tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61538979962571102522024-02-20T05:31:13.271-08:00The Good Heart“A genuinely good heart is a heart that is open and alight with understanding. It listens to the sorrows of the world. Our society is wrong to think that happiness depends on fulfilling one's own wants and desires. That is why our society is so miserable...” (Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Into the Heart of Life, Snow Lion: 2011, Chapter 9 ‘Practicing the good heart’) Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.comBlogger998125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-50042908904730644442015-04-19T15:54:00.000-07:002015-04-19T15:54:01.961-07:00The One Who Comes & Stands Among Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What if...the next time you came here for the Eucharist, when it comes time to pass the Peace, you turn to the bearded man next to you, and as your eyes meet his, you suddenly realize beyond doubt that it’s none other than Jesus? How do you think you’d react: frightened? startled? embarrassed? guilty? Would you feel overwhelmed? full of peace? overcome with joy? One thing is sure: you wouldn’t be indifferent! You’d probably feel many or all of the same emotions exhibited by the Apostles in today’s Gospel passage. Luke records that Jesus’ followers become “<i>startled and frightened</i>” when Jesus himself suddenly appears among them. You’ll remember from last week’s Gospel how Jesus greets them: “<i>Peace be with you!</i>” Whenever Jesus comes and stands among people, his usual way of appearing after the Resurrection, wherever he’s present, he brings peace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once it dawns on Jesus‘ followers that he is, indeed, really present with them, Jesus can explain the real meaning and purpose of his visit. Luke says: “<i>He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...</i>”, and he tells them that the suffering, the forgiveness and, above all, the love, of Jesus is to be <i>preached to all</i>, beginning in Jerusalem. <i>“You</i>”, he says, “<i>are witnesses…</i>”, i.e., people who attest that something is, indeed, true and factual, whether by reasoning or by faith. Jesus presents himself in <i>both</i> ways. His is a <i>complete</i> spelling out, an unfolding, a revelation of who he is: the One, as St. John says, who “<i>was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands...</i>” (1 John 1:1), on whom you and I have set our hearts and whom we now share with others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The other day, a priest friend of mine posted a beautiful story: “<i>The Most Honest, Beautiful, Important Question I Have Ever Heard Anyone Ask</i>”, dated April 1, 2015, and found on the blog by Glennon Doyle Melton, called <i>Momastery — </i><a href="http://momastery.com/blog/page/3/"><i>http://momastery.com/blog/page/3/</i></a>. I urge you to check it out because it expresses very beautifully and far better than I ever could just what it means for the Risen Jesus to come and stand among us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In today’s Collect we asked, “<i>...Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work...</i>” On those occasions when you and I turn to one another to share the liturgical peace of Christ, make it a genuine sign that you and I really do set our hearts completely on this One who comes and stands present among us as we share his Body and Blood, and then as we go back to our lives and try to serve others.</span></div>
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<br />Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-43404578607187088492015-04-12T20:23:00.002-07:002015-04-12T20:23:34.880-07:00An Antidote to Hopelessness & Fear<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the Day of Resurrection last week: Easter Sunday, the greatest feast of the Church’s year, we celebrated Christ’s decisive victory over evil and death. Easter also gives hints of resurrection in a number of other ways. With the arrival of Spring, surely varying in degree from year to year, we witness a transformation in nature, a resurrection, from cold and wind and storm to budding trees and blooming flowers. Fr. Pius Parsch says “<i>Springtime is nature executing her Easter liturgy.</i>” (<i>The Church’s Year of Grace</i>, Vol. III, p. 13) Nature becomes a sort of holy symbol, a picture book of God’s beauty and love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another kind of resurrection takes place within the Body of the Church. During the Easter services, you and I renewed the vows to which we committed ourselves when we were baptized. As the Church, you and I are part of a new and holy renewal, opening our minds and hearts to the energizing forces of the Risen Christ. Today’s Scripture readings give us specific examples of such renewal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John’s account of the resurrection and its aftermath in his Gospel reports four instances of people’s reactions to it: first, <b><i>John the Beloved</i></b>, who looked into the empty tomb and “<i>saw and believed</i>”; second, <b><i>Mary of Magdala</i></b>, who, to her great distress, finds the tomb empty, but when called by name, <i>sees and knows</i> that the supposed gardener is really Jesus; third, <b><i>the disciples</i></b>, whose cowering fear is turned into joy as Jesus comes and stands among them; and finally, <b><i>Thomas</i></b>, the focus of today’s Gospel passage, wherein Jesus “<i>comes and stands” </i>once again<i> </i>(John 20:19-31). For the Gospel writers Jesus’ coming and standing describes the way in which the disciples experience the resurrected Lord.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">St. John writes from the perspective of the increasing split between the Jewish tradition and the newly emerging Jesus movement toward the end of the 1st century, which had been brewing even from before Jesus’ death. Joseph of Arimathea had kept his discipleship secret “<i>for fear of the Jewish leaders</i>”. Many others were reluctant to openly support Jesus’ ministry for the same reason. The parents of the blind man whom Jesus cured at the Pool of Siloam fear to tell the truth “<i>because they feared the Jewish officials</i>”. John’s Gospel and three Epistles were “works in progress”, between 40-110 AD, and went through a number of “rewrites”. Not long after the Gospel’s final edition appeared in the early 2nd century, a writer of John’s tradition penned the 1st Letter of John, a passage of which is today’s </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Epistle (1 John 1:1-2:2). In Chapter 2:18-19 of that Epistle the writer speaks of dissenters, “<i>antichrists</i>” as he calls them, who have torn the community apart. Within the Christian community they’ve compromised the truth which Jesus handed down. John says: “<i>They went out from us, but they did not belong to us...by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One…I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?</i>” It’s a stark reminder that when Christians or groups of them lose hope and become fearful, Christian confession begins to weaken. Confusion, doubt and misunderstanding creep in and soon faith is shaken, sometimes even lost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Church has always had to face this, even from the time of Jesus. So we shouldn’t be surprised at the atmosphere of hopelessness and fear displayed in today’s Gospel: “<i>the doors of the house…were locked for fear of the Jews.</i>” It’s into this situation that Jesus suddenly “<i>came and stood among</i>” the disciples on the evening of the day of Resurrection. “<i>Shalom</i> = <i>Peace</i> <i>be to you!</i>”, he says. They see that it’s really him because he shows them his hands and his side. Though there’s also some </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hard-to-name difference, they’re nevertheless reassured that it’s Jesus and they rejoice, their sagging spirits replaced with smiles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jesus repeats his wish of peace, and tells the disciples that even as the Father has already sent him to proclaim the Good News, so Jesus continues the Father’s work by now sending them to do the same. An <i>Apostle </i>is “<i>one who is sent; an emissary</i>”. In an important visible action Jesus <i>“breathed on them</i> <i>and said to them,</i> ‘<i>Receive Holy Spirit’</i>”, the Hebrew of which literally means <i>God’s breath</i>. The Risen Jesus sets God’s creative power into action, releases it, upon the community of his faith-full followers. This isn’t in order to achieve some sort of spiritual pyrotechnics, such as fantastic miracles or babbling in tongues, but to carry forward in their lives and relationships with others Jesus the Word, his message of compassion, forgiveness and servanthood. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Throughout his Gospel and letters, John views sin as <i>unfaithfulness, unbelief</i>. The Risen Lord here empowers his community of disciples, through the Father’s life-giving Spirit, to isolate, repel and negate all that is sin and evil. Easter is Jesus’ resurrection, his glorification as God’s Son, and the giving of the Spirit all rolled into one. It’s what finally enables the community of faith, the Church, to shed its fear and doubt, and to realize that it’s never abandoned or alone. The Risen One comes and stands with them, always.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Someone has noted that “<i>A person who has never doubted is a person who has never thought.</i>” Thomas wasn’t with the other disciples the night Jesus came to them. Thomas appears twice previously in John’s Gospel: once in Chapter 11 where he’s referred to as “<i>the twin</i>”, and again in Chapter 14 when, at the Last Supper, he says to Jesus: “<i>Lord, we </i><b><i>don’t </i></b><i>know where you’re going. How can we know the way?</i>” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Only in 1945, with the discovery of the Nag Hammadi writings in Egypt, did scholars become aware of a series of references to Thomas the Apostle, which Jesus’ followers would’ve heard about or with which they’d have been familiar. Among these writings is a well-preserved early Christian, non-canonical <i>Gospel of Thomas</i>, a collection of Jesus’ sayings. The opening line reads: “<i>These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas </i>recorded.” D<i>idymos </i>is the Greek for <i>twin</i>. In this writing Thomas is pictured as a mystic seer, in contrast to his depiction in John’s Gospel. The <i>Gospel of Thomas </i>depicts Didymos Judas Thomas as a hero and the other Apostles as seemingly less knowledgeable. In John’s Gospel, it’s a literal-minded Thomas who seems not to understand. Given this as a background, it would be understandable that, within John’s community, his followers might have looked skeptically, perhaps with some scorn, at the claims of Thomas’ followers. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When the other disciples tell Thomas that they’ve seen the Lord, Thomas reacts somewhat negatively and harshly: “</span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unless I see the mark of the nails...and put my finger in the mark of the nails...never will I believe!</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">” Just as some of those dissenters in John’s community, mentioned earlier, Thomas displays the doubts and lack of secure faith which characterizes some 1st century Christians. He needs to see, to prove, to have it all nailed down first.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John recounts that a week later, Thomas is present when Jesus makes a return appearance, again declaring “<i>Peace!</i>” Wasting no time, Jesus invites Thomas to “<i>put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Don’t be faithless, but believing and faithful.</i>” Thomas is dumbfounded. John doesn’t record whether Thomas ever acted on Jesus‘ invitation. Once the Risen Jesus had come and stood in front of him, all Thomas could do was to simply acknowledge the reality by stammering: “<i>Yes, it’s Jesus and he is God!</i>” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jesus’ challenges Thomas, and us, to examine our faith without being too hasty in professing it: “<i>Have you believed because you have seen me?</i>” The late Anglican Franciscan and biblical scholar, Barnabas Lindars, observes: “<i>Being absent when Jesus appeared to the disciples on Easter night, Thomas was virtually in the position of the Christian who has not seen the risen Jesus, and he should not have needed a further appearance in order to come to faith.</i>” “<i>Blessed are those,</i>” says Jesus, <i>who haven’t seen...</i>”<i> </i>and yet have faith that Jesus isn’t absent, that he’s always with us, always coming and standing before us in order that we <i>can </i>have faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John concludes with words which originally, before editing took place, concluded the whole Gospel. He says that he’s written down these signs, only a sampling of many, many signs which Jesus did, “<i>so that you may continue to believe</i>”, i.e., to set your heart on, to stake your life on, the Risen Christ who gives you and the whole Church enlightenment, love and life through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit as he comes and stands among us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Spiritual writer, Frederick Buechner, who I might proudly add is also an Associate of our Order of Julian of Norwich, says: “<i>...if you don’t have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.</i>”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>Don’t be faithless, but believing and faithful.</i>” </span></div>
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Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-87867557959179941892015-04-03T09:53:00.000-07:002015-04-03T09:53:05.729-07:00The Friday Called "Good"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(From Hugo Rahner, "The Mystsery of the Cross", <i>The Mysteries, Eranos Yearbooks 2</i>, Pantheon Books, 1955):</span></div>
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"<i>...In medieval art, Adam's skull was represented at the foot of the cross, because they knew that the cross was erected where Adam was created and was buried. Round it flowed the four rivers of paradise. On his deathbed, the legend went, Adam sent his son Seth to paradise to bring him the fruit of immortality from the tree of life. The angel gave him three seeds from which grew a threefold tree out of the dead Adam's mouth, made of cedar, pine and cypress. This is the tree that the soldiers cut down to make the cross of Christ. Such elaborate stories are part of the rich understanding and veneration of the Cross in early Christianity. Such mythological elaboration is a profound expression of the depth and the abundance of the understanding of this mystery as something so unique and so generous that it breaks through all attempt to classify it...</i>"</div>
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<i>Immortal tree, it extends from heaven to earth.</i></div>
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<i>It is the fixed pivot of the universe, </i></div>
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<i>the fulcrum of things,</i></div>
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<i>the foundation of the world,</i></div>
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<i>the cardinal point of the cosmos,</i></div>
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<i>It binds together all the multiplicity of human nature.</i></div>
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<i>It is held together by invisible nails of the spirit</i></div>
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<i>in order to retain its bond with the Godhead.</i></div>
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<i>It touches the highest summits of heaven</i></div>
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<i>and with its feet holds fast the earth, </i></div>
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<i>and it encompasses the vast middle atmosphere in between</i></div>
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<i>with its immeasurable arms.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(3rd century Pseudo Chrysostom)</span></div>
<br />Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-74318301588205330222015-03-08T15:04:00.002-07:002015-03-08T15:08:12.855-07:00Relationships or Idols?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Hebrew expression for what we call the commandments literally means the <i>ten words/sayings</i>. Lent reminds us how easily you and I, just as the Israelites, ignore or rationalize what God expects of us. The commandments, in fact, involve, more than anything else, our <i>relationships</i>: with ourselves, with God and with one another and the creation around us. Experience confirms how fragile these relationships can be, how easily damaged and broken through careless words and actions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> The <i>Book of Common Prayer</i> (pp. 847-848) clearly notes that the first four commandments have to do with recognizing that God alone is worthy of our love, worship and obedience. <i>God </i>is where we focus on setting our hearts, our trust. The remaining six commandments describe human relationships and how we’re responsible for the way in which we treat one another: honoring parents and those in authority; respecting life, working for peace, bearing no malice, prejudice or hatred towards anyone; being kind to all creatures; dealing honestly and fairly; looking to others‘ rights and necessities; using our God-given talents and resources; speaking the truth and not misleading others by silence; resisting envy, greed and jealousy; and rejoicing in all people’s gifts and graces.
