And So It Begins

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conversion of hearts, good deeds, Hebrew Scriptures, Jesus, Joel, love, Matthew, repentance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The prophet Joel wrote a very brief but compelling addition to the Hebrew Scriptures. We hear him today very much in a hurry to move people to repentance. After his affirmation of God’s willingness to forgive what seems a serious period of disregard for good behavior (“Even now“, says the Lord, “return to me with your whole heart…”) Joel blasts forth imperatives to call all the people to attention. “Blow the trumpet. Proclaim a fast. Call an assembly. Gather the people. Notify the congregation. Assemble the elders. Gather the children. Let the bridegroom quit his chamber…” Clearly, Joel sees this moment as paramount for salvation.

In Matthew’s gospel this morning we find advice of a quieter kind. Jesus says, “Do not blow a trumpet before you…” and “Don’t let your left hand know what your right is doing” as you go about doing good. The time is past for us to be showy about our good works but the day is just beginning for the necessity of greatness of heart. Look for nothing in return for your good deeds. Just turn to Jesus as a model and practice what he preached. Make this Lent about conversion of heart in small ways which will result in a transformation that may be imperceptible each day but will lead to a grand celebration of the Easter mysteries when we will know Christ in a deeper beating of our hearts. Love is always its own reward.

What Does God Want?

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Hebrew Scriptures, humility, integrity, justice, Micah, offerings, released, slavery, social justice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This morning’s first reading from the prophet Micah is one of the more familiar texts from the Hebrew Scriptures used in prayer services at events, especially if the audience is considering a social justice agenda. Chapter 6, verse 8 even appears on posters and is a great summary in answer to the question: “What does God ask of us?” It’s succinct, broad-based and even lyrical in its construction in most translations.

This is what the Lord asks of you, only this: to act rightly, to love justice and to walk humbly with your God.

If you’re looking for a “nutshell” answer to how to live life on earth, it’s probably one of the best. This morning, however, I started paying attention to all of Micah’s message which included verses 1-4 and 6-8. Micah is representing God, “entering into trial with Israel” to question the nation’s disregard of all the things God has done on their behalf. “I brought you up from the land of Egypt…released you from slavery…” God sounds really disappointed. (“What have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!”)

But then the tone shifts and it’s Micah asking the questions about what offering would be enough to satisfy God; burnt offerings? a first-born child?…What is enough to make recompense? Surprisingly maybe, it’s nothing like that. We need offer nothing but our best selves: persons of integrity, humility and justice, to the God who has loved us into life. Does that God not deserve the best effort of our hearts?

 

 

 

 

 

What’s the Cost?

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Elimelech, fidelity, Hebrew Scriptures, Matthew, Naomi, Orpah, relationship, Ruth, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is one of those times when inspiration is very easy to come by, just from about five minutes with the Scripture texts from the daily lectionary. See if you find the story from the Hebrew Scriptures consonant with the Christian gospel. To me it’s a “no brainer” with a most important shared theme.

First we have the story of a time of famine when Elimelech and his wife Naomi moved with their two sons from Bethlehem of Judah to the plateau of Moab. Fast forward ten years and learn that Elimelech and his two sons have died. Naomi is left with two Moabite daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, (sound familiar?) when she learns that the famine is over in her native land and she decides to go home. Custom would allow her daughters-in-law to stay in their homeland and possibly marry again. When Naomi makes ready to return to Judah the Scriptures say that Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her. When Naomi protests, urging Ruth to stay with her own people in her own land, we have the famous response of Ruth who says: Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people and your God, my God. And so it was recorded in the Book of Ruth.

Today’s gospel is similarly familiar. When Jesus is asked (MT 22:34-40) which commandment in the Law is the greatest he responds with what we know (and Jesus had learned in his youth) as “the Great Commandment.” You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

So it seems that today is a good day to reflect on the seamlessness of the two statements of Jesus, comprising our most essential work in life. How well am I loving God as I love my neighbor and do I see love of neighbor as constitutive of my love for God? Ruth is an icon of fidelity to family – even an inherited family – and it seems that her love of her mother-in-law encompasses all the relationships that Naomi has held in her heart during her sojourn in Moab, including her willingness to embrace Naomi’s deepest spiritual beliefs. Am I willing to let go of my needs and wants and maybe even some cherished practices in service to relationship? Will I allow myself to be changed by love – even to a deeper relationship with God?

