From Brian: (March 10, 2008)
NOTE: My Reflections are now posted on a new Blog: http://briansalmostdailyreflections.blogspot.com/
(The blog http://brianstakeontheworldfaithandreligion.blogspot.com/ will be used for other thoughts.)
Monday, March 10, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, March 07, 2008
I've never felt a pain that didn't bear a blessing.
- Gene K. Hoffman
Not so fast! I think Hoffman is correct about this in essence. But. I’ve known some people who never got to the Blessing part. This has to become part of the way you look at Life, I think, for it to be a really helpful working principle.
Pain is a given of human existence. Perhaps of the Universe. I’ve gotten hurt, in body, mind, spirit, heart. Often it feels like it won’t go away. But, after just a couple of days of pain after my heart surgery and many other physical insults, the pain subsided; the Blessing was how the body can be quite amazing. (Though it’s interesting how a cold sore can be more aggravating than a 7” incision! Is there a wisdom here?).
I thought I would be a monk all my life. Nope: 15 years. But the Blessing was discovering my innate contemplative soul, to realize we all have one, and how critical it is to nurture it. My mind, over the years, has been pained to come up against hard concepts that challenged my assumptions about “truth”, especially about the Mystery of God, Faith, Happiness. The Blessing has been to understand that change and learning is Life itself. My Spirit has often been assaulted by discouragement and a panic of aloneness. The Blessing has been the gift of Friendship, holding me up in felt and unfelt ways. My heart has often felt rejection. The Blessing has been the knowledge and conviction of the “God of Unconditional Love”, the certainty that I (and all people) am loved and valued and delighted in - from that I learned both independence and generosity.
The Pain and the Blessing roll on. If your way of Life doesn’t support Blessing rising out of Pain, can it. You are worth much, much better!
Brian+
I've never felt a pain that didn't bear a blessing.
- Gene K. Hoffman
Not so fast! I think Hoffman is correct about this in essence. But. I’ve known some people who never got to the Blessing part. This has to become part of the way you look at Life, I think, for it to be a really helpful working principle.
Pain is a given of human existence. Perhaps of the Universe. I’ve gotten hurt, in body, mind, spirit, heart. Often it feels like it won’t go away. But, after just a couple of days of pain after my heart surgery and many other physical insults, the pain subsided; the Blessing was how the body can be quite amazing. (Though it’s interesting how a cold sore can be more aggravating than a 7” incision! Is there a wisdom here?).
I thought I would be a monk all my life. Nope: 15 years. But the Blessing was discovering my innate contemplative soul, to realize we all have one, and how critical it is to nurture it. My mind, over the years, has been pained to come up against hard concepts that challenged my assumptions about “truth”, especially about the Mystery of God, Faith, Happiness. The Blessing has been to understand that change and learning is Life itself. My Spirit has often been assaulted by discouragement and a panic of aloneness. The Blessing has been the gift of Friendship, holding me up in felt and unfelt ways. My heart has often felt rejection. The Blessing has been the knowledge and conviction of the “God of Unconditional Love”, the certainty that I (and all people) am loved and valued and delighted in - from that I learned both independence and generosity.
The Pain and the Blessing roll on. If your way of Life doesn’t support Blessing rising out of Pain, can it. You are worth much, much better!
Brian+
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, March 06, 2008
All is change in the world of the senses,
But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love,
Meditate on him, be absorbed in him,
Wake up from this dream of separateness.
-Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Hindu)
I am with a group of folk from my congregations. We are on a retreat at Mt. Calvary Retreat House in Santa Barbara CA (not too shabby, right! trust monks to grab the best locations). We are sitting on top of a mountain, - the ocean and city lights below us, the flowering mountains around us, the clear star-filled skies above us, healing Silence enveloping us.
Last night, one of the monks gave us a talk on the Heavens. Once a science teacher, he became fascinated with astronomy when he came to live at this house 20 years ago. He reflected on several passages of the Bible that talk about how the Heavens “proclaim the glory of God”. Then he took us outside, where he had set up his 8” telescope. He showed us soft-white Saturn with its sweeping rings, and its moon Titan, 850 million miles from us. He showed us the Orion nebula, giving birth to new stars. He showed us the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5 million light years away but visible to the naked eye from our own Milky Way galaxy.
One has a slight sense, gazing out there, of panic. How tiny and insignificant we seem – and maybe “alone” in this vastness. But not last night. I felt the connection, the “being-part-of”. The Oneness with the change and reshaping and growing. “We” are all in it together.
But we have also “found” the Unchanging Heart of it all. We have intuited, plucked out of the vastness of the Unknown, the Known. Love. Our religion, many peoples’ religions, has made a determination about what the ultimate character of Existence is. It is Unchanging Love, anchoring us all in the wonder of Creation and sustaining without fear us in the constant flow of change.
Such is the “God” we have found. So we step out with a smile and trust. All is well.
Brian+
All is change in the world of the senses,
But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love,
Meditate on him, be absorbed in him,
Wake up from this dream of separateness.
-Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Hindu)
I am with a group of folk from my congregations. We are on a retreat at Mt. Calvary Retreat House in Santa Barbara CA (not too shabby, right! trust monks to grab the best locations). We are sitting on top of a mountain, - the ocean and city lights below us, the flowering mountains around us, the clear star-filled skies above us, healing Silence enveloping us.
Last night, one of the monks gave us a talk on the Heavens. Once a science teacher, he became fascinated with astronomy when he came to live at this house 20 years ago. He reflected on several passages of the Bible that talk about how the Heavens “proclaim the glory of God”. Then he took us outside, where he had set up his 8” telescope. He showed us soft-white Saturn with its sweeping rings, and its moon Titan, 850 million miles from us. He showed us the Orion nebula, giving birth to new stars. He showed us the Andromeda galaxy, 2.5 million light years away but visible to the naked eye from our own Milky Way galaxy.
One has a slight sense, gazing out there, of panic. How tiny and insignificant we seem – and maybe “alone” in this vastness. But not last night. I felt the connection, the “being-part-of”. The Oneness with the change and reshaping and growing. “We” are all in it together.
But we have also “found” the Unchanging Heart of it all. We have intuited, plucked out of the vastness of the Unknown, the Known. Love. Our religion, many peoples’ religions, has made a determination about what the ultimate character of Existence is. It is Unchanging Love, anchoring us all in the wonder of Creation and sustaining without fear us in the constant flow of change.
Such is the “God” we have found. So we step out with a smile and trust. All is well.
Brian+
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Any kind of expectation creates a problem.
We should accept, but not expect. Whatever
comes, accept it. Whatever goes, accept it.
The immediate benefit is that your mind
is always peaceful.
- Sri Satchidananda
As I think about it, “expectation” is a great tyranny. Expectation by nature creates distance between two people, between a person and one’s ability to be open to the World and to Life, between our heart and another. It creates fear. It blocks love. I have always appreciated the story of Jesus talking with the rich young man. Jesus loved him, offered His answer to the young man’s questions about how to attain Eternal Life, but had no expectation that the young man should do what He said. Wise.
I “expect”, but without prejudice or a need to control (when I’m functioning properly!). I expect things, “good” or “bad”, to happen. But I try not to control it. I “accept” – and I think that’s what the author means. “Accept” doesn’t mean we agree or like. It just means we know that Life is going to come at us. It’s best to be agile in our ability to respond. Recently, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had had the biopsy. While I was waiting for the results, I went through the process of letting my natural expectation of “bad news” be replaced by “acceptance”, so I could be resilient, accept, and not be controlled by fear. It worked! When the doc told me the results, I was ready to “get on with it”.
The swami is right. It helps to have a peaceful mind. Life takes on a deeper wonder, mystery, excitement.
Brian+
Any kind of expectation creates a problem.
We should accept, but not expect. Whatever
comes, accept it. Whatever goes, accept it.
The immediate benefit is that your mind
is always peaceful.
- Sri Satchidananda
As I think about it, “expectation” is a great tyranny. Expectation by nature creates distance between two people, between a person and one’s ability to be open to the World and to Life, between our heart and another. It creates fear. It blocks love. I have always appreciated the story of Jesus talking with the rich young man. Jesus loved him, offered His answer to the young man’s questions about how to attain Eternal Life, but had no expectation that the young man should do what He said. Wise.
I “expect”, but without prejudice or a need to control (when I’m functioning properly!). I expect things, “good” or “bad”, to happen. But I try not to control it. I “accept” – and I think that’s what the author means. “Accept” doesn’t mean we agree or like. It just means we know that Life is going to come at us. It’s best to be agile in our ability to respond. Recently, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had had the biopsy. While I was waiting for the results, I went through the process of letting my natural expectation of “bad news” be replaced by “acceptance”, so I could be resilient, accept, and not be controlled by fear. It worked! When the doc told me the results, I was ready to “get on with it”.
The swami is right. It helps to have a peaceful mind. Life takes on a deeper wonder, mystery, excitement.
Brian+
Monday, March 3, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, March 3, 2008
I don't want to get to the end of my life
and find that I lived just the length of it.
I want to have lived the width of it as well.
- Diane Ackerman
Work! That’s the problem! Oh, there are a few people (hopefully more than I know of) who absolutely love what they do as work and find that it is part of living the “width” of their lives. I suspect most people don’t have that connection. Now I understand more why the Biblical Creation story has God cursing human beings with having to work hard to eke out a painful existence from an uncooperative land - since the story was written by hard-working people who were worn out with never ending work to stay alive!
However, even putting work aside, my observation is that people choose paths in life that work against living the width of life. I have been “criticized” all my life by friends and parishioners griping about the fact that I travel to fun places and take a lot of opportunities to have fun, whether it’s birding in Madagascar or eating long lunches in Tuscan hill towns. I know that bottom-line they are just expressing the fact that they would like to be doing some version of what I’m doing. But I have gently pointed out that I have made choices that allow me to do these things, including rejecting some possibilities in order to enjoy others. Some people would rather have a $35,000 Lexus; I’m happy with a $10,000 pre-owned car and two trips to Italy!
Anyway: Diane is just nudging us. Think about how we spend our lives. It doesn’t have to be a trudging though the hours and days. There is “width”. We can orchestrate the side-trips out to the various edges, which will be different for each of us. If we’re either lucky of determined, work can be a part of it!
Brian+
I don't want to get to the end of my life
and find that I lived just the length of it.
I want to have lived the width of it as well.
- Diane Ackerman
Work! That’s the problem! Oh, there are a few people (hopefully more than I know of) who absolutely love what they do as work and find that it is part of living the “width” of their lives. I suspect most people don’t have that connection. Now I understand more why the Biblical Creation story has God cursing human beings with having to work hard to eke out a painful existence from an uncooperative land - since the story was written by hard-working people who were worn out with never ending work to stay alive!
However, even putting work aside, my observation is that people choose paths in life that work against living the width of life. I have been “criticized” all my life by friends and parishioners griping about the fact that I travel to fun places and take a lot of opportunities to have fun, whether it’s birding in Madagascar or eating long lunches in Tuscan hill towns. I know that bottom-line they are just expressing the fact that they would like to be doing some version of what I’m doing. But I have gently pointed out that I have made choices that allow me to do these things, including rejecting some possibilities in order to enjoy others. Some people would rather have a $35,000 Lexus; I’m happy with a $10,000 pre-owned car and two trips to Italy!
Anyway: Diane is just nudging us. Think about how we spend our lives. It doesn’t have to be a trudging though the hours and days. There is “width”. We can orchestrate the side-trips out to the various edges, which will be different for each of us. If we’re either lucky of determined, work can be a part of it!
Brian+
Friday, February 29, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, March 1, 2008
God judges persons differently than humans do.
Men and women look at the face;
God looks into the heart.
- from the Book of the Prophet Samuel
“God “is always what we human beings hope we can be. And for every human being who wants to be Hitler, there are incalculably more who want to be ….. insert the name of the loveliest, kindest, most intelligent, most loving person you know of.
The words from Samuel come from the passage where the prophet is sent to find a king for Israel to replace Saul. All of Jesse’s sons are rejected. Then David appears, and we are told that he was very handsome. He’s the “runt” of the litter. But God is looking beyond external handsome - and one can be handsome or ugly (both relative terms, of course), since to God the exterior is irrelevant - to a handsome heart. David is chosen, despite the fact that he committed adultery and treachery and murder. God is interesting, isn’t She!!
One of the things I like about God is that God transcends our petty human categories. Skin colour, place of origin, gender, sexual orientation, etc. This gives me some hope about the human community! We may be capable of wretched discrimination and hate of “the other”, yet we can conceive of an Ideal that transcends all this nonsense - and we admire this!
So, within the human heart there are contending realities. We can look at “the face”, or we can look “into the heart”. Well, despite the sad state of human relations worldwide at the moment, I’m betting on “into the heart” coming out on top, and will try consciously to abet it.
Brian+
God judges persons differently than humans do.
Men and women look at the face;
God looks into the heart.
- from the Book of the Prophet Samuel
“God “is always what we human beings hope we can be. And for every human being who wants to be Hitler, there are incalculably more who want to be ….. insert the name of the loveliest, kindest, most intelligent, most loving person you know of.
The words from Samuel come from the passage where the prophet is sent to find a king for Israel to replace Saul. All of Jesse’s sons are rejected. Then David appears, and we are told that he was very handsome. He’s the “runt” of the litter. But God is looking beyond external handsome - and one can be handsome or ugly (both relative terms, of course), since to God the exterior is irrelevant - to a handsome heart. David is chosen, despite the fact that he committed adultery and treachery and murder. God is interesting, isn’t She!!
One of the things I like about God is that God transcends our petty human categories. Skin colour, place of origin, gender, sexual orientation, etc. This gives me some hope about the human community! We may be capable of wretched discrimination and hate of “the other”, yet we can conceive of an Ideal that transcends all this nonsense - and we admire this!
So, within the human heart there are contending realities. We can look at “the face”, or we can look “into the heart”. Well, despite the sad state of human relations worldwide at the moment, I’m betting on “into the heart” coming out on top, and will try consciously to abet it.
Brian+
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, February 28, 2008
No [person] is exempt from saying silly things;
the mischief is to say them deliberately.
- Michel de Montaigne, philosopher, born
on this day, 1533, in Perigord, Bordeaux
Which gets me to the fascinating subject of Love. I seem to spend my life trying to understand the nature and character of Love - and I suppose that is OK, being in my “line of work”. But I actually think it “should” be everybody’s life-work. Certainly Christianity is essentially about Love/Compassion. I have that sense about Judaism, and Buddhism. Regrettably, through my own inexcusable lack of knowledge of Islam, I don’t know if a Muslim would say that Islam was essentially about Love. Must ask an Imam sometime soon.
I keep distinct Romance and Love. For me, Romance is lovely, but it’s a sub-set to Love. Romance, to me, has primarily to do with feelings - and feelings are notoriously slippery. On again, off again. People tend to bring flowers to their beloved when they feel good; I think it would be better to bring flowers when you don’t feel good about the relationship. You can extrapolate.
I also have come to think that Love is 95% an act of the will. One chooses, makes a conscious choice, to love, regardless of how one feels. In my own religious culture, I take this from Jesus, and other experiences in Life. One does not die for Love because it “feels” good - unless one is warped in some fashion! Chosen willful Love is clear and sharp and brilliant, not flabby and soft. Hence I can live with Dennis; I have no fear that transient feelings will take command of the choice to love.
I am very careful about using the word “love” in conversation or correspondence. As per Montaigne, I do not want to use it in a silly way. I want to be deliberate, to know that when I say “Love”, or “I love you”, or “Love to you”, I mean it.
It would be extremely detrimental not to be deliberate about Love.
Brian+
No [person] is exempt from saying silly things;
the mischief is to say them deliberately.
- Michel de Montaigne, philosopher, born
on this day, 1533, in Perigord, Bordeaux
Which gets me to the fascinating subject of Love. I seem to spend my life trying to understand the nature and character of Love - and I suppose that is OK, being in my “line of work”. But I actually think it “should” be everybody’s life-work. Certainly Christianity is essentially about Love/Compassion. I have that sense about Judaism, and Buddhism. Regrettably, through my own inexcusable lack of knowledge of Islam, I don’t know if a Muslim would say that Islam was essentially about Love. Must ask an Imam sometime soon.
I keep distinct Romance and Love. For me, Romance is lovely, but it’s a sub-set to Love. Romance, to me, has primarily to do with feelings - and feelings are notoriously slippery. On again, off again. People tend to bring flowers to their beloved when they feel good; I think it would be better to bring flowers when you don’t feel good about the relationship. You can extrapolate.
I also have come to think that Love is 95% an act of the will. One chooses, makes a conscious choice, to love, regardless of how one feels. In my own religious culture, I take this from Jesus, and other experiences in Life. One does not die for Love because it “feels” good - unless one is warped in some fashion! Chosen willful Love is clear and sharp and brilliant, not flabby and soft. Hence I can live with Dennis; I have no fear that transient feelings will take command of the choice to love.
I am very careful about using the word “love” in conversation or correspondence. As per Montaigne, I do not want to use it in a silly way. I want to be deliberate, to know that when I say “Love”, or “I love you”, or “Love to you”, I mean it.
