Crazy Love

 Jesus said,

         “This is my commandment, that you love one another.

         Just as I have love you, so you love one another.”

 

That commandment was not just 

         for those disciples there with him at the time,

                  but it quickly became the distinguishing mark 

                           of all followers of Jesus after that.

We are called to love – 

         that New Commandment that Jesus gave his disciples          

                  on the night of violence when he was then betrayed 

                  and taken and tortured and handed over for execution. 

 

If that is what he asked of us 

                  at that incredibly tense and challenging moment in his own life, how can we not take his words without absolute seriousness?

 

So how are we doing with that?

         Looking at the Church as a whole, 

                  not just this congregation 

                  or this denomination of the Episcopal Church, 

                  but the whole enterprise, the whole institution,

in some ways it looks like Christianity is dying out.

 

U.S. church membership has fallen below the majority of the population          

         and continues to dip.

In the eyes of the general society we may appear to be irrelevant.

 

However, yesterday our Bishop and the Episcopal Church in Spokane

         was very relevant to a significant portion of our community,

                  as Grand Marshall of the Pride Parade,

because our bishop and diocese

         stepped in and responded to hateful and spiteful actions

                  with a loving response of support and solidarity.

So our group of Episcopalians marching behind a large 

         “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You” sign,

was met by loud cheering and applause all along the entire parade route.

                  It was truly stunning to hear that prolonged cheering

                           rising as we passed by.

We had made a difference to a group of fellow human beings 

         often marginalized and maligned.

 

This is important, I believe, for bringing us back to the realization

         that Jesus at the center of the life and ministry of the Church

                  calls us with an unconditional love for us,

                  which we then must share with all others.

And remember it’s not just our own efforts to carry out that mission

                  of loving one another in truth and action.

         We can’t put the world right 

                                    just by the way we humans ordinarily do things.

         It is God’s mercy, grace and love working through us.

         

It is not through a political answer, 

or by making the best deals, or by wielding power

                           that the world can be put right.

Our society lives in that space

         and people suffer as a result: 

                  especially the weak, the powerless, the alien, the marginalized,

                  women and children,

                  those who all get exploited, taken advantage of,

while those at the top, the ones with the power,

                           secure their power and wealth for themselves.

 

Jesus was not about that,

         even though some have gone so far 

                  as to use their faith beliefs as a rationale 

                           for judgment and moral exclusiveness.

 

A king is what the people asked the Prophet Samuel for,

         even though he warned them this was not a good idea.

A king is so different from the liberating, healing power of Love

                  that a Crucified Savior brings.

 

No, Jesus is out of his mind.  

That’s what they said about him in the Gospel reading for today.

                           “He has gone out of his mind.”

         He’s crazy.  

That’s how this society, this culture would have characterize him also.

         Say he’s crazy 

         and you can discredit that whole love one another thing.

That’s a familiar tactic used over the ages.

         Call your opponent a liar, discredit their work.

And the culture we live in today has such a pervasive effect on us

         that we unconsciously start to accept those lies.

 

But when we let down our guard 

         and our tight grip on that pervasive belief in a merit based morality,

and instead take our suffering in all its many forms to Jesus

         then there is a huge break through 

                                    in the spiritual potency of the Church.

We can experience the stunning intimacy of Love in the Presence of Jesus

         and we can discover how to love one another

                  with authenticity and genuine intention.

And that can rock the world.

 

Crazy – The Cross of Jesus is a mass pardon. 

                                    a mass pardon for all our sins – Crazy.

The Cross stands between us and the condition of suffering in the world.

 

One might think Jesus was out of his mind to attempt that 

                           – you know, saving the whole world – 

         but then he went farther and in one huge Resurrection appearance,

                  Pentecost when the Holy Spirit, 

         the Resurrection Spirit and Presence of Jesus rests on us,

                  into which we were baptized

which provides in us a continuous source and process of sanctification

                  provided in that space of the Cross, which we call salvation.

 

This is the experience accessible to all in the Church,

         accessible through our spiritual practices of 

                  prayer, meditation, 

                  the liturgy and sacraments, 

                  reading and hearing and reflecting on the scriptures, 

                  breaking bread together, forgiving one another.

That being in the Presence of Jesus style of Love

         is what liberates us to freely love one another.

 

This is not the way of a king or any other type of political leader.

