August 30, 2009
The Rev. Natasha Brubaker Garrison
Year B, Proper 17
The letter of the law and the spirit of the law. In part, this is a way we can look at the point of the sparring between Jesus and the Pharisees in today’s story from Mark. Law reflects the context of time and place. It reflects the values and priorities, both good and bad, of a given society. We know that our own Constitution is an imperfect document that contains stances we find morally repugnant today, such as the wording, and the realities it spoke to, that one slave equals three fifths of one white or free person. And law codes change. Deuteronomy was a rewriting and a reinterpretation of the Law of Moses, of Leviticus, to reflect the experience of history and the reality that the Israelites were no longer semi-nomadic, but settled in towns and cities. The law followed in Jesus’ day was still, as is the way of things, evolving. And this was not seen as contrary to following God.
Of course, trouble happens when the law is seen as the end and as the ultimate reference point—immutable, absolute, and unchangeable. In religion things get distorted when the law is seen as divine dictation that is somehow free of human interference and shaping. A legalistic rigor sets in that makes The Law, with all the ways customs, traditions and social patterns have gotten tangled up in it, into an idol. The law then can easily become a weapon of oppression and a tyrant, manipulated by others in ways that cling to the letter and subvert the spirit. Think of how often people can get off the hook for a crime they did commit due to a technicality, sometimes the most trivial of things that has no impact on the evidence or content of the case. It’s a game, see, and we can use the law against itself to beat the system. It is this that Jesus is railing against I think—the loss of the spirit of the law, the way in which the intent of the law has gotten lost or buried under practices and prejudices that pervert its aim.
Which made me wonder what a modern day version of this exchange might look like. And almost immediately I had an image of Jesus sparring with Justice Scalia on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. The case in point would be that of Troy Anthony Davis. Mr. Davis has been on Georgia’s death row for many years. He was convicted of murdering an off-duty police officer. Officer McPhail’s death occurred during a fight that broke out a gas station. Though there was no physical evidence linking Troy to the crime other than his presence there, along with that of many other people, he was convicted and sentenced to death. Now, seven of the nine witnesses that said he was the shooter have recanted completely and revealed that they were coerced and pressured by the police to point the finger—all done quite legally. Troy’s family has fought unceasingly to get his conviction overturned. With no credible evidence and others now naming a different man as the shooter, we see how the law railroaded a man all while following the legal process, a process that we know is riddled with problems, biases and prejudices. The Supreme Court has ruled that he can challenge his conviction. A rare move indeed. Two justices, however, voted against that ruling. Scalia wrote in his dissent: “This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas corpus court that he is “actually” innocent.” In other words, even if convicted of a crime you did not do it is perfectly legal for you to be executed anyway. The letter of the law here is not only trumping the law, but also making the notion of justice a farce. I imagine Jesus firing back with a reminder that it was precisely to escape nations where the law was honored or not as took the fancy of those in charge that informed the founding fathers. He would likely ask if the final source of morality is the Consitution or is it God and seeking to do good? And it gets us to his probing assertion that it is what comes out of us that defiles not what goes in. Is not an interpretation such as Scalia’s a defilement of what we believe the spirit of the law is in this nation?
Which gets us to the place I want us to go for the next few weeks or so. The idea I want to play with is that of looking inside our hearts. And I think I will spend quite a bit of time taking us through the book of James, which speaks so wisely about the life, the character, and workings of the heart and its connection to the life we live in the world.
The law is a starting point, a frame, and a structure. But it is only as good as the hearts of those who hear and apply it. For many, the law gives the foundation for life. It defines the bounds of our behavior and the consequences, and that is the end of the matter. Yet we are called as children of God to go further. The law is an important piece, but is not only an exterior constraint. The law must penetrate the heart. We are to hear it and then take it in, absorb it into our being. As Jesus says, the foundation of the law is to love the Lord our God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Study of the law, doing of the law in line with its intent takes us to this deeper place. It is now not about legalism, but about spiritual understanding. As we look into our hearts we find the things that defile us, that impede our ability to love—theft, murder, adultery, avarice, envy, pride and so forth. When these things are alive in our hearts, the law may call us to account when they emerge publicly, but the law is not able to take root and grow in us as a spiritual sense.
