Friday, February 28, 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

Philemon 1-25

 

"so that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but as more than a slave, a beloved brother..."

 

Despite its brevity, Paul's letter to Philemon is challenging to modern readers.  Living on this side of so many great moments in history for freedom and civil rights, we are perhaps struck by the "conservative" nature of Paul's thought. The letter isn't exactly a clarion call for social justice. Paul, for example, never comes out to condemn slavery; in fact, he seems to endorse the practice. 

Paul, writing from prison, strongly encourages Philemon, a friend and fellow-worker, to reconcile with Onesimus.  According to the traditional interpretation, Onesimus is a runaway slave who stole from his master, Philemon. Subsequently, he converts to Christianity under Paul, proves useful in Paul's ministry and wants to turn himself in to his former master. Paul wants Onesimus to return to his former position as a slave in the household of Philemon and sends this letter with him in hopes that their relationship can be repaired.

The letter has a long history of appropriation to justify the status quo of unjust social practices.  There have been, however, several recent attempts to "save" Paul. One commentator makes the interesting claim that Onesimus wasn't Philemon's slave but his estranged brother. Or other scholars ask us to keep in mind the apocalyptic mindset of the early Christian community: if one believed in the imminent return of Christ, there wasn't much motivation for up-ending established social structures.  

Another possible way to see the letter is one that I will call "The Butler" interpretation, inspired by last year's fictionalized film portrayal of former White House butler, Eugene Allen (named Cecil Gaines in the movie.) The story follows Cecil's life and career as he served for 34 years in Washington during some of the most memorable moments in American political and cultural history. Cecil is absolutely committed to his role despite the shifting sands of White House politics, saying at one point in the film, "I'm not a political man." As a counter-point, the film-makers invent a second son for the butler, one whose politics differ greatly from his father's. Louis, the fictionalized son, is seen as a Freedom Rider, protesting at diner sit-ins, working with Dr. Marting Luther King, Jr. and briefly engaged with the Black Panthers. By following father and son through turbulent times, the film raises but does not fully answer the question of how best to change unjust structures: through revolution (violent or non-violent) or through quiet conventional subservience (as in the case with the title character.)

 

In one scene (historically-inspired?) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is speaking to Louis who is ashamed that his father works as a White House butler. Dr. King reminds the young man that in their apparent subservience, black domestics have been powerfully subversive.  In their quiet way, they have defied racist stereotypes by being faithful, industrious and trustworthy. By slowly softening hateful attitudes and hardened hearts, King suggests, they work alongside of, and not counter to, the larger gestures of the Freedom Riders and the diner sit-in protesters.  Working together, they can slowly but surely challenge their white neighbors to view them through the eyes of love.

 

It is helpful to me to see Paul's letter to Philemon as more in the spirit of Dr. King's insights. In the midst of an unjust system, he is asking Onesimus to live out his new-found faith by being faithful, industrious and trustworthy and by doing so, he can work to change the system from the inside.  

With this interpretation, we can perhaps "save" Paul, but if we really take the letter seriously, we cannot save ourselves from Paul's deeper and more challenging message.  While Paul is ambiguous about slavery, he is unambiguous in challenging Philemon to radically alter his vision of Onesimus.  Instead of seeing him as a slave, Paul invites Philemon to view him as a "brother." The reality of that changed vision sows the seeds for personal transformation and political revolution. Onesimus (whose name means "useful") had apparently failed to live up to his name until Paul looked deeply into him and caught a glimpse of his true self.  That gaze of love and its affects on Onesimus' life is preserved for us in this letter.  Jean Vanier, the founder of the worldwide network of L'Arche communities, writes that to love someone means to reveal to them their beauty.  But to reveal that beauty one must take the often difficult step of seeing it in the first place.  Paul is asking Philemon to look beyond the cardboard cutout, to look beyond his justified desire for anger or revenge, to look beyond his offended honor. 

Paul is challenging Philemon to be true to his faith and to be motivated by their shared expansive vision of God. Just like God came in Christ to reconcile the world to Godself, Paul is asking Philemon to take the loving initiative to be reconciled to Onesimus, to forgive his offenses and, going even further, seeing him no longer as a slave but as a brother. Paul wants Philemon to see Onesimus' beauty and his value. 

Paul's message is still as applicable today whether we work for social change through quiet and humble service or through large revolutionary gestures. Outer change is incomplete without inner change: learning to see others through the eyes of love.

