Epiphany 5 - Tuesday - Forgiveness and Future

Text: John 7:53-8:11 (see below)

Today, the lectionary provides us with the story of the woman caught in adultery and brought before Jesus. It is probably one of the most popular stories in the New Testament based on Jesus’ statement about casting the first stone and his supposed attitudes on sexuality. When we focus simply on the tawdry aspects of the story, we miss deeper truths. So let’s look again at this pericope from the Fourth Gospel.

Most scholars agree that this portion of John’s Gospel is not original but found its way into the manuscript at a later date. That raises all sorts of questions: Why? What is the significance of the story’s placement in the Temple narrative? What is the story’s purpose? Who decided that it should be included in the text? Where was that decision made? And many more.

There are clues that indicate that this story is not authored by the pen of John. First is the mention of “the scribes”. This is the only occurrence of this title in the Fourth Gospel making it unique, even though the term is often used in the Synoptic Gospels. Since the author of this Gospel is so good at patterns, a single reference to a group of leaders or a situation certainly raises doubt as to authenticity. If the writer had been consistent, John might have used the term “the Jews” rather than “the scribes.”

Second, when the woman is brought in front of Jesus there are serious “holes” in the presentation of the legal case that the scribes and Pharisees offer. They propose no witnesses to the actual act of adultery. How could Jesus comment on the Law with no evidence?

Another serious question, which by now you probably have discerned: where is the guy? It takes “two to tango.” In the Law of Moses, it is clear that if a man and a woman were caught in the act of adultery; both parties were liable to a punishment of death by stoning. So it is clear that these “scribes” are not the least bit interested in what Jesus has to say about the Law.  This is entrapment and nothing more. Again, this is a trait more common in the Synoptic Gospels than here in the Fourth Gospel.

Third, Jesus will not play the game. What does he do? (C’mon read the text – find out for yourself!) He begins to write on the ground. I have heard more than my fair share of sermons on what Jesus was writing in the dirt that day. Or better: one preacher in High School said that this proved that Jesus was an educated Galilean because the text mentions that he was writing. What nonsense!

Our Master’s actions indicate that he wants no part of this shame. Jesus is disengaging from the debate. Apparently, in the Mediterranean world of that time, such an action would be seen as a refusal to participate. When the scribes and Pharisees take notice that Jesus wants no part in this silly game, they try even harder to press the question.

I like the next portion of the text: “he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Wait a minute, Jesus: the scribes want a decision about adultery and the Law of Moses, and you basically come back at them with: “You want to have a conversation; let’s talk about something deeper and more meaningful. Let’s talk about SIN.”

Once more, the text and translation are very interesting at this point. The phrase “the one without sin” occurs only here in the New Testament and the notion that sin is linked to action is very unusual in the Fourth Gospel. In John’s eyes, sin is a person’s refusal to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. It has nothing to do with your actions: yet, another point to be made that this pericope is not originally Johannine.

Jesus was calling all of those assembled in that scene to accountability for their past actions and called into question their own relationship to the Law of Moses. How easy it is for all of us to take the Commandments of God and twist them to comply with our own agendas and judgments. How marvelous of Jesus to straighten us out and focus on the fact that every one of us misses the mark from time to time.

Jesus goes back to writing in the dust. He is so emotionally disengaged from the discussion it is liberating! The answer to the question he posed is accomplished by the actions of everyone present. They all depart for they realize that no one is without sin. How marvelous! We are all together in this mess called life and no one is better than the other. Notice that even the elders present, who would have been revered for their integrity and faith, are not without sin.

Jesus looks up from the dust and all he sees is the woman standing there. It is the first time that she is addressed directly in the scene. Jesus speaks in direct opposite to what the scribes and Pharisees had accused her. Instead of dwelling on the past (truly Jesus is not interested in this woman’s past - or yours - or mine), he speaks with encouragement about the future. There is new life ahead of this woman and Jesus encourages her to find it. What an awesome text. More importantly, what an awesome lesson for us all.

Love One Another - Brian

Ministering

Henri J. M. Nouwen

The question is not to prepare [for ministry] but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into your world, you are ready to reach out and help. It may be at four o'clock, six o'clock, or nine o'clock. One time you call it preaching, the next time teaching, then counseling, or later administration. But let them be part of your life in God--that's ministering.

Source: Time Enough to Minister in the journal Leadership (Spring 1982)

John 7:53-8:11

Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

Epiphany 5 - Monday - The Change That Changes Everything

Text: Mark 8:34-38 (see below)

Last week, I began a series of reflections on a portion of text taken from Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions which was read at a mid-week meeting. I stated that the passage not only spoke to folks in recovery but also to the institutional Church. Here is the segment that stimulated my thinking:

“Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer? Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry A.A.’s (D.A.’s) message to the next sufferer? No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn’t care for this prospect – unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself” (page 23).

