Catechumenate Guy

The Church and Ecology — Diana Butler Bass

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Jerry

Historian and writer Diana Butler Bass reflects on a church on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay, and the implications of its future in this time of climate crisis:

As I have ruminated on Tangier Island, I realize that far too many religious leaders are asking the wrong question. The future of Christianity matters little if there are no human beings, whether we extinct ourselves through war or environmental disaster. We can fix our denominations, bring new members to church, write the best theologies ever—and none of it will matter one whit if we are all dead. The question—“What is the future of Christianity?”—must be held in relation to other questions. Right now, the most significant of those questions is: “What is the future of humankind?”

That is the existential question of our time. All other questions pale by comparison and distract us from hearing the voices of God, the earth, and other creatures with the kind of rigor and compassion necessary for the living of these particular days. To me, the question about the future of Christianity has become: “What must Christians do to serve all creation when the island itself is in danger of sinking?” [1]

Theologian Sallie McFague (1933–2019) was inspired by Isaiah’s prophetic vision of new heavens and earth—and what it requires of us:

The world we want, that we ache for, is a world where children get to grow up and live to old age, where people have food and houses and enjoyable work, where animals and plants and human beings live together on the earth in harmony, where none “shall hurt or destroy” [Isaiah 65:25]. This is our dream, our deepest desire, the image we cannot let go of. This vision of the good life makes us unwilling to settle for the unjust, unsustainable, and indeed cruel and horrendous world we have. . . .

Isaiah’s hymn to a new creation and Jesus’ parables of the reign of God touch this deepest desire in each of us for a different, better world. It would be a world in which human dignity and the integrity of creation are central, a world in which the intrinsic value of all human beings and of the creation itself is recognized and appreciated. . . . Do we have any hope for a different, better world? Given the situation we face at the beginning of the twenty-first century of war, violence, AIDS, capitalist greed, and now the specter of global warming, it seems absurd to even bother with such a question. And yet we read in the Isaiah passage [65:17–25] that in the midst of painting this wonderful picture of life beyond our wildest dreams, God says, “Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.” “While they are yet speaking”—we have only to ask for God to answer! But we must ask with our whole being; a better world must become our deepest desire. And this means, of course, we must work at it; we must give our whole selves to it. [2]
Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation; 12/1/22

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“What is it we cannot see” Richard Rohr daily meditation for June 2, 2022

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Jerry

This Unveiling

This is
the pressing question
of every age:

What is it that we cannot see?

For life is hiddenness,
as is God,
and we have been given
the gift of searching.

The unseen works on us, always.
            Waves pulsing through our flesh, unfelt.
            Forces pulling at our bodies. Forces
            putting black bodies in cells en masse.

Each one underneath a veil of opacity that we call law.

All that is hidden
is meant to be
revealed,

yet revelation cannot be achieved.
It comes when it comes,
when it wants to unearth itself—
fall from the heavens like light
to those who have insisted it lay itself bare.

This unveiling,
daring us
to live differently.

Drew E. Jackson, “This Unveiling,” Oneing 10, no. 1, Unveiled (Spring 2022): 89–90.

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God is Love (I John 4:8 & I John 4:16)

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Jerry

The profundity of this declaration and others like it in the Gospel according to John have been growing on me since my retreat in August. There the retreat master urged us to see God’s love as enfolding us and God so wanting to shower us in Love that all we need to do is accept it “and ask for more.” That is all we are asked to do.

God is love. God loves. Love needs nothing from us except to recognize that Love is God and that all we do in the “name” of love is done through the Divine. This is why when people are truly in love, they feel wonderful. It is what is “behind” the insights of I-Thou. It is what the striving to be open to the Divine is all about. For, as Richard Rohr points out, listening to another with full attention and openness is hearing and seeing the Divine within that person.

