Be a living gift to God

Proper 16 Year A

August 27, 2017

    It is a fairly well known fact among my family members that I am a fan of receiving presents.  They don’t even have to be expensive or flashy presents either; what I really enjoy is seeing what people think I might like.  I also really enjoy getting gifts for the people in my life because I like seeing how they react to what I believe will bring them joy; there have certainly been a few times when I completely messed it up, and a few family stories that seem to get told every so often with my missteps seeming to get bigger every time the tales are told…

    Gift giving is a way for us to tell each other that they matter to us; when we give someone a gift that brings them joy, we are saying that they matter to us; that we want to do something nice for them; that we care about our relationship… which is why some of the best gifts aren’t the ones we purchase, but the ones we make, ones that have some of us in them to give to the people we love, gifts that can create memories.

    In our readings for today,  I found myself struck by the words from Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Paul is asking us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable to God.  Sacrifice is definitely the language of worship, and it is also the language of gift.  In the Old Testament, there are numerous passages especially in the book of Leviticus that discuss animal sacrifices being given to God; animals, either first born or the most perfect of the flock were ritually slaughtered upon the altar, and blood was poured or used to mark specific places on the altar.  There were all kinds of rules about what parts of the animals could be eaten and by whom; and then of course, rules about which parts would be burned up for God, so that the smoke from burning the animal would rise to God and cause an “odor pleasing to God’s sight.”  Whenever I read those parts of the bible, I always give thanks that I am a priest now, and not then.

    When you and I come together to celebrate the Eucharist, we are coming together to give thanks; that’s what Eucharist means;  to give thanks to God for all that God has done in creating, and loving us and the world.

    Part of giving thanks, is giving back to God, gifts that God has given us from God’s creation; we place fine linen, silks, silver, brass, candles, our money, and of course bread and wine and water, on the altar, much as priests used to place animals to be given to God.  We don’t place these gifts here as a way to erase our sinfulness because only God can do that; but we give these gifts to God as a way of showing our gratitude and our love for God; we give these gifts so that we can celebrate our relationship to God; we create memories with each other, we become part of the great cloud of witnesses that has come before, all of us celebrating our love for God and each other.

    Sometimes I forget that the most important thing that you and I bring to this altar as an offering, as a sacrifice, is ourselves.  All the fine linen, silver, and money aren’t going to really mean anything, if our bodies, our hearts and our minds aren’t also offered up to God as gift.   We offer ourselves as gift because God desires to be in relationship with us and desires us to be in relationship with each other.  And unlike the perfect offerings from the flock, we know that we are far from perfect; our blemishes may not show on the outside, but we know and God knows what is on our hearts.  Rather than come to offer ourselves thinking we are spotless, perhaps for us, coming forward fully aware of our shortcomings, is what God desires;  I have spoken a lot about truth telling lately and I believe that when we come to this table with our hands outstretched, asking for Jesus to enter into our bodies and souls, that might be as truthful as we can ever be; when we acknowledge that is it only God who can heal us from ourselves, then maybe we can be ready to receive the healing and wholeness God wants us to have.  Unlike other gifts we might give, the gifts of ourselves is one that is risky for us to give, because it means that we have to be willing to be vulnerable; we have to be willing to change, we have to be willing to actually be the image of God in the world; we give ourselves to God.. and then we are given back to the world as changed people; not conformed to the world, as Paul says, but transformed because we have taken the holiest of gifts from God, and have been changed by the gift…

    What gifts are you bringing to the altar today?  Are you bringing your best, your most vulnerable, your true self most needing to be changed and loved by God?  I urge us all to pay attention; to truly offer ourselves upon God’s altar with hearts longing for love and longing to be changed into hearts that desire what God desires.  Be a living gift, always.

Lies defile our hearts

Proper 15 Year A 2017

August 20, 2017

    My mom used to say that only drunks tell the truth; I’m pretty sure she meant that if someone were drunk, then they were more likely to tell the truth.  Not really sure why she believed that because I didn’t really know her as much of a truth teller whether she was drunk or sober; the level of alcohol in her body didn’t really seem to correlate to her ability to tell the truth, and if anything, it may have made bad things worse.  Many years later when I had to deal with my own relationship to alcohol and it’s affect on my relationship to truth, I decided a couple of things.  First,  I was going to change my relationship to alcohol, and, I was going to, as much as I could, live my life in truth and integrity.  There were so many lies that were part of my family’s being, that I’m pretty sure that the lies were believed, at least by those that told them.  What I am certain of, is that the lies hurt people who certainly deserved better.

The truth is, don’t we all deserve better?  It took me a while to figure out that I deserved better; when you live with people who don’t tell the truth, especially when it comes to what they say about you, it can become difficult to believe the truth about who you are.  

