A Regular Joe

Sunday, February 21, 2016

LIVING-AS-IF

Martin Luther King, Jr., in one of his great speeches said, “I have been to the mountaintop.” There with God’s help, he could see what most people could not—how America might become a nation where justice was available to all.[1]

In our Gospel reading Peter, James and John are on a mountaintop where, with Gods help, they see with blinding clarity just who Jesus is. Yet it wasn’t Jesus who was transfigured on that mountain, it was the apostles who were! For just a moment they saw beyond ordinary appearances to the life and truth and beauty that are really there.[2]

Like the Eucharist! For many the bread and wine are just that, bread and wine. But to those who believe we can see beyond the vail of bread and wine, to a vision of God’s love, to enter into the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, his passion, death, and resurrection, to a hope of everlasting life with Him, the Real Presence!

You see the Transfiguration isn’t a spectacular special effect. It is an integral affect, a sweet glimpse of heaven that comes when we’re not looking for it. It’s about vision where we can see beyond the ordinary. But what prevents us from experiencing a mountaintop vision? Abram gives us a clue to the answer.

Just before our reading from Genesis, Abram is lamenting that he has grown old and is without an heir. Yet, God tells Abram, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so … shall your descendants be.” (Gen 15:5) Not only this, but God promised Abram the Promised Land. From that point Abram believed and “lived-as-if” it were already true and “…the Lord credited it to him as an act of righteousness.”

This is where it becomes interesting. Abram does ask, “how will I know…?” (Gen 15:8) and God directs him to bring him a heifer, a she-goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. God did not direct Abram to cut them in two, but that’s what Abram did! Why? God simply requested the presence of the animals, Creation’s witnesses, just as there will be a tradition of Jesus born in a manger with the witness of animals. It was Abram who proceeded to sacrifice the animals out of routine covenant ritual practices.[3] That’s what they always did, when two men made covenant with each other. They would split a heifer or goat in two and walk between them. If one of them broke the covenant, what happened to the animal would happen to the one who broke the covenant agreement.

Have you ever gotten into your vehicle with the intent of going to the store, but your mind is so conditioned to going to church you turn the wrong way or drive right by the store? Ok, maybe it wasn’t church, but work. We can get so lost or blinded by our personal and cultural baggage/habits, our daily routines that we tend to mis-hear God’s direction—it’s been going on since Adam.

Paul invites the Philippians to, “join in being imitators of me … and … those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us.” (Phil 3:17) Paul is asking us to be co-imitators with him of Christ. So what is the model, what are we imitating? Prayer, obedience, sacrifice, love, forgiveness, mercy, and service, always mindful of the widow, the orphan and the poor.

We have to be “living-as-if” God’s promises already are true. We need to break away from our personal and cultural norms that blind us from hearing God so clearly that we are open to the mountaintop visions that Martin Luther King, Jr. and the apostles experienced. When we can embrace the model of obedient self-giving love and service that Paul is encouraging, it’s then, that we will have the awareness that we live and move and have our being in God.

Jesus gave his close friends a glimpse of his glory to help them through the hard times he knew was ahead of them. He does this sometimes for us, in the course of our ordinary life. These special moments are a blessing, but they’re out of the ordinary. Most of the time, we have to plod along without vision, without peak experiences, even without warm feelings.

Like Abram we still have to be “living-as-if” God’s promises are already true to experience transfiguration.

Scriptures: Gen 15:5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28-36.

[2] Jim Knipper. Deacon, Hungry, and You Fed Me, “While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.” by Michael Leach. © 2012. Clear Vision Publishing, Manalapan, NJ.

Monday, January 18, 2016

MEASURING UP

One day a couple came to the rectory door. They were an older, interracial couple that was very poor. The man had come sometimes for food; she rarely came with him, because she was almost blind. This day, she asked the priest to say a blessing over them as a couple. Whatever vows they had, were made a long time ago, and seemingly were working. So the priest invited them in and sat down in the rectory chapel and proceeded to say that he would like to read the story of the Marriage Feast of Cana from the bible. She piped up immediately and said, “I heard it before, years ago, in a church in Camden,” but did not object to hearing it again. After reading the priest attempted to say a few words about it, including his favorite comment on it: “The wonderful thing about the story is this: there was no miracle until they got to the bottom of the barrel.” He thought he was doing quite well when she piped up again and said, “Can we have some food … some canned goods?” They seemed to feel blessed as they left, with flowers in her hands and food in his, and one pair of working eyes between them. Poor as their situation was, it seemed in that moment, water was wine in their world.

John would know very well that the themes of married love were constant in the Hebrew Scriptures, as God spoke in wedding-words that were very understandable to his people. God wants to proclaim the tender, faithful love of his heart for His people. From the ache of creation and the short honeymoon in Eden, to the sweet sounds of the Song of Songs, God often spoke in lover’s language across the scrolls of salvation. So it seems fitting that John, the disciple of love, would set the event of a Wedding in Cana as the inaugurating moment of the public life of Jesus.

Othmar Carli created a mural of the four evangelists for Sacred Heart Church in Camden, NJ. In the mural, the image shows John’s right hand with the first and fourth finger raised in the sign language for “I love you.” I am sure John rejoiced at Isaiah’s words that were proclaimed in our first reading and we should rejoice too! “For Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth, like the dawn. For the Lord delights in you and makes your land His spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so shall your God rejoice in you.” (Is 62:1-5) And “you,” of course, is us. God rejoices in us.

