The Wise Man Epiphany 2023

Epiphany 2023 The Wise Man v1

We magi are a dedicated lot. We came from all over the far east, and for generations before us we magi have been dedicated to reading the ancient texts of many different cultures in an attempt to understand the world we live in, and what we ought to be doing. For centuries we and those magi before us have been keenly interested in the Hebrew prophets. Especially this text from Isaiah:

Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;

but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.

Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together, they come to you;

your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms.

Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,

because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.

They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

[Isaiah 60:1-6]

Not long ago, a few of our guild, after numerous calculations and scanning the heavens for the arrival of this Light, there suddenly appeared this one star which we were sure was the “Light” about which Isaiah had written centuries ago. A large group of us, including me, gathered to go and see for ourselves. And so, with a few gifts, and a multitude of camels, off we went. 

After a nearly year-long trek westward, always following the star, we arrived in the historic land of the Jews, now a province of the Roman Empire. Upon inquiry, we learned that a man named Herod, himself neither a Jew nor a Roman, was the appointed King of the Jews. A group of about ten of us were able to get an audience with this King of the Jews. Almost immediately we sensed he did not feel at home in this land, and as we talked it became clear that he believed neither in the God of Israel, nor did he give much thought to the gods of Olympus. He thought only of himself. 

Before talking about our search, he questioned us, and asked if we had any wisdom that might be helpful to him. “Beware of family entanglements,” one of us said. “And do not travel by water on Friday. As the sun moves into the house of Jupiter, affairs of the heart may prosper.” A desperate man, he took it hook, line and sinker. But it became evident that he wanted more than simple jingles. He became quite serious and asked where we thought this new “king of the Jews” we were looking for, this “light of the world,” might be born. We allowed that that’s precisely what we were asking him. He put his Hebrew consultants to work on it. Coming back the next day they announced that we should go to Bethlehem, the city of David. 

Then his face grew dark. Ominous really. With his hands shaking, he spoke: “Go and find the child. Then come back and tell me so that I too might go and worship him.” Never had I felt so cold. And so fortunate to be one of the magi and not a king. I ask you, does a man need to consult the stars to know that no king has ever bowed down to another king. He took us for fools, that sly, lost old fox, and so like fools we bowed and answered him, “Oh, yes. Of course! Of course!” As we went on our way, a demonic smile crossed his face, and the rings rattled on his boney fingers. Silently we vowed, never to see Herod again. [i] 

Why did we go? Was it not enough to know this thing was happening without having to be present to the birth? To this, not even the stars had an answer. It was another voice altogether urging us to go and see – a voice as deep within ourselves as the stars are deep in the ever-expanding universe. [ii] 

But why did I go? I could not have told you then, and I’m still not sure. It’s not that we had no motive, it’s that there were so many. Curiosity, I suppose. And being wise, we magi are a very curious lot. We wanted to see for ourselves the One about whom it was said even the stars bow down – and to acknowledge that even the wise sometimes have their doubts. And longing. Why does a thirsty man cross the desert sands as hot as fire at simply the possibility of water? As much as we longed to receive, we also longed to give. Why does a man labor and struggle all his life long so that in the end he has something to give to the One he loves? To the One who loves him? 

We finally arrived in Bethlehem, at a kataluma, a large, square, two-story edifice built around an open inner courtyard, to which the star had led us. We crossed the courtyard, past the well, and took the stairs up to the second story above the barns where the animals were kept. Our camels remained in the barns below. We could only go inside in groups of ten or so at a time, the room being quite small, but there they were. The man. The woman. Between them the king. We did not stay long. A few minutes as the clock goes; ten thousand thousand years our ancestor magi seeking the way, the truth and the life. We set our foolish gifts down on the floor and left by another way. Herod need not know, let alone see, what we had seen. 

I will tell you two terrible things. What we saw on the face of the newborn child was his death. The wood of the crib would one day be the wood of a Roman cross. Any fool could see it as well. It sat on his head like a crown. And we saw, as sure as the ground beneath our feet, that to stay with him, to follow him, would be to share in that death, and that is why we left – giving only our gifts, withholding the rest.[iii] 

And now, sisters and brothers, I will ask you a terrible question, and God knows I ask it of myself as well. Is the truth beyond all truths, beyond the stars, beyond all wisdom, just this: that to live without him is the real death; that to die with him is the only life? [iv] 

I now know, what I did not know then. I went to find out that the mystery my fellow magi and I had been chasing all these centuries had always been right before us the whole time. That the mystery that is the source of all life dwells among us and within us all. For what we saw in the child’s face was not that of any earthly king, but one who was born as one with the One; one with the true power, the true source of all that is, seen and unseen: the source of eternal love. 

Now, I no longer look to the stars for answers, but for beauty, wonder and love. I no longer spend hours each day consulting ancient texts, as beautiful as they are. I spend my days sitting in silence, what the Hebrews call prayer, to become ever closer to the light and the life we saw in that upper room, so that in some small way, I can become that which we seek. I sit and listen. And to set aside all the noise within and without that stands between us – between me, and the One we saw that day in Bethlehem – and whom I can still see every day in those he loves, his beloved of all generations, of all nations; he who is good news for all the people; he who comes daily to bring peace on earth and good will for all the people. For all the people. I sit. I listen. And then I sing with the prophet: 

Arise, shine; for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you! 

---

[i] Buechner, Frederick, The Magnificent Defeat (The Seabury Press, New York:1979) p.69

[ii] Ibid p.70

[iii] Ibid, p.71

[iv] Ibid, p.71-72

 

  

Christmas Eve 2023 That's The Mystery!

 Christmas Eve 2023

Christmas comes but once a year! Yet, it used to last from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Then Christmas shopping began around Halloween. And now it seems as if September is not too early to begin seeing Christmas items on sale. By my calculation, Christmas consumes, and I mean consumes, roughly one-third of the year! And still, I hear people saying, “I’ll never make it to Christmas! I will never get everything done! I’m not ready for Christmas!” 