Richard Rohr puts it: “In Jesus, God gave us a human heart we could love.” (Dec 12). Jesus keeps “Love” from being abstract because he was one of us in history. Hence the quest for the historical Jesus. What did his Apostles and other people see in him? Was it a hint of the Divine or more than a hint?

“Love—God incarnate—always begins with particulars: this woman, this dog, this beetle, this Moses, this Virgin Mary, this Jesus of Nazareth. It is the individual and the concrete that opens the heart space to an I-Thou encounter. Without it, there is no true devotion or faith but only argumentative theories.” This makes sense of the Christ Jesus. It is the meaning of humans needing the incarnation, the sacramental in order to an avenue to the Divine, to the Holy.

From Howard Thurman: “I want to be more loving in my heart! It is often easy to have the idea in mind, the plan to be more loving. To see it with my mind and give assent to the thought of being loving—this is crystal clear.” _{Howard Thurman, Meditations on the Heart (Beacon Press: 1953, 1981), 168–169.}

Ann Henry, a composer in Portland who wrote a Mass called “Everyman,” had a piece in the song that was very simple but is very profound and that I pray:

“Thank you, our Father, for your love. Thank you, our Father, for you Love; help me to be worthy of your love. Awaken me to love; help me to Love. Thank you, Our Father, for your love”

I have adapted this song-prayer to:

Thank you, our Lover, for your love. Thank you, our Lover, for you Love; help me to be worthy of your love. Awaken me to love; help me to Love. Thank you, Our Lover, for your love”

Thank you, our Beloved, for your love. Thank you, our Beloved, for you Love; help me to be worthy of your love. Awaken me to love; help me to Love. Thank you, Our Beloved, for your love”

Thank you, our Love, for your love. Thank you, our Love, for you Love; help me to be worthy of your love. Awaken me to love; help me to Love. Thank you, Our Love, for your love”

This is a simple but deep prayer that’s easy to remember and say throughout the day. It follows the triune relational formula of Lover-Beloved-Love.

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PostDoom spirituality www.Postdoom.com.

Posted on December 10, 2021 by Jerry

Richard Rohr references the work of Michael Dowd and Ivey Cone on moving beyond the doom I feel when I reflect on where we are with our planet today. : “A foreboding sense of climate chaos, societal breakdown, and economic and ecological “doom” is now widespread.” How do we deal with this spiritually?

This is what Dowd calls living in a postd00m spirituality. We need to become and be aware that:

“Our inescapable predicament encompasses all aspects of life.• There are aspects of abrupt climate change and global pandemics beyond our control.• Climate chaos is a symptom of ecological overshoot of Earth’s carrying capacity.• Human-centered measures of progress and wellbeing are ecocidal and self-terminating.• Human-centered technology and the market are false gods, creating hell on Earth.• The extinction of rapacious industrial humanity (Homo colossus) is inevitable and necessary.• The extinction of Homo sapiens this century or next cannot be ruled out.”

He has a wealth of “conversations” with “75 different guests [including Richard Rohr] in which they share their personal journeys along this trajectory of post-doom spirituality and especially the gifts they have found on the other side of the post doom doorway. They explore questions of language for taking about this, their stories , how our fundamental human nature is involved, what is “the big picture,” impermanence & death in the midst of this, what gifts they bring to the conversation and world view, what are our remaining opportunities, and finally, what is their understandings & interpretations of the coronavirus pandemic [this discussion point was added in March, 2020, just at the start of the pandemic].

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10th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 13; Year B

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Jerry

It is interesting how this Sunday’s readings come together: 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a with Psalm 51: 1-13; Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 with Psalm 78:23-29; Ephesians 4:1-16 and John 6:24-35

The story of God judging David (through Nathan) for his murder of Uriah is part two of the story of David’s adultery. David faces the moral judgment and life changing consequences of his sin. This is a story of our natural desires overcoming our call to do God’s will. The penitential psalm that accompanies it is one that expresses my confession so well when I find myself turning from what I know is true and right and to the way that gives immediate pleasure and satisfaction. We often forsake the good that seems so distance for the pleasurable that is immediately before us. And we rationalize why we do it.