Jesus for us is the embodiment of the law fully alive in a human being. He was not a legalist, going around citing codes and rules. He lived the deepest essence of the law: love. The love of God was so alive in him, so thoroughly forming his heart, that he could see the light of God in everyone. For instance, when we see with this love we can no more think of stealing from another then flying to the moon. Conversely, we can also no longer accept or be at ease in a society that allows people to go hungry or without life’s essentials which is also a form of theft—theft of life and health and respect. When we see with this light inside we know we are utterly loved by God in our essence, in our particular self. We have nothing to envy in any one else and we discover that our hearts burn to honor the dignity and serve the presence of Christ in all other persons. But most of us are a long way off from loving like Jesus, of having the law become transformed and honed into its center—divine love—within us.
James, with his great wisdom, speaks eloquently about the spiritual work we are about. We have seen perfect love and therefore perfect law made alive in Jesus. He is the perfect gift, from above, coming down from the Father of light. He gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we could become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. James reminds us that in Jesus we have received, through our belief in him and as members of his Body, the word of truth, of light. We have been shown the life we are to cultivate within ourselves. Our first work is to look into our hearts and see what is blocking the light. This is not something we do once, but constantly. As we grow in Jesus’ truth we see more and more into ourselves. As we see more and more and as life happens there is always more space for Jesus’ truth to take root in us.
This is the doing of the word after the hearing. We hear that things inside us give life to evil, to things that defile us and soil the world. But doers of the word take up the call and invite that light into their hearts. Doers are not afraid to examine their hearts and see what is in there that is poisonous, sordid and rank. In this gazing we don’t forget what we look like, but take that knowledge to Christ for his light, his word. We allow our hearts to touch it and see that it is a spiritual reality, not just a way we think. As we become doers of the word we are purified by that light of Christ. As that light penetrates and illuminates our darkness and our lost-ness we see ourselves anew. This is not, let me be clear, an invitation to self-indulgent naval gazing, but a spiritual practice of self-examination that consciously invites the love and light of Christ in. In time we see the path through is also spiritual—forgiveness, mercy, hope, atonement, repentance, compassion and so on. In short, it is being and doing in imitation of the perfect Doer of the Word: Jesus the Christ.
It is the grafting of Christ to our own hearts. In time, we become to resemble the one grafted there. For most of us we don’t usually mean it in complimentary terms when we say I’ve become just like my mother. Nor do we usually take it as a compliment when someone says you’ve become just like your dad as you’ve gotten older. But imagine someone coming up to us and saying: you’ve become more like the Christ! When I see you doing things I think of Jesus, perfect law and therefore perfect love in action. It is real; it is solid. It isn’t a trapping or a practice or regulation; it’s shining straight from your heart.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
August 9, 2009, 10th Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, August 9, 2009
The Rev. Natasha Brubaker Garrison
Year B, Proper 14
"For he that singeth praise, not only praiseth, but only praiseth with gladness: he that singeth praise, not only singeth, but also loveth him of whom he singeth. In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving." Now that’s a mouthful, isn’t it? Most of us know this quote of St. Augustine in its much more abbreviated form: He who sings prays twice. Music has always been a central part of human life and religious expression. From simple yet powerful chanting to the glories of Bach’s B minor Mass it is a way we connect to the holy, to the divine. For many of us music is the easiest way for us to pray or to feel a tie to God. I know that in my life music is to me the language of God for it transcends the limits of words and reaches places inside my spirit that nothing else can; it is a language beyond language. Some physicists imagine the world’s smallest particle is like a vibrating string. And while it has yet to be proved and there is always another mystery to the structure of the universe there is something so amazing and gorgeous to me of thinking that the entire creation could be seen as a musical composition. When I sing do I help keep the universe alive? And if the music stopped would creation crumble into nothingness? Is the reality of God like music on some deep level? Wonderful questions don’t you think?