Breaking News: that night in the manger, as Luke tells the story, or in the house, as Matthew tells it, or sometime before the beginning of creation as John tells it, guess what? Nobody, no one, was ready for the Word to become flesh and dwell among us. No one was prepared for Emmanuel, “God with us!” to show up. 

There are shepherds on the outskirts of Bethlehem – which by the way, means something like “House of Bread,” and much like parts of Ukraine, Bethlehem was known as the “breadbasket of Judea,” producing large amounts of grain for the entire region. These shepherds are just settling down for a long winter’s night watching and protecting a flock of sheep. Sheep. The only sheep I have known personally can be quite cantankerous and unruly, so these fellows had no easy job. There is no way they were ready for a multitude of Heavenly Hosts to arrive out of nowhere proclaiming the birth of a child who would bring Peace on Earth. AND, goodwill among the all the people. Go and see for yourself, sing the hosts! You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. 

Oh my goodness, they must have said to themselves! I’m not ready for this. We will be expected to bring gifts to the baby shower, and it’s a week until payday, and what do you buy for someone who can get people to respect one another and help one another? We’ll never get there on time! 

But alas, they do as they are told by their heavenly visitors. There was a manger, a corn crib, with a man named Joseph, a woman named Mary, and between them, a child, wrapped in swaddling cloths. This must be the One! As they hurry back to the business of sheep-herding they tell everyone along the way what had happened and what they had seen. As if it could possibly be put into words. Yet, Luke tells us, all who heard what they did say were amazed. Meanwhile, back at the manger, the young girl pondered all of this in her heart, exhausted and yet radiant for having delivered the child the angel Gabriel had announced she was to name Jesus – Yeshua, “he who saves, or “he who redeems.” 

It should come as no surprise that Luke writes a somewhat coded tale of just how the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood – as is proclaimed every day on the sign outside Christ Church Rock Spring Parish. Beginning with the name: perhaps we are meant to see the irony in the child’s name. Named after the first Yeshua, or Joshua, who “fit the battle at Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down,” this new Yeshua would be among us as a man of peace and goodwill. His only weapons were prayer and a healing presence. People felt renewed, restored, or just plain different after an encounter with Jesus. He tells his disciples to put down all weapons. He redeems his very name from being that of a mighty warrior to one who cares for, transforms, renews and feeds everyone in sight; all who come to him; all whom he seeks and gathers like a shepherd for people in need, people who are lost, people who need some kind of new direction in their lives. 

We may also notice that “a child in swaddling cloths” is mentioned three times: first, we are told Mary wraps him in swaddling cloths; next, the shepherds are told to look for a child in swaddling clothes; and indeed, there they find him, lying in a manger. Many who first heard Luke’s tale would recognize at least two passages in Hebrew Scripture mention swaddling clothes. King Solomon, in the book of Wisdom, reflects on his common connection with all humanity: “...with swaddling clothes and with constant care I was nurtured. For no king has any different origin or birth, but one is the entry into life for us all; and in the same way they leave it.” [Wisdom 7:6] This image is meant to direct us to reflect on our common humanity. As St Paul prays, our God “has made of one blood all the peoples of the earth.” [Acts 17:26] Do we see this? Do we hear this? Do we believe all people are of one blood as we hear this story told? 

And just how curious is it, that God sends his messengers, the Heavenly Host, to announce this astonishing news to a seemingly random group of shepherds? God might have sent them to Caesar, who at the time was in possession of the land and all the peoples therein. Or, to one of the Herods, Caesar’s appointed regents. Or, more locally to Pilate. Or, even to the Chief Priests in Jerusalem, or to the utterly faithful Pharisees, to name a few more likely candidates. But shepherds wander; they journey from place-to-place seeking food and water for their sheep. They know how to sustain life not only for their sheep and goats, but for themselves as well. It is no accident that the first and most famous King of Israel was a ruddy young shepherd boy, David. He had walked the hills and the valleys, the rough roads and the smooth, watching and leading his father’s sheep. Prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel use the image of shepherds for those chosen to lead the people of God: Jesus’s father’s “sheep.” Shepherds know that life, especially the spiritual life, is a journey, a never ending, always changing, journey. Suggesting that all of us who come into this world in swaddling clothes are wanderers, people on a journey with others – all others. The babe in the manger will grow up to be a good shepherd, caring for the “sheep” of his Father’s pasture. In just a few sentences, Luke manages to take us deep into the mystery of this child’s birth. 

Once upon a time, years ago at St. Peter’s in Ellicott City, we delivered invitations to our entire neighborhood to come visit our church on a Friday evening in Advent. It was an intentional act of evangelism. With one small hitch: we forgot to put the address of the church on the invitation! Nevertheless, people came. Someone suggested lighting a little incense to give the full flavor of what Anglo-Catholic worship is like in all its ritual and transcendence. I was in the hallway, having prepared the coals in the thurible, placing some grains of frankincense on the coals. As the vapor began to rise, a tiny voice behind me said, “That’s the mystery!” I turned, and there was our youngest daughter, Cerny, with her friend Allison, pointing to the incense and declaring, “That’s the mystery!” I thought, “Yes, that’s what Christmas is all about – the mystery that God loves us so much as to come down and dwell among us.” That’s the mystery, just as she said. 

A few grains of incense

Scattered on the coals

Smoke begins to rise

The little girl

Standing there

Opens wide her eyes

 

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

 

See that star up in the sky

Shining on the place

Where the tiny child lies

Lighting up his face

 

Can you see the angels there

Up there in the light

Singing songs for all the world

Singing through the night

 

Hear those angels flying by

Calling out His name

Telling us He’ll change the world

Nothing will be the same

 

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

 

Jesus lying in the manger

Listen to him cry

He already seems to know that

He was born to die

 

To die to hate

To die to greed

To die to power and sin

To die to everything that blocks

The God who lives within

 

Within our hearts

Within our souls

Within our minds and hands

The God who is Emmanuel

Breaths His Spirit through all the lands

 

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

 

A child looks and sees the scene

Eats bread and drinks the wine

Seems to know what all this means

Now and for all time

 

Can we see him

Can we hear him

Can he make us all his own?