Sin has been defined as “<i>treating people like things and things like people</i>”, and in the sacred words given to Moses on the mountain there’s a firm warning against confusing such priorities. When things become idols, relationships invariably suffer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> It’s not uncommon to read the commandments and to conclude, just as Paul did, in one of his more memorable passages: “<i>I can will what is right, but I cannot do it...I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.</i>” (Romans 7:18-19) Most of us can readily identify with Paul’s sense of human weakness and frustration. In the letter to the Romans he describes a kind of civil war taking place inside us. The sense that “<i>I can will, but I cannot do</i>” articulates the inner conflict between desire and power, raging within human beings ever since the Fall. Agnes Rogers Allen humorously quips:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>I should be better, brighter, thinner </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And more intelligent at dinner. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I should reform and take pains, </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Improve my person, use my brains. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There’s lots that I could do about it, </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But will I?...Honestly, I doubt it.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Are the commandments still even possible for followers of Jesus trying to serve God faithfully in an age so radically different
from Moses’ culture? The BCP asks, on p. 848: “<i>Since we do not fully obey them, are they useful at all?” It answers: “Since we do not fully obey them, we see more clearly our sin and our need for redemption.</i>” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remember that the commandments are part of a much larger narrative, namely, the whole story of the Exodus of God’s people out of Egypt and through the desert wilderness. Note the words prefacing the commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures: “<i>I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.</i>” God’s redeeming words/commandments is given to people who have been released from <i>slavery</i>. The salvation of God’s people isn’t earned through their obedience to a code of law. <i>God’s</i> action of freeing them and leading them to a new life came first. Only as an appropriate human response to what God has <i>already</i> done does observing the Law make any sense.
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On any given day you and I find it difficult to observe God’s words, keeping both the letter and the spirit of what God asks of us. The commandments’ specific details help to graphically remind us that we’re self-centered, sinful, i.e., constantly “missing the mark”, and that we need redemption. The various commandments emphasize God’s absolute claim on the <i>totality</i> of our life. But even though God’s claim on our lives is expressed in terms of specific things <i>to do or not to do</i>, we continually risk becoming distracted from God and of focussing on mere “requirements”. God’s commandments, God’s words, come to us as people whom God has <i>already</i> saved, through the One who is the unique Word of God, Jesus the Christ, God’s beloved. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> As he himself grew spiritually, St. Paul began to understand the problem resulting from attempts to earn God’s approval merely by “keeping” the commandments. He came to recognize that God’s Law is different from legalism. Paul wrote to the Philippian community that he’d been keeping the Law, but for entirely the wrong reasons: “<i>If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ...For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things,..not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith...</i>” (Philippians 3:4-11)
Paul acknowledged that the Law, indeed, sets out God’s holy expectations of the way we should act towards God and each other. Yet the very way in which it redirects our attention and focus towards <i>our</i> activity and away from God’s is the Law’s weakness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> That’s the real issue at the heart of today’s Gospel reading, as Jesus enters the Temple and chases out the money-changers and the animal-sellers. (2:13-22) The confrontation between Jesus and the merchants is really a conflict over priorities of relationship. Who Jesus is, as Son of his Father, and what he represents, the living God, clashes with the loyalties of the religious institutional leaders. Jesus challenges them. After chasing out those who had set up their businesses in the immediate Temple area, Jesus makes a mysterious reference to the destruction of the Temple and to its being “raised” up again. Generations later, you and I understand Jesus’ words to be an image of his own death and resurrection, whereas the Jewish authorities think he literally means the Jerusalem Temple. And that seriously offends them, because, for the Jews, the Temple was <i>the</i> external witness to God, the place centered on God’s words, God’s Law. The Temple and the Law stood at the center of Jewish faith, yet these had become idols, ends in themselves, rather than the living God and their own people. Through misplaced devotion, the Jewish leaders let their focus be redirected away from relationship with God to merely fulfilling man-made requirements. They thus missed entirely the spirit of the first commandment: “<i>You shall have no other gods before me.</i>” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Our religious practices and preferences, too, can, and often do, become lesser gods, idols, for us if we let them become the chief objects of our devotion. In our attempt to excel and succeed as “good Christians”, we often begin to focus on what we think we should <i>do</i>, rather than on the fact that, as Paul says, “<i>...Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God</i>” (1 Corinthians 1:24-25) has already spelled out for us what we should <i>be</i> as his followers through his own living words and example. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> The commandments are important words about what God intends for us. We and the society in which we live need to take them much more seriously than we currently do. Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that Christian faith and practice has everything to do with our <i>relationships</i>. Paul clearly reminds us of that when he says, “<i>...we proclaim Christ...</i>” May this Lenten season guide us to do that in all our words and actions.</span></div>
Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-20867630838320701142015-02-22T18:52:00.000-08:002015-02-22T18:52:49.669-08:00Supporting the "Weaknesses of Each of Us"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be
tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted
by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of
each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Memories have the power to call to mind previous experiences in our lives. They seem to reactivate our memory banks and replay the tapes we've stored there. Perhaps as you and your spouse attend a wedding you recall the day when you exchanged your own vows. The emotion which that evokes may lead you to squeeze your spouse's hand or give a knowing wink. A funeral or memorial service for a family member or a friend might equally bring back sentiments and feelings of remembrance or sadness over the deaths of significant others in our past.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mark's retelling of the story of Jesus' baptism is, for many, that kind of event. It conjures up for us the sights, sounds, and emotions surrounding past baptisms we've experienced: our own, a friend's, or a child's. Because of this we're enabled to better "connect" with the experience of Jesus at the Jordan River.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mark's version of Jesus' life differs from those of Matthew and Luke in that he doesn't give us a glimpse into Jesus' earlier days. Instead, he presents John the Baptizer as </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the messenger</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy, as </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the voice</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> of preparation for the One who is to come. Jesus was among the people who came from all over the Judean countryside to be baptized by John. There's no record of what that experience was for any of the other individuals besides Jesus. All three of the Synoptic Gospel writers record that Jesus went down into the waters, just as the others had, but that upon his emerging from the river something extraordinary happened. The voice of God the Father pierced the barrier between earth and heaven, and Jesus "</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>saw…the Spirit descending like a dove on him.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Four verses later, Mark indicates that some time after this John's ministry came to an end when was arrested, imprisoned and eventually beheaded. Jesus, on the other hand, "<i>came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God…</i>" There's no gradual build-up, no account of exactly why Jesus chose to be baptized by John. We simply find him there on the Jordan bank with the others. He submits to baptism and is confirmed by the Father and the Spirit as the Beloved Son of God.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our own baptism is an occasion for commitment, either through our godparents or </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">on our own</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, to take up the ministry which Jesus began, as well as an occasion for being affirmed and supported in that decision. The ritual of baptism may have been simple or elaborate for us, but the essential elements are the same whatever. We commit ourselves to follow Jesus the Christ for the rest of our lives, and we're supported in that choice by others who've made the same commitment and have handed down to us the good news which Jesus proclaimed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Generally, baptism is a public event. We make promises to God in the presence of a believing community, as a witness to both God and to others. We make this covenant out of the confidence that our allegiance can't be just a private matter, between us and God. We need to make ourselves accountable for what we promise, to God and to the body of Christ, the Church.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Putting into daily practice, living, the baptismal covenant isn't a "walk in the park" for any of us. In addition to the grace of God, we depend on the support of our sisters and brothers in Christ, not only at the baptismal celebration, but continually through our lives, particularly at those times when we grow discouraged and lukewarm. There is constant need of reclaiming our promises, of recommitting ourselves to live the Gospel. Perhaps the simple retelling and rehearing of Mark's story about Christ's baptism, together with the passages in today's liturgy from Genesis and 1 Peter, presents such an occasion to do so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Several steps are involved in this process of rehearing and recommitting. <i>First</i>, we need to acknowledge our need for it. That can be as simple as praying: "<i>Lord, I don't quite know how to do this, but I hand over to you again as much of myself as I can at this moment.</i>" Our reaffirmation needn't be any more dramatic or sophisticated than that. Fr. R. Stewart Wood, Jr. has written: "<i>Goose bumps won't make it any more genuine or real! You simply need to decide and then do it.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Second</i>, it's helpful to have a supporting person or group. It may be a close friend(s) to whom we can turn. In any case, it's always a bit scary to reach out to someone else for support, but we need to be aware that others, like us, undoubtedly wrestle with the same sense of vulnerability, need and risk as we do. In fact, many times our reaching out brings relief to the other person who may have been looking for similar support, but was too embarrassed to ask for it. In most parishes there are helpful groups (Lenten studies, Scripture classes, EFM, etc.) who serve as that "<i>blessed company</i>" of faithful people who are willing to uphold us in our commitment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Living the Gospel is a cycle of growth and progress, alternating with desert-periods of dryness and stagnation. St. Mark's reminder today of Jesus' baptism and the ensuing struggle in the wilderness can encourage us as we labor through the Lenten season to renew our commitment to live out our baptismal promises. Even as Jesus had angels to minister to him in the desert, we find help "<i>to continue in…the fellowship</i>" through the communion of saints, particularly on the local level. Each time you and I hear the question posed during the baptisms which we celebrate in our communities of faith: "<i>Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?</i>", may our reply be a resounding, "<i>We will!</i>" </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </i><br />
<br />Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-37334552607173397612015-02-18T18:40:00.001-08:002015-02-18T18:40:19.382-08:00Ash Wednesday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"In your great goodness, Lord, </span></i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">you have promised forgiveness to sinners, * </i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that they may repent of their sin and be saved. </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And now, O Lord, I bend the knee of my heart, * </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and make my appeal, sure of your gracious goodness.
I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, * </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and I know my wickedness only too well.
Therefore I make this prayer to you: * </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Forgive me, Lord, forgive me. </i></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do not let me perish in my sin, * </i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">nor condemn me to the depths of the earth.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, * </i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and in me you will show forth your goodness.