Music is spiritual food for us. And while Jesus isn’t talking today about music as a metaphor for the bread of eternal life, music does feed us, comfort us, challenge us, and create us. It is eternal in that the chants and melodies survive through the generations, teaching and shaping us. The Israelites sang and danced before God; the Book of Psalms is a book of songs—a kind of hymnal if you will. As it says today praise of God will always be on my lips. Often that praise is a song. I find myself frequently humming a part of hymn that is special to me, such as the song we heard at the start of the last folk mass—“There is a Redeemer”. When I sing it I am making a little prayer to God and anchoring myself in God and my place in this world.
Music is one of the spiritual anchors of Resurrection. It is a beautiful and essential part of our worship and our outreach to the world. We are blessed with singers, musicians, an amazing instrument, and a people who rejoice in the prayer that is offered in song. Music is part of how Resurrection defines itself. I think that this is part of how most of us who come here would define our spiritual life—music is a basic part of it, part of how we know and experience God.
Last week during the announcements I shared with you an update on our music search process. Since late last summer when we learned of Betty Jean’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer we have been moving through a time of transition. For the last half of the year a group of people came together and carried our music ministry through the end of the year. I cannot thank them enough for the incredible and loving work they did. During that time we called an interim parish musician, Caitlin, to join us and she did so in January.
This past year has been a time of healing and discernment. Healing in that the music ministry is deeper, richer and more cohesive. It is no secret that music here had been a point of hurt and division as well as a great gift. We have moved into a new place that is a joy to see. It was also a time of discernment as those who volunteered to take on roles discovered gifts and calls that had not been seen or fully recognized. We have learned that given our talents, our size and our nature as a parish a leadership team has worked amazingly well for us—parish musician, choir director, choristers director, folk mass and a group that works together to plan music. As it stands now, Lucy and Carrie will continue in their roles as choir and chorister directors. This has been a process of careful discernment, conversation and discovery. I think it’s fair to say that neither stepped into the role last fall expecting to stay in it for more than a few months. But rather than filling the gap, they have discovered a gift and a role that is right for Resurrection at this time. It has been the work of the Spirit in surprising and wonderful ways. This new structure and what will come of it is a new direction, a new step in our life that looks to a future where music continues to grow, thrive and take on new life.
Caitlin has been a great gift to us and a true joy to work with. Our interim time is over, and we are looking to finish our transition by moving into a permanent situation. And while the music search team initially believed that Caitlin would likely be whom we called to that position it turns out life has taken another path for her and her family. They will be returning to Colorado in a few weeks and while it is for good and wonderful reasons it is a sadness and a sorrow for us.
The music search team, which is comprised of Sam Smith, Jim Crosswhite, Lucy Strandlein, Carrie Warner, Corie Warner, Mark Turner, Mari Dole, Marcia Callis, Christian Pich, Ivy Duncan, Lee Anne Robertson, Richard Heinzkill and myself, has mapped out a process for keeping all of us in touch and informed about the process. For instance, updates of our meetings are posted on the music bulletin board in the hallway. My article in this past Tune In was a brief synopsis of our work and progress. We agreed that this Sunday would be the day I used the sermon time to share in more detail the work and process of the music search team. We also agreed early on that the community must be included meaningfully in this process.
There are two vital and important roles (and probably others I’m not naming) for the congregation. First and foremost, pray for us and for this process. Second, we need your ideas, your hopes, your thoughts and dreams for music. Liturgy is to feed and nourish us; music is central to that. If the music is not feeding you than we must find the way so that it does. If it could feed you more deeply, we want know how to get us there. To that end the music search team has created the music questionnaire. It is not so much a survey as it is a chance for you to respond to open ended questions. We need and want to hear your voice. If you don’t have the copy that was sent in your newsletter, there is one in your bulletin today. It will have a repeat appearance next Sunday. There are extras posted on the music bulletin board in the hallway above the water fountain. Envelopes to return your responses on are the same bulletin board and on the table just by the main doors. You may email me your responses if that is easier.
