John 3:22-36

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John 3:22-36 

22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. 23John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized 24-John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison. 25Now a discussion about purification arose between John's disciples and a Jew. 26They came to John and said to him, 'Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.' 27John answered, 'No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 28You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, "I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him." 29He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30He must increase, but I must decrease.' 31The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 33Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. 34He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God's wrath.

Think

What a model for ministry John has set before us all.  "the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and all are going to him" - the one about whom John's disciples speak is Jesus.  We hear a similar story from Jesus' disciples in Luke's Gospel.  These people are healing people in your name but they aren't with us.  Often times when people leave us, we find ourselves wishing we could get the credit.  In my ministry, I have found that often times youth ministry is associated with the youth pastor- it's pied piper syndrome.  They follow the leader but not the message.  Teenagers are like that, to be honest, aren't all people like that?   Don't we get attracted to a community because of a priest or a pastor, a speaker or a leader and we want to follow them.  We aren't necessarily listening to their message, we are listening to their charisma.  I've been there done that, and I have felt lost when my "leader" left.  It was only in their leaving that I was able to "jump ship" from the pied piper syndrome though, and actually follow Jesus.  John wants his followers to go after the messiah. Just as we should want our parishioners to follow Jesus.  We should want our children to follow Jesus, We should want our friends to follow Jesus.  I feel like I should want to follow Jesus more than I do.  I feel like there is always someone or something holding me back from actually, honestly, truly and completely following Jesus.  Usually its myself.  I want to be more like John who in recognizing that he has no power or authority is able to let his followers go and follow the True Christ.

Pray

Help me to be a door way to those who I teach, minister to and pray for.  Keep me from being a locked door.  Keep me from being a pied piper.  Allow me the strength and courage and determination to not get in my own way.  Through the grace of God, the love of Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Contemplate

Centering Prayer.    

Hebrews 4:1-10

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Hebrews 4:1-10 (NRSV)

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, 'As in my anger I swore, "They shall not enter my rest,"' though his works were finished at the foundation of the world. 4For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows, 'And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.' 5And again in this place it says, 'They shall not enter my rest.' 6Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7again he sets a certain day-'today' -saying through David much later, in the words already quoted, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' 8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day. 9So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; 10for those who enter God's rest also cease from their labors as God did from his.

Think

  Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7again he sets a certain day-'today' -saying through David much later, in the words already quoted, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.'

I have joined the evangelism commission in the Diocese where I serve.  This commission is responsible for coming up with new and exciting ways to incite evangelism in the diocese.  Unfortunately, we Episcopalians aren't big on Evangelism, we tend to let it be done by the "evangelicals" and because we are scared of being wrong, or misunderstood or compared to someone who we are not we keep silent.  I am a big fan of evangelism- telling the Good News of Jesus Christ- if it were a facebook page, I'd like it and link to it and I'd feel I did my job for the day.  (come to think of it I bet there is an Evangelism facebook page, I'll have to see if there is a "generic" one.) Anyway this reading today reminded me that it doesn't matter how many times a person may here the good news and turn from it they always have the opportunity to hear it again, today for the first time.

It is the grace of God which allows us to repent for the sins we committed yesterday, today.  It is the blessing of a new day which allows us to soften hearts which were previously hardened.  I know that in today's day and age many people have been hurt in the name of the Church, I know that I have been hurt by the Church, but I have been reconciled.  I left organized religion at 18 and came back at 25 after 7 years of hardening my heart one day one person did not wake up and say Today is the day that I will evangelize to Kim -  but one day it happened. 

Christ sets the day before us and Paul reminds us that Today is that day.

Pray

Help me to be your voice today, O God.  Use my words to soften the hearts of those who have been wounded by the Church and welcome them into Your Church.  It is your grace which saves, not my words or actions, help me to be humble in all that I say and do today and every day. Amen

Contemplation

The Silent Drive- Today I will not turn the radio on in my car anywhere I drive.  And use this time to listen for the voice of God to soften my own hardened heart today. 

