I notice a strong theme of fear in the readings for all three months. King Herod fears losing his power, segregationists feared acknowledging that their way had never been just, all of us fear rejection and humiliation. These meditations and scriptures speak to these fears.
from November 2017
meditations by Jake Owensby, Bishop of Western Louisiana
Mt. 14.20 All ate and were filled. It's a simple thought, but not always what comes to mind, that Jesus in drawing us to the Eucharist table, "also draws us to each other."Mt. 14:29 So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. "Jesus urges us to do impossible things. Love our inconsiderate neighbor. Forgive the drunk driver who hurt our spouse. Give the shirt off our back to the guy who just stole our shoes. Feed the hungry." Owensby observes that we'd usually rather sink than admit that we have to reach out to Jesus -- which entails "admitting our limitations and facing others' snark." When we try to walk on water, Owensby writes, it's that second step that takes the "deeper level of courage."
Rev. 18.21 With such violence Babylon the great city will be thrown down. Owensby cites theologian Bob Hughes, who led a weekend retreat for me and my co-mentor Susan some years ago: "Wrath is what love looks like to a sinner." Owensby adds, "For those who elevate themselves at the expense of others, Jesus' return will seem catastrophic." Now, I've learned to associate the phrase "tough love" as an excuse for abuse when coaches, parents, and teachers take their authority personally and enforce their demands impersonally; but Hughes means something more along the lines of the way whites felt with the end of racial segregation in South Africa and in our southern states (see January, below). It's a thin line.
Mt. 25.18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. That one "refuses to take any losses," but Jesus's bottom line is that "the central business of being human is to take the wildest, most unreasonable risks."
- From theologians we've read in EfM, Diogenes Allen and others, I'm learning to think of the Trinity in terms of the risk that God the Father took in Creation; risk and pain and death of God himself is inherent in creatures who are allowed to grow their own ways. Family, friends, and teachers take the same risk, and mustn't give up when, inevitably, things go bad.
- This message seems unexceptionable, but I'm aware that some of my friends see Jesus's bottom line as, "Believe I'm the Son of God, or go to hell." That message won't transform the world, but only build a wall around believers, who fear that a tug on any brick in the wall will cause the whole thing to crumble. (I borrow the metaphor of bricks from Robert Bell's book Velvet Elvis.)
Rev. 21.3 See, the home of God is among mortals. Owensby's divorced father moved away, and Owensby spent his youth trying to attract his father's attention by accomplishment. He naturally experienced God the Father in the same way. "As it turns out," he writes, "I had everything upside down. ...God is straining to reach us where we are. Jesus didn't come to take us back up to heaven. He came to transform earth by planting heaven at its very core."
Ps. 106.15 He gave them what they asked, but sent leanness into their soul. Owensby lists as "idols" things that, though good, "always let us down" -- family, work, and possessions -- because "their promises are rooted in our capabilities and formed to our likenesses." When we focus on those things, we're getting spiritually lean on a "soul diet."
Mt. 4.19 Jesus said, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." This is the reading for St. Andrew's day, remembering the disciple who died on an X - shaped cross in Patras, Greece. Owensby gives the etymology of martyr as witness, not anything about death. Our martyrdom, then, is witnessed in "our compassion for others, our perseverance through hardship, and our humble pursuit of peace and justice."
from December 2017
meditations by Holli Powell, executive committee of the Diocese of Lexington, KY
Mt. 20.20 She said to him, "Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." Jesus gives a "countercultural" response, that the great must be servants to all. Powell puts it in a way that would draw scorn from a lot of my students and from some teachers and coaches I've known: "In God's estimation, we are all winners, and our greatness is achieved in serving each other."Jude 16 These are grumblers and malcontents... bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage. Dealing with troublemakers within the church community, Jude gives Scriptural examples that all show God rebuking evil. Powell draws the lesson to "keep our eyes in our own lane. Our job is to follow Jesus, not to punish those who don't."
2 John 5. But now, dear lady, I ask you... let us love one another. Powell relates this to another Scripture, "let us walk in love," and writes two aspects of "walking in love." First, "walking" implies "action" and "adjusting our own lives to stay in relationship with God and with one another even as … changes occur." Then, it means "fearlessness." "Perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4.18) and looks beyond the familiar to see God in others, "not just those who look like us or agree with us."
from January 2018
meditations by Ken Woodley, licensed lay preacher in Prince Edward Cty., VA
Mt. 2.3 King Herod... was frightened.... Fear, writes Woodley, "is the enemy of faith." Woodley relates Herod's fearful reaction to that of white - only government that closed down all public schools in Prince Edward County for five years rather than seat black children beside white children. "What did Prince Edward County fear? What did Herod fear?" In a later meditation on John 1.15, The light shines in the darkness, Woodley tells us that a beacon now sits atop the courthouse where the decision was made to close public schools rather than comply with orders to desegregate. Called the Light of Reconciliation, the beacon honors Barbara Johns, a student whose activism in 1951 started the de-segregation crisis, and was dedicated a few years ago with apologies for "the barricaded dreams of our children."
Appendix: Action Items
Forward Day by Day has lately instituted a tag to every day's thought, "Moving Forward." Some of these could serve the class I mentor for the program Education for Ministry, either as check - in questions at the start, or "action" responses to theological reflections at the close, so I list those, here:- The parable of weeds of the field occasioned this question: Can you think of any good that came out of one of your life's most difficult times?
- Thinking of Peter, reaching out for Jesus' hand as he sinks: When have you been humbled enough to change your mind about something you have believed for a long time? Are you still putting that change of heart into practice?
- "Listen to him!" says a voice to obtuse disciples at the Transfiguration: Share a lesson learned in elementary years that has remained with you.
- Jesus, kneeling beside the lame beggar, asks "Do you want to be made well?" Could you this week write a note of gratitude to someone who was an agent of healing in your life? Share the story.
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