Teresa of Avila is one of my favorite saints;  she died in 1582 and was a major figure in the counter reformation in the Catholic church.  One of the things I admire about her, is that she was always in trouble.  She taught that people could have a personal even mystical relationship with God, and could pray to God without an intermediary, such as a priest.  The common teaching at the time was that people needed their priest to pray and to communicate with God on their behalf; even when people went to church, the mass was celebrated in a language that wasn’t the language of the people.  So, you would sit in church, and if you were lucky you would respond with the customary responses, and you might not understand what was being said.  Certainly, if you weren’t educated, you might be even further removed from understanding.  So, imagine that the church tells you that basically you can’t communicate directly with God because you weren’t educated enough, or important enough; and it’s probably more complicated that that, but that’s the basic premise… then suddenly, someone comes along and tells you that what you have been made to  believe about yourself is wrong; that you matter to God just the way you are, and that God desires a personal, intimate relationship with you, and that you don’t need someone else to talk to God for you?  It changes everthing, right?  Suddenly, you see begin to see yourself as a much beloved child of God who has been freed to pray and worship God in ways that you were kept from for really, no good reason.  When we see ourselves as children of God, when we see the truth about who we really are, we can begin to question and change the systems around us that have been used in false, oppressive ways.   In the gospel of John, we are told that the truth shall set us free; and it is indeed so.  Knowing that we are all created in God’s holy image, indeed sets all of us free from the oppression that others try to force upon us.

“Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”  He later on explains that what comes out of the mouth originates in the heart, which is why it defiles.  When things come from the heart, they are more permanent, and are also capable of inflicting great pain upon others.

    When truth comes from our hearts and out our mouths, it may not always be pretty, but it is good, and honest; it teaches us things we need to know, and can help move us toward spiritual and emotional health.  Truth is a gift that is given when there is mutual respect between people.  When we say that we are Christian people, we are making the statement that we believe that Jesus is the embodiment of truth and love; Jesus reveals God the Father to us; in Jesus we are set free to be God’s children, equals in God’s kingdom.  As Christians, we believe in respecting the dignity of others because we believe that all of humanity is created in God’s image, and to speak about another with lies and hatred is a sin against the image of God…

    At least I hope we believe that; I hope I believe it.   There have been so many photographs and stories on the news over the last week that are disturbing, not to mention the deaths and injuries that have also occurred.  It can be easy for us to sit at our kitchen tables, coffee in hand, and think, “well, I would never do anything like that; I’m not a member of ISIS”, or, “I’m not a member of the KKK; I would never kill anyone…” Ok, fair enough.  I am certain that we are all good people who try to do the right things; except when we don’t.  If you and I continue to say that we “aren’t like those people”, without truly examining what is in our hearts and minds, we are part of the problem.  Maybe, we aren’t marching with torches or burning crosses, but maybe we tell racist jokes to our friends; maybe, we have been heard to use language that degrades another person’s being; maybe, we have perpetuated the stereotypes that cause people pain and suffering… maybe we believe some of those stereotypes… anytime we use language that degrades another, we are telling lies; things like using derogatory language for parts of a woman’s body to insult someone is never ok, and in my opinion, further demeans women; the color of someone’s skin doesn’t dictate their intelligence, their abilities or their worth; all people, and I do mean ALL people, are of infinite and equal worth in the eyes of God… that, is the truth; that is the truth that the kingdom of God is built upon, and it is what should be filling our hearts and falling out of our mouths… not to mention, it should be the truth that guides our actions… if we have drunk the poison of the empire, and all of us have to some degree, then we are at least a little drunk with the empire’s lies and distortions of the truth.  The more attached we are to the values of society and empire, the more we think we need to defend ourselves against others, the more distorted our relationship to the truth becomes.  Sometimes, we get so distracted by stuff and what we think our rightful place is, we start to lose sight of who Jesus is, and what we are called to do as members of the kingdom.

Beloved, what we say and what we do, matters.  We cannot continue to believe that what’s going on isn’t our problem; if one of God’s children is being hurt, or oppressed, it affects all of us.  All of us must look inside ourselves and honestly assess what is defiling us by making our hearts act in ways that are contrary to love.  Jesus is the very embodiment of God’s love; as heirs to his kingdom, we are called to breathe, speak, and do God’s love, to continue Jesus’ work in the world.  Anything less, anything that degrades another defiles us, defiles creation, and can encourage all sorts of hate.

As a Franciscan friend of mine said earlier this week, “Let’s love the hate out of each other,”  I pray that we can.  God so loved the world; now it’s our turn.