It would be extremely detrimental not to be deliberate about Love.
Brian+
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done
what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have
crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow
is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wonder, can one do this today?? I know when I get to the end of a day, I’m not at all sure that I have “done what you could”. In fact, I know I usually haven’t. Is this because I am a life-long procrastinator? Or because it’s impossible? Or, perhaps my expectations are too high? And, I find it rather hard to forget the “some absurdities and blunders” that have crept in. I beat myself up about it relentlessly - how in the world could I have forgotten this or that!! And: it’s bad enough to get over one’s own blunders and absurdities, but how can one make amends before the day ends for everyone else who’s been affected?
Or - oh dear - does one just have to work at it! Make it a conscious plan of how to live Life, understanding that it’s sensible and appropriate, knowing you’ll feel better, etc. Would everyone else just go with the flow when I appear at the beginning of the new day serene and in high spirit, unencumbered? Somehow I rather doubt it!
Again, I suppose it’s the “examined life” thing. Barbara Crafton said in a recent eMo about Life, “he builds a self. Then he spends the second half of his life learning how to take it down again, how to take it apart and examine the pieces of it, when to surrender a part of it that no longer makes sense.”
OK. At Compline, we pray for a “perfect end”. I’m now allergic to “perfect”, at least in theory. But I guess we do have to think about what Life will be for us, don’t overdo, try to tie up some loose ends at day’s end (or slightly before), let it go, and meet the new day with a little bit of acceptable amnesia.
About 5pm, have a glass of wine and be glad that things haven’t gone totally awry!
Brian+
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done
what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have
crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow
is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wonder, can one do this today?? I know when I get to the end of a day, I’m not at all sure that I have “done what you could”. In fact, I know I usually haven’t. Is this because I am a life-long procrastinator? Or because it’s impossible? Or, perhaps my expectations are too high? And, I find it rather hard to forget the “some absurdities and blunders” that have crept in. I beat myself up about it relentlessly - how in the world could I have forgotten this or that!! And: it’s bad enough to get over one’s own blunders and absurdities, but how can one make amends before the day ends for everyone else who’s been affected?
Or - oh dear - does one just have to work at it! Make it a conscious plan of how to live Life, understanding that it’s sensible and appropriate, knowing you’ll feel better, etc. Would everyone else just go with the flow when I appear at the beginning of the new day serene and in high spirit, unencumbered? Somehow I rather doubt it!
Again, I suppose it’s the “examined life” thing. Barbara Crafton said in a recent eMo about Life, “he builds a self. Then he spends the second half of his life learning how to take it down again, how to take it apart and examine the pieces of it, when to surrender a part of it that no longer makes sense.”
OK. At Compline, we pray for a “perfect end”. I’m now allergic to “perfect”, at least in theory. But I guess we do have to think about what Life will be for us, don’t overdo, try to tie up some loose ends at day’s end (or slightly before), let it go, and meet the new day with a little bit of acceptable amnesia.
About 5pm, have a glass of wine and be glad that things haven’t gone totally awry!
Brian+
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Great compassion is the root of all forms of worship.
- The Dalai Lama
Well, Dennis and I are headed off to the hospital for his back surgery.
What is worship? The root of the word is “acknowledging the worth (and I would say, wonder, loveliness, beauty) of”. When we “go to worship”, we are going to lift up a grand cheer! “Worship” in our modern usage has come to be directed only towards God – and I can understand the desire to want to acknowledge the uniqueness of God. (“You shall have no other God besides me” – worshipping only God avoids idolatry.)
But remember the Elizabethan English marriage rite? One phrase in it was, “With my body I thee worship”, the husband speaking to the wife. That rite didn’t think it was bordering on idolatry to “worship” another human being, if I haven’t misunderstood the intent.
And at the bottom of worship? The Dalai Lama is right, I believe. Great Compassion. We can – must – only worship that which has Great Compassion at it’s heart. And the God we know in Jesus Christ (at least as I understand it) is definitely such Heart of Compassion. Great Compassion is what shines forth from the Cross. It defines Christianity.
We cannot authentically worship unless it rises from the Great Compassion in our hearts.
Brian+
Great compassion is the root of all forms of worship.
- The Dalai Lama
Well, Dennis and I are headed off to the hospital for his back surgery.
What is worship? The root of the word is “acknowledging the worth (and I would say, wonder, loveliness, beauty) of”. When we “go to worship”, we are going to lift up a grand cheer! “Worship” in our modern usage has come to be directed only towards God – and I can understand the desire to want to acknowledge the uniqueness of God. (“You shall have no other God besides me” – worshipping only God avoids idolatry.)
But remember the Elizabethan English marriage rite? One phrase in it was, “With my body I thee worship”, the husband speaking to the wife. That rite didn’t think it was bordering on idolatry to “worship” another human being, if I haven’t misunderstood the intent.
And at the bottom of worship? The Dalai Lama is right, I believe. Great Compassion. We can – must – only worship that which has Great Compassion at it’s heart. And the God we know in Jesus Christ (at least as I understand it) is definitely such Heart of Compassion. Great Compassion is what shines forth from the Cross. It defines Christianity.
We cannot authentically worship unless it rises from the Great Compassion in our hearts.
Brian+
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, February 23, 2008
To Sleep
O SOFT embalmer of the still midnight!
Shutting with careful fingers and benign
Our gloom-pleased eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine;
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close,
In midst of this thine hymn, my willing eyes,
Or wait the amen, ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities;
Then save me, or the passèd day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes;
Save me from curious conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards,
And seal the hushèd casket of my soul.
- John Keats, poet, who died on this day, 1821, in Rome
I didn’t sleep through the night for a week after my latest surgery. Woke up after a couple of hours, then awake for five, before a bit of restless dozing. So I know what Keats is talking about. How healing Sleep is.
I know now, when I wake up in the night and can sense that I’m not going to return to sleep, to reach for a book. Two nights ago it was “Love in the Time of Cholera”; last night, “Birds of North America”. Informative, entertaining.
But I do often remember what Fr. Huntington, OHC said, “When you awake in the middle of the night, assume that God wishes to speak with you”. (I may be paraphrasing a bit.) A “curious conscience” is usually part of the “still midnight”. I have found that it’s a good time for scattering fantasy and resting in Reality, getting comfortable with it. And I find that Reality is a good antidote for anxiety. “Resting in God” is another way to put it since, for me, God is the Healer and Friend, Who often indeed does away with “many woes”.
Brian+
To Sleep
O SOFT embalmer of the still midnight!
Shutting with careful fingers and benign
Our gloom-pleased eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine;
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close,
In midst of this thine hymn, my willing eyes,
Or wait the amen, ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities;
Then save me, or the passèd day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes;
Save me from curious conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oilèd wards,
And seal the hushèd casket of my soul.
- John Keats, poet, who died on this day, 1821, in Rome
I didn’t sleep through the night for a week after my latest surgery. Woke up after a couple of hours, then awake for five, before a bit of restless dozing. So I know what Keats is talking about. How healing Sleep is.
I know now, when I wake up in the night and can sense that I’m not going to return to sleep, to reach for a book. Two nights ago it was “Love in the Time of Cholera”; last night, “Birds of North America”. Informative, entertaining.
But I do often remember what Fr. Huntington, OHC said, “When you awake in the middle of the night, assume that God wishes to speak with you”. (I may be paraphrasing a bit.) A “curious conscience” is usually part of the “still midnight”. I have found that it’s a good time for scattering fantasy and resting in Reality, getting comfortable with it. And I find that Reality is a good antidote for anxiety. “Resting in God” is another way to put it since, for me, God is the Healer and Friend, Who often indeed does away with “many woes”.
Brian+
Friday, February 22, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 22, 2008
I had forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not so have ventured forth alone
At dusk upon this unfrequented road.
I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet, born on this day,
1892, in Rockville, Maine
“I am waylaid by Beauty”. For me, whatever else “God” is, It is a kind of irresistible Beauty that is at the heart of Life which has the seductive power to draw us out of our symbolic “years” of Silence. It seems to me that we human beings spend a great deal of time in the Silences. Maybe this is “normal”? We get to one “house”, and there we stay for whatever time, short or long. Life goes on, at different levels of contentment or discontent.
But Life is, I think, always a growing, a becoming. That process can be gentle or tumultuous or somewhere in between. We are always a becoming-human-being - that’s what makes Life so fascinating and that’s what makes Death so intriguing. What’s to be found when we move “from one house to another”?
I’ve lived with the frogs of dusk on and off again in different parts of the World. Especially Liberia and the Caribbean, where they are loud. They can be scary and ominous – until you know what it is making all that racket.
The “savage Beauty” of discovering Life - Self, Others, Mystery - is necessary. What or who one loves is the best companion to walk between us and the “crying of the frogs”. When another house beckons, take Love’s arm and set out.
Brian+
I had forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not so have ventured forth alone
At dusk upon this unfrequented road.
I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet, born on this day,
1892, in Rockville, Maine
“I am waylaid by Beauty”. For me, whatever else “God” is, It is a kind of irresistible Beauty that is at the heart of Life which has the seductive power to draw us out of our symbolic “years” of Silence. It seems to me that we human beings spend a great deal of time in the Silences. Maybe this is “normal”? We get to one “house”, and there we stay for whatever time, short or long. Life goes on, at different levels of contentment or discontent.
But Life is, I think, always a growing, a becoming. That process can be gentle or tumultuous or somewhere in between. We are always a becoming-human-being - that’s what makes Life so fascinating and that’s what makes Death so intriguing. What’s to be found when we move “from one house to another”?
I’ve lived with the frogs of dusk on and off again in different parts of the World. Especially Liberia and the Caribbean, where they are loud. They can be scary and ominous – until you know what it is making all that racket.
The “savage Beauty” of discovering Life - Self, Others, Mystery - is necessary. What or who one loves is the best companion to walk between us and the “crying of the frogs”. When another house beckons, take Love’s arm and set out.
Brian+
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Each contact with a human being is so rare,
so precious, one should preserve it.
- Anais Nin, author, poet, born on this day, 1903
I confess that I am not a very helpful priest when people ask me how to “do” certain liturgical rituals. Should the corporal be placed on the altar with the cross to the front or back? Should the candles be put out left to right, or right to left? When and where and how should one bow or genuflect at the altar, or at the Blessed Sacrament? What should one do if wine is spilled on the altarcloth, or the Host drops to the floor? There are a thousand such questions. And every parish, probably every priest or acolyte mistress, has a different way of doing things.
I guess it irritates me that people think there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to do things, mechanically speaking. My experience has taught me that when you start thinking that way, the heart or core has been lost. As an example, I remember a brother in religion who did not believe in the “Real Presence” in the Sacrament. So, when it came time to deal with the crumbs on the corporal (my apologies, you non-religious types!), he would ostentatiously pick it up at two ends and flap it in the air, rather than simply fold it or carefully funnel the crumbs to the paten.
My standard answer is, “Whatever you do, do it quietly, unfussily, and above all reverently”. My assumption is that people know what this is. I seem to be wrong. This may indicate a problem in the World!
We Catholic Christians treat the Blessed Sacrament, and “holy places” and things, reverently. We believe that the Sacrament is a vivid sign of God’s Presence among us.
Reverence to “holy things” in worship is, however, a pointer. A pointer to what Nin alludes to. God is in each of us, in every human being. Or, every human being is an icon of God. Or, every human being is god(ess)-like. The encounter is rare and precious. Think how different interpersonal relationships would be if every person saw the Holy in the other - always!
Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious. What a superb way to approach life together.
Brian+
Each contact with a human being is so rare,
so precious, one should preserve it.
- Anais Nin, author, poet, born on this day, 1903
I confess that I am not a very helpful priest when people ask me how to “do” certain liturgical rituals. Should the corporal be placed on the altar with the cross to the front or back? Should the candles be put out left to right, or right to left? When and where and how should one bow or genuflect at the altar, or at the Blessed Sacrament? What should one do if wine is spilled on the altarcloth, or the Host drops to the floor? There are a thousand such questions. And every parish, probably every priest or acolyte mistress, has a different way of doing things.
I guess it irritates me that people think there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to do things, mechanically speaking. My experience has taught me that when you start thinking that way, the heart or core has been lost. As an example, I remember a brother in religion who did not believe in the “Real Presence” in the Sacrament. So, when it came time to deal with the crumbs on the corporal (my apologies, you non-religious types!), he would ostentatiously pick it up at two ends and flap it in the air, rather than simply fold it or carefully funnel the crumbs to the paten.
My standard answer is, “Whatever you do, do it quietly, unfussily, and above all reverently”. My assumption is that people know what this is. I seem to be wrong. This may indicate a problem in the World!
We Catholic Christians treat the Blessed Sacrament, and “holy places” and things, reverently. We believe that the Sacrament is a vivid sign of God’s Presence among us.
Reverence to “holy things” in worship is, however, a pointer. A pointer to what Nin alludes to. God is in each of us, in every human being. Or, every human being is an icon of God. Or, every human being is god(ess)-like. The encounter is rare and precious. Think how different interpersonal relationships would be if every person saw the Holy in the other - always!
Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious. What a superb way to approach life together.
Brian+
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
[ Picture of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, died 1790 ]
- Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II,
died on this day, 1790
Who would have thought that a Holy Roman Empire existed in 1790!!! The only Holy Roman Emperor I am “familiar” with is Charles V (1519-56). He was the uncle (have I got this right?) of Catherine of Aragon, who was married to Henry VIII of England. Henry wanted to divorce her, but the Pope – who normally granted annulments to royals - refused. Why? The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was at that time besieging Rome (I’m not sure why) - and the Pope knew that if he granted the annulment, Rome and he would be destroyed. So goes History. And so goes the eventual “founding” of the Anglican Church and the Anglican Communion. To me, it’s more hilarious than anything else!
What a dude is Joseph II! Look at that outfit. Can you imagine any American man dressing like that? Well you should because they did at that time. Powdered wigs, silk, etc. Sometimes I think it would be fun if we could get “there” again. However, they can keep the wigs. I have always loved the idea of things on my head (hats), but I can’t stand it practically.
So. Am I going to say anything useful?
No. Today is Useless Day. A moment to contemplate the silliness of Life and History. Is it not amazing how things develop??!! It is said of Joseph II: “He was a friend to religious toleration, anxious to reduce the power of the church, to relieve the peasantry of feudal burdens, and to remove restrictions on trade and knowledge”. Alas. Good ideas, but failure. Too many other men (yes, men) who had other ideas.
Joseph II was the titular King of Jerusalem. Whoa!
I remember words that end, something about “wind, signifying nothing”.
We need “signifying nothing” every now and then.
Brian+
Monday, February 18, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, February 19, 2008
It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.
- Amy Tan, author, born on this day, 1952
Well, I have two basic reactions to this. One: I wish I could have been a writer of the Great Myths of Life. OK, ok, so it sounds pretentious, but I would like to have had my chance at shaping the human community. I have thought about what Life is for decades. I’ve chosen a faith path ….. well, only in part, since I was born into a Christian ethos, I was somewhat indoctrinated, but I did make a choice along the way for a style of Christianity I hoped would pattern my hopes. That has only been so only in very disappointing part.
Two: I am willing to accept that the “people” who ended up writing, or shaping as editors, the great myths of humanity, were originally thinking about Life. I have come to see that even such minds are, like everyone’s, easily seduced by self-interest. “Death”, in all of its symbolic power, intervenes.
When I “retire”, and before I die, I am going to write my own Myth. I should be kept busy, but I think it will be exciting!
I have preached for 40 years as a Christian priest. I have been a “writer” in a sense. I’m not at all sure that I’ve been faithful to Life. I have always thought the Gospel, as I understand it, was about Life. It has been deeply deeply depressing to me that the Gospel has been used as an instrument of death and of demeaning and of debasement and of discrimination and of oppression and of violence and of lies and of cruelty. Particularly in the American ethos as I have experienced it.
I recently, when I decided to “retire in protest”, made a decision to be a “writer” who thinks of Life. I intend to make my life a witness to Life as I have come to understand it in the God I came to know in Jesus, and in the superb charity of Jesus that I have experienced in many many fine people and faiths. These are the paths and people I intend to spend my life with and in support of.
“All you ever think about is Life.” Would that were so in the World today. What a sad dark place we are in. I take hope in John’s vision that the Dark cannot overcome.
Brian+
It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life.
- Amy Tan, author, born on this day, 1952
Well, I have two basic reactions to this. One: I wish I could have been a writer of the Great Myths of Life. OK, ok, so it sounds pretentious, but I would like to have had my chance at shaping the human community. I have thought about what Life is for decades. I’ve chosen a faith path ….. well, only in part, since I was born into a Christian ethos, I was somewhat indoctrinated, but I did make a choice along the way for a style of Christianity I hoped would pattern my hopes. That has only been so only in very disappointing part.
Two: I am willing to accept that the “people” who ended up writing, or shaping as editors, the great myths of humanity, were originally thinking about Life. I have come to see that even such minds are, like everyone’s, easily seduced by self-interest. “Death”, in all of its symbolic power, intervenes.
When I “retire”, and before I die, I am going to write my own Myth. I should be kept busy, but I think it will be exciting!
