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"The Spiritual Legacy of St. Patrick" March, 2015

3/11/2015

"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me [Psalm 50:15].

Listen to: All Sons and Daughters: "Christ Be All Around Me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmge-ycIkoo

As a born and bred Irish Roman-Catholic, St. Patrick's Day on March 17 still remains the "High Holy Day" of the year. Apart from what it has sadly degenerated to in popular culture, I've come to appreciate the life history of brother Patrick and what he did for Irish history -- and for all of us.

A son of a British aristocrat, Patrick was kidnapped and enslaved in Ireland at age 16. For six years the young aristocrat was forced into a shepherd's role, foreshadowing the path God was to guide him to later. In his twenties, Patrick escaped and managed to return to England. He took up studies for the priesthood. Unbelievably, He felt called to return to the land of his enslavement. There he brought the Good News of Jesus Christ. Patrick’s time in captivity in Ireland had influenced him greatly and he brought many Irish customs to the people he served. He began celebrating Easter with a large bonfire, following the Irish practice of honoring their gods with fire. And he created the Celtic Cross by superimposing the image of a sun onto the cross. He reached people through ways that they knew. He respected them and they in turned came to love him and the God he proclaimed.

No, St. Patrick did not drive the snakes out of Ireland. But he did a more important feat. He drove hatred, anger and fear out of his own heart. The hatred and fear out of his own captivity. The fear of being poorly educated. The anger toward his captivity so he could return to Ireland a freeman with love in his heart instead of spite or the desire of revenge. Because he surrounded to God these experiences to God and allowed God to use them for good, God transformed the man -- transformed a country -- and instead touched many millions of people throughout the course of time.

When we are in the midst of some trial or enslavement, we often cannot see the future good or benefit that will come. Can you imagine a 16 year old stuck up on the isolated mountainside with only the sheep, far from family and friends and the fine life he was used to? Sometimes God takes us out of what we know, what we are used to, places us in the most desolate of situations, in order to equip us for a greater vision, or a new purpose. Sometimes this is transformation is a journey of years that requires patience. However in the greater scheme of life, there isn't an Irish person alive (and who isn't Irish on St. Patrick's Day?) who hasn't been touched by the spiritual legacy of Patrick?

So this Tuesday, honor the the great saint and the Lord he loved not by inebriation or other actions you'd be too ashamed to tell your mother, but by reflecting on your life. What snakes do we need to drive out of our hearts? Are you feeling trapped or exiled in some fashion? Learn from Patrick, who over the time of his captivity, transitioned from a life of privilege to a life of enslavement, to a life of service. He went from captive to liberator. He mastered a negative situation and turned it into an opportunity for change, for growth and transformation. May we each make the same journey well.

Prayer:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

Christ ever be.

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"The River of Life" March, 2015

3/4/2015

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"A river went forth from Eden to water the garden..." (Gen. 2:10)
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city." Rev. 22:1)

This week, a group of us finished a six-month long study of the Book of Revelation. Granted, we took time off before the Christmas season, bad weather, and vacation. We learned from each other and from God’s word. Even though there are difficult images and symbols to understand throughout the book, with patient study of the scriptures, the rituals, the prophets the social and economic context we come to a new appreciation of one of the Bible’s most difficult books.

One image, however, is practically universal: that of water. Water is not only necessary for physical life it is an ancient symbol of God’s eternal life and blessing poured on upon us. It appears at the beginning of the bible and at the end. Jesus identifies himself as this very life-giving water when he addressed the Samaritan woman in John 4:13-14: "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”    It is a reminder that we are spiritual beings and we need to be connected to the spiritual every day.

We all have different ways to do this, and we have a gracious God who seeks to care for us daily in more ways than we can imagine.   It is love that is poured out upon is in so many ways. It is love that plants its seeds nurtures them to grow. It is love that waters and nourishes and sustains.    We are reminded, as we drink any beverage today, are we consciously, mindfully, taking in as well the spiritual and things that matter: Life. Love. Even deeper: the presence of eternity and unconditional love that God pours out on us in Christ.

