Homily for Blessing of Animals 9-30-2012

A Homily for Feast of St. Francis (Trans) and the Blessing of the Animals,  September 30, 2012  All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC                          Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Galatians 6:14-18                                Matthew 11:25-30

From the Gospel, Jesus says to us, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,  and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  

Last Sunday at this time my dog was waiting in my office with the door closed for the service to get over. His name is Yoda and we got him from the shelter about a month ago. 

 We are his third owners since he likes to do escapes, climbing over and under fences, and he still won’t master the command “come”. Well, he got bored chewing up little plastic pieces under my desk, and so when a person opened the door and came into my office, Yoda shot out for daylight, made it through the office wing door, and headed for the joy of sniffing all over the place. I was just getting out of the service when someone came up to me and said they saw my dog running through the church’s side yard and over to the street. I rushed to where they had pointed and could see him nowhere in sight. But others saw him crossing over to the labyrinth and then - up past the marsh and then -into the adjoining neighborhood. My heart was racing because I knew he had no knowledge of avoiding cars, and 158 is just a block away. Finally a neighbor caught him, and I undid my belt to use as a leash and, holding my pants up with one hand, I led him back with the other and took him home. My feelings were a blur of anger, anxiety, fear, and frustration. We have only had the dog for a month and yet we love him. I had been hesitant to get another dog because I was afraid of another broken heart as well as the burden of having a pet. Attraction to anything is easy but all attraction fades and  it can either fade into neglect, or it can be replaced by habit or, if you are lucky and you work hard on it each day it can grow into love. Love is not what you feel but by what you do in sharing yokes and burdens.  

I brought a dog into our marriage, Frodo, who came into our lives while my daughter and I were leaving a covered dish supper at seminary. This abandoned puppy came up to us and tried to climb into our car and I said no, since I didn’t want the burden of another pet and was afraid he would break my heart because dogs don’t usually outlive us. My daughter pleaded how she would take care of him, and I held fast to the idea of putting up notices of a found puppy on the campus of the university and keeping him only for a couple days, for I was not in favor of putting up with the burden. 

Over the next sixteen years, he cost us money, time, some expensive medical procedures, a run-in with a skunk, and getting people to look after him when we had to go out of town.  There were times when he got out and rolled in horse manure, coming back home dripping wet.  And then he broke our hearts by dying. There were so many burdens and times when we were yoked to him, and yet I think he was a gift from God, and I saw all the burdens as light and the yoke as easy. Owning property is easy, but love is hard for love is what you do on a daily basis for the long haul. I never owned Frodo; I only loved and was loved.

 

Just a few months before Frodo died, a parishioner gave us a puppy as a peace offering to my wife. I said no, for the same two reasons of burden and heartache. Fourteen years later our hearts were broken again as Zoe died after years of spending money, time, frustration, and love of that burden that, at the end, I had to carry up and down the stairs, 44 pounds of what, echoing Elvis Presley, we called that “hunka, hunka of burning love”.  But that weight seemed light and the yoke seemed easy because she was a gift from God, and we were gifts to her. She blessed us and we blessed her. Every good yoked relationship I have had has called for me to carry some of the burden - church, friendships, marriage, children, family, and neighbors - but in light of love, the yoke is easy, the burden light. I never “owned” Zoe.  Owning would have been easy, but love is hard for love is what you do on a daily basis for the long haul. I only loved and was loved. 

 

Jesus did not come into the world to create a new religion full of rites and rules. He came to invite us into relationship with God in which we are able to see everything as a gift from God and to be gifts to God and neighbor. He invited us to change the way we look at things so that we might unleash the power of love through which all things are possible. God is not a dispenser of an invisible protective shield in the sky that will keep bad things from happening to us. Bad things will happen, life will be tough, but the promise is, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I don’t own Jesus as my personal religion, I only love and am loved on a daily basis for the long haul.