I have preached for 40 years as a Christian priest. I have been a “writer” in a sense. I’m not at all sure that I’ve been faithful to Life. I have always thought the Gospel, as I understand it, was about Life. It has been deeply deeply depressing to me that the Gospel has been used as an instrument of death and of demeaning and of debasement and of discrimination and of oppression and of violence and of lies and of cruelty. Particularly in the American ethos as I have experienced it.
I recently, when I decided to “retire in protest”, made a decision to be a “writer” who thinks of Life. I intend to make my life a witness to Life as I have come to understand it in the God I came to know in Jesus, and in the superb charity of Jesus that I have experienced in many many fine people and faiths. These are the paths and people I intend to spend my life with and in support of.
“All you ever think about is Life.” Would that were so in the World today. What a sad dark place we are in. I take hope in John’s vision that the Dark cannot overcome.
Brian+
Friday, February 15, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, February 16, 2008
You cannot be too gentle, too kind.
Shun even to appear harsh in your
treatment of each other. Joy, radiant
joy, streams from the face of one who
gives and kindles joy in the heart of
one who receives.
- St. Seraphim of Sarov
I have begun to be able to see that harshness does indeed come from an unhappiness within the human heart. Most of us would like to think it comes from righteousness, or from an awareness of the misfortune or mistreatment of others. But really it comes from our own sense of mistreatment.
Gentleness and kindness are the gifts of at least two things. Of someone who has let go, even in the face of mistreatment. And of a gift received of self-acceptance and self-worth. The latter we must grant ourselves, even if it is held out to us by Another.
I am wondering. Can behaving gently, and being kind, be a “sacrament”? In their visibility, will they bring about their invisible grace? I think so – as long as one is being genuine. And how does one get there? Can it be by an act of the will? Someone, I think not.
I think one has to be surprised by Joy. It is a gift that we human beings give to each other.
Brian+
You cannot be too gentle, too kind.
Shun even to appear harsh in your
treatment of each other. Joy, radiant
joy, streams from the face of one who
gives and kindles joy in the heart of
one who receives.
- St. Seraphim of Sarov
I have begun to be able to see that harshness does indeed come from an unhappiness within the human heart. Most of us would like to think it comes from righteousness, or from an awareness of the misfortune or mistreatment of others. But really it comes from our own sense of mistreatment.
Gentleness and kindness are the gifts of at least two things. Of someone who has let go, even in the face of mistreatment. And of a gift received of self-acceptance and self-worth. The latter we must grant ourselves, even if it is held out to us by Another.
I am wondering. Can behaving gently, and being kind, be a “sacrament”? In their visibility, will they bring about their invisible grace? I think so – as long as one is being genuine. And how does one get there? Can it be by an act of the will? Someone, I think not.
I think one has to be surprised by Joy. It is a gift that we human beings give to each other.
Brian+
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 15, 2008
Every law is an infraction of liberty.
- Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher.
born on this day, 1748
Short and sweet today. Bentham must have got this from contemplating many things, including Jesus and Paul of Tarsus. The words probably make Americans shudder. We hear our politicians going on these days about our needing to be a people of “Law and Order”. Not just for “us”, but for the World.
But it doesn’t work, clearly. Not unless “law” rests on Charity. On Honour. On Respect. On Humility.
This is, I think, why Jesus said simply, “Love one another as I have loved you”. A “new” commandment. But of course it isn’t “new”. Every now and then in history we human beings have the “aha” moment. “Ordering” doesn’t produce what we desire. You can’t order anyone to love or care, including yourself. There has to be a deep understanding of the human heart, and of our connection with one another.
Bentham, bottom line, is absolutely correct. Liberty is a gift. It cannot be “ordered”. It is why the Christian life is all about Grace – the freely offered, unconditional acceptance of each other, based on the nature of God. Only from there can we reject revenge and embrace the glory of human transformation which rests on gratitude.
Remember: I just start the process. It’s up to you to think it through.
Brian+
Every law is an infraction of liberty.
- Jeremy Bentham, English philosopher.
born on this day, 1748
Short and sweet today. Bentham must have got this from contemplating many things, including Jesus and Paul of Tarsus. The words probably make Americans shudder. We hear our politicians going on these days about our needing to be a people of “Law and Order”. Not just for “us”, but for the World.
But it doesn’t work, clearly. Not unless “law” rests on Charity. On Honour. On Respect. On Humility.
This is, I think, why Jesus said simply, “Love one another as I have loved you”. A “new” commandment. But of course it isn’t “new”. Every now and then in history we human beings have the “aha” moment. “Ordering” doesn’t produce what we desire. You can’t order anyone to love or care, including yourself. There has to be a deep understanding of the human heart, and of our connection with one another.
Bentham, bottom line, is absolutely correct. Liberty is a gift. It cannot be “ordered”. It is why the Christian life is all about Grace – the freely offered, unconditional acceptance of each other, based on the nature of God. Only from there can we reject revenge and embrace the glory of human transformation which rests on gratitude.
Remember: I just start the process. It’s up to you to think it through.
Brian+
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, February 13, 2008
When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating
and realized what she would get out of it—she'd know everything!
—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband,
and he ate. Immediately the two of them did "see what's really
going on"—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together
as makeshift clothes for themselves.
- from Genesis 2 (a reading for Lent 1)
Well gang. I’m off to the hospital very early. The surgeon took one look at my abdominal hernia(s) and said, “Bad; repair ASAP. How about Wednesday morning?” So, what’s a guy to do. Go with the flow, right!
So: just a comment on this portion of Gen 2. What wretched prude, at whatever stage of things, decided that the sewed-together-fig-leaves had to do with Sex???? Utter nonsense. This is a perfect example of human avoidance getting a hold on things. Think of all the ridiculous – and anti-human – clap-trap that has been perpetrated by hypocritical males interpreting this Myth!
God thinks Sex is a very good thing or She wouldn’t have organized us they way She did. Like everything, Sex can be demeaned by us crazy humans. But. Bottom line, Sex is one of the loveliest “tools” that can be used to enhance human relationships. Yes we have a lot to learn, but hey, we humans are intelligent!
The Myth has NOTHING to do with sex, good or bad. Fig Leaves are a metaphor for “a cover-up”. In the Myth, recognition of nakedness is a metaphor for the dawning awareness that we are cowards who refuse to accept our capacity for unhuman , unholy behaviour. Clothes have practical value, of course. But symbolically, they represent our unease at our inability to face the truth of who we are - great lovers or failed lovers.
Perhaps we might think about the “fig leaves” we could wear to express our courage to be our true selves?
Brian+
When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating
and realized what she would get out of it—she'd know everything!
—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband,
and he ate. Immediately the two of them did "see what's really
going on"—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together
as makeshift clothes for themselves.
- from Genesis 2 (a reading for Lent 1)
Well gang. I’m off to the hospital very early. The surgeon took one look at my abdominal hernia(s) and said, “Bad; repair ASAP. How about Wednesday morning?” So, what’s a guy to do. Go with the flow, right!
So: just a comment on this portion of Gen 2. What wretched prude, at whatever stage of things, decided that the sewed-together-fig-leaves had to do with Sex???? Utter nonsense. This is a perfect example of human avoidance getting a hold on things. Think of all the ridiculous – and anti-human – clap-trap that has been perpetrated by hypocritical males interpreting this Myth!
God thinks Sex is a very good thing or She wouldn’t have organized us they way She did. Like everything, Sex can be demeaned by us crazy humans. But. Bottom line, Sex is one of the loveliest “tools” that can be used to enhance human relationships. Yes we have a lot to learn, but hey, we humans are intelligent!
The Myth has NOTHING to do with sex, good or bad. Fig Leaves are a metaphor for “a cover-up”. In the Myth, recognition of nakedness is a metaphor for the dawning awareness that we are cowards who refuse to accept our capacity for unhuman , unholy behaviour. Clothes have practical value, of course. But symbolically, they represent our unease at our inability to face the truth of who we are - great lovers or failed lovers.
Perhaps we might think about the “fig leaves” we could wear to express our courage to be our true selves?
Brian+
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, February 11, 2008
……………. as in many other things connected with the
formation of character, people in general begin outside,
when they should begin inside; instead of beginning
with the heart, and trusting that to form the manners, they
begin with the manners, and trust the heart to chance influences.
- Lydia Maria Child, author, poet, born on this day, 1802, in Medford (?) MA
Yes, you do know Lydia Maria Child! She wrote the words to a song that even we Verdun Quebec kids knew (or I did anyway) - “Over the river and through the woods to grandfather’s house we go / the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh / through the white and drifted snow” - though I remember “grandmother, not father. And, if you lived in Massachusetts, as I did for a bit, you might know her family because of Medford Crackers – her father made them. She was one of the first women to make a living by writing.
Mrs. Child’s words make me wonder - what would a person turn out like if there were no other influences, and they were left alone to let the heart form their character? Interesting thought. I think it would be OK! Despite all the other influences in my life, I know what my heart really wants. To be respected, cared about, appreciated, treated gently, valued for myself. Have I just come to this after 60-odd years, or is the human heart indeed created in loveliness and to be trusted? I don’t know about other faiths, but Christian mystical theology has always felt that the heart was the home of God.
These days, I don’t think that we are careful enough about the human heart. Anywhere in the world. In any religion. Certainly not in any educational system. Religion has become a system of controlling behaviour from the “outside” - and manifestly it doesn’t work, in my opinion. And education [from the Latin “e ducare”, to lead out] has become not something that leads to the development of the human character (alas!) but vocational training – much to the detriment of the human community. What education gives us these days is soulless malcontents.
Well, enough of my “old man” bitching. I’m rooting for the heart. I intend to pay attention to not trusting the heart to “chance influences”. I intend to feed my heart with “good things”. Positive people and friends. Beauty. Laughter. Generosity. Wonder. Delight. Appreciation.
Come to think of it, “Grandfather’s house” is a metaphor for the heart’s abode.
Brian+
……………. as in many other things connected with the
formation of character, people in general begin outside,
when they should begin inside; instead of beginning
with the heart, and trusting that to form the manners, they
begin with the manners, and trust the heart to chance influences.
- Lydia Maria Child, author, poet, born on this day, 1802, in Medford (?) MA
Yes, you do know Lydia Maria Child! She wrote the words to a song that even we Verdun Quebec kids knew (or I did anyway) - “Over the river and through the woods to grandfather’s house we go / the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh / through the white and drifted snow” - though I remember “grandmother, not father. And, if you lived in Massachusetts, as I did for a bit, you might know her family because of Medford Crackers – her father made them. She was one of the first women to make a living by writing.
Mrs. Child’s words make me wonder - what would a person turn out like if there were no other influences, and they were left alone to let the heart form their character? Interesting thought. I think it would be OK! Despite all the other influences in my life, I know what my heart really wants. To be respected, cared about, appreciated, treated gently, valued for myself. Have I just come to this after 60-odd years, or is the human heart indeed created in loveliness and to be trusted? I don’t know about other faiths, but Christian mystical theology has always felt that the heart was the home of God.
These days, I don’t think that we are careful enough about the human heart. Anywhere in the world. In any religion. Certainly not in any educational system. Religion has become a system of controlling behaviour from the “outside” - and manifestly it doesn’t work, in my opinion. And education [from the Latin “e ducare”, to lead out] has become not something that leads to the development of the human character (alas!) but vocational training – much to the detriment of the human community. What education gives us these days is soulless malcontents.
Well, enough of my “old man” bitching. I’m rooting for the heart. I intend to pay attention to not trusting the heart to “chance influences”. I intend to feed my heart with “good things”. Positive people and friends. Beauty. Laughter. Generosity. Wonder. Delight. Appreciation.
Come to think of it, “Grandfather’s house” is a metaphor for the heart’s abode.
Brian+
Sermon for: Feb 10, 2008_Lent I_A_RCL Brian McHugh, priest & vicar
[Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-7][Ps 32][Rom 5:12-19][Matt 4:1-11]
Some musings on the Genesis Myth:
We human beings are “afraid” of Mortality – often called Death. Or we are affronted by it. It is not an accident that the holy season of Lent begins by starkly confronting us with the reality that we “are dust”, and to dust” we shall return. We wonder why we die – were we once immortal, and did we do something that brought on Death? Death has been interpreted by some as being the consequence of sin, or of whatever we did to insult God.
We wonder what’s beyond that boundary called Death. Is it “good”or “bad”, delightful or horrible? We wonder, is there anything we can do to avoid punishment? This has often led to the demeaning of religion to a legalistic keeping of rules rather than a path to becoming fully human. It has often made religion a system of controlling others, of having power over their lives.
We wonder if it’s worth striving for things – material, spiritual, emotional – if it all gets taken away from us sooner or later, but inevitably. We wonder if we can avoid it, and how: freeze-drying, or making a Faustian pact with “the Devil” or with some being who holds out the possibility of escape. We listen metaphorically to “serpents” who tell us, No, you won’t die! Note the serpent in the Genesis story today, who promises Adam and Adama that they can be like God. Or the Devil in the Matthew story who promises Jesus escape from death from a fall that would kill anyone.
This story from Genesis is an age-old attempt to understand ourselves. Every human culture has equivalent stories, equivalent “myths” – what I call “truth tales”, though I wish I could think of a classier name! Our Jewish ancestors developed this story over centuries, rethinking and refining, different generations adding to the inquiry. It tackles the profound questions every human being has. Where did we “come from”? Is our human nature essentially good or essentially bad? Why do we live with the conflict of good and evil in our lives, which causes us such suffering and confusion? Where can we find the answers to these nagging questions we have? Do we have the courage to look at our selves honestly and accept responsibility, or do we have to blame someone else? We still live in a patriarchal culture where women are blamed for much of the world’s problems, and blamed for mens’ “problems”, removing responsibility from men and permitting them to indulge their often selfish desires - all this justified on a male interpretation of the Genesis story.
And of course, the age-old question/hope: Is there an “Eden”? “Eden” is not a physical place; it is an emotional or spiritual or philosophical “place” where we can find peace and understanding and where we can be in harmony with one another and with the creative forces of the Universe. Are we going to learn how to create it, or do we live in the fantasy that God is going to hand it to us on a silver platter? I’m glad that the myth has us being expelled from Eden. It seems wisely to indicate that we understand our predicament, and know we have work to do.
Many interpret the Genesis myth to say that we human beings were once sinless and then “fell” into sin. I don’t believe in the widespread particular interpretation of what is called “The Fall” I believe it is and always has been human nature to be capable of Good and of Evil. “Eden” is a metaphor, a symbol, for the human longing and hope that we can choose love, be happy, overcome our penchant for fouling our own nest. In my view, if we are spiritually and emotionally healthy, the being we call God is an ally - one who will help us and lift us up. The God who punishes is the creation of a spiritually and intellectually unhealthy mind. The Christian God is essentially a God of Grace, as is the God of the Jews. The overlaying of an angry or condemning God is of human origin, and more specifically, the creation of a human mind which does not believe in humanity’s own essential glory and worth. I do. So does Jesus.
So. What does the Gospel for this first Sunday in the holy season of Lent ask us to confront if we would place our feet on the path of “return to Eden”? Jesus is baptized. He is immediately “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness, where he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights in preparation. This, like all such undertakings, is to help Him to see with the inner eye more clearly. At this moment of extreme hunger and weakness, He is tempted by Satan, known as the “father of lies”.
We all remember what happens. First, Satan offers Jesus life on the basis of His own power and physical needs; Jesus says No; that Life is infinitely more than that. Second: Satan offers Jesus the tempting thought that Life can be maintained by manipulating God. Jesus says No; God and we are One; we find Life together. Third: Satan offers Jesus personal power from worldly riches and glory. Jesus says No; Life is found in the godly path of loving service, compassion, mercy, justice.
My colleague Barbara Crafton put it beautifully: “Jesus sits in the wilderness and wants the things we all want. He sits there until he knows he can live life without any of them, because he knows, as we all must know, that we all will lose everything. And then he arises and returns to his world, as we return daily to ours. But we know more about what we can do with the power we have been given than we knew when we began.”
I said that the theme of this Lent was going to be Finding the Glory. Whatever we do this Lent, it will be helpful if we learn that we can receive the power to tell ourselves “No”sometimes. We need to have the power to say “No” to the many lies we are told or that we tell yourselves. To say No to things we are tempted to think will bring us joy and peace but which we know to be lies.
In the Collect today we pray: as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save. This is the true nature of the God we know in the Christ: She is there with us, in us, every step of the way on the path of transfiguration as a child of God.
[Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-7][Ps 32][Rom 5:12-19][Matt 4:1-11]
Some musings on the Genesis Myth:
We human beings are “afraid” of Mortality – often called Death. Or we are affronted by it. It is not an accident that the holy season of Lent begins by starkly confronting us with the reality that we “are dust”, and to dust” we shall return. We wonder why we die – were we once immortal, and did we do something that brought on Death? Death has been interpreted by some as being the consequence of sin, or of whatever we did to insult God.
We wonder what’s beyond that boundary called Death. Is it “good”or “bad”, delightful or horrible? We wonder, is there anything we can do to avoid punishment? This has often led to the demeaning of religion to a legalistic keeping of rules rather than a path to becoming fully human. It has often made religion a system of controlling others, of having power over their lives.