   

Transfiguration

Feast of the Transfiguration

August 6, 2017

    One of the great jokes about Facebook and other social media platforms, is that it’s a good place to watch cat videos.  Seeing as how the Carroll family has six cats (5 boys and one girl, because we’re crazy),  cat videos are one of my favorite things, and given some of the other craziness that’s on social media, I am all about more cat videos.  Anyway, my daughter sent me a cat video a few weeks ago that I loved so much I actually posted it on my facebook wall.  The video was of an old Tom cat.  You know the type, large, striped, a bit feral, kind of mean; I think he had been adopted or was part of a larger foster home…. He was not friendly, didn’t like to play or cuddle… then one day the unthinkable happened…. Kittens.  A small group of the cutest tiny kittens came to live with this grumpy old Tom.  If you have ever been around little kittens, you know that they are cute, fearless, and annoying.   Well, these adorable little demons would not leave this old cat alone.  They climbed on him, chased his tail, ran into him…. All sorts of kitty shenanigans.  The old Tom cat became a different cat.  Suddenly he began to play, he groomed the babies, taught them how to be cats, slept with them lying all over him…. And he even accepted some human love too.  Poor old cat had never experienced love before.  He most certainly transformed into a completely different cat, because some kittens showed him how to live.

    Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, a feast day of our Lord.  We hear these readings every year on the Last Sunday of the Epiphany, but this year, we also have the Feast day fall on a Sunday.  We know the story well; Jesus and the three disciples that were the inner circle go up on a mountain to to pray.   While they are there, the disciples have a vision of Jesus in shining white clothing, speaking with Elijah and Moses, which ties Jesus to the law and to the prophecies.   The disciples hear a voice from heaven that tells them who Jesus is, and that they should listen to him.  The disciples want to capture the experience by building dwelling places for all three of these holy men; I am sure the disciples also want to stay on the mountain.  But, they can’t.  Listening to Jesus, means coming down off the mountain and getting about the business of the kingdom.  It also means hearing and living through some very difficult events.  Just a few verses after the story of Jesus’ transfiguration, he tells the disciples that he is going to be betrayed and killed.  Listening to him, in that context could not have been easy for the disciples who were on the mountain with him… following him in that way could not have been part of their plans…

    Being transfigured, means to have one’s appearance changed, especially changed to a beautiful and more spiritual state.  Certainly, in the gospel for today, we see that Jesus’s appearance was changed in that way; his outer appearance reflected his inner state.  I always wonder when I read this story about the disciples; I wonder if their inner state was changed, transfigured on that mountain.

    I think, that their inner beings were changed; perhaps slowly, just like the rest of us.  Encountering Jesus, is something that is life changing; what it the proper response to knowing that Jesus is God’s son?  How do the disciples respond to Jesus?  How are we changed by encountering God’s love in Jesus?

    I hope that we are changed, and that like that old Tom cat, I hope that we look and act like different people.  Encountering Jesus in the Eucharist gives us the ability to climb the holy mountain and see and experience Jesus; each time you and I come to the table, we encounter the living Christ whose love for us changes us.  We do not come to the table easily or lightly, especially if we allow ourselves to truly recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread.  As Annie Dillard says in an essay of hers I read years ago, if we were paying attention to what happens at church we wouldn’t wear our Sunday best, we would wear crash helmets.

    When we come to the table, bread and wine are transfigured  into the body and blood of Jesus, and he reveals himself to us as he did to the disciples so long ago on the mountain; and like Peter and the rest, it can be really tempting to stay on the mountain, or to keep our experience of Jesus to ourselves.  But that’s not how it works, and when we search our hearts, and remember the vows that we took at our baptism, we know that we too must listen to him.  We must go out of this place, our place of safety and knowledge and go into our community and do his work.  When Deacon Tex dismisses us at the end of the service, it’s not a dismissal of “hey we’re done, good for us!”  It’s a continuation of what we have done at the table; it is a mandate to go forth, in the name of Jesus as transfigured, changed people who now will go out and change the world.  Like the disciples, sometimes that sounds really difficult.  Being a Christian these days isn’t always easy, and our identity has been co-opted by some folks I would rather not associate with; but when we are changed by our encounter with Jesus, we ought to look and act different; listening to him means that we heal the sick, feed the hungry, visit the lonely; just for starters.  We do Jesus’s work because when his Spirit lives in us, others see him in us… and we see him in each other.  The only response to perfect love, is to love.

    Peter, James. and John didn’t tell others about what happened on the mountain, at least not at first.  It took them some time to see and experience who Jesus was, and it wasn’t easy for them even after Easter morning.  As Easter people, it isn’t always easy for us, and I hope that we are still learning and experiencing Jesus, and as we do that, I hope that we are continuing to change and become the people of love that God has created us to be.  Love that is truly felt and experienced, will change us.  For us, to love as Jesus loves, is to live.  May we go forth from this place today, as transfigured people.  May we encounter the living Christ at this table, and may his love fill our hearts so that we may be bearers of that love in all that we do.  May we listen to him with our whole being so that the noise and chatter of the empire fades away, and we can truly be people of his kingdom.