         They called Jesus crazy, out of his mind.

         And he didn’t do a thing to deny that.

They said to him, “Your family is here to collect you,

         your mother and brothers and sisters.”

And he looked around at those sitting there with him and said,

         “These are my mother and my brothers and sisters.”

Those doing the will of God, 

         those yielding to experiencing that Divine Presence 

                  as it was coming to them through Jesus at that moment.

Brothers and sisters in the same craziness as Jesus.

 

And mother also, in whom the divine seed is planted and grows

         and is born and comes forth into the world.         Crazy.

 

Matthew chapter 25, the story Jesus told 

about when the king would come and separate the sheep and the goats,

         you know the one I think: 

“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, 

         or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 

And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, 

         or naked and gave you clothing? 

And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 

 

And the answer, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least 

         of these who are brothers and sisters, you did it to me.”

 

Jesus tells us in this story that these are the people he identifies with,

                                                                        not the power brokers.

         Crazy the world would say.         

                                    Those people?!         Those losers?!

Just look at how our society treats the homeless poor, 

         the aliens seeking refuge and asylum at our borders, 

         those needing to access health care, 

         and the incarcerated,

         those marginalized in any way, shape or form.

But I have seen that those people, the ones in need, 

         are those who get it about Love.  That’s where Jesus really is.

Crazy.

 

This way of Love in the heart of Jesus is craziness to the world

         that will call it names 

         and call what is good evil and of the devil

                  and seek to discount, discredit, ignore and push it aside.

But when you experience being loved by Jesus 

         then you can get crazy too

                  in that life-giving, liberating way for others.

 

So at the heart of it all, this is all that I want to say.

         Don’t be afraid to get close to that Love, 

                                                               to get close to Jesus.

Give up resisting, give up the merit based theology  

and accept the fact that you are just as much in need of a free gift of Love                   as anyone else.

Let yourself be loved by Jesus, 

                                    and go crazy in that good way with him.

Jesus, Francis and Pentecost

You may have wondered why it was 

that we began the liturgy today with the Easter salutation:

         Alleluia! Christ is Risen.  The Lord is Risen indeed. Alleluia!

And here it is Pentecost.

 

Did you know that Pentecost is another Resurrection appearance?

 

Pentecost is the 50^th day of Easter,

         and the Risen Christ is present in a new and powerful way,

It’s Pentecost as an ultimate Resurrection event,

         where resurrection becomes very personal.

 

Pentecost, as told in the story from Acts, chapter 2, 

is at the center of the very meaning and existence of the Church.

 

Pentecost is the Risen Christ, invading and penetrating us 

         to the core of our being          as Holy Spirit, as the Divine Presence. 

Pentecost is the forcing of our eyes open to seeing 

         that God really does dwell in us.  

And maybe then          we might be able to see          that we dwell in God.

 

This Pentecost event happened quite possibly in same room as the Last Supper 

         and where after the crucifixion the disciples were gathered in fear 

         when Jesus suddenly appeared with them behind locked doors.

Now 50 days later

         and it’s 120 gathered instead of 12 

         and Jesus suddenly appears, 

                                                               but in a new form:

Flames – on each, bright radiant energy.

 

The room was ablaze with the light of these flames 

burning on the disciples 

burning without the disciples being reduced to ashes.

 

In a way this is a replay of Exodus 3,

         the story of the bush that was burning, but was not burned up.

 

As you may recall,

this extraordinary occurrence got the attention of Moses,

         he went to investigate,

and ended up with his shoes off on holy ground,

                  encountering the Living God.

 

…and Moses would return to this place of the brilliant light 

in the bush that was not burned up,

bringing with him the Hebrew People 

                           freed from slavery in Egypt

         bringing them to that very spot where Moses had encountered God.

Where else would he bring them?

 

And on this mountain Moses would receive from the hand of God

                  the Law of the Covenant,

and when Moses came down from the Mountain

         from time spent in face to face encounter with the revelation of God,

                  his face shone,

                  his face was aflame with brilliant light.

He was transfigured,

a human being on fire, but not burnt up.

 

Human beings on fire, but not burnt up

That’s Pentecost – people on fire

 

The tongues of flame radiantly burning on each of them, 

yet not burning them up, 

become transfigured into tongues of languages. 

 

And now, for that diverse crowd gathered in Jerusalem for the festival

         the sound that is heard, that draws them, 

is each one hearing in their own tongues, their own languages 

words, not just sound. 