St Francis, who we remember today, is one of those who spent the first part of his life trying to project his ego onto the world and when he failed, he heard the invitation by Christ to accept the world as he could see it in a new way.  It was rough for him, he was scorned by many, but he looked at the world as a universe of gifts. He saw animals not as competitors or property but as opportunities to love. He saw lepers not as people to be shunned but neighbors to be loved. He gave up the burden of keeping up with his parents’ desires for him to succeed, and he gave himself as a gift to the world. He saw enemies not as opponents to be conquered but as potential lovers to be wooed into relationship. He saw the suffering of the world not as a fearful thing from which to flee but as an opportunity to bring healing and wholeness. He listened to all the messages of God from the bird song to the wind and the rain and thunder, he saw the light of Brother Sun and Sister Moon, and he was in awe of earth, water, fire and air, not seeing them as ordinary but as part of the universe of extraordinary blessing given to us.  And in response, we have the opportunity to be blessings. He saw enemies not as He did not see death as an abyss to be feared but as a sister to be embraced at the end of life. He saw time as not something to be killed but as a precious gift to live fully each moment. Each night as Francis prayed, out of love he wanted to know more about the yoked relationship between his soul and God’s spirit, and he would ask; “Lord who are you?” and “Who am I?” Francis did not own his mystical experiences with the Risen Lord as his personal property - that would have been easy - but he did the hard work of loving on a daily basis. He loved and was loved.

The Bible has all these stories of people who “once were blind but now could see” but entering into a relationship with God is having our vision changed so that we might not be blind to the blessings and gifts given to us each day and that we might be healed.  Today as we bless the animals, let me let you in on a secret - the animals do not need to be blessed so that they might be good property, for you can never really own your pet, you can only love and be loved, doing the hard work of love on a daily basis for the long haul. All we do is pronounce that they are blessings and that your eyes might be opened so that we might see them as blessings, and we invite you to see yourselves as blessings and gifts to the world, doing the hard work of love on a daily basis for the long haul. If you think that is too difficult, you are not in it alone; hear the words again. Jesus says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

    

Don't look at the camera

This morning I did my walk with Yoda and there was a shooting star and the sounds of a dog cornering a fox with the fox making distress and territory combination calls in response. Would that not be enough for a meditation? Except my mind was focused in on a movie I had seen last night. It was a Finnish Movie called The Man With No Past. Now I have not seen many (or any other) Finnish movies so I cannot tell if this is typical but I have seen many Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Russian movies  and this movie by Aki Kaurismäki was different. It reminded me of handheld indie movies with pick up casts of people off the street who are given instructions like "Just say the lines, don't act, just be natural, don't think, and ABOVE ALL DON'T LOOK AT THE CAMERA!


It was nominated for an Academy award in 2002 for Foreign language film and it is an ironic comedy on an amnesiac finding his way. There some good moments but no big laughs and what we get is a story that was intriguing and off center where people smoke a lot and are quasi depressed.  The result  is like a Jim Jarmusch film (Down by Law and Broken Flowers) in fact Jarmusch placed his Night on Earth in Helsinki using some of Kaurismäki's actors. The acting takes a bit of getting used to  and it is sometimes reminiscent of high school student plays. You remember under-rehearsed High school plays? They are the ones where the kids have memorized the lines but just say the line and then wait until their turn for a line comes up. They don't listen, there is no tension between the characters only dead space, no hint of an internal dialogue behind the lines, no real hint that they are reacting to the other person; only the hitting of the spot and reciting the lines. There was even one scene where one character seems to be looking at a newspaper while he is giving his lines which reminds of Marlon Brando's last movies when he used to not memorize his lines and had them placed on the backs of cantaloupes and other props. And the way the actors stood or walked; they looked as if they were self consciously afraid the whole world was watching and they tried to look natural but their bodies were all stiff as if they wanted to get the whole thing over with.