Unworthy as I am, you will save me, </span></i><i>in accordance with your great mercy…"</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(From <i>A Song of Penitence, Prayer of Mannasseh, 1-2; 4; 6-7; 11-15</i>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lent is the time of bending the knee of our hearts before the Holy One: a time of recognizing, acknowledging, confessing the reality of our sin, and asking to be reconciled with God and all others in our lives. Christopher Pramuk, in his new book <i>At Play in Creation: Merton's Awakening to the Feminine Divine</i> says that Thomas Merton, in a 1959 letter to Victor Hammer<i>,</i> described Sophia - Wisdom as "'<i>the dark, nameless <b>Ousia</b> </i>[Being] <i>of God, not one of the Three Divine Persons, but each 'at the same time, are Sophia and manifest her.'</i>" Pramuk continues, "<i>Above all, Sophia is God's love and mercy coming to birth in us. 'In the sense that God is Love, is Mercy, is Humility, is Hiddenness,' writes Merton, 'He shows Himself to us within ourselves as our own poverty…and if we receive the humility of God into our hearts, we become able to…love this very poverty, which is Himself and His Sophia.'</i>"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is out of this mystery of God revealing Godself to you and me "<i>within ourselves as our own poverty</i>" that you and I bend the knee of our hearts in humility before God, and receive back God's own goodness and redemption.</span></div>
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Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-29167563386057211942015-02-09T09:58:00.003-08:002015-02-09T10:04:52.585-08:00God's Bard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">St. Bede writes in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People: "<i>[t]here was in the Monastery of this Abbess a certain brother particularly remarkable for the Grace of God, who was wont to make religious verses, so that whatever was interpreted to him out of scripture, he soon after put the same into poetical expressions of much sweetness and humility in Old English, which was his native language. By his verse the minds of many were often excited to despise the world, and to aspire to heaven.</i>" He was referring to Caedmon, the earliest English (Northumbrian) poet known by name. Caedmon cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch, later known as Whitby Abbey, whose abbess was the famous Hilda from 657 to 680. Caedmon was, according to Bede, originally ignorant of "<i>the art of song</i>" but learned to compose one night during the course of a dream. He later became a zealous monk, as well as an accomplished and inspirational poet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Caedmon's only extant work is <i>Caedmon's Hymn</i>, one of the earliest examples of the Old English language. In this poem of nine lines, purportedly learned in his dream, he sings praise to God: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i>Now [we] must honour the guardian of heaven, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>the might of the architect, and his purpose, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>the work of the father of glory </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>as he, the eternal lord, established the beginning of wonders; </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>he first created for the children of men </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>heaven as a roof, the holy creator </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Then the guardian of mankind, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>the eternal lord, afterwards appointed the middle earth, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>the lands for men, the Lord almighty.</i></span></div>
Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-26705133489533072062015-02-08T16:57:00.002-08:002015-02-08T16:59:27.499-08:00Peter's Mother-in-law<br />
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"<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them."</span></i> (Mark 1:29-31)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">As Jesus finishes a teaching session in the synagogue, Mark notes that he’s invited to Peter’s house where Peter’s mother-in-law presumably lives with him and his wife. Though Peter’s wife isn’t mentioned specifically here, later, in 1 Corinthians (9:5), Paul very clearly refers to her as possibly accompanying Peter on his mission. Perhaps the mother-in-law had the flu: “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">she was in bed with a fever</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">”, always risky for an older person. In his quiet, gentle way Jesus comes to her and takes her hand. As the fever subsides, she gets up out of the bed, and heads for the kitchen, as any good Jewish mother would do, to get them all something to eat! Could it be that Mark inserts this little detail in his Gospel to hold up the mother-in-law as an example to us of someone looking beyond her own ills and infirmities to taking care of the needs of others?</span></div>
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<br />Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-63897914975931569782015-02-05T09:11:00.000-08:002015-02-05T09:11:00.901-08:00A New Creation In Christ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"<i>Use creatures as they should be used: the earth, the sea, the sky, the air, the springs and the rivers. Give praise and glory to their Creator for all that you find beautiful and wonderful in them. See with your bodily eyes the light that shines on earth, but embrace with your whole soul and all your affections 'the true light which enlightens everyone who comes into this world'…If we are indeed the temple of God and if the Spirit of God lives in us, then what every believer has within is greater than what the believer admires in the skies. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our words and exhortations are not intended to make you disdain God's works or think there is anything contrary to your faith in creation, for the good God has himself made all things good. What we ask is that you use reasonably and with moderation all the marvelous creatures which adorn this world…</i>" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">(From a sermon of St. Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461)</span></div>
Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-44155028755146323372015-01-26T20:49:00.002-08:002015-01-26T20:49:28.667-08:00"For Me To Live Is Christ"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>From a homily of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople (407):</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"The one thing [Paul] feared, indeed dreaded, was to offend God; nothing else could sway him. Therefore, the only thing he really wanted was always to please God.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The most important thing of all to him, however, was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ. Enjoying this love, he considered himself happier than anyone else…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To be separated from that love was, in his eyes, the greatest and most extraordinary of torments; the pain of that loss would alone have been hell, and endless, unbearable torture…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So too, in being loved by Christ he thought of himself as possessing life, the world, the angels, present and future, the kingdom, the promise and countless blessings. Apart from that love nothing saddened or delighted him; for nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet…"</span>Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-54793744357755635552015-01-21T10:36:00.002-08:002015-01-21T10:36:22.827-08:00Week of Prayer for Unity & Intereligious Dialogue<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">During the week beginning on the feast of the Confession of St. Peter, January 18, and continuing through January 25, the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, the Church celebrates a Week of Prayer for Unity and Interreligious Dialogue. Though originally designed and commonly understood to pray for <i>Christian</i> unity, in more recent years it has widened in scope to include <i>interfaith</i> involvement. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This ecumenical week began in the little New York community of Peekskill, specifically on a remote hillside 5 miles away, called Graymoor, home to a small Episcopal religious community of friars and sisters, who were quite controversial and unpopular in the Episcopal Church. At a time when religious community members were often suspected as “advance agents” for a Roman Catholic takeover of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Graymoor Franciscans, “eccentrics”, as they were called, did very little to allay such suspicions.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fr. Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana White, co-founders of the Graymoor Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement, quite openly advocated for a reunion of Anglicans with Rome and recognition of the papacy. Most Protestants and even some Catholics were astounded by the idea. Because of their committed stance, the Graymoors were under enormous pressure from church leaders and editors to abandon their efforts. Fr. Paul was shunned in most Episcopal pulpits, and Mother Lurana had to literally send her sisters out begging just to keep the Society of the Atonement alive.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nevertheless, Fr. Paul and Mother Lurana pursued their perceived God-given mission: to seek a coming together of divided Christian churches. The idea of a period of prayer for Christian unity came up in a conversation between Fr. Wattson and an Anglican clergyman in England, The Rev. Spencer Jones. In the autumn of 1907, Fr. Jones suggested an annual day of prayer for Christian unity. Fr. Wattson concurred, but simultaneously conceived the idea of a Church Unity <i>Week</i> or “Octave”, to be observed for eight days between January 18 and 25, the dates of the two feasts mentioned earlier. The first attempt at the observance, held in the small, gloomy Graymoor chapel in 1908, met with lukewarm response, at best. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fr. Paul and Mother Lurana, because of their pro-Roman leanings, finally asked to be admitted into the Roman Catholic Church, and in October, 1909, Pius X received the whole Society of the Atonement as a body. Eventually, the Octave became very popular, but almost exclusively in the Roman Catholic Church. Other Christian bodies held observances of their own, more compatible with their theology and spirituality.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A number of historical movements towards Christian unity, from the 18th century on, preceded the Graymoors’ efforts. In the 19th century, the desire for Christians to pray together was occasioned by the divisions which weakened the power of Christian witness. In 1846 the Evangelical Alliance was established in London and developed both international and inter-church connections. The Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christians was founded in 1857 with Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox participation. The Popes had consistently urged Roman Catholics to pray for Christian unity, but only from the particular stance of return to the Roman Catholic fold. The Lambeth Conferences, particularly in 1878, during this period also promoted prayer for Christian unity.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1913 the Faith and Order Commission of the Protestant Episcopal Church issued a number of publications for Christian unity, and the preparatory Conference on Faith and Order at Geneva in 1920 appealed for a special week of prayer for Christian unity. Faith and Order continued to issue "Suggestions for an Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity" until 1941 when it changed the dates for its week to that of the January Octave. In this way, Christians, who for reasons of conscience, could not join with others in prayer services could still share in united prayer at a specific time. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1935 Abbé Paul Couturier, a French priest, addressed this problem by promoting prayer for Christian unity on the inclusive basis that "<i>our Lord would grant to his Church on earth that peace and unity which were in his mind and purpose, when, on the eve of His Passion, He prayed that all might be one.</i>" A huge ecumenical step was taken in 1964 with the issuing of the <i>Decree on Ecumenism</i> of Vatican Council II. The Decree was clear for Roman Catholics: "<i>In certain special circumstances, such as in prayer services for unity and during ecumenical gatherings, it is allowable, indeed desirable, that Catholics should join in prayer with their separated brethren.</i>”<i> </i>Today the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue belongs to all people of faith who wish, as Jesus did, "<i>that all may be one</i>". The formation of official ecumenical dialogues among Christians and between non-Christian bodies reinforces the value of such a yearly observance.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A dear deceased Trappist monk friend of mine, Fr. Brendan, OCSO, once sent me this quote: “<i>The schisms, persecutions, and polemics of our yesterdays </i>[today] <i>begin to assume a certain unreality...As the Christian world once split on the dipthong, so have Christians killed each other for a definition. That they should quarrel and divide within the great area of mystery created by the Incarnation, which they share and live by, becomes increasingly unacceptable. The most elementary lesson of a faith held in common is to love, and so to understand one another...</i>”</span></span><br />
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Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-34861647557286802152015-01-01T12:55:00.002-08:002015-01-01T12:55:39.374-08:00Jesus the Christ, Savior<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Luke 2:15-21 tells us of angelic words spoken to common sheep-tenders: "<i>Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord.</i>" The child referred to is Jesus of Nazareth who historically bore the name <i>Yeshua/Joshua bar Joseph</i>. The name derives from y<i>asha = to be open, wide free: to save</i>. Jesus signifies "<i>He </i>[God] <i>saves</i>." A Jewish name stood for the person and indicated something about her/his history, purpose, and mission in life. The name <i>Yeshua</i> was a fairly common one. There had been many "saviors" in the history of God's people, but this Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph, was to be <i>the </i>Savior, <i>the </i>Anointed One of the Lord.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many of us may have been asked, at one time or another, "<i>Are you saved?</i>" That usually implies our ability to cite a specific time or date of a religious experience or conversion, or it implies that some common ground is provided in conversation between the questioner & us, as in "<i>Are you part of the club, the 'in' group?</i>"<i> </i>A positive reply allows the questioner to associate with you; a negative reply causes the questioner's defenses to go up and draw away. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I hear that question, "<i>Are you saved?</i>", I think back to some comments made by my son's school principal in a 1981 PTA newsletter: "<i>The greatest problem facing our world today is that of man's relationship to his fellow man…The human ability to accept others is the brightest light in the darkness of this world…I am convinced that the answers to this problem lie within each of us. The light is there for us to use as individuals, as a community of persons, as a community of nations. Yet we continue to withhold ourselves from others -- we cut them off -- we don't believe in them -- we don't accept them as being one of us because of a difference in age, sex, color, viewpoint or speech. Darkness is nothing -- as soon as we turn the light on it disappears…At this time of year, just think what benefit we can provide for those who inhabit our small corner of the world and even for ourselves if we turn on the light of affection, concern, sympathy, understanding and love for our fellowman…It is not so difficult to give of ourselves -- to open the gates of our attitudes -- so that we can share ourselves with those who may have differing viewpoints…It is our potential to give freely and lavishly of </i>[our gifts]."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What a wonderfully simple, direct, practical message, yet one which virtually expresses the essential wisdom and meaning of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">such </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">phrases as "</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Are you saved?</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">", "</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He saved us</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">", "</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jesus saves</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">". The fact is that Jesus wouldn't withhold himself from humankind. "<i>The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.</i>" He accepted us. He accepts us always, even despite what we've been in the past and often are in the present. St. Paul reminds us: </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"…when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy…</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">" Regardless of how we are, Jesus accepts us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How might you and I spread the light of our "<i>affection, concern, sympathy, understanding and love to our fellowman</i>", mentioned above? You and I have so many simple saving gifts which we can give to one another all year long: a smile; offering to wash the dishes or to cook a meal for someone; forgiving an old grudge or hurt; propagating <i>good </i>news, rather than just the negative or gossip; saying "<i>Please</i>" and "<i>Thank you</i>"; trying to be understanding of someone's feelings or viewpoint before we grumble at or condemn them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Somewhere along the line, I'm sure I ran across the name of the person who wrote the following <i>Resolutions</i> but I can't for the life of me remember or track it down. It'll suffice simply to share them in hopes that each of us might be moved by one or other of them as we live through this New Year of 2015.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>No one will ever get out of this world alive.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Resolve, therefore, in the year to come to maintain a sense of values.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Take care of yourself. Good health is everyone's source of wealth.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Without it, happiness is almost impossible.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Resolve to be cheerful and helpful. People will repay you in kind.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Avoid angry, abrasive persons. They are generally vengeful.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Avoid zealots. They are generally humorless.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Resolve to listen more and to talk less. No one ever learns anything by talking.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Be chary of giving advice. Wise men don't need it; and fools won't heed it.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Sometime in life you will have been all of these.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Do not equate money with success. There are many successful money-makers</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>who are miserable failures as human beings.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>What counts most about success is how a man achieves it.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Resolve to love next year someone you didn't love this year.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Love is the most enriching ingredient of life.</i></span></div>
Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-627989683550302232014-12-24T09:49:00.000-08:002014-12-24T09:49:16.268-08:00Christmas Eve<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHSCtyTTpozYb2z4rQkUxz0DxZ66J1Ey4NKcwo9DL8grj3zVexSyOV6AGd0KC7gDbAp-mXTguWdlP-e0sFTQhHYoKYerI1kcQv7IV71O4v23MspvyYCjy8tstQbzhOvrQOoBQCwoeIBw/s1600/nativity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHSCtyTTpozYb2z4rQkUxz0DxZ66J1Ey4NKcwo9DL8grj3zVexSyOV6AGd0KC7gDbAp-mXTguWdlP-e0sFTQhHYoKYerI1kcQv7IV71O4v23MspvyYCjy8tstQbzhOvrQOoBQCwoeIBw/s1600/nativity.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the Ukraine, it is said, there's a legend about a woman who was too poor to decorate her Christmas tree, but shared the warmth of her home with a spider. The spider returned the gift: one night she spun her web on the tree and when morning came the tree sparkled with the sunlit web. For the people of the Ukraine the web symbolizes our connectedness, our fragility and the road we each travel toward death.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Christmas Eve our Advent season of waiting ends and we celebrate the feast of the Lord's birth. Our weeks of Advent waiting and expectation are fulfilled in the hope which Christmas brings, hope embodied in Jesus the Son of Mary who is the Lord. There's a Hebrew word for <i>hope</i>, <i>kaveh</i>, which is also associated with a spider's web. In the web, in its connectedness, there is hope.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of my former professors of nearly 50 years ago, Fr. Gerard Sloyan, has written: "<i>Luke has composed a tale so profoundly religious, indeed so theological, that pedantic exegesis of its details could destroy its fragile beauty. This is a narrative of God's design…a tale of divine paradox.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Luke's is a marvelous story of how God interconnects with us, of how God's Son came to be with us in a stable, in ordinary human history, through Mary's pregnancy, bearing, and nurturing of a human child like us. Christmas is a season of birthing, of labor pains, yet a season also of people interconnecting in hope. Luke uses very descriptive words in speaking of Mary, as she and Joseph left Nazareth for Bethlehem: "<i>great with child</i>", "<i>swollen inwardly</i>". Mary set out for Judea, obedient to nature's laws, obedient to her country's laws, and especially obedient to the will of God. She was called to a birthing which may have prompted rumors of scandal among those who knew her, yet one which brought a whole series of amazing new relationships, relationships of affirmation and hope.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The census itself could be seen as an exercise in interconnectedness: "</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">" Mary's life was certainly enmeshed with Joseph's, her betrothed. She was, literally, connected with her son, Jesus, who was born for us, his pilgrim followers, on the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Advent and Christmas seasons lend themselves to our thinking back over all of our relationships and interconnections. Think of all the people, yourself included, who are "pregnant" with responsibilities and chores to be done so that Christmas can come about: the house-cleaning, the traveling, the parenting, the baking, and the financial worries which haunt and drive us, especially at this time. Sometimes it seems that the whole world around us, in St. Paul's words, "</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">groans in travail</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>…</i>" It is our very connectedness to those who mean most to us which can, especially at this time of busyness, become most vital. They, just like the spider's web, can be our hope and support in the midst of our frazzledness and fragility. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With all the mixed feeling and emotions engendered by the Christmas season, as Christians our eyes and hearts this day turn towards the altar and the crèche in a pregnant silence, waiting…not just for the Word to become flesh again, but for flesh to become Word now, in Christ's Mass. We each want nothing less than to be born anew in God, to be in touch with the Holy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Contemporary poet, William Wendell, has wonderfully expressed the meaning of this sacred Christmas Eve in terms of family connectedness:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>After a month of Silent Nights</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and Jingle Bells</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and White Christmases</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When you're up to your mistletoe</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>with Rudophs</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and Scrooges</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and Frosty the Snowman</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>When you've realized that </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>your six-year-old doesn't ask</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>how Santa can be in each store anymore</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And you're tired of tinsel</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and plastic Baby Jesuses</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and wondering what to buy</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It all comes to </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>pajamaed feet on stair steps</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and stage whispers of excitement</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>at some ungodly hour</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>that is somehow perfectly godly</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>because it's Christmas morning</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And the trauma turns to tears</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>when you open the crumply wrapped box</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>mummified with scotch tape</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and behold your very own</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>handmade</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>pot holder</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And it occurs to you</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>that despite all the shopping</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>the millions do for Christmas</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>No one has ever been able to buy it</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For it is eternally given</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>each to the other</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and from Him</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to us. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i></div>
Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-74625784436245033672014-12-21T20:04:00.002-08:002014-12-21T20:04:49.332-08:004th Week of Advent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjThRM-kH2SehBpsePOqUFBD679F9lXAqS16EGsWaVJDZd-KLJfr_rVFs4KvxnBJD2pj2kZoua7qg43MzYe3GjcMse3UoPClsk4cyXpxn_9oGz1XFfETQyEKqaGe7P0g4GjfymiQgqf8A/s1600/The+Annunciation+%234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjThRM-kH2SehBpsePOqUFBD679F9lXAqS16EGsWaVJDZd-KLJfr_rVFs4KvxnBJD2pj2kZoua7qg43MzYe3GjcMse3UoPClsk4cyXpxn_9oGz1XFfETQyEKqaGe7P0g4GjfymiQgqf8A/s1600/The+Annunciation+%234.jpg" height="320" width="272" /></a></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He’d just finished a long teaching session in the synagogue. She’d been sitting quietly toward the back of the room, taking in all he’d said. She waited until most of the others had left, then, approaching him, smiling, she took his face in her hands and said, “<i>Yeshua, blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you!</i>” His warm hand reached up and grasped her hand cradling his cheek as he smiled and observed, “<i>Ah, but rather blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.</i>”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At that moment his mind began to wander back to when he was a young boy, to that day when he’d talked with his mother, Miriam, as she worked in the kitchen. The kind of quiet spontaneous conversation a boy enjoys with his mom. He’d asked all sorts of questions: the kind that young boys often ask when important issues and things that don’t make sense come to their minds, in no particular order. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">His mother had paused as he somewhat delicately asked how he’d come to be: how he’d been born, and why Joseph was his “stepfather”. With a far-away look in her eyes, Miriam spoke softly of the day, many years ago, when she had been a young woman, not much older than he was now. She and Joseph had just been betrothed, which for a Jewish couple such as they, meant that she was married to him, for all practical purposes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">True, she hadn’t gone to his house to stay as yet, but that was the next step. </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This particular day she’d been on her way to the well to draw water, when suddenly she felt what could only be described as a </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Presence: something like a dream and yet as though it was really happening.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">She heard words, though not verbal, spoken to her that sounded as though they were intended for someone else.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">There must’ve been a mistake! “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Hail, O favored one. The Lord is with you.</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">She knew that she was a good Jewish girl: Anna and Jehoiakim had raised her such.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">But this was language for someone “special”, someone very close to the Holy One: not for someone as ordinary as she!</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Trying very hard not to seem afraid, she nevertheless could feel herself trembling. But the Presence continued, gently but persistently, with the astounding announcement that she would soon become pregnant, immediately, in fact, and that it would be a boy, a son, and that his name would be Jeshua.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>How nice,</i>” she remembered thinking momentarily. “<i>Jeshua: ‘he saves’</i>”. A name familiar to her among her relatives. But then, in an instant, the impact of this registered with her. “<i>This can’t be right,</i>” she thought, “<i>my betrothal hasn’t yet been consummated!</i>” All these images of a great son, and thrones, and never-ending kingdoms suddenly terrified her. “<i>How can this be, </i></span></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">since I have no husband,</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">” she whispered.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">“</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">I’ll be stoned if they find me pregnant before Joseph and I are together.</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">”</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As she related the story to Jeshua, she’d paused briefly, sitting very quietly, then continued. The unseen Visitor had spoken about the Spirit and about the Most High’s power overshadowing her. Even as she heard this in her heart she could feel in her body </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">that it had already been done.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Something was different.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Something was new.</span><br />
<div style="min-height: 16px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.</i>” The Visitor went on to tell her of her cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy, and all that she had verified when she’d visited Elizabeth some time thereafter. Then came words which continued to ring in her ears all through the days of her pregnancy and beyond: “<i>For with God nothing will be impossible.</i>”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She’d then told Jeshua how, in that strange and sudden moment as she continued on her way to the well that day, she began to make some sense of it despite her confusion. From somewhere deep inside she’d summoned up the courage to articulate what she was now feeling: “<i>I am the Lord’s handmaid; let it be to me according to your word.</i>” She’d heard and kept the word. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jeshua’s mind came back from his reverie, back to the present, back to the synagogue, back to the smiling face of the older </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">woman in front of him.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">From the expression on her face, as she looked him straight in the eyes, he knew that she understood what he’d just said: “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Blessed, rather are the ones who hear God’s word and keep it.</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">”</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We draw this season of Advent, of waiting and expectation, to a close just as we began it. As a community of <i>hurt</i>, we take a hard and honest look at all the suffering, discontent, frustration, pain, disappointment, and uncertainty which characterize our lives and the lives of those around us. We acknowledge the persistent </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">reality of all this, knowing that it will continue as long as we await Christ’s coming.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But we also wait as a community of <i>hope</i> and of faith. We hope and believe because God’s word, through “<i>the revelation of the mystery</i>” and “<i>through the prophetic writings</i>”, assures us that “<i>God... is able to strenthen you</i>” and, as with David, assures us: “<i>I have been with you wherever you went...</i>” During these four weeks of Advent the Holy One has spoken to our hearts: of comfort and rejoicing, of the power of the Spirit of God. The Good News, the Gospel, is intrusive speech which changes us and others from within if we but allow it do so.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Good News which has come to us proclaims that what we thought impossible, God has made possible. We no longer have </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">to remain a community of hurt.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">We can be in the world in a new way. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Scripture scholar, Walter Brueggemann, says that “<i>...the life of faith is bracketed between the invitation to impossibility which begins things and the summons to praise which closes things...</i>” “<i>Blessed are they who </i><b><i>hear</i></b><i> the word of God and </i><b><i>keep</i></b><i> it.</i>”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you and I are to truly glorify God by what we say and do, then we have to be ready to embrace deep displacement in our lives. We have to be able to face and live with impossibility. We have to have the “<i>obedience of faith</i>”, to which Paul refers, even as Mary did, in order to trust that God will make possible, even in us, what you and I thought and think at times to be impossible.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That necessitates being open enough to reorganize and reorient our lives together around that powerful word of God which nullifies all our old assumptions and presuppositions and securities. It calls for not only <i>hearing </i>the Word, but <i>keeping</i> it, day after day, even in the face of contradiction. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Advent’s question is: “<i>How can this be...?</i>”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And the answer is Christmas: God as Word become flesh; Good News that in Jesus (He who saves) all our impossibilities are now possible.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All that is left is for us to generously respond: “<i>Let it be done...according to your word!</i>”<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span>Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-42214033304434508992014-12-16T07:43:00.002-08:002014-12-16T07:43:49.556-08:003rd Week of Advent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In this third week of Advent the Church offers us Scripture texts which indicate the joy of anticipating the coming of Jesus. The penitential purple or violet color of vestments is changed to rose color. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Psalm 126, particularly, sets the tone for this week’s joy: “<i>The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad indeed...Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.</i>” St. Paul exclaims: “<i>Rejoice always...</i>”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What does it mean to rejoice? This season of preparing for Christmas is a busy, often chaotic, time. Although we’re bombarded with carols of joy during this season, many people whom we know face staggering depths of depression.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The joy of which the Scriptures speak isn’t the same as <i>pleasure</i>, nor satiation, nor even the emotional heights which we call <i>happiness</i>. True joy is the steady assurance that our life’s inconsistencies and puzzles will eventually be resolved: an assurance that what has already happened and is about to happen will enable you and me to sort out life’s conditions. True joy doesn’t consist in <i>possessing</i> something, but rather is the delight we experience in being in harmony with God and of sharing God’s love with one another.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think it can be safely said that our society today isn’t a joyful society. You can figure that out simply by observing people pushing and shoving each other in the shopping malls during this season. There are a lot of bored, distracted, exhausted people wandering around the stores and streets: certainly not a good advertisement for joy. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You and I, as a community of faith in a primarily joyless culture, are invited to participate in the almost scandalous, subversive activity of Advent joy. We’re called to do what the society around us is unable or unwilling to do. Genuine Christian joy undermines frantic activity. It shakes us free from a world that keeps us constantly fatigued and joyless. And the basis of our rejoicing is the conviction that something special has been and is being disclosed to us by God’s graciousness. The good news of God’s Word to us is that the Promised One has come and is coming again: coming to transform us and our world from the bottom up. “...He will <i>do</i> it,” says St. Paul!</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Scripture speaks of this promised change in concrete terms, proclaiming that a “<i>new heavens and a new earth</i>” will be created; that rejoicing will prevail over sorrow and distress; that people’s need will be met; that things will endure; that people’s efforts will bear fruit, not frustration; that fear and violence will end, harmony and peace will prevail. Isaiah’s reading (61:1-4; 8-11) speaks of healing for those crushed or oppressed or despairing; of the canceling of debts; and of release for prisoners: of general amnesty for all. A total transformation is foretold, a newness because of which all will rejoice. Such change and transformation is the work of “<i>the Spirit of the Lord</i>” who initiates the process which leads to comfort, to restoration, to righteousness, to rejoicing. It’s the Spirit who brings newness to all those places where everything is hopeless.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">St. Paul is clear in his direction to the Thessalonian Christians (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24): “<i>Do not quench the Spirit.</i>” Throughout the whole epistle the Holy Spirit is seen as the power which formed and continues to transform God’s people. The Spirit has made this church community exceptional and noteworthy, in the midst of a world which is dis-spirited. And so, Paul advises them and us not to resist or squelch the Spirit in our times of challenge and suffering. It’s this “Force”, this resilient free power of God, the Holy Spirit, who will work an utter newness in us and in the world so closed to God’s entrance. As in the Book of Genesis, the Spirit of the Lord blows upon chaos to make a new creation. This Holy Spirit now comes to blow upon our hearts and to usher in a new world, a new creation in us. During Advent you and I wait each day for this transforming Spirit whom our tired, bored, joyless, and closed hearts finally won’t be able to resist. The Holy Spirit works, here and now, <i>in us</i>, close and personal, through a real person: Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Lord who comes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The question which we usually focus on in this Gospel is “<i>Who are you?</i>”, which the leaders of Jerusalem asked twice of John the Baptizer. They want to label John, to categorize him. If they name him, they can dismiss him. But John refuses to play their game. Deeply aware that “<i>He </i>[Jesus] <i>must increase, but I must decrease</i>”, John reminds the leaders and us that we’re asking the entirely wrong question. The real question for them and for us is: “<i>Who is Jesus?</i>” Jesus is the One who has come and given everything he has for us, in love. He is the One who, by dying, sets loose the Spirit of God on us and on the world. He is the One who calls us, invites us, to show that same kind of giving love to one another. In the end, he is the one who will draw us all into the completeness of God’s being, which is love.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In these last two weeks of the season of Advent the Holy Spirit enables us to reframe and reform our hopes and expectations, even the questions which nag us. The Christ is the One among us whom we don’t yet know. He is the unseen, unknown Power which disturbs our sense of control and predictability. He, the Powerful One, is always beyond our comprehension. This One whom we do not know is already among us through His Spirit: meeting us, inviting us to be one with Him. He calls us, as he called John the Baptizer, to recognize Christ as the source of our true joy, to embrace him in one another through compassion, justice, love, and joy. </span></span><br />
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Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-70064796552796468922014-12-07T15:35:00.000-08:002014-12-07T15:35:51.109-08:002nd Week of Advent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last week Advent was described as a time of waiting in the midst of suffering, pain, frustration and inadequacy as a community of hurt. Nevertheless, there was also the element of hope and expectation, based on the assurance given by the One who is yet "our Father", the faithful God, the Master for whom we watch, the One who will ultimately appear to decisively renew the world as we know it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today's Scriptures are replete with Advent promises and of affirmation that they will be kept. Isaiah promises homecoming. John the Forerunner promises One greater than himself. Peter promises that this One, "<i>our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ</i>", will bring "<i>new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.</i>"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As the continuing Christian community we gather around these promises, our certitude undiminished by delays or appearances. This is something hard for a predominantly scientific culture to accept. Science orders, quantifies, controls. It reduces promise to prediction. But the promise on which we focus during Advent speaks about the <i>intention </i>of the One who makes the promise, not the merely the mode. Promise, in this sense, goes beyond time and chronology: "<i>…with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.</i>" It allows the One who promises great leeway and counts unflinchingly on the reliability of that person. At the same time, it also invites and enables the receivers of the promise to trust the promise, to grasp for no other certainty. Such an Advent promise is a kind of relationship which gives both parties freedom and asks for a kind of trust and faith not subject to verification.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John the Baptizer appears at the beginning of Mark's Gospel as the forerunner of Jesus the Messiah. He preaches a repentance and forgiveness symbolically enacted in his immersion of people in the waters of the Jordan River. <i>Repentance </i>(Greek, <i>metanoía</i>), as John presented it, is a call to turn loose the old age and all its loyalties and values, to make a radical turn away from such. And <i>forgiveness</i>, he proclaims, is full release from all old debts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The sins which bind us all arise from selling out our spirits and imaginations to lesser gods, to idols. God's forgiveness sets us free from the whole oppressive system of indebtedness which prevents us from being truly human and which contributes to our attempt to continually control situations and people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Proclaiming God's saving promise, John is an outsider: a nobody who emerges from the wilderness…and dresses the part! He's an outsider not only geographically, but also in that he keeps his distance from the seductive allurements, including religious ones, of the surrounding culture. Raw and abrasive, John preaches from a different vision. His appearance on the scene marks a time when old ways of living are radically called into question, even as new ways aren't yet very clear. That's what Advent is: a sort of threshold moment, an occasion for embracing uncertainty, for understanding ourselves from a new perspective, for making new decisions about our relationship with God and others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John the Forerunner invites us out into the wilderness with him, so that we can experience the wisdom and fresh assumptions which it reveals. The rest of the dominant society, lost in merry-making and mall-milling preoccupation, resolutely resists this. It wants us well-fed, not connoisseurs of locusts and honey, not people crowding food banks to beg for necessities. It wants us well-dressed and in style: and woven camel's hair isn't "in" this season! It wants us well-housed, not in makeshift cardboard shelters and beds on the sidewalk or in the park. It wants us conformed to the old loyalties of the "haves", the 1 %.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">John points beyond himself: to the One mightier than he, to the One whom he serves. It's the same One you and I are called to serve, simply on the basis of his promises. John doesn't name Jesus. Christmas is the time for naming Jesus. Advent is the time for waiting and hoping, in the power of that Spirit which Jesus promised to send us in order to lead us into all truth and life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-70204123141226262372014-12-04T20:34:00.001-08:002014-12-04T20:34:05.274-08:001st Week of Advent<br />
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An anonymous poet has written: "<i>I saw the sign on the highway
‘Prepare to meet thy God.’
But when I got a little closer
There were no further instructions.</i>" Advent is a season like that: one where we prepare, we wait, we discern what the “further instructions” are!<br />
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Contrary to the dominant and prevailing view in American culture, Advent doesn’t begin with unbridled celebration or a shopping spree! Rather, Advent deals with a community of <i>hurt</i>, with you and me, real people who know pain, depression, inadequacy and failure, particularly at this time in our country when tensions, especially racial and ethnic tensions, are running at least as high as back in the 1960's. Such a community of hurt knows the One to Whom it speaks in prayer in its time of suffering. We call upon God, the Lord of hurt, whom we trust to bring our suffering to an end.<br />
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Since our hope and prayer is directed to the One whose reign is never really in doubt, our community of hurt is also a community of <i>hope</i>. We passionately hope for the end of our troubles. Our living faith assures us that God reign will surely come. The
hope which we express isn’t wishful thinking, but a concrete hope, based on the words and actions of the One we follow, every bit as real as the pain we feel. Hurt and hope go together in our lives, even though you and I don’t like to accept that reality. We’d like to think that, somehow, we can have the one (guess which?) without the other. Yet it’s precisely the reality of our present hurt which motivates us to have hope.<br />
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Advent is meant to shatter our fantasy worlds, and to teach us to acknowledge, to speak, and to take action about our pain and the world’s; to look in hope, not to ourselves, but to Jesus. Advent asks if you and I are open enough for a newness to be given, if we’re trusting enough of the faithful God to let go of this world. Advent should lead us to reflect on Jesus‘ observation (Mark 13:2) that “<i>Not one stone will be left here upon another…</i>”
Larry Parton, in a now-defunct little magazine called <i>alive now!</i>, wrote: “<i>The one we wait for is the one who will get in our way. He is the one who will disturb us and our peace. He is the one who will stop cooing and begin to talk about things that will trouble us.</i>” Realizing that, do we, as 1st century Christians did, still dare to pray without ceasing throughout our Advent wait: “<i>Maranatha -- Come, Lord Jesus</i>”?Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-37801972104652750032014-11-24T16:28:00.003-08:002014-11-24T16:36:27.345-08:00Something Worth Doing<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"<i>Even if a man should be detected in some sin, my brothers, the spiritual ones among you should quietly set him back on the right path, not with any feeling of superiority but being yourselves on guard against temptation. Carry each other’s burdens and so live out the law of Christ.
If a man thinks he is “somebody”, he is deceiving himself, for that very thought proves that he is nobody. Let every man learn to assess properly the value of his own work and he can then be glad when he has done something worth doing without dependence on the approval of others. For every man must “shoulder his own pack”...
Don’t be under any illusion: you cannot make a fool of God! A man’s harvest in life will depend entirely on what he sows. If he sows for his own lower nature his harvest will be the decay and death of his own nature. But if he sows for the Spirit he will reap the harvest of everlasting life by that Spirit. Let us not grow tired of doing good, for, unless we throw in our hand, the ultimate harvest is assured. Let us then do good to all men as opportunity offers, especially to those who belong to the Christian household.</i>" (Galatians 6:1-5; 7-10 - The New Testament in Modern English, J. B. Phillips)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Every one of us has shown, time and again, how vulnerable and weak we're when trying to choose good over evil. It behooves every one of us, then, to go easy on a sister or brother in Christ who fails, falls, "misses the mark". We have no right to feel superior to him or her. But if we step in to help that person to shoulder the burden of her/his weakness we're, in fact, living out "<i>the law of Christ</i>" which is love. "<i>Owe no one anything, except to love one another…</i>" Jesus spelled it out as two-fold: "<i>you shall love the Lord your God will all your heart…The second</i> [commandment] <i>is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.</i>" Living out the law of Christ is "<i>something worth doing</i>". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Too often we're motivated to help and minister to others with an unspoken hope of being noticed, of moving up a notch or two in others' admiration and esteem of us. Paul says that it's only when one learns "<i>to assess properly the value of</i> [one's] <i>own work</i>" that one can feel glad for having "<i>done something worth doing without depending on the approval of others.</i>" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Paul goes on to remind the Galatian community and us that we delude ourselves and mock God if we assume that our lives can have any real meaning outside of reaching forth and giving beyond ourselves for the good of others. You reap what you sow. It's easy to pay lip service to that, but we all know how difficult it is as a consistent practice. Like a cheerleader, Paul encourages us to resist the tiredness of doing good, for, unless we simply give up, "<i>the ultimate harvest is assured.</i>" </span>Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-49820313586946086262014-11-11T17:27:00.001-08:002014-11-11T17:34:38.055-08:00The Soldier Saint<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRIm7rLwx-zbsU-VmVs3B6AvbVxhIqV9TbEenlw3OBZI-DtAtzIyYKeQiG3BAdYYha4kP-Tp8sQ19L9dWpZ9jPaoXhphH9nER3ziSxsokM-hlLb2E2yAtnxICPZVMo2I8fNlvdoIDkxVU/s1600/11-St.+Martin+of+Tours+%233-El+Greco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRIm7rLwx-zbsU-VmVs3B6AvbVxhIqV9TbEenlw3OBZI-DtAtzIyYKeQiG3BAdYYha4kP-Tp8sQ19L9dWpZ9jPaoXhphH9nER3ziSxsokM-hlLb2E2yAtnxICPZVMo2I8fNlvdoIDkxVU/s320/11-St.+Martin+of+Tours+%233-El+Greco.jpg" width="171" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s interesting that the soldier/saint honored today in the traditional denominations, St. Martin of Tours, was what we moderns would call a “conscientious objector”.