The Exodus story is one of a lack of trust in God’s goodness. Complaining is immediate; trust is less evident but more fulfilling. “Trust in the slow work of God” says deChardin. It may be slow but it is time-less, eternal. So God gives the Israelites what they want: quail and the famous “manna from heaven.” What are the consequences? This passage does not tell us. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will test them, whether they will follow my instructions or not.” Of course, in the long run, they do not. The consequences, according to those who give us the long, sad story of the history of Israel and Judah, comes in the form of exile and subjugation. David took what he craved. God gave the Israelites what they craved. There is no thanksgiving iPsalm 78. Instead, it is re-telling of the story implying that there are consequences.

“I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,” Paul pleads to the Church in Ephesus. Live a life of humility and gentleness; be patient; bear with one another in love; make every effort to maintain unity. These are the way of virtue and the path to life in Christ. It leads to the ability to speak the truth in love as Paul also counsels.
This is what promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. Such growth takes time. It is easy to turn to adultery and to sating our appetites rather than exercising restraint and, with a consciousness of God’s grace, focus on building up the Body of Christ.

The connection of the Gospel story (John 6: 24-35) with the Exodus story, namely manna and the bread of heaven, is clear. (The Lectionary editors didn’t want us to have to work too hard.). This is a great Sunday to talk about the significance of Eucharist within the Body of Christ, of the sacrament of manna (yes there are Hebrew sacraments) and our Eucharistic meal and of being one with Christ in the Body’s ability and courage to “speak the truth in love.”

But what do we do if we have been following the Samuel story of the development of the Judaic kingdom? This too can be combined with Ephesians and the Gospel passages. There are consequences when we don’t “do the work,” when we choose to continue as “children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.”

This is truly a Sunday when we can comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. We all need both messages, often at the same time. It is also a great Sunday to preach about the Christian counter-cultural perspective of patience. Christians know that we do not need it all now. Like others in our society, we may want it all now but God’s time is not our time. “Believe in the slow work of God.”

Posted in Church, Lectio Divina, Ponderings, Spirituality, Theology | 1 Comment

The beheading of John the Baptist–Mark 6: 14-29

Posted on July 8, 2021 by Jerry

The Gospel passage for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost in Year B is Mark’s rather gory story of John’s beheading at the request of Herod’s wife via Herodias, his daughter. (The identities of Herod, Herodias [the mother] and Herodias [the daughter] are titles. For “Herod” we can read “the king” and for the two “Herodias,” “the queen” and “the princess.”) The mother despised John because John told Herod that “it is not lawful to have your brother’s wife.” And Herod listened to John. What might have happened if he had not executed John? What did happen in his heart when he thought John, whom he had executed, had been raised?

After John was executed, his disciples “came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.” This is language used in the passion and death of Jesus. It is a foreshadowing of things to come. As with John, Herod was complicit in Jesus’ execution. He let it happen rather than directly ordering it. Is that what hardened Herod’s heart? He did recognize John as righteous and seemed to se him as a rabbi. Yet he had John beheaded and still proclaimed that John had been raised. Was Herod’s “heart hardened” thus later leading him to dismiss Jesus so easily?

Mark opens the passage telling us that Jesus was being called Elijah, who had returned to save his people. Others thought Jesus was John the Baptist, who had been raised. Others said Jesus was a prophet “like one of the prophets of old.” So, there was much confusion among those who had heard of Jesus as to his identity

So Mark is asking the question, “who is this man?” He is asking it of all who hear his Gospel. He raises the question in the context of telling us the details of John the Baptist’s execution, The part of the story about John the Baptist is also a flashback. For what purpose? It is the story of executions of prophetic rabbis within Judaism of that day. And it is the prophetic story of the cost of Judeo-Christian discipleship.

