Do We Get It?

The context of today’s first reading (Isaiah 40:21-31) is the Israelites’ exile in Babylon.  God is about to liberate them through an unlikely figure: Cyrus II of Persia.  The reading today comes just after the section in Chapter 40 where: 1) God has announced a new beginning, a new epoch; 2) God prods the people to begin preparing to return from their long exile, and also for God’s coming in glory; 3) God’s incomparability as Creator of all is highlighted and emphasized against merely human nations and empires who, compared to God, are nothing.

God begins by asking rhetorically: “Do you all get it yet??”  God is the origin, and the in-between, and the end of everything in our lives.

“Who created these?”, God asks, pointing at the magnificent and vast created world.  It’s only in the first lines of Genesis and in this passage that the Hebrew word bara = created is used.  It is God who is the Source of beginnings in our lives, God who is the Source sustaining us, and God who is the Source bringing everything to completion, in love.  “The Lord is the everlasting God.”  And God emphasizes this so much because we forget it so much, especially when preoccupied with the pain and suffering and loss in which we frequently find ourselves.  

In v. 27 Israel is on the “pity pot” because of such narrow vision: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.” After all of God’s demonstrated promises and proofs throughout their past history, they’re frustrated, fearful that God has forgotten them and left them alone.  If they could look long enough at the big picture, they’d see that human suffering is only temporary, and more, that it’s a necessary part of God’s bigger design.  “God gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless...those who wait for the Lord [and not for the “good old days” or “what might have been”] shall renew their strength...”

Mark’s Gospel passage (1:29-39) helps us with this message from a different slant.  There are two parts.  Part I takes place at Capernaum.  Jesus is “on the road” which will eventually lead to Jerusalem and to his death.  (Hints of Lent, soon to come, and very appropriate on this Sunday, traditionally known as Septuagesima Sunday: 70 days before Easter.) There’s a progression leading from Christ’s Baptism, to his being led into the desert to be tested, then on to his calling those who would take up his cause, and finally to his being on the road to do his ministry.  Mark’s message is that Jesus’ agenda is the same as that of his Father and of the Spirit: namely, to bring God’s reign to reality.

You may notice some similarities to last week’s Gospel where: 1) Jesus, acting on his own, heals someone, the demon-possessed man; and 2) demons are present.  They mess up human lives and they fear Jesus.  The reason is because they “know” who Jesus is and that they are incapable of being present in our lives along with the Holy One.  Though many of the afflicted and of those standing around don’t understand, the demons definitely know who’s in charge.

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, Paul very clearly refers to her as possibly accompanying Peter on his mission.  Perhaps the mother-in-law had the flu: “she was in bed with a fever”, 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 to get them all something to eat, as any good Jewish mother would do!  Perhaps Mark inserts this little detail in his Gospel to hold up the mother-in-law as an example to us in looking beyond her own ills to the needs of others.

As so often happens in Jesus’ ministry, it doesn’t take long for the news to get around that he’s done something dramatic, even though he tries so hard to keep a lid on it [what the biblical 

scholars refer to as the “Messianic Secret”].  By sundown sick and possessed people are lined up, taking numbers at the home in order to take advantage of a free healing by the Rabbi.  Jesus responds tirelessly, healing those with “various diseases” and casting out “many demons”, whom Jesus doesn’t permit to speak.  

Mark then shifts immediately to Part II of the reading which takes place the following morning.  It represents Mark’s understanding of Jesus’ goals and objectives in proclaiming God’s reign as Jesus himself models them.

First, Jesus is up very early, before dawn, in order to pray.  You get the feeling, reading this, that it was part of Jesus’ regular routine.  He goes to a “deserted place”, though obviously not a desert, a place of silence.  He communes with the Holy Source of his healing ministry and of his preaching power.  But his peace is short-lived, because Peter and the gang come hunting for him, and loudly announce that “Everyone” is looking for Jesus! [Every parish rector/vicar on Sunday morning can identify with this!] It’s not that they’ve suddenly gotten inspired by his preaching about God’s coming reign.  They’re focussed on “getting healed”, getting a hand-out, preoccupied with their frustrations, their lack and their emptiness.