Some us don’t like to write and prefer to share our ideas with someone in person. I know; I’m one of them. On Sunday, the 23rd of August, we will create two such opportunities. Lucy, Caitlin and Mari will be leading the Christian Formation time at 9:30. Come to learn and share. After the 10:30 worship the music search team will be providing a special coffee hour outside with tasty food and beverages. Team members will make themselves visible through wearing a fun hat or other easily spotted item, such as a boa! We will be ready with paper and pencil to hear your thoughts and ideas. From what we hear, the information will be shared with the candidates to see if what we desire fits with their vision and abilities.
Thus, we are now preparing to interview candidates for the position of parish musician. The posting went out on Wednesday morning and there have already been applications received. This person will be someone who can work collaboratively within the music ministry structure that has emerged as well as having energy and vision for where we can go. The person we call needs to have enthusiasm for how music will expand and increase both within our liturgical life and our evangelism to the community. This person will need to be someone that can work with Lucy and Carrie and me closely, positively, and as a complementary team.
As the rector I do have the final say in the hiring decision as the liturgical buck and authority stop with me, and it is critical that this person and I mesh well for we work in very close partnership. When the musician and priest do not have a good working relationship things almost always disintegrate into a power struggle, and tension and conflict infect the congregation—this is the last thing I desire for Resurrection. However, the process of interviewing candidates and prayerfully discussing who is best for us at this point in time and into the future will be done by the team. I trust that we will arrive together at the person God is calling to be here. Please check the music bulletin board to see the job posting. The hope is to begin interviewing qualified candidates in September. The interview will include a time of Q&A with the search team, playing a couple of pieces for that team, and rehearsing with the choristers and choir for all candidates. My hope is that we will have the new musician in place by no later than the first part of October.
Ultimately, this music is for the glory of God and for us to glorify God with through our voices and hearts. What opens you up, what helps you find yourself in the presence of the holy, and what makes your song a twice-rich prayer is what music here should do. That is the service of music and liturgy to you and to this larger place we call home. It feeds us and can be the invitation to others who are hungry to come in and find a God that loves them and treasures them. Through music we can be a door way into finding that place where we and those who are seeking can taste and see that the Lord is good.
The Rev. Natasha Brubaker Garrison
Year B, Proper 14
"For he that singeth praise, not only praiseth, but only praiseth with gladness: he that singeth praise, not only singeth, but also loveth him of whom he singeth. In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving." Now that’s a mouthful, isn’t it? Most of us know this quote of St. Augustine in its much more abbreviated form: He who sings prays twice. Music has always been a central part of human life and religious expression. From simple yet powerful chanting to the glories of Bach’s B minor Mass it is a way we connect to the holy, to the divine. For many of us music is the easiest way for us to pray or to feel a tie to God. I know that in my life music is to me the language of God for it transcends the limits of words and reaches places inside my spirit that nothing else can; it is a language beyond language. Some physicists imagine the world’s smallest particle is like a vibrating string. And while it has yet to be proved and there is always another mystery to the structure of the universe there is something so amazing and gorgeous to me of thinking that the entire creation could be seen as a musical composition. When I sing do I help keep the universe alive? And if the music stopped would creation crumble into nothingness? Is the reality of God like music on some deep level? Wonderful questions don’t you think?
Music is spiritual food for us. And while Jesus isn’t talking today about music as a metaphor for the bread of eternal life, music does feed us, comfort us, challenge us, and create us. It is eternal in that the chants and melodies survive through the generations, teaching and shaping us. The Israelites sang and danced before God; the Book of Psalms is a book of songs—a kind of hymnal if you will. As it says today praise of God will always be on my lips. Often that praise is a song. I find myself frequently humming a part of hymn that is special to me, such as the song we heard at the start of the last folk mass—“There is a Redeemer”. When I sing it I am making a little prayer to God and anchoring myself in God and my place in this world.
Music is one of the spiritual anchors of Resurrection. It is a beautiful and essential part of our worship and our outreach to the world. We are blessed with singers, musicians, an amazing instrument, and a people who rejoice in the prayer that is offered in song. Music is part of how Resurrection defines itself. I think that this is part of how most of us who come here would define our spiritual life—music is a basic part of it, part of how we know and experience God.