There is bargaining in this story, just as there is bargaining around Jesus’ execution. Here, it is the princess bargaining with the king. In the story of Jesus death, it is Herod bargaining with Pilate. Who would order and take responsibility for Jesus’ execution? In both cases, Herod is reluctant to be part of the execution. In the case of John, he orders it and directly sees the consequences. In the case of Jesus, he lets Pilate order it and, probably, hears about the consequences.

So what is Mark saying to us? What do we get out of the story? One way of approaching it is by assuming one role or another while reflecting on the story. Am I the passive John the Baptist? Am I the troubled Herod whom, Mark implies, has a troubled conscience over what he has ordered? (Does that troubled conscience extend to his part in Jesus’ death?) There is Herod’s wife and his daughter. And there are John’s disciples. (Do some of those become Jesus’ disciples?). There are the guests, who are there to celebrate Herod’s birthday?

Whom do I initially identify with? (Here is the personal question.) I am one of the guests. I stand by in the midst of the celebration, too frightened to say anything even as I have been one of those with questions about the wild prophet. John, as prophet, risks his life to remind Herod of the seriousness of the Law. I am a Jewish friend (because Herod was Jewish). But I am a friend with insufficient commitment to my religion and to the Law to courageously join John. I do not stand and join John in proclaiming Truth to Power. I do not stand in support of John in his prophetic role. In this weakness I too ignore the Law, the Way to which I am called. Mark is telling us of the tragic consequences that can result from this way of living. Perhaps, in this flashback, he is telling us that we need to stand with the prophet.

However, this story of John the Baptist’s beheading is so graphic and captivating that we forget the preamble: the mystery of who Jesus, the healer, is. Is he John the baptizer, or Elijah, or a new prophet in the line of the great prophets of Israel? Just as the story of the beheading of John is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own passion and death so too is this preamble a foreshadowing of Mark 8: 27- 29. Here the question is left open as we move into the drama of John’s beheading.. In Mark 8 we get the disciples’ report of what the people are saying. In Mark 8, Peter answers the followup question: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter gives the answer that Jesus’ disciples give if they are truly his disciples. He is the Messiah. In this preamble Jesus cannot and does not order his disciples not to tell anyone of this revelation. Neither Jesus nor the disciples are directly part of the story. In Mark 8, they are and so we are left with another instance of the messianic secret.

Because of the drama of the story, it is easy to focus on John’s beheading in today’s reading. (That is where my thoughts focused.) Perhaps the preamble is more important. It does not involve Jesus’ disciples and their realization of Jesus as the Messiah. But we do have two foreshadowings in this passage: that of Peter’s confession of Jesus as messiah and that of Jesus’ passion and death. The entire story of Mark 6: 14-29 is about John the Baptist, who is not the Messiah. Mark 8: 27 – 30 and the story of Jesus’ passion and death are about Jesus. In the first the people mistakenly identify Jesus as John. In the latter, Peter correctly identifies Jesus as the Messiah. In the first, the people do not get it but nonetheless a prophet is beheaded. In the second, the people still do not get it but Jesus is executed because he, like John, is dangerous to the established order.

Both are dramatic illustrations of Mark’s previous commentary that prophets are not appreciated in their own land.

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The madness of religious prophets -Mark 3: 20-21

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Jerry

The crowd came together again, so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”Jesus’ family tried to restrain him because people were saying that he had gone out of his mind, that he was crazy.

Meandering thoughts on the Gospel for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, Year B:

The people came together again, (crowding Jesus & his disciples??). His family goes out (to the crowded place — where were they before this? Did this happen in Nazareth?). “People were saying…” Were these the same people as those who “came together again”? There is an impression that some thought Jesus crazy. (“he has gone out of his mind”); some may have thought him to be one who spoke the Truth; perhaps some just curious. His family goes out to RESTRAIN him. Do they think he has gone out of his mind? Were they trying to protect him? Did he embarass them by his words and actions? Did they want to hide him away “far from the madding crowd”? These are meandering questions for which that aren’t necessarily attempted answers in the following.