Jesus stops the disciples in their tracks by announcing: “We’re moving on, to the neighboring towns, so that I can get on with preaching the message, the Good News: ‘for that is what I 

came to do.’”  And Mark notes that he did just that: preached “throughout Galilee” in the synagogues and cast out demons.   Now think about this for a minute. Suppose you’d brought 

yourself, or  perhaps your spouse or your child to Capernaum, in an impossible physical or mental or spiritual condition, for healing, or at least for advice or a kind word -- and the healer says he’s moving on! What would you be thinking and feeling as you watch him and his band trudge down the road, away from your village?? What do you do now?? Where do you go?? Who will help?? And how, at that moment, would you be feeling toward God?? The fact is that we’ve all probably been there at that place.

Our lives are constantly full of new beginnings, both in happy times and, ironically, in the midst of suffering and difficulty.  Some years ago, just after a friend of mine split up with her partner, I reminded her that she could bet that some sort of new call from God was probably in that very situation. Our whole task as human beings and as Christian human beings is to prepare for return from our exiles, and to prepare for God’s coming in glory in our lives.  That won’t necessarily be a dramatic end-time event, but rather a quiet coming of God’s reign, through our simple ministries, which we help bring about in our own and others’ lives.

We need to continually ask ourselves: “Do we really get it??”:  i.e., the vision of Christ to bring all together in God who is Love through Jesus.  Even when we feel left out, frustrated, fearful, angry, God sustains us and renews our strength.  Perhaps the best way to know and to recognize that is in and through our demonstrated love for one another.  

The Spirit of Love enables us to do this through prayer; through proclaiming the Good News of Love; through speaking the truth to power, when necessary, whether in political or religious realms; through healing others by our thoughts, words, and deeds.

Over the past several years there’ve been many times when I felt a bit like those Israelites whom God addresses in Isaiah’s reading: on my “pity pot”, bemoaning “My way is hidden from the Lord...”, as I’ve watched the progression of my son’s illness, and almost his death at one point.  I know only too well what it’s like to feel left behind in frustration, anxiety, and agitation.  At the same time, though, I’ve discovered that prayer has become increasingly important, and I’ve uncomfortably experienced God confronting me, as God did the Israelites, with questions: “Have you not known; have you not heard...God gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless...”  

I think that the way I really began to “get it” was through my own dear son, in the midst of his daily struggle to keep going, when in 2009 he sent me a poem he’d written: 

In all of us there is a meadow that exists. 

It is the place where God exists.

The harsh weather dries the meadow out 

to the point where there is no growth.

How can it be a meadow still? 

No green, no moisture, nothing that one can walk through 

feeling the soft tickle of spires of thin grass on the legs.

God lives in the deep cracks of the earth. 

God lives in the constant, cool breeze 

that flows through the vast and expansive land we [inhabit].

Gently touch the cracks of the earth -- the dry cold earth -- 

and God will always grow the green soft grace that soothes the

soul. 

You just don't need to see it or smell it 

to know that it will grow.

   

The Meeting Of The Lord

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, which is commemorated today, celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. St. Luke, in his Gospel (2:22–40), relates that Mary and Joseph took Jesus the infant to the temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth, in order to complete Mary's ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn, as provided for in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12-15, etc.). Mothers were to offer a lamb, if means permitted; otherwise, “two doves or two young pigeons”. Joseph and Mary chose the second option of sacrifice. Leviticus 12:1-4 indicates that this event should take place forty days after birth for a male child, and so the Church’s liturgy designates February 2 for the Presentation, forty days after Christmas on December 25.


As Mary and Joseph enter the temple with Jesus, they encounter a man named Simeon. Luke describes Simeon as “righteous and devout”, noting that he had been promised that "he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah" (Luke 2:26). Simeon prays in words which we now refer to as the Nunc Dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, which prophesied that Jesus would be “a light for revelation” to both Israel and the Gentile nations.


Simeon then says to Mary: "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed...and a sword will pierce your own soul too...” (Luke 2:34-35).


An elderly prophetess, Anna was also in the Temple, and began to praise to God and to speak about the infant Jesus to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:36-38).


