Early Prayer

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J. Philip Newell, justice, Peace, stillness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The daily New York Times “Morning Briefing” was sobering, as was the weather report for today. I don’t ever remember a day in January when the temperature in New York State reached 60 degrees (F.) I sit in the silence wondering where we are going and what we need to be doing in order to survive the crises – political, environmental and spiritual. I am buoyed up as much as anything by the words of J. Philip Newell just now. There are two pieces from his Saturday Morning Prayer that help me.

1. Let me know in my own soul and body the rhythms of creativity that you have established. Let me know in my family and friendships the disciplines of withdrawal and the call to engagement. Let me know for my world the cycles of renewal given by you for healing and health, the pattern of the seasons given by you for the birth of new life.

2. In the busyness of this day grant me a stillness of seeing, O God. In the conflicting voices of my heart grant me a calmness of hearing. Let my seeing and hearing, my words and my actions be rooted in a silent certainty of your presence. Let my passions for life and the longings for justice that stir within me be grounded in the experience of your stillness. Let my life be rooted in the ground of your peace, O God. Let me be rooted in the depths of your peace. (Celtic Benediction, p. 76 – 77)

God’s Favorites

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compassion, God, justice, love equally, Luke, psalm 34, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There are some lovely lines in today’s lectionary readings, starting right at the beginning with the declaration that “the Lord is a God of justice who knows no favorites.” I smile at that one because it’s followed immediately with a caveat about the fact that even though God “is not unduly partial toward the weak,” or deaf to the cry of orphans and widows, yet God hears the cries of the oppressed. There’s also a bow to those who serve God willingly and the lowly whose prayer “pierces the clouds.” In the end, we have the assurance that “the Most High responds and judges justly; the Lord will not delay.” So the question remains. Is God or is God not partial in response to prayer and good works?

It seems clear to me that the Psalmist writes on behalf of the poor, the just and the brokenhearted. (PS 34) and that Paul’s testimony this morning (2 TM 4) is evidence of his good living. Then Luke adds to the examples of those who will be rewarded the story of the Pharisee and the publican (LK 18). What are we to conclude from all these examples? It sounds to me like favoritism.

I have to stop and consider everything I have read. Then I think of the God I trust. I go back to the beginning of my reflection about the fact that God shows no favoritism…and see the first part of that sentence: “God is a God of justice.” Can I assume that as the overarching theme of God’s existence – adding the quality of compassion into the mix of God’s treatment of humankind? If so, I think I find a reasonable answer. God can look at us all as cherished creatures, love us all equally and expect us to live as we were created to: in unifying love toward one another. If we respond positively to that invitation, we will be rewarded. If we do not, the justice of God will enter for correction, always with the potential for forgiveness and reconciliation.

How does that sound?

Personification

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justice, Lord, Lynn Bauman, mercy, psalm98, the general dance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Merton

In the traditional translations of Psalm 98 we read today that “the Lord comes to rule the world with justice.” That could make us shiver and evoke images of what may become a category 3 or 4 hurricane in Florida and other places to our south this weekend. It seems that we – some of us at least – usually tend toward the negative interpretation of God’s entry into the world. The word “wrath” comes to mind in this situation. Even for some who define God as Love, there’s almost a knee-jerk reaction at moments like that. It seems strange, does it not?

Today, not only did I read on at the usccb.org website to find: “Let the rivers clap their hands and the mountains shout with them for joy before the Lord, for he comes to rule the earth.” How can we suppress a smile at those images? I found (not surprisingly) an even more picturesque version in Lynn Bauman’s modern translation that is similar up to verse 9 where hills and valleys are clapping and and waves are dancing and people singing, but goes on to conclude what should assuage all our fears of reprisal for our failings. Listen:

Let hills and valleys join in song to offer hospitality to the Holy One, who comes to right our every wrong. This God will weigh the worth of everything that was, and is, and ever shall be so mercy can be known in full, and justice here be balanced with compassion. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, (p. 247)

That all sounds good to me, an invitation maybe to go out and join in what Thomas Merton calls “the general dance!”

The Cry of Ramah

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babies, justice, The Holy Innocents, The King of Peace, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

At our house we’ve recently received a number of birth notifications and Christmas cards from families and friends that feature pictures of beautiful children. We have remarked that the newborns seem quite alert – even in their first weeks of life. There is a quality in their eyes that seems to hold a question or a knowing of something deeper than just “here I am.” We wonder how they will navigate the world that they have been born into, a much different place from when I arrived.

Today is the feast of The Holy Innocents, those children under 2 years of age who were massacred by Herod, an insecure despot, upon hearing of the birth of “the newborn king of the Jews.” I am saddened when I see images of mothers with their babies on their backs or entire families fleeing for their lives from countries – especially now in Central America – where violence is the order of the day. Has nothing changed since “the King of Peace” has come to us? Can we find new or more efficacious ways to welcome the stranger? What is the light we can shine on the atrocities happening at our borders and even in our own cities? Can we not hear the cries for justice?