Are you feeling dry? Wilted? Take in the living water that God has given through his Spirit, through nature, through music and art, through the relationships that are in our lives. Stay hydrated!

Listen to :   Carly Simon, "Let the River Run" (from Working Girl)
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv-0mmVnxPA

"Let The River Run"

Music and lyrics by Carly Simon, 1988

We're coming to the edge,
Running on the water,
Coming through the fog,
Your sons and daughters.

Let the river run,
Let all the dreamers
Wake the nation.
Come, the New Jerusalem.

Silver cities rise,
The morning lights
The streets that meet them,
And sirens call them on
With a song.

It's asking for the taking.
Trembling, shaking.
Oh, my heart is aching.

We're coming to the edge,
Running on the water,
Coming through the fog,
Your sons and daughters.

We the great and small
Stand on a star
And blaze a trail of desire
Through the dark'ning dawn.

It's asking for the taking.
Come run with me now,
The sky is the color of blue
You've never even seen
In the eyes of your lover.

Oh, my heart is aching.
We're coming to the edge,
Running on the water,
Coming through the fog,
Your sons and daughters.

It's asking for the taking.
Trembling, shaking.
Oh, my heart is aching.

We're coming to the edge,
Running on the water,
Coming through the fog,
Your sons and daughters.

Let the river run,
Let all the dreamers
Wake the nation.
Come, the New Jerusalem.

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"Washing Each Other's Feet: An Act of Prayer" March, 2015

3/1/2015

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So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me, 'Teacher' and 'Lord.' You say so correctly, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Most certainly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither one who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.   John 13:12-17

Listen to: Kirk Franklin, "My Life Is in Your Hands"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIPMllUV12o

Friday, March 6 is "World Day of Prayer." WDP is an international, ecumenical, lay-women led initiative. It Involves worship, reflection and prayer, with the understanding that listening and learning with one another are vital aspects to our prayer life. Prayer must open us up to one another. Prayer ultimately leads us to take action, whether it is to make changes in our personal lives or engage the world in more just and peaceful manners.

This year, our sisters in the Bahamas are leading the World Day of Prayer. They have picked the theme, Jesus' words to his disciples after he washed their feet, "Do you know what I have done for you?" Jesus performs a powerful, prophetic act by washing his disciples' feet. In the days of dusty Palestinian roads,when people wore sandals, it was custom for the lowest servant to wash the feet of the guests. It was a common gesture of hospitality -- to remove the dust of the day so one could relax and enjoy a meal, the conversation and be comfortable. Jesus stunned his disciples when he stooped down and willingly stepped into the servant's lowliest role: removing the dirt and filth from the feet of the guests. Peter gives voice to the disciples' shock when he says to Jesus, "Never at any time will you wash my feet!" (John 13:8). They had never seen an esteemed rabbi/teacher/leader embrace the work of a slave.

For Jesus, this is what love does. Love serves. Love goes out of the way. Love volunteers for the nitty-gritty "dirty work" of caring. Love understands that to make a difference in someone's life means a willingness to do what may not come naturally. So love enters another's life on their terms. This is what Jesus did when he took on human flesh, when he wrapped that towel around him and began to wash his disciples' feet. More important for us, Jesus left us specific instructions: We are to wash one another's feet.

So we are asked to prayerfully reflect on how God is leading us to "wash away the anxieties, the dirt of the day" from each other? Sometimes we do this by being that gentle presence. We do this by praying with and for one another. We do this by listening carefully, asking questions, getting to know what others are going through. We may not use water, but through our touch, our words, through kind deeds, setting an example, or through advocating and building bridges we wash away the grime of the world that can cake and encrust our feet.

Do you know what I have done for you? Jesus asks. Jesus just didn't wash feet. He loved. He loved so much that he was willing to do a radical act that pushed the envelope. Do we know how much Jesus has done for us?

