Poem and Reflection for 3rd Sunday of Epiphany St Mary's Episcopal Church, Gatesville, NC
January 22, 2023 Thomas E. Wilson, Guest Celebrant
Living In The Dawning Light
From
the Gospel lesson for today from Matthew: Jesus
proclaims: “The people who sat in darkness
have seen a great
light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light
has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has come near.” The Kingdom of the Heavens is not a place of geography but a circumlocution of saying the full presence of God, which is as near as the breath we breathe.
Repent is the English Word got the Greek “Metanoia”. It is not paranoia which the Greek word for Para = distracted and noia = mind means having a distracted mind where you think that you are the center of the universe. Meta = changing and noia = mind. Metanoia, where one comes to ones's senses and changes direction. Metanoia, repent does not mean, “Feel Bad about...”, “Feel guilty about...” It just means “change your mind, and try another direction, Jesus is saying, do you understand that, you need to change your mind, your direction, because you are standing on Holy Ground. God is right here in front of you, when you are all alone or in the middle when two or three are gathered together. God is in the very breath you take. God surrounds every thought you have. God does not make an appointment only for Sunday mornings. Pay attention!!!!”
I hear that call to repent especially when I get into the car in order to drive to do a service at a church. I become more aware that I am a cleric. Being clerical comes from the Latin word for being a clerk, one who spends time talking care of office work. So, the first thought that says to me is that I need everything organized, an almost paranoid thought that everything depends on me. I need to make sure people understand creeds, dogmas, doctrines and the many ways to use the Book of Common Prayer. But I am more that a clerk; I am also a Pastor, Priest and Prophet. But the problem is all that is work related - things that I do; jobs as well as a vocational calling.
But beyond all the work stuff; I am also a person made in the image of God. I am a human being , not a human doing. I like the image put forward by Urban T Holmes III in Spirituality for Ministry: "Our goal is the Kingdom, the completion of God’s creative vision, and we are God’s hands in bringing that vision to pass.” Our lives are as God's hands in this broken world.
When Jesus in Metanoia calls his disciples together and suggests that they will be fishers of people. It did not mean that they should try to hook people to join a congregation and give money for the perpetuation of religious edifices, but that they were to catch and share the vision of the incoming of God's Kingdom in every bit of their daily lives. As George Herbert, a Country Parson and Poet in early 17th Century England:
Teach
me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do
in anything
To do it as for Thee.
“In all things Thee to see,” When I greet someone in the morning, the God of the Kingdom of the Heavens in my imagination is greeting the God of the Kingdom of the Heavens dwelling in the other person. There is a Sanskrit blessing word namasté. which is literally translated as “I bow to you”. Is is exchanged when people meet, and understand the true nature of reality. The closest we Episcopalians come to it is when we exchange the “Peace” in the Eucharist. It does not mean, “I think you are cute.” or “I am putting up with you for this service.” or “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Lets get on with the service, before the casserole in my home's oven gets burned, or the game begins.” Peace means that you and I are on Holy Ground together, near and in the Kingdom of the Heavens on this earth.
When we go to a funeral we do two things; 1) We are sad because we miss them sharing the Kingdom of the Heavens with us on this earth, and 2) We are glad because nothing separates them from living fully into the Kingdom of the Heavens. They no longer get distracted, no longer afflicted with a distracted mind.
When I wake up in the morning, do I remember that it is God's gift of a new morning in God's Kingdom and start off with a prayer of thanks? When I go into a store to pay for something and I greet the cashier, while I may say, “Good morning”, am I saying the formula greeting of one more damn thing to say to be polite, or actually am I acknowledging the it is God's morning we are sharing? When I say “Goodbye” am I remembering that the word is a collapsing of the old Blessing “God Be with Ye”, as the French say “adieu” or Spanish speakers say “adios”?
True faith is not about the words we say in church, but rather how we live into each precious moment we are given in this the Kingdom of the Heavens, right here and right now. It is a movement from a paranoid delusion that we are the center if the universe, to a metanoid awareness that we have the Kingdom of the Heavens at hand as a gift.
Living In the dawning light
Getting in the car, going to work
driving into the once darken west
to talk about light bringing a best,
but fearing a cleric is just a clerk.
But now reminded, call to be more;
as Pastor, Priest, Prophet; a Parson,
helping others make a conversion
to see a world as neighbors to adore.
We waste too much time on old creeds
or dogma, pointing out other's flaws,
getting all hung up on our holy laws;
leaving the path to wander in weeds.
Time to turn around and think anew,
for us to live into a faith that's true.
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