I was thinking about how we approach God. I look at some of my own experiences at prayer where I just memorized the lines for a performance before God  where my body was all stiff and self-conscious, there is little internal dialogue before I said the lines, no listening only the dead space before the next line that comes up before I say amen and call the curtain down until the next performance..I look back at them and see the comedy and the tragedy of wasted time where I was so self conscious of  of God judging my performance. The only way out of it to enter into an awareness that God loves me and does not judge me on my performance but loves me unreservedly and calls me to forget the lines,  be aware of the space between us  and listen, listen, listen.

Life is not a performance before a critic or even a rehearsal; if it were you would have gotten better lines.

growling at things that go bump in the night

Today I heard my dog, Yoda, growl for the first time that he has been with us. It was in the pre-dawn hours and I was taking him for the first walk,  and in the end of the circle he stopped and growled into the darkness. Since it was so dark, there was no moonlight at that time, I could not see into the woods, but he could. He knew there was something outside of the ordinary for him. I figured that it was probably an opossum, or fox, or raccoon - maybe the same one who periodically empties out the bird feeder.  I pulled on Yoda's lease and we went on our way but not before he sent back a few barks at "things that go bump in the night"

I joked and made a mocking prayer of the old Scottish Children's Prayer for Yoda:
From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

I looked up at the familiar stars of the belt of Orion the Hunter as a sign of strength and heard the sound of the waves which were especially active as a mantra of God's power but I was not lulled into a Pollyanna vision of goodness and light, I held on to the danger in the dark. There is a danger in the world and we have to be as "wise as serpents and foolish as doves" in dealing with it.

When I got back I opened my  Morning Prayer and the Hebrew Testament lesson is continuing the story of Esther. the last verse was;

"Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go with the king to the banquet in good spirits." This advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made."

Luther hated the book of Esther as scripture for he found nothing of salvation in it but I just enjoy it as a standard revenge fantasy we tend to have when we feel vulnerable. Yet the reminder that there is evil in the world is a good antidote to magical and wishful thinking that we are protected by a big invisible shield in the sky. There is strength from a power greater than ourselves but we have to be willing to acknowledge that this is a broken world and we ask for strength to make it through the day.

Maybe the prayer is right and I need to find the faith of the Scottish children in my ancestors who would have prayed:
From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

Wisdom

 

A Sermon for XVII Pentecost (Proper 20) All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC September 23, 2012 Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Wisdom of Solomon 1:16-2:1, 12-22 Psalm 54  James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37

What is the wisdom that informs you about what a good life looks like? There is this commercial on the tube that compares two men who make the same amount of money, but one has the wisdom to sign up with a particular wireless phone network, and he is able to save so much money that he can buy an animatronic bear and have a life-sized portrait by a famous artist painted for him. I remember the old commercial about how if you became a blonde you would have more fun. I remember another commercial where a particular beer is consumed and the announcer tells us that “life doesn’t get any better than this”. I remember a filmed version of the Victor Herbert operetta, Naughty Marietta, where Nelson Eddy sings “Ah! Sweet mystery of life, at last I've found thee; Ah! I know at last the secret of it all”. Last year I heard it sung in the high school production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. But I cannot get out of my mind the scene in Mel Brooks’ film Young Frankenstein where Elizabeth, the leading lady played by Madeleine Kahn, corners Frankenstein’s monster and sings lustily, “OOOHHH Ah! At last sweet mystery of life I’ve found you!”

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Religions, therapists, advertisers, ponzi schemers and snake oil salesmen have have been trying to sell the wisdom of the secret of the “good life” for years. The task of wisdom is being able to separate the wheat from the chaff. The Book of the Wisdom of Solomon was probably written in the 1^st century BC in Alexandria, Egypt where there was a dynamic tension between Hebrew Prophetic and Greek Philosophical thought, especially Epicureanism, about what is wisdom as it pertains to living a “good” life.