John 3:1-15

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John 3: 1-15

1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.' 3Jesus answered him, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.' 4Nicodemus said to him, 'How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?' 5Jesus answered, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not be astonished that I said to you, "You must be born from above." 8The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.' 9Nicodemus said to him, 'How can these things be?' 10Jesus answered him, 'Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 11'Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Think

In my "born again" days I used to love this story of Nicodemus.  I felt like I could put myself in Nicodemus shoes and completely understand this lesson.  It made me feel so good, it made me feel like I was God's little special pet child and that I could be born again through the "womb- of the father" which is a phrase I picked up in that tradition.  Now it made me feel a little sad to think that I was so haughty and proud.  To think that I was priveledged in some way to know exactly what Jesus was talking about.  I chalk it up to naivite or teenage certainty but there is something about Nicodemus.  This man who sneeks to see Jesus in the night and ask him questions, which does resonate with me still.  I find myself doing the same thing- waking up in the still darkness of the night when something is weighing heavy on my mind, or my soul is hungry for something, or my heart is thirsty for the reassuring love of God, and sneaking in a prayer or two here and there hoping that Jesus will respond with some non-cryptic answer.  Usually I am answered by the steady breathing of my dog and my husband and that is enough assurance that I am loved.  Sometimes I am answered by a gust of wind, or a howl of a neighboring dog, and I am assured that I am safe.  Often times I am answered by nothing audible but just a sense of stillness which can only be found in the Father's-womb.

(I know that there might be some people out there who have an issue with the masculine image of Father with the feminine image of wombs- I think however this is a wonderful balancing image which allows both the masculine and feminine to live together in a kind of homeostais which is found in the nature of God.- perhaps some day soon the question of language images for God will come up in my lectio practice, but today is not the day for that)

Pray

God, in you all things are created.  Through you all things are born.  By you all things are sustained.  Help me to remember that you answer prayers in the stillness of night in sometimes cryptic terms which I do not understand fully.  Give me patience to sit with the answers and begin to understand them through the vision of your Holy Spirit.  Amen

Contemplate

20 minute Yoga meditation

Jon 2:13-22

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John 2:13-22 

13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, 'Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!' 17His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for your house will consume me.' 18The Jews then said to him, 'What sign can you show us for doing this?' 19Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' 20The Jews then said, 'This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?' 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Think

The Passover was appoaching and Jesus went to the temple and told them that they needed to be remodeled.
I know that this is simplified and that this is not a joke but I also think that we get our desire to remodel our surroundings when something has changed inside of us.  A few friends of mine are "nesting" in preparation for a baby, others have moved to bigger digs after gettng married or moving on to a new level of committement to one another, others have moved to smaller homes when they retired, or their children moved out or if a relationship ended and they no longer need that large of a space, but the truth is that there are some things that change when the internal landscape changes.
IN Jesus' case the internal change came when he was baptized - he had alreayd been to the temple and it didn't bother him as a child or a teenager but when we went back after he was baptized he saw things differently  
When was the last time I saw things differently?

Pray 
help me to see things the way they are meant to be seen not to be seen the way they always have been seen.  Amen

Contemplate
Sick nap on the couch probably if I can stay awake for centering prayer I will be pleased.  

Hebrews 2:11-18

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Hebrews 2:11-18

11For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12saying, 'I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.' 13And again, 'I will put my trust in him.' And again, 'Here am I and the children whom God has given me.'
14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. 16For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. 17Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. 18Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

Think

In yesterday's sermon given by the rector of the parish where I am blessed to serve as deacon he talked about a friend of his from seminary who had lived in a wilderness of homelessness, addiction, and imprisonment.  Today's reading from Hebrew's ends with the sentence, "Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested."

I pretty regularly get asked the question - why do bad things happen to good people?  If there is a God why wouldn't he make sure that no one suffers?  After all I do teach an Ethics class and I do wear that lovely projection screen around my neck, and my answer is usually God doesn't let bad things happen God gives us free will, after he creates us and loves us he gives us the ability to turn our back on Him.  But I am consistently struggling with this question myself to be honest.  And I say that too.  It seems like children getting shot is more than I can handle.  It seems like people suddenly dying violent and accidental ways can't be right, can it?  And then this chapter comes up and it seems like the suffering is so that we can help others who are suffering, like Jesus suffered so must we all suffer?

No wait that's backwards.  Like we suffer so Christ suffered.  He suffered so that he could understand us more fully, so that he would know how to care for us.