If he came down here right now

Would he recognize this as home?

 

Whenever there are two or three

Gathered in my name

You’ll see the brokenhearted and the poor

The blind, the sick, the lame

 

Being welcomed, being served

Given dignity and love

Giving thanks for all good gifts

That come down from above

 

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

 

See the baby

See his mother

See the bread and wine

See the angels

See the stars

See that everything is fine

 

He lives in us

He gives us breath

He calls us to be his own

He calls us to the manger stall

To make that place our home

 

 

Then he rises on the clouds

To wake us from our sleep

As we gather to see Him one more time

In the darkness that is so deep

 

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

 

The angels and the stars

The shepherds and the light

The incense and the bread and wine

All call us to this night

To enter deeper into the tale

Of how God came to Earth

To sing the mystery of love come down

The mystery of his birth

 

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

“That’s the mystery,” she says!

“That’s the mystery!”

 

Forty Years in the Wilderness 12/17/2013

 Forty Years in the Wilderness  -  12/17/23

We read in Second Samuel chapter 7 and Luke chapter 1 that the “Word of the Lord” came to Nathan, prophet to the shepherd king, David, and to a young woman in Nazareth in Galilee. The messages to both are astonishing and detailed. The consequences of both are far-reaching. And whatever we may think about such stories, experience has told me that this is in fact the way things happen if we are open to the possibility. 

It's difficult to pinpoint when it all began, this journey of mine. When I was moving my mother from our home in Illinois to Maryland, I came across a Sunday School project I had made: a piece of cardboard, on which I had pasted on one side a cross with the words, “I am come that they may have life [John 10:10].” On the reverse side is a picture of Jesus, lantern in hand, knocking on a door. It is a reproduction of a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist, William Homan Hunt titled, The Light of the World, 1851. I, of course, had forgotten this project my mother saved all these years. Perhaps it was a precursor, since I have since served two churches, including Rock Spring Parish, that have windows based on Hunt’s Light of the World, and I have used the image extensively in sermons and workshops throughout these forty years – curiously, the stated length of time the people who escaped Pharaoh’s Egypt were in the wilderness becoming a people of God. 

The distinguishing detail of the image is that there is no door knob on Jesus’s side of the door. This suggests that when Jesus knocks on your door, it is up to you to open it. Which is, in part, how I end up here some sixty or more years since I first saw Hunt’s Light of the World. It was December of 1979, and I was in Kroch’s and Brentano’s book store in Oak Park, Illinois looking for possible Christmas gifts. For reasons I cannot explain, I pulled a book by Thomas Merton off the shelf. Merton, a famous Trappist monk and priest, curiously ordained a priest the year of my birth. I opened the book to an essay titled, Love and Solitude which began:

“No writing on the solitary, meditative dimension of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees. These pages seek nothing more than to echo the silence and the peace that is ‘heard’ when the rain wanders freely among the hills and forests. But what can the wind say where there is no hearer? There is then a deeper silence: the silence in which the Hearer is No-Hearer. That deeper silence must be heard before one can truly speak of solitude.” [i] 

There was a knock on my door. I opened it. I found myself standing on the shore of the ocean, with waves crashing over my head. Each time a wave crashed, a voice whispered, “It’s time.” Time for what, I asked. “It’s time.” Time for what? “Time to go to seminary.” This went on for what seemed a long time, but perhaps was only a moment. The cash register rang, and suddenly I was back in a bookstore on Lake Street in Oak Park. I bought the book. I told my friend Bill about my experience. His father, The Reverend William Arnall Wagner, Jr., was an Episcopal priest. He said, “You better talk to my dad!” I did. And guided by his father’s wisdom, I began a journey which, as I look back on it now, took off at lightning speed – for the following September, 1980, I was in New York City beginning my first year of seminary. How that was even possible, I don’t know, and still can hardly believe. 

I told my rector, The Reverend David Ward, at Grace Church, Providence, Rhode Island. He  pointed out that there would be numerous ‘hoops’ to jump through. This included getting the Bishop of Rhode Island to Confirm me as an Episcopalian; complete vocational counseling in Boston; paper work to fill out; the writing of a Spiritual Autobiography; and a somewhat contentious meeting with the Standing Committee of the Diocese. I ended up at The General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America on Ninth Avenue, New York City, provisionally – and if my first semester went well, I would be granted retro-active Postulancy, which is the first stage of the ordination process. All because, like the prophet Nathan, and Mary of Nazareth, I took the risk of opening the door and letting Jesus into my life. 

My first parish as a rector was St. Peter’s, Monroe, Connecticut. The window of Jesus knocking at the door was just to the right of the pulpit. It’s a scene from the book of Revelation, chapter three: Behold, I stand at the door and knock! If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. [ii] Looking at that window, I realized that I had heard his voice, opened the door, and have been eating with him, and him with me, ever since. And this was a comfort. I also realized, however, that standing at the pulpit week after week the primary dimension of my task was to prepare others to hear His voice, open the door and let him in. To this day, I find this a daunting responsibility, and at the same time my greatest privilege. That I am still a part of a community of disciples of Christ whom I urge to listen for his voice and open their doors is truly astonishing. To think that I have been doing this as long as those who in the wilderness sought freedom from a truly brutal empire, made a covenant with the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus, and learned how we are all to Love God with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul, and to love our neighbors as ourselves – it all seems utterly impossible, and yet, a most wonderful circumstance, all at the same time.   

Among the very first things we learned at General Theological Seminary was what we now call Centering Prayer, or Mindfulness, or Contemplative Prayer – prayer that is silent. Prayer that is about silence and solitude as Merton describes it. That is, we are to clear our mind of all else and allow God in Christ to speak to us; to knock on our doors; to come in and become our companion – literally, one with whom we share bread. Dean James Fenhagen, a son of the Diocese of Maryland, took all of us freshmen and women aside one day to teach us a simple way to enter into the world of solitude I had read about back in that bookstore in 1979. This form of prayer has become so important to my journey with Christ, that I have taught this simple method to countless others wherever I find myself. During the pandemic, we practiced this kind of prayer at Noonday Prayer online five days a week. It’s how many of us made it through, together. 