We wonder if it’s worth striving for things – material, spiritual, emotional – if it all gets taken away from us sooner or later, but inevitably. We wonder if we can avoid it, and how: freeze-drying, or making a Faustian pact with “the Devil” or with some being who holds out the possibility of escape. We listen metaphorically to “serpents” who tell us, No, you won’t die! Note the serpent in the Genesis story today, who promises Adam and Adama that they can be like God. Or the Devil in the Matthew story who promises Jesus escape from death from a fall that would kill anyone.
This story from Genesis is an age-old attempt to understand ourselves. Every human culture has equivalent stories, equivalent “myths” – what I call “truth tales”, though I wish I could think of a classier name! Our Jewish ancestors developed this story over centuries, rethinking and refining, different generations adding to the inquiry. It tackles the profound questions every human being has. Where did we “come from”? Is our human nature essentially good or essentially bad? Why do we live with the conflict of good and evil in our lives, which causes us such suffering and confusion? Where can we find the answers to these nagging questions we have? Do we have the courage to look at our selves honestly and accept responsibility, or do we have to blame someone else? We still live in a patriarchal culture where women are blamed for much of the world’s problems, and blamed for mens’ “problems”, removing responsibility from men and permitting them to indulge their often selfish desires - all this justified on a male interpretation of the Genesis story.
And of course, the age-old question/hope: Is there an “Eden”? “Eden” is not a physical place; it is an emotional or spiritual or philosophical “place” where we can find peace and understanding and where we can be in harmony with one another and with the creative forces of the Universe. Are we going to learn how to create it, or do we live in the fantasy that God is going to hand it to us on a silver platter? I’m glad that the myth has us being expelled from Eden. It seems wisely to indicate that we understand our predicament, and know we have work to do.
Many interpret the Genesis myth to say that we human beings were once sinless and then “fell” into sin. I don’t believe in the widespread particular interpretation of what is called “The Fall” I believe it is and always has been human nature to be capable of Good and of Evil. “Eden” is a metaphor, a symbol, for the human longing and hope that we can choose love, be happy, overcome our penchant for fouling our own nest. In my view, if we are spiritually and emotionally healthy, the being we call God is an ally - one who will help us and lift us up. The God who punishes is the creation of a spiritually and intellectually unhealthy mind. The Christian God is essentially a God of Grace, as is the God of the Jews. The overlaying of an angry or condemning God is of human origin, and more specifically, the creation of a human mind which does not believe in humanity’s own essential glory and worth. I do. So does Jesus.
So. What does the Gospel for this first Sunday in the holy season of Lent ask us to confront if we would place our feet on the path of “return to Eden”? Jesus is baptized. He is immediately “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness, where he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights in preparation. This, like all such undertakings, is to help Him to see with the inner eye more clearly. At this moment of extreme hunger and weakness, He is tempted by Satan, known as the “father of lies”.
We all remember what happens. First, Satan offers Jesus life on the basis of His own power and physical needs; Jesus says No; that Life is infinitely more than that. Second: Satan offers Jesus the tempting thought that Life can be maintained by manipulating God. Jesus says No; God and we are One; we find Life together. Third: Satan offers Jesus personal power from worldly riches and glory. Jesus says No; Life is found in the godly path of loving service, compassion, mercy, justice.
My colleague Barbara Crafton put it beautifully: “Jesus sits in the wilderness and wants the things we all want. He sits there until he knows he can live life without any of them, because he knows, as we all must know, that we all will lose everything. And then he arises and returns to his world, as we return daily to ours. But we know more about what we can do with the power we have been given than we knew when we began.”
I said that the theme of this Lent was going to be Finding the Glory. Whatever we do this Lent, it will be helpful if we learn that we can receive the power to tell ourselves “No”sometimes. We need to have the power to say “No” to the many lies we are told or that we tell yourselves. To say No to things we are tempted to think will bring us joy and peace but which we know to be lies.
In the Collect today we pray: as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save. This is the true nature of the God we know in the Christ: She is there with us, in us, every step of the way on the path of transfiguration as a child of God.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, February 09, 2008
Whoever does not see God in every place
does not see God in any place.
- Rabbi Elimelech (of Lizhensk, I assume –
1717-86)
I can be pretty questioning and, well, often “weird” in my inquiry. (I don’t think I’m weird; I’m just giving you a chance to nod your heads knowingly. And by the way: whatever happened to “i before e except after c”?? Why is weird weird??) I find it helps me grow to “think outside the box”, as is said these days. I have a passion for appreciating that so much is hidden, that so much is a Mystery, that really we “know” so little. And the older I get, the more true this is. Anyway, I figure that if my Reflections were too disturbing, you’ve unsubscribed by now!
The good rabbi’s thought is challenging! For example, I believe that “God”, whether “God” exists existentially or because the human mind has created God for very good reasons, is Good. Period. I don’t believe in a God who does evil. It makes no sense. I don’t believe, therefore, in a God who punishes, in this earthly life or in Eternity. Life has its own natural consequences in terms of our behaviour and what we suffer.
So here is this morning’s take on Elimelech. “God” is always on our side, on everyone’s “side”. Which is not to say, of course, that God can be co-opted for our own personal manipulation. As an example, God loves the soldiers of all armies or the members of all football teams or all politicians equally. God only desires ( re the Bible) that we “should repent and be saved”, meaning that we be transfigured into Love. God wants us to be happy - and we won’t be as long as we wander from the path of Transfiguration. To be transfigured is our destiny.
God is never absent. So the Psalmist (and the good rabbi) understood. Remember the lovely phrases of Psalm 139: “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand hold me fast.” If we don’t believe that God and we are inseparable, journeying together in power and grace towards the wonder of Being, through both the suffering and the ecstasy, then God will be seen in no place.
Which is why Jesus said, “Love your enemy”. If we can’t see God there, there is no God to be seen.
Brian+
Whoever does not see God in every place
does not see God in any place.
- Rabbi Elimelech (of Lizhensk, I assume –
1717-86)
I can be pretty questioning and, well, often “weird” in my inquiry. (I don’t think I’m weird; I’m just giving you a chance to nod your heads knowingly. And by the way: whatever happened to “i before e except after c”?? Why is weird weird??) I find it helps me grow to “think outside the box”, as is said these days. I have a passion for appreciating that so much is hidden, that so much is a Mystery, that really we “know” so little. And the older I get, the more true this is. Anyway, I figure that if my Reflections were too disturbing, you’ve unsubscribed by now!
The good rabbi’s thought is challenging! For example, I believe that “God”, whether “God” exists existentially or because the human mind has created God for very good reasons, is Good. Period. I don’t believe in a God who does evil. It makes no sense. I don’t believe, therefore, in a God who punishes, in this earthly life or in Eternity. Life has its own natural consequences in terms of our behaviour and what we suffer.
So here is this morning’s take on Elimelech. “God” is always on our side, on everyone’s “side”. Which is not to say, of course, that God can be co-opted for our own personal manipulation. As an example, God loves the soldiers of all armies or the members of all football teams or all politicians equally. God only desires ( re the Bible) that we “should repent and be saved”, meaning that we be transfigured into Love. God wants us to be happy - and we won’t be as long as we wander from the path of Transfiguration. To be transfigured is our destiny.
God is never absent. So the Psalmist (and the good rabbi) understood. Remember the lovely phrases of Psalm 139: “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand hold me fast.” If we don’t believe that God and we are inseparable, journeying together in power and grace towards the wonder of Being, through both the suffering and the ecstasy, then God will be seen in no place.
Which is why Jesus said, “Love your enemy”. If we can’t see God there, there is no God to be seen.
Brian+
Friday, February 8, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 8, 2008
All journeys have secret destinations of which
the traveler is unaware.
For sin is just this, what man cannot by its very nature
do with his whole being; it is possible to silence the conflict
in the soul, but it is not possible to uproot it.
There are three principles in a man's being and life,
the principle of thought, the principle of speech, and
the principle of action. The origin of all conflict between
me and my fellow-men is that I do not say what I mean
and I don't do what I say.
- Martin Buber, thinker, philosopher, theologian,
born on this day, 1878
I’m being “lazy” today. Three quotes from Martin Buber for you to ponder. The third is self-evident, I think. The question it raises for me is, WHY do I not say what I mean? Mostly, I think, because I am not willing to defend my thoughts or beliefs, or they are in flux. (The latter is certainly true for me on most things!)
The second is a new way to think about “sin” for me! - the failure to be fully who I “am”. I assume that Buber has a definition of “who we fully are” as human beings.
The first I love because I want to believe it’s true. Life is recognizing and enjoying the surprises that hive over the horizon! Do we, I wonder, determine the destinations, but keep them secret from ourselves?
Blessings on your day.
Brian+
All journeys have secret destinations of which
the traveler is unaware.
For sin is just this, what man cannot by its very nature
do with his whole being; it is possible to silence the conflict
in the soul, but it is not possible to uproot it.
There are three principles in a man's being and life,
the principle of thought, the principle of speech, and
the principle of action. The origin of all conflict between
me and my fellow-men is that I do not say what I mean
and I don't do what I say.
- Martin Buber, thinker, philosopher, theologian,
born on this day, 1878
I’m being “lazy” today. Three quotes from Martin Buber for you to ponder. The third is self-evident, I think. The question it raises for me is, WHY do I not say what I mean? Mostly, I think, because I am not willing to defend my thoughts or beliefs, or they are in flux. (The latter is certainly true for me on most things!)
The second is a new way to think about “sin” for me! - the failure to be fully who I “am”. I assume that Buber has a definition of “who we fully are” as human beings.
The first I love because I want to believe it’s true. Life is recognizing and enjoying the surprises that hive over the horizon! Do we, I wonder, determine the destinations, but keep them secret from ourselves?
Blessings on your day.
Brian+
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, February 7, 2008
There is a law that man should love his neighbor as himself.
In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind
as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it
he must perish.
- Alfred Adler, doctor & psychologist, born on this day, 1870
Well, I’m glad that Dr. Adler and Jesus (and the Jewish scriptures) are in agreement. And I appreciate Dr. Adler’s optimism! It has been at least three to four millennia or so, and we don’t seem to have learned it yet. But! We are still here. Maybe the pressure to learn it is getting more intense?
Is the underlying problem that we hate ourselves? I tend to think that this is a huge part of it. Lying, or avoiding the truth, is a sign of self-hate, I think. It’s like the process we go through in the Episcopal Church to find a new pastor. Both sides lie. The Parish Profile is most often a huge fantasy. And the clergyperson basically says what they think the Search Committee wants to hear. No surprise that a year later, many parishes and priests are parting company or in terrible conflict, wondering what happened. We seem to forget that, if we did love ourselves, we would be honest and realistic. (This happens in most other areas of Life, in business, etc. Religion isn’t alone.)
The Gospel has a lot of Wisdom it would do well to pay attention to, no matter who we are or what, if any, religious path. Jesus finally said (in, I think, a kind of frustrated simplicity), Look: just love one another as I have loved you”. He loved/loves humankind as His God did/does. Unconditionally. Accepting our frailty and weakness. Finding countless ways to affirm and encourage us towards love and goodness and reality, without violating our freedom. As I understand the Gospel, we are to love ourselves as God loves us, all warts showing. And that’s how we are to love our neighbours.
Bottom line: we are loveable. Our “neighbour” is loveable.
Let’s get with the program. Breathe; stand upright; love self and neighbour. Personally, I won’t start with Peter Akinola, Jack Iker, or George Bush. I’ll set my sites a little lower (myself) and work up!
We could keep the opposite going for probably more than a few centuries. But who really wants or needs all that hell?
Brian+
There is a law that man should love his neighbor as himself.
In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind
as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it
he must perish.
- Alfred Adler, doctor & psychologist, born on this day, 1870
Well, I’m glad that Dr. Adler and Jesus (and the Jewish scriptures) are in agreement. And I appreciate Dr. Adler’s optimism! It has been at least three to four millennia or so, and we don’t seem to have learned it yet. But! We are still here. Maybe the pressure to learn it is getting more intense?
Is the underlying problem that we hate ourselves? I tend to think that this is a huge part of it. Lying, or avoiding the truth, is a sign of self-hate, I think. It’s like the process we go through in the Episcopal Church to find a new pastor. Both sides lie. The Parish Profile is most often a huge fantasy. And the clergyperson basically says what they think the Search Committee wants to hear. No surprise that a year later, many parishes and priests are parting company or in terrible conflict, wondering what happened. We seem to forget that, if we did love ourselves, we would be honest and realistic. (This happens in most other areas of Life, in business, etc. Religion isn’t alone.)
The Gospel has a lot of Wisdom it would do well to pay attention to, no matter who we are or what, if any, religious path. Jesus finally said (in, I think, a kind of frustrated simplicity), Look: just love one another as I have loved you”. He loved/loves humankind as His God did/does. Unconditionally. Accepting our frailty and weakness. Finding countless ways to affirm and encourage us towards love and goodness and reality, without violating our freedom. As I understand the Gospel, we are to love ourselves as God loves us, all warts showing. And that’s how we are to love our neighbours.
Bottom line: we are loveable. Our “neighbour” is loveable.
Let’s get with the program. Breathe; stand upright; love self and neighbour. Personally, I won’t start with Peter Akinola, Jack Iker, or George Bush. I’ll set my sites a little lower (myself) and work up!
We could keep the opposite going for probably more than a few centuries. But who really wants or needs all that hell?
Brian+
Monday, February 4, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The only possible ethic is to do what one wants to do.
- William Burroughs, author, born on this day, 1914
Ah. A fascinating character. A “bad boy” – like so many artists. Many people seem to be willing to “make allowances” for artists. I find that interesting ….. and a little ray of hope for the repressed and judgmentally pious of the World.
Maybe there are some philosophers out there who can critique this statement from a formal philosophical basis. I can’t. Philosophy always confuses me, alas. But then again, so do maps.
Theologically speaking (loosely, of course, since I am in the ballpark but can hardly claim expertise!), I think Burroughs is correct. “Ethic” means a system of moral standards or principles. Interestingly enough, “ethic” in English usage is a 19th century word, but deriving ultimately from the Greek “ethos”. And here’s what strikes me as important. “Ethos” means “of one’s character or nature”.
An ethic, to be one, has to be part of our character or nature. But that doesn’t mean, theologically, that we can have a fundamental ethic of evil. “Theology” means “study of divine things”. In Christianity, at least, we believe God is Good. And that we, created in God’s image, are ultimately Good, despite the fact of our freedom to choose to be “bad”. The Christian Ethic, which is part of our nature and character as a Child of God, requires that we be “good as God is good”.
Therefore, ultimately, Christians want to do good - regardless of how often we aren’t. No matter how much we fail, our ethic doesn’t change. It’s “what one wants to do”. As Burroughs says, it’s the only possible ethic for a human being. Do what you want – this will always tell us at least where we stand.
Confused? Me too!
Anyway, do what you want to do today. How does it make you feel? More - or less - the human being you want to be, in your own eyes, or in the eyes of those you love and respect?
Hmmmm. (Don’t worry; I won’t do this too often!)
Brian+
The only possible ethic is to do what one wants to do.
- William Burroughs, author, born on this day, 1914
Ah. A fascinating character. A “bad boy” – like so many artists. Many people seem to be willing to “make allowances” for artists. I find that interesting ….. and a little ray of hope for the repressed and judgmentally pious of the World.
Maybe there are some philosophers out there who can critique this statement from a formal philosophical basis. I can’t. Philosophy always confuses me, alas. But then again, so do maps.
Theologically speaking (loosely, of course, since I am in the ballpark but can hardly claim expertise!), I think Burroughs is correct. “Ethic” means a system of moral standards or principles. Interestingly enough, “ethic” in English usage is a 19th century word, but deriving ultimately from the Greek “ethos”. And here’s what strikes me as important. “Ethos” means “of one’s character or nature”.
An ethic, to be one, has to be part of our character or nature. But that doesn’t mean, theologically, that we can have a fundamental ethic of evil. “Theology” means “study of divine things”. In Christianity, at least, we believe God is Good. And that we, created in God’s image, are ultimately Good, despite the fact of our freedom to choose to be “bad”. The Christian Ethic, which is part of our nature and character as a Child of God, requires that we be “good as God is good”.
Therefore, ultimately, Christians want to do good - regardless of how often we aren’t. No matter how much we fail, our ethic doesn’t change. It’s “what one wants to do”. As Burroughs says, it’s the only possible ethic for a human being. Do what you want – this will always tell us at least where we stand.
Confused? Me too!
Anyway, do what you want to do today. How does it make you feel? More - or less - the human being you want to be, in your own eyes, or in the eyes of those you love and respect?
Hmmmm. (Don’t worry; I won’t do this too often!)
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, February 4, 2008
Aging is not lost youth but a new
stage of opportunity and strength.
- Betty Friedan, feisty and smart woman, born
and died on this day, 1921 & 2006, age 85
Every day of aging is! That’s what it’s all about. We can either coast along, picking up a thing here or there, or we can make as many days as possible a “stage of opportunity and strength”. Oh, no doubt that no matter how good our intentions are, there will always be those gaps. God knows there simply are just lapses, intentional or not. But we need to hear voices like Betty’s resounding in our ears as often as possible.