The Hebrew prophetic world view was there was only one God, and a “good life”, one that clung to the wisdom of the tradition, was centered in relationship with that God and meant that one lived one’s life listening to God, enjoying God’s creation, and caring for neighbor. In this relationship, we are called individually and corporately to confront evil and injustice and care for the victims. The prophets were not usually ascetics that condemned the good things of life; in fact, all of life was to be enjoyed, but the deeper purpose of life was to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with one’s God. Some of the Hebrews - but not all - believed in a life after death, but the real point of life was working here and now so that God’s Kingdom on earth will be like God’s Kingdom in Heaven. Jesus comes out of this Prophetic tradition. Whenever Jesus, following the writer of Wisdom, talks about “righteousness”, he is not talking about following all the rules but about living a commitment to God and neighbor. To use Flannery O’Connor’s term about the South, the Hebrew’s culture was “God haunted” in that God was always present in daily life.

On the other hand, the Epicurean belief about “wisdom” was that there might or might not be Gods, but if there were, these gods were not doing much to contain the evil in life. Life is short and the only meaning in life, the only wisdom, is in centering oneself to what pleases the senses - “Life is short, go with the gusto!” The Epicureans got bad press and were characterized by their enemies as predators, drunkards, and gluttons, but they were not because those practices dulled the senses. They believed in enjoying each taste, each moment, and each person and pushed for a simple life unencumbered by the foibles of the world. They were not bad in and of themselves; they just didn’t care about anybody else. Epicureans were not hedonists living only for pleasure, but rather, followed their own self-interest, much like the way Ayn Rand defines “a good life”. Love is an illusion, and any care for the poor is a waste of energy. And as for justice - come on, get serious - there is none. The Epicureans saw all those Hebrews trying to help people as deluded fools. While the writer of the book of Wisdom calls the Epicureans “ungodly”, it was not that they didn’t believe in Gods, they just thought all that was irrelevant. They were free from the “God haunt”. As the character Hazel Motes declares in Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood, “Nobody with a good car needs to be justified".

I don’t want to point an accusing finger at the Epicureans because my dark side is Epicurean. There are times when I just want to get away from people and satisfy my desire to wallow in sybaritic pleasure, telling God to find another boy and let the world go hang. Usually that particular desire is only present in days ending in the letter “y”- so it is a constant struggle.

In the Epistle from James, the writer struggles with the “wisdom” of what it means to live a “good” life, and he continues in the Prophetic tradition. He writes: “Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.” He suggests that war inside oneself, and in the world, comes from the selfishness of ego - meeting one’s own desires first and not walking humbly with God. Life is not about trying to get into heaven by following all the rules, but in living as if heaven were right here and now in the space between us, and out of that wisdom lived in the real world instead of written in books, the world changes and peace begins with each one of us. James is not pushing for a “sack cloth and ashes ethic”, for life is to be fully enjoyed but always lived in light of the needs of our brothers and sisters.

In the Gospel story from Mark, Jesus notices that his disciples are arguing about who is the greatest among them, comparing the sizes of their egos. Here they are walking with the humble one who empties himself out to be a servant, and they are arguing about who is the greatest. Jesus reminds them that they are missing the point, and he sets a small child in the midst of them. Now, you have to understand that children at that time and in this culture were not viewed as full human beings; rather they were the property of their parents developing into potential people. With the high rate of infant mortality, it was thought wise not to invest too much in each child. Children were useful to a family because they could grow up and support the parents and keep their memory alive. In that context, Jesus embraces the child he had placed in the middle of the disciples. According to the wisdom of the world which asks, “How does this help my self-interest?”, this was a waste of time. This was not Jesus’ child or theirs, just a kid on the street, so there was no advantage for any of them in caring for this child - no ego gratification, no demonstration of testosterone in what was seen as women’s work, there would be no reward, only the hard work of love. Jesus is indulging in foolishness, but the foolishness of God is the deeper wisdom that Jesus follows.

Jesus is teaching his disciples that the world does not revolve around their ego needs. All of life is to be enjoyed, but we are to care for those who are our neighbors, even when it is not based on our own self-interest. We belong to a much larger family than our blood ties, and since we have been embraced by God, so also are we to embrace even the humblest of God’s creatures. Jesus is following in the Hebrew prophetic tradition; “What does the Lord require of you; to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with their God.” Where I come from that is wisdom.

