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Lectionary - May 2005 |
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Lectionary - May 2005 |
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May 1, 2005 - Year A - Easter 6 Wesley White May 1, 2005 Acts 17:22-31 What is known about GOD and what is unknown? This question intrigues us in the midst of a revival of fundamentalism that claims it is so easy to understand GOD - just do as you are told. [Thanks for checking back - our host has had a hardware crash and it has taken a seemingly interminable time to get back together.] Wesley White John 14:15-21 We are not left orphaned. We find ourselves between Easter and Pentecost. Here we anticipate a new family just as Mary and a disciple were joined in a new family. This family will come as we recognize those who speak a different language, have a different gift, who have injured and been forgiven as new parts of a new creation that turns our usual images of earth and heaven (separated) on their respective heads and we find ourselves unified with ourselves, our GOD, and one another. We are not left orphaned. As we repeat these lines, mantra-like, we find that peace that passes our understanding and, untroubled, move ahead differently than ever before. Wesley White 1 Peter 2:2-10 If we are hungry we will eat most anything, including dirt. It doesn't matter what we taste as long as it seems as if it is helping fill the void. We may long for the tastiest and most nutritious foods, but, given the circumstances of scarcity most folks experience or are taught, we settle for what can be scrounged, we don't hold out for better. The same seems to be true about religion, faith, spiritual matters. We may have tasted a moment of the expansive love of GOD but find that our experiences and learnings, overall, cause us to doubt that such really occurred and not to strive after more. A part of our work is to continue witnessing to the goodness of life and constructing new vehicles for dissemination of recognitions of such goodness. This is more than just putting out another Guideposts knockoff or one more volume of Chicken Soup. It is going to take the same energy, dedication, and creativity that it takes to organize a union in a company town. Wesley White “50 miles of elbow room” is a line from an old gospel hymn from the 1920’s. There is a sense of spaciousness here. Iris Dement’s version ends with this verse. Oh, when the gates swing wide on the other side, What a blessing that GOD has not rejected my prayer or your prayer -- that there is room for you and room for me. That was your prayer, wasn’t it, that there would be room for all? Wesley White Acts 17:22-31 Can you see how extremely religious another person is? This is a part of the test of being progressive. Another part of being progressive is that of interpreting the religiosity of ourselves and others into the larger arena of the yet unknown. So often this works the other way around -- we take some unknown and force it to fit into our sensibility; we insist on making meaning before meaning can be understood. Since we are progressive we ought not think that religion is tangible or statable based on the imagination and needs of this or any previous day. It is this concretization of religion that needs repenting of. It is this solidification of religion that misses the mark of wholeness (being right with one's self and others). Wesley White 1 Peter 3:13-22 Baptism is an appeal, a sign of openness to wholeness (having our intentions and our deeds correspond and thus having a good conscience regarding our living). To get to this sense of being born from above, resurrected, it is important to note the possibility of resurrection in the first place. With Jesus our imaginations are widened to include resurrection and to work backward to anticipate our own resurrection, someday, and thus the ability to be born anew today. As we have known from of old. Baptism is resurrection. The lack of resurrection is a sign of the lack of baptism (even if one has been duly watered). Remember your Baptism and be Reborn from above. Wesley White John 14:15-21 One of great divides we experience is that of truth. Some get it and some don't. Some get it and don't seem to be able to live it. Some don't get it and yet come through like the unexpected youngster rises to the top. Playing with truth is very dangerous business. We can not only avoid living out its consequences but we can claim more for it than truth claims for itself. In both of these circumstances we fall back into the trap of hypocrisy. Living truth is dangerous both to those who heed it but can't grow with it, using yesterday's truth to confine today's, and to those who don't heed it but claim it as their own, causing untold damage to generations down the way. Blessings upon us as we grow with a Spirit of truth -- hearkening to that which abides from the past, that which comes clear in the moment, and that which we honor with the mystery of possibility yet to come.