-David Shumaker

Thursday, February 27, 2014 (George Herbert, Priest & Poet, 1633)

February 27, 2014 (George Herbert, Priest & Poet 1633) 

John 11:55-12:8

What would you offer from your Life's Journey to God?

Our scripture passage today is about a visit of Jesus to the home of his friends: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, sisters and brother. This takes place in Bethany, a small village just outside the walls of Jerusalem, in that immediate time just before his arrest in what we now know as Holy Week. There in that safe home provided by Lazarus, Jesus was received for dinner. Martha busied herself in the kitchen doing her thing which she knew best, preparing a meal. However Mary, being a gracious host, tended to washing the dust and grime off Jesus'feet and then , as a finishing touch, used some expensive perfume to "anoint his feet". This did not go unnoticed by Judas who proceeded to question Jesus. Jesus in turn  replied that her gift might well be considered a sign,  foretelling what she might well be doing.. at Jesus burial. For you see, Jesus appreciated whatever those around him had to offer.

On this 27th day of Februaryin the Anglican Calendar of the Church Year [remembering individuals who have contributed to the life and work of Christ's Church] we pause to give thanks for the life of George Herbert.   George, an English priest of the early 17th Century, was assigned to   the small rural  parish of Bemerton England . There in that country setting George  faithfully sought to serve his people. George was also given to writing poems, a collection of  which after his death was published as The Temple. Some  of his poems were later set to music and a couple of them have now became very popular as hymns: "Let all the world in every corner sing", and "Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life."

This promising ministry of George in the service of His Lord was however suddenly cut short, for like many of that period,  he caught TB and after a couple years as parish priest, he died in early 1633, just short of his 40th birthday.

No matter who we be, (we've heard about  Mary,  Martha, and  Lazarus, and also today about  George, who was a poet as well as a pastor) no matter who we are, each of us can take time to  pause , to reflect and even to discover that  within our own lives, there is always something special that each of us  can seize  and offer to God, whether be it time, or  talent, or perhaps action. Jesus really  appreciates each one of us, who we are, and what we have to draw upon, to offer and share. And what we do now, this very day, may not only affect this time in which we find ourselves, but it may well playout against the backdrop of eternity in new ways!       

- Ken Cardwell

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Florence Li Tim-Oi (Memorial)
Psalm 130

Today is a day in the Anglican Communion when we remember Florence Li Tim-Oi, the first female Anglican priest. You can learn more about her story by consulting the "It Takes One Woman" website.

Loving God, giver of all good gifts,
fill us with your grace,
that we, like your servant  Tim-Oi,
first woman to be ordained an Anglican priest,
may entrust you with our destiny.
May we, with her same forbearance in the face
of adversity, witness to you in all things;
through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.

" I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
   and in his word I hope; 
 my soul waits for the Lord
   more than those who watch for the morning,
   more than those who watch for the morning. "

-Psalm 130:5-6

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Ruth 1:15-22

 

"Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God."

 

Friends of mine had this text read at their wedding and I can see why.  The story of Ruth is a beautiful example of committed faithfulness.

 

The narrative is simple enough in the re-telling. An Israelite couple from Bethlehem named Naomi and Elimelech move with their two sons to the neighboring country of Moab to escape a famine. The two sons marry Moabite women but, sadly, all three husbands eventually die.  The three widows discuss their futures. Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem and releases her daugthers-in-law so they could remain in Moab and re-marry. Orpah takes her up on the offer and decides to stay, while Ruth insists on going with her mother-in-law. The reading for today includes that powerful part of the story where Ruth pledges her faithfulness to Naomi. 

 

Ruth's commitment to Naomi earns the respect of the town, including a wealthy kinsman named Boaz. He allows Ruth to gather the grain from his fields that the workers leave behind (a common provision for the poor); in fact, he instructs the field hands to leave extra for her.  As if you couldn't see this coming, the two eventually marry and become (again, not surprising) the ancestors of King David.  Given the stature of David in biblical literature, it is no wonder that Ruth's story is included in the biblical canon: such is the faith-filled pedigree of the King specially favored by God.

 

The story is inspiring, but to be honest, sometimes it strikes me the way a made-for-TV romantic melodrama might. It is long on sentiment and short on realistic details. There's so much I want to know. What was going on in Ruth's inner life? What daily challenges called into question the commitment she made? What moments of goodness nourished that same resolve? How did she emotionally manage leaving behind all that was familiar to become a stranger in a strange land? What gave her the courage to face the unknown?

