The Boiling Pot

Passion Sunday

Luke 22:14-23:56

The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?”  And I said, “I see a boiling pot, tilted away from the north.”  -- Jeremiah 1:13.

The pot is boiling.  Again.

The whole world seems to be bubbling over.

Hatred.  Anger.  Fear.  Violence. 

The world churns with them.  The world feeds on them.

The vitriol of presidential politics.  Shootings in schools and theaters and churches and on city streets.  The crushing reality of racism.  The out-of-control fear of those who speak differently, or believe differently or think differently or look differently.  The never ending specter of terrorism.  Wars and rumors of war. 

People wonder, “Where is God in all this?”  People declare, “There can be no God in all of this!”

Three times, as Jesus walked with his disciples from Galilee to Jerusalem, he told his disciples he was going to Jerusalem to die.  Three times.  Jesus did not turn away from the boiling pot, he walked right into it.  Jesus did not turn away from the hatred, anger, fear and violence of his own day, he opened his arms to it.  Jesus did not turn away from the death and destruction wrought by the brokenness of humanity, he overcame it.

And that’s where God still is today. Right in the middle of the churning world.  Right in the middle of the boiling pot.  Right there standing with the victims of the hatred, anger, fear and violence.  Right there standing with the suffering and the dying and the dispossessed.  Just as God always has been.  Just as God always will be. 

On Sunday, Christians enter into the most important week of our whole year.  During this holy week, we will retell the story of Jesus’ final days on his journey to the cross and celebrate his victory over hatred, anger, fear, violence and death.  In this story, we are reminded of God’s passion for God’s world.  We are reminded that the power of love, God’s love, is stronger than all those things that can and do tear our world apart.  We are reminded that, even as the pot boils, Jesus walks with us, and invites us to walk with him.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

I invite you to join us next week as, once again, we tell the story of God’s passionate love for us and for the whole world (no exceptions) in Jesus Christ. 

The Dinner Party

Lent 5

John 12:1-8

It was quite the tableau.  Different than Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper; an event that lay in the immediate future.  But, a snapshot of the soon to emerge Church none the less.   All the characters are there, gathered around the dinner table.  Martha, the servant.  Lazarus, who had been brought back from the grave.  Mary, the devoted.  Judas, the betrayer.   The rest of the disciples are missing from the picture.  Present through their absence.  I wonder, where are they? 

The portrait John paints looks like most of the churches I have been associated with over the years.  The characters are strikingly similar.  We love to gather around tables.  Don’t we?   There are the tables where we share our casseroles and salads and fried chicken, the tables around which we meet and study, and the Table of grace which stands at the center of our worship life.  Martha is there most Sundays.  Serving.  She is one of those faithful folk who lead the church, take care of the building, plan the ministry and run the food pantry.  Lazarus still sits and watches, but doesn’t get involved.  He is trying to figure out this new life he’s been given, and is not exactly sure where he fits in.  Mary is there too.  Every church has people like her who are examples of faithful generosity.  They’re ones who pray, and visit the sick, and show up for bible studies and mentor the newcomers and give of their time and talents and treasures.  The ones who sit at Jesus’ feet and pour themselves out in love for him.  And yes, Judas is there too.  Every church I’ve ever known has had its curmudgeons.  Those people who are opposed.  To everything.   Those people who seem to be able to steal the life out of every new idea or proposed change that would take the church into the world.   Finally, there are the silent ones.  The missing disciples.  Those sheep who are not in the sheepfold, but are out in the world someplace, searching, seeking, and suffering.  People who wonder if they have a place at the table, or who don’t even know they’ve been invited.

But, Martha, Mary, Lazarus, Judas and the silent disciples do not stand at the center of this tableau.  Jesus does.  Jesus, who is the guest of honor at the dinner party, and the host at the table.  Jesus who Martha serves, and Mary prepares for burial, and Judas betrays and the wary world watches.   Jesus, the embodiment of God’s love for the world -- the whole world -- yes, even for Judas and all of us who have ever betrayed him. 

Jesus died for the messy, mixed bag of folks we call “the Church,” and then rose again on the third day to give us all life.   Thank God.   

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.

Defaulting to the Good

Lent 4

Luke 15:11b-32

“The death side of things grabs our imagination and fascinates us as fear and negativity always do, I am sad to say.  We have to be taught how to look for anything infinite, positive or good, which for some reason is much more difficult.”  --Fr. Richard Rohr,  Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self

In Jesus’  “Parable of the Prodigal Son” the father and the elder son see the returning prodigal through very different eyes.   The father, runs and greets his lost son, wrapping his arms around him with joy in his heart.  The elder son scoffs at the return of his brother, and sees the father’s actions toward one who has “devoured your property with prostitutes” as a personal affront.  One response is positive, the other negative.  One focuses on forgiveness and reconciliation, the other on judgment and wrath.  One sees the best, the other the worst in the situation.

Rohr, I think, is right.  We human beings quickly default to the negative.  We have a bad habit of putting the worst construction on people’s behavior, words and intentions.  We are too often quick to anger and slow to forgive.  Maybe that’s because we’ve been burned so many times.  Our default to the negative is also conditioned by the messages we hear day in and day out from the media and from one another.  Conflict, lack of civility, personal attacks and the vilification of those who are different, or of a different opinion, seem to be the way of the world these days (especially during an election year).  

Maybe that’s why it is so hard for some people to grasp the concept of God’s grace.  Jesus teaches and demonstrates that God’s love is like the father’s love.  God is the one who greets us, wraps loving arms around us, and welcomes us with joy in spite of who we are, where we’ve been or what we’ve done in the course of our lives.  God doesn’t kill the fatted calf…  God offers up the life of Jesus in order to undo our human propensity to judgment and wrath, and, in so doing, opens a way to reconciliation and life.

What would the world look like if we humans learned how to default to the infinite, the positive and the good?  What if our first response to the prodigals in our lives looked more like the father’s than the elder son’s?   What if we looked for the best in the people who cross our path?   That is the Way of Jesus.  That is the Way of forgiveness and reconciliation.  That is the Way of Life.

Rohr goes on to say this, “We have spent centuries of philosophy trying to solve the ‘problem of evil,’ yet I believe the much more confounding and astounding issue is the ‘problem of good.’  How do we account for so much gratuitous and sheer goodness in the world?  Tackling this problem would achieve much better results.”  I think the father in Jesus’ parable would agree.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Please feel free to share this if you found it meaningful!  Thanks for reading.