The sound that attracts the crowd is the sound of intelligible words.

 

The fire of the Spirit, of the very Breath of God

is translated through the human person 

as utterance, words, communication.

The languages expand the message, the revelation of God, 

beyond ethnicity, way beyond any arbitrary human divisions.

 

The breath that the Resurrection Jesus breathed

on those huddled disciples on Easter Day 

now comes with great force and transfigures them 

in flaming tongues of light and language, 

uncontainable by the room they were in.

 

Now I just got home from a Franciscan Pilgrimage on Friday night,

         and I have been thinking about Pentecost and this pilgrimage.

 

Pilgrimage has been a long term spiritual practice for me over the decades,

         a way of stepping out of my everyday location and experience

         into a physical, tangible, touchable space of encounter 

                  with the Holy Presence 

         which is the Resurrection energy and enlivenment present for me.

I do pilgrimage so that I can be healed, changed, redirected, 

                  and made more usable as a disciple of Jesus.

 

Following in the footsteps of Jesus in the Holy Land 

and following in the footsteps of Francis in his land of the Italian countryside 

         can resonate with each other

because Francis sought with all his heart and strength 

         to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and to imitate him in his own life.

 

I have sought to follow also, as much as I am able,

         and, following in their footsteps, this pilgrimage did not disappoint,

for in various places where Francis experienced divine Presence,

         I will also claim to have been brought into a present and immediate

                  encounter of Resurrection Presence,

                  what we call Holy Spirit.

It is not unlike the Resurrection appearances of Jesus, 

         especially like what is was for those 120 gathered in the upper room,

                  the purpose of which was not just for them

         but for the sake of the whole hurting world.

 

So in each place of pilgrimage I stood in a part of St. Francis’ story

         witnessing and seeing the connection between Francis and Jesus

and myself ?         drawn in, superimposed in the same place and time.

Myself – the desire of my heart, the inner hunger that draws me 

         to the source of love, joy, peace, life in its fullest sense.

Life that is ever expansive beyond the limits of my own self identity, 

         my own self understanding and self-limitations.

Pentecost is this same experience multiplied by 120,

         each person absorbed into the Resurrection Appearance of Jesus

                  and becoming, not just a flame suspended above the head

(as is so often depicted in art) but each person a burning bush,

         bright, totally engulfed in flame, but not consumed.

Voices speaking words that can be understood by everyone,

         no matter where you come from.

Holy Spirit present in voices connecting 

         with those immediately around them in Jerusalem that day

                                             and from now on.

Holy Presence through them, speaking again like a might wind 

         in myriads of different places to myriads of hungry hearts 

who are simply seeking 

         how to live the incredible life they have been given 

                  in a world of challenge, confusion and so much suffering.

Francis had a propensity for climbing up steep hillsides 

         where he could have a vista point 

         for looking out over the beautiful countryside.

In these places 

– La Foresta, Poggio Bustone, Grecchio, Fonte Columbo, the Carceri – 

he would seek out a nature-given place to lay his head for the night, 

         a cave, a mere cleft in the rocks.

In he would crawl and sleep on the stony ground.

         A retreat into Sister Mother Earth, 

         a womb-like space for nightly regeneration 

out of which the Saint would emerge in the morning 

         in order to descend to the valley 

where people were hungry for a Resurrection in their own lives.

Francis brought Pentecost to them, speaking to them in their own language,

         and Europe was changed, 

not just in the rapid and expansive growth of the Order he founded – 

                           the Friars Minor, the Little Brothers,

not just in the women following St. Clare

          boldly stepping out of her privileged life 

         to demand the freedom to choose a life of simplicity like Francis did, 

but also in the formation and wide-spread growth of the Third Order –

         all those who would go about their daily lives, 

         where they were in families, jobs and trades and everyday business,          raising their children, caring for their elders, 

         ministering to the lepers and all those in need.

All Europe was changed.

Within a couple of decades feudal warfare ceased 

         in great part because there were 

         so many common people becoming Third Order Franciscans 

whose Rule of Life contained the injunction not to bear arms, no weapons.

 

The way I see it, Pentecost is an ongoing event in the life of the Church:

         in the First Century, in the 14^th Century, and in the 21^st Century.

Does the longing in our hearts draw us to hear 

         the tongues of the language of our own hearts?