 

While we the storytellers don't give us a transparent glimpse of Ruth's inner world, they do believe that Ruth's actions can only be explained by her confidence in her outer world. For them, she is a model of faith in God and God's provision. The fact that Ruth's commitment was rewarded first with daily food, then with a new husband and ultimately with a royal family legacy must mean (in the theological worldview of her day) that God was honoring her for her unwavering trust.

Our worldview is somewhat different today, I hope. We no longer believe that God rewards and punishes us through the circumstances of our lives (as Naomi believes in 1:20-21). But we still believe in a good God whose desire is to give God's very life and love to all that is not God. We can at times look back over our shoulders and make out, however faintly, the pattern of God's love in the warp and weft of our story.  And seeing that pattern through the eyes of faith gives us confidence to live committed lives in this present moment whether the future turns out exactly as we would wish. If often doesn't. But drawing on God's commitment to us, we pledge our very lives today to a world desperately in need of God's goodness. 

As as anonymous spiritual writer observes (echoing the kind of commitment Ruth surely exemplified): "There has never been a time when there are so many options. While options are a great blessing, they are also a great temptation.  We have become a group of dabblers. We think of options as choices, but if we always hold our options open, we are really failing to make a choice. We fail to truly commit with our idea of ‘starter homes’ and ‘parish shopping’ and uprooting our family to get the bigger house or the bigger job or the bigger paycheck. Commitment is simply a choice. You make a choice. And then you stop second-guessing, weighing the alternatives, wondering about lost opportunities. You settle in for the long haul, make it work, put your energies into this place, this community, this relationship, family, home. You put all your creativity and energy into this life, surrendering to the truth of it, committing yourself to find the deepest and most profound wisdom and understanding available, committing yourself to go deeper. There is enough wisdom in this place to plumb the depths for a lifetime. Dabbling in this and that ideal, this and that discipline, this and that opportunity, only serves to spread ourselves thinner, not deeper. We’re called to go deeper."  

I pray that we may all go deeper.

-David Shumaker

Monday, February 24, 2014

Monday, February 24, 2014
Proverbs 3:11-20

Icon of Sophia, The Holy Wisdom [http://molonlabe70.blogspot.ca/2010/09/icon-of-sophia-wisdom-of-god.html]

Happy are those who find wisdom,
    and those who get understanding,

for her income is better than silver,
    and her revenue better than gold.

-Proverbs 3:13-14

Creation - Day 2, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46171

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
    by understanding he established the heavens;

by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
    and the clouds drop down the dew.

-Proverbs 3:19-20

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Sunday, February 23, 2014

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

The music playing in the background while I write today is “The Ground: Pleni sunt caeli et terra Gloria tua,” by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo. Based on a chorale from his Sunrise Mass, Gjeilo developed an anthem for piano, strings, and choir. The music is both grandiose, and joyful. It puts me in mind of a panoramic scan of the earth while the sun rises, the kind of music that might accompany the finale scene at the end of a movie, as the credits begin to roll. I encourage you to take a listen.

This image of the rising sun, pushing back the dark of night, is, for me, an important metaphor of reconciliation. It is the herald of the new day, pushing back the night, but not forgetting what has come before. The rising sun invites us into the new moment. “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” What a message of joy! And what a challenge: to let the past slip away from being the only thing occupying our mind. This rising sun, this figure of Jesus, is an image that beckons us out of our self-centredness and into the new day. It is a call beyond ourselves; we do not leave ourselves behind, but we are walking ever forward, with others, toward the rising sun.

- Joshua Zentner-Barrett

Saturday February 22, 2014

1 John 3:11-18

John challenges his listeners to be disciples of Jesus who move beyond interior belief about love to visible actions and behaviours.

John says, you believe that God loves you? that you are a child of God?  that you should love each other? Then put it into action.  Make it visible.  Don't be like Cain who took life away from his brother, Abel; be like Jesus who gives life to others.  We may not be asked to lay down our lives for others, but we can still offer what is life-giving to others.  Sometimes this looks like the example John gives of sharing our worldly goods with our brothers and sisters in need and sometimes offering what is life-giving happens in the everyday encounters with our family members, the clerks in the store, our colleagues at work . . .

I reminded of Kahlil Gibran's poem, On Work, in which he proclaims "work is love made visible" and "when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God".  Watch for opportunities today to make love visible!