May 8, 2005 - Year A - Easter 7 Wesley White May 8, 2005 Acts 1:6-14 Having life imparted to us we are now responsible for how we pass it on. Wesley White John 17:1-11 Talk about your works righteousness - "I finished the work I was to do, so reward me!" And yet the work is not over. "I continue to intercede for the 'protection' of being part of the family." Even if it is rather mafia-like that we take care of family, the work goes on to include folks in. Might this continue to be part of the work given to us - to include folks in, to protect them based on our commonality? Wesley White 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 If the glory of Christ is seeing folks safely through (for who is not related to Jesus?) then, whenever we observe or participate in safety being extended we are to celebrate. In these days of preemptive war it is particularly important to celebrate safety for all as antidote to our spasmodic madness of doing in ourselves and one another. It is easier to emphasize safety for all if we engage the virtues and values of humility, calmness of heart, alertness to temptation, and steadfastness of faith. May we continue to stir this up that they remain constantly present and not settle out. Wesley White Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35 Interested in being a friend of GOD? Befriend GOD's family. Yes, all the family. Particularly the desolate. What is found in thus trying to draw near to GOD is the transformation that shakes rain from the heavens to water the parched earth. In caring for the extended family of creation it is our own dried up hearts that shake loose and we find the presence of GOD through tears of compassion. Wesley White Acts 1:6-14 There is a sense in which we get very literal about this ascension scene. If Jesus is going to GOD to intercede for protection, will we not see Jesus, again and again, whenever we see protection offered and received? Might protection be the way Jesus will come as well as go? Protection for whom? Is this a universal protection for all of creation, including the rascals? So, why are we just standing around when there is so much protection to be participating in? so much revealing of the presence of the interceding Christ to be about? Who and what is in the news this week that needs your presence, not your, "Tsk, tsk, tsk." Wesley White 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 Let's try conflating these passages. Beloved, do not be surprised at the anxiety in your midst, as though this were something strange. Rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's humility, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when steadfast faith is revealed. If you are reviled for resisting the ways of Wealth, you are blessed, because the power of GOD is alongside you. Wesley White John 17:1-11 Names reveal character. The names we call others and the names we are called all show something about our growth in grace. Jesus' call to GOD to protect in GOD's name is a call to GOD to remember GOD's character or nature which is to protect. It seems that GOD sometimes gets distracted and banishments and floods and fire and brimstone result. Jesus calls GOD back to wakefulness with renewed vision. I recommend Leonard Bernstein's Symphony no. 3 "Kaddish" for insight into this (his commentary is worth reading) [If you have a choice, I prefer the recording with Felicia Montealegre as Narrator.] A portion of Kaddish goes: With Amen on my lips, I approach Are You listening, Father? You know who I am: "For lo, I do set my bow in the cloud ... . . . . Rest, my Father. Sleep, dream.