In a world of increasing busyness, increasing division, increasing violence, increasing noise coming at us from all sides, we could all use a little solitude, quiet time, alone time, with the One who stands at our door, day and night, 24/7, knocking on our doors, wanting us to hear and to open ourselves to Him. When we do, it is like the wind whispering in the pines, and the rains wandering freely across the mountains and the forest. There is silence. There is peace. And there is his voice: You are my beloved. With you I am well pleased. Hear me, listen to me. I shall always be by your side, your companion along the Way. I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. We are One.

Amen.

---

[i] Merton, Thomas, Love and Living (Farrar-Straus-Giroux, New York:1979) p.15

[ii] Revelation 3:20

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God

 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God  [i]

Mark begins, “The beginning of the good news…” Mark echoes the story of creation: the methodical taming of the deep waters of chaos into a life sustaining world. Mark’s world was chaotic due to the demonic powers of captivity under the empire of the competing gods called Caesar. Those listening to Mark’s  “gospel,” evangelion in Greek – literally good angel, or good messenger –stood among the ruins of Jerusalem, among the ashes of the Temple, atop Mount Zion after the Roman legions had crushed the attempted Jewish Revolt of 66-70 CE. 

Gospel, or “good news/good tidings” was a phrase used to describe the core message of hope and deliverance by the prophet Isaiah [chapters 40-50], delivered to those held captive in Babylon some six centuries before the time of Jesus and Mark. Ironically, the word Gospel also referred to Roman propaganda, delivered by messengers sent throughout the empire to proclaim new military victories such as the defeat of the recent revolt in Jerusalem. Those listening “atop Zion” to Mark’s gospel would recognize its long-ago origins in Isaiah, while people everywhere in Judea and Galilee were hearing the “good news” of the destruction of Jerusalem. Like those held captive in Babylon, now they were captive once again, this time captive at home. 

Then Mark begins his story of Jesus with words drawn from Exodus, Malachi and Isaiah: “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Thus, signaling that once again God promises to send a messenger to lead them out of the wilderness of captivity into freedom from the demonic powers of the empire. It will be like the deliverance from Babylon as Isaiah had announced, but his time rather than a physical roadway home, it will be a way “made straight” in human hearts: repentance, a turning back to the message and ministry of the Lord. Mark connects the current crisis to earlier cycles of captivity and deliverance. The good news of Jesus has its origins in these stories of our people going back over one thousand years. 

We might imagine the people listening to Mark remembering how it all began. Once upon a time, in an ancient and faraway country, before there were cities and towns, only small tribes and caravans of people living on the land, wandering from place to place, looking for fresh water and green vegetation, there was a mountain top. Those who climbed up to the top of this mountain, like our father Abraham, said they could feel the presence of God. A presence that says, “Love the One God who loves you and cares for you always, and love and care for one another, especially the others, the poor, the widows, the orphans and strangers.” 

When they came down from the mountain, they would repeat this good news to others: to Love God and Love others, all others. Throughout the years those who would go to the top of the mountain would leave a stone at the place where they felt the presence of God as a reminder. Even those who did not experience God left a stone to remember the stories they had heard of those who had. Each placed a stone, one atop the other, year after year, until first a monument was built. Years later a magnificent Temple covered the place on the mountain top where God’s presence could be felt and heard: to Love God and Love Others, all others. People would come to the Temple, and entering they would know that something important was there, something sacred and true. There was a presence, sacred and holy. They would stop and praise God and remember the stories of all those in the past who had been to the mountain top. 

Over the years as more and more people made the journey to the top of the mountain leaving more and more stones one atop the other, soon a city was built around the Temple with long winding, narrow streets, lined with homes and shops and plazas and fountains. People coming to the mountain to experience God and hear the stories of the past would need to stop and ask directions to find their way to the Temple so as not to get lost in the back streets of the city. And each in turn would leave a stone to remember the great events and stories of the past. Soon there were so many stones a great wall surrounded the city with majestic gates and ramparts. People coming to the mountain to go to the Temple would have to find a gate they would be allowed to enter. Sometimes the gates were open, sometimes the gates were closed. 

For many people, even in the city, the top of the mountain became more difficult to find. It had been covered with so many many stones. The gates were crowded, the streets noisy and narrow. There was so much activity, so many distractions and attractions that no one could hear the directions to find their way to the top of the mountain where God’s presence stood ready to remind them to Love the God who loves and cares for them always, and to love and care for one another, especially the others including those beyond the walls of the city. 

Then, a deep darkness covered all the mountain. An empire took over the city and the Temple. The leader of the empire was believed by some to be a god. Life for the pilgrims traveling to and from the city to experience the Love of God found instead a harsh military occupation. The people were praying for relief. The people were taxed severely. Their produce and goods were sent back to the emperor to feed further expansion of the empire. The people were afraid and found themselves captive once again. 

Far away, beyond the walls of the city, was a man, lonely in the wilderness. His name was John. He would cry out loud in the wilderness, “Prepare, prepare the way of the Lord. Make a way for God to return!” High above the crowded and noisy streets, above the gates, above the walls, above the top of the Temple itself, his voice could be heard floating on the wind. Some people, discouraged at no longer being able to find the top of the mountain could hear his voice, so loud and lovely was the voice of the man, lonely in the wilderness. First one, then another went beyond the gates of the city and followed the sound of that voice. They followed the sound floating on the winds. They could hear it like music in the sky! When they found John, he was singing, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” 

All the people came out of the city and from all the surrounding countryside to be with the man, lonely in the wilderness, until soon, all the inhabitants from both inside and outside the walls of the city found themselves standing with the man, lonely in the wilderness. They joined with John in singing, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” Everyone everywhere could hear the cry carried on the wind to the four corners of the Earth! 