- Marilyn Malton

Friday, February 21, 2014

Friday, February 21, 2014

Genesis 32:22 - 33:17

Jacob’s struggle with the angel occurs between his flight from his father-in-law and his reunion with the brother he cheated years earlier. As someone who finds family gatherings stressful, I appreciate the story of Jacob. It is interesting that many religious folks are scandalized by family issues, but the Bible is full of family drama. It is a reality of human existence.

The great Jewish philosopher Martin Buber interpreted Jacob’s encounter with the angel as a representation of our wrestling with life’s great existential questions. I see in Jacob’s struggle with God a paradigm of a difficult yet legitimate journey of faith. There are times when, like Jacob in 32:24, we feel all alone. There are times when instead of feeling comforted and reassured, our relationship with God is characterized by wrestling. There are turning points in our lives that leave us forever changed (32:25, 32:28). Instead of feeling guilty about these times when we experience doubt or anger, we should be reassured that God is still there with us, even in the darkest, loneliest nights. It was in this encounter that Jacob realized he was closest to the face of God. 

As we welcome (and hopefully, bring) new people into our churches, many of whom have been raised "unchurched," we need to affirm that their exploring, questioning, doubting, and even honest critiquing is welcome. No matter how circuitous the route, we can still hold on to the hope that, like Jacob, they will find themselves transformed after an encounter with God.

-Matthew Kieswetter

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Psalm 105: 1 - 22

Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence. 

Eyes open - watch - be alert.  I am called to active attention as I live each day.  Not only that, but there is to be a purpose for my attention - God and what He is doing.  It is easy sometimes to get caught up in attention to other things, other people, myself.  Usually that means seeing the bad things, and then wondering where God is.  Perhaps if I look first to see God, I might find that He too has seen the bad stuff, but has not let that stop Him doing good things, whether it be in creation, or in helping me to meet whatever is coming.

The psalm goes on to give the example of Joseph as God making preparation for all the people as famine came.  It certainly would have been hard for Joseph to see his plight - sold into slavery by his own family, wrongly accused and convicted, thrown into prison - as something to be happy about.  In fact, I don’t actually think he did.  But that did not stop him from trusting that God remembered him and was with him.

God’s presence may not “fix” things for me personally; God does not stop suffering here on earth, whether from natural or man made causes.  But that does not mean he is not present, caring and active.  I need to open the eyes of my soul to see the whole of creation as God sees it and then rejoice that He is at the centre of it.

Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, you who seek God.  Live a happy life.

-Ann Kelland

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

John 10:1-18

The first part of this passage is the nearest thing we have to a parable in the Gospel of John, for otherwise, and unlike the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Fourth Gospel has no parables. John 10:1-6 makes it clear that the only way to enter the sheepfold is by the gate, and that the shepherd is the one who leads the sheep, who know him by his voice. Then in verses 7-10 Jesus explains that he is the gate, and in verses 11-18, he further elaborates that he is also the good shepherd who lays his life down for his sheep. This is rich imagery, hearkening back to stories and images in the Israelite scriptures, Ancient Near Eastern texts, and Greek and Roman literature. One of the earliest ways of depicting Jesus, moreover, was as a good shepherd as evident in this third century fresco from Italy. Thus early on, the Gospel was communicated by visual means.

[http://timotheosprologizes.blogspot.ca/2006/12/homily-for-feast-of-st-john-damascene.html]

Finally, this is an example of how a gospel writer draws from the lore of traditions that existed prior to the creation of the text, as well as how the text itself then went on to influence art and life within the early church. It is a testament to how religion, culture, and multiple forms of expression intermix and mutually influence one another to form a rich and complex legacy that exists to this day.

-Alicia Batten

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Genesis 29:20-35

Before Jacob wrestles God for one night at Peniel, he wrestles God for fourteen years in the lands of Laban. Laban screws Jacob for fourteen years, but Jacob doesn’t mind so much because he gets Rachel after seven. He gets Rachel who is young and smokin’ hot (as one might say), but he also ends up with Leah who is plain and kind of old. Leah is unremarkable; yet she is quite remarkable.

Jacob wrestles; but Leah withers. This is not a story about gender equality. Jacob is a strong and clever man. Laban changes his wages ten times (Gen. 31: 41), but Jacob has power and uses it for revenge. He takes Laban’s flocks for himself (Gen. 30:31-43). Leah is a powerless and unremarkable woman. She receives no wage and has no power to take anything. Leah is rather herself taken and given as chattel. We should find that offensive. But we should give up our eyes to righteous indignation. We should open our eyes and remark Leah. And God.