Who me or who him?

Calling of St Matthew:

Today is the feast day of St. Matthew and I start this off by going back to yesterday's Hebrew Testament lesson for morning prayer from Job  28: 20 "Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? 21It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. 22Abaddon and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.' 23"God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. 24For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees everything under the heavens. 25When he gave to the wind its weight, and apportioned out the waters by measure; 26when he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the thunderbolt; 27then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out. 28And he said to humankind, 'Truly, the awe of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.'"

One of the moments of awe for me was when Pat and I visited the Contaelli Chapel in the church of St. Luigi del Francesi in Rome when we were on a pilgrimage following the steps of Francis. You have to put some money into a light to see the whole chapel better but the thing is that the light in this painting was as if the same light were coming in from the window in the chapel. We spent a lot of time reflecting on this painting and two others about Matthew (Inspiration and Martyrdom)  by Caravaggio in the same Chapel. But it was this that jumped out at me. We bought a print and framed it after we got home. I have used it in each church as a sermon.

Caravaggio's  The Calling of St. Matthew

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 I see this picture every day in our dining room and each day I am struck that I am doing something as strange as responding to a call from God. That is what is going on to all of the people in the painting  "Who me?" or "Who him?" depending on your interpretation. There are other days when I pass right by it and act like a few of the other people around the table and say, "I don't need this in my life right now."

Today you might want to reflect on what gives you awe? Opportunities for awe are all around us.  How does going into that awe change your view of the world you live in? It is that changed view of the world out of awe that is the beginning of one's call.

A half truth is a whole lie ~ Yiddish Proverb

I used to begin each sermon with the line from Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, *O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.”

As I am writing this, I am reading and hearing a lot about free speech. There is a situation in Corvallis, Oregon where a person has put a mural protesting the Chinese government's treatment of dissent inTibet and urging freedom for Taiwan. The Chinese consul has objected because they have a hard time not seeing this as a provocative act by our government. At the same time there are riots all over the Muslim world because a fear monger in California wanted to inflame passion against Muslims. The Muslims were inflamed by what they saw as a slanderous attack on their prophet and in the riots militants used the cover of protests as an excuse for murder. At the same time a French magazine published cartoons meant to offend Muslims and the French government closed down embassies in 20 countries so as to limit attacks in response. The editor says he is not to blame for the violence because he has been offending people of different faiths for decades. At the same time a politician in Missori gets on a high horse and proclaims as scientific fact that the female body naturally has the ability to prevent conception in the case of a “true rape” and claims the freedom of speec At the same time our airways are flooded by an obscene amount of advertisements containing attacks on opponents containing half truths and down right lies which our highest court in the land has defended as “free speech”.

giants in the land of pinocchio

I think speech ought to be free. I make my living saying things that people have a hard time hearing and in a free society we sometimes need to say shocking things in order to tell the truth. Yet with freedom I think there is a need for responsibility because every freedom has consequences. As Christians who have heard our Lord remind us that we are not to bear false witness, we cannot use our freedom as an excuse to lie until we are caught and give a non- apology apology such as “I mis-spoke.” As Christians who have heard our Lord warn us that to even call a person a “fool” is to commit murder in our heart we cannot use our freedom to insult and defame. As Christians we must stand against injustice but we must not use our freedom to encourage hate.

However, I cannot speak for other people and point an accusing finger at them until I learn to govern my own tongue. I still hear the line from the movie “Wayne's World” “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” I have the freedom to say anything I want but I ask for the strength to say only loving truth which God would want to hear me say. Pray for me a sinner.

Every Sunday I start each service with a prayer and ask the community to join me. Almighty God, to You all hearts are open, all desires known, and from You no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You, and worthily magnify Your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

"gird em up"

 "gam zu l'tovah"

Today I was talking to a man whose sister died last week and he said that his sister has written on her mirror in Hebrew  'gam zu l'toaah". It comes from the book of Genesis after Jacob dies in Egypt and Joseph's brothers who hasd sold Joseph into slavery are afraid of his revenge for all the evil that they had done to him. Joseph says:
כ  וְאַתֶּם, חֲשַׁבְתֶּם עָלַי רָעָה; אֱלֹהִים, חֲשָׁבָהּ לְטֹבָה, לְמַעַן עֲשֹׂה כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה, לְהַחֲיֹת עַם-רָב. 20 And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.   