Then John led them down to the River – the River their ancestors had crossed long long ago to leave the wilderness and come to the mountain the first time. John invited them to bathe in the water, to confess their sins of forgetting God’s Way, and to remember their God – the God who loves them and cares for them always. “Remember to love God and to love the others, all others, especially the poor, the widows, the orphans and the strangers. And I tell you, another will come, stronger than me, who will show us the way back to the God who comes to lead us home. Remember, remember, remember today – the one who shall come will show us the way!” 

As it was then, so it is today. When we listen above the noise of the city, above the demonic noise of empires, above the noise of the crowds, when we are still and listen wherever we are, a voice can still be heard, floating on the wind, beyond the noise and the gates of the city, above the tops of the highest mountains, still calling to us, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord; Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Open your heart to receive the message and ministry of our Lord.’ 

This is the beginning of the gospel, of the Good News, of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Always we begin again!

---

[i] Mark 1:1-8

Apocalyptic Boogie Advent 1B

 Apocalyptic Boogie

The Second Coming. It cannot be about Jesus returning. For in truth, he never really left. Ask the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Ask the disciples in the upper room. He himself said, “Lo, I am with you always to the end of the age.” That’s what we watch and wait for: the end of the age; the Day of the Lord; the complete and full unfolding of God’s gracious reign of unending mercy and love of all, for all. 

Mark chapter 13, often referred to as the “Marcan Apocalypse,” or “the Little Apocalypse,” is yet another example of New Testament Apocalyptic. It speaks of the ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with power and great glory. We need to remember that despite its origins in Old Testament apocalyptic literature, New Testament Apocalyptic appears to be less predictive of a future; rather it is more descriptive of life on the ground here and now. 

Apocalyptic texts urge perseverance and faithfulness in times of tremendous community crisis, such as the exile to Babylon, and engenders the hope that one day, as in the days of the Passover/Exodus event, God will one day intervene in human history to rescue his people again. Although Mark 13 draws upon numerous texts from Hebrew Scripture, along with Daniel’s image of a figure called ‘the Son of Man,’ it is descriptive of what was happening – the brutal Roman occupation and the total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Listening to the totality of the thirteenth chapter of Mark, Jesus urges perseverance and faithfulness until ‘the end of the age’ when the unfolding of God’s reign is complete. 

Further, although there were those, like Paul, who believed or hoped Christ would return soon, the delay in such a return for many gave rise to a belief that Christ’s life, death and resurrection is the saving action, and that the earthly Jesus prepared his followers for life after the destruction of the Temple to live lives devoted to God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself – with a true broadening of just who our neighbors are in the story of an historic enemy Samaritan who provides assistance for someone in need, no questions asked. 

The Australian Jesuit, Brendan Byrne, in his commentary on Mark observes, “For most Christians today the expectation of Christ’s return in glory (“Second Coming”), though still proclaimed in liturgy and creeds, is hardly a daily preoccupation. We ‘look back’ to his life, death and resurrection as the chief elements of his saving work. For the early generations, however, the emphasis was the other way around. It was as the Son of Man returning to glory that Christ would perform his principal messianic role: be the agent of the final victory of G_d. Cohabiting with a lively faith in the risen Lord was a strong sense of unfinished business…The same concerns  - and not a few more – linger on for us today, and raise the same issues about the faithfulness and power of G_d. Both in its original context and as it can be read today, the discourse [in Mark 13] has about it a large aspect of theodicy: in the face of all the evidence, is it still possible to believe in G_d – and cling to the promise of Jesus?” [i]

 

Yes, that is a mouthful! First, it may surprise some that in the United States today, according to the Wikipedia article, Second Coming, “A 2010 survey showed that about 40% of Americans believe that Jesus is likely to return by 2050. This varies from 58% of white evangelical Christians, through 32% of Catholics to 27% of white mainline Protestants.” Belief in a Second Coming was popularized by Dwight Moody in the late 19^th century, and became a core belief of fundamentalism in the 1920s. It is interesting to note, that the crisis both Moody and the fundamentalists addressed is modernism – trying to reconcile traditional faith with scientific, philosophical and theological trends and discoveries of the past several hundred years. Both Moody and the fundamentalists, ironically, appear to be modern themselves as they and others introduce new and novel teachings to the life of the Church: including specific predictions about when a Second Coming will be.  As to predicting when? Jesus says: No one knows when the end of days, the end of the world, or a possible second coming will come to pass. Not even me! 

As to theodicy: This was an Enlightenment question: if God is good why does evil persist in the world? A simplistic answer would be, because in Mark chapter 13 Jesus says it will, but not to worry. Because this is the wrong question. The real question is: Where is God in all of this upheaval, the persistence of evil, and persecution of the faithful. Answer: Emmanuel – God with us. Just as God is with Christ on the cross and at the dawn of the resurrection, so God is with us in the midst of human suffering. 

Finally, the discourse addresses one final question: What are we, those who follow the Way of Jesus, to do in the meantime? Jesus says as we serve those in greatest need: the hungry, thirsty, the stranger, those in prison, widows, orphans, we serve him.[ii] To illustrate, Jesus tells a story. 

A man goes on a journey, and appoints his servants to continue the work he has given them to do. He does not say when he is getting back. They are to stay the course, and watch: stay awake! To make his point, he assigns one as a watchman to specifically make sure all are ready when he will return from his journey. “For you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”[iii] 

In this pastiche of apocalyptic imagery, we find language of parable, symbol and myth, since there is no literal language to describe the transcendent ways of God. It is a language of assurance and hope. All shall be well. For Jesus is not sitting idly by doing nothing while his disciples face the persistence of evil, and the insecurity of not knowing when the Day of the Lord will appear. Through the Holy Spirit the Christ already exerts his messianic rule through the very same means by which God has provided the means for a response to the persistent presence of evil – and we are that means. We are God’s intervention to provide comfort in the face of great suffering. This is the cost of discipleship. It is our privilege to serve Christ’s presence among the poor. 