Election Day

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acceptance, election, Election Day, justice, Luke, messages, Philippians, privilege, psalm 22, responsibility, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vote, vows

I’m getting really good (at least in my own eyes) at finding  synchronistic meaning in the morning Scripture readings with the events of life. Today is Election Day in the United States and although it is a mid-term election year, it could be historic even though we are not electing a President this time. The balance of power in the Congress is at stake and there is also a huge increase in the number of women standing for election this year. Taking the readings in reverse order, I see clear messages for us today.

1. In the gospel of Luke (14:15-24) we hear of a man who gave a great dinner to which many were invited. When the time came and the dinner was ready, those who had been invited made excuses for their inability to come. As a result, the poor, the blind and the lame ate well that day. I often think of the shameful statistics of our participation in the election process in the United States. We have a privilege denied to citizens of many countries in the world and we often fail to exercise it. We complain about our “leaders” but do nothing to change the election results. We stay home from the polls in great numbers because we are lazy or frustrated with the government when the way to change things is simply to show up! One bright spot this year is that the largest number of citizens voting in this election cycle is purported to be the youngest citizens eligible (18-30 year olds). If true, that could be a sign of change to come. The message to us for today: GET OUT AND VOTE!
2. Psalm 22 calls us to praise the Lord in the Assembly of the people. It’s about doing justice and fulfilling “the vows we have made” – one might say, as citizens of this country, to educate ourselves about what is going on politically and how we can effect changes in what not longer works. It seems from events of this past year that we should be listening to the youngest cohort of eligible voters so that the words of Scripture may be true of us. Let the coming generation…proclaim to a people yet to be born the justice that [God] has shown.
3. When all is said and done today, our hope is for acceptance of the result without rancor. That is the beauty of a democratic process. Whether or not our preferred candidates are elected, we travel on together, remembering the urging of Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2:5-11) to: [H]ave among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus who..emptied himself.. Our elections are not about winning our argument or making sure that our agenda is pushed through but rather seeking those who will do their best for the country and letting go of our own egoic choices.

You may find my interpretations far-fetched and I would perhaps agree but the messages are clear to me this morning as I have stated them. We are called to take responsibility for the privilege of voting as informed citizens and to accept the result whether or not it is our desired outcome, having done our part to participate in the democratic process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friends of God

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, behavior, blameless, discourse, ethical, friendship, good, justice, moral, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth, virtuous

I can’t help thinking as I read the lectionary psalm for today (15) how timeless the messages of Scripture often are. As we think of those who might be found “on God’s holy mountain,” we might include “the one who walks blamelessly and does justice; who thinks the truth in her heart and slanders not with his tongue…” (vs.2-3)

I am further moved to reflection by the commentary that notes its similarity with modern-day definitions of a good, virtuous person, saying that “[T]here is an ethical and moral basis which seems common to both the ancient and modern worlds. Clearly men and women in the ancient world were seeking to define ethical behavior. Perhaps it enters this Psalm because it was of such critical importance that they do so.”

As we await the resolution of the issue in our Congress about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court we would do well to note the continuation of that commentary as a guide for our discourse in the matter and consider it in that light.

“Notice that such a definition is is in direct relationship to the divine. Abraham was called a ‘friend’ of God, one who knew God-in-relationship. This Psalm is about that kind of friendship, but it is not simply one-on-one. Whoever seeks for a relationship with God (for the divine friendship) must come seeking right-relationship not only with God but with everything.” (Ancient Songs Sound Anew, p. 33)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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?

 

 

 

 

 

Sheep

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care, Christ the King, Ezekiel, Good Shepherd, homelessness, humanity, hunger, illness, justice, love, Matthew, Psalm 23, sheep, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I just spent about a half hour reading on the internet about sheep. I never got past the basic information about things like their color (some are very dark brown while most are white), life expectancy (10 – 12 years), amazing peripheral vision (270-320 degrees) which allows them to see behind them, two sets of teeth, excellent hearing and scent glands in front of their eyes and between their toes!!

As I read of their history and the places where they are found (mostly now in Australia, New Zealand, south and central South America and the British Isles) and of their habits, I realized how little I know of these members of the animal kingdom. Much of what I know is from shopping for sweaters, from a few movies about sheep farmers and – of course – from Scripture.

