Matthew 18:1-4 Like this child…
[1] At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" [2] He called a child, whom he put among them, [3] and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. [4] Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. [5] Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
What is happening in this script? – The disciples ask Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. What a typically human question for adults to ask, exposing their ignorance regarding what Jesus was trying to teach them about the differences between God’s kingdom and Caesar’s or humankind’s kingdom. Jesus calls a child over, puts the child physically in their midst, and tells his followers, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Who ever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
How is this happening in the world today? - Where do you see followers asking who is the greatest among them? When have people like us wondered who was the greatest in God’s kingdom? When are we acting like those disciples, focusing on our “righteousness” or piousness, instead of simply being who and what we are, directly and honestly, like a child. How does our sense of personal power and pride keep us from changing and becoming like children? How does this keep us out of the kingdom of heaven here and now?
How is this scripture about you? -
Unless you change, and become like children…Let us take this phrase, this warning from Jesus, and ask ourselves some questions.
What is the nature and character of children, and why would we need to have those qualities in order to enter what Jesus called the kingdom of God or heaven?
What changes would be required of you in order to do as Jesus said?
What does humble like this child really mean?
Why is welcoming one such child in his name so important, and how would that look and sound? And a follow up to this question, does one such child refer back to a child, or to one who becomes humble like this child, or both?
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Luke 1:26-38; 34; 38 Greetings, Favored One!
Luke 1:26-38; 34; 38 Greetings, Favored One!
[26] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, [27] to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. [28] And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
34] Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
[38] Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."
What is happening in this scripture? - This profound, beautiful scripture never fails to bring me close to tears. Especially the line, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you!” I took several verses out of context: The greeting from the angel, Mary’s initial response and Mary’s final response. First, the greeting from the messenger: Greetings, favored one! What would it feel like to be addressed by a messenger from God, and called “Favored one?” Then the line, “The Lord is with you.” Mary is told that she will bear a child who will inherit David’s throne, and his kingdom will have no end. Interestingly, humorously, Mary’s response isn’t regarding all the things that Jesus will be, but rather, “How can this be, I am a virgin?” The messenger tells her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the Most High will overshadow her, and therefore the child will be holy. In addition, her relative Elizabeth, who was barren, is pregnant, for nothing will be impossible with God. Then Mary responds with the words that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Samuel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.”
How is this happening in the world today? – One of the unfortunate things that we do when we read the scriptures, I believe, is that we read these stories and think they are only about other people, who lived long ago, and in Mary’s case, someone who became a member of the Holy Family, along with Joseph. We read these stories and say to ourselves, “What a beautiful story! What amazing people they were!”
But ponder these questions:
What would it be like for you to be greeted by a messenger from God, who says to you,
“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you!”
Where in your life do you know God is favoring you?
How do you know the Lord is with you?
What is your response to this greeting? Do you say, how can this be, for I am….
too small, too weak, too sinful, too poor, too busy, too sad, too confused, etc.?
How or when have you felt the holy spirit to come upon you?
How has the Most High overshadowed you? (Note: Don’t you just love this imagery? When something overshadows you it has to come close enough to cast a shadow. So the question could be put: “How does God’s presence cast a shadow over your life?” Also, a shadow can help you see in the bright light better, and can cool and protect you from a hot sun. How is God your umbrella? Your cover?
How does God’s overshadowing make your life set apart, sacred, holy?
How does God overcome you? Do you allow that to happen? How do you participate in that?
When have you said, “Here am I, a servant of the Lord”?
May we, in 2007 answer God’s call to us, his favored ones, with “Here am I, a servant of the Lord.” - RSP
[26] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, [27] to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. [28] And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
34] Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
[38] Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."
What is happening in this scripture? - This profound, beautiful scripture never fails to bring me close to tears. Especially the line, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you!” I took several verses out of context: The greeting from the angel, Mary’s initial response and Mary’s final response. First, the greeting from the messenger: Greetings, favored one! What would it feel like to be addressed by a messenger from God, and called “Favored one?” Then the line, “The Lord is with you.” Mary is told that she will bear a child who will inherit David’s throne, and his kingdom will have no end. Interestingly, humorously, Mary’s response isn’t regarding all the things that Jesus will be, but rather, “How can this be, I am a virgin?” The messenger tells her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the Most High will overshadow her, and therefore the child will be holy. In addition, her relative Elizabeth, who was barren, is pregnant, for nothing will be impossible with God. Then Mary responds with the words that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Samuel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.”
How is this happening in the world today? – One of the unfortunate things that we do when we read the scriptures, I believe, is that we read these stories and think they are only about other people, who lived long ago, and in Mary’s case, someone who became a member of the Holy Family, along with Joseph. We read these stories and say to ourselves, “What a beautiful story! What amazing people they were!”
But ponder these questions:
What would it be like for you to be greeted by a messenger from God, who says to you,
“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you!”
Where in your life do you know God is favoring you?
How do you know the Lord is with you?
