"Whump:... Or Change Happens but So Does New Life

"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Mark 13:24-29

Last week I was getting ready for my day when I heard, no felt, what I would have to describe as a “whump.” The Georgia Dome, a giant building in which I had watched football games, Olympic sports, and been to a few concerts (most notably The Rolling Stones) was imploded. I am sure a lot of you have watched the above video a bunch of times. Watching stuff like that get blown up is pretty awesome.

What is funny about that, though, is that one “temple” got flattened right next door to a new one. We are accustomed, in our time, to blowing up stadiums when we get tired of them and building new ones. Out with the old, and in with the new. We have explosives able to destroy “temple” like buildings in a matter of seconds and trucks and workers able to haul off the rubble in relatively little time. I wonder sometimes, then, what “temples” do we have in this world that feel, much like the temple in Jerusalem must have felt for Jesus’ followers, as if they will be around forever?

It’s not a huge leap for us to see why Jesus goes off on a rant in Mark 13 after being asked  by one of his disciples what would happen to the “awesome stones and buildings” of The Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus kicks of the rant by predicting, “Not even one [of those stones] will be left upon another. All will be demolished!” (13:5, CEB). For his friends, this sounded like nonsense. How could something as mighty as the Temple ever be destroyed?

About 80 years after Jesus lived on earth,in fact, Roman armies came in and leveled that very temple.That temple was the center of the universe for people back then. Jesus wants his followers to see that all “temples” will fall eventually. Everything on earth is susceptible to time and the forces of nature and history, and that our only constant on earth is change.Whether or not he could see the future, Jesus knew the future.

Yet, even in the midst of change, he says, there is constantly new life flowing in to this existence. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” Even as time marches on, new life is always happening.

One source of h anxiety tension and grief for human beings is that we are uncomfortable with time and change. We get so caught up in our grief about what is passing away and our anxiety about what is yet to come that we do not notice new life appearing around us. Truly, we could spend all of our time fretting about all of the things beyond our control. Yet, when we do, Jesus is telling us, we miss much life and resurrection taking place- right now. As we kick off Advent, then, let us all take time in the day-to-day to find Jesus already alive in our lives and in the world we live in.

King Jesus

”Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:44-46

I like to ask my atheist friends to  “Tell me about the God you do not believe in?” The God they do not believe in is often remarkably similar to the one that fundamentalists who stand preaching on the corner probably believe in- a kind of cosmic, cruel king who casts people into hell based on whether or not they had their beliefs properly sorted out before death. The God they do not believe in sounds like one who sorts us out based on pretty high standards for eternal pleasure or punishment. Their God sounds like a bloody tyrant.

 “Christ the King” Sunday- (the last Sunday before Advent, aka “this Sunday”), gives us opportunity to think about which God we believe in. The word “king” itself is problematic, isn’t it? Most kings - even the so-called “good” ones- ruled through violence and fear and enforced a system that sorted people out based on what they had or which family they were born into. We have no context for kings in a democratic society, anyway, because we rejected that whole monarchy thing 242 or so years ago when we broke away from English rule. I am not even so sure I like the idea of Christ as King, then. 

If Jesus were king, then, what would that look like? A King Jesus that looks like the one in Matthew 25 has high standards for  “the nations” that are gathered before him in this parable. Even harder for us is that the nations are not judged based on moral purity, proper belief, worship or any other “religious” kinds of standards. Nope. They are judged based on their compassion. The righteous are those who clothed the naked, cared for the sick, visited the imprisoned and welcomed the stranger. Period.

I don’t believe Jesus means to send anyone who does not do perfect and untiring work for the “least of these” off to hell, however. If that were true, I think we would all be pretty much doomed. Jesus gives us a  good clue on where to look for God and for what God looks like. Want to find God? Get up and walk towards the messiness this life offers us. 

God is found there – in all kinds of hunger, and imprisonment and estrangement and sickness. Do good and loving work in the hunger that surrounds you right now. Find someone you know who is imprisoned- be it in a city jail or in the prison of addiction or loneliness and offer your love and help setting them free. There are strangers in your midst each and every Sunday at church-- walk across the room and welcome them- and maybe even take them out for lunch. Jesus is right there, friends, and when we follow him to those kinds of places in this world, we are truly being his "subjects"  and his "sheep."

God’s kingdom, in fact, is already ruled by a present, living King who has proclaimed the center of his power rests with the least powerful. All of us, then, have a chance to embrace our King in the present, and live under an entirely different and holy rule. 