Martin was born sometime between 315 and 330, in what later became Hungary, but moved with his family to Italy. His father being a veteran of the Roman Legions, Martin wasn’t given a choice in entering the Roman army also...at age 15, serving in Gaul! He became a candidate for baptism [<i>catechumen</i>] when he was 18 and during that time had a profound religious experience. While on duty he came upon a beggar, naked and freezing, at the gates of Amiens. Having nothing but his armor and a cloak, Martin took his sword, and divided the cloak in half so that both the beggar and he were at least semi-clad. Later, in a dream, he visualized Jesus, with Martin’s cloak draped on his back, commenting to a “troop” of angels that it was Martin who’d clothed him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> About two years later, when he was 20, Martin’s unit was called up to battle a barbarian army who’d invaded Gaul. As an incentive, each soldier was offered a cash supplement before going into battle. Martin declined the offer, stating that he no longer found himself able to kill people, and requesting that he be allowed to serve only as a soldier of Christ. Predictably, he was called a coward, upon which he offered to go, unarmed and unprotected, to the front lines the next day and face the enemy with only the sign of Christ’s Cross. Despite his forthrightness, Martin was immediately imprisoned. Interestingly, during the night an armistice between the armies was somehow unexpectedly worked out, and Martin was “off the hook” and finally discharged from the army.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He subsequently had a long and interesting life: as a monk, founder of the first monastic community in Western Europe, a deacon, a priest, and eventually, literally forced by the people, the bishop of Tours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> And in the “Did you know?” category: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- our word “chapel” derives from the fact that a small oratory in Tours preserved the alleged “little cloak” [<i>capella</i>] of St. Martin. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- a German child, born on 11/10/1483 and baptized on the next day, 11/11, was named after St. Martin -- his name was Martin Luther. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">(Information source: <i>Stars In A Dark World</i>, by Fr. John-Julian, OJN)</span></div>
Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-65973700514183712132014-11-09T20:46:00.002-08:002014-11-09T20:47:48.657-08:00How's Your Befindlichkeit?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">An anonymous writer on a website which I ran across the other day<i>,</i> raises some interesting questions about today’s Epistle (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and Gospel (Matthew 25:1-13): “<i>How does one prepare for the unexpected? Just exactly how are we to live without some final answers?</i>” The writer suggests that the readings, particularly Matthew’s Gospel passage, “<i>are about what to do when we do not have all the answers we want. </i><b><i>They are about the mood, tactics, stance and attitude we ought to maintain until we do have more answers than we have now. </i></b><i>They are about what to do in this meantime; between this day and the day of God’s fulfillment, which no one has even the slightest clue when it might arrive -- and might not look like anything we were expecting anyway.</i>”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In reflecting on that, the writer alludes to the work of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), a noted German Catholic philosopher in the field of existential phenomenology. In his book <i>Being and Time</i>, written in 1927, Heidegger coined a German term: <i>Befindlichkeit</i>, generally translated to mean <i>state of mind</i>, but in more recent times also as <i>being in a mood</i>, <i>feeling</i>, <i>attitude, predisposition</i>. In German, if someone asks “<i>How are you?</i>” or “<i>How do you feel?</i>” or says “<i>I find myself in happy or sad circumstances</i>”, the word <i>befinden</i> is used. The phrase <i>Sich befinden</i> can mean <i>finding oneself</i>; <i>how I feel</i>; <i>how things are </i></span></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">going for me</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">; </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">what sort of situation I find myself in</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">. “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">To answer the question</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> [How are you?]” writes Dr. Eugene Gendlin, “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">you must find yourself, find how you already are. And when you do, you find yourself amidst the circumstances of your living.”</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">So, Heidegger came up with this clumsy German noun, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Befindlichkeit</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">, which is your </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">how-are-you-ness</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">, your </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">self-finding, where you are </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">at a given moment in your living. Applied to what today’s Epistle and Gospel are trying to convey, our awaiting and meeting Christ when he finally comes “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">is not a </i><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>when</i></b><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> to be calculated, but a </i><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>how</i></b><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> to be lived; not a matter of reckoning a definite time in the future, but of being ready</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">”,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">transformed</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">here and now, “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">and radically open to an indefinite possibility</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">” that is by its nature indefinite.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the Gospel invites us to “<i>keep awake</i>”. We’ve all had the experience of trying to keep awake without falling asleep. We‘ve fought drowsiness, perhaps by stretching or walking or drinking coffee in order to stay awake. Staying alert without sleep requires effort. In an army, in time of war, a soldier who falls asleep during his watch risks his own life and the lives of his buddies. This being true on a human level, how much more on a spiritual level.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the end of the first century, many Christians believed that Jesus’ second coming was just around the corner. They felt the need for a spiritual, hardworking and active watchfulness, because Jesus expected his own to be filled with a desire to meet him and be with him forever. Preparation for the coming of Jesus could have consequences for eternity. What was true for them is still true for us. Jesus will come to us one day, as really as he did two thousand years ago. Of course, Jesus can come at any time. For many years, some preachers have periodically forecast the end of the world and the impending arrival of Jesus. Those who are mature and grounded in their spiritual life know that, for most of us, our final encounter with Jesus will take place on the day of our death, but each day, today, brings us ever closer. As St. Paul reminds the Thessalonian community and us in the Epistle: “<i>...since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.</i>” </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every Christian, from the day of his or her baptism, is reminded of our final encounter with Jesus. In the rite of baptism the candidate is given a candle, symbol of our faith in Christ. It’s a sort of allusion to the forsightful virgin maidens of the Gospel, who provided oil for their lamps while awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom. The Saints remind us that the light-providing oil which prepares us for Jesus’ coming are our works of love, especially for the disadvantaged and those in need.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The invitation to be alert and watchful in order to prepare for the coming of Christ is good for all time. We’re to continually live with our eyes wide open. In our world there are persons and things who would distract and discourage us from faith in Jesus which we hold as members of the Body of Christ. We’re all familiar with the many charlatans and peddlers of new and false teachings and theories. The universal catholic faith has been handed down to us by our faithful teachers and mentors through the centuries since the Apostles. We who are the Church witness to the coming of Jesus every time that we celebrate the Eucharist together, as Jesus comes to us, here and now in his Body and Blood, making us ready to share one day in the Lord's Supper in his risen presence.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The vigilance and alertness for the future which we all need to cultivate isn’t out of fear of God or because of the shame of our sins, but because of our confidence and hope in God’s mercy and love. With effort, anchored in God's gracious promises, we, too, will share with him in glory. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What Matthew depicts Jesus discussing in both Chapters 24 and 25, parables of the reign of God which are in the Gospel today and in that of the next two Sundays, is motivated by a question raised earlier by the Apostles and Jesus’ answer to it: “<i>Tell us when all this will happen and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age.</i>” “‘<i>Watch,’ replied Jesus, ‘and see that no one deceives you...the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.</i>’” The word “<i>Then...</i>” is repeated no less than 10 times </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">throughout Chapters 24 and 25, just as in today’s parable: “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Then the kingdom of heaven may be compared with ten maidens, who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">[</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">and the bride</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">, acc. to other ancient manuscripts].” This time-reference (along with others) isn’t linear time, but a reference to help us understand our own present, our own condition, our state of mind and being, our </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Befindlichkeit, </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">to borrow Heidegger’s term, in relation to God’s coming. “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Enduring, keeping awake, is trusting that the Savior will come after the suffering, trusting that there will be something better, trusting that that One is truly Lord and not a false prophet. Then God alone, who is more powerful than all horrors, will be king.</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">” (Shauna K. Hannan)</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The main problem of the virgins in this Gospel is not that they fell asleep, since all alike slept, but rather that though a few prepared themselves for their task, for any eventuality that might happen, the others hadn’t taken into account that the bridegroom might be delayed. This parable, although it generally reflects the Jewish wedding customs of that time, contains some impossible details: For one, why is no bride mentioned? Probably the original text included her because marriage attendants, assisting the bride, not the bridegroom, belong to very ancient Near Eastern custom. Their function was to assist and act as custodians of the bride until the arrival of the bridegroom, in order that he could then take the bride to his home. So, in Matthew’s context, the virgin maidens’ task is to keep watch against the time of God’s visitation, when God comes to claim his bride. Some will unfortunately fail to keep trust; others will remain on guard and maintain vigilance. Jesus’ parable is both an exhortation and warning to <i>all of us</i> as custodians of the Church to “<i>keep awake</i>”. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There’s another seemingly impossible detail: Isn’t it a bit odd that all the maidens who were savvy about bringing enough oil would deliberately refuse to help their companions who were probably close friends and family, thus excluding them from the celebration? How would it have been possible to go shopping at midnight when no stores were open? Besides, who could deny that, at least according Matthew, the unprepared maidens were somehow scrappy and resourceful enough to find some oil, even though, eventually, they were shut out from the feast? Well, there are obviously a lot of unresolved questions about the parable and a number of ways in which you and I might come at the story. Nevertheless, the point of the Gospel passage seems to clearly underline the fact that watchfulness and preparedness for our ultimate meeting with Christ is a quite personal and necessary responsibility for each of us.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Lord continues coming in the middle of the night to call his own, through the normal process of human death, but even through extraordinary occurrences such as incurable diseases, accidents, and sudden passings. We can’t afford to waste time, however, in useless conjectures about the time of the final coming of Jesus for each of us. We’re to be a watchful, faithful, listening community, vitally tuned into the signs of our time. As we, in our uniquely personal situations, experience the birth pangs of the coming reign of God, we need to constantly measure our present situation with that reign. In continual prayer we ask that God’s reign may come, that Jesus, Lord of all, may awaken hope in us that all creation will finally be renewed and that God’s righteousness, compassion, and love may prevail. As St. Paul advises us: “<i>Therefore encourage one another with these words.</i>”</span></span><br />
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Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-76990784895910539132014-11-05T10:59:00.001-08:002014-11-05T10:59:31.336-08:00The Morning After<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"<i>My beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life, so that my boast for the day of Christ may be that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. But, even if I am poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with all of you. In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.</i>" (<i>Letter to the Philippians 2:12-18</i>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From the time that I was qualified to vote up to the present, some 50+ years, I have faithfully and reasonably, to the extent I've been able, exercised my right to vote on the leadership and issues of our country</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, nationally and locally</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Increasingly since the debacle of the 2000 national elections, I've grown more and more uncomfortable and disturbed by what I see happening. Let me make it clear: what I write here is my own viewpoint and perception. I don't share it with any expectation of anyone necessarily agreeing with me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This reflection came to me this morning as I was praying over the above text in light of the election results. I'm at the point, on this morning after the elections, where I recognize that the United States is continuing a longstanding process of serious decline. In my humble opinion, the political system in this country is pervasively dysfunctional and broken, and our three branches of government are drifting further and further from the ideals, such as they were, of the founding fathers. Additionally, it's more obvious than ever that a government "<i>of the people, by the people and for the people</i>" has been quietly and rapidly taken captive by Corporate America: Big Oil, Big Pharm, Big Ag, Big Business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what is one who is devoted to God's "<i>good purpose</i>" to do? Notice, I don't use the word "<i>Christian</i>" because that has become an almost meaningless term, a sort of hypocritical tag which a lot of principle-less people, particularly politicians, adopt, unfortunately bearing little resemblance to those who genuinely espouse the teachings of Jesus the Christ. Paul uses the word "<i>obedient</i>", a rich word from the Latin <i>ob </i>+ <i>audire = to really listen and hear</i>. He says that with that gift you and I are to "<i>work out your salvation with fear and trembling</i>", recognizing that it's God in Christ who "<i>for his good purpose</i>" is at work in us "<i>both to desire and to work</i>". If I genuinely "<i>hold on to the word of life</i>", I know that I can't "do life" or anything else by my own ingenuity or skill. It's all about God in Christ who's responsible for the initiative and the carrying out of any human enterprise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paul suggests that, "<i>in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation</i>", "<i>without grumbling or questioning</i>", we continue to hold onto the Word, and his word, of life, who expressed himself, and calls us to express ourselves, in love for one another: letting our whole selves be "<i>poured out as a libation</i>" to support and encourage the faithful service and sacrifice of others, to rejoice and to share joy and hope and mercy and forgiveness whenever and wherever it's needed. That is so foreign to the current culture of this country, especially the political culture, as to be simply laughable to many.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, we shall see. We cannot know God's "<i>good purpose</i>"…yet. We undoubtedly couldn't handle knowing it! Right now our task is to "<i>run</i>" and "<i>labor</i>" and "<i>shine like lights in the world</i>", beacons of hope. Paul suggests that it won't be in vain! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-83666672464711534992014-11-03T10:27:00.001-08:002014-11-03T10:30:22.514-08:00Remembering the Holy Souls<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In one of his treatises Anglican martyr, Hugh Latimer, speaks of the departed as possessing God's love, "<i>charity</i>", "<i>in such surety that they cannot lose it…</i>" He says that, as members of Christ's mystical Body, the Holy Souls love us, wish us well and pray for us. They are one with Christ, endlessly praising and thanking God, and sharing God's complete joy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"<i>And they do us alway good, unless the lack and impediment be in us: for prayer said in charity is more faithful to them that it is said for, and more acceptable to God, than that which is said out of </i>[lack of]<i> charity. <b>For God looketh not to the work of praying, but to the heart of the prayer…</b></i>" That's something of which we should be especially mindful as we pray for our departed loved ones.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In any case, the feast of All Souls is one of hope for us, not one meant to engender fear or dread. To quote another great Anglican divine, John Donne, from his <i>Holy Sonnets</i>:</span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Death be not proud, though some have called thee </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And soonest our best men with thee doe got, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Rest of their bones, and soules delivery. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then? </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.</i></span></div>
Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-16623956371125341142014-11-02T16:30:00.000-08:002014-11-02T16:30:08.761-08:00Holiness & Servant Leadership<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There’s a wonderful quote in the autobiography of the great Carmelite foundress, mystic, and saint, Teresa of Avila, which says: “<i>Life is spent in an uncomfort-able inn.</i>” That Teresa and most, if not all the saints, experienced this should be a comforting reassurance for you and me as we struggle to meet the challenges of a 21st century world.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It so happens that yesterday’s feast and today’s celebration of All Saints provides a perfect background for reflection on what would normally be Sunday’s liturgical readings: Joshua 3:7-17; Psalm 107:1-7; 33-37; 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; 17-20; Matthew 23:1-12)</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the Church’s seven principal feasts, All Saints Day honors all the saints, or holy ones, known and unknown. Its originated as early as the 4th century, when Christians began to honor notably holy people, particularly martyrs, witnesses to the Christian faith. In the 7th century, the Western Emperor, Phocas, gave the ancient Pantheon to the Church. It was a temple to all the pagan gods, and was and still is located on the Piazza della Rotunda in Rome. Pope Boniface IV consecrated it, dedicating it to “<i>Santa Maria della Rotunda</i>” and all the martyrs. Eventually, the feast was fixed on November 1 for the entire Church. Thomas Cranmer, author of the <i>Book of Common Prayer</i> in 1549, retained only those feasts of saints mentioned in the New Testament, as well as this feast of All Saints in the church calendar.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Church is <i>holy</i> not only because a few of her members are held up as saints, but because each and all of us who are the Church are called to mirror and be channels of God’s holiness, life, and presence to one another. Recall the Genesis story, where the Creator is described as pausing over each created thing and being, and observing: “<i>It is good.</i>” God, source of all being, goodness, beauty, wholeness, and therefore, holiness, puts a stamp of approval, a stamp of holiness, on all of creation. Holiness or sanctity doesn’t come from a person’s own heroism or efforts, but from the fact that s/he is “gifted”, graced, with God’s own life and motivated by God to share God’s life and presence with others. Holiness, therefore, is an ideal, but a <i>realizable</i> ideal, meant to help build up the Church and, indeed, all of human society. It’s not just for a few select souls, but for <i>all </i>of us. Despite the reality of human sinfulness, Jesus nevertheless says: “<i>I come not to call the righteous, but sinners.</i>”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Through Baptism into Christ, holiness becomes part of our spiritual DNA. Plunged into the very life of God, which is love and service, we’re one-ed to God and to one another. Jesus is the unique pattern and model for humankind, living as the Holy One who loved God to the point of identification, and loved others as a servant, attending to their pain, hunger and need. None of us has the luxury of saying: “<i>But being a saint, being holy, isn’t for </i><b><i>me</i></b><i> -- it may be for the canonized saints, but surely not for </i><b><i>me</i></b><i>.</i>” That’s an evasion of one’s baptismal commitment. It’s never a </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">question of worthiness, but of willingness: willingness to deliberately commit oneself in love to God, and willingness to commit oneself to the service of one’s sisters and brothers.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Saints aren’t just select heroes chosen by the Church, but all of <i>us </i>who’ve been reborn in Jesus and His Spirit through Baptism, and who take seriously the pledge we’ve made to follow Jesus. In that covenant we declare that we’ll resist evil, and return to the Lord when our weakness and selfishness overcome our resolve. More importantly, we pledge to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ by what we say and by what we do each day. We agree to seek and serve God in all people, to love them as we love ourselves. In the cause of justice and peace, we agree to respect every person’s dignity. Dom Hélder Camara, late Brazilian Archbishop, summed it up this way:</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>...Let no one be scandalized if I frequent</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Those who are considered unworthy</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or sinful. Who is not a sinner?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let no one be alarmed if I am seen</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With compromised and dangerous people,</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the left or the right,</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let no one bind me to a group.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My door, my heart, must be open</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To everyone, absolutely everyone.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Lesbia Scott composed the popular hymn, #293, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">I Sing a Song of the Saints of God</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">, in the Episcopal </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Hymnal 1982,</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> along with other children’s hymns which she sang to her own children in the 1920’s. The hymn caught on in the U.S. during the 1940’s, particularly after it was set to a new tune by a retired Episcopal priest, The Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Jr. Scott’s hymn celebrates the kind of holy people, “saints”, whom you and I run into all the time. It gives just a sampling of a veritable catalog of folks who continually inspire us to become more “holy” as well as more “whole” in our lives: doctors and nurses, farmers and field workers, soldiers, martyrs, school students, seafarers and fisher folk, church workers, train operators, taxi drivers and passengers, shopkeepers, even priests; people who not only serve tea, but Starbucks barristas, restaurant wait, cooking and cleaning staff, bosses and co-workers, teachers and fellow students, neighbors and friends. The thing which we all have in common, as the hymn notes, is that they’re “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">just folks like me</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">” and you.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To become <i>holy</i> means to become <i>whole</i>, integrated, communal, as human persons and as followers of Jesus. Though that is a lifetime project, and a costly one at that, none of us can weasel out of it. Jesus has pledged to all of us who “<i>labor</i>”: “<i>I will give you rest.</i>” Jesus renews that promise to you and me each time we come forward, hands outstretched, to share his Body and Blood in the Eucharist: the “<i>communion of saints</i>”.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps the key sentence in Matthew’s Gospel is the one where Jesus says: “<i>The greatest among you will be your servant…</i>” What Jesus is talking about in the sentence quoted is what we today call <i>servant leadership</i>. Speaking from my own 30+ years of experience in this Diocese, especially in mutual parish ministry in several churches, servant leadership isn’t something new in the Church. Nevertheless, it’s taken many folks a while to absorb exactly what the <i>Book of Common Prayer </i>is saying in the <i>Outline of Faith</i> (p. 855): “<i>Who are the ministers of the Church? The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons. What is the ministry of the laity? The ministry of lay persons is to represent </i>[re-present]<i> Christ and his Church; to bear witness </i>[from the Greek for <i>martyr</i>]<i> to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church…</i>” </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Please note that phrase: “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">...according to the gifts given them…</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">” “Servant leader” doesn’t mean that </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">every</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> single member is called to be a Senior Warden, or the director of the Altar Guild, or a Convention delegate, or a Church School teacher. But every member </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>is</i></b><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> called</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> to be a servant leader, “</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">according to the gifts given them</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">”.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was totally amazed when I Googled “<i>Servant Leadership</i>” and found how widespread this concept has been and is, not only in the Church, but in the secular, particularly business and management, sectors of the world for some time now. Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990), who formally coined and defined the words “<i>servant leadership</i>” in the secular setting, lists 10 characteristics of a servant leader:</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Listening</i>: not just hearing, but actively listening; paying attention to others’ unspoken needs; supporting others in decisions.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Empathy: </i>putting oneself in the others’ shoes, so to speak; trying to understand their point of view; respecting and appreciating others.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Healing: </i>attending to both one’s self and others; helping to resolve conflict in ways that educate and help others grow and mature; utilizing humor and fun, and creating an atmosphere free of the fear of failure.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Awareness</i>: again, both of oneself and others; really “being there” when communicating with others.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Persuasion: </i>not by exerting power, status, or rank, but influencing others by being clear, speaking from conviction, and by reasoning together.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Conceptualization: </i>thinking “outside the box”; looking with vision beyond day-to-day realities and limits to what can be; setting specific goals and strategies to achieve them.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Foresight: </i>learning about the past so as to better understand the current reality, and being able to foresee the likely outcome of situations as well as their consequences.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Stewardship: </i>holding the institution in trust for the greater good of its members and of others in the surrounding society, by advocating for honesty, openness and accountability.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Commitment to peoples’ growth: </i>recognizing the other’s intrinsic value, beyond simply what they do or can do; encouraging others to nurture their gifts and their spiritual lives; welcoming ideas or input by anyone, and involving others in decision-making through consensus.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- <i>Building community: </i>dedicating oneself to find ways to build an ever stronger community within the institution, as well as trying to develop genuine community within the surrounding society.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>The greatest among you will be your servant…</i>” Undoubtedly, the finest summary, in a Christian context, of these words of Jesus in the Gospel, are found in St. Paul’s encouragement to the Ephesian Christian community: “<i>I...beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">...Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift...to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up of the body of Christ…</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>...speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped...promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.” </i>(Ephesians 4:1-3; 7; 12; 15-16)</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Would that our parish profiles might come to look something like that as we labor to understand our mission to the world!</span></span><br />