The first two questions were addressed in last Thursday’s blog which can be found here: http://john13verse34.blogspot.com/2012/02/epiphany-4-thursday-feast-of.html.

The question about our Higher Power, meditation and prayer can be found here: http://john13verse34.blogspot.com/2012/02/epiphany-4-saturday-leadership-in-local.html.

Today, I want to address this last question: Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry A.A.’s (D.A.’s) message to the next sufferer? and how that relates to the Church for I believe that many Christians face the same sort of struggle in offering the message of Christ to the next person who is lost, suffering or in need. If you and I are not willing to share the Good News of Christ with another person, we have neglected an important aspect of our discipleship. We are no better than the average alcoholic, “self-centered in the extreme.” Jesus said: “What was given to you freely, you must give away freely” (Matthew 10:8).

Step 12 of the Twelve Steps states: “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry out this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all of our affairs.” The key to understanding the desire to carry the significance of the 12 Steps or, for that matter, and more importantly, the message of the Gospel of Jesus to another person is the phrase “Having had a spiritual awakening.”

Richard Rohr writes that a spiritual awakening “is the grand plan and program of human deliverance. Yes, God could have created us already awakened, but then we would have been mere robots or clones. If God has revealed anything about who God is, then it is enormously clear that God loves and respects freedom – to the final and full and riskiest degree…… A good spirituality achieves two huge things simultaneously: it keeps God absolutely free, and not bound by any of our formulas, and it keeps us utterly free ourselves and not forced or constrained by any circumstances whatsoever, even human laws, sin, limitations, failure or tragedy. ‘It was for freedom that Christ has set us free!’ as Paul says (Galatians 5:1). Good religion keeps God free for people and people free for God. You cannot improve on that” (Breathing Underwater, page 111).

Rohr finishes his thought by saying: “When these two great freedoms meet, we have a spiritual awakening! And the world opens up beneath our feet and above our heads. We are in a differently shaped universe. It is not that God chooses some people to have a spiritual awakening, and others not. Awakening just happens, as certain as the dawn, when the two great freedoms meet. But keeping God free (from bad teaching, fear and doubt) and getting you free (from selfishness, victimhood, and childhood wounds) is the big rub and the lifelong task. Like two super magnets, when the two freedoms are achieved simultaneously – even for a millisecond – they grab one another – and, as in nuclear fusion, an explosion always results. It is without doubt the change that changes everything. It is both divine lovemaking and human ecstasy (Breathing Underwater, page 112).

Have you ever had such an experience in your life where the world “opens up beneath your feet and above your head”?  Do you desire such an encounter? What would our churches look like and members act like if there was a spiritual awakening to the message of the Gospel – the change that changes everything?!

There are countless stories in the New Testament of such an awakening: Nicodemus (John 3), the woman at the well (John 4), the Centurion (John 4), the man on the pallet (John 5), the blind man in the Temple (John 9), the woman with a hemorrhage (Mark 5), and on and on and on. As sure as the sun rose this morning, awakenings are taking place all around us. Thanks be to God!

Sharing with others such experiences is not an option for the person in recovery or for the Christian. The person in recovery completes the 12 Step journey by sharing the message of redemption with another person. The Christian is called by Jesus to go and share our story of grace with another person inviting them to experience the change that changes everything and enter into discipleship with our Lord. If you and I want to overcome our self-centeredness and selfishness there is only one way – serve others. Spiritual gifts (awakenings) are not to be hoarded and used for our own well being. Our spiritual gifts increase only by using them in the service of others.  

A final thought from Richard Rohr: “The reason that A.A. has been more successful than most churches in actually changing people and helping people is that it treats addiction both spiritually and as an illness rather than a moral failure or an issue of mere willpower. We in the churches tend to treat everything in terms of personal culpability, which only elicits immense push-back and the passive-aggressive response. A.A. says, in its own inspired way, that addicts are souls searching for love in all the wrong places, but still searching for love” (Breathing Underwater, page 115).

Jesus has called His Church to be a place where love is found and embraced in all of its richness, goodness and truth. We are called to be a community of believers who welcome the unlovable, the broken, the lost, and the seeker without judgment or opinion providing an oasis where the person can experience by our words and by our actions the change that changes everything.

Love One Another - Brian

The Risky Life

Anthony Mitchell

We live in a time where Herod is in control.... If you stand up and do as John the Baptist did, say a few simple words--such as That is not right; this is not how it should be done; this is not how we should treat one another; this is not how we should live--you are risking death. Sometimes we forget that the Christian life is a risky life, a life that might cost you your own life.... This is the Gospel. This is where it is preached, in dangerous times.