Despite the cost of discipleship and the persistence of evil, Mark’s Jesus proclaims that the divine victory has already been evidenced in the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God. Soon this will be evidenced throughout creation and universally in place as we, like the servants in the parable, continue to do the work he has given us to do. We are to remain watchful and awake as we participate in the complete and full unfolding of God’s gracious reign of unending mercy and love of all, for all. Only because he is with us, here and now to the end of the age, are we able to do all of this. And greater things than these! [iv]

[i] Byrne SJ, Brendan, A Costly Freedom (Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN:2008) p.200-201

[ii] Matthew 25:31-46

[iii] Mark 13:32-37

[iv] John 14:122

One with God, Creation and One Another

 

One with God, Creation, and One Another

We are asked in Baptism: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Once you experience this – seeing the Christ in one person – it then becomes easy to see Christ in “all persons.” This is what storyteller Matthew imagines what the Day of the Lord, or the Day of Judgment, will look like (Matt 25:31-46). Whether or not we recognize Christ in others, there he is right in front of us in all these poor, forgotten, marginalized people he is talking about serving. As you feed the hungry, you are feeding Christ, whether you recognize him or not. It’s what the ancient Celts were getting at by seeing and talking about the Oneness of us all; the Oneness of all creation! People must have experienced this in Christ, in Jesus. He was capable of seeing no distinctions among different people. 

There is a possible translation problem It says “all,” pantes, “nations,” ethne. Which is possible. Yet, biblical documents written in Greek, ethne more often is used to translate the Hebrew goyim, or Gentiles. Broadly, gentile simply means non-Jewish. Matthew writing after the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, gentile would also include non-Christians as well. This markedly changes how we might read this passage. And perhaps explains why both groups, those who serve those in need and those who don’t, neither is looking for Christ, nor do they recognize Christ. Despite Jesus declaring his Oneness with all those who are poor and disinherited. 

One of the first times I saw the face of Christ in another human being was in a movie called, Excuse Me, America, featuring Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, in North-East Brazil. In the movie he comes to America and meets with Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, Caesar Chavez and others who, like himself in Brazil, worked for dignity and justice for all people – most especially the poor. Near the end of the movie Dom Helder is at an organizing meeting for the farmworkers in California, the crowd is singing We Shall Overcome, and the camera zooms in on Dom Helder’s face. With a beatific smile on his face, tears streaming down as he listens to the singing of the poor farmworkers, I could only see the Transfiguration of Christ. It was then that I instantly knew what he means when he says, “Although for some people it may appear strange, I declare that here in the North-East Christ is called Jose, Antonio, Severino, Maria, Ana, Fernanda. Ecce Homo! Here is Christ the human. The human being who needs justice, has the right to justice, deserves justice.” [i] 

It's important to know that Dom Helder’s life-long campaign on behalf of the poor everywhere met official resistance within the church. Yet, it was his deep understanding of this imagining of The Final Judgment in Matthew 25 that kept him true to serving the Christ in all humanity. Even his love of those who fought him in his quest for justice for all. 

Ever since, it has been my experience that those who practice the most devoted service to others have always been the most Christ-like persons I have ever met. And in every instance, they would be the last people to even think that they were Christ-like in any way – which, of course, makes their service to others, especially the poor and disinherited, even more Christ-like. As Dom Helder also says “He [Christ] said, whoever is suffering, humiliated, crushed is he. In our own time, when more than two-thirds of the human race are living in sub-human conditions, it’s easy enough to meet him in the flesh…For my part I am as sure of Christ’s existence as I am of my own hand with its five fingers I can touch and see. I meet Jesus every day. And we are one. No doubt about it.” [ii]  I meet Jesus every day. No doubt about it. 

We call this Christ the King Sunday – and yet our Lord and King is best seen among those who are hungry, thirsty, in jail, naked, sick, and strangers in the land. It’s a very different kind of King whose kingdom is realized among those who serve those most desperately in need. Those who serve, as Matthew tells it, do not seem to recognize the Christ in those they serve, and least of all in themselves. They are not necessarily Christians, or Jews, or of any other religious practice. 

I believe Matthew’s Jesus challenges the Church itself. He seems to say: If these Gentiles, non-Christians, non-Jews, know how to love God and love neighbor without ever hearing my teaching, how much more must our community of Christ be so directed in all that we say and all that we do? There is no other reason we are here. 

Before we, or any church, says or does anything at all, it is paramount that we recognize this mystical Oneness that Dom Helder lived and breathed all of his 90 years among us. It is utterly freeing to abandon the natural tendency to focus on our differences and those dimensions of “self” that divide us, and to focus wholeheartedly on our inherent Oneness. It changes everything. Those in power, those who wield power, want us to believe life is about fighting for all we can get – individually, and as a nation. It’s every man, woman and child for themselves. This is what is most often recognized as kingdoms and empires: grabbing for ourselves the land and the resources of others for our own consumption. Many of the parables of Jesus recognize this as human sin. Instead, Jesus advocates a reversal, a turning of the world right-side up again! And people like Dom Helder, Dorothy Day, Caesar Chavez, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez and countless others throughout the centuries have worked for such a just and dignified society, with or without any personal knowledge of Christ – just like the folks in our vision of the Final Judgment who ask, “When did we see you naked, hungry, thirsty, sick and in prison?” 

We do well to remember just how this feast of The Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe came to be. Pope Pius XI, writing in the aftermath of World War I, noted that while there had been a cessation of hostilities, there was no true peace. He deplored the rise of class divisions, unbridled nationalism, and a world that was being gripped by anti-Semitic and authoritarian-fascist dictators. He felt the church, of all institutions, needed to return to being icons of Christ – those who day in and day out see Christ in all persons, respecting the dignity of every human being. We must ask just how important this vision of Pius is for our time? 

Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, in a homily on March 24, 1980, in a small hospital chapel said, “God’s reign is already present on our earth in mystery. When the Lord comes, it will be brought to perfection. That is the hope that inspires Christians. We know that every effort to better society, especially when injustice and sin are so ingrained, is an effort that God blesses, that God wants, that God demands of us.” [iii] Minutes later, while celebrating the Eucharist, Romero was shot down by government assassins. For serving the poor, the destitute, the disinherited. For living a Christ-like life. For seeing Christ every day in the poor he served. May we ponder the symmetry: November begins with All Saints and ends with Christ the King.