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Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-78397127185047278752014-10-29T11:55:00.002-07:002014-10-29T11:56:30.641-07:00Some Thoughts On Grace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What can be the <i>driving force, the motivation</i> which leads a person either to begin, to begin anew, or to continue to live the life which we call “Christian”? I believe that the answer to this is what we call <i>grace</i>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The word <i>grace</i> can have lots of meanings and understandings. We speak of “grace” before meals. We point to the style and “grace” of an ice-skater or a ballet dancer. When special guests come, we set a table “graced” with fine linen, elegant china, and exquisite crystal. We even speak of the “grace” of a happy death.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Christmas Day, 1977, when my daughter was seven years old, she came to me with a small, taped-up envelope as we were opening our gifts. From the hapless care with which she’d wrapped it, and the solemn way in which she presented it -- with all of a 1st grader’s formality! -- I knew that it was something very special. On a small card, a familiar scrawl had written: “<i>Dad, I know that this is a very small thing for a gift but it is the only rare and beatyfull </i>[thing]<i> I could find. I hope you like it...</i>” Enclosed in the card was a large, chipped rhinestone. That is one of the most precious gifts I’ve ever received, because the rhinestone was a symbol for the really rare and beautiful gift: the gift of herself. What I experienced in receiving that child’s gift is about as close as I can come, humanly, to describing what God’s gift of grace to you and me is like.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Episcopal <i>Book of Common Prayer</i> (p. 858) says that “<i>Grace is God’s favor towards us, unearned and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills.</i>” <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>God’s favor</i>”: When you’re a favorite or when someone does you a favor, it’s because you’re special; in fact, because you’re unique. You mean something. You’re important to the other person. And </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">the favor is freely given. The giver consciously chooses to give it to you. A mature person doesn’t give favors indiscriminately or routinely. Favor is reserved for a special someone, on a rare and</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">singular occasion. Grace is God’s favoring you and me: except that it’s not some</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">thing</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">. It’s God’s very self, God Who is amazing Love, and that is given to you at creation forever, if you choose, in the very person and nature who you and I are.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>Towards us, unearned and undeserved</i>”: St. Paul has a passage in Ephesians 2 (5-10), and upon reading it one morning in the study hall my first year in college seminary, I broke into tears at the power of its message: “<i>Even though we were dead in our sins, God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love God had for us, gave us life together with Christ -- it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved...Thus God shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness God has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve: it was God’s gift...which saved you. No one can pride oneself on earning the love of God. The fact is that what we are, we owe to the hand of God upon us…</i>” “Unearned”, “undeserved”. We can each easily recall just the <i>foolish</i> things we’ve done in the past: the careless mistakes, the dumb things we all do without using our God-given reason -- not to mention our <i>willful and deliberate selfishness</i>. Yet St. Paul assures us that “<i>though sin is shown to be wide and deep, thank God that God’s grace is wider and deeper still!</i>”</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The description of grace I mentioned before goes on to say that God’s favor “<i>forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills.</i>” Remember the phrase in St. Luke’s account of the Gospel (17:21) where he says: “<i>The reign of God is within you</i>”? Well, that’s what being in grace means: God in Jesus is present within you: all the time, forgiving in mercy, enlightening by his Word, loving and empowering you through the Holy Spirit. Christ’s presence is a <i>sanctifying grace</i>, i.e., a <i>holy-making gift</i>, because the Holy God -- Creator, Redeemer, and Amazing Love -- hands God’s very self over to you and to me, God’s “favored” ones.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Coming to faith by gradual awareness of God’s presence in us through Christ and the Spirit, in the very person and nature in which you and I are created, amounts to something of a personal revolution. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We’re all seekers by nature. Spiritual writer James Finley describes a seeker as "<i>a person who, having once caught a glimpse of God, knows that only God will do</i>". We can all think of times when we’ve had “<i>quickening moments</i>”, “<i>stirrings of love</i>”, “<i>fleeting flashes</i>”. In those moments we subtly recognize the holiness of life as it is: in nature around us; in our times of intimacy; in solitude; in music, poetry and art; in the experience of birth; in observing children and young people; in helping others; even in experiencing death, our own or others’. These are moments of revelation, literally, of having the “veil”, the curtain, pulled back for us. God passes through the gate in our momentary quickenings, awakening us to Love, to Godself, given to us in our creation. God continually awakens you and me to see that we have the ability to live habitually conscious of this Love giving Itself away. It calls forth in us a desire for a more lasting, daily deepening awareness of the life which is at once God’s and ours. And the effect of these moments of grace is cumulative, i.e., they lead to our wanting to set out upon the path leading to even deeper experiences of oneness with the Love which abides at the very center of our being. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">For some, this happens at an important turning-point in our life. For others, it gains momentum through a longer process of investigation, questioning, study, and struggle. For all of us, this is what we mean by “following Christ”, living the Christian life, living in grace.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In speaking of “Grace” through the years: in sermons, retreats and Cursillos, I’ve often begun by saying: “<i>I was conceived in and born of “Grace”. </i>That was because my mother’s name was “Grace”. My mom favored me with warmth and understanding; with respect and love for others: with a sense of fairness and honesty. She shared with me her basic sense of the holy; of responsibility; and a love of learning. For Grace, who died in 2003 at age 88, her giving didn’t come easy. My father had left us when I was about three, and I was raised as an only child, though 50 years later, through a complicated maze of circumstances, I learned that I actually had four half-brothers and three half-sisters, who, except for a sister and a brother now deceased, range from ages 88 to 47! Grace and her older sister, Florence, my godmother, were only two years apart in age. They were very close growing up, not only as sisters, but as best friends. Sadly, both began drinking heavily in their young adulthood, and by midlife, both had become dependent on alcohol. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just after 8th Grade, having lived with my mom only 14 years, I entered Catholic seminary. A year after being ordained a Catholic priest in 1964, I unexpectedly and literally on the spur of the moment, made Cursillo #5 at a parish in Ft. Wayne, IN, in June, 1965, a men’s weekend with 57 laymen and clergy attending. I still have the group picture and my original notes from the weekend. There I experienced first-hand and in a new way an incredible testimony to love and grace, shown in the caring and giving of the Cursillo team members and other participants. That love and grace was held out to each of us candidates for the taking. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Three months later, I had an even more vivid encounter of the workings of love and grace which I’d witnessed at that Cursillo weekend. It was the autumn of 1965, and Aunt Florence’s problems with alcohol had become so serious that, by then, after an illustrious career as a nurse for almost 30 years, she now couldn’t hold down a job. By then I was at my first assignment for the Society of the Precious Blood: teaching philosophy and theology at a college in Wichita, KS. Florence called me one day from Ohio, and, in her inebriated desperation, calmly told me that she’d “hit bottom”, and that she simply wanted to end it all with the gun she had. She was calling me as a last resort before deciding whether or not to go through with it. All I could do was listen, for over an hour, and talk, and encourage her, and joke with her, and pray quietly. I honestly didn’t know what she would do after we hung up.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fast forward three months: I learned from my Mom that Florence had gone back to college, she’d become active at church and was teaching a religion class, and had returned to her nursing job. She’d discovered Alcoholics Anonymous, and had come to know how her Higher Power’s amazing love and grace was able to transform her life. Yes, and by that same love and grace Florence, too, made a Cursillo, in 1972, two years before she died of cancer. The circle of God’s love and grace kept expanding. A year later, in 1973, my Mom, Grace, also discovered Alcoholics Anonymous, through Florence’s testimony to Love. Seven years after that, Grace became the third person in our family to make a Cursillo!</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After Florence’s recovery began, my mother told me that in each of Florence’s AA talks, and she gave many, she said that what was initially a turning point for her was something her nephew and godson had said to her during that conversation in the autumn of 1965. What I’d said to her in passing (and I’d actually forgotten it) was: “<i>The difference between a saint and a sinner is that the sinner falls, refuses to get up, and just stays there; whereas the saint is a sinner who falls, but trusts Christ enough to take his hand, and to get up and go on.</i>” It wasn’t even an original thought of mine, but rather something I’d heard during a college retreat! Yet it’s an example of how witnessing to love and grace, even subconsciously, can unfold exponentially, if we allow it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eleven years later, after I’d left the Community and the priesthood, and after many, many spiritual dark valleys, traveling an unbelievable journey on which only God could have led me, I landed in California at a parish where one of the first things the Rector said to me was: “<i>Hey, there’s something I think you might like to get involved in: it’s called ‘Cursillo‘“...</i>Amazing grace! Some time after that, despite all my attempts at stonewalling, kicking and screaming, God favored me with the grace of priesthood for a second time, in the Episcopal Church; and this past June, I celebrated a total of 50 years as a priest.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The second talk during my Cursillo in 1965 was given by a Fr. McNulty, of whom I have no recollection at all, since he was there only for that talk. But I do remember that the title of his talk was “Grace”, and that in my original notes I jotted down that he had said this: “<i>Grace is what God has to do to me to enable me to love as</i> [God] <i>loves.</i>” </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Francis Thompson’s poem, <i>The Hound of Heaven</i>, one which I’ve loved ever since high school, talks about Love’s relentless pursuit of you and me in lines which couldn’t be a better summing up of Grace:</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>Alack, thou knowest not</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How little worthy of any love thou art!</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All which I took from thee I did but take,</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not for thy harms, </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All which thy child’s mistake</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Rise, clasp My hand, and come.”</i> </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">(<i>Adapted from a talk given at a Cursillo, October 24, 2014</i>)</span></span></div>
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Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6153897996257110252.post-17256663514253767542014-09-07T15:36:00.000-07:002014-09-07T15:36:01.223-07:00How To Deal With A Sticky Wicket<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ezekiel spoke his prophecies in the historical context of the 6th cent. B. C. exile of the Jewish people to Babylon. Nebuchadrezzar II had captured the city of Jerusalem in 597 and sent the king, Jehoiakim, most of the ruling class, and many others, including Ezekiel, to Babylon. Ezekiel lived for five years in a town along the Chebar River, and four years after being exiled, Ezekiel reflects,<i>“the heavens opened, and I saw visions of God...”</i> Today’s reading is taken from the third part of Ezekiel’s book, Chapters 33-48, dating from the time after Jerusalem’s fall. God’s commissioning of Ezekiel is recounted both in Chapters 1-3 and in Chapter 33, today’s reading.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, and a priest, was a younger contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah. God’s commission to Ezekiel is very clear (Ezekiel 33:7-11):<i> “Mortal, I have made you a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.” </i>He’s to be God’s watchman, pushing an unwilling people to take personal responsibility for their actions by communicating to them what God expects of them. But Ezekiel is a bridge-prophet. Like prophets before the Exile he insists that religion must be a true inner commitment to God, lived out in daily life. He’s clear about the reality of sin, and about the certainty of the people’s accountability before God’s judgment. But like the later prophets Ezekiel, with his deep sense of God’s utter holiness and transcendence, is also keenly aware of the people’s need to faithfully honor God in their worship. He struggles with the issue of<i> </i>their repeated infidelity and guilt, with the reality that they’ve constantly met God’s acts of mercy with rebelliousness and disregard, to the point that now the logical consequence of their irresponsibility is the destruction of Jerusalem, the very center of their life and worship. They have, in effect, questioned God’s nearness and openness to them, implying that God is different from God’s revelation of Godself, that God is something other than God really is. And Ezekiel’s call is to be God’s sentinel, God’s watchman: informing them of the deserved punishment about to come upon them, as well as teaching them that, despite all this, God unrelentingly forgives them. Ezekiel prepares them for God’s future restoration of their nation and for God’s inner renewal of their hearts.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Echoing Ezechiel’s message, St. Paul reminds the Roman Christians (Romans 13:8-14) that <i>“...we owe no one anything except to love one another...”</i>, that each person is to <i>“Love your neighbor as yourself...”</i> for <i>“love is the fulfilling of the law.”</i> Paul recognized that, as the reign of God takes shapes among human beings, in every community of faith where you have two or more people together, there’s bound to be disagreements, arguments, and conflicts! When you and I are baptized, God commissions each of us, in and through Jesus the Christ, to be sentinels, watch-persons, over our lives: individually and as a community, the Church. To live in the reign of God means genuinely committing ourselves inwardly to live holy and loving lives all the time, not just selectively; recognizing when we’re acting selfishly, and holding both ourselves and others, as is appropriate, accountable. The guiding principle for this is always LOVE: love of God and love of one another, as Jesus teaches us. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To help us in a practical way to deal with differences of opinion and conviction, in varying degrees of intensity, through generosity and mutual understanding, Matthew’s Gospel passage (Matthew 18:15-20) depicts Jesus offering one way, certainly <i>not</i> the only way, of doing this. First, you go to the other person(s) in order to resolve the difficulty and be reconciled. Secondly, if that doesn’t work, you take several others in order to try again. Then, if again you’re unable to work out a mutual agreement, you take the matter to the wider community.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is the point at which things can get sticky. What Matthew suggests Jesus saying, if an impasse is reached, is this: <i>“let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector...</i>” That<i> </i>seems unduly harsh, and presents an obvious problem. Perhaps we need to look at this with new eyes. A story from the early desert fathers may give us a clue. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the hermits, facing a similar situation, goes to seek advice from the wise Abba Poemen. Abba Poemen tells him to follow in good faith all of the steps suggested by the Gospel. If an agreement still seems impossible, says Abba Poemen: “<i>...then pray to God without anxiety, that </i><b><i>God </i></b><i>may satisfy him/them, and do not worry about it.</i>” </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Abba Poemen’s strategy is that, if in our conflicts with others we simply shun them, there likely <i>will be</i> no further possibility of resolution. He believes that if I’ve done all that I can and still reconciliation has failed, nevertheless, the effort should still continue, but in a diffferent way. One should pray to God without anxiety that God alone may help the other person(s) and us to work through the difficulty, thus all becoming effective participants in the reign of God.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s important for us to remember that even “<i>a Gentile and a tax collector</i>”, figuratively speaking, is also part of the reign of God, though perhaps unknowingly. Earlier in Matthew (12:18; 21), Jesus quotes Isaiah, referring to the Messiah: “<i>‘Here is my servant...and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles...And in his name the Gentiles will hope.’</i>” </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Lutheran pastor, Hank Langknecht comments: “</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i>A fanciful approach to this text might pretend that Jesus is talking to himself here since, in the end, he is the One against whom all have sinned...Jesus comes to us first alone, then embodied in one or two members of the community, and then Jesus surrounds us with loved ones who desire our repentance. And even though the plain sense of verse 17 is that those who fail to repent are excommunicated...in the reading for Proper 21 </i>[Sept. 28]<i> Jesus will tell us that tax collectors are entering the kingdom ahead of the righteous. So if it is true that in our refusal to repent we become as Gentiles and tax collectors, it is clear that <b>we</b> then become special objects of Jesus' attention and mercy.</i>”</span></span></div>
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Harry Allagreehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00602579654460463057noreply@blogger.com1