Source: Quoted in Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer

Mark 8:34-38

Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Epiphany 5 - Sunday - Mozart Sinfonía nº 39 Karl Bohm (Final Movement)

Today is the Sabbath – Go and worship God at your home church or a church of your choosing.

This musical selection is pure joy! Karl Bohm conducts the members of the Vienna Symphnony Orchestra in the final movement of the 39th Symphony of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Love One Another - Brian

Epiphany 4 - Saturday - Leadership in the Local Church

Text: John 15:9-14 (see below)

On Thursday, I wrote a reflection about an experience I had at a recovery meeting and how it stimulated me to reflect about the institutional Church. Today I want to continue my thoughts on the subject. To have readers up to speed, here is an excerpt from that blog posting:

“At a recovery meeting last night, the following portion of text was read from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions:  “Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer? Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry A.A.’s (D.A.’s) message to the next sufferer? No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn’t care for this prospect – unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself” (page 23).

“There was a deafening silence after the reader had finished those words for a profound truth had been shared and everybody knew it. In my own process, I remembered how I resisted being “rigorously honest”; not wanting to “confess faults”; not giving a rip about some other person who might be the “next sufferer.”  Self-centered to an extreme, the addict continues to pretend that all is well until faced with his or her immediate survival.

“Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

“In recovery, there is much talk about moving from vagueness to clarity. This is an aspect of the program that I have been diligently working on. Until one becomes rigorously honest of what is happening in one’s life there can be no chance of transformation or renewal. Until one deals honestly with one’s faults, allowing God to “remove those defaults of character”, and attempting to make restitution for harm done, a person continues to live in a paralyzed state. Until one becomes radically tolerant of others and wants to sacrifice weekly time and energy to bring the good news of salvation to another lost soul, a person continues to live in darkness. But all of that can change in an instant if the person is willing to embrace truth which liberates and transforms.”

What set my mind spinning after the meeting and drove me to reflection deep into the night was how descriptive those words from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions were for the institutional Church. How many persons are in leadership positions in local congregations who care nothing about God, “let alone meditation and prayer”, and have no desire to develop and nurture a spiritual life? I wager that number is more than we Christians care to admit.

Many years ago now I served in a parish where a prominent member of the community wanted to be elected to the vestry. She had one driving ambition: to make sure that she had the definitive say in the deciding of what type of tree would be planted in the circle in front of the church. When that action was completed during her first six months on the vestry, she was lost for the next two and a half years of her term.

We ask the wrong questions when choosing folks to serve in leadership roles in the Church. Desperate to fill positions, church officials seem to be content with filling “round holes with square pegs” instead of seeking persons who are spiritually mature and committed to seeing that other members in the congregation are growing in their walk with Christ. January is election season in the Episcopal Church for leaders to serve on vestries, in all of the newsletters that I received both snail mail and online, none of the following questions were asked of candidates wishing to serve:

·         Describe for the congregation your prayer life?

·         Have you ever been involved in an incident leading to the reconciliation of persons or parties? What was your role in such an experience?

·         How often do you read the Bible during the week? How often do you attend church services during the month? What ministries in the parish are you actively involved in? How have you served the Lord?

 

·         Jesus commanded his followers to “love one another as I have loved you.” Give an example of your following that commandment.

·         Do you feel that you are “God-commissioned” for your service on the vestry or are you driven by personal ambition?

·         Most importantly: What is it about your relationship with Jesus that the world cannot live without knowing?

These question, I believe, begin to get to the heart of the matter of leadership in the Church.

Now, my detractors will contend that I do not know what I am talking about!  “We need leaders, Brian, who are esteemed in business matters, who will make sure that the ‘bottom line’ is adhered to and that our church will be in fiscal order,” they will say. I am not arguing that position. I agree that parishes need folks to serve in leadership positions who have had experience running a business.

But the Church is not IBM, Bank of America, or the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company! The Church is so much more!! The Church invests in souls of men, women and children. The spiritual well being of our members is just as important if not more important than the fiscal “bottom line” of the institution. When dollars and cents and buildings take the priority over the souls of our members, the Church is lost.

I will finish this reflection on Monday pondering the question raised above: “Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry A.A.’s (D.A.’s) message to the next sufferer?” and how that relates to the Church. I hope you will return and reflect with me. Have a good weekend.

Love One Another - Brian

Acceptance

Nancy Compton Williams

When your past comes to live

in the woods ... behind your house,

you must go to the window,

forgive yourself once again,

and welcome the creature

that suns himself on the sill.

Source: Sacred Journey

John 15:9-14

Jesus said: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.  ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 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.