A lot of “religion”, of the Life of Faith, or, hell, just being alive and aware as a human being that says, Today is all you really know you have; pay attention and Live It! It’s pretty intense if we do, which is why times of “wilderness” are necessary. Friends and I just saw the movie “The Bucket List” tonight. I really didn’t want to see it; I thought it would be sappy. But I should have known that with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, it wouldn’t be. And it wasn’t. Good to be reminded that if we do get towards the “end” and have been trapped, there is still an opportunity to make a stab at it! (Though, if it involves world travel and high living, having pots of cash does help!)
Youth, as someone once said, is wasted on the young. Think of all we older folk know and have experienced! Every day is exponentially a possible new stage for opportunity and growth. Betty did it and so can we all.
A lift of the glass to Betty Friedan.
Brian+
Aging is not lost youth but a new
stage of opportunity and strength.
- Betty Friedan, feisty and smart woman, born
and died on this day, 1921 & 2006, age 85
Every day of aging is! That’s what it’s all about. We can either coast along, picking up a thing here or there, or we can make as many days as possible a “stage of opportunity and strength”. Oh, no doubt that no matter how good our intentions are, there will always be those gaps. God knows there simply are just lapses, intentional or not. But we need to hear voices like Betty’s resounding in our ears as often as possible.
A lot of “religion”, of the Life of Faith, or, hell, just being alive and aware as a human being that says, Today is all you really know you have; pay attention and Live It! It’s pretty intense if we do, which is why times of “wilderness” are necessary. Friends and I just saw the movie “The Bucket List” tonight. I really didn’t want to see it; I thought it would be sappy. But I should have known that with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, it wouldn’t be. And it wasn’t. Good to be reminded that if we do get towards the “end” and have been trapped, there is still an opportunity to make a stab at it! (Though, if it involves world travel and high living, having pots of cash does help!)
Youth, as someone once said, is wasted on the young. Think of all we older folk know and have experienced! Every day is exponentially a possible new stage for opportunity and growth. Betty did it and so can we all.
A lift of the glass to Betty Friedan.
Brian+
Sermon for: Feb 3, 2008 [Epiphany Last A Brian McHugh, priest & vicar
[Ex 24:12-18][Ps 2][2 Peter 1:16-21][Matt 17:1-9]
"God’s Glory-Haunted World"
A priest colleague of mine recently wrote:[1]
"Episcopalians get it about glory; that the glory of God is the hidden flesh-and-blood truth about everybody, everywhere. Therefore proclaiming the glory of the incarnation is the business we are in. Which is to say that we – every parish, diocese, province, person – are in the business of healing, and feeding, and serving, and loving, and respecting the dignity of every human being in God’s glory-haunted world. [Isn’t that a great phrase! I don’t normally title my sermons; but this one is called ”God’s Glory-Haunted World.]
Anglicans have always gotten it about glory, at least on our better days. This is our charism[2]: to know that glory is the deepest truth for everyone, everywhere. Glory is the wonder-filled transfiguring end of all people and all creation, not just a platitude to sing about or an unimportant side product of a guilt-ridden religion. We live into that transfiguring, glorious truth one particular person and place at a time. "
Glory is the wonder-filled transfiguring end of all people and all creation … That, of course, is what the image of the transfigured Jesus is all about. It isn’t just about Jesus. Jesus represents all of us, all human beings. Glory has always been God’s purpose for all Creation. Handel understood it, and expressed it in that grand chorus in The Messiah - (sing) And the glory, the glory of the Lord ….shall be reveal-ed!. Simply understood, “glory” is the manifestation, the shining out, of Divine Love.
The Advent season has been about it - the shining royal image of Christ the Eternal Lord reigning over all Creation. The Christmas season has been about it - the glory of God manifested in the human figure of a little child in a manger, a figure reminding us that we are all offspring of God. The Epiphany season has been all about it; we’ve heard the words of the Proper Preface for Epiphany at every Liturgy - “for in the mystery of the Word made flesh, You have caused a new light to shine in our hearts, that we may know Your glory in the face of your son Jesus Christ Our Lord …”
Moses is seen with Jesus on the Mountain of Transfiguration. That same Moses who climbed up into the Mountain of God, Mount Sinai. The storyteller of Exodus says, “The Cloud covered the mountain. The Glory of God settled over Mount Sinai ….. In the view of the Israelites below, the Glory of God looked like a raging fire on the top of the mountain.” And later we will be told that when Moses came down from the Mountain, his face shone with the glory of the Lord, so much so that he had to put a veil over his face so as not to terrify the people. Moses brings down from Mount Sinai the two tablets containing the Law of God, the Ten Commandments. It is this Moses who is pictured with Jesus on the mountain.
The story of the Transfiguration was written many decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Christian community had pondered the relationship of Jesus to their illustrious ancestors and leaders. Moses represents the Jewish Law, the heart of Jewish ethical conduct flowing out of their covenant relationship with God. The prophet Elijah is also pictured with Jesus. Elijah represents the call to that justice that was so characteristic of God, demanded by the Law. Jesus, in His Gospel, called people to a way of life that summed up the Law and the Prophets - a radical love that embraced both friend and enemy, affirmed the Golden Rule, and required unceasing forgiveness so that brokenness would be healed and people be enabled to dwell together in peace - in family, in nation, in the Kingdom.
Christians worship and follow the Saviour God Who is alive. What Jesus preached, and lived; what the Mosaic Law represents; what the prophetic message of Justice demands, are not things of the past. They are things of the present. This is the message of the image of the Mount of Transfiguration - the image that leads us into Lent and tells us what the goal of our Lent must be.
We are a people of God, filled with Divine Glory. We are meant to “live into that transfiguring, glorious truth one particular person and place at a time”. We are meant, we are created, to see that Glory face to face in ourselves and in each other just as powerfully as that Glory is seen in the face and person and Word and loving acts of Jesus. Everything we do in Lent as we accept the invitation of Ash Wednesday is to unleash the Glory.
We may not be “notorious sinners”, but we are often unloving, dimming that glory in our lives. We need to be “put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Saviour, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith[3]” ….. not so we can grovel in guilt but be freed to shine in Glory. We need to be free of fear and suspicion so we can see and respond to and draw out the innate glory of every person, indeed the whole Creation.
Jesus and Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration is a picture, a holy icon, of us as we are meant to be, and as we have been freed by divine grace to be. Lent is a time for us, as Moses did for forty days and forty nights, to climb up the Mountain of God, to meet God in the light. Where we can, as Psalm 2 says,
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Celebrate in trembling awe.
Kiss Messiah![4]
And as the Psalm says: If you make a run for God - you won’t regret it.
As we approach Lent, may we hear and recognize our experience in the words of Peter: “We couldn't be more sure of what we saw and heard—God's glory, God's voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You'll do well to keep focusing on it. It's the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.”[5]
[1] The Rev. Martha P. Sterne
[2] means “gift”, from God
[3] The Liturgy of Ash Wednesday
[4] Psalm 2, The Message
[5] 2 Peter 1:21 ff
[Ex 24:12-18][Ps 2][2 Peter 1:16-21][Matt 17:1-9]
"God’s Glory-Haunted World"
A priest colleague of mine recently wrote:[1]
"Episcopalians get it about glory; that the glory of God is the hidden flesh-and-blood truth about everybody, everywhere. Therefore proclaiming the glory of the incarnation is the business we are in. Which is to say that we – every parish, diocese, province, person – are in the business of healing, and feeding, and serving, and loving, and respecting the dignity of every human being in God’s glory-haunted world. [Isn’t that a great phrase! I don’t normally title my sermons; but this one is called ”God’s Glory-Haunted World.]
Anglicans have always gotten it about glory, at least on our better days. This is our charism[2]: to know that glory is the deepest truth for everyone, everywhere. Glory is the wonder-filled transfiguring end of all people and all creation, not just a platitude to sing about or an unimportant side product of a guilt-ridden religion. We live into that transfiguring, glorious truth one particular person and place at a time. "
Glory is the wonder-filled transfiguring end of all people and all creation … That, of course, is what the image of the transfigured Jesus is all about. It isn’t just about Jesus. Jesus represents all of us, all human beings. Glory has always been God’s purpose for all Creation. Handel understood it, and expressed it in that grand chorus in The Messiah - (sing) And the glory, the glory of the Lord ….shall be reveal-ed!. Simply understood, “glory” is the manifestation, the shining out, of Divine Love.
The Advent season has been about it - the shining royal image of Christ the Eternal Lord reigning over all Creation. The Christmas season has been about it - the glory of God manifested in the human figure of a little child in a manger, a figure reminding us that we are all offspring of God. The Epiphany season has been all about it; we’ve heard the words of the Proper Preface for Epiphany at every Liturgy - “for in the mystery of the Word made flesh, You have caused a new light to shine in our hearts, that we may know Your glory in the face of your son Jesus Christ Our Lord …”
Moses is seen with Jesus on the Mountain of Transfiguration. That same Moses who climbed up into the Mountain of God, Mount Sinai. The storyteller of Exodus says, “The Cloud covered the mountain. The Glory of God settled over Mount Sinai ….. In the view of the Israelites below, the Glory of God looked like a raging fire on the top of the mountain.” And later we will be told that when Moses came down from the Mountain, his face shone with the glory of the Lord, so much so that he had to put a veil over his face so as not to terrify the people. Moses brings down from Mount Sinai the two tablets containing the Law of God, the Ten Commandments. It is this Moses who is pictured with Jesus on the mountain.
The story of the Transfiguration was written many decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Christian community had pondered the relationship of Jesus to their illustrious ancestors and leaders. Moses represents the Jewish Law, the heart of Jewish ethical conduct flowing out of their covenant relationship with God. The prophet Elijah is also pictured with Jesus. Elijah represents the call to that justice that was so characteristic of God, demanded by the Law. Jesus, in His Gospel, called people to a way of life that summed up the Law and the Prophets - a radical love that embraced both friend and enemy, affirmed the Golden Rule, and required unceasing forgiveness so that brokenness would be healed and people be enabled to dwell together in peace - in family, in nation, in the Kingdom.
Christians worship and follow the Saviour God Who is alive. What Jesus preached, and lived; what the Mosaic Law represents; what the prophetic message of Justice demands, are not things of the past. They are things of the present. This is the message of the image of the Mount of Transfiguration - the image that leads us into Lent and tells us what the goal of our Lent must be.
We are a people of God, filled with Divine Glory. We are meant to “live into that transfiguring, glorious truth one particular person and place at a time”. We are meant, we are created, to see that Glory face to face in ourselves and in each other just as powerfully as that Glory is seen in the face and person and Word and loving acts of Jesus. Everything we do in Lent as we accept the invitation of Ash Wednesday is to unleash the Glory.
We may not be “notorious sinners”, but we are often unloving, dimming that glory in our lives. We need to be “put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Saviour, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith[3]” ….. not so we can grovel in guilt but be freed to shine in Glory. We need to be free of fear and suspicion so we can see and respond to and draw out the innate glory of every person, indeed the whole Creation.
Jesus and Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration is a picture, a holy icon, of us as we are meant to be, and as we have been freed by divine grace to be. Lent is a time for us, as Moses did for forty days and forty nights, to climb up the Mountain of God, to meet God in the light. Where we can, as Psalm 2 says,
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Celebrate in trembling awe.
Kiss Messiah![4]
And as the Psalm says: If you make a run for God - you won’t regret it.
As we approach Lent, may we hear and recognize our experience in the words of Peter: “We couldn't be more sure of what we saw and heard—God's glory, God's voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You'll do well to keep focusing on it. It's the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.”[5]
[1] The Rev. Martha P. Sterne
[2] means “gift”, from God
[3] The Liturgy of Ash Wednesday
[4] Psalm 2, The Message
[5] 2 Peter 1:21 ff
Friday, February 1, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, February 2, 2008
I AM AWAKENED TO LOVE
I HAVE FORGOTTEN THE FEAR
I WILL REMEMBER THE JOY
FOR I AM AWAKENED, I AM AWAKENED,
I AM AWAKENED TO LOVE.
- Louise Hay, therapist, teacher
For some reason, today has been filled with thoughts of all of my friends who died from the complications of AIDS. One, Art, will be remembered in the planting of a tree tomorrow at St. Benedict’s, Los Osos, CA. One, Mike, a priest, had a great gift of healing. One was a beautiful dancer. One had been a Marine. Sara, a wonderful, in-your-face Hispanic woman, borrowed a beautiful dress to be baptized in at my parish. At Paul’s funeral, his partner, an American Indian, pushed his casket down the aisle chanting the lament for a lost warrior. When Earl died, a great bowler, I began my homily by rolling his bowling ball down the aisle. In San Francisco, I went to see the lovely memorial his parish had installed for Father Bob, a seminary classmate. So many more.
It was a challenging, exhausting time, caring for them all. But far greater was the outpouring of love and affection and laughter and service.
And we would sing. I remember Louise Hay’s chant, the one I’ve quoted.
And many is the morning I awaken and the words are going through my mind.
Awaken to Love.
Forget the fear.
Remember the Joy.
It is a fine simple plan for each day.
Brian+
I AM AWAKENED TO LOVE
I HAVE FORGOTTEN THE FEAR
I WILL REMEMBER THE JOY
FOR I AM AWAKENED, I AM AWAKENED,
I AM AWAKENED TO LOVE.
- Louise Hay, therapist, teacher
For some reason, today has been filled with thoughts of all of my friends who died from the complications of AIDS. One, Art, will be remembered in the planting of a tree tomorrow at St. Benedict’s, Los Osos, CA. One, Mike, a priest, had a great gift of healing. One was a beautiful dancer. One had been a Marine. Sara, a wonderful, in-your-face Hispanic woman, borrowed a beautiful dress to be baptized in at my parish. At Paul’s funeral, his partner, an American Indian, pushed his casket down the aisle chanting the lament for a lost warrior. When Earl died, a great bowler, I began my homily by rolling his bowling ball down the aisle. In San Francisco, I went to see the lovely memorial his parish had installed for Father Bob, a seminary classmate. So many more.
It was a challenging, exhausting time, caring for them all. But far greater was the outpouring of love and affection and laughter and service.
And we would sing. I remember Louise Hay’s chant, the one I’ve quoted.
And many is the morning I awaken and the words are going through my mind.
Awaken to Love.
Forget the fear.
Remember the Joy.
It is a fine simple plan for each day.
Brian+
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 1, 2008
"There is no sound reason why women, if they have the time
and ability, shouldn't sit with men on city councils, in state
legislatures, and on Capitol Hill. Particularly if they have ability!"
- Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Carraway, born on this day, 1878, near
Bakersville, Tennessee
Do you know who Hattie was? She was the first women to be duly elected as a U.S. senator, from Arkansas. She had been appointed to fill out her husband’s term and later, to the astonishment of the men (who campaigned under the slogan, “Arkansas needs another man in the Senate”), was elected to her own term.
So of course this gives me the opportunity to slam the men (and I’m sure it was men) who demeaned God by interpreting the Genesis creation/Eden story in order to meet their sexist patriarchal prejudices. It is perfectly clear that Adam ate the apple by choice; Eve didn’t force him. The point of the story/myth was to show that human beings have the freedom to sin - or not. But oh no; men had to blame someone else – those “weak women” who led them astray. Oh give me a break! And think what horror those men bequeathed to us - and what horror continues to be visited upon us by this travesty of blame.
This is what I understand from Scripture and from the Gospel: Every human being is equal in the “sight of God”. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. And it’s about time we, especially the Christian Church, started acting on this truth. Until we do, men and women will continue to suffer in countless ways. As will children, as a distorted and ungodly interpretation of the Bible continues to demean women and excuse men for their inhuman behaviour.
Remember Hattie.
Brian+
"There is no sound reason why women, if they have the time
and ability, shouldn't sit with men on city councils, in state
legislatures, and on Capitol Hill. Particularly if they have ability!"
- Hattie Ophelia Wyatt Carraway, born on this day, 1878, near
Bakersville, Tennessee
Do you know who Hattie was? She was the first women to be duly elected as a U.S. senator, from Arkansas. She had been appointed to fill out her husband’s term and later, to the astonishment of the men (who campaigned under the slogan, “Arkansas needs another man in the Senate”), was elected to her own term.
So of course this gives me the opportunity to slam the men (and I’m sure it was men) who demeaned God by interpreting the Genesis creation/Eden story in order to meet their sexist patriarchal prejudices. It is perfectly clear that Adam ate the apple by choice; Eve didn’t force him. The point of the story/myth was to show that human beings have the freedom to sin - or not. But oh no; men had to blame someone else – those “weak women” who led them astray. Oh give me a break! And think what horror those men bequeathed to us - and what horror continues to be visited upon us by this travesty of blame.
This is what I understand from Scripture and from the Gospel: Every human being is equal in the “sight of God”. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. And it’s about time we, especially the Christian Church, started acting on this truth. Until we do, men and women will continue to suffer in countless ways. As will children, as a distorted and ungodly interpretation of the Bible continues to demean women and excuse men for their inhuman behaviour.