In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Eastern Catholic Churches, this feast is sometimes called Hypapante = “meeting”. Other traditional names include Candlemas, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, and the Meeting of the Lord. In the Roman Catholic and Episcopal Churches the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord marks the conclusion of the season of Epiphany.


As mentioned earlier, the date of Candlemas is established by the date set for the Nativity of Jesus, and comes forty days afterwards. The Jewish Torah provided that a mother who had given birth to a male child was considered unclean for seven days. Further, she was to remain for thirty-three days "in the blood of her purification." Candlemas corresponds to the day on which Mary, according to Jewish law, would have participated in a ceremony of ritual purification. Luke relates that Mary was purified according to the religious law, followed by Jesus' presentation in the temple.


Traditionally the Western term Candlemas, or Candle Mass, referred to the practice of blessing beeswax candles on February 2, and of distributing some of them to church members for use throughout the year in their homes. In Poland the feast is called the "Holiday of the Mother of God of Thunder", referring to gromnicy, candles which were lit during thunder storms and placed in windows to ward off storms.


Within the Roman Catholic Church, since the liturgical revisions of Vatican Council II, references to candles and the purification of Mary have been de-emphasised in favor of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Though it is certainly a pious fiction, according to over eight centuries of tradition, the swaddling clothes which Jesus the infant wore during the Presentation are kept and venerated in Dubrovnik Cathedral, Croatia.


The Feast of the Presentation is among the most ancient feasts of the Church. There are sermons on the Feast by 4th century bishops Methodius of Patara, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory the Theologian, and 5th century bishops Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom. The earliest reference to specific liturgical rites surrounding the feast have been handed down to us from the travelling 4th century nun, Egeria, during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She reported that February 14 was a day solemnly kept in Jerusalem with a procession to Constantine I's Basilica of the Resurrection, with a homily preached on Luke 2:22, and a Divine Liturgy. This so-called Itinerarium Peregrinatio = Pilgrimage Itinerary of Egeria doesn’t, however, offer a specific name for the feast. The date she reports in Jerusalem at that time, would indicate that Christ's birth had been celebrated there on January 6.


Originally, the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord was a minor celebration. In 541 a terrible plague broke out in Constantinople, killing thousands. The Emperor of the Eastern Empire, Justinian I, in consultation with the Patriarch of Constantinople, ordered a period of fasting and prayer throughout the entire Empire. On the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, great processions throughout the towns and villages were arranged, and a solemn prayer service to ask for deliverance from evils. The plague ceased, and in thanksgiving, the feast was elevated to a more solemn celebration in 542.


In Rome, the feast appears as early as the seventh and eighth centuries. There it carried for the first time the new title of the Feast of Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Candlemas is the most ancient of all the festivals in honor of the Virgin Mary. The date of the feast in Rome was moved forward to February 2, since during the late fourth century the Roman feast of Christ's Nativity was introduced as December 25.


The feast actually spread slowly in the West. The tenth century Benedictional of St. Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester, contains a formula used for the blessing of candles. Candlemas also become important enough to find its way into the secular calendar. It became the traditional day to remove the cattle from the hay meadows, and from the field that was to be ploughed and sown in the spring. References to it are common in later medieval and early Modern literature; Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is recorded as having its first performance on Candlemas Day, 1602.

Down with the rosemary, and so


Down with the bays and mistletoe;


Down with the holly, ivy, all,


Wherewith ye dress'd the Christmas Hall

(Robert Herrick [1591–1674], Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve)

As the poem indicates, the eve of Candlemas was the day on which Christmas decorations and greenery were removed from people's homes, for traces of berries, holly, etc. will bring death among the congregation before another year is out. Another tradition holds that anyone who hears funeral bells tolling on Candlemas will soon hear of the death of a close friend or relative. Each toll of the bell represents a day that will pass before the unfortunate news is learned.


In Scotland, until a change in the law in 1991, and in much of northern England until the 18th century, Candlemas was one of the traditional quarter days when quarterly rents were due for payment, as well as the day for various other business transactions, including the hiring of servants.