How does Jesus' call to washing another's feet make you feel?

Prayer:  "Servant-God, help us willingly to "wash one another's feet." Show us what this means in our world today."

Here are additional links to the World Day of Prayer Bible Study and tips for action.
http://www.wdp-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2015-Bible-Study-Web-Only.pdf
http://www.worlddayofprayer.net/action.php

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"Dealing with Evil" March 2015

3/1/2015

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RESUMING OUR REFLECTIONS ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION

They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.(that is, Destroyer) Revelation 9:11.

LISTEN TO: TobyMac "Hey Devil"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwE9HT0aqVE

When I was a child, I used to love to watch the comedian Flip Wilson's show. Remember how he immortalized the saying "the devil made me do it"?

While the majority of Americans believe there is an  Evil One, the different interpretations are vast. Some believe in a personal devil, Lucifer, as presented in scripture. Others believe Evil is impersonal or just a symbol. Evil is attributed to psychological processes or biological roots. Others believe the existence of the devil as hogwash, medieval malarkey that has no place in the modern world.

Scholar and author C.S.Lewis observed:  “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”  (The Screwtape Letters, HarperSanFrancisco, ©1942, Harper edition 2001, p. ix.).  The Devil cares little what we believe as long as it can be twisted, made ineffectual through temptation.

As we reflect on the Book of Revelation, we must come to terms with the presence of the Evil One, the presence of evil in our world and the temptation of evil in our lives. In Revelation the name one of the names of the Evil One is Destroyer." Evil seeks to destroy the handiwork of God. We are created in the Image of God (Gen. 1:27). So evil seeks to destroy that image -- and to refashion us and our world in the image of evil instead! This is actually simpler than we realize. As God has created us for love and relationship, Evil seeks to disrupt relationship and love. So we are tempted to think the worse of others. We are tempted to criticize, hold grudges and resentments. We think of evil and we think of witches with green faces and horned red devils with pitchforks. We think of demented dolls with knives, Michael Myers in "Halloween" or Jason in "Friday the 13th." Evil is more mundane then that. Evil works through the mother or father who belittles repeated their child and takes secret delight in it. Evil is the class that stays silent when a classmate is bullied. Evil is the sweet church ladies gossiping about another congregational member, spreading false rumors as a result.  Evil is in the businessperson who takes excess profits, or cheats,  resulting in workers struggling at sub-par wages. Evil is the bickering between partners that keep them from intimacy. Evil is the deaths of innocents when food, housing and health care are available. Evil is knowing better but being too lazy to do what is right.

When studying at Fordham University in my twenties, I had a Greek language priest professor who was also a demonologist  and was a consultant on the film, "the Exorcist."  Evil's goal is simple, the priest said. Evil desires to destroy relationships; because relationship is at the heart of love; relationship is what God is about. Jesus reveals relationship and right living to us. Jesus desires to draw us into a relationship. Evil will do everything in its power to destroy that knowledge and to destroy or cripple our relationships with each other and with the Divine.

Look around us. Many of the problems in the world can be seen as failure or perversions in relationship, whether it is interpersonal or between nations or races. Right now the pain and oppression we see is the image of the Evil One, not of God. Our study in Revelation calls us to remember: we are not created for this misery. We are created for relationship. For love. For an abundant life --- not the life of strife and turmoil Evil would lure us to. Hear these words from our brother James, chapter 4:

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures....

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.

Remember, we are created for relationship. When doubts enter our minds, when we tempted to be less than ourselves – turn to God in Christ.  Remember you are created in the image of love, destined for love, worthy of love and all else is a lie.

Or as reformer, Martin Luther puts it:
“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!”

Pray:  “God, in whose image I am made, give me strength to relate with love with all those whose path I cross.”

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"The Spiritual Legacy of St. Patrick" March, 2015

"The River of Life" March, 2015

"Washing Each Other's Feet: An Act of Prayer" March, 2015

"Dealing with Evil" March 2015

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