Many prophets are dismissed by calling them crazy. Their message doesn’t make sense to those who live day by day in their subconscious world. (See Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, Chpt 19, pp 140 ff. It may start to make sense to those who live with a conscious mind.). It is easier to dismiss the prophet as crazy, as spouting nonsense. The message sounds absurd to us who say they have to live in the “real world” of worries about money, health, family, job, survival. Jesus’ message about why worry; see the birds in the air and the lilies of the field seems crazy. If God takes care of them, won’t God take care of you as well? Simplistic and crazy.

But that message seems absurd. The Gospel passage indicates that it sounded absurd in Jesus’ time. It has sounded absurd to most down through the centuries and it sounds absurd to many today. The Dessert Fathers were seen as crazy. St. Francis was judged crazy. People didn’t understand Mother Teresa. (And many took delight when they found out that she confessed a lack of faith at times during her life.). Again, this is not just the way of Jesus and the Christian prophets. It is a common response, the response of the subconscious mind, to any who proclaim an absurd simple life of faith. The conscious recognize an “element of truth” in the proclamation to love because that is what we are called to do, to forgive with no expectation of reciprocation, to give without wanting something in return.

And then there are those who find such proclamations dangerous. These are the “powerful” in the worldly sense of power. Prophets speak “truth to power.” They are killed because of that. Jesus, the many martyrs for the Holy (both Christian and non-Christian), Martin Luther King Jr. — these are the ones who come to mind. But it is “safer” to first try other options. Proclaim the prophet to be crazy or mad. Tell the people that s/he endangers their way of life. The prophet does endanger that way because our everyday way of life is not the way to holiness.

A priest recently told me that Christians should not assume an attitude of “victimhood.” What does that mean? This was in response to my assertion that Christians live with a different set of values than many in our secular society. Western Christians need to become more aware that following Jesus means following him to the cross as much as if not more than following him through the every day path of teaching and preaching. The Jesus Movement is not easy. “Life in Christ is life in the mystery of the Cross.” (Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 166)

What does “victimhood” look like? Many point to the thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. They “willingly” went to the ovens with a belief that “this is God’s will.” Is that “victimhood” or is it an awareness of the explanation of why the Jewish people were exiled and became a “subservient” race? (There was a Jewish resistance movement that we hear little about. Who was acting according to “God’s will — those who “passively” went to the gas chambers and ovens or those who fought against the Nazi evil, or both, or neither?)

Recently, someone burned a Gay Pride flag that was flown at Trinity Cathedral during June, Gay Pride month. The Trinity response is to buy and hang another flag. As some have pointed out, burning the flag called more attention to June as Pride month and to Trinity as a welcoming community of faith. Some will see Trinity’s response (especially if burning and buying were become a pattern) as a foolish, (crazy?) way to go. Other’s see it standing against evil. But it certainly is not “victimhood.” But is it prophetic?

A huge question remains. How do we know the message is “true.” Was it true in Jesus’ day because it conformed with that of the prophets before him? Is it true yesterday and today because it agrees with the kerygma, with Jesus’ message. Is it true because Buddha preached detachment and so we still try to be detached from all that is material and that ties us to our selves? That seems to be the criteria. Communally we recognize truth that is proclaimed by those who strive to hear God and then feel called to be the voice of God. They are called to be that voice in word and deed and they cannot resist the call. Read about Jeremiah, Jonah. Listen to those who are called to ministry and resist with all of their will but cannot not follow.

“When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him.”

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Lent & the Catechumenate

Posted on May 19, 2021 by Jerry

It may seem strange to be focussing on Lent during Eastertide but insights come when they will.

My brother-in-law and I oftentimes discuss “matters religious” when we get together. He is a conservative Catholic for whom doctrine and dogma are important. I am progressive and, hence, a former Roman Catholic and now an Episcopalian (Catholic). For me, as for many in the Anglican Communion, being able to pray together is more important than a common adherence to specific doctrines and dogmas.