In the United Kingdom, good weather at Candlemas is taken to indicate severe winter weather later: "If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, / winter will have another bite. / If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, / winter is gone and will not come again." It is also alleged to be the date that bears emerge from hibernation to inspect the weather as well as wolves, who if they choose to return to their lairs on this day is interpreted as meaning severe weather will continue for another forty days at least. Thus, our American tradition of “Groundhog Day”. The earliest American reference to Groundhog Day can be found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center at Franklin and Marshall College: “Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.” (February 4, 1841 — from Morgantown, Berks County (Pennsylvania) storekeeper James Morris' diary)


The Carmina Gadelica, an important collection of Scottish folklore, refers to a serpent coming out of the mound on Latha Fheill Bride, as the Scots call Candlemas. This rhyme is still used in the West Highlands and Hebrides:


“Moch maduinn Bhride, Thig an nimhir as an toll; Cha bhoin mise ris an nimhir, Cha bhoin an nimhir rium.
Early on Bride's morn, the serpent will come from the hollow. I will not molest the serpent, nor will the serpent molest me.
Thig an nathair as an toll, la donn Bride Ged robh tri traighean dh' an t-sneachd air leachd an lair.
The serpent will come from the hollow on the brown day of Bride, Though there should be three feet of snow on the flat surface of the ground.”


In France, Candlemas (La Chandeleur) is celebrated with crêpes, which must be eaten only after 8:00 PM. If the cook can flip a crêpe while holding a coin in the other hand, the family is assured of prosperity throughout the coming year.


In Italy, traditionally, La Candelora is considered the last cold day of winter.


In Tenerife, Spain, February 2 is the feast of the Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary Islands.


In Southern and Central Mexico, and Guatemala City, Candlemas (Día de La Candelaria) is celebrated with tamales. Tradition indicates that on January 5, the night before the Epiphany, whoever gets one or more of the few plastic or metal dolls (originally coins) buried within the Rosca de Reyes must pay for the tamales and throw a party on Candlemas. In certain regions of Mexico, this is the day on which the figure of the infant Jesus of each household is taken up from the Nativity scene and dressed up in various colorful, whimsical outfits.


Sailors are often reluctant to set sail on Candlemas Day, believing that any voyage begun then will end in disaster. Given the frequency of severe storms in February, perhaps this makes some sense.


The third prayer of the Blessing of the Candles is a beautiful summation of the message of this feast, and gives us much upon which to reflect:


“Lord Jesus Christ, the true light, you enlighten everyone coming into this world: pour your blessing upon these candles and sanctify them with the light of your grace. Mercifully grant that as these light, enkindled with visible fire, dispel the darkness of night, so our hearts, illumined by invisible fire, that is, the brightness of the Holy Spirit, may be free from the blindness of every vice; that our mental eye may be so purified that we may perceive those things which are pleasing to you and are profitable to our salvation, so that after the dark perils of this world, we may deserve to come into that never-failing light: through you, Christ Jesus, Savior of the world, who in perfect Trinity live and reign, God, world without end. Amen.”

Brigid of Kildare: Animals, Fire & Beer

There are many stories about Brigid of Kildare's concern for the needs of others, including animals. One tells of her taming of a wolf at the request of a local chieftain whose dog had died when a peasant accidentally killed it. She also loved birds, as is evidenced in the Gaelic name given to the oyster-catching bird: gall-brigade. On one occasion, according to her biographer, Cogitosus, she saw some ducks swimming in the water and occasionally taking wing. Overcome with tenderness, she watched as the flock took off and flew towards her. She took them in hand and embraced them tenderly, then released them to fly away again. Cogitosus says: "And as they did so she praised God the Creator of all living things, to whom all life is subject, and for the services of whom all life is gift." Another time, it is said, a wild boar was being hunted and charged out of the forest and, in panic, ended up in the midst of Brigid's herd of pigs. When she saw the boar, she blessed it and it became calm, settling down quietly with the rest of the herd.

Kildare, where Brigid gathered a group of women, and later men, into a community of nuns and monks, had formerly been a pagan shrine where a sacred fire was kept perpetually burning.  Instead of stamping out the fire, Brigid and her nuns kept it going, but interpreted it in a Christian way. This was in keeping with the general process in Ireland whereby Druidism was supplanted by Christianity with minimal opposition. Many Druids felt that their own beliefs were a partial and tentative insight into the nature of God, and many recognized in Christianity what they'd been looking for.