Leah is eclipsed by her sister. This story does not tell us that true beauty is on the inside. Jacob loves Rachel and suffers Leah. That Jacob suffers Leah means that Leah suffers. Leah wants Jacob’s love. There is no pain quite like unrequited love, or love requited with contempt, especially in a marriage, especially in a marriage where your husband is also married to your sister, your flashy better-looking, better-loved sister. Leah probably cries a lot. Maybe she wears herself out each day trying to forget. Maybe she eats ice cream. Maybe she has cats. Leah is very human. In a Hollywood movie, Rachel would be mean, Leah would get a makeover, and Leah would get Jacob. Or, in a modern twist, Leah would get a makeover then decide that she was too good for Jacob at which point she would leave him and go off to make it on her own. Hollywood likes makeovers. But Leah doesn’t get one. She remains unremarkable. And yet Leah is remarked. The world’s eyes pass Leah over; God’s eyes take her in.

Our God has a special love for those whom the world rejects. Our God is Hope of the hopeless. This is the point of the story. God has pity on Leah and opens her womb. God gives Leah power—the power to conceive. Yet by her third child it seems that Jacob doesn’t love Leah any more than he did before. She is still asking God to “join” him to her. By the fourth child, Leah no longer asks God for Jacob; her only prayer is thanksgiving. Leah now has four babies and less reason—and little time—for a broken heart. She may or may not get Jacob’s affection, but she certainly gets children and a family. For her this is joy. We get a sort of Hollywood ending after all—motherhood rather than makeover. God lifts Leah up and gives her honour and joy in the world. What God does for Leah is remarkable, likewise what He does for us.

Sometimes God gives us a Hollywood ending. Often He does not. Women and men remain homely, lonely, and barren. Our faith is not that God gives us all the children and the life that we desire. Our faith is that God nevertheless gives us Life—that God gives us a Child: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder…” (Isaiah 9:6) We are created beautiful—whether we are old or young, smokin’ hot or rather unattractive—but our sin makes us Ugly. We women and men are barren and yearning like Leah whether we know it or not. As God gives sons to the humble Leah, so God gives a Son to the humble Mary—and God gives Mary’s humble Son to us. This is true gender equality. This is true inner beauty. Like Leah, we are all saved in childbearing—the bringing to birth of Christ in us. May our lives be humble. May our lives be glory. May we too remark and restore the homely, the lonely, and the barren—those the world finds unremarkable.  Amen.

-David Boehmer

Saturday February 15, 2014

Romans 14:1-23

Conviction, noun:  a firmly held opinion or belief.
Dismissal, noun:  the act of treating something (or someone) as unworthy or serious consideration; rejection.

Folks in the early churches ran headlong into some conflicts among convictions and found themselves "quarreling over opinions" (vs 1) and passing judgement on each other (vs 10).  The specific issues in our congregations today are different from Paul's day and the Roman church but we still quarrel over opinions and convictions and pass judgment, in dismissive ways, on each other.

Lutheran pastor Mary Hinkle Shore suggests that, in this reading from Romans, Paul gives three reasons to refrain from dismissing our brothers and sisters who think and act differently from us.  One, they are "seeking by their actions to honor the Lord Jesus Christ; two, Jesus died and rose again "in order to create community across the most fundamental of differences:  Jew/Greek, slave/free, dead/living!", and three, "God is judge of all of us, and one judge is enough."  This raises questions for me.  Aware of my own limitations in understanding and acting - what are concrete ways in which I can extend graciousness to my brothers and sisters with whom I disagree?  For example, how can I enter into humble and generous interactions with them?

Recognizing that the other is seeking to honour Jesus; that Jesus compels us to create community across fundamental differences; and that God is the judge, not me, is not the same as saying everything goes and that, as Hinkle Shore says, "all behaviour is equally ethical".  There is room for critical thinking but the challenge is to avoid dismissing our brothers and sisters as fools, or at least very misguided, and treating them as if they are without worth.  As you reflect on this passage, ask God how God might be inviting you to respond.

- Marilyn Malton

Friday, February 14, 2014

Friday, February 14, 2014

Isaiah 61: 1 - 9

            The words of the Prophet Isaiah have a familiar ring to them.

As readers of Holy Scripture, I offer the gentle reminder that,

the words of Isaiah are offered, first, to a people in physical exile.