Recently, part of our discussion has dealt with the possibility of persecution of Western Christians. (For Andy this means the persecution of Roman Catholics. My perspective is that there are Western Christians who do not identify themselves as Roman Catholic but who are members of the Body of Christ.) We agree that there is a strong possibility for persecution as the Body of the Faithful (“Church” may be too broad a term here) moves forward in our increasingly secularistic society. Roman Catholics have had this “fear” for many years. Jim Dunning used to refer to it when he talked about the catechumenate as a way to form disciples who can witness Truth to Power. On the other hand, on the Protestant side, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrestled with the same “fear” and realization. We find his thinking on the matter in The Cost of Discipleship and in his wrestling with whether joining an effort to assassinate Hitler was a “right” thing for a Christian to do.

I raised the issue during a discussion of John 17: 6-19, the Gospel passage for May 17, the Seventh Sunday of Easter. This text is complex. Jesus is overheard praying for his disciples. Jesus prays to his Holy Father that Jesus has made God’s name known to the disciples. They have kept God’s word. Jesus asks his Heavenly Father to protect them “in our name.” “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world…As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

John’s Gospel was written early in the Second Century. Both Jews and Romans were persecuting Christians. They could find comfort and strength in this passage. God sent Jesus into the world to proclaim God’s Word, and he was crucified. God is sending Jesus’ disciples into the world to proclaim God’s Word. They too can expect persecution and possibly death. But they are to believe that they are sanctified in Truth. So they minister in hope as followers of Jesus.

I see this text as a reminder to Christians, even during Eastertide, that the Cross is part of our lives. This text shows the importance of intense reflection on the meaning of the Cross for us during Lent. It means we must accept that cross before we can move into the new life of a follower of Jesus. Christians celebrate Easter in the knowledge that they can carry the Cross and proclaim that Life overcomes Death, Alleluia, alleluia!

Another person in the group cautioned that we should not become alarmists and implied that Christians could become unduly paranoid if such an interpretation is advanced. I disagree. We need to have the Cross in front of us at all times as the possibility that we may be called to witness in a way that will lead to our persecution and possibly our deaths.

“Come on, Jerry. Where do you see this in our society?” Advocating for the sanctity of life is one example. Christians advocate for life. This means that we oppose abortion (but minister to the woman who is considering or has had an abortion). It also means that we advocate against our current prison system as well as against capital punishment. Christians face harsh responses when we stand up for honoring life, period. (And we often, very often, fail this command, “Thou shalt not kill.” Indeed, most of us certainly fail in our attempts to follow Jesus’ “radical” interpretation of this commandment –Do not be angry or insult or denigrate others. Opposition to abortion, capitol punishment and acts of hatred, insult and denigration is part of the Way of Jesus. Following these commands will lead to persecution.

James Finley, a commentator on Merton’s works, notes that people are good at saying “I follow Jesus” as long as that means following Jesus in his life up to but not including his passion and death. Following Jesus into and through that last part of his life is, of course, very difficult.

All of this has led me to reflect on the “Intense Preparation” (i.e. usually Lent) stage of the catechumenate. Like many catechumenate ministers, I have “tread lightly” when guiding candidates into and through Lent. We don’t want to consider the suffering to which we might be called. We don’t really want to reflect on Jesus’ Passion and Death. We don’t want to reflect on the meaning of the Cross in Christianity. We don’t want to scare away the potential candidates of baptism. But we do a disservice to our catechumens when we discount that their commitment to Jesus’ call includes a call to service and possible suffering and persecution because of that service. Perhaps we need to consider that this is part of what they hear in their call.

