Forward Day by Day: Refuge in a Storm

The greatest pleasure is to be safe from a storm -- but only just safe. So wrote John Updike early in his memoir Self-Consciousness. I took the photo for this article yesterday evening, listening to Toronto's jazz station on my phone; I've tonic water with lime at my right hand; I'm reading The Big Sleep. It's like a greatest hits compilation of my usual summer night routine, except for lights flickering and limbs falling on the roof. It's the biggest daylight storm of the summer.

Mia is dubious about sitting so close to the storm. But a radio interview regarding Winnie the Pooh taught me something about storms and fear that relates to a scripture below, Matthew 14.27. Piglet, walking in a storm with Pooh, asks, "What if a tree falls in the wind?"  Pooh responds, "What if it doesn't?"

Today was the last reading in the issue of Forward Day by Day that began when summer vacation was a few weeks ahead.  Now, teacher workshops begin day after tomorrow, and my anxiety is rising.  It's time to review where we've been in the lectionary - all those Psalms about refuge in a storm, impending doom, and holding fast to what is true.

May 2018 gave us readings by Miguel Escobar, director of Anglican Studies at Union Theological Seminary:

Acts 18.26 [Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately.  Escobar relates this to a concert pianist's description of his lifetime's work as "simply growing closer to playing what was written on the page."  In the same way, Apollos learns to preach "less about him and more about Jesus."  Escobar challenges us with a question: How is your understanding of the "Way of God" being challenged these days? Is the gospel shining through?

Acts 21.12-13 We and the people there urged [Paul] not to go up to Jerusalem. Escobar makes a "spiritual gift" of Paul's "ability to upset everyone, everywhere he goes."  Paul angers Jewish Christians by not insisting on the law, but also mocks the Gentiles' idol-worship; he alarms the other apostles.  The rest of Acts is about failing to soften Paul's edges, Escobar says. He asks us if we have a gift that can be sometimes sharp, and do we ever need to soften it?

Matthew 14.8 Bring me the head of John the Baptist.  All the readings assigned for this day deal with feasting and / or abuse of power (Ps 49, Eccl 3.1-15, Gal 2.11-21).  Escobar observes only a "tiny spark" of God's presence in this gruesome story from Herod's reign, but also observes how Mary sings Magnificat in Luke against this background of Herod's cruelty.  Escobar tells us to light a candle as we think how we are in some way a spark in the darkness of the world.

Matthew 14.16-17 "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." Escobar touched a sore spot for me as vacation opened up, when it hit me that I no longer have a "bucket list" of things I want to achieve, or any particular goal for the summer days: "Maybe you're … unable to see anything particularly inspiring or holy in the coming days.  You are not alone in these feelings."  This story of Jesus making plenty from apparent scarcity speaks to this feeling.  Escobar asks, "How would our world be different if we looked at ourselves and our communities as 'more than enough' for God to work miracles with?"

In June, meditations came from Marshall Jolly, rector of Grace Episcopal church in North Carolina.

Matthew 13.33 The kingdom of heaven is like yeast....  This parable resonates with the story of feeding five thousand. When we ask, "Is this enough?  Will this little bit amount to anything?" Jolly is reassured by the image of a little yeast that makes a big loaf.

Matthew 13.36 "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."  Jolly warns, "Although we should strive to garner an ever - deepening understanding of our faith, we must resist making our faith contingent upon our understanding."  Then, what is faith about? "Faith is about relationship.  And for that, we must continue along our journey with Jesus."

Fr. Daron Vroon of my church, St. James Episcopal, Marietta GA, made an interesting observation for our patron saint's day this past Sunday.  With John and Peter, James is one of the big three apostles present for three big events in the Gospels:  raising of Jairus's daughter from the dead, the mountain - top transfiguration, and Jesus' passion at Gethsemane.  In none of these pillars of the Jesus story does Jesus teach or preach. James and the others saw who Jesus is by what he does. And they never do understand when these events happen! As Jolly says, not understanding, but relationship.

1 Samuel 3.1b The Word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. Jolly writes, "We have become less attuned to mystery as a posture of openness.  So much of life is spent in a closed circuit -- solving problems, managing routines, controlling outcomes."  To be open to mystery, we must create a space in ourselves to stand aside from the circuits of our days.

Matthew 14.27 "Take heart, it is I; be not afraid." Jolly observes that all fear is the preoccupation with "What if?"  We still struggle with this, though more than 100 verses in the Bible tell us "fear not."

Acts 11.23 When [Barnabas] came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced.... Jolly asks us, "Is there anything you're trying to fix that isn't broken? How might you move from fixer to encourager?"  As I consider the year ahead as head of a department comprised of gifted teachers who do their work in ways that I can only admire, I take this message to heart.

Psalm 74.15 Yours is the day, Yours also the night.  See my blogpost on this theme, Worship and Ordinary Life: Flipping Our Perspective. It draws from this meditation and from an article by Fr. Vroon.

July's readings come with meditations by Susan Hanson, former chaplain and presently English professor at Texas State University.

Matthew 21.12-13 Then Jesus... drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple....  Hanson begins, "The issue in this passage is not that Jesus is capable of anger; it's that sometimes anger is what's called for."  She explains the system of making money from poor worshipers who bought birds for sacrifice. Jesus is telling us, "When it comes to worshiping God, we all enter the temple on a level playing ground."  She asks us, "When was the last time you felt angry?"  (Answer: I yell at figures in the news when I drive.)  "Was it justified?  How did you handle this feeling?" (I have to turn the station and breathe deeply and intone Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.)

Matthew 5.46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  All the readings for July 4th had to do with the theme of sojourners or refugees. Dueteronomy 10.17-21, You all were sojourners once; care for sojourners and widows. Hebrews 11.8-16 Abraham was a sojourner in the land of promise.  Psalm 145, The Lord is slow to anger.... Hanson reflects that students who have called her "unfair" have most often been the ones doing well, complaining that she gave someone else a second chance.  How true!  "Fortunately," Hanson concludes, "God is more concerned with mercy than with giving us what we deserve."

Hanson asks a series of questions that arise from other meditations.  Forward calls these, "Moving Forward."  In EfM (Education for Ministry), we'd call these "Action" items.  If a coin with Caesar's image 'belongs to Caesar," what does our being made in the image of God imply?  And: How do you pay attention to and renew your most important relationships?  Is God inviting you to do some extra work on any of them?  And: (apropos townspeople unable to accept Jesus as more than the son of a carpenter) Are you blind to the changes in the people you love most?

One of the final readings of the summer break applies to teachers:  Romans 15.1-2 We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  Hanson, a teacher, learned early "never [to] make anyone look foolish."  Her career as a writer goes back to the second grade teacher who told her that she was a good writer.  Good things to remember as I finish up this posting and turn my attention to the year ahead.