Have you ever tried to be there for a friend who was in a situation which you had no touch stone for?  I have and its virtually impossible to comfort someone if you have no idea what wilderness they are in.  Its like finding someone in the Amazon and offering them a parka because the only wilderness you are familiar with is the Arctic.  I'm not saying that God wants us to suffer, but suffering is part of the human condition which binds us together.  It is something very innately human.  It is the one part of existence which God came to earth to experience.  We don't hear about him getting married, having kids, settling down, having issues with the family business.  I know there are questions about if any of this may have happened (Read the book Holy Blood Holy Grail if you  want to learn some interesting theories about these questions).  But maybe the reason we don't is because those things aren't universal?

I don't know but those are my two cents for the day.

Prayer

Jesus, you suffered on the cross for my sins and the sins of the world.  Help me to remember that my suffering is not unique and that in my weakness I gain strength.  So that I might serve you in others who suffer as I have.  Give me the wisdom to know when and how to help with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Contemplation 

20 minutes centering prayer.
(Found this really cool meditation timer page check it out)
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/meditation-timers/

Mark 2:18-22

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Mark 2:18-22

18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, 'Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?' 19Jesus said to them, 'The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21 'No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.'

Think

 In my first year in seminary I took a class in discernment and spirituality and we read a book called Old Wine in New Skins and to be honest I can't remember too much of the book, I actually had to look up the author's name  ( Paul D. Lawson).  What I do remember is that it was a good look at what we try to do in parishes when we introduce new "programs" and "ministries" without recognizing that our congregations have personalities and talents all their own, as well as their own weaknesses.  We aren't going to be able to start a Skiing ministry in a congregation with an average age of 82, and we aren't going to be able to have a senior breakfast in a congregation with an average age of 42, but still we try to be what we aren't.  Because we are constantly comparing ourselves to others rather than previous incarnations of ourselves.

Jesus' disciples were compared to John's.  John's disciples were compared to followers of the previous prophets and on and on and on.

What I need to do this Lenten season (and at all times) is to recognize that I cannot and do not have to be all things to all people, but I do have to be the best person I can be.  I do have to challenge myself, but I cannot treat myself as a rag quilt.  I cannot try to mix and match my talents but use all of them to the best scenario, one never knows when a learned skill will come back and be valuable.

Pray

Help me to be flexible like new wineskins.  Amen

Contemplate

Relaxing in front of the fireplace this evening.
 

John 1:43-51

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John 1:43-51

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, 'Follow me.' 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.' 46Nathanael said to him, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.' 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, 'Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!' 48Nathanael asked him, 'Where did you get to know me?' Jesus answered, 'I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.' 49Nathanael replied, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!' 50Jesus answered, 'Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.' 51And he said to him, 'Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.'

Think
So as priests/deacons clergy types in general we are often acting as Philip did in this story.  All Christians are called to bring about reconciliation between God and each other, but ordained ministers feel this call in a more direct way.  We think we are supposed to bring people to God.  Its part of the reason I agonize over sermons sometimes when it is really unnecessary.  But in the best scenarios we don't need to do much work because all we have to do is say something like: let me tell you about this guy I know, Jesus.  and the rest will unfold much like it did for Nathaniel after Philip spoke to him.    We hope right?  Isn't that what we hope we get out of our evangelism? 

A friend of mine is writing a blog this Lenten season about his 40 days of evangelism and I wonder if he fancies himself a Philip-follower (I wrote Philipian but that was too much of a pun).  I think that I want to be more like Philip, although often times I find myself in Nathaniel's shoes instead being reminded by people to whom I feel I am evangelizing that God loves and knows me, and he called me long ago to be his beloved child and I am the one who keeps going astray.  Sometimes I just need to be reminded that Jesus truly is the Son of Man and that I am better off for acknowledging him. 

Pray

Heavenly God, caller of all people, remind me that in my reaching out I am not spreading my word, but yours, doing my work, but yours caring for my people, but yours.  Help me to be more like Philip at times and more like Nathaniel at times and be a honest disciple in all that I undertake listening to your call in my heart of hearts and soul of souls.  Through Jesus the Son of Man and the Spirit eternal.  Amen

Contemplate

15 minutes of centering prayer if I don't fall asleep in the quiet warmth of home after a long but fulfilling day at the Renewal Assembly.