When the catechumenate is done correctly, the Catechumenate stage can, and often will, take more than the 6 – 8 weeks that we usually give it. It often takes a good long time to realize that following Jesus means following him into the Garden. Candidates will know when they are ready for the next “scary” step of following Jesus into the Temple and out onto the Way of the Cross. That next scary step is what Lent is all about, or should be about. Christians have diminished the importance of Lent by making it a matter of “giving up something” or resolving to do “something to help me grow” (analogous to a New Year’s resolution). The intensity of Lent includes the Presentations of Creed & Prayer, profound, guided reflection of the conversion stories and the “Prayers for Healing and Deliverance” (also known as Scrutinies and Exorcisms in the RCIA). It can also include praying and reflecting on “The Way of the Cross.” All of this is to help the candidates in their final, intense reflection of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Only when we and they take the profound suffering to which we may be called into our hearts and lives, can we celebrate Resurrection.

We are asking a lot of those who seek baptism. We are asking a lot of ourselves.

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Friendship

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Jerry

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. (John 15: 13-14)

In his daily meditations this last week Richard Rohr focussed on friendship. On Wednesday he wrote about the implications of having a friendship with Jesus. Thursday he wrote about “Making new friends.” On Friday, he addressed God as Friendship (note that this is different than having a friendship with Jesus.

Making friends and having friends is difficult for me. Making friends demands that I step out of my protecting shell. Embracing protection can be comfortable but it can also be limiting. Those limitations include lack of growth. They certainly don’t include listening and discernment. To listen, listen actively and deeply, requires moving out from the shell to the unprotected where I can find the love of another or possibly rejection from the Other. Both are possible. We live in a time of suspicion but we also live in a time of isolation. People search for someone with whom to share. But for many, as for me, it is difficult to share. That takes being vulnerable but the reward is great.

What is the reward. I don’t think it is “a friendship with Jesus.” Seeing, feeling or knowing Jesus as friend can be a basis for friendship in the here and now. Hearing the stories about Jesus reaching out first, to those he knew in his village and calling them to be his friends and to travel with him can inspire, especially if I reflect on the stories and the dynamic, risk taking they relate. Then the Gospel stories tell of Jesus reaching out to others: those who are cast out from their villages and communities, those who suffer from illness or who behave in an “unacceptable way.” He reaches out to the people who others see as possessed by demons. He reaches out to tax collectors. He reaches out to Mary Magdalene and to the Samaritan woman at the well. And others, including his friends (his disciples), are amazed, scandalized, and, in some cases, taught from seeing his courage. We too can learn from these stories if we spend enough time with them.

Rohr’s reflections continue on Thursday in recognizing the difficulties we may have with reaching out to others who may become new friends. He quotes Brian McLaren: “Christian mission begins with friendship, not utilitarian friendship, the religious version of network marketing…” What does McClaren mean here? He goes on to define Cristian friendship as …”friendship that translates love for neighbors in general into knowing, appreciating, liking and enjoying this or that neighbor in particular….” Perhaps it is what I have done in the past. At Trinity I would make an effort to reach out to some of the unhoused who came to Trinity to find some sustenance — through food, rest, a place to go that has indoor plumbing, privacy, water and soap, protection and, possibly some friendship. I reached out to most as a way to show others that I was not afraid to reach out. But, often, I was not genuine. I did it for show. It was utilitarian. I was using them to show others. But then there is “Big Robert.” Trinity was a home for Big Robert. He came every day and would sit on a bench in the covered patio area. Eventually I learned his name, then a bit of his story, then who his family was and to whom we could reach out if he had health issues. I saw Robert “in action” as he gradually came out of his shell. We became friends. For me that was not for show (although at times I did use my friendship with Bob to show others that I could be a friend to the unhoused).

Where did the drive to be a friend to Big Robert come from? Reading and reflecting on the stories about Jesus helped. Perhaps it was also the parables that Jesus told to us, parables that can be heard as describing God as friendship, that reached my heart and soul. God as friendship is a way of describing God as the One who gives and the One who receives and the One who is the joy-filled delight in that relationship. I was not aware of the “inspiration of Jesus” in either way but perhaps that is part of what being a Christian is about, even when I don’t realize it. Perhaps it is part of what becoming a Christian is.