Can we too dare to be engulfed in a fire of Holy Presence 

         that does not consume us,

         but instead enlivens us 

                  and makes us each a Resurrection appearance of Jesus?

 

Did it ever occur to you what that might be like

         to be aware of having the Holy Spirit in such fiery presence

what potential there would be,

         how that might change your life, expand it, enlarge it?

 

Can we get close enough in our openness to the Holy Spirit 

         that we actually catch fire?

 

As Peter told the crowd on that Day of Pentecost

         for all that turned to Jesus,

“you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off,

         everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

 

That is what you are charged to consider for yourself on this Day of Pentecost.

 

Can you see?

You are loved to such a degree 

that God knew that the only way to help you 

the only way to work reconciliation in you

the only way to restore Life

is to live in you.

 

And God with us, the Spirit as close and as intimate as our own breath,

         comes right on in and will identify for us our deepest suffering

                                    if we would allow for that,

         and then the Spirit works in us the healing process

                  bringing us always toward greater fullness of Life

                  bringing us even deeper into the Heart of God

                           that throbs with such love for us.

 

Let’s stop messing around and ask for power from the Source.

 

Now may God give us eyes to see 

that we too may become, 

are in the process of becoming 

burning bushes ourselves,

burning bushes for others to catch notice of,

and turn aside in wonder to see, 

and to catch fire themselves also.  Amen. 

St. Thomas, an Example of Faith

 Every year on the second Sunday in the Easter Season

         we have this Gospel reading.

The main part of it, so memorable, is the story of Thomas,

         absent from the other disciples the previous week - hence his doubts, 

                  then his encounter with the Risen Lord,

                  and subsequently his response to the Resurrection.

This should be a lesson to us all of the importance 

         of being in church every Sunday.

Who knows what you might be left out of if you miss even one Sunday!

Well, of course, that really trivializes this story and does Thomas a disservice.

He performs an important role, shows us his humanness, 

         so that we can readily identify with him 

                  and thus see ourselves in this encounter with Jesus as well.

Thomas, the “patron saint of Episcopalians!”

Well, there’s more in this Gospel reading we can also look at.

The first part of the reading is the same one we will hear on May 23,

         for Pentecost Sunday, 

                           the day more associated with the reading from Acts 2.

This first part of today’s Gospel reading often gets overlooked.

         overshadowed by the saga of Thomas today,

I think it might be good to spend some time, therefore, 

         with this section of the Gospel reading, 

                  and in particular with the part about forgiving sins.

Jesus appears to the disciples (all except Thomas) and says to them:

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

“Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus breathes into them Holy Spirit,

         and then he commissions them into the ministry of reconciliation

                  "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; 

                  if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." 

Well, we may want to back away from this statement, sounds too much like:

         "I forgive you, but I don't forgive you."

So let me help unpack this.

 

Two key Greek words here: forgive and retain – 

         forgive, which literally means to send away, send forth, emit,

                  an action that involves separation.

Sins are sent away and separated from a person;

         the action is done on the sins.

Retain, or better translated restrain – to lay hold of, keep under reserve, 

         hold fast, bind them, 

         hold back, hinder their action.

To send away the sins and to bind them from happening.

                           This is the spiritual action of liberation.

What an incredible thing the apostles were to do!

And by logical extension, what an incredible thing WE are called to do!

 

I think we see very little of this being done in the church,

         and heaven knows the world sure needs this kind of reconciliation,

                  the forgiving of sins, 

                  the sending away of sins and the restraining of sins in the first place.

The first is a response to sin, and the second is a preventative action.

 

And sin, what all is included in the definition of sin?

         What is the most important aspect about sin that we need to remember?

Sin is a violation of the basic human relationships –

         with each other, with God and with ourselves.

That covers everything from murder          

         to something as seemingly minor 

                  as begrudging another’s joy because you do not have that yourself.

So notice: there is a two-fold aspect to the ministry of reconciliation.

Forgive or take away sins – responding to the occasion of sin, 

                                                    reactive reconciliation.  

And retain or hold back sins - proactive reconciliation.

         We can have a restraining effect on sin!

Think about the implications of this for us in daily life:

         What we say, 

what we do, 

the attitudes we have, 

the opinions we express, 

how we live out relationships 

– all can be proactive reconciliation.

