow,
As when the dawn was brightening
Two thousand years ago.
O who can be a stranger
To what has come to pass?
The Pity of the Manger
Is mighty in the grass.
Undaunted by Decembers,
The sap is faithful yet.
The giving Earth remembers,
And only men forget.
We do forget - but today we are reminded - as St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans - nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus goes ahead of us - he is the beginning, the path and the end of our journey.
The seal upon our hearts that he offers is reflected in this passage from Song of Solomon
"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one's house, it would be utterly scorned. Song of Solomon 8: 6-7
HAPPY EASTER
Last Sunday ended with these words:
"Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, `After three days I will rise again.' Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, `He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception would be worse than the first." Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can." So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone."
The stone blocking the tomb was sealed. It was sealed against any deception that might be perpetrated on the people. Like a letter with a big blob of wax imprinted with the seal of the sender, like a triple locked door of an apartment in the inner city, the stone covering of the door of the tomb received a seal of the Roman Empire. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary saw it and the guards saw it. It was over - death was final - no going back. It was the end.
How often in our lives do we have times when we are as stuck as that tomb? Hearts sealed tight - holding ourselves in so we won't be hurt any more than we already are.
As a Larry Warren of Knoxville, TN says:
"A time of when all you could do was weep ... triggered perhaps by
Words from a doctor "I'm sorry the tests confirmed that it is malignant."
A phone call in the night "There's been an accident, come to the emergency room right away."
Words from your employer "We are going to have to let you go."
Words from a parent to a young child "You know honey that Mommy and Daddy have not been getting along lately. We have decided to get a divorce."
These are times we pull the cave around us and seal the doors against everything. Words intended for hope and comfort seem empty and meaningless. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the this place on that Easter Sunday 2000 years ago. They come with hearts sealed against hope, hearts heavy with grief and hands heavy with the things of death.
In the creative chaos of the moment they discover that it is not the tomb of rock that contains death and despair - that thief of hearts - Jesus - has slipped out into life and is now knocking on the sealed tombs of their hearts. Knocking, asking, seeking to be allowed into our places of despair and death and hopelessness. Calling us out like so many Lazurus' - be unbound, come follow me. Death is conquered. Christ is Risen.
It does not always happen in an instant - often it takes the word of someone who has been in this place before us. Christ speaks through those who have taken this journey and come through to a new place - a place of life and hope. Sometimes it is the healing of nature - Don Clendenin puts it like this:
"Despite the shadows of death that darken our world, if you look carefully you see Easter resurrection breaking out everywhere. In the boisterous laughter of a child rollicking with the family dog. In the bright orange poppies, red azaleas, yellow daffodils, pink dogwoods, and white apple blossoms that paint the neighborhood in an extravaganza of spring-time color. In a leisurely dinner with neighbors. In the human creativity of art and architecture, film and music, painting and photography. In the self-sacrificial goodness of so many people the world over. Magic is in the air."
Or in this poem by John Niehardt, 1908
Once more the northbound Wonder
Brings back the goose and crane,
Prophetic Sons of Thunder,
Apostles of the Rain.
In many a battling river
The broken gorges boom;
Behold, the Mighty Giver
Emerges from the tomb!
Now robins chant the story
Of how the wintry sward
Is litten with the glory
Of the Angel of the Lord.
His countenance is lightning
And still His robe is snow,
As when the dawn was brightening
Two thousand years ago.
O who can be a stranger
To what has come to pass?
The Pity of the Manger
Is mighty in the grass.
Undaunted by Decembers,
The sap is faithful yet.
The giving Earth remembers,
And only men forget.
We do forget - but today we are reminded - as St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans - nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus goes ahead of us - he is the beginning, the path and the end of our journey.
The seal upon our hearts that he offers is reflected in this passage from Song of Solomon
"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one's house, it would be utterly scorned. Song of Solomon 8: 6-7
HAPPY EASTER
Monday, March 21, 2005
More on donkeys
A friend sent this poem to add to my donkey data base.
THE DONKEY
G.K. Chesterton
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
A friend sent this poem to add to my donkey data base.
THE DONKEY
G.K. Chesterton
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;
With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
Friday, March 18, 2005
PALM SUNDAY Readings
The story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the beginning of Holy Week sets up a classic arc of hope expressed, hope dashed, hope re-imagined. The prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 is being fulfilled in Jesus' action on this day. People are visually reminded of their dreams of liberation from oppression. Each person has a dream of how this will be accomplished. As the week progresses all the dreams die, nailed to the cross with Jesus. The re-imagining of the dream comes but not this week.
Lane Denson in his daily (usually) meditation Out of Nowhere reflects on another telling of this event in Luke. Jesus says "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." That simple affirmation could be the most overlooked and unsung song of perceptive wisdom in all the events and words that surround us during our celebration of Passion Week.
Bennett Sims reminds us in his book on servant leadership that the quantum physics theorists are certain that there is a caring pulse of energy that animates and interconnects all the entities in the cosmos. Teilhard de Chardin, the French Jesuit paleontologist, outraged his time when he said that the "molecules make love." This, of course, got his books banned as a consequence. In Jesus' time, it might have been -- indeed, was -- seen all along that the created order in all its facets always knew and recognized in their own way who and what was present in him among them. The daemons, the loaves and fishes, the storms, winds, and waves, the human maladies, the fig trees, Satan itself in the wilderness, all were on to what had happened and was going on to happen when the Word became flesh. No wonder Jesus could say that if the crowds were silent, the very stones, themselves, the seemingly most inert and mute of all creation (and, by the by, the epitome of efficiency), would burst forth in adulation. We call it atomic energy, but by whatever name, it remains, Benedicite, omnia opera Domini -- "O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord." If the events we celebrate during this Passion Week tell us nothing more, they remind us once again how inseparable are we one from the other and from the very stones along the way. They may be inert, they may seem to have no freedom at all, but when it comes to presence and endurance and dependability -- and even to praise -- we can learn from them a thing or two."