Last week during the announcements I shared with you an update on our music search process. Since late last summer when we learned of Betty Jean’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer we have been moving through a time of transition. For the last half of the year a group of people came together and carried our music ministry through the end of the year. I cannot thank them enough for the incredible and loving work they did. During that time we called an interim parish musician, Caitlin, to join us and she did so in January.
This past year has been a time of healing and discernment. Healing in that the music ministry is deeper, richer and more cohesive. It is no secret that music here had been a point of hurt and division as well as a great gift. We have moved into a new place that is a joy to see. It was also a time of discernment as those who volunteered to take on roles discovered gifts and calls that had not been seen or fully recognized. We have learned that given our talents, our size and our nature as a parish a leadership team has worked amazingly well for us—parish musician, choir director, choristers director, folk mass and a group that works together to plan music. As it stands now, Lucy and Carrie will continue in their roles as choir and chorister directors. This has been a process of careful discernment, conversation and discovery. I think it’s fair to say that neither stepped into the role last fall expecting to stay in it for more than a few months. But rather than filling the gap, they have discovered a gift and a role that is right for Resurrection at this time. It has been the work of the Spirit in surprising and wonderful ways. This new structure and what will come of it is a new direction, a new step in our life that looks to a future where music continues to grow, thrive and take on new life.
Caitlin has been a great gift to us and a true joy to work with. Our interim time is over, and we are looking to finish our transition by moving into a permanent situation. And while the music search team initially believed that Caitlin would likely be whom we called to that position it turns out life has taken another path for her and her family. They will be returning to Colorado in a few weeks and while it is for good and wonderful reasons it is a sadness and a sorrow for us.
The music search team, which is comprised of Sam Smith, Jim Crosswhite, Lucy Strandlein, Carrie Warner, Corie Warner, Mark Turner, Mari Dole, Marcia Callis, Christian Pich, Ivy Duncan, Lee Anne Robertson, Richard Heinzkill and myself, has mapped out a process for keeping all of us in touch and informed about the process. For instance, updates of our meetings are posted on the music bulletin board in the hallway. My article in this past Tune In was a brief synopsis of our work and progress. We agreed that this Sunday would be the day I used the sermon time to share in more detail the work and process of the music search team. We also agreed early on that the community must be included meaningfully in this process.
There are two vital and important roles (and probably others I’m not naming) for the congregation. First and foremost, pray for us and for this process. Second, we need your ideas, your hopes, your thoughts and dreams for music. Liturgy is to feed and nourish us; music is central to that. If the music is not feeding you than we must find the way so that it does. If it could feed you more deeply, we want know how to get us there. To that end the music search team has created the music questionnaire. It is not so much a survey as it is a chance for you to respond to open ended questions. We need and want to hear your voice. If you don’t have the copy that was sent in your newsletter, there is one in your bulletin today. It will have a repeat appearance next Sunday. There are extras posted on the music bulletin board in the hallway above the water fountain. Envelopes to return your responses on are the same bulletin board and on the table just by the main doors. You may email me your responses if that is easier.
Some us don’t like to write and prefer to share our ideas with someone in person. I know; I’m one of them. On Sunday, the 23rd of August, we will create two such opportunities. Lucy, Caitlin and Mari will be leading the Christian Formation time at 9:30. Come to learn and share. After the 10:30 worship the music search team will be providing a special coffee hour outside with tasty food and beverages. Team members will make themselves visible through wearing a fun hat or other easily spotted item, such as a boa! We will be ready with paper and pencil to hear your thoughts and ideas. From what we hear, the information will be shared with the candidates to see if what we desire fits with their vision and abilities.
Thus, we are now preparing to interview candidates for the position of parish musician. The posting went out on Wednesday morning and there have already been applications received. This person will be someone who can work collaboratively within the music ministry structure that has emerged as well as having energy and vision for where we can go. The person we call needs to have enthusiasm for how music will expand and increase both within our liturgical life and our evangelism to the community. This person will need to be someone that can work with Lucy and Carrie and me closely, positively, and as a complementary team.