The prophetic message is one which offers comfort and hope.

            Within the context of the message there is a

discernable vision of a transitional moment

which will be experienced. God's people will be restored to the

land which God has given them and they will be able to build on

the Covenantal relationship which forms their identity.

            Their transition from exile in Babylon back to the Promised

Land is declared by Isaiah, to be a Divine promise which will be fulfilled.

It is an experience to be anticipated and it is a divine commitment

which will be met.

            The second time we hear these words is in a synagogue in Nazareth.

An individual known to the community has returned home. He has

become known and widely respected, elsewhere, by many, as a person

with a ministry of note. He is a rabbi, a teacher, worth listening to.

            Jesus reads, the prophetic message;

The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has

anointed me; he has sent me to announce good news to the poor,

to proclaim release for prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind;

to let the broken victims go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's

favour.

            After rolling up the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus declares to

those who are listening and watching his every move, that the words they have

heard, the promise which God has made through his prophet Isaiah, has been

fulfilled.

            As we read those words, in each of those settings we are reminded of

how the promise which God makes to God's people is fulfilled through the physical

transitional experience which brings them from exile to home. We are

reminded of how the declaration which Jesus makes, that he is the personification

of God's promise being fulfilled has an impact on our own lives and renews our

souls.

            As a part of your reflection today, read through, not only the Isaiah

passage, but also examine St. Luke 4: 14 - 22. How do you hear those prophetic

words speaking to your own life experience ?

-Rev'd Canon Christopher Pratt

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Romans 12:9-21

The concept of hospitality is arguably one of the most fundamental concepts of Christianity. Verse 13 of this letter from Paul calls us to extend our hospitality to the other. When three strangers appear outside Abraham’s tent in Genesis 18 he has two choices: to welcome them, or to close up his tent and take up his weapons to defend his home. Abraham chooses the former and calls for Sarah to make bread and for his servant to prepare a calf; through his hospitality he discovers that the strangers are God.  

Paul’s letter calls us to be generous to all who come asking. To ask for food when we are hungry, water when we are thirsty, shelter when we are cold is to be vulnerable to another. This is an act of humility and it requires that we respond with generosity. But this is a difficult thing to do, especially when our instinct can be to reject the unknown for fear of danger or betrayal.

In the course of my schooling, the question of hospitality often arose around the Second World War. My mother’s frequent question to us: “If a Jew came knocking at my door in Nazi-occupied Europe and asked for refuge, would I let them in?” This question haunts me; I come up with different answers every time. But it is clear what Paul is calling us to do. He is helping to show us God in the face of the stranger. Everything else must fall away next to that.

-Joshua Zentner-Barrett

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Wednesday February 12, 2014 

Romans 12:1-8

Paul’s Letter, (sometimes termed Epistle) to the Christians in Rome has been described by many as his masterpiece.  It is densely written, covering much of his understanding of the purpose of Jesus the Christ.  In this letter, Paul includes both Jews and Gentiles as receivers of God’s grace through Jesus’ death and resurrection.  He speaks of slavery and freedom, of law and liberation, and summarizes it all by insisting that God’s mercy and grace is for all people.

Now, in chapter 12 and for the rest of the letter, Paul instructs his readers on how to put all his theory into practice.  Some of his teaching focuses on transformation, some on meekness, and much on the diversity of gifts possessed by the followers of Jesus.  And that teaching is still current for us today.  We, too, as the body of Christ here and now, possess many different and important gifts – important for building up the body, sustaining it, and encouraging its members.  These gifts are given to us to use, not to hoard, or mete out as we see fit.  Indeed, these gifts are not really ours at all, but God’s, who has called us to be stewards of them.

What gifts have you discerned within yourself, or what gifts have others seen in you?  How do you use them?  How do you refine them?  ^“We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”

-Rev'd Paul Kett

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

John 7:53-8:11

The famous story of the woman caught in adultery was a later insertion into the Gospel of John as it does not appear in the oldest manuscript evidence for the text (we have no originals of any book of the Bible). It even shows up in some copies of the Gospel of Luke! However, this does not mean that the story itself was not ancient, and it is consistent with other accounts in which some people attempt to trap Jesus. In many ways, the narrative is consistent with the characterization of Jesus throughout the Gospel of John. He is calm, wise and forgiving, and he knows that this woman is being used as a pawn to lay a charge against him. He responds to the challenge of the scribes and Pharisees by making them think about their own sins. One can imagine them walking away stiffly, frustrated that Jesus has yet again outwitted them. He displays compassion for the woman, but also sternly exhorts her to sin no more. The characterization of Jesus here is a reminder that for early Christians, Jesus was no shrinking violet. He resists those who test him with a combination of wisdom, compassion and intelligence. 