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Breath…

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Acts of the Apostles, breath, Easter, Epistles, faith, fan the flames, Hebrew Scriptures, joy, love, Peace, prayer circle, song, soul flame, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’ve often heard it said that faith is caught, not taught. During the Easter season, things shift in the lectionary which, on Sundays, ordinarily takes the first reading from the Hebrew Scriptures and the second from one of the Letters (Epistles). The change is made so that we might hear the stories of the early Christian movement and how the Spirit was working in the communities gathered around the charismatic leaders. This morning we have the quintessential example of Christian community in the first reading where, in ACTS 2:42-47, we hear of Christians “holding all things in common, dividing their property and possessions according to each one’s need…” which in our world and time seems incredible, although a worthy ideal and the likely goal of communes and monastic communities and perhaps small rural communities that we might find scattered throughout the world.

My thoughts this morning we spurred on, however, by the second reading from the first letter of Peter, that impulsive, fiery, deeply devoted apostle who wrote the following lines about faith in Christ. Although you have not seen him, you love him; even though you do not see him now but believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy. (1PT 1:9) I learned early on in religion classes that “faith is a gift” and that “it is our duty to fan the flames of the Spirit into life.” This morning I found myself asking myself, “How does that happen?” It is certainly true in my life that I have been gifted with the Christian faith – otherwise why would I have spent the last 50 years in a religious community trying to live as a faithful Christian.

Going back to my initial statement above, however, I think the answer to my question of fanning the flames is two-fold. I do believe it is my responsibility to spend time and energy in “the cell of my heart” nurturing my relationship with God in silence and reflection. Concomitantly, however, I believe that what Jesus did on Easter night in his visit to his disciples in the upper room (JN 20:19-31) is still happening for us. We have only to feel it, to recognize it. John says, “Jesus came, stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'”

How do we breathe the Spirit on one another? Is it just at ceremonies like sacramental Confirmation or Ordination where the bishop lays hands on the heads of the candidates? Maybe it’s every time we offer peace to one another at a religious service or an interfaith gathering…Energy exchange may be even more elemental than that, bringing the Spirit to life in song – in a prayer circle, perhaps…

Yesterday, I heard again a song by Sara Thomsen that I have come to value as a good example of all these words of mine. It’s one of those songs where the refrain gets a foothold inside and will not let go. I will repeat only the last verse and that refrain here and hope that you get the point or search out the entire song to catch the Spirit that is living and active to this day and beyond.

By breath, by blood, by body, by spirit, we are all one.

The fire in my heart, my soul flame burning/ Is the fire in your heart, your soul flame burning./ We are Spirit burning bright, by the light of day, in the dark of night./ We are shining like the sun, and like the moon, like the Holy One. By breath…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Message: Clear and Direct

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America, beatitudes, books, Christian Scriptures, clothe, false accusation, Hebrew Scriptures, hungry, Isaiah, Lectionary, light, malicious speech, oppressed, oppression, share, shelter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I carried a satchel full of books with me this week, texts that we have considered already and others that will inspire our conversation over the next two days. I always feel comfortable in the company of books; just having them in the room with me is sometimes enough. This morning, however, as I read the lectionary texts for today, I was again reminded of the timelessness of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. The messages fairly jump off the page in their similarity (Isaiah and Matthew’s Beatitudes) and appropriateness for this moment in the history of the United States of America. The messages of how we are to become light in this world are unmistakable. We should all read them aloud and often. The prophet Isaiah says this:

Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall quickly be healed…If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted, then light shall rise for you from the darkness and the gloom shall become for you like midday. (IS 58: 7-10)

How can we miss the import of these words? What is our willingness quotient and how might we respond? The message is more urgent than ever now. How can we ignore it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Come Away”

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come away, courage, dancing, deep reflection, evil, fear, fearless, Hebrew Scriptures, Psalm 23, spiritual practices, stillness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Wisdom School

“Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil, for you are at my side. With your rod and your staff you give me courage.”

These words from Psalm 23, probably the best known of all the psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures, jumped out at me this morning. Then I read that Jesus called his apostles to come away from the crush of the crowds “to a deserted place” for some rest – most likely, for a chance to gain some clarity and reassess what was happening so as to refuel for the re-entry into the ministry that was theirs.

Having arrived in Stonington, Maine yesterday to the shared joy of being with a dozen colleagues whose presence I have enjoyed variously at different “wisdom schools” over the past ten years, I am aware of a similar call to “come away” for fearless and deep reflection on our call to meet the challenges in our country today. Our work will be rigorous and internal, but work it will surely be. Perhaps the outcome will be so subtle as to go undetected by “the crowds” but we will surely be more committed to our spiritual practices and more certain that there is a way forward, although its evolution may still be in seed, thereby impossible to comprehend.