As the rector I do have the final say in the hiring decision as the liturgical buck and authority stop with me, and it is critical that this person and I mesh well for we work in very close partnership. When the musician and priest do not have a good working relationship things almost always disintegrate into a power struggle, and tension and conflict infect the congregation—this is the last thing I desire for Resurrection. However, the process of interviewing candidates and prayerfully discussing who is best for us at this point in time and into the future will be done by the team. I trust that we will arrive together at the person God is calling to be here. Please check the music bulletin board to see the job posting. The hope is to begin interviewing qualified candidates in September. The interview will include a time of Q&A with the search team, playing a couple of pieces for that team, and rehearsing with the choristers and choir for all candidates. My hope is that we will have the new musician in place by no later than the first part of October.
Ultimately, this music is for the glory of God and for us to glorify God with through our voices and hearts. What opens you up, what helps you find yourself in the presence of the holy, and what makes your song a twice-rich prayer is what music here should do. That is the service of music and liturgy to you and to this larger place we call home. It feeds us and can be the invitation to others who are hungry to come in and find a God that loves them and treasures them. Through music we can be a door way into finding that place where we and those who are seeking can taste and see that the Lord is good.
Monday, August 3, 2009
August 2, 2009, Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
August 2, 2009
The Rev. Natasha Brubaker Garrison
Proper 13, Year B
A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.
Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day...
The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack.
The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted.
The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:
To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I've Arrived
Date: October 16, 2005
I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in. I've seen that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then!!!! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.
P. S. Sure is freaking hot down here!!!!
This joke is about a sign, a mistaken sign true, but a sign nonetheless. So are the readings we heard today.
In our lives seeing signs is not always easy. We miss things. We overlook things. We can often mistake them for something else, or not know how to read them (the discernment of spirits and holy things is considered a charism, a gift, by the Church), or simply fail to see the signs around us all the time.
Signs are tied to belief in God as Jesus tells us. When we perceive a divine sign we respond by trusting in God and deciphering as best we can from the sign what we are to learn and apply. For the Israelites in the wilderness the point was to trust in God and learn obedience. The story is recounting part of their formation as a people who came to live in a particular way that shaped them in a good and holy life.
The same is true for those of us who follow Jesus. The signs are meant to lead to belief, but somehow people are never satisfied. They seem to equate belief with a steady display of amazing and spectacular feats, rather than a way of life, a perspective on the world as Paul so eloquently writes to the Ephesians.
In today’s story for instance Jesus is tracked down by some of those who had been part of the feeding miracle and they ask the most mundane question: when did you come here? Does his arrival date have any real bearing on the message of food for everyone? Is the point somehow more valid if he says he is Elijah returned after hundreds of years or if he just arrived yesterday? Jesus, in that philosophical way of John’s language, confronts them on this. Then they do ask a pertinent question: what must we do to inherit eternal life? He answers to believe in him. Then they ask the most stunning thing. Give us a sign so that we may believe in you. I always read this and want to say, “Hello?! What about yesterday and the bread and fish? Does this happen every day? “
They want the bread, though. They keep asking for it, so they are getting closer. Yet the desire for spectacle is still present. It’s as if they will believe in, admit the presence and power of, a God that can do these things, but can’t make the leap to application. The sign isn’t done so we can stand gaping with our eyes as big as saucers and saying, Wow, God is really something, ain’t he?
God really is something that is most true. And on days when I feel the presence of God I can think of no more appropriate response than to simply let awe wash over me and stand in silence before the divine reality that is so much greater than I. The sign is done so that we see what type of life God hopes for us now, that life we make alive, incarnate, betwixt and between ourselves. As the Body of Christ we are an active part of God’s unfolding plan in the world. When we as a whole aim to live into the point of the sign we can do, as Jesus says later in John, even greater things than these.
To believe in Jesus is to put our trust in him and what he teaches us, asks us to do. The feeding miracle showed the divine hope for spiritual and physical nourishment for all and that this is something we can do for each other if God is in our hearts and in our midst. The temptation is to worship the miracle and somehow extract our selves from the causation. Yet Jesus says time and again that if we dispose our hearts and minds in a certain way, the way taught and lived by Jesus, the miracle can be a part of every day life. As we ingest this bread we are spiritually fed for are we filled with love, wholeness, compassion, the peace of Christ that can reshape all aspects of our lives.