May 15, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost Wesley White May 15, 2005 Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30 The Energizer Bunny keeps on going. Pentecost keeps on surprising. It is this sense of the unexpected that surprises our settled religious experiences and moves us for a moment or a lifetime to step beyond who we have been to who we will become. Enjoy the process, even the fearful, waiting, parts. Wesley White John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39 Breath comes in. Rivers of living water flow out. This is not a closed system of breath in and breath out or a water cycle from rain to evaporation to rain. There is a shift that goes on between Chapter 20 and Chapter 7 (and, yes, it would look different reading them in a different order). The shift here is from potential to kinetic energy. Creation (GOD/Jesus) imbues us with potential and we await the trigger to action. The Spirit urges us to choose to let our potential loose even if that sets entropy in motion and we find ourselves entirely dispersed. The trigger point is choice. Will we choose to continue to be pure potential or will we get our hands and conscience dirty with action? Of course it is never quite this clear a choice, but, for argument's sake, there is no religion but social religion, no holiness but social holiness. What is breathed in as personal religion or holiness must flow forth as social religion and social holiness. Wesley White 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21 There are a variety of gifts but the same Spirit. There are varieties of languages but the same Spirit. With things equal to the same thing defined as being equal we can note that the variety of gifts is revealed as the variety of languages. This is a helpful reminder as we sometimes get it into our heads that particular gifts require a particular language. This can be equated to judging that the gift of ordination can only come through nouns of masculine gender. Gifts come in a variety of languages and languages provide us with a variety of gifts. When we lose this interplay we lose heart, Spirit. Wesley White Psalm 104:24-34, 35b Now, why would we lose 35a from the lectionary? Is there some understanding that Spirit is perky and pollyannaish? Remember that a Baptismal question is: "Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?" This question is followed by the recognition that our desire is not always carried through on and a second question: "Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?" I suppose an argument could be made that Spirit binds folks together rather than further divide them (the old Babel/Pentecost comparison). Because everything else is pointing toward a pleasant picture of Spirit that need not first call out the reassurance of "Peace", I am tempted to leave 35a in to temper our idealization of Pentecost. Wesley White Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30 A power-sharing process leads to prophesying and inclusiveness enough to welcome Eldad and Medad and folks of all languages. It is of great importance to note that the power that was set loose in the desert and a locked room both came through a power-sharing mechanism. To focus on the process of power-sharing is prelude to making Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors more than a slogan, but an exciting reality. If there were one thing I would covet for congregations it is a greater sense of needing everyone to be involved in decision-making. To have a vision of building a better decision for the present and future is a source of creative energy that is helpfully bounded -- innovative pictures and responsible reservation combine to bring fruitful growth both deep and wide. Wesley White 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21 Through a Spirit of Christ we are all baptized (acknowledged participation in and desire of creation) into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free. This Spirit moves where it will and does not stop at our usual boundaries of believing this or that, classifying you or me. Everyone who calls on this Spirit will be made whole with everyone else. (Now, they may not acknowledge this and try to subdivide our wholeness, but from our perspective it, we, and they are still whole.) This is paradigm-shifting stuff that points to the presence of Paradise, a healing of Paradise Lost, right where we are. As we attempt to live out of this perspective we find ourselves calmed and gentled. Peace be not only to us, but to all. Wesley White John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39 Forgiveness is drinking deep of thirst-quenching life. Forgiveness revives both the forgiver and the forgiven, the forgiven and the forgiver, in whichever order the mystery of forgiveness occurs. This is a participation in the carrying on and deepening of the acts of Jesus. Here greater works are done. We have it available to us to bind ourselves and others together, mutually. There are some who would claim this is greater than having that binding take place from the outside, as though someone else's forgiveness would take precedence over that of the parties involved. So with Peace breathed into us we are energized to move from Peace-made to Peace-makers. Enjoy the journey. Wesley White Saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy several days ago and was reminded of the Babelfish. This is a wonderful recent image of Pentecost. Try this address for the intriguing story behind one of the oddest parts of the universe - - http://www.whysanity.net/monos/hikers.html