Remember Hattie.
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, January 31, 2008
He was like a seed buried too deep in the soil to which the light had never penetrated, and which, therefore, has never forced its way upward to the open air, never experienced the resurrection of the dead. But seeds will grow ages after they have fallen into the earth; and indeed, with many kinds, and within some limits, the older the seed before it germinates, the more plentiful the fruit. And may it not be believed of many human beings, that, the great Husbandman having sown them like seeds in the soil of human affairs, there they lie buried a life long; and only after the upturning of the soil by death, reach a position in which the awakening of their aspiration and the consequent growth become possible. Surely {God} has made nothing in vain.
- George MacDonald, poet, theologian
So. Whadda ya think?? Is George being “metaphorical”? Or “literal”? Is “death” a moment when you suddenly realize that you were “dead” and now must wake up and live?? Or can?
Or. You actually die physically. And THEN you find that there is still time to LIVE. Come alive. Germinate?
I think both. Heretical??
Ponder!!
Brian+
He was like a seed buried too deep in the soil to which the light had never penetrated, and which, therefore, has never forced its way upward to the open air, never experienced the resurrection of the dead. But seeds will grow ages after they have fallen into the earth; and indeed, with many kinds, and within some limits, the older the seed before it germinates, the more plentiful the fruit. And may it not be believed of many human beings, that, the great Husbandman having sown them like seeds in the soil of human affairs, there they lie buried a life long; and only after the upturning of the soil by death, reach a position in which the awakening of their aspiration and the consequent growth become possible. Surely {God} has made nothing in vain.
- George MacDonald, poet, theologian
So. Whadda ya think?? Is George being “metaphorical”? Or “literal”? Is “death” a moment when you suddenly realize that you were “dead” and now must wake up and live?? Or can?
Or. You actually die physically. And THEN you find that there is still time to LIVE. Come alive. Germinate?
I think both. Heretical??
Ponder!!
Brian+
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
- Rabindranath Tagore
On good days, this is exactly how I feel! I was watching the large dark gray clouds scudding across the sky this morning, sailing along among large blur patches as I made my way from Chino Valley to Prescott for our annual clergy conference. (This morning, a presentation on fundamentalism – should be interesting!!). Snow was on the mountains, glittering in the morning sun. My head is stuffed up with allergies (??). My abdominal hernia is bulging and hurts a bit. I’m waiting for a prostate biopsy report. But you know what? I feel that then stream of life runs through the World – and that it runs through me!
I don’t always feel this. So I’m grateful today that I do. I feel my spouse attending lovingly to his clients in California. I feel my friends all over the World living their lives. I feel the morning sun in Jamaica and the toucans calling in Costa Rica and the strange feeling of the charcoal burning in the market in Nicaragua.
May the wonder of it all fill you today!
Brian+
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
- Rabindranath Tagore
On good days, this is exactly how I feel! I was watching the large dark gray clouds scudding across the sky this morning, sailing along among large blur patches as I made my way from Chino Valley to Prescott for our annual clergy conference. (This morning, a presentation on fundamentalism – should be interesting!!). Snow was on the mountains, glittering in the morning sun. My head is stuffed up with allergies (??). My abdominal hernia is bulging and hurts a bit. I’m waiting for a prostate biopsy report. But you know what? I feel that then stream of life runs through the World – and that it runs through me!
I don’t always feel this. So I’m grateful today that I do. I feel my spouse attending lovingly to his clients in California. I feel my friends all over the World living their lives. I feel the morning sun in Jamaica and the toucans calling in Costa Rica and the strange feeling of the charcoal burning in the market in Nicaragua.
May the wonder of it all fill you today!
Brian+
Monday, January 28, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, January 29, 2008
I believe that every single event in life happens
in an opportunity to choose love over fear.
- Oprah Winfrey, amazing woman, born
on this day, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi
A friend of mine, a deacon in the Episcopal Church, lives in Kosciusko MS. So I got to see Oprah’s birthplace on the occasion of my friend’s ordination. Hmmm ………. interesting. Whatever you think about Oprah, or what she does, she is an amazing person and an amazing phenomenon.
I guess I have preached Oprah’s quote for decades now. I hope that it has been helpful now and then. I have found it so in my life – but I also have to confess that I don’t listen to my own advice as much as I want to. This past Sunday, the Gospel at the Eucharist was the story of Jesus calling James, John, Peter and Andrew; they immediately leave their jobs and family and follow. This is a parable of Oprah’s words. The four disciples [i.e., students, learners] saw Love in the Flesh, and let go of the fears. Oprah said, “We can't become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” We need to fly, not just crawl. To fly we have to leap.
I’m heading into another adventure. I’ve had many in my life. But I admit that I haven’t approached them as primarily an opportunity to choose Love. I’m going to try to remember.
If you want to ponder some other things that Oprah has said:
Surround yourself with only people
who are going to lift you higher. [and be a Lifter!]
The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the
complete person you were intended to be.
Brian+
I believe that every single event in life happens
in an opportunity to choose love over fear.
- Oprah Winfrey, amazing woman, born
on this day, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi
A friend of mine, a deacon in the Episcopal Church, lives in Kosciusko MS. So I got to see Oprah’s birthplace on the occasion of my friend’s ordination. Hmmm ………. interesting. Whatever you think about Oprah, or what she does, she is an amazing person and an amazing phenomenon.
I guess I have preached Oprah’s quote for decades now. I hope that it has been helpful now and then. I have found it so in my life – but I also have to confess that I don’t listen to my own advice as much as I want to. This past Sunday, the Gospel at the Eucharist was the story of Jesus calling James, John, Peter and Andrew; they immediately leave their jobs and family and follow. This is a parable of Oprah’s words. The four disciples [i.e., students, learners] saw Love in the Flesh, and let go of the fears. Oprah said, “We can't become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” We need to fly, not just crawl. To fly we have to leap.
I’m heading into another adventure. I’ve had many in my life. But I admit that I haven’t approached them as primarily an opportunity to choose Love. I’m going to try to remember.
If you want to ponder some other things that Oprah has said:
Surround yourself with only people
who are going to lift you higher. [and be a Lifter!]
The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the
complete person you were intended to be.
Brian+
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, January 28, 2008
It's really clear to me that you can't hang
onto something longer than its time. Ideas
lose certain freshness, ideas have a shelf life,
and sometimes they have to be replaced by
other ideas.
- Alphonso D'Abruzzo, born on this day, 1936
Yep yep yep. It always changes. That’s how God teaches us “by sending us the Holy Spirit”. That’s how Life draws us on the journey of knowing why we are here. Ideas do have a shelf life. After their due date, they just become millstones around our necks, dragging us down, drowning us in the mire of a miserable status quo which can only produce stagnation.
Think about this today. Evolving is the only way to become human. Life is about being taught, about learning. Life is about developing from an infant brain that has to be completely taken care of to becoming a person who can make her/his own observations and decisions. Who contributes to the wonder of the human community by contributing her/his own wisdom to the common good.
Alphonso D’Abruzzo???
Alan Alda - Hawkeye on M.A.S.H.
Brian+
It's really clear to me that you can't hang
onto something longer than its time. Ideas
lose certain freshness, ideas have a shelf life,
and sometimes they have to be replaced by
other ideas.
- Alphonso D'Abruzzo, born on this day, 1936
Yep yep yep. It always changes. That’s how God teaches us “by sending us the Holy Spirit”. That’s how Life draws us on the journey of knowing why we are here. Ideas do have a shelf life. After their due date, they just become millstones around our necks, dragging us down, drowning us in the mire of a miserable status quo which can only produce stagnation.
Think about this today. Evolving is the only way to become human. Life is about being taught, about learning. Life is about developing from an infant brain that has to be completely taken care of to becoming a person who can make her/his own observations and decisions. Who contributes to the wonder of the human community by contributing her/his own wisdom to the common good.
Alphonso D’Abruzzo???
Alan Alda - Hawkeye on M.A.S.H.
Brian+
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, January 25, 2008
Here's A Bottle
Here's a bottle and an honest friend !
What wad ye wish for mair, man ?
Wha kens, before his life may end,
What his share may be o' care, man ?
Then catch the moments as they fly,
And use them as ye ought, man :
Believe me, happiness is shy,
And comes not aye when sought, man.
- Robbie Burns, Scottish poet, born on this day, 1759
Ah! My friends Marty and Gilly will be lifting a glass to Burns on this Burns Night – and maybe eating haggis! Marty is wonderful at “declaring” Burns’ Address to the Haggis! Don’t turn up your nose until you’ve tried it – I love haggis. Though I was once giggled at by a B&B hostess on Loch Awe, who was a little taken aback that I wanted it for ….. breakfast. (With blood pudding and eggs etc – yum!)
A bottle and an honest friend. How important conviviality and friendship to help us through Life and “what [our] share may be o’care”.
Burns says, Live in the moment. That’s what I am going to try and do more in the future. So much of our Life goes by unnoticed and unappreciated and unengaged. And yet Life offers so much.
Simple. That’s one of the great delights of Burn’s poetry and song.
Hail to the Haggis!!
Brian+
Here's A Bottle
Here's a bottle and an honest friend !
What wad ye wish for mair, man ?
Wha kens, before his life may end,
What his share may be o' care, man ?
Then catch the moments as they fly,
And use them as ye ought, man :
Believe me, happiness is shy,
And comes not aye when sought, man.
- Robbie Burns, Scottish poet, born on this day, 1759
Ah! My friends Marty and Gilly will be lifting a glass to Burns on this Burns Night – and maybe eating haggis! Marty is wonderful at “declaring” Burns’ Address to the Haggis! Don’t turn up your nose until you’ve tried it – I love haggis. Though I was once giggled at by a B&B hostess on Loch Awe, who was a little taken aback that I wanted it for ….. breakfast. (With blood pudding and eggs etc – yum!)
A bottle and an honest friend. How important conviviality and friendship to help us through Life and “what [our] share may be o’care”.
Burns says, Live in the moment. That’s what I am going to try and do more in the future. So much of our Life goes by unnoticed and unappreciated and unengaged. And yet Life offers so much.
Simple. That’s one of the great delights of Burn’s poetry and song.
Hail to the Haggis!!
Brian+
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, January 24, 2008
Listen to the sound of water.
Listen to the water running through the chasms and rocks.
It is the minor streams that make a loud noise;
the great waters flow silently.
The hollow resounds and the full is still.
Foolishness is like a half-filled pot;
the wise person is a lake full of water.
- Sutta Nipata 720-721
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” We most all know that little proverb, yes? And of course, it might be true that the squeaky wheel needs the grease! I suspect that the “squeaky wheel” – the complainer, the whiner, the legalist, etc – is like the “minor stream” making a “loud noise”. They - or we, when we are squeaking - are a “resounding hollow”, empty in some or many ways like a “half-full pot”. Something important is missing.
I wonder if, when we are being a squeaky wheel making our way through the chasms and rocks of Life, we can ever hear ourselves the loud noise we are making, and know that there is a problem we have to deal with. Or, can we learn? Just a thought. I would think that if we are taking our Journey seriously, especially the inner one, we ought to be able to learn to listen to our inner streams. But, I guess we often need help!
A lake can either be “natural” or it can be created. Could it be that sometimes we need to build strategic dams in the right inner places? Dams of “spiritual” practice that allow the full still silent “lake” to be created at our centre, holding in wisdom? This makes for Unsqueaky Wheels. And when needed, the sluices can be opened and healing waters judiciously poured out on whatever needs renewing.
Resounding hollow, or still lake?
Brian+
Listen to the sound of water.
Listen to the water running through the chasms and rocks.
It is the minor streams that make a loud noise;
the great waters flow silently.
The hollow resounds and the full is still.
Foolishness is like a half-filled pot;
the wise person is a lake full of water.
- Sutta Nipata 720-721
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” We most all know that little proverb, yes? And of course, it might be true that the squeaky wheel needs the grease! I suspect that the “squeaky wheel” – the complainer, the whiner, the legalist, etc – is like the “minor stream” making a “loud noise”. They - or we, when we are squeaking - are a “resounding hollow”, empty in some or many ways like a “half-full pot”. Something important is missing.
I wonder if, when we are being a squeaky wheel making our way through the chasms and rocks of Life, we can ever hear ourselves the loud noise we are making, and know that there is a problem we have to deal with. Or, can we learn? Just a thought. I would think that if we are taking our Journey seriously, especially the inner one, we ought to be able to learn to listen to our inner streams. But, I guess we often need help!
A lake can either be “natural” or it can be created. Could it be that sometimes we need to build strategic dams in the right inner places? Dams of “spiritual” practice that allow the full still silent “lake” to be created at our centre, holding in wisdom? This makes for Unsqueaky Wheels. And when needed, the sluices can be opened and healing waters judiciously poured out on whatever needs renewing.
Resounding hollow, or still lake?
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Love After Love
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
- Derek Walcott, poet, playwright, born on this
day, 1930, in St. Lucia, Windward Islands,
Lesser Antilles (Nobel Prize in Literature 1992)
I remember the first and only time I went to St. Lucia. I was on a launch. Like so many of my travels in the Caribbean, and especially while I lived in Nicaragua, I felt as if I were in a living National Geographic tableau. Or a Hemingway novel. This was in the 70’s. St. Lucia was lovely then, quiet and simple. I’m not sure I would like it so much now, from what I hear about the tourist trade.
I remember reading Walcott when I was there. And I seem to remember a plaque on some building or in some government museum about Derek Walcott.
“Sit. Feast on your life.” This is such a poignant poem, such a touching captured feeling. The end of a love affair – though I wonder if, no, I think they never “end”. Good or bad, they become part of our being, our experience, our makeup. Certainly they influence how we respond later to Life and Love.
I think any true love affair has to be “self-effacing”, perhaps “self-forgetful”. One has to give oneself to the other person. But, self-effacing is not – and never should be – self-denying or self-negating. One always has to have something to give. Neither person can get “lost” in the relationship. Or there isn’t one – not an authentic one. True with people, and true with the Mystery we call God.
If Love doesn’t last, perhaps it is because one did not first love oneself. One’s amazing gift of Life.
Interesting Walcott would say, “Give bread. Give wine.” - to oneself. Just as Christians offer bread and wine to God, and God gives Herself back in it. Yes, God and we, like all lovers, are in a sense One.
Brian+
Love After Love
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
- Derek Walcott, poet, playwright, born on this
day, 1930, in St. Lucia, Windward Islands,
Lesser Antilles (Nobel Prize in Literature 1992)
I remember the first and only time I went to St. Lucia. I was on a launch. Like so many of my travels in the Caribbean, and especially while I lived in Nicaragua, I felt as if I were in a living National Geographic tableau. Or a Hemingway novel. This was in the 70’s. St. Lucia was lovely then, quiet and simple. I’m not sure I would like it so much now, from what I hear about the tourist trade.
I remember reading Walcott when I was there. And I seem to remember a plaque on some building or in some government museum about Derek Walcott.
“Sit. Feast on your life.” This is such a poignant poem, such a touching captured feeling. The end of a love affair – though I wonder if, no, I think they never “end”. Good or bad, they become part of our being, our experience, our makeup. Certainly they influence how we respond later to Life and Love.
I think any true love affair has to be “self-effacing”, perhaps “self-forgetful”. One has to give oneself to the other person. But, self-effacing is not – and never should be – self-denying or self-negating. One always has to have something to give. Neither person can get “lost” in the relationship. Or there isn’t one – not an authentic one. True with people, and true with the Mystery we call God.
If Love doesn’t last, perhaps it is because one did not first love oneself. One’s amazing gift of Life.
Interesting Walcott would say, “Give bread. Give wine.” - to oneself. Just as Christians offer bread and wine to God, and God gives Herself back in it. Yes, God and we, like all lovers, are in a sense One.
Brian+
Monday, January 21, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, January 22, 2008
“All is Vanity”, Saith the Preacher
Fame, wisdom, love, and power were mine,
And health and youth possessed me;
My goblets blushed from every vine,
And lovely forms caressed me;
I sunned my heart in beauty’ eyes,
And felt my soul grow tender;
All earth can give, or mortal prize,
Was mine of regal splendour.
I strive to number o’er what days
Remembrance can discover,
Which all that life or earth displays
Would lure me to live over.
There rose no day, there rolled no hour
Of pleasure unembittered;
And not a trapping decked my power
That galled not while it glittered.
The serpent of the field, by art
And spells, is won from harming;
But that which soils around the heart,
Oh! who hath power of charming?
It will not list to wisdom’s lore,
Nor music’s voice can lure it;
But there it stings for evermore
The soul that must endure it.
- George Gordon, Lord Byron
born on this day, 1788
“But that which soils around the heart.” I know what mine is, that “that which soils”. Do you know yours? The World is full of tempters and temptresses, charming, delightful. I have nothing against the delights of earthly life – except perhaps that some hoard them and deny them to others. But they, those things, are as ephemeral as the mist. The pleasure they offer is fantasy. My, don’t I sound old fashioned! But it’s true.
I do not agree with Byron, charmer though he was, that the usurper cannot be dislodged; that it does not yield to any wisdom or music or power. It yields to Charity – to that sweet caring for others which delights the soul more than any other false idol, and lifts us to Bliss.