I often collect stones when I travel. Small reminders of my journeys. They speak to me of places that are important to me. I put them in the small fountain in our entry way. There is a Japanese tradition of meditation that involves listening to stones. Annie Dillard has a book called Teaching a Stone to Talk. There is something wise in stones. One has to sit very still to hear the wisdom. In our current environmental crisis, perhaps the stones are screaming at us to pay attention to the cries of the earth before it is too late.
Jesus enters Jerusalem riding the donkey of hope - a donkey is a determined animal, friendly and easy to ride, but also concerned with its own needs and self preservation, regardless of what humans think it should be doing. Maybe between stones and donkeys there is a lesson - a lesson about persistence, stillness, goals, and keeping the faith in the midst of confusing messages from others.
Take up a small stone today and hold it in your hand. As it warms to your body temperature, notice its shape and how it might have come to be in its current form. Listen to its story.
The story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the beginning of Holy Week sets up a classic arc of hope expressed, hope dashed, hope re-imagined. The prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 is being fulfilled in Jesus' action on this day. People are visually reminded of their dreams of liberation from oppression. Each person has a dream of how this will be accomplished. As the week progresses all the dreams die, nailed to the cross with Jesus. The re-imagining of the dream comes but not this week.
Lane Denson in his daily (usually) meditation Out of Nowhere reflects on another telling of this event in Luke. Jesus says "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." That simple affirmation could be the most overlooked and unsung song of perceptive wisdom in all the events and words that surround us during our celebration of Passion Week.
Bennett Sims reminds us in his book on servant leadership that the quantum physics theorists are certain that there is a caring pulse of energy that animates and interconnects all the entities in the cosmos. Teilhard de Chardin, the French Jesuit paleontologist, outraged his time when he said that the "molecules make love." This, of course, got his books banned as a consequence. In Jesus' time, it might have been -- indeed, was -- seen all along that the created order in all its facets always knew and recognized in their own way who and what was present in him among them. The daemons, the loaves and fishes, the storms, winds, and waves, the human maladies, the fig trees, Satan itself in the wilderness, all were on to what had happened and was going on to happen when the Word became flesh. No wonder Jesus could say that if the crowds were silent, the very stones, themselves, the seemingly most inert and mute of all creation (and, by the by, the epitome of efficiency), would burst forth in adulation. We call it atomic energy, but by whatever name, it remains, Benedicite, omnia opera Domini -- "O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord." If the events we celebrate during this Passion Week tell us nothing more, they remind us once again how inseparable are we one from the other and from the very stones along the way. They may be inert, they may seem to have no freedom at all, but when it comes to presence and endurance and dependability -- and even to praise -- we can learn from them a thing or two."
I often collect stones when I travel. Small reminders of my journeys. They speak to me of places that are important to me. I put them in the small fountain in our entry way. There is a Japanese tradition of meditation that involves listening to stones. Annie Dillard has a book called Teaching a Stone to Talk. There is something wise in stones. One has to sit very still to hear the wisdom. In our current environmental crisis, perhaps the stones are screaming at us to pay attention to the cries of the earth before it is too late.
Jesus enters Jerusalem riding the donkey of hope - a donkey is a determined animal, friendly and easy to ride, but also concerned with its own needs and self preservation, regardless of what humans think it should be doing. Maybe between stones and donkeys there is a lesson - a lesson about persistence, stillness, goals, and keeping the faith in the midst of confusing messages from others.
Take up a small stone today and hold it in your hand. As it warms to your body temperature, notice its shape and how it might have come to be in its current form. Listen to its story.
Monday, March 07, 2005
LENT Readings
On my way to Sewanee TN for Education for Ministry Training of Trainers. Hopefully there will be some signs of Spring. The readings for this Sunday have a theme of coming back to life from being dead. The "dry bones" of Ezekiel - are symbolic of a people who have had the life taken out of them by oppression and by conqurering powers. Lazarus has died to this life. In both cases the creative power of God and the love of the community bring them back to life. To me the key words are spoken by Jesus when as it says in the text - The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
With what are people bound in our time? Around the world, poverty and disease bind people from living fully. In Wyoming, it is drugs, especially "meth" that binds people. Held in bondage by addiction, how can we be the agents of unbinding. What meaning in life can we offer that is more attractive than a short term "high?" All dream of having a meaningful life, of making a difference, and for love - how can the community provide a space to make these dreams come true or at least be possible?
On my way to Sewanee TN for Education for Ministry Training of Trainers. Hopefully there will be some signs of Spring. The readings for this Sunday have a theme of coming back to life from being dead. The "dry bones" of Ezekiel - are symbolic of a people who have had the life taken out of them by oppression and by conqurering powers. Lazarus has died to this life. In both cases the creative power of God and the love of the community bring them back to life. To me the key words are spoken by Jesus when as it says in the text - The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
With what are people bound in our time? Around the world, poverty and disease bind people from living fully. In Wyoming, it is drugs, especially "meth" that binds people. Held in bondage by addiction, how can we be the agents of unbinding. What meaning in life can we offer that is more attractive than a short term "high?" All dream of having a meaningful life, of making a difference, and for love - how can the community provide a space to make these dreams come true or at least be possible?
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