What is your response to this greeting? Do you say, how can this be, for I am….
too small, too weak, too sinful, too poor, too busy, too sad, too confused, etc.?
How or when have you felt the holy spirit to come upon you?
How has the Most High overshadowed you? (Note: Don’t you just love this imagery? When something overshadows you it has to come close enough to cast a shadow. So the question could be put: “How does God’s presence cast a shadow over your life?” Also, a shadow can help you see in the bright light better, and can cool and protect you from a hot sun. How is God your umbrella? Your cover?
How does God’s overshadowing make your life set apart, sacred, holy?
How does God overcome you? Do you allow that to happen? How do you participate in that?
When have you said, “Here am I, a servant of the Lord”?
May we, in 2007 answer God’s call to us, his favored ones, with “Here am I, a servant of the Lord.” - RSP
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Revelations 21:1-4 What if God Was One of Us?
Revelations 21: 1-4 What if God Was One of Us?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; [4] he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."
What is happening in this scripture? – The apocalyptic is often written in times of great distress and despair, to give hope to people, hope for justice, hope for restoration, hope for a new day. This passage from Revelations is a good example of this. The writer speaks of the New Jerusalem, prepared for marriage as a wife is adorned for her husband. The visionary continues to speak of a loud vice from a throne, saying, “See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them…the writer continues to say that God will wipe every tear from the eyes of his people; death will be no more, the awful grief and pain being suffered will be no more, for first things have passed away.
During the time of the birth of Jesus, it was not uncommon for those in power to write amazing stories of the divine births of their leaders. Indeed several Caesars claimed divinity for themselves and encouraged legends about their divinity, including their divine birth stories. In contrast, Luke writes of another divine birth, that of a peasant Jew, who would fulfill the prophecies of a Messiah, sent to save his people. But the importance of Luke is that the message is this: It is not Caesar’s world. It is not the rich and powerful who will inherit the earth. It is not the Roman emperor who is the true king of the world. It is, rather, a peasant child, with not even his own bed, who will usher in God’s new kingdom, the New Jerusalem. It is this child who will make his home among mortals, dwell with them, wipe away every tear from their eyes, and overcome death itself.
When we celebrate Christmas, we are enacting the age-old drama of the coming of a new hope. This mystery is in the warp and weave of our Judeo-Christian heritage and part of the American archetypal core of our identity as a people.
How is this happening in the world today? – What a shame and a sham we have allowed our contemporary Christmas to become. We have taken a sacred story of new birth, designed to make the rough places smooth and the crooked places straight, and as we always seem to do, we have perverted it into a time of excess and gluttony in the midst of those who have little. We make glancing contributions to the “less fortunate” in order to temporarily pay off our own guilt, as we crowd the malls and burn up the internet with our shopping and gorging. We have even taken the simple sweet story of the birth of the Christ and polished it up into a cutesy little glossy version of a story that is much too comfortable and “pretty” to ring authentic for most of us living in this dark and challenging world. But I think we do this because we long so much for a tangible sign that a new hope is coming; that we are not a lost cause, and that as the new year approaches, maybe this time we will make it real. What we fail to realize is that it already is real. God has already blessed us, and Christ stands in our midst, here and now, calling us into communion with him. We shop with intensity, we celebrate a little too hard, because we are trying our best to comfort ourselves against a story that we only half believe in. God with us, just as we are. No, can’t be. We are not worthy for one thing, and we might have to change for another. Emmanuel. No, it’s a nice idea but not realistic. This world is too hard to believe that. We’ll be eaten alive and at the very least, laughed at. Our tears wiped from our eyes? The conquering of death itself? How could that be! It’s a nice thing for a few weeks in November and December, but the harsh reality of January, credit card bills and tax time awaits us on the other end of the holiday.
How is this story our story?
But what if…all of those stories really are about us? What if God really knows who we are, loves us, and dwells among us? What if he really wants to save us, from Caesar and from ourselves, just because he loves us? O come, o come, Emmanuel, and ransom us, for we were slaves in Egypt, and we still are. May it be so. Merry Christmas!
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; [4] he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."
What is happening in this scripture? – The apocalyptic is often written in times of great distress and despair, to give hope to people, hope for justice, hope for restoration, hope for a new day. This passage from Revelations is a good example of this. The writer speaks of the New Jerusalem, prepared for marriage as a wife is adorned for her husband. The visionary continues to speak of a loud vice from a throne, saying, “See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them…the writer continues to say that God will wipe every tear from the eyes of his people; death will be no more, the awful grief and pain being suffered will be no more, for first things have passed away.
During the time of the birth of Jesus, it was not uncommon for those in power to write amazing stories of the divine births of their leaders. Indeed several Caesars claimed divinity for themselves and encouraged legends about their divinity, including their divine birth stories. In contrast, Luke writes of another divine birth, that of a peasant Jew, who would fulfill the prophecies of a Messiah, sent to save his people. But the importance of Luke is that the message is this: It is not Caesar’s world. It is not the rich and powerful who will inherit the earth. It is not the Roman emperor who is the true king of the world. It is, rather, a peasant child, with not even his own bed, who will usher in God’s new kingdom, the New Jerusalem. It is this child who will make his home among mortals, dwell with them, wipe away every tear from their eyes, and overcome death itself.