Posted in Church, Personal, Ponderings | 1 Comment

Greeks seeking Jesus: John 12: 20-33

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Jerry

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

This part of this passage may seem trivial in the context of that which follows. It is the prologue to Jesus telling us that the Son of Man will be glorified and that, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain. In other words (or it it in other words?) Jesus — and his followers — must die in order to bring new life to the earth.

Then Jesus goes on to talk about how he will die and why he must die. When he [dies] and is lifted up from the earth, he will draw all people to himself. There is much implied in this passage. But when we look at it, there really is very little that directly says that Jesus will die in order save humankind or to save the world. We read that into it.

This last week Matthew talked about how the Gospel texts from the 4th Sunday of Lent on through to Good Friday point us to the significance of the cross. It was fairly easy to see this last week: Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Jesus suffers death on the cross in order that we may have eternal life. Matthew went on to talk about two different theologies of atonement: substitutionary satisfaction atonement in which Jesus substitutes himself for us in order to save us from our sin (Anselm’s theology), and the moral influence of atonement in which Jesus died as the demonstration of Gods love that can change the hearts and minds of sinners and be our cause for repentance, our turning back to God (Abelard’s theology). The way Matthew laid it out was clear enough so that we did not need to be learned doctrinal theologians to understand the difference. And, he concluded, most Episcopalians lean toward the moral influence theory. But that was not the point of his sermon..The point of his sermon was that, in John 3:14, we have a reference to Jesus dining on the cross in order to atone for our sins.

A friend told me this last week that she now had the insight that we don’t get to Resurrection without going through the cross, without Crucifixion. I have heard this many times but it meant much more to me this time in terms of atonement. I cannot celebrate my resurrection, my new life (or that of others) unless I first die to my sins (and they to theirs). This gives me much more motivation to practice “Lenten disciplines. It gives me a greater realization of what “Lenten disciplines” are about. They are about dying to the selfish, sinful parts of me so as to be cleansed, to be purified, to be raised into new life with Jesus the Christ.

Now, if this all seems very foreign and pietistic, it is because it is. I don’t want to think in these terms even though I find myself increasingly doing so these days. In order to grow into the Divine, I need to stop trying to grow into the divine. In order to be able to listen to others and discern where they and I are called to travel, I must stop trying to discern. As my spiritual director and I concluded yesterday, I need to surrender my attempts to grow and to discern. I must just be and recognize that God is doing the “work.” Recognizing that is, in itself, enough. It is God’s grace. But there is more. I am not just along for the ride. I need to remain aware as much as I am able. That is my “work,” my discipline. That is what I must accept in the dialectic of surrendering and accepting.

How does that relate to this Sunday’s gospel passage? Perhaps it is in the prologue. “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Why is there a “chain” of those who pass this request to Jesus? Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus does not say, “Okay, let’s go see them.” He responds to Andrew and Philip! The Greeks seem to be out of the picture. Perhaps, we are the Greeks who stand “outside” of the rest of the story and hear Jesus explaining what his death will mean. The hour has come (or, in our liturgical time, is about to come) for the Son of Man to be glorified. Am I able to see it? A grain of wheat must fall into the earth and die in order to (come to life?) and to bear much fruit. Do I understand that is about Jesus? Or is it about me? I must lose my life, indeed hate my life, in order to keep it for eternal life. Does that mean “for eternity”?

The truth, if it is the truth, seems clear. I am called to surrender myself in order to accept new life; in order to accept a new sense of life that is eternal. I don’t know what that is. I don’t know what that means. All I can do at this time is try to believe it. And that is more than understanding it.

Posted in Catechumenate, Lectio Divina, Spirituality, Theology | Tagged Acceptance, Lent, Surrender, The cross | Comments Off