This message itself may be similarly “impossible to comprehend” but I am reminded of a quote on a card that has been in my small treasure box for decades. It says: In the stillness is the dancing, and this morning, that is enough for me to know.

Where Were the Women?

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ancestry, Dorothy Day, genealogy, Hebrew Scriptures, Jesus, Mary, outcasts, Rahab, Ruth, Tamar, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, women

It’s always fascinating to read commentaries about historical figures, especially those from very long ago when fact or accurate reporting wasn’t always the most important part of the story. Legend is sometimes so much more inviting! I find this sometimes true especially in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Today’s gospel reading is the familiar text of the genealogy of Jesus from the first chapter of Matthew, almost universally dreaded by first-time lectors because of so many unfamiliar names. I always read it with interest, wishing I could trace my ancestry further back than I am able – even if not 14 or 42 generations as in Matthew’s recounting. I never skip any of the names (I may need to read them aloud at some point!) and always note the fact that there are only four women named: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Mary, the mother of Jesus. All “outsiders” in ways that affect the “family line” they also appear, upon research, to be strong, sometimes wily, women – worthy of attention and, yes, admiration. At the mercy of culture and patriarchy, it is a wonder they survived. One wonders at the reason for their inclusion in the list. I must conclude that it is because their lives were not at all ordinary, as well as the fact that they figured into the lives of some significant men. Something in me says that there must’ve been others who were notable – maybe just not carriers of the family line of Jesus.

Things are different now; women are more central to world events. But as I read and pondered the stories again this morning of these four, I am drawn to reflect on women of our own time, “outcasts” in some way, living on the margins of society, who have been or are now instrumental in shifting the consciousness of a culture or a nation – or maybe just the town or family in which they live. Perhaps I’ll start my own list today. The first name that comes to me is Dorothy Day. A good start indeed!

The Longest Psalm

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balance, Bible, compass, Hebrew Scriptures, listen, psalm 119, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understanding heart

At 176 verses, Psalm 119 is the longest psalm – actually having more verses than 14 books of the Hebrew Scriptures and 17 of the Christian Scriptural books. I’d recommend a trip to the internet or to your Bible for a bit of commentary and an explanation of the intricate formula/structure of the psalm. I’m just taken with the beauty and heartfelt desire of today’s section (vs. 33-40). Below is a contemporary translation which I transcribe in paragraph form to suggest its use as a prayer for the journey of today.

Even now, Lord, if you will but teach me I shall keep as treasure all you say. Give me an understanding heart to grasp what lies alone in you, the outlines of your law, imprint them in my soul. My deep desire is for a heart whose compass-point is aimed at your true north, and not some weaker pole. I desire eyes as well that do not wander, but hold your vision fast for all eternity. Fill full your servant, Lord, with awe and fear of you, and drain away the dread I fear of failure on your path. May I listen ever to your word as judge and balance of my soul, and in your justice, give me life.

Go Ahead: Ask!

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Ahaz, ask, Gabriel, God, Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Scriptures, Jesus, Lord, Mary, sign from God, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

It’s my joy to be back to writing after nearly a week of “technical difficulties.”

In this morning’s Scripture readings there is a connection between Ahaz in the Hebrew Scriptures and Mary in Luke’s gospel, as both are confronted with messages from God. In the first, God tells Ahaz to ask for a sign from God. Ahaz refuses saying, “I will not ask. I will not tempt the Lord!” The next part of the conversation puts one in mind of a child saying, “Ask me what I have behind my back” or “Ask me what I did today.” Even if you refuse to ask, the child will tell you, and that’s exactly what happened with Ahaz. God said, “I’m going to tell you anyway!” and the message is a foreshadowing of the birth of Jesus. The gospel recounts the familiar conversation between Mary and the angel Gabriel, wherein Gabriel tells Mary (unbidden) that she is to be the mother of God’s Son. Unlike Ahaz, she does not refuse but she does question how it can happen since she has not had relations with a man. Gabriel’s explanation is certainly incredible but it ends with an assurance of what Mary must have already believed, because it caused her to assent to what was being asked of her. The angel said: “Nothing is impossible for God.”

Today is a good day to examine our willingness to assent to what is asked of us but also a day to ask for what we think we need from God. We must, however, be mindful in our asking of the fact that God knows what is good for us and what will keep us on our path toward God – even if our vision is cloudy in the asking. Willingness to surrender to God always trumps our personal will when dealing with God. Knowing that God is for us and will keep us close even in the most unthinkable events of our lives will guide us toward the maturity of asking the right questions.