Go on! Believe!
Brian+
“All is Vanity”, Saith the Preacher
Fame, wisdom, love, and power were mine,
And health and youth possessed me;
My goblets blushed from every vine,
And lovely forms caressed me;
I sunned my heart in beauty’ eyes,
And felt my soul grow tender;
All earth can give, or mortal prize,
Was mine of regal splendour.
I strive to number o’er what days
Remembrance can discover,
Which all that life or earth displays
Would lure me to live over.
There rose no day, there rolled no hour
Of pleasure unembittered;
And not a trapping decked my power
That galled not while it glittered.
The serpent of the field, by art
And spells, is won from harming;
But that which soils around the heart,
Oh! who hath power of charming?
It will not list to wisdom’s lore,
Nor music’s voice can lure it;
But there it stings for evermore
The soul that must endure it.
- George Gordon, Lord Byron
born on this day, 1788
“But that which soils around the heart.” I know what mine is, that “that which soils”. Do you know yours? The World is full of tempters and temptresses, charming, delightful. I have nothing against the delights of earthly life – except perhaps that some hoard them and deny them to others. But they, those things, are as ephemeral as the mist. The pleasure they offer is fantasy. My, don’t I sound old fashioned! But it’s true.
I do not agree with Byron, charmer though he was, that the usurper cannot be dislodged; that it does not yield to any wisdom or music or power. It yields to Charity – to that sweet caring for others which delights the soul more than any other false idol, and lifts us to Bliss.
Go on! Believe!
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, January 21, 2008
Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money
on military defense than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual doom.
I think we’ve arrived. What do you think?
Almost always, the creative dedicated
minority has made the world better.
And it cost a lot, often their lives.
At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
I/we need to remember this.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Alas; true. Think how this dehumanizes the oppressor.
Human salvation lies in the hands of
the creatively maladjusted.
“Fools for Christ” ??
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places
will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all flesh shall see it together.
May we all be dreamers.
- Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.
Brian+
Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money
on military defense than on programs of social uplift is
approaching spiritual doom.
I think we’ve arrived. What do you think?
Almost always, the creative dedicated
minority has made the world better.
And it cost a lot, often their lives.
At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
I/we need to remember this.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor;
it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Alas; true. Think how this dehumanizes the oppressor.
Human salvation lies in the hands of
the creatively maladjusted.
“Fools for Christ” ??
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,
every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places
will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all flesh shall see it together.
May we all be dreamers.
- Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.
Brian+
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Sermon for: January 20, 2008 [Epiphany II A Brian McHugh, priest & vicar
[Is 49:1-7][Ps 40:1-12][I Cor 1:1-9][Jn 1:29-42]
“Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb!” These are the words of John the Baptizer the day after he had baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. And the day after that, the same words: “Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb”. This time, two of John’s disciples leave him and go after Jesus. They spend the evening with Him. And after that short time, Andrew goes to find his brother Peter and says to him, “We have found the Messiah!” That day, Simon becomes Peter, the rock. He becomes a symbol – of what? That God’s Kingdom of Love and Salvation will be built on those, no matter how weak, denying or even betraying, who are open to being cleansed from sin and who say “yes” to the call from God.
“Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb! What would the people around John have thought when they heard these words and their odd association? What should come to our minds if we know the Scriptures well enough? What should come to mind are these words from Exodus[1]:
“Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family … your lamb shall be without blemish … You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night ….. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand ….. It is the passover of the Lord ….. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you …”
By the early 2nd century, John’s Gospel finally went from aural to written form. It’s writers had come to see a connection between what God had done at the time of the flight of the people of Israel from Egypt and what God had done in Jesus. Think about it. God’s people are yet again in bondage, not just to the Romans but, more critically, to their sins. God sends John the Baptist, like Moses, to prepare them for liberation. As John says[2], “my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”
And then comes Jesus. He preached the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Salvation. He, like the Passover lamb, was killed and His blood was shed. I can see these followers of Jesus making connections as they think and pray and talk. What is the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection? A light, flowing from their ancient experience as God’s people, illumines their minds and hearts. Somehow, His death or shedding of blood on the cross, in some mysterious way, protects them from the judgment they might be under at having disappointed God[3], just as the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts protected the Israelites from the plagues.
No wonder that the followers of Jesus would develop, at the centre of their life, a shared meal – as the Passover meal had first been and continued to be - in which they ate the “flesh” and drank the “blood” of Jesus. They ate this spiritual food, remembering how God had always saved them. They remembered how Jesus had associated the Passover unleavened bread and the cup with His Body and Blood. Even the Gentiles later were able to see and understand the glorious work of salvation that God was always doing. Still today, when Christians gather to share the Eucharistic meal, we give thanks that God keeps breaking the bonds of the power of sin and death. God keeps freeing us to live and to grow into the fullness of our humanity and into the fullness of the Christ Who dwells within each of us.
I remember an old hymn: “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb / Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb/ Are you washed, are you washed / In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb / Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb.”
It’s a gory and not very Episcopalian image! But in a very graphic, symbolic way, it goes right to the heart of the fact that God is constantly calling us to get a fresh start with Him. To be free. To escape every bondage, every slavery, every oppressor.
But there’s another part. The People of Israel were told, “This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand ….. “. Having been prepared for freedom, we are to be ready to move quickly towards whatever Promised Land God points to. The “Promised Land” is not a physical place. It is somewhere we are called to build God’s Kingdom. It may be our own heart. It may be our own family or community or country. It may be Darfur, or Iran, or the United States Congress or the Pinal County Jail or anywhere that the compassion and justice of God is needed. And, having blessed us, God has called us to go as ambassadors of that Love.
Paul calls the Corinthians “believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life”. He assures them that “God is right alongside to keep you steady and on the track”. The same is true of us. God is there to help us overcome all prejudices that separate us from each other, especially through willful choices that only pander to our fears. God is right alongside, inviting everyone into the fold. Paul says to them that the “evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives”; so it must be in ours if we want to claim or be worthy of the name “Christian”.
The Collect reminds us of our call and destiny: to “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory”. That light is the light of seeing in every human being the image of our loving God. And treating them as such.
[1] Ex 12:1-14, read on Maundy Thursday
[2] The Message, John 1
[3] Expressed as “Christ died for our sins”, or “Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the World”.
[Is 49:1-7][Ps 40:1-12][I Cor 1:1-9][Jn 1:29-42]
“Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb!” These are the words of John the Baptizer the day after he had baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. And the day after that, the same words: “Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb”. This time, two of John’s disciples leave him and go after Jesus. They spend the evening with Him. And after that short time, Andrew goes to find his brother Peter and says to him, “We have found the Messiah!” That day, Simon becomes Peter, the rock. He becomes a symbol – of what? That God’s Kingdom of Love and Salvation will be built on those, no matter how weak, denying or even betraying, who are open to being cleansed from sin and who say “yes” to the call from God.
“Here He is, God’s Passover Lamb! What would the people around John have thought when they heard these words and their odd association? What should come to our minds if we know the Scriptures well enough? What should come to mind are these words from Exodus[1]:
“Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family … your lamb shall be without blemish … You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night ….. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand ….. It is the passover of the Lord ….. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you …”
By the early 2nd century, John’s Gospel finally went from aural to written form. It’s writers had come to see a connection between what God had done at the time of the flight of the people of Israel from Egypt and what God had done in Jesus. Think about it. God’s people are yet again in bondage, not just to the Romans but, more critically, to their sins. God sends John the Baptist, like Moses, to prepare them for liberation. As John says[2], “my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”
And then comes Jesus. He preached the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Salvation. He, like the Passover lamb, was killed and His blood was shed. I can see these followers of Jesus making connections as they think and pray and talk. What is the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection? A light, flowing from their ancient experience as God’s people, illumines their minds and hearts. Somehow, His death or shedding of blood on the cross, in some mysterious way, protects them from the judgment they might be under at having disappointed God[3], just as the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts protected the Israelites from the plagues.
No wonder that the followers of Jesus would develop, at the centre of their life, a shared meal – as the Passover meal had first been and continued to be - in which they ate the “flesh” and drank the “blood” of Jesus. They ate this spiritual food, remembering how God had always saved them. They remembered how Jesus had associated the Passover unleavened bread and the cup with His Body and Blood. Even the Gentiles later were able to see and understand the glorious work of salvation that God was always doing. Still today, when Christians gather to share the Eucharistic meal, we give thanks that God keeps breaking the bonds of the power of sin and death. God keeps freeing us to live and to grow into the fullness of our humanity and into the fullness of the Christ Who dwells within each of us.
I remember an old hymn: “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb / Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb/ Are you washed, are you washed / In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb / Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb.”
It’s a gory and not very Episcopalian image! But in a very graphic, symbolic way, it goes right to the heart of the fact that God is constantly calling us to get a fresh start with Him. To be free. To escape every bondage, every slavery, every oppressor.
But there’s another part. The People of Israel were told, “This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand ….. “. Having been prepared for freedom, we are to be ready to move quickly towards whatever Promised Land God points to. The “Promised Land” is not a physical place. It is somewhere we are called to build God’s Kingdom. It may be our own heart. It may be our own family or community or country. It may be Darfur, or Iran, or the United States Congress or the Pinal County Jail or anywhere that the compassion and justice of God is needed. And, having blessed us, God has called us to go as ambassadors of that Love.
Paul calls the Corinthians “believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life”. He assures them that “God is right alongside to keep you steady and on the track”. The same is true of us. God is there to help us overcome all prejudices that separate us from each other, especially through willful choices that only pander to our fears. God is right alongside, inviting everyone into the fold. Paul says to them that the “evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives”; so it must be in ours if we want to claim or be worthy of the name “Christian”.
The Collect reminds us of our call and destiny: to “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory”. That light is the light of seeing in every human being the image of our loving God. And treating them as such.
[1] Ex 12:1-14, read on Maundy Thursday
[2] The Message, John 1
[3] Expressed as “Christ died for our sins”, or “Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the World”.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Saturday, January 19, 2008
Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?
- Edgar Allen Poe, born on this day, 1809
(and died when he was 40)
I have a little book. In it, I write down phrases I find that would make good titles for a book or a chapter of a book or a Reflection. I have written down tonight, “the summer dream beneath the tamarind tree”. And, “treasure in the jeweled sky”. Lovely. Up till now, I have about 85 books to write.
How many young people today would know what Diana and her car were all about? Or what/who a Hamadryad or a Naiad was?? I don’t want to sound pissy, but I knew what they were before I left my regular old public High School in Verdun. When I listen to young people today ………. well, anyway, forget it, I don’t want to sound like “older adults” just yet! But I do think most public education stinks.
Is this poem a lament? I rather hope that Poe was poking fun. Poking fun at the silly people who thought that Lady Science had somehow killed the Muse of Poetry. I’ll tell you who killed the Muse of Poetry and the World of Summer Dreams under the Tamarind Tree.
Literalists. They’ve become the serial killers of countless victims, of which Poe names only a few. God is among them. And fairies. And wizards. And dragons that talk. And even the magical worlds under the tamarind trees. Against which modern Literalists rant and rave, often disguised as religionists.
Not for me, laddies! I exalt Lady Science. She has shown me What Is – and so freed my mind and spirit to see the wonders that flit and dance among the atoms and inhabit the parallel World of Mysteries.
Lady Science has not stolen my summer dream beneath the tamarind trees. She made me a gift of them!
Brian+
Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?
- Edgar Allen Poe, born on this day, 1809
(and died when he was 40)
I have a little book. In it, I write down phrases I find that would make good titles for a book or a chapter of a book or a Reflection. I have written down tonight, “the summer dream beneath the tamarind tree”. And, “treasure in the jeweled sky”. Lovely. Up till now, I have about 85 books to write.
How many young people today would know what Diana and her car were all about? Or what/who a Hamadryad or a Naiad was?? I don’t want to sound pissy, but I knew what they were before I left my regular old public High School in Verdun. When I listen to young people today ………. well, anyway, forget it, I don’t want to sound like “older adults” just yet! But I do think most public education stinks.
Is this poem a lament? I rather hope that Poe was poking fun. Poking fun at the silly people who thought that Lady Science had somehow killed the Muse of Poetry. I’ll tell you who killed the Muse of Poetry and the World of Summer Dreams under the Tamarind Tree.
Literalists. They’ve become the serial killers of countless victims, of which Poe names only a few. God is among them. And fairies. And wizards. And dragons that talk. And even the magical worlds under the tamarind trees. Against which modern Literalists rant and rave, often disguised as religionists.
Not for me, laddies! I exalt Lady Science. She has shown me What Is – and so freed my mind and spirit to see the wonders that flit and dance among the atoms and inhabit the parallel World of Mysteries.
Lady Science has not stolen my summer dream beneath the tamarind trees. She made me a gift of them!
Brian+
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Friday, January 18, 2008
An opening in the storming sea,
Gold deposited on bones.
Once accumulation has begun,
Take care not to interfere.
- Deng Ming Dao
This quote relates to a story of a pious man whose father died. A geomancer told him to bury the casket at a place in the sea which was only accessible once in a hundred years. A family who did this would experience great fortune. The son threw the casket there. Then he regretted it. Encouraged by a rival geomancer, he soon retrieved it. Opening the casket, he saw that his father’s bones were very thinly covered with gold. Realizing the potential, he wanted to throw it back.
Too late.
A parable of Life, yes?
I read this story years ago. We don’t know how much time we have. Or where we will be. Or what we will be doing. These things are likely, especially these days, to change. But Life is a work in progress. Something you have to keep working on, fine-tuning. I remember thinking - Whatever the tools I have to work with, in whatever setting, my goal is to keep working on my Life and to keep at it until, to use a Biblical image, the dross has been refined into pure gold. (I forget; so I need to be reminded!)
We may see little happening on a daily basis. But keep at it. Be patient, and trusting. Especially in seeking “holy wisdom”.
“Once accumulation has begun / Take care not to interfere.”
Brian+
An opening in the storming sea,
Gold deposited on bones.
Once accumulation has begun,
Take care not to interfere.
- Deng Ming Dao
This quote relates to a story of a pious man whose father died. A geomancer told him to bury the casket at a place in the sea which was only accessible once in a hundred years. A family who did this would experience great fortune. The son threw the casket there. Then he regretted it. Encouraged by a rival geomancer, he soon retrieved it. Opening the casket, he saw that his father’s bones were very thinly covered with gold. Realizing the potential, he wanted to throw it back.
Too late.
A parable of Life, yes?
I read this story years ago. We don’t know how much time we have. Or where we will be. Or what we will be doing. These things are likely, especially these days, to change. But Life is a work in progress. Something you have to keep working on, fine-tuning. I remember thinking - Whatever the tools I have to work with, in whatever setting, my goal is to keep working on my Life and to keep at it until, to use a Biblical image, the dross has been refined into pure gold. (I forget; so I need to be reminded!)
We may see little happening on a daily basis. But keep at it. Be patient, and trusting. Especially in seeking “holy wisdom”.
“Once accumulation has begun / Take care not to interfere.”
Brian+
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, January 17, 2008
Dedicate some of your life to others.
Your dedication will not be a sacrifice.
It will be an exhilarating experience
because it is an intense effort applied
toward a meaningful end.
- Dr. Thomas Dooley, author, born
on this day, 1927, in St. Louis MO
A controversial figure. He was a dedicated doctor in Laos. There was an attempt to “make him a saint” in the Roman Catholic Church. It failed. He was reported to have betrayed people in Laos to the CIA. Sigh. People are complicated.
However. Tom Dooley is right. Jesus said it another way: “If you seek to keep your life, you will lose it; if you are willing to lose your life, you will keep it to eternity”. I’m a very “self-sufficient“ private” person. I could spend my life alone in a cabin in the woods. But fortunately I was drawn to a life that involved me with people – and a Christian life that called me to minister to others, to reach out to others. It’s been a challenge, but it definitely has been exhilarating. I know that my humanity has been completed by “the other”.
One has to remember though: we will never have the courage or the freedom to dedicate some of our life to others if we don’t respect our own self. Jesus could give Himself for others because He knew how deeply He was loved.
Feed your own soul. There will be much to give.
Brian+
Dedicate some of your life to others.
Your dedication will not be a sacrifice.
It will be an exhilarating experience
because it is an intense effort applied
toward a meaningful end.
- Dr. Thomas Dooley, author, born
on this day, 1927, in St. Louis MO
A controversial figure. He was a dedicated doctor in Laos. There was an attempt to “make him a saint” in the Roman Catholic Church. It failed. He was reported to have betrayed people in Laos to the CIA. Sigh. People are complicated.
However. Tom Dooley is right. Jesus said it another way: “If you seek to keep your life, you will lose it; if you are willing to lose your life, you will keep it to eternity”. I’m a very “self-sufficient“ private” person. I could spend my life alone in a cabin in the woods. But fortunately I was drawn to a life that involved me with people – and a Christian life that called me to minister to others, to reach out to others. It’s been a challenge, but it definitely has been exhilarating. I know that my humanity has been completed by “the other”.
One has to remember though: we will never have the courage or the freedom to dedicate some of our life to others if we don’t respect our own self. Jesus could give Himself for others because He knew how deeply He was loved.