May 22, 2005 - Year A - Trinity Wesley White May 22, 2005 Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a Shorthanded ways of communicating always leaves out important denotations as well as connotations. "Trinity" is one of those shortcuts that packages much more together than necessary. We have come to the point of Trinity being part of "classical orthodoxy" promoted by the religious right and thus to be Trinitarian is to be homophobic, pro-death penalty, capitalist, etc. Wesley White Matthew 28:16-20 At the opening worship of the first gathering of United Methodist Transitional-Interim Ministry Specialists in Nashville last week, Kenneth Lambert reported a conversation he had been part of where the statement was made that the Great Commission has already been accomplished. We can take that off our plate. The question for today revolves around a ministry of reconciliation. How, in the church, do we live and move and have our being with people who have heard, have been baptized, and have been reconciled with God, but not each other? The challenge to those of us in transition ministry was re-enunciated: reconcili-action. An interplay between the trinitarian polarities will lead to repentance and reconciliation by all the parties -- including the fourth part of the trinity - creation/humanity and including the unitive whole as God. This suggests a static doctrine of a trinity is false and a dynamic sense of a trinity involves all aspects of relationship including a new heaven and a new earth that grow from reconciliation of old experiences. Wesley White 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Farewell! or is it Rejoice! As transition specialists look ahead to a successful interim they begin their rejoicing over work well done by recognizing a key mindset -- as soon as they arrive, they are beginning to leave. This is one way of bringing these alternative translations together. In this context of interim ministry the following order has some sense to it: Shape up by learning encouraging methodologies that decisions by consensus might result in peaceful living. At this point we find the oneness with GOD we have desired and not found because of our cussed independence that models life as a zero-sum game where we need to micromanage every last detail lest it come back to bite us (which it especially will using this fear-based model). Our fantasy of the Trinity is that the various aspects of it have shaped up over time, having put their strengths and weaknesses in the service of their common desire, and made appeal through encouragement that the differences might be well used in the service of making whatever issue is in the forefront have the best outcome possible. With this focus on making better decisions, the Trinity models for us an achievable state for ourselves in community. A sign of a successful interim is the exuberance of a Holy Kiss in the midst of the gathered community. Hugs and kisses to you and you and you. Wesley White Psalm 8 A trinity here looks like “God, humans, and creation”. Do you have any trouble substituting this trinity for the now traditional “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”? What limits and insights come as you rub these against one another? Are these ontological and theological issues or a matter of habit and preference? Just as we sometimes fall into an idolatry of the second person of the trinity, even Christ Jesus (or trinitarianly is it only Christ or only Jesus?), so we can continue to fall into the idolatry of ourselves. This may make the second person easier for us to understand or even more mysterious. Is it a particular part of the trinity or the whole that gives you the most difficulty? If you were to speculate about why that is, what would you come up with? Wesley White Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a Three and yet one. This same issue is before us with creation stories. Here the either/or or both/and comes in the language that can both mean that creation came forth from nothing (ex nihilo) or ordered that which was present, chaotic as it may have been. One way of looking at playing between categories comes from a comment by a neighbor, Will Houts, on Midrash wrote, "A couple of years ago, I was doing some thinking about what the Trinity actually meant for contemporary Western culture. If it was even relevant.... And one of the things that hit me, was why three, why not four, or two, or one. And as I was thinking, geometry started to come back to me from high school. I thought about the number of points and how you could connect them all together. With two, you can only have a straight line, with four you have a rectangle with an "X" through the center, with five, a pentagon with a star in the center, but with three, you can only have a triangle and there will always be an open space in the center of it. And that was what hit me as really relevant for today's world, that at the center of God there is openness. That openness is first of all mystery. It's not clear to us exactly what the nature of God is (which may help to explain the headaches that I get when thinking about the Trinity). But also in that openness is space for us to be invited into the life of God, into the mystery that is God. I'm not sure how this is going to play out in the sermon for Sunday, but we will see. Hope this helps." It helps me to remember how open and fluid the idea of trinity was at the beginning even though it has morphed into some litmus test currently. It helps me to remember how meaning-seeking we are and to take a bit more lightly the formulations we come with