When we celebrate Christmas, we are enacting the age-old drama of the coming of a new hope. This mystery is in the warp and weave of our Judeo-Christian heritage and part of the American archetypal core of our identity as a people.
How is this happening in the world today? – What a shame and a sham we have allowed our contemporary Christmas to become. We have taken a sacred story of new birth, designed to make the rough places smooth and the crooked places straight, and as we always seem to do, we have perverted it into a time of excess and gluttony in the midst of those who have little. We make glancing contributions to the “less fortunate” in order to temporarily pay off our own guilt, as we crowd the malls and burn up the internet with our shopping and gorging. We have even taken the simple sweet story of the birth of the Christ and polished it up into a cutesy little glossy version of a story that is much too comfortable and “pretty” to ring authentic for most of us living in this dark and challenging world. But I think we do this because we long so much for a tangible sign that a new hope is coming; that we are not a lost cause, and that as the new year approaches, maybe this time we will make it real. What we fail to realize is that it already is real. God has already blessed us, and Christ stands in our midst, here and now, calling us into communion with him. We shop with intensity, we celebrate a little too hard, because we are trying our best to comfort ourselves against a story that we only half believe in. God with us, just as we are. No, can’t be. We are not worthy for one thing, and we might have to change for another. Emmanuel. No, it’s a nice idea but not realistic. This world is too hard to believe that. We’ll be eaten alive and at the very least, laughed at. Our tears wiped from our eyes? The conquering of death itself? How could that be! It’s a nice thing for a few weeks in November and December, but the harsh reality of January, credit card bills and tax time awaits us on the other end of the holiday.
How is this story our story?
But what if…all of those stories really are about us? What if God really knows who we are, loves us, and dwells among us? What if he really wants to save us, from Caesar and from ourselves, just because he loves us? O come, o come, Emmanuel, and ransom us, for we were slaves in Egypt, and we still are. May it be so. Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Romans 15: 7-13 Welcome One Another!
Romans 15:7-13 Welcome One Another!
[7] Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. [8] For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, [9] and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name"; [10] and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people"; [11] and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him"; [12] and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope." [13] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
What is happening in this scripture? – This, of course, is part of Paul’s letter to the churches of Rome during their early days. There was much persecution, disagreement, unrest and danger for the small groups meeting in Rome and its surrounding towns. Paul is the great unifier, challenging the Greeks, Jews, Roman citizens who have joined these groups, and others to focus on the grace and hope of Christ, not on their historical or traditional differences. This is Paul at his very best, and the language is powerful and profound. In verse 13 is a beautiful and inspiring benedictory verse: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
How is this happening in the world today? – Are you as distressed as I am about the all too human conflicts within the churches of today? Is there not enough conflict in the world that the very organization designed to bring justice, hope and unity to the world needs to be torn asunder or to polarize into Pharasaic groups who interpret whether we should open our eggs from the top or the bottom, like the people in Gulliver’s Travels?
Let us be reminded by one of our most fervent and courageous saints, to
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Christ’s church is faced now, more than ever with challenges on every side. If we allow our human penchant for nit-picking and bigotry to weaken us further, we refuse to accept the grace and hope and joy and peace that God is offering to us. May we stay centered in the role model Jesus set before us, welcoming all to his communion. As the angel of the Lord said in Bethlehem. Peace on earth! Good will to men on whom his favor rests!
Let it be so, Lord!-RSP
[7] Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. [8] For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, [9] and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name"; [10] and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people"; [11] and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him"; [12] and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope." [13] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
What is happening in this scripture? – This, of course, is part of Paul’s letter to the churches of Rome during their early days. There was much persecution, disagreement, unrest and danger for the small groups meeting in Rome and its surrounding towns. Paul is the great unifier, challenging the Greeks, Jews, Roman citizens who have joined these groups, and others to focus on the grace and hope of Christ, not on their historical or traditional differences. This is Paul at his very best, and the language is powerful and profound. In verse 13 is a beautiful and inspiring benedictory verse: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
How is this happening in the world today? – Are you as distressed as I am about the all too human conflicts within the churches of today? Is there not enough conflict in the world that the very organization designed to bring justice, hope and unity to the world needs to be torn asunder or to polarize into Pharasaic groups who interpret whether we should open our eggs from the top or the bottom, like the people in Gulliver’s Travels?
Let us be reminded by one of our most fervent and courageous saints, to
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Christ’s church is faced now, more than ever with challenges on every side. If we allow our human penchant for nit-picking and bigotry to weaken us further, we refuse to accept the grace and hope and joy and peace that God is offering to us. May we stay centered in the role model Jesus set before us, welcoming all to his communion. As the angel of the Lord said in Bethlehem. Peace on earth! Good will to men on whom his favor rests!
Let it be so, Lord!-RSP
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