Today, the “Solemnity of Christ the King” offers Scripture texts that use sheep as a metaphor to speak of the kind of king we envision as the “Lord of Heaven and Earth.” The gospel (MT 25) describes a king who rules not with an iron hand but one who “separates the sheep from the goats” at the end of time with the law of love. The measure of this kind of justice is care for the neighbor: feeding, clothing, sheltering and visiting the sick and imprisoned. The surprise is the revelation that when we think our love of neighbor is just simple human charity and do it naturally, God sees it as “superhuman,” a godly act. Or maybe there is no difference…

Of the most universally recognized Scripture passages, those that describe God in the role of shepherd – today in Ezekiel 34 and Psalm 23 – are most familiar. Thus, it was not Jesus that first conjectured God’s action in this way; it had been part of the tradition for centuries before his time. Throughout all the tumult of the history of the “chosen people” (among whom we now count ourselves) the thread of God as shepherd has been the model for ruler and servant as well. And we, as God’s flock, can be assured that we will be cared for as those in the charge of a “good” shepherd are. Whether we stay close in the sheepfold or wander off, we can be sure we will always be under the eye of the One who comes searching for us until we are found.

Why, then, would we not care for one another as we ourselves are always cared for? “God is God and we are not,” we might answer. “There is so much hunger and homelessness and illness in the world; how can we solve it all?” “You aren’t the only sheep in the flock. Stay with the flock and just do your part,” I hear God saying to us. “Follow my lead and don’t feel like you have to do it all. Just do your part, and leave the rest to me.” Put that way, it might just be a question of exercising our humanity after all…

 

 

 

 

 

Of Integrity and Song

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Andrew Harvey, common purpose, concert, conscience, conviction, good, humanity, justice, love, Peace, purpose, raised voices, shared values, song, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I was thrown back a few decades on Saturday evening at an anniversary concert that brought together entertainers who have sung out for justice, peace and love in many ways over many years. What a joy know that their voices had not lost any of their power and purity and that new songs held the same integrity as the old ones did when we were all “young.” (The audience was also “of a certain age” and loving every minute of both the familiar and newly penned messages.) There is a feeling that arises during an experience like that. It is a strength in the camaraderie of common purpose and understanding, a sense of integrity that pervades the space. The feeling sparks a renewal of energy for right living, knowing that shared values for the good of the world still exist and can be expressed by raising our voices in that moment of song and remembered later when difficult situations arise.

A quote from Andrew Harvey that I read this morning amplified and clarified the message of the weekend for me. In the introduction to a chapter on Integrity in the book, One Heart: Wisdom from the World’s Scriptures, he writes the following:

How easy it is to flatter when we need something, or lie when we have to get out of a tedious obligation. Yet we all know that when we don’t follow our conscience and profoundly held beliefs, something worse than disaster or derision falls upon us: a loss of ourselves, a hemorrhage of our innermost reality that leaves us feeling empty and drained of strength and hope. We know that when we do act from our deepest conviction, whatever the cost or consequence, a sense of peace descends on us, steadying us to endure and witness anything…God’s plan for humanity is dependent upon each person having the integrity to enact his or her own deepest nature and its laws and responsibilities in the world. The failure to do this, on the deepest level, is a betrayal of God’s purpose both for oneself and for the world.

So get out those well-worn CDs (and records?) and sing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s Fair?

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fair, fairness, generosity, generous, God's way, Gospel, Jesus, justice, Philippians, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vineyard, worker

The parables of Jesus often find us scratching our heads or grumbling about the outcome of the stories. This weekend’s gospel is one of the more familiar distressing examples. It’s that perplexing story of the workers in the vineyard who were paid what had been agreed upon at the beginning of the day. Fine, right? No, not really, since those who had been hired just an hour before the end of the workday, because no one had offered them work until then, got the same pay as those who had worked all day.

How are we able to make this a story of justice? It’s impossible really, but here’s where the reading from Isaiah comes in: “My thoughts are not your thoughts”, God says, “nor are my ways your ways.” We think everything should be fair. The person who cuts the pie must do so judiciously so that no one gets a bigger piece than anyone else. But sometimes some of the people don’t even get a bite, never mind a smaller piece! The workers who had been hired for the last hour were also probably standing out in the hot sun, hoping for someone to come and hire them so they could feed their family that day. And so God’s way prevailed.

So what is fair? Does it always mean everyone gets the exact same treatment or remuneration for the same circumstance? Or could it be that each person, being a unique reflection of the divine, should be considered individually according to need? We have been amazingly generous as a country over the past several weeks, reaching out to those affected by hurricanes or fires. People have given their time, their talent and their treasure to assure that anyone in need can receive as much help as can be given.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, all the time, we might be willing to fling open our hearts to those in need without stinting – as if everyone had a right to as much as everyone else? Isn’t that how we would always want God to treat us? Paul’s last line to the Philippians today calls them to “conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel.” Perhaps we ought to try to remember that challenge ourselves as we listen to Jesus in the gospel today asking us, “Are you envious because I am generous?”