In 13 days I will be presiding at her memorial service- a woman who was filled with joy and talent and she believed  "gam zu l'tovah" that all things that happen are for the good. I am not sure I believe it for I look at the book of Job which were the Hebrew testament lessons for Morning Prayer for the last several weeks and it struggles with the whole question of why do bad things happen  to good people. 

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On Saturday's section God's answer to Job in Chapter 38 is very unsatisfying:
1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
4Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
5Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

And it goes on and on -- a version of "if you are so smart answer me this!"  We want to get God off the hook  instead of for being a bully who doesn't care the big BF Skinner in the sky. Billy boy Shakespeare in Lear has Gloucester note: " As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods. They kill us for their sport."  

I don't think God causes suffering but I do believe that God brings about redemption. I guess that is why I want so much in an afterlife when all things are redeemed. I try to live that view and ask myself when something bad happens, "How can God use this for the best. " I believe God co-creates with us to work out something that can redeem the inexplicable, and redeem the obscene. 

This woman who died touched so many lives, and she lived each day working that God was making things for the best.  She died being faithful. While I am left arguing with God. In today's morning prayer (Job 40:1-24) section the dialogue with Job continues:
1. Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said,
² Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
³ Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
⁴ Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
⁵ Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
⁶ Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
⁷ Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
⁸ Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? 

Apparently it is "gird up" time.

O God give us the strength to accept the bad things that happen so that we might work with God on how we can faithfully see and make it for the best.

sermon for Sept 16, 2012

We have some guest speakers and if I were to give a sermon on this sunday, the service would go on too long, and yet I feel a call to wrestle with this week’s lessons. I will post this blog as a substitute. 

A Reflection for XVI Pentecost (Proper 19)              All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC September 16, 2012                                                            Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1             Psalm 116:1-8             James 3:1-12               Mark 8:27-38

In today’s lesson from the Gospel, Jesus tells Peter that the cost of being fully human will be great, and the writer of Mark makes a pun using a Greek word that has a double meaning - “Psyche”, out of which we get the word Psychology which means “life” (the social being consciously and unconsciously interacting with the world while breathing on this earth), as well as the deeper meaning implied by Jesus, the word “soul” (that transcendental energy that makes life worth living spiritually connected to the one in whose image we are made). Or to say it in a way we can more easily understand, we have a choice between being “fully human” and being “only human”.

All of us know the difference.  When we want to excuse ourselves for falling short we say, “Well, I’m only human, and therefore I am not responsible for my choices.” Jesus however came to reinforce what it means to be fully human, which is to be in intimate relationship with God and neighbor. The “only human” camp exists as if life is a possession of one’s own, whereas Jesus calls us to be “fully human”, living intentionally. In the same way one does not “have” a soul, but it is the act of spiritually living in the middle of relationships that causes the soul to grow or wither, depending on the habits we choose.

We are at the beginning of a new year for our Sunday school program, and we can take this new school year as an opportunity to start all over again and ask ourselves questions for evaluation. The Gospel lesson for today takes place when Jesus and his disciples take a retreat to evaluate their ministry Jesus asks them “How does the larger community see us? How do we see ourselves? What is God’s ministry for this faith community?”

This is not the first time Jesus has had to evaluate his ministry for, as you remember after his baptism, Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness alone where he struggles with the dark side which offers attractive alternatives to the same three questions:

(a) “How does the larger community see us?” This is the marketing question where the attractive temptation, “Make bread out of these stones”, is to make a hit with the people by giving them what they think they need. Jesus responds that there is more to life than bread. Jesus came to show us not what it means to be God nor to help us just exist but what it means to be fully alive - what life is all about and not selling oneself out for the approval of others.