The feeding of the 5000 was an intensified, encapsulated way to see in a compressed moment the desire God has to feed all the hunger in the world and that it can be done, with our participation and belief. That belief is not so much that God can do some act that leaves us incredulous, but rather that in the sign we see in an instance the will of God, the kingdom. God feeds all and we can do the very same if we put our trust in God’s words and God’s word: Jesus. This belief the signs point us to is belief in Jesus. It is a belief, a putting our trust in, who Jesus is. And while for some this means very much accepting certain dogmas of his nature as divine it also means more than that. It is to study and imitate his life and apply his teachings true to his spirit as best we can here and now. If we apply the teaching of mercy even in the small scale of our daily lives, less revenge, less anger, less retribution are experienced and it has an effect for the good. If we apply the teaching around not serving wealth we look at issues of common good and common expense and giving to others even at the cost of less to ourselves in a new light and they may be no longer a burden but a joy. And so it goes.
To trust in Jesus and seek to model our lives and emotions and thoughts to be reflective of his life is to be fed and shaped spiritually. It is eternal bread that is always there and it is something that no one can take away. Ultimately, I believe it means seeing each person as a reflection of Jesus and of the divine and then living out of that place. Hard? Most certainly! But I find it is a spiritual discipline that is continuing to feed me, help me see my sin, and allow me to grow more and more into the compassionate person I hope to someday be.
Believing, or trying to believe, in this way allows me to see the signs that are all around me. It all starts with the point of view and the criteria I use to understand what I am seeing. An example. When a particular crop in my tiny little garden comes into season it produces too much for me to eat. It is a repetition every season of the manna in the wilderness and the feeding of the 5000—in it I see these signs. The sign is that abundance of life, that generosity of earth, the miracle of plenty that comes from one tiny seed. It shows me again and again the presence of a life-giving God in the most daily of things. I see something sacred in the earth and its fruits.
It all boils down to, I believe, the words Jesus says at the end of this Gospel passage: for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. We may disagree on particulars as we faithfully try to apply this for life is complicated no doubt, but in that teaching is an entire stance, a clear starting point, a specific perspective that is to help us see what is around us and see what really is. It is the ground of being fed by that food that never ends, the bread of life found in Jesus. It’s within our reach. It is being revealed all around us and within us. Jesus wants to feed us with this bread and quench our thirst with this water. He is inviting us to come to him and to keep coming to him. And that at least to my ears, is Good News indeed.
The Rev. Natasha Brubaker Garrison
Proper 13, Year B
A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.
Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day...
The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack.
The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted.
The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:
To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I've Arrived
Date: October 16, 2005
I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in. I've seen that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then!!!! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.
P. S. Sure is freaking hot down here!!!!
This joke is about a sign, a mistaken sign true, but a sign nonetheless. So are the readings we heard today.
In our lives seeing signs is not always easy. We miss things. We overlook things. We can often mistake them for something else, or not know how to read them (the discernment of spirits and holy things is considered a charism, a gift, by the Church), or simply fail to see the signs around us all the time.
Signs are tied to belief in God as Jesus tells us. When we perceive a divine sign we respond by trusting in God and deciphering as best we can from the sign what we are to learn and apply. For the Israelites in the wilderness the point was to trust in God and learn obedience. The story is recounting part of their formation as a people who came to live in a particular way that shaped them in a good and holy life.
The same is true for those of us who follow Jesus. The signs are meant to lead to belief, but somehow people are never satisfied. They seem to equate belief with a steady display of amazing and spectacular feats, rather than a way of life, a perspective on the world as Paul so eloquently writes to the Ephesians.