St. Samuel Seabury- A Complicated Dude

Bishop Samuel Seabury, the First Bishop of The Episcopal Church, had a complicated life, I would imagine. He took an oath of loyalty to the King of England at his ordination to the

priesthood back in England, yet he lived in a land that was trying to break free from the British Imperial rule. Seabury was outspoken in his opposition to American freedom from England. He was a “loyalist.” That fact put him at odds with people with whom he worshipped and worked. It might have even put his life on the line on occasion.

Seabury made his life more complicated, in fact, by writing pamphlets under the pen-name AW Farmer and getting into a kind of "flame-war" with one Alexander Hamilton. When the Continental Congress enacted a boycott on the import and export between the colonies and England, he wrote “Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress and criticized the rebellion by saying:

“Though the open violator of the laws may escape punishment…. he shall feel the lash of my pen : and he shall feel it again and again, till remorse shall sling his guilty confidence, and shame cover his opprobrious head.”[1]

Whoa. Harsh. Opprobrious, even (I had to look it up. It’s not good).

Hamilton then struck back with - A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress and insisted that theirs was the cause of liberty and opposition to what amounted to slavery:

“No person, that has enjoyed the sweets of liberty, can be insensible of its infinite value, or can reflect on its reverse, without horror and detestation. No person, that is not lost to every generous feeling of humanity, or that is not stupidly blind to his own interest, could bear to offer himself and posterity as victims at the shrine of despotism….” [2]

St. Samuel Seabury eventually went to prison for being loyal to the King and even was chaplain for British troops.

Seabury finally  took the journey back to England and was consecrated Bishop by Scottish bishops not loyal to the crown. When he returned to his new homeland some of his “flock” in the American Episcopal Church were unhappy with the fact that he was “high church” (one who places a high importance on liturgy, vestments, etc) while many of them were “low church” (less emphasis  on liturgy and more on preaching, etc). George Washington would not even reply to letters sent by Seabury. Still, Seabury embraced his new country and was Bishop for all of them.

Being the Church is often complicated, especially when we disagree with each other over important issues and problems. Seabury found himself praying for, delivering sacraments to, and even burying people who once may have considered him their enemy. In order for any of to be the Church after the War for Independence, they all had to see one another as much more than the sum total of their political views. Americans who once bitterly disagreed now had to be  children of God from the same human family.

You too will share Christ’s Body and Blood with people who disagree with you or are different from you. Yet we are all complex people with deeply-held stories that affect our way of seeing the world. God loves us all, so we are challenged to find our way to reflecting that love- especially for one another.

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[1] Seabury, The Rev. Samuel, Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continential Congress, 1775, online: accessed 11.17.17 https://ia800203.us.archive.org/28/items/cihm_20488/cihm_20488.pdf

[2] Hamilton, Alexander, A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress, 1774, online: accessed 11.17.17, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0054

The Demon of Judgment

One of my favorite movies is Keanu Reeves’ “Constantine.” Reeves plays a doomed “spiritual detective” who gets to live out his life on earth chain-smoking and dying of lung cancer while doing his best to earn his way into heaven by eradicating the world of lawless demons who prey upon the innocent.The demons create havoc and then, through prayers and other “exorcist skills” Constantine names them, casts them out, and sends them back to oblivion.

Recently, one “demon” I see a great deal of in myself and others is one I would call “judgment.” Judgment shows its nasty face constantly these days head in  because we all are networked together in such a way that we can instantly react to others under its power. Having honest and robust arguments is not a bad thing, mind you, but judgment takes them over when we find ourselves classifying each other as “evil” or “a bad person” or,  “always wrong.” We are given tools that make it super easy to forget our common humanity. 

Jesus flatly rejects this “demon”, though. In fact, he assigns the status of “blessed” to us when we act in the opposite way. When he says, “Blessed are the meek,” for instance, he is telling us that when we listen and seek to  understand before forming our reaction to others, we are blessed. When we seek out ways to be merciful and loving (even when others are awful to us), we are blessed. 

Being merciful and loving to people we think are jerks is hard work. It does not mean allowing yourself to be abused or taken advantage of. Sometimes, the best route is to (as I had to do recently) just stop the interaction or discussion. What it also means for me is that I have to take time to breathe, pray, and remind myself that all of us are children of God. Tough stuff, sometimes, I know. 

One first step out of being controlled by judgment is curiosity. I ask myself 3 or 4 questions about the unseen person on the other end:

-What kind of day are they having?

- What are we getting out of this energetic exchange?

- How or why is this topic of disagreement a point of pain or anxiety for the other person or for me?

- How might I offer an opportunity for a more human interaction?

- What might the other person need from me?

The good news, though, is that, like John Constantine’s nemeses, this kind of common “demon”  is easily defeated – if we take the time to name it, breathe, pray through it, and  learn from it with “holy curiosity” and the spiritual resource called God's love for us all. 

Being blessed, Jesus promises, is so much sweeter than being right.