the explain that which is unexplainable. Wesley White Genesis 1:1 - 2:4 Another way of coming at this passage is the promo that Sojourner Online gave for the book Joy at Work: God gave us a job before giving us a family. You may want to browse the video comments here and reflect on how this might change whatever trinity you have been using for a basis of your life. One popular such trinity is God-Work-Family sometimes put God-Money-Sex. Alternatives such as God-Joy-Peace are also out there. Again, what trinity are you using to ground your life and how might that change for the better? Wesley White 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Sequencing is one way of looking at things. Here we might read the qualities Paul is looking for come first and they are followed by a blessing. This is the other way around from Abraham having been blessed, first, to, then, be a blessing. Likewise we can start with any part of the trinity or more sided symbol and move on around and across such. Starting points are important and we find ours in a number of quite mysterious ways. As with any good journey the starting spot only gets us going to find all manner of interconnections along the way. We are not looking at a One Way approach to life. For us life comes from all directions and goes in all directions. This interconnecting web brings additional meaning to the smallest of encounters. Wesley White Matthew 28:16-20 A comment from the New Interpreter's Study Bible: "The Gospel again imitates the imperial patterns and perspectives that it resists throughout." Yes, it is so easy to fall into that pattern of power we find all around us. Authority trumps humility; making disciples trumps the transformation of mutual teaching; baptizing takes on an institutional formulation rather than an empowering experience; obedience takes precedence over breaking new ground and doing greater things. Can we be clear about where we have fallen prey to the imperial patterns around us? It takes a village of prophets and progressives to keep our eyes open to such temptation. May 29, 2005 - Year A - Pentecost +2 Wesley White , 5/22/2005 7:15:27 PM May 29, 2005 Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19 or Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28 The action of righteousness is action, not simply faith. It is connected with faith as a source of energy to act but potential energy is one thing and kinetic energy another. It is time to live up to our potential by releasing the kinetic energy of prophetic and progressive action. Wesley White Matthew 7:21-29 To hear . . . to act . . . prelude to wisdom. Hearing another is important. Harking back to the Babelfish, hearing is understanding not just translating words. As such it gets to motive, always a tricky thing, given projection and whatnot. To hear means also to check what is being heard. It is at this point of hearing all too well as well as no where near well enough that we enter into religious and every other kind of difference. Our hearing and response to what we are hearing and our hearing while not quite hearing lead to action based on defensiveness or ignorance. Both of these find the resultant action faulty. Are we right to hear within the present administration bent on empire the seeds of our own destruction? If that is what we are hearing and we defensively react against it are we not planting our own seed to power under a kinder name? Are we right to hear within the present religious right an overemphasis upon personal salvation and labeling as sin what is created gift? If that is what we are hearing and we defensively react against it are we not passing over our own sin and claiming exemption from temptation? To live with authority is to address what is being heard without defensiveness. Let's put it bluntly - no hearing at depth leads to shallow action easily deflected, hearing another adds to our store of information and better decision-making. Listen up! Act out! Dave Stratton I love you, you meddling fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work! Wesley White Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28, (29-31) Would it be an example of "excluded boasting" to suggest that finding our common lot as sinners is not the only way to find our common humanity/divinity? Our tendency seems to be to find the lowest common denominator rather than the highest common multiplier. When we do the justification or atonement talk it can appear that we are being quite positive but it is simply a sub-point of starting with the Fall rather than with Creation. Let's reflect a bit more on what faith might mean from a perspective of having been created good rather than from a focus on evil, sin, and other frailties. In Paul's terms we may have to pay more attention to grace than to law. This is always a dangerous thing to do, but it is also a necessary thing to do if we are to continue pursuing life in its fullness for ourselves and all. A helpful line is verse 17: God is revealed through faith. Our tendency is to see God revealed in faith by the letter of the law rather than in faith through the spirit of grace. Christ, have mercy as we tussle over the background and foreground of "faith", not simply faith as simply faith. Prophetic progressives start with Creation Goodness and find it revealed, time and again, in moments of Grace. Smile -- Mercy is stronger than Judgment. Wesley White Psalm 46 or Psalm 31:1-5, 19-24 Knowing we have a refuge, a place of care, leads to fearlessness. Thus we come to understand a steadfast love shown us and a desire to pass it on. Wesley White Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19 or Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28 Blessings and Curses abound. Our tendency is to focus on one or the other. This is a great theological divide between people, as great as the language issue at Babel. Are you the glass half-full or half-empty person in your initial orientation and how do you account for the experiences of life that point in the other direction? Between recognizing our proclivities and overcoming our resistance to change lies the experience of Pentecost. The pericope for today is pretty mechanical. It speaks of building an escape pod that is somehow to be so formative that the blessing/curse genetics of human beings will be reduced to that of only being a blessing for God (not by God) It is as if God has been talking to “himself” again and plans this re-creation with a big negative (flood) and an expanded positive (expanded food chain to all creatures rather than just plants). I expect we were to learn to acquiese to God because there would always be the threat of a flood (well, a fire next time) hanging over our heads. This is different than living in a garden protected from the ravages of chaos. How can you expect a future threat, unexperienced, to hold for very long? Here there is concrete evidence of a creator’s curse. Take a look around at today’s world, church and state. If we are going to assist making the shift to fruitfully live together it might be well for us to move away from generalized fears for the future to demonstrate how the curse to come will grow from our experiences of the past. That is, in both church and state, how do we concretize the presence of facism in order to clarify the closeness of curse? In both church and state, how do we bring a word of blessing that will open our eyes to a rebirth of community (Christian and otherwise). Wesley White Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19 or Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28 An example of the duplicity available within the blessing and curse model - [For the record my fingers typed "blessing and church" and I had to go back to respell.] The newsletter of a religious right group within our Annual Conference had on their front page: "In light of this sermon ["Catholic Spirit" by John Wesley], and our desire for unity within our annual conference, we continue to hope that members of the executive committee for the Kairos CoMotion event hosted at Lake Street UMC in March will accept our invitation for genuine dialogue. Because the cross of Christ (doctrine of atonement) is essential to our identity as United Methodist Christians, we feel it is imperative for us to have honest conversations about salvation and the hope that is within us." As I read this, the blessing of unity, genuine dialogue, and honest conversation keeps getting trumped by the curse of some preconceived eternal doctrine deemed essential to one's identity. It feels as if they have claimed the Noah spot and we are relegated to those who are evil continually. Without falling into the trap of participating in a conversation that has no honesty because the conclusion is know by one party, how might we yet be helpfully parabolic by following the Jesus tradition of opening new possibilities for those who might have the ears to hear. It is difficult to assign even a benign outcome to our experiences of having the certainty of closed heads erase the explorations of open hearts. Right now this matter is in the flood of a no-win situation. Pray for a new start that will lead past where we currently are. Wesley White Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28, (29-31) It is easy for us to get caught by the externals of life. Note the plethora of personal hygiene commercials. If only we can have sparkly white teeth, if only we can avoid having stinky armpits, if only we had silky smooth skin, then every lack in personality or spirit will be overcome - we will come through. It is so easy to get caught up in the externals of Atonement and see it only as a sacrifice - and the bloodier the better. Here Paul speaks of atonement but in the context of faith. It is not the sacrifice that makes the faith that reveals a new Atunement. It is in faith, both of GOD and Creation, that a new Atunement is possible. Now it makes sense to so live that, come death from wearing out or death on a cross, we are willing to live/sacrifice life for this faith. It would make doctrinal history a bit more than trying to trap God in words if we looked at the practice of faith unwilling to be scared into submission. Now we can look at the new and greater ways of practicing the expansive love of God. Yes, we are looking at walking the walk, not just talking the talk. Wesley White Matthew 7:21-29 It is easy to get caught up in SUTJ praise music. Here SUTJ stands for "Sucking Up To Jesus". We do everything for the name of Jesus. There is another foundation and that is to take the focus off of Jesus and put it on what he put his focus on - healing/saving humanity and unity with GOD. These are complementary practices in the same way that the greatest commandment is twofold - GOD and Neighbor. No wonder Jesus can say that he misses the point of the doctrinaire use of his name. Jesus is just too humble to take such blasphemy. Ironic, isn't it, that Jesus is accused of blasphemy when it is such as ourselves who are most prone to the invisible blasphemy of going along with the power of today with nary a counter-cultural thought in our head or feeling in our heart.
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