Perhaps my favorite bit of lore about the "Mary of the Gaels" is the prayer attributed to St. Brigid:

I'd like to give a lake of beer to God;

I'd love the heavenly host to be tippling there for all eternity

I'd love the men of heaven to live with me to dance and sing

If they wanted, I'd put at their disposal vats of suffering

White cups of love. I'd give them with a heart and a half;

Sweet pitchers of mercy I'd offer to every man.

I'd make heaven a cheerful spot

Because the happy heart is true.

I'd make people contented for their own sake

I'd like Jesus to love me too.

I'd like the people of heaven to gather from all the parishes around;

I'd give special welcome to the women

The three Marys of great renown.

I'd sit with the men, the women, of God

There by the lake of beer;

We'd be drinking good health for ever

And every drop would be a prayer.

Who Is A Prophet?

(by James Tissot)

Massud Farzan (b. 1936), a contemporary Iranian poet, critic, short-story writer, and translator, relates a story about a man claiming to be God. He was taken to the Caliph who said, “Last year someone was claiming to be a prophet. He was executed.” “Serves him right,” the man replied, “I hadn’t sent him.”

How many people have there been throughout the centuries who have claimed to be prophets? Generally, these are folks who, rightly or wrongly, challenge society’s institutions. Today’s first reading (Deuteronomy 18:15-20) speaks of the prophetic office in general. Contrary to common popular understanding, a biblical prophet isn’t first and foremost a future-teller, but rather a spokesperson, an intermediary for the Divine. There are some criteria, as the reading intimates, for distinguishing a true prophet from a false one. The true prophet speaks in the One God’s name, not in the name of other so-called deities. False prophets claim God’s inspiration even though they know that they don’t have it. Our Sunday TV stations are rife with examples of such claims. Many of these false prophets, perhaps, are sincere in their zeal, but nevertheless speak mistakenly. I believe that Joseph Smith, responsible for Mormonism, is a classic example. The author of Deuteronomy hints that one needs to wait and see, in order to evaluate the fruits of a person’s claim. St. Paul grappled throughout his missionary career with folks who considered themselves spokespersons for God regarding the structure, theology and practices of the churches  which he had established.

Paul carries the conversation on prophets further with the Corinthian community in the second reading (1 Corinthians 8:1-13). There are two kinds of “prophetic” knowledge, he says: 1) a knowledge which “puffs up”, the kind which a person, called or not by God, thinks s/he knows, but doesn’t; and 2) the knowledge which comes from sharing God’s love with others. Paul uses an example which doesn’t speak much to us today, perhaps: the use of meat offered in idol worship. Gnostic libertines in his time were using their “inside” knowledge to exalt themselves, while scandalizing their neighbor. Paul’s contention is that to sin against Christ by sinning against one another is a sure sign of one’s being a false prophet. No amount of “spiritual knowledge” justifies unloving regard of a sister or brother.

At the Eucharist which I attended this morning, the translation used for the second reading was taken from Eugene Peterson’s wonderful paraphrase, The Message, and I feel it’s useful to share it here because of the unique way it conveys what, I believe, Paul is trying to express:

“The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol: Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.

Some people say, quite rightly, that idols have no actual existence, that there's nothing to them, that there is no God other than our one God, that no matter how many of these so-called gods are named and worshiped they still don't add up to anything but a tall story. They say—again, quite rightly—that there is only one God the Father, that everything comes from him, and that he wants us to live for him. Also, they say that there is only one Master—Jesus the Messiah—and that everything is for his sake, including us. Yes. It's true.

In strict logic, then, nothing happened to the meat when it was offered up to an idol. It's just like any other meat. I know that, and you know that. But knowing isn't everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn't that insensitive.

   

We need to be sensitive to the fact that we're not all at the same level of understanding in this. Some of you have spent your entire lives eating "idol meat," and are sure that there's something bad in the meat that then becomes something bad inside of you. An imagination and conscience shaped under those conditions isn't going to change overnight.