In today’s story for instance Jesus is tracked down by some of those who had been part of the feeding miracle and they ask the most mundane question: when did you come here? Does his arrival date have any real bearing on the message of food for everyone? Is the point somehow more valid if he says he is Elijah returned after hundreds of years or if he just arrived yesterday? Jesus, in that philosophical way of John’s language, confronts them on this. Then they do ask a pertinent question: what must we do to inherit eternal life? He answers to believe in him. Then they ask the most stunning thing. Give us a sign so that we may believe in you. I always read this and want to say, “Hello?! What about yesterday and the bread and fish? Does this happen every day? “
They want the bread, though. They keep asking for it, so they are getting closer. Yet the desire for spectacle is still present. It’s as if they will believe in, admit the presence and power of, a God that can do these things, but can’t make the leap to application. The sign isn’t done so we can stand gaping with our eyes as big as saucers and saying, Wow, God is really something, ain’t he?
God really is something that is most true. And on days when I feel the presence of God I can think of no more appropriate response than to simply let awe wash over me and stand in silence before the divine reality that is so much greater than I. The sign is done so that we see what type of life God hopes for us now, that life we make alive, incarnate, betwixt and between ourselves. As the Body of Christ we are an active part of God’s unfolding plan in the world. When we as a whole aim to live into the point of the sign we can do, as Jesus says later in John, even greater things than these.
To believe in Jesus is to put our trust in him and what he teaches us, asks us to do. The feeding miracle showed the divine hope for spiritual and physical nourishment for all and that this is something we can do for each other if God is in our hearts and in our midst. The temptation is to worship the miracle and somehow extract our selves from the causation. Yet Jesus says time and again that if we dispose our hearts and minds in a certain way, the way taught and lived by Jesus, the miracle can be a part of every day life. As we ingest this bread we are spiritually fed for are we filled with love, wholeness, compassion, the peace of Christ that can reshape all aspects of our lives.
The feeding of the 5000 was an intensified, encapsulated way to see in a compressed moment the desire God has to feed all the hunger in the world and that it can be done, with our participation and belief. That belief is not so much that God can do some act that leaves us incredulous, but rather that in the sign we see in an instance the will of God, the kingdom. God feeds all and we can do the very same if we put our trust in God’s words and God’s word: Jesus. This belief the signs point us to is belief in Jesus. It is a belief, a putting our trust in, who Jesus is. And while for some this means very much accepting certain dogmas of his nature as divine it also means more than that. It is to study and imitate his life and apply his teachings true to his spirit as best we can here and now. If we apply the teaching of mercy even in the small scale of our daily lives, less revenge, less anger, less retribution are experienced and it has an effect for the good. If we apply the teaching around not serving wealth we look at issues of common good and common expense and giving to others even at the cost of less to ourselves in a new light and they may be no longer a burden but a joy. And so it goes.
To trust in Jesus and seek to model our lives and emotions and thoughts to be reflective of his life is to be fed and shaped spiritually. It is eternal bread that is always there and it is something that no one can take away. Ultimately, I believe it means seeing each person as a reflection of Jesus and of the divine and then living out of that place. Hard? Most certainly! But I find it is a spiritual discipline that is continuing to feed me, help me see my sin, and allow me to grow more and more into the compassionate person I hope to someday be.
Believing, or trying to believe, in this way allows me to see the signs that are all around me. It all starts with the point of view and the criteria I use to understand what I am seeing. An example. When a particular crop in my tiny little garden comes into season it produces too much for me to eat. It is a repetition every season of the manna in the wilderness and the feeding of the 5000—in it I see these signs. The sign is that abundance of life, that generosity of earth, the miracle of plenty that comes from one tiny seed. It shows me again and again the presence of a life-giving God in the most daily of things. I see something sacred in the earth and its fruits.
It all boils down to, I believe, the words Jesus says at the end of this Gospel passage: for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. We may disagree on particulars as we faithfully try to apply this for life is complicated no doubt, but in that teaching is an entire stance, a clear starting point, a specific perspective that is to help us see what is around us and see what really is. It is the ground of being fed by that food that never ends, the bread of life found in Jesus. It’s within our reach. It is being revealed all around us and within us. Jesus wants to feed us with this bread and quench our thirst with this water. He is inviting us to come to him and to keep coming to him. And that at least to my ears, is Good News indeed.
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