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[i] Hall, Mary, The Impossible Dream: The Spirituality of Dom Helder Camara (Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY:1980) from his Inaugural Address, quoted on p.75

[ii] McDonagh, Francis, Dom Helder Camara: Essential Writings, (Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY:2009) p.120

[iii] Brockman, James R., SJ, The Violence of Love: Oscar Romero (Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY: 1988) p.206

Fearlessness Proper 28A

Fearlessness

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Tim: 1:7 

Fearlessness. Stories of fearlessness. Which I fear we confuse with ruthlessness. When it really is about abandoning our fears so we may be more attentive, more present, to the ways of the Lord. Which itself is about risking to use the gifts we have been given profligately, rather than fiercely holding onto them, which results in a false sense of security. 

We see this illustrated in the story in Judges chapters 4&5. We are told that the people had sinned. No specific sin is mentioned, but most often it is forgetting that as we have received God’s love and mercy, so we are to extend these gifts not only to one another, but to all others. The narrator tells us the result of this lack of love for our neighbors resulted in God sending a foreign army and a foreign king to reign harshly over Israel for twenty years. Two things in this. First, twenty years is not meant to be a specific amount of time, but rather suggests it was a long, long time. Secondly, it does not mean that God literally sent King Jabin and his 900 chariots under the command of General Sisera. Rather, Hebrew scripture is unique in the world of ancient literature, and assumes that the conquest was a result of the people having lost their way, burying the love of God, ignoring the needs of others, and that therefore it must be offensive to God. That is, they assume responsibility for their actions, or inaction, and accept that their own behavior resulted in a long-time crisis. 

Indeed, God’s bountiful love and mercy is evidenced by God raising up a new prophet and leader for Israel to meet the current crisis. A woman. Deborah. We are not told how she communicates with God, and God with her, but she sends Barak of Naphtali to meet the 900 chariots of Sisera and drive out the foreign invaders once and for all. Barak insists that she accompany him. She agrees, but makes sure he understands that it will be a woman who fells Sisera. The armies of Barak prevail, but General Sisera escapes and seeks comfort and a hiding place in a home he believes to be safe. The woman of the tent, Jael, takes Sisera in, covers him with a blanket, and provides him with milk and curds to eat. Weary from running, and filled with Jael’s provisions, Sisera falls asleep, ordering her to tell no one that he is not there. Yes, she says. But then, while he sleeps, she drives a stake through his temple, fulfilling the prophecy of Deborah that Sisera would ultimately be felled by a woman. Deborah and Jael, because of their fearlessness on behalf of the whole community,  are two of the most popular female names in Israel to this day. 

In what many think is one of the oldest poems in all of the Bible, the Song of Deborah celebrates this saving event: “…when people offer themselves willingly, bless the Lord…Most blessed of women is Jael…of tent dwelling women most blessed. He [Sisera] asked for water, and she gave him milk, she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.” [i] This ancient tale of God’s ultimate forgiveness and mercy still has lessons for us all today. Jabin and Sisera stand as symbols of the many oppressive consequences of human sin. Just as Deborah and Jael highlight God’s choice of these two women to fearlessly remind one and all of God’s concern that oppression needs to be rooted out and not allowed to stand. The commemorative poem also shows surprising compassion for Sisera’s mother: “Out the window she peered, the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice – Why is his chariot so long in coming? … Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? …Spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera, spoil of dyed stuffs, embroidered, two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?” This ancient Israelite poem recognizes the sadness and pathos of so many others on both sides when the battle is over.   

Then there is another odd story from Jesus about a man leaving on a journey. He entrusts his property to three servants: five talents to one, two to another, and one to a third. A talent was roughly equal to 20 years wages for a common laborer, perhaps in the neighborhood of anywhere from $1,000 to $30,000 in today’s dollars! When the master returns, the servants are asked to account for what they have done with what he gave each of them. Two invested wisely, and doubled the value of what had been entrusted to them. The third was fearful and had buried the talent entrusted to him. He returns just the one talent to the master. To say the master is unimpressed with the servant’s excessive prudence, has him “cast into the outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.” The story ends with an easily misunderstood proclamation: Ordering the one talent to be given to the servant with ten, the master says, “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” [ii] 

It's easy to misunderstand the lesson here if we think strictly in terms of the money involved. What if the talents represent the power of the Holy Spirit given to the disciples when Jesus returned to the household of God’s eternal love. Jesus left them with two gifts, two charges: Love God, and Love your neighbor as you love yourself; as God has forgiven and loved you. There was great hope throughout the church that Jesus would return to subdue the Roman Empire once and for all. Jesus’s telling of this odd story suggests that in the meantime, in the days between, his followers are to be fearless in loving God and loving neighbors – all neighbors, including people with whom we have had historic differences like the Samaritans. As the Second Letter of Timothy declares, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a strong mind!” [iii] And as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:11, “And the God of love and peace will be with you.” 

These are the “talents” that have been generously given to us all: the very means to be a people of love and peace, and the promise of God’s presence wherever we may be, no matter what the current crisis may be. Paul further instructs the Corinthian church, and thereby all of us, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test. … but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.” [iv] 

This is the fearlessness God in Christ wants for us. Gives to us. Expects us to use for the spread of the Kingdom of God here and now. The One who came to us from Love, returned to Love, so that we might be his people of Love throughout and all around the world. God was with Deborah and Jael. God was with the two servants who risked using the talents entrusted to them, rather than give in to fearfulness, saving God’s love and mercy for a rainy day. Every day is a rainy day.  How might we be the good and faithful servants of the Lord like all those who have gone before us? How might we, in times of great crisis, be fearless on behalf of the truth? On behalf of God’s kingdom of mercy and love?