But fortunately God doesn't grade us on our diet. We're neither commended when we clean our plate nor reprimanded when we just can't stomach it. But God does care when you use your freedom carelessly in a way that leads a fellow believer still vulnerable to those old associations to be thrown off track.

For instance, say you flaunt your freedom by going to a banquet thrown in honor of idols, where the main course is meat sacrificed to idols. Isn't there great danger if someone still struggling over this issue, someone who looks up to you as knowledgeable and mature, sees you go into that banquet? The danger is that he will become terribly confused—maybe even to the point of getting mixed up himself in what his conscience tells him is wrong.

Christ gave up his life for that person. Wouldn't you at least be willing to give up going to dinner for him—because, as you say, it doesn't really make any difference? But it does make a difference if you hurt your friend terribly, risking his eternal ruin! When you hurt your friend, you hurt Christ. A free meal here and there isn't worth it at the cost of even one of these "weak ones." So, never go to these idol-tainted meals if there's any chance it will trip up one of your brothers or sisters.”

The only authentic prophet, spokesperson for, or intermediary for God is Jesus whose relationship of love with God is so close as to constitute an identity with God. In the Gospel (Mark 1:21-28) Mark shows Jesus' authority by portraying him as a wonder-worker and healer, by putting the story within a framework which shows Jesus of Nazareth as teacher/prophet speaking with authority. The Greek word used for "authority", exousia, means something like “out of one’s own existence/self; mastery; taking charge; presence". The Latin equivalent, auctoritas, derives from the word for “to help increase/grow”. Jesus silences falsity and evil because he is the Holy One of God. Instead of “puffing up”, he builds up through love. He enables people to grow because he knows, and is known, by God, the source of love.

It’s possible even for you and me, at times, to mistakenly think of ourselves as, or to act like, a "prophet", to presume to speak for God. There are always people who feel compelled to speak out and to challenge society’s institutions, both civil and religious, and we’re seeing much of that currently. That’s actually good, for institutions need to be held accountable in order to truly serve the common good of humankind. History has repeatedly demonstrated how ecclesiastical and governmental systems get “puffed up” and fail to meet their responsibilities to society. Losing sight of the common good, institutional leaders, because they're human, are prone to become selfish and corrupt, to repress and oppress, through misused power and greed, the very people whom God intends for them to serve. In a way, they almost make necessary the appearance of outspoken, zealous, concerned, even angry, opponents who prick their consciences and put the spotlight on their shortcomings and sometimes willful maliciousness. 

The danger with prophets, with those who attempt to speak for God, is perspective. Only those who continuously and intentionally seek to know and are known by God are able to keep any kind of balance. Too often, self-proclaimed prophets are tempted to put their supposed expertise or spiritual knowledge above what is genuinely for the good of all. Pride has a way of leading one to become a law to oneself, so much so that one can sometimes judge legitimate civil or religious institutions themselves as unnecessary, something, curiously, which God hasn’t seem to have found necessary in all of human history! John Wesley gives some sobering advice to aspiring prophets: “Do not hastily ascribe things to God. Do not easily suppose voices, dreams, impressions, visions or revelations to be from God. They may be from God. They may be from nature. They may be from the devil.”

As followers of Jesus the Holy One, the only true measure of whether or not we speak authentically for the Gospel is Jesus himself. As members of the Church and as citizens of society we need to continually ask ourselves: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?”  We deserve no hearing unless we speak by his authority, by his presence.

United In The Reign of Christ

"...whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, 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 want to know Christ* and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead." (Letter to the Philippians 3:7-11)


Day Eight: United in the Reign of Christ
To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne (Revalations. 3:21)


On this last day of our week of prayer for Christian Unity we celebrate the Reign of Christ. Christ's victory enables us to look into the future with hope. This victory overcomes all that keeps us from sharing fullness of life with him and with each other. Christians know that unity among us is above all a gift of God. It is a share in Christ's glorious victory over all that divides.


In what ways do false humility and a desire for earthly glory manifest themselves in our lives?


How do we express together our faith in the Reign of Christ?


How do we live out our hope in the coming Kingdom of God?