We who are called by his Name,

         have been sent, and 

         have been given an awesome power and force in the world for good,

a force that is as desperately needed now as ever.

We are called to ministry of reconciliation through our baptisms;

         Book of Common Prayer, page 855, from a section in the Catechism, Outline of the Faith:

Q. What is the ministry of the laity?

A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church;

         to bear witness to him wherever they may be

         and, according to the gifts given them, 

         to carry on Christ's work of reconciliation in the world; 

         and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.

There is much more to say about the ministry of reconciliation

         but we also have the other half of this gospel reading.

Someone forgot to tell Thomas about the meeting last Sunday.

Despite all the other disciples corroborating their story of seeing the Risen Christ

         Thomas says he must not only see, but also touch.

He would not trust just his eyes.

He wants to see the wounds; he wants to see that which killed Jesus.

Maybe he wants to make sure

         that it is absolutely apparent that Jesus is risen from the dead,

                  not just a survivor of the ordeal of crucifixion.

So Jesus shows up, 

and apparently unseen the Risen Lord had overheard Thomas’ conversation.

Jesus shows great compassion to Thomas

         and he gives him a special invitation to touch the wounds.

The text doesn't say if Thomas then did touch.         

But what Thomas said is very significant:         "My Lord and my God!"

Thomas was not just looking at Jesus as his rabbi, or teacher, or master,

         but as GOD.                  This is bold declaration of faith.         

Thomas goes from doubt to calling Jesus God.

         This even goes beyond what the others told Thomas.

Thomas' declaration, "My Lord and my God!" is both a creed 

and an act of devotion or worship, a response to the Holy.

Then in verse 29 from the Gospel reading Jesus says:         

         Blessed are those who have not seen, 

         and yet believe.

Now here is another place where how the Greek gets translated into English 

                                                               is tricky.

There are nuances of meaning around any Greek word 

         that may overlap with the many nuances of meaning 

                           around a corresponding English word,

and the Greek verb pistew is one of them.

It gets translated believe and have faith in.

         In English for us here in a church setting 

                  believe has a creedal sense to it 

                  – such as in a tenet of belief or a doctrine.

         It can have a sense that having gathered so much evidence 

                  one can now reliably believe something.

Have faith in as a translation is more relational.

         We say we have faith in someone 

                  because our experience of that person shows us 

                  that he or she is trustworthy.

It’s a matter of trust level.

         Being willing to trust what is not in my control.

         Trusting what I cannot prove, what I cannot dictate as verifiable,

                  only what has been revealed to me,

what I have experienced so subjectively. 

Faith, in this sense then, is a participation in relationship 

with the God of the resurrected Lord in us.

Now listen carefully to what I am going to say.

We are not saved on the basis of what we believe.

We are not saved on the basis of what we believe.

If that were the case, then purity of theology, the content of belief

         would be of primal importance,

and only those who believed rightly would be saved, 

                                                               would be reconciled to God.

That makes for a pretty scary situation,

           since with all the different denominations 

         and all their different belief systems,

knowing what is right belief is problematic.

If someone didn’t know the right formula of doctrine, then too bad.

         This would leave out most children, 

         those of low mental capacity and the ageing mind that is forgetful.

But that is not the case.

         It is a matter of trust, that kind of faith, rather than belief.

 

So can you see that it is not what you believe, but what Jesus did.

As you have heard me say before:

         God doesn’t leave anything as important as salvation, 

         up to us and our response alone.

Even our faith is a gift.

 

Now back to what Thomas said and its connection with the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is a concrete and specific Resurrection appearance of Jesus.

 

In the Eucharist we say that we have before us the Body of Christ.

         These are the words as the bread is placed in your hands, right?

 

So do you realize what you take into your hands during Communion?

         The very presence of the Resurrected Lord,

                  tangible, touchable.

That is why we make such a point of the moment of silence 

         at the breaking of the Bread.

This represents the very wounds of the crucifixion,

         the very thing Thomas wanted to see and to touch.

And we get to touch and see and taste and eat.

 

When the bread and the cup are lifted up, and the Presider says          

         “The Gifts of God for the People of God” these are words of invitation:

come forward to see and touch and taste

         that our faith, our trusting may be nurtured

         and our spirits and whole being are nourished

         and strengthened for the ministry of reconciliation.

 

Take the Mystery of the Resurrection into your own hands.