Feed your own soul. There will be much to give.
Brian+
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Go and wake up your cook.
- Arab proverb
I love proverbs. I have always found the [Biblical] Book of Proverbs one of the most interesting things to read. Proverbs are a distillation of a people’s wisdom and experience.
Well I remember hearing about a Scottish neighbor of mine when I was a boy. Someone mentioned to her the proverb, “If you can’t remember what you were going to say, it must have been a lie.” She responded, in a strong Scots accent, backed by good Presbyterian upbringing, “Oh no; if it had been a lie, the devil would have helped you with it.”
“Go and wake up your cook.” Wonderful proverb. Life. We lie awake at night worrying. We procrastinate. We invent all kinds of scenarios about the outcome of things that make us afraid. We wonder if we are capable, or creative enough, or smart enough, or brave enough. Etc. Meanwhile becoming more and more paralyzed.
“Divine Grace” is an antidote for all this self-doubt. As is the proposition that we are “made in the image of God”. Whether you look without or within, Wisdom tells us to open ourselves to the Mystery, to trust, to take the first step along the path of whatever journey we long to make. We’ll get where we want to go.
Don’t hang back in doubt.
“Go and wake up your cook.”
Brian+
Go and wake up your cook.
- Arab proverb
I love proverbs. I have always found the [Biblical] Book of Proverbs one of the most interesting things to read. Proverbs are a distillation of a people’s wisdom and experience.
Well I remember hearing about a Scottish neighbor of mine when I was a boy. Someone mentioned to her the proverb, “If you can’t remember what you were going to say, it must have been a lie.” She responded, in a strong Scots accent, backed by good Presbyterian upbringing, “Oh no; if it had been a lie, the devil would have helped you with it.”
“Go and wake up your cook.” Wonderful proverb. Life. We lie awake at night worrying. We procrastinate. We invent all kinds of scenarios about the outcome of things that make us afraid. We wonder if we are capable, or creative enough, or smart enough, or brave enough. Etc. Meanwhile becoming more and more paralyzed.
“Divine Grace” is an antidote for all this self-doubt. As is the proposition that we are “made in the image of God”. Whether you look without or within, Wisdom tells us to open ourselves to the Mystery, to trust, to take the first step along the path of whatever journey we long to make. We’ll get where we want to go.
Don’t hang back in doubt.
“Go and wake up your cook.”
Brian+
Monday, January 14, 2008
Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Drought burns basins to dust,
Light rain is a dew of mockery.
Receive without complaint,
Work with fate.
- Taoist thought
Before writing this Reflection, I am standing at the stove waiting for my wonderful espresso stove-top pot to do its thing. I love this pot! It was a gift from a dear friend, bought on the day that several of us friends sat in the Café FIorian in Venice and drank wonderful coffee and ate “sinfully” good pastries (at ridiculously sinful prices!). I’m dreading the day that I accidently drop it in the sink and the top part, which is porcelain, embossed with the crest of the Café Florian, smashes.
One tries to be careful. But. Things happen. Even being too careful can be counter-productive. A pot gripped too tightly can go flying off. It’s the same with Life gripped too tightly – one’s own or another’s.
Where did the phrase “Go with the flow” come from? Oh, I know that one has to take some responsibility for making appropriate decisions. Including not making certain decisions.
I think I am going to take a stab, on regular intervals, at Living in the Flow. It seems to me that there is a great Mystery in the “Flow”. An antidote to the stresses of control, which is, for the most part, a fool’s hope.
No – there has to be an art in Going with the Flow. Like flow-blue china, it makes for very interesting non-perfection.
Hey, you know, I feel better already!
Time for demi-tasse #2. With maybe an Italian biscuit.
Brian+
Drought burns basins to dust,
Light rain is a dew of mockery.
Receive without complaint,
Work with fate.
- Taoist thought
Before writing this Reflection, I am standing at the stove waiting for my wonderful espresso stove-top pot to do its thing. I love this pot! It was a gift from a dear friend, bought on the day that several of us friends sat in the Café FIorian in Venice and drank wonderful coffee and ate “sinfully” good pastries (at ridiculously sinful prices!). I’m dreading the day that I accidently drop it in the sink and the top part, which is porcelain, embossed with the crest of the Café Florian, smashes.
One tries to be careful. But. Things happen. Even being too careful can be counter-productive. A pot gripped too tightly can go flying off. It’s the same with Life gripped too tightly – one’s own or another’s.
Where did the phrase “Go with the flow” come from? Oh, I know that one has to take some responsibility for making appropriate decisions. Including not making certain decisions.
I think I am going to take a stab, on regular intervals, at Living in the Flow. It seems to me that there is a great Mystery in the “Flow”. An antidote to the stresses of control, which is, for the most part, a fool’s hope.
No – there has to be an art in Going with the Flow. Like flow-blue china, it makes for very interesting non-perfection.
Hey, you know, I feel better already!
Time for demi-tasse #2. With maybe an Italian biscuit.
Brian+
Brian’s Reflection: Monday, January 14, 32006
By respect for life we become religious in a
way that is elementary, profound and alive.
Impart as much as you can of your spiritual
being to those who are on the road with you,
and accept as something precious what comes
back to you from them.
In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire
goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter
with another human being. We should all be thankful
for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
- Albert Schweitzer, born on this day, 1875
Well, a few quotes from Dr. Schweitzer on this his 133rd birthday. (Irrelevantly, my maternal grandmother celebrates her 133rd earthly birthday this year – though she is ….. elsewhere!)
“Religious” means to be bound to something, something hopefully positively nurturing towards humanity, ours and others’. “Respect for Life” is a good start. The point to remember here is that it all has to be balanced. Abortion, for example. Abortion is a very sad thing in the human community. Everyone wants (I think) to respect the developing life of a fetus. But the problem around abortion is not, I think, going to be solved until respect for the life and rights of women is also addressed with some of the same passion.
We think that we can’t “give away” ourselves to others, especially strangers. The history of “spiritual” life shows that “imparting as much of your spiritual being” only helps the giver grow.
And thank God for all those wonderful people, friends and strangers, who come often unexpected into our lives and give us new life.
I’ve had a life that has allowed me to walk these paths. I’m grateful.
May today be filled with respect for life, outpouring of yourself, and kindling spirits!
Brian+
By respect for life we become religious in a
way that is elementary, profound and alive.
Impart as much as you can of your spiritual
being to those who are on the road with you,
and accept as something precious what comes
back to you from them.
In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire
goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter
with another human being. We should all be thankful
for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
- Albert Schweitzer, born on this day, 1875
Well, a few quotes from Dr. Schweitzer on this his 133rd birthday. (Irrelevantly, my maternal grandmother celebrates her 133rd earthly birthday this year – though she is ….. elsewhere!)
“Religious” means to be bound to something, something hopefully positively nurturing towards humanity, ours and others’. “Respect for Life” is a good start. The point to remember here is that it all has to be balanced. Abortion, for example. Abortion is a very sad thing in the human community. Everyone wants (I think) to respect the developing life of a fetus. But the problem around abortion is not, I think, going to be solved until respect for the life and rights of women is also addressed with some of the same passion.
We think that we can’t “give away” ourselves to others, especially strangers. The history of “spiritual” life shows that “imparting as much of your spiritual being” only helps the giver grow.
And thank God for all those wonderful people, friends and strangers, who come often unexpected into our lives and give us new life.
I’ve had a life that has allowed me to walk these paths. I’m grateful.
May today be filled with respect for life, outpouring of yourself, and kindling spirits!
Brian+
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Sermon for: January 13, 2008 [Epiphany 1_Baptism of Christ
Brian McHugh, priest & vicar
[Is 42:1-9][Ps 29][Acts 10:34-43][Matt 3:13-17]
I often hear human beings begging God to help them. And I often hear people complaining that God doesn’t help them. Yet it seems to me that one of the major problems in our relationship with God is that we reject God and what God wants to do, will do, or can do for us. Given what a relationship with God can mean for our lives, I am not surprised.
What happens to Jesus when he comes to John in the wilderness to be baptized happens to Him a lot. [1] Matthew presents Jesus as someone Who knows that God has sent Him to bring the message of salvation to God’s people. In a very public setting where many will see it, Jesus comes to John to be baptized with John’s baptism of water for repentance so that He can publically begin His ministry and preach His Gospel. But John says No. John says, “I need to be baptized by You; why would You be coming to me?”[2] Jesus has to tell John to do it. Jesus has to make it clear that John must allow Jesus to, in a sense, serve him if God’s purpose is to be fulfilled.
This will happen again and again. Jesus comes to His friends Mary and Martha because their brother Lazarus had died. When Jesus is told that His friend Lazarus is deathly ill, He doesn’t go directly to him. He knows what He will do and the effect it will have. When Jesus arrives at Martha and Mary’s, He says He will go to Lazarus’s grave. By their reactions, the sisters gently show that they are not ready to accept what Jesus can offer. One says that she knows that if Jesus had come earlier her brother would not have died – and that he will rise again on the last day. The other reminds Him that Lazarus has been dead for days. Dead is dead. They wonder how Jesus can help, but perhaps because they have been friends they have some hope.
And Peter of course. I think there is a telling reason why Peter is the chief of the apostles. He is so very human, so very like us. At the last meal that they share together, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. He has something very important to teach them by doing so. But you remember Peter’s answer: “No, Lord”, You will never wash my feet!” Pushing Jesus away. The hesitancy of those close to Jesus not to allow Him to minister to them is heightened by the fact that so many strangers in real need do let Him touch them and heal them and give them new life though both His acts and His teachings.
What about you and me? Are we open to the ways in which God-in-Christ can serve us, help us? My experience is that often we are not. Is it because we think we are unworthy, consciously or unconsciously? This could be one reason. Lots of people in Scripture thought so. And many of the ones who thought they were worthy, like the religious establishment, are pretty unpleasant.
This is where the Mystery of the Incarnation comes in. Its mythical-message is that God chooses to come and live among us and share in our humanity. This is a pretty improbable message, especially if we think that we are not worth it. We are fallible, often uncaring, unloving, selfish, thoughtless people. Why would the God of Unconditional Love want to share in our humanity? But the Mystery of The Incarnation says that God does. And our liturgy teaches us this too. There is that lovely line in our present Book of Common Prayer, in Eucharistic Prayer B: “In Him You have delivered us from evil, and made us worthy to stand before You”. This is the amazing message of “Christ-in-Us”.
But maybe there’s a second reason we don’t really want to embrace the message, worthy or not. Baptism is a sacrament that plunges us into the waters of Incarnation. Baptism requires of us that we accept the God Who shares our Life, and that we live our lives accordingly. Baptism requires of us that we accept our worthiness, and let God minister to us, pronounce us worthy. But the problem is - this will change us. This will ask us to strive, each in our own unique way, by our own determination and aided by grace, to be the person God created us to be - like Him, like His Christ. This is scary. Most of the time most of us prefer the devil we know to the devil we don’t. And so we put up with a World that can get pretty messy and discouraging. We make do with muddling along. It’s too challenging to think about being healed or changed or given new life. Like John, like Peter, like Mary & Martha, we often reach out for, but at the same time push God away. When Jesus asked John to baptize Him, the people would see that this was a serious issue. Baptism was not just something to do because everyone was doing it; not just something to do to hedge our bets about staying on God’s good side while living the same old way.
If we let God serve us, if we let God be our Saviour and Liberator and Messiah, it’s a serious business. We must grow and change. We must let go of old ideas which limit our own personal lives and our understanding of family, community and culture. We will embrace new ideas about neighbor, family, friendship, male & female, dignity, respect, poverty, war, mortality, gender roles, success, greatness - all those things that Jesus’ teachings are full of.
Jesus says to John about the baptism: "Do it. God's work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism." Oh yes: the baptism of Jesus is the opening salvo of Jesus’ Gospel and Messiahship. It’s going to be a bumpy ride if we choose to take up our Cross and follow Him and become fully human. But I know what I want. And believe me, we all would have more glorious lives and a more blessed human community is we really opened our hearts and lives to the God Who serves us in Love.
Remember what Gandhi said when asked what he thought of Christianity. He said, “I think is a wonderful thing; I hope someone tries it sometime.” I hope we/you all know from coming to worship how much we are loved. Let’s us “try it”, take the next steps towards letting God serve us, heal us, give us Life.
[1] As the Rev. Barbara Crafton says
[2] Matt 3:13
Brian McHugh, priest & vicar
[Is 42:1-9][Ps 29][Acts 10:34-43][Matt 3:13-17]
I often hear human beings begging God to help them. And I often hear people complaining that God doesn’t help them. Yet it seems to me that one of the major problems in our relationship with God is that we reject God and what God wants to do, will do, or can do for us. Given what a relationship with God can mean for our lives, I am not surprised.
What happens to Jesus when he comes to John in the wilderness to be baptized happens to Him a lot. [1] Matthew presents Jesus as someone Who knows that God has sent Him to bring the message of salvation to God’s people. In a very public setting where many will see it, Jesus comes to John to be baptized with John’s baptism of water for repentance so that He can publically begin His ministry and preach His Gospel. But John says No. John says, “I need to be baptized by You; why would You be coming to me?”[2] Jesus has to tell John to do it. Jesus has to make it clear that John must allow Jesus to, in a sense, serve him if God’s purpose is to be fulfilled.
This will happen again and again. Jesus comes to His friends Mary and Martha because their brother Lazarus had died. When Jesus is told that His friend Lazarus is deathly ill, He doesn’t go directly to him. He knows what He will do and the effect it will have. When Jesus arrives at Martha and Mary’s, He says He will go to Lazarus’s grave. By their reactions, the sisters gently show that they are not ready to accept what Jesus can offer. One says that she knows that if Jesus had come earlier her brother would not have died – and that he will rise again on the last day. The other reminds Him that Lazarus has been dead for days. Dead is dead. They wonder how Jesus can help, but perhaps because they have been friends they have some hope.
And Peter of course. I think there is a telling reason why Peter is the chief of the apostles. He is so very human, so very like us. At the last meal that they share together, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. He has something very important to teach them by doing so. But you remember Peter’s answer: “No, Lord”, You will never wash my feet!” Pushing Jesus away. The hesitancy of those close to Jesus not to allow Him to minister to them is heightened by the fact that so many strangers in real need do let Him touch them and heal them and give them new life though both His acts and His teachings.
What about you and me? Are we open to the ways in which God-in-Christ can serve us, help us? My experience is that often we are not. Is it because we think we are unworthy, consciously or unconsciously? This could be one reason. Lots of people in Scripture thought so. And many of the ones who thought they were worthy, like the religious establishment, are pretty unpleasant.
This is where the Mystery of the Incarnation comes in. Its mythical-message is that God chooses to come and live among us and share in our humanity. This is a pretty improbable message, especially if we think that we are not worth it. We are fallible, often uncaring, unloving, selfish, thoughtless people. Why would the God of Unconditional Love want to share in our humanity? But the Mystery of The Incarnation says that God does. And our liturgy teaches us this too. There is that lovely line in our present Book of Common Prayer, in Eucharistic Prayer B: “In Him You have delivered us from evil, and made us worthy to stand before You”. This is the amazing message of “Christ-in-Us”.
But maybe there’s a second reason we don’t really want to embrace the message, worthy or not. Baptism is a sacrament that plunges us into the waters of Incarnation. Baptism requires of us that we accept the God Who shares our Life, and that we live our lives accordingly. Baptism requires of us that we accept our worthiness, and let God minister to us, pronounce us worthy. But the problem is - this will change us. This will ask us to strive, each in our own unique way, by our own determination and aided by grace, to be the person God created us to be - like Him, like His Christ. This is scary. Most of the time most of us prefer the devil we know to the devil we don’t. And so we put up with a World that can get pretty messy and discouraging. We make do with muddling along. It’s too challenging to think about being healed or changed or given new life. Like John, like Peter, like Mary & Martha, we often reach out for, but at the same time push God away. When Jesus asked John to baptize Him, the people would see that this was a serious issue. Baptism was not just something to do because everyone was doing it; not just something to do to hedge our bets about staying on God’s good side while living the same old way.
If we let God serve us, if we let God be our Saviour and Liberator and Messiah, it’s a serious business. We must grow and change. We must let go of old ideas which limit our own personal lives and our understanding of family, community and culture. We will embrace new ideas about neighbor, family, friendship, male & female, dignity, respect, poverty, war, mortality, gender roles, success, greatness - all those things that Jesus’ teachings are full of.
Jesus says to John about the baptism: "Do it. God's work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism." Oh yes: the baptism of Jesus is the opening salvo of Jesus’ Gospel and Messiahship. It’s going to be a bumpy ride if we choose to take up our Cross and follow Him and become fully human. But I know what I want. And believe me, we all would have more glorious lives and a more blessed human community is we really opened our hearts and lives to the God Who serves us in Love.
Remember what Gandhi said when asked what he thought of Christianity. He said, “I think is a wonderful thing; I hope someone tries it sometime.” I hope we/you all know from coming to worship how much we are loved. Let’s us “try it”, take the next steps towards letting God serve us, heal us, give us Life.
[1] As the Rev. Barbara Crafton says
[2] Matt 3:13
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