The Good Shepherd: Source Of Strength

John's Gospel sets before us the great "I am" sayings which convey the message that Jesus is one with God.  In John 10 Jesus says: twice: “I am the gate for the sheep...”.  And you, says the Good Shepherd, can be part of the “sheep-herd”,  the flock, the community of koinonia, of fellowship, only through “entering”, through becoming one with the One who is both the gate and the Shepherd. Who wouldn’t wish to be part of Jesus’ fellowship!? For He promises to each one who enters: salvation; open access to God, 24/7; nourishment beyond measure; and life, eternal life: and all of this ”abundantly”.

We probably wouldn’t have chosen sheep as the image for Jesus’ followers, possibly because you and I realize that we have more in common with sheep than we want to admit! Yet Jesus refers to Himself in terms very familiar to his hearers: "I am the good, the noble, Shepherd." Each time we gather in community around the Lord's Table we come ready to share the Lord’s abundance in our fellowship of hearing the Apostles’ teaching, of bread-breaking, and of prayer.  Our hearts listen for, often straining to hear, the voice of the Good Shepherd who patiently draws us to peace and reconciliation: to the koinonia, the fellowship of the Communion of Saints. Though the places in which we live and work will still require us to struggle with fear, anger, and violence, here, in Communion, we encounter the Risen Lord. Here you and I are abundantly fed for the journey ahead. And as we're fed, we’re invited to now be willing to go forth and feed others in the name of the Good Shepherd.

Day Seven: Changed by the Good Shepherd
Feed my sheep (John 21:19)


On this day the Bible texts show us the Lord strengthening His flock. Following the Good Shepherd, we are called to strengthen each other in the Lord, and to support and fortify the weak and the lost. There is one Shepherd, and we are his people.


How does the Good Shepherd inspire us to comfort, revive, and restore the confidence of those who are lost?


In what ways can Christians of various traditions strengthen each other in confessing and bearing witness to Jesus Christ?


For us today, what can be the meaning of St Paul's exhortation: "Be strong in the Lord.... put on the whole armour of God"?

Bishop Phillips Brooks: Greatest Preacher of the 19th Century

The Right Honorable, The 1st Viscount, James Bryce (1838-1922), who became the British Ambassador to the United States in 1907, a jurist, historian, and politician, knew the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts, Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) and had heard him preach. In comparing Brooks to some of the great preachers of the time: Wilberforce, Spurgeon, Henry Ward Beecher, etc., Bryce wrote: "All these famous men were, in a sense, more
brilliant, that is to say, more rhetorically effective, than Dr. Brooks, yet none of them seemed to speak so directly to the soul. With all of them it was impossible to forget the speaker in the words spoken, because the speaker did not seem to have quite forgotten himself, but to have studied the effect he sought to produce. With him it was otherwise. What amount of preparation he may have given to his discourses I do not know. But there was no sign of art about them, no touch of self-consciousness. He spoke to his audience as a man might speak to his friend, pouring forth with swift, yet quiet and seldom impassioned, earnestness the thoughts and feelings of a singularly pure and lofty spirit...Dr. Brooks was the best because the most edifying of preachers...no others among the famous preachers of the generation that is now vanishing approached him...”


Brooks' words on the Church and the sacraments are especially appropriate during this Week of Prayer for Christian and Interfaith Unity: "The Church is no exception and afterthought in the world, but is the survival and preservation of the world's first idea -- the anticipation and prophecy of the world's final perfectness. The Church of Christ is the ideal humanity. Say not that it leaves out the superhuman. I know no ideal humanity that is not filled and pervaded with the superhuman. God in man is not unnatural, but the absolutely natural. That is what the Incarnation makes us know..."


Regarding the sacraments Brooks says: "The unity of [Christ's] believers to the end of time is still to have the secret of its existence in the personal relation between each of them and him. To help this invisible relation to realize itself and not to be all lost in the unseen, the gracious kindness of the Master provides two symbols [Baptism and the Eucharist] which thenceforth become the pledges at once of the personal believer's belonging to the Lord and of the belonging of believers to each other. The sacraments are set like gems to hold the Church into its precious unity..."