Epiphany 4 - Thursday - Feast of The Presentation

Text: John 8:31-36 (see below)

At a recovery meeting last night, the following portion of text was read from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions:  “Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer? Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry A.A.’s (D.A.’s) message to the next sufferer? No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn’t care for this prospect – unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself” (page 23).

There was a deafening silence after the reader had finished those words for a profound truth had been shared and everybody knew it. In my own recovery process, I remembered how I resisted being “rigorously honest”; not wanting to “confess faults”; not giving a rip about some other person who might be the “next sufferer.”  Self-centered to an extreme, the addict continues to pretend that all is well until faced with his or her immediate survival.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

In recovery, there is much talk about moving from vagueness to clarity. This is an aspect of the program that I have been diligently working on. Until one becomes rigorously honest of what is happening in one’s life there can be no chance of transformation or renewal. Until one deals honestly with one’s faults, allowing God to “remove those defaults of character”, and attempting to make restitution for harm done, a person continues to live in a paralyzed state. Until one becomes radically tolerant of others and wants to sacrifice weekly time and energy to bring the good news of salvation to another lost soul, a person continues to live in darkness. But all of that can change in an instant if the person is willing to embrace truth which liberates and transforms.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

What set my mind spinning last evening and drove me to reflection deep into the night was how descriptive those words from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions were for the institutional Church. How often have you and I experienced in the Church persons refusing to be honest about issues in their own life or in the life of a congregation or in the life of a Diocese? I have experienced and worked with leadership teams and clergy who have refused to deal honestly with matters facing their community of faith falsely believing that if “we just charge ahead” all will be well; or if “we pretend that it never happened” we can survive this current problem; or if “we deflect and focus on something better” we can make the people forget. This false belief is exposed as soon as the next crisis presents itself. As a therapist friend of mine told me many years ago, if the wound of a crisis is not adequately addressed, exposed and tended to, it will fester and prolong the pain leading to continued serious illness and misery.

Again, how often have you and I experienced in the Church persons refusing to admit fault for actions taken and rejecting the need to make restitution for harm inflicted to others? The danger for any community especially for the Church and for every person who calls themselves Christian is to live in illusions. We all do it and it is very dangerous for it shuts ourselves off from others.

Scott Peck in his awesome work The Road Less Travelled wrote: “That which is false is unreal. The more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the world. The less clearly we see the reality of the world – the more our minds are befuddled by falsehood, misperceptions and illusion – the less able we will be to determine correct courses of action and make wise decisions…. Truth or reality is avoided when it is painful. We can revise our maps (ie. our own course of action) only when we have the discipline to overcome that pain. To have such discipline we must be totally dedicated to truth. That is to say that we must always hold truth, as far as we can determine it, to be more important, more vital to one’s self-interest than our comfort…. A life of total dedication to the truth also means a life of willingness to be personally challenged…. But the tendency to avoid challenge is so omnipresent in human beings that it can properly be considered as a characteristic of human nature” (pages 44, 52-53).

Jean Vanier, the author of Community and Growth offers further insight: “There is no growth when we live in falsehood and illusion; when we are frightened to let the truth be uncovered and seen by ourselves and by others. So often we hide our fears, our injustices, our incompetence, our hypocrisy. We can hide behind our religious rules, as did the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We must open ourselves up to the truth and let it be revealed, even if it shows our intrinsic poverty and sinfulness. And then let us cry out to Jesus, the Savior, who will send us his Spirit, and guide us, and forgive us. Only then can the truth make us free”(page 135).

Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

If you have read this far, let me be very candid. I have been on both sides of these concerns. I have aided in the problematic issues in the Church because of my sin, my arrogance and my actions. I have also experienced the Grace of God in my life; humbling myself before God actually has given me a more balanced perspective of my place in the Universe.

My passion is that I still believe in the message of Jesus and what His Church can truly offer to the world. I believe that the Christian Church is one of the few places left on the earth that can speak with authenticity and authority to the challenges and spiritual trials that many persons are engaged in today. But in order to be an authentic witness to the message of the Gospel, congregations, dioceses, and denominations must examine with “rigorous honesty” the sin, vagueness, and darkness that plague too many of our congregations across this land. Our calling as leaders in the Church is to invite the members of our faith communities out of the tombs of self-centeredness into the radical light and love of Jesus that leads to truth, clarity and an abundant life not only for the individual both also for the community as a whole.

I am going to write more on these ideas over the course of the next couple of days. I hope you will come back, reflect and journey with me. Thanks for reading.

Love One Another – Brian

Looking Fear in the Face

Eleanor Roosevelt

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

Source: Voice and Verse, Sojourner’s website

John 8:31-36

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.’