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[i] Judges 5: 1-31

[ii] Matthew 25:14-30

[iii] 2 Timothy 1:7

[iv] 2 Corinthians 13:5-10 

Apocalypse Now! Proper 27A

 

Apocalypse Now! Proper 27A

Back in the beginning of the present century, on my way to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Old Ellicott City, I would pass a billboard that said something like: May 21/Be ready. It was paid for by radio evangelist Harold Camping who had predicted that Jesus and the Rapture would arrive on May 21, 2011, to transport faithful Christians to His Heavenly Banquet! Needless to say, May 21 came, and went, and here we are. This expectation was a total fiction. 

The Rapture is not found in the Bible. An English pastor in the 19^th century named William Miller came up with this idea. He predicted a specific date. He and his followers watched and waited. The day came and went, and there they were. Despite this failure, Millerites and others have persisted in making other predictions, none of which have come to pass, and here we are. If one Googles, “Does the Bible speak of The Rapture,” the answer is: The word rapture isn't used in the Holy Bible, but the idea of Judgment Day appears in all the canonical gospels. Rapture is a modern, not a biblical, contrivance. Such expectations are a complete fiction. 

Imagine my surprise last weekend when I opened the Sports section to find the comics, first opening to the Arts page, to find the following book listed in the New York Times Nonfiction Best Sellers at # 9: The Great Disappearance: 31 Ways to Be Rapture Ready, by David Jeremiah! God bless Dr. Jeremiah, for outlining with authority, step-by-step, how the Rapture will take place whenever it does. But really, I thought to myself, “Shouldn’t this be on the Fiction top ten list?” 

Not entirely. Our spiritual foremothers and forefathers wrote of a day of judgment. Such an idea exists in both Old and New Testament texts. Not necessarily as a literal expectation. Not as a literal truth. Rather, more like a genre – a genre of literature called apocalyptic that occurs in historical periods when the People of God are in crisis. The principal crises are slavery in Egypt, the captivity in Babylon, and the Occupation by Rome and destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. 

Such texts write of a hoped for and extraordinary intervention by YHWH, the God of the Exodus with whom Joshua calls the people to renew and reaffirm their covenant relationship. [i] As they leave the Wilderness Sojourn to enter the land the Lord has promised to be their new home, they are to swear off the local gods and idols and renew their loyalty to the Lord YHWH and no other, as had been outlined at Mount Sinai. 

Carried off into slavery once more to Babylon, along with the writings of the prophets who do their best to explain how this crisis arose, were some apocalyptic writers who urged the people not to worry. As in our shared past, the Lord shall intervene once more. In the meantime, remain loyal and continue to live life according to the covenant and its 613 Torah commandments. Indeed, it came to pass that Cyrus of Persia (modern day Iran) liberated the people and facilitated their return to Jerusalem, and the lands of Judah and Israel. 

The next crisis was being a colony of first the Greek and then the Roman empire. Faithful living of Torah became increasingly challenging. The Pharisees advocated strict following of the commandments. The Sadducees advocated strict observance of the ritual sacrifices in Jerusalem. Some groups returned to the wilderness and lived strict ascetical lives of excessive purification. And some followed Jesus who advocated love of God and love of neighbor to be The Way, or The Path, to eventual salvation from the Roman occupation. By the time the Temple was destroyed there existed nascent Christian communities throughout the Mediterranean. 

Again, there arose those who wrote apocalyptic visions urging the now two communities in crisis to stay the course of Torah, of the commandments, but with one obvious change: with no Temple there could be no more sacrifices. Thus, was born rabbinic Judaism as we know it today, in which most important festivals are celebrated around the family dinner table, and Christianity, with its unique sacrificial and eschatological meal we call The Eucharist, or Holy Communion. 

The most controversial New Testament document was an apocalyptic vision called The Revelation of John, presumed to be written by an exile on the island of Patmos with an extraordinary grasp of the texts of the Old Testament. It is estimated that fully 80-90% of John’s Revelation is directly quoted from or refers to Old Testament texts. This was truly ingenious! 

Although classic apocalyptic literature in the Bible often looked forward to a “day of the Lord,” John’s Revelation makes an astonishing and breathtaking claim: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is that day of the Lord. That is, God’s saving event has already happened! Now we are to live accordingly no matter what the current crisis may be. 

Enter our story about Ten Bridesmaids and a banquet in Matthew 25. It’s a rather awkward story about ten maidens who have lamps, but only five of them have enough oil to light their lamps. There is a long delay of the bridegroom coming; he arrives in the middle of the night; we are meant to think that shops will be open at that hour; the unwillingness of the wise maidens to share their oil; when the five return from town the door is shut on them; followed by the strange injunction to “Keep Awake.” (Stay Woke?) Strange, because the failure of the unwise maidens is not that they have overslept, but that they have not prepared for the arrival of the Bridegroom. All this adds up to a truly odd story indeed. [ii] 

Yet, way back in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “In everything, do to others what you would have them do for you.” Then insists that this “doing for others” is bearing the good fruit of the kingdom. Trees that bear bad fruit will be thrown into a fire. Therefore, he concludes, if you are not prepared, not living the Golden Rule, the door will be shut. “I do not know you!”  [iii] 

Two takeaways from this odd story. First, we must remember it is addressed to insiders, members of the community of faith, not outsiders. This is no condemnation of those beyond the Church. Ignoring to love God and love neighbor here and now is the problem. We make ourselves outsiders by not loving our neighbors – all neighbors, no matter who, what, or where. Second, it is “Apocalypse Now,” not later. There is no time to wait. No time to be idle. As John the Revelator declares, “He is risen! He is here! He is with us now and always! Live accordingly!” The Day of the Lord has already come. Now is the time for the rest of the story. We are to be the rest of the story! It turns out that instead of 31 ways to become “rapture ready” there are just two. The Greatest Commandment of all; the summary of the Law and the Prophets: Love God and Love Neighbor. Now! If not now, when? For The Rapture is here and now! Christ is alive!

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[i] Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

[ii] Matthew 25:1-14

[iii] Matthew 7:12-29