March 1, 2015 Second Sunday in Lent

Mark 8:31- 38
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
   33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.
 “The Great Paradox”
When I try to find life I end up loosing it.  When I give up trying to find it or save it and simply lose myself in it, I find it.
This is true of faith  also.

“He who would take all the uncertainty out of life, will lose it.  He who would live with uncertainty in Jesus name and the gospels, will find it.”

It is not the purpose of faith to take all the uncertainty out of life.  To have all the answers; to save life from its human experience of surprise, shock, disillusionment, fear, doubt, perplexity, confusion and all the rest of the uncertainties which come our way.  To do so would be to destroy the human experience of life.

The most honest expression of faith in the NT; may well be, “Lord I believe, help mine unbelief.”

It is in the face of the uncertainties of life that we discover the truth that
“suffering produces endurance,
endurance produces character,
character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint.”  Rom. 5:3


 “Have In Mind The Things Of God”

It is not always possible to know what someone “has in mind’ by what they say, or even by what they do.  It can all be very deceptive.  Even in our faith journey.  Even when we try to be open and honest.  Peter faced this in Jesus words and we do too.

To have in mind the things of God is not something we ever do perfectly.  It is a process by which we are being changed into God’s likeness day by day.  it has to do with our attitude, pride, lust for life; our wanting to make it and make it big.  It has to do with our wanting to bribe God so we will have it easy as we make it.

God has it in mind that we are to be servants, not lords; givers, not takers; helpers not hoarders.  God is not really interested in how successful we are, nor how important, nor how secure, nor even how devout we are.  God doesn’t have these things in mind.  God has in mind how helpful we are, how sensitive we are, how compassionate and loving we are - especially toward the helpless.

To have in mind the things of God is to have in mind the awesome truth that to know God’s love is to share God’s love and to walk as a servant in a world which abuses servants.
The bottom live with God is lowly servant hood - having in mind the things which make for love and letting the love we cherish be felt n the lives we live.

Feb. 22, 2015 First Sunday in Lent

Mark 1:9-15
9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
 “Repent: Let Go Of”

The word repent is a pivotal word between us and the Kingdom of God.  It means to turn around; to change one’s mind, to let go of something so something better can come.
It may be stimulated by something negative or positive, yet it is the first positive step towards the Kingdom of God.

What we believe is in need of repentance as much as what we don’t believe.  For our beliefs can keep us from seeing the Kingdom of God in our midst as much as our disbelief.  Jesus had more difficulty with the religious then with any other group.  What they believed kept them from seeing what he called them to believe.

To repent and believe the good news is to let go of what ever it is that keeps us from living in the Kingdom now.  Even what we hold as sacred, so we can discover what is really sacred - God’s promise to love us always. Nothing can stop God from loving us!

“Temptation - No Easy Thing”

Mark keeps it short and simple; sounding easy.
Matthew & Luke add more details but make it sound like just a quick quote of scripture and the devil is on the run.  But really, was it that easy for Jesus?  Is it that easy for us?

Or is Nikos Kazantzokis closer to the truth when he depicts Jesus temptation ending with this  struggle and cry:

“Jesus fell on his face.  His mouth, nostrils and eyes filled with sand.  His mind was blank.  Forgetting his hunger and thirst, he wept - wept as though his wife and all his children had died, as though his whole life had been ruined.

“’Lord, Lord’, he murmured, biting the sand, ‘Father, have you no mercy?  Your will be done: how many times have I said this to you until now, how many times shall I say it in the future?  All my life I shall quiver, resist and say it: Your will be done!””

The Last Temptation of Christ, p.  252

This is no casual thing which is happening.  It is the beginning of a life of testing and staying true to the will of God for his life.  It was necessary for Jesus to be tempted for only when he could say no to God was he free to say yes.

Temptation is not something to be eliminated from our lives.  For to be so pure we are not temptable, probably means we are also so anemic, so passionless, so flat and cautious that nothing exciting and alive can touch us either.

Sometimes we have to get it wrong - and repent - before we can get it right.
As Alan  Jones says in “Soul Making’:

“I wander far from my Trinitarian and communal home and this wandering can be very important because it is the only way I ever learn anything - by getting it wrong.”

When we do get it right we are with Jesus on the road to discovering the joy of living with God in God’s Kingdom, being servants rather then masters.  All the time being loved beyond our wildest dreams and being asked to do more then we ever dreamed possible.

p.s. And remember , God loves us when we are ‘ naughty’ as well as ‘nice’!
When we get it wrong trying hard to get it right!

Feb. 15, 2015 Transfiguration Sunday

Mark 9:2-9

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
“What Are We For?

The transfiguration was a unique moment which could not be repeated nor fully comprehended.  It also was a moment which could not be shared openly; it was to be kept to themselves.

Nor were they able to stay there.  Life is not lived on the Mt. top.  The Mt, top is important to both go to and experience.  Then we return to the valley to live our lives.

Mountain top experiences can help us keep in touch with who we are and what we are living for.  It is easy to lose our way and live for the wrong reasons.  To go chasing rainbows.  Jesus needed the transfiguration experience to keep him on his redemptive course.

What are we for?  We are for intimacy with ourselves, others and our God.
 Lose sight of this and we will lose out on life!

 “Bold In Our Being”

There are some things too precious and holy to shout from the mountain tops;  to easily and blatantly share with others.  First there has to be a relationship and an experience through which this special moment can be understood.  For Peter, James and John, that relationship is with Jesus and the experienced which would make sense of the mystical experience of the transfiguration is the resurrection.

They are to tell no one, just stay with Jesus and listen to Him.
This is what makes sense when nothing else does - to be loved with a love which will not let us go and to live in a dazzling grace which always is.

We are called to be bold in our witness to the transforming power of God in Jesus Christ.
We cannot always shout it out, but we can and are empowered by that which we cannot tell to do that which is very telling -  which causes people to recognize that we have been with Jesus.

To have had a transforming experience, is to have a spirit within which empowers us to live as those who know we are loved by God.  And that means someone else is going to be better off!

Feb. 8, 2015 5th Sunday of Epiphany

Mark 1:29-39

29 And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them. 32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together about the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him pursued him, 37 and they found him and said to him, "Every one is searching for you." 38 And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out." 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

 “Alone -  To Pray”

Jesus needed to get away from it all. To be alone. To pray.  To keep in touch with himself, his purpose, and his Father who sent him.  This was no game he was playing.  He needed this to stay on target!

This is what prayer is, at its deepest level.  It is being with God, and letting the energy which pours forth from God renew us, as pure love can.

Meditation - and eastern art - is a tool of prayer.
Silence - a lost art is prayer too deep for words.
Perhaps our new motto should be:  “Don’t just do something, sit there!”
Be with God at the deepest level of our being, in solitude and silence.

Henri Nouwen, a Catholic theologian of renown,  suggests that solitude - time alone with God - helps us get in touch with a oneness with all people, which leads to less judgment and more compassion on our part.
“In solitude we realize that nothing human is alien to us, that the roots of all conflict, war, injustice, cruelty, hatred, jealousy, and envy are deeply anchored in our own heart!  In solitude our heart of stone can be turned into a heart of flesh, a rebellious heart into a contrite heart, and a closed heart into a heart that can open itself to all suffering people in a gesture of solidarity.”   The Way Of The Heart, p. 20