Can you feel the love?! Yet love, only expressed in a painted mural, sign language, or spoken words can often feel somewhat incomplete. We are baptized and called into a covenant of active Christian love of God and neighbor. The poor, whom Jesus told us would always be with us, (Jn 12:8) are a God-given yardstick to measure our love.

Sometimes our lives don’t measure up and our presence in this world is like water at a wedding feast. No lift in it, no zip to it, it’s flat, drooping and spirit-less. “I came that you may have life and have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:10) God invented “need” to be a divine dynamic, and in this story, it was Mary, the Holy Mother, who saw the embarrassment of the scene; and she did something about it. So, Jesus changed the water into wine, feet washing water if you don’t mind. The English poet Richard Crashaw celebrates the Miracle of Cana with these memorable words: “The conscious water saw its God and blushed.” Yet, it was surely more than a blush, which may be only skin deep, it was a total transformation.[1]

As the priest quipped, during his encounter with the poor couple, “There was no miracle until they got to the bottom of the barrel”. There is always a cry from the bottom of the barrel, the bottom of the bare cupboard, the bottom of our hearts, or the bottom of the world, there’s a cry for transformation. We must do our part, “fill the water jars with water,” for the maker of miracles.

The poor woman pipes up and said, “Can we have some food?” We may want to save our words and, like Mary, do something about it so that the bare rock might be struck for clear, unpolluted water. That the earth be changed from uncontaminated soil to wheat and abounding fruits and vegetables to feed the hungry. That the drab monotony of self-indulgent lives would be changed into a wine of pure gladness, gratitude and generosity.

"In other words, to see Jesus’ baptismal water flowing in a wedding scene, calls us to perceive it flowing through us. Water/Wine makes no difference; God is with us!"[2] How do you, how do we as a community, measure up on God’s yardstick of love?

Scriptures: Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11

Sunday, December 27, 2015

WITH GREAT ANXIETY!

I enjoy listening to Stephen Ray, he get so excited about finding scriptural connections as he constantly engages scripture. As I reflected on scripture this week one work jumped out at me, "anxiety". Remember in the third week of advent, during our preparation time for the birth of Jesus, Paul exhorts the Philippians from, his prison cell to, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make you requests known to God.” (Phil 4:6) and in today’s gospel reading we hear Mary engage Jesus with, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” (Lk 2:48) What happened to having no anxiety at all?

The truth is there is but one kind of story that will hold our attention and feed our anxieties more than a missing child. “Did she run away?” “Will they find her?” “Has he been kidnapped?” “Is he still alive?” The closer the family connection the greater the anxiety and with each passing day we fear the worst until suddenly one day the child turns up and is reunited with the parents, and millions of people who have been following the story breath a collective sigh of relief. Even with this seemingly happy ending, it may not be quite over; there are questions to be answered. That’s what Mary and Joseph went through for three long days, for no apparent reason, their son disappeared.[1]

Even if you are not married, or don’t have children of your own, you know raising a family brings with it all kinds of highs and lows. Children make their parents proud and disappoint them, make them laugh and cry, make them worry and remind them to lighten up. To bring them up right, you have to play seemingly conflicting roles. You must be both demanding and reasonable. You have to challenge them even as you affirm them. You must know when to keep a short leash, and when to let go. And you have to do it differently for each child!

Since the Annunciation, Mary understood the importance of her child, but her adoration must have been matched by a sense of fearful foreshadowing. Remember Simeon’s words, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Lk 2:34-35) If she worried, it was not in vain. One of the most beautiful glimpses into Mary’s parenting can be found here in Luke, where we read, “…his mother treasured all these things in her heart.” (Lk 2:51) Yes, Mary is blessed among women, but that blessedness comes with a great burden of responsibility. And with all of that, Mary models to us a bit about parenting all children here. She shows us a bit about life in general, because Mary learned to treasure things. Even in those times when she was frustrated and angry with Jesus for disappearing and allowing her to think that the worst had happened to him, she treasured things.[2]

How do we treasure things? Camera phones, Facebook, Youtube. We plan special trips the Disneyland and dress our children up in cute outfits at the theme parks, then our memories will be even better! Don’t forget the scrapbooking. We need the acid-free paper, special scissors and particular albums to make sure that we treasure our moments properly. But as we buy the products that manufacture memories for our consumption, are we able to take delight in our children? Somehow Mary managed to treasure all of those things without a smartphone.

With a media that manufactures fear, we can become overwhelmed by worry and concern. With the marketing of memories, we can become more interested in what we do not have than what we have. And with the simple realities of parenting, we can become so preoccupied with the sleeplessness, messiness, and chaos that we forget to treasure things. But can we learn from Mary?

I can tell you this as the grandparent of a 21 month old grandson that I have learned to treasure so much more. I believe our daughter gets it as evidenced by her facebook post that reads, “You will never have this day with your children again. Tomorrow they’ll be a little older than they were today. This day is a gift. Just breathe, notice, study their faces and little feet. Pay attention. Relish the charms of the present. Enjoy today, it will be over before you know it.” Watching the messiness of my daughter’s family life helps me recall the memories of my own children’s upbringing. We had our share of sleeplessness, messiness and chaos; and I wouldn’t trade those treasured memories for anything in the world.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were not plaster saints; they were real people, going through the same highs and lows that we experience. They remind us that, no matter what happens in a family, wounds are never too deep to heal. Let me repeat this, no matter what happens in a family, wounds are never too deep to heal. There were probably some neighbors who thought Mary didn’t do such a good job as a parent. After all, her son was executed as a criminal. That’s how much they knew.[3]

New American Bible: 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28; 1 John 3:1-2,21-24; Luke 2:41-52