-Alicia Batten

Monday, February 10, 2014

Monday, February 10, 2014

John 7:37-52

“As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive[.]  (John 7:38-39, NRSV)

Today in contemporary Anglican calendars we commemorate Hannah Grier Coome, founder of the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, which has communities in Toronto and Victoria. Several St. John’s parishioners are Associates of the Sisterhood, and members of the Sisterhood have come to St. John’s on various occasions for speaking engagements and retreats.

In today’s reading people debate about Jesus’ hometown as a way of denying his authority. Their expectations and predisposition to making quick judgements closed their minds to Jesus’ message. When Hannah Grier Coome felt a call to the monastic life she initially figured that she would join an established community in England. Only later, with the guidance of others, would she come to realize the opportunities for ministry in her own country. Sometimes the best decisions take a little thinking outside the box, or are the result of surprises that are beyond what we could have thought up ourselves.

Today let us give thanks for the life and witness of Hannah Grier Coome, and for the Spirit who enlightens and sanctifies all communities that come together in the name of Jesus Christ.

More information on Anglican religious orders in the Americas can be found on the CAROA website.

-Matthew Kieswetter

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Mark 10:13-22

The radio program Snap Judgment recently played a story about the Desserich family and it illustrates so well the truth of today’s Gospel. I’ll summarize here:

Five-year old Elena knew exactly what she wanted to do when she was older.  She also knew that she had only one year to do it.  She was dying of cancer and what she wanted to do was remind her parents, Keith and Brooke, and her younger sister, Grace, just how much she loved them.

Here father shares that Elena was a strong, articulate and intelligent child. She fiercely cared for her younger sister, almost to the point of being a second mother. She had a distinctively confident way of walking and when she began to stumble, they knew something wasn’t right. She was later diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and the only ones who survive, the doctors said, were those who were misdiagnosed.

Keith and Brooke never told their daughter the doctor’s prognosis. But she knew and she began to prepare, not for her own death, but for her family’s loss.  After she was gone, Keith and Brooke began finding notes around the house. At first, when a note fell from a book pulled from the shelf, they thought it was one they had forgotten. Perhaps one written at school that they shoved away in the book they were reading at the time. But when the notes began turning up everywhere: in the furniture, in the dishes, written on the hotel stationary of places they had stayed during her year of treatments, they knew she had planned them all along.

The notes were addressed variously to her mom, to her dad or to her sister, and they all have the same theme: I love you. Both Keith and Brooke carry one note that they haven’t yet opened. He found his in his office desk. She found hers in her briefcase. They carry them as tangible reminders of their daughter’s love.  

I have to admit that this story moves me. I am moved by Elena’s simple, yet radical, openness to life in the face of her own death. I am inspired by her ability to be for others even as she suffered. I am fascinated by her attentive creativity.  

When you listen to the story, you can tell Elena’s father adored his daughter. And it seems to me that Elena had what all treasured children have: an unconscious, immediate sense of being loved. She depended on her family in simple trust. She hadn’t yet “matured” into a life of “independence” and “self-sufficiency.” 

I can’t help but think that when Jesus welcomed the children, he welcomed them for this same radical openness and simple trust. He recognized in them something he recognized in himself: he knew he was Beloved and so did they. Because both he and they were bathed in love, it was easy for them to give it away. 

And I can’t help but notice the stark contrast with the rich young ruler. In his position of status and affluence, he had forgotten how to love. He came to ask Jesus for advice. Maybe he had forgotten how to love because he had forgotten what it’s like to be a child and to find security not in power or wealth but in loving relationships.

I often pray that I could be more like Elena and less like the rich young ruler. I pray that I could re-capture my own spirit of child-like love and trust. And I pray that I would be captured by the vision of what God is up to in the world: a mission of divine sharing with all creation. I pray that we could all be captured by the kind of child-like wonder that Abraham Joshua Heschel describes: “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” And, then, from this place of amazement, continue in a life of simple kindness and social justice. 

I have some notes to write. 

-David Shumaker

+++ You can find Keith’s story of Elena on the website www.snapjudgment.org/found. +++