(b) “How do we see ourselves?” This is a positioning question of alignment in the market place, and the attractive temptation, “I will give you the nations of the world”, is to be in with the in-crowd and ally with the political forces of the world, basking in their glory.  Jesus responds that there is a higher ruler than Kings and Presidents. True meaning in life is not found in worldly success but in intimate relationships with God and neighbor.  

(c) “What is the ministry for this faith community?” This is the cost/ benefit question. What is the cost and who benefits, as in the attractive temptation, “Throw yourself off the Temple and the angels will catch you”. The ministry is therefore to be in control, committing little to anything beyond one’s own interests, a no-risk proposition. Jesus calls us to move from the safety of control to the uncertainty of vulnerability. 

In this story for today Jesus answers the third question of cost/ benefit. All three of the temptations - the approval of others, winning, and control and self-centeredness masquerading as security - speak to the “only human” in each of us, but Jesus invites us to be fully human.

Now, when Jesus is with his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, Peter, his closest friend, shows that the dark side lives in each of us by bringing up that Jesus is the Messiah. Peter’s understanding of the Messiah is that the Messiah will be the one who drives the Roman occupying forces into the sea and brings in a time of surplus and plenty. He thinks the Messiah will bring in a new Golden Age and rule like David on a throne of a reestablished Kingdom when there will be no suffering anymore and all our needs and wants are met. Except Jesus tells him and others that the Messiah will have the people turn against him, and the Messiah will suffer and die.

Peter tries to straighten Jesus out, and for Jesus, it feels like déjà vu all over again, struggling with the dark side of our nature where we long to be the center of the universe. Jesus dismisses the attacks on his mission and embraces the fully human harder choice of following a life of working for justice in an unjust world as opposed to the “only human” choice that loves holding on to privilege. He takes the fully human harder choice of emptying out oneself for neighbor and loving one’s enemy in a world that wants to choose the “only human” approach – the belief that the more you have, the better you are, and which sees love not a commitment to daily life but as a strategy of exchange of approval to get one’s own ego desires met. Jesus makes the fully human choice, where suffering is not avoided but shared with those who are suffering in a world that is phobic about suffering.

Jesus invites:

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

What is the cost/benefit answer for us? It depends on if we are to live our life as “only human” or if we ask for God’s help to be fully human.

"Or up, among the stars!"

The morning sky continues to speak to me. The Hebrew Testament lessons for Morning Prayer are from Job and Job and his friends just wallow in misery and I want to yell “Get on with it!” but when I start walking with my four legged companion, Yoda, I am cast into wonder with the stars. It reminds me of the lines from Cyrano:

Antoine Comte de Guiche: As for you sir, have you read "Don Quixote"?
Cyrano de Bergerac: I have, and found myself the hero.
Antoine Comte de Guiche: Be so good as to read once more the chapter of the windmills...
Cyrano de Bergerac: Chapter thirteen!
Antoine Comte de Guiche: Windmills, remember, if you fight with them... may swing round their huge arms and cast you down into the mire!
Cyrano de Bergerac: Or up, among the stars!

These last several days in the pre-dawn hours, the Crescent Moon has been guiding my way along with Venus, Jupiter, Castor and Pollux. The stars and the planets have been in the wrong place to look like the symbol for Islam – the Crescent Moon and Star symbol goes back centuries before Islam- but looking at the Moon with Venus in the wrong place I was called to remember the tension we Christians have with Islam Yesterday was 9-11 and we remembered what happens when fanatics use their religion to promote hate. 

This morning we look at the attacks on US diplomatic stations in Libya and Egypt claiming as provocation by some Christians who used their fanaticism to attack the memory of the Prophet. One fanatic uses religion to attack another fanatic who then has to retaliate because the honor of their faith is impugned. And all the time the stars of the one God of us all look down on us calling us to look and be filled with awe and us ignore them, more determined to be “right” than loving.  

I need the stars to remind myself that I cannot wallow in the mire taking myself too seriously when I can be flung to the stars.