Picture This. Jesus pulls up a metal folding chair in the parish hall or takes a seat on the couch in the living room and begins to teach:
“If you’re struggling to pay the bills, but insist on making time to be with your children whenever they need you, blessed are you – you may never own the big vacation home and the Lexus, but heaven will be yours.
“If you are overwhelmed by the care of a dying spouse, a sick child or an elderly parent but you are determined to make a loving home for them, blessed are you – one day your sorrow will be transformed into joy.
“If you willingly give your time to cook at a soup kitchen, vacuum the church, help in a classroom; if you befriend the uncool, the unpopular, the perpetually lost, blessed are you – count God among your friends and biggest boosters.
“If you refuse to take shortcuts when it comes to doing what is right, if you refuse to compromise your integrity and ethics, if you refuse to take refuge in the rationalization that ‘everybody does it,’ blessed are you – you will triumph.
“If you try to understand things from the perspective of the other person and always manage to find a way to make things work for the good; if you’re feeling discouraged and frustrated because you are always worrying, always waiting, always bending over backwards, always paying the price for loving the unlovable and forgiving the undeserving, blessed are you – God will welcome, forgive and love you.
“If you struggle to discover what God asks of you in all things; if you seek God’s presence in every facet of your life and every decision you make; if your constant prayer is not ‘give me’ but ‘help me,’ blessed are you – God will always be there for you.
“If you readily spend time listening and consoling anyone who looks to you for support, for guidance, for compassion; if you manage to heal wounds and build bridges; if others see in you graciousness, joy and serenity; if you can see the good in everyone and seek the good for everyone, blessed are you – you are nothing less than God’s own.
“If you are rejected or demeaned because of the color of your skin or the sound of your name; if your faith automatically puts you at odds with some people; if you refuse to compromise to ‘get along’ or ‘not make waves,’ blessed are you – one day you will live with God.
“Rejoice and be glad,” Jesus tells those who have gathered, “you are the blessed of God. In the end, heaven is yours.” Remember this.
Archive for January, 2011
Blessed Are You 1-30-2011
Sunday, January 30th, 2011A Disciple: A Loved Sinner 1-16-2011
Sunday, January 16th, 2011The character of John the Baptist is someone we usually meet around Christmas but over the last two weeks he has played a major role in launching Jesus on his three-year mission. Some scholars say John the Baptist’s role was to point people to Jesus… “Look! There’s the Lamb of God…Look! God is in our midst.” Pointing people to Jesus and then getting out of the way and letting Jesus work in people’s lives.
I believe that this Sunday reminds us that as baptized Christians it is our role to point people to Jesus and to get out of the way like John the Baptist. We may do this in very different ways than John the Baptist, but we need to do it each in our own way.
I firmly believe that the biggest obstacle to this actually happening is when we get overwhelmed by our sins, our faults, our weaknesses, and our brokenness. And then we start saying, “Go away! Not me! I can’t do this! I’m just too imperfect.”
Sometimes as a priest I get a strong dose of this. My shabby humanness seen by many people and those parts of my life that I find very embarrassing and shameful hit me right in the face. And boy, do they hurt!
I think if we consider where we fit in as disciples of Jesus in 2011 there is one very important thing to remember. Jesus has the ability to look past all of our rough edges, our weaknesses, and our sins. He sees our hearts, our potential, our possibilities and the great news is He is willing to work through our weaknesses and humanness, our brokenness, our shameful parts if we are open and willing to try.
I would like you to keep this seasonal analogy before you as you reflect on being a disciple. A disciple is translated by some as a “loved sinner.” (Ron takes a football out of a bag)
God has given us the ball to run with. God knows that occasionally we will fumble, call a bad play, and throw an interception. But God has promised to help us recover. If God wanted things taken care of on this earth perfectly, some super colossal computer or robot would have been created. But God wants us to take care of God’s business. To be a living, breathing presence of Christ today. Married, single, priest, nun, brother, woman, man, teenager, kid, senior citizen, young adult… no one gets off the hook.
I close. I would imagine that if God were to give us a half-time speech, we, the team, would hear something like this:
We are in this together. Go for it! Do the best you can with what you’ve got! Don’t give up trying because you think you don’t make the grade. Don’t quit because of your mistakes. Put your heart in whatever you do. I am with you always! I will work with what you give me!
“Look! There is the Lamb of God! Look! God is in our midst. Keep pointing!!
Epiphany 1-2-2011
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011As a kid I loved watching the three kings – or astrologers or magi or whatever – getting placed at the crib. Exotic, colorful, mystical… and now the crib set was complete.
But a few weeks ago someone told me there was someone very important missing from almost every crib set. “Who,” I asked.
She said, “Herod should be in every crib set because darkness is never far away in the Christmas story. Darkness is part of how many people experience Christmas in their homes. And over 2000 years ago there was the darkness of Christmas Eve, with the shepherds keeping night watch over their flock, and the appalling dangerous darkness of King Herod. It was because of darkness and love for those in darkness that the Light came.”
“Wow,” I thought. She’s right.
Herod started off so good. Brilliant and charming he knew many languages. He was a high-powered achiever, and his kingdom was filled with many projects that created wealth. But he had a dark side too, and his dark side, towards the end of his life, seems to have completely taken over. He killed his favorite wife and at least two of his children (he was suspicious and paranoid), he is mentioned in connection with the horrible slaughter of the holy innocents, and when he died he left instructions that many leading citizens in Jerusalem be slaughtered, so the population would weep at his passing.
Herod became the proverbial poster boy for cruelty, paranoia, corrupt living and family grief. What happened to him?
He would not, and then maybe later he could not, do two really important things with his neck. He couldn’t lift his eyes and look about. He could not sense the grandeur of the world and of the God, and take his place as a valued and treasured part of the whole. He had to be everything, the center of everything. He couldn’t lift his head higher than what he thought, he felt, and what he wanted to do.
And second, unlike the magi who prostrated themselves, he couldn’t bow his head and worship something more holy than himself.
When you don’t have time to wonder at the extreme largeness of the world, the universe, human life, other human lives – and the One who created them all – you get obsessed with your tasks and your way and yourself – and that’s a recipe for darkness.
And when you don’t spend some time bending, prostrating, and consciously adoring the One who is greater than you – that is a recipe for darkness.
And at its worse you turn into a tyrant. Maybe not like King Herod, but you can be a tyrant in the kitchen, in the home, in the office, on the road, in church.
We rightly call these Magi the wise men, and maybe wise women. They took time to lift their eyes and wonder – they saw the star and Herod didn’t. And they prostrated themselves and did him homage, offering gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. I hope we will do the same. Epiphany 2011!
