Homily 12-31-17

As preached by Brother Christopher
December 31, 2017

Holy Wisdom Church 

As a culture, the aftermath of Christmas brings an abrupt end to the holiday steamroller that blitzed us day and night from Thanksgiving. I was in Rite-Aid the day after Christmas and the decorations were already down and Christmas theme items were on sale, crammed into a single aisle off to the side of the store. Soon we’ll be moving on to the next economic opportunity: Valentine’s Day. I don’t know about you, but for me, this feels odd. I mean, Christmas is over before we’ve actually begun to celebrate... at least, given the scope of the mystery.

In Orthodoxy, we don’t really have Advent properly speaking. While there’s a forty-day period of fasting, the pre-Christmas period itself lasts only several days. Instead, as we heard Brother Luke allude to on the feast, we celebrate the Incarnation from Christmas through Theophany all the way to the Encounter. I believe the reason for this is that it takes this long to really absorb the mystery, to try to interiorize its reality: God enters the human condition, God “empties” Godself of divinity, knows from inside all the feelings human beings experience. The mystery of the incarnation can’t be digested in one sitting. Rather, it requires a quiet contemplative pondering over time, and that happens over the seasons of Christmas, Theophany, and the Encounter.

But this Sunday, the Sunday before Theophany, focuses on John the Baptist. Yes, he is the forerunner, the “Elijah” who is to come before the Messiah and his appearing is significant. He proclaims that the one who will come after him is far greater than he, that he’s not fit to carry his sandals. He excoriates the Sadducees and Pharisees who have come out into the wilderness to observe what he’s preaching, perhaps even to get baptized themselves. He calls them a brood of vipers – a brood of vipers! – and assures them that there will be no ethnic or social favoritism in the kingdom of heaven. “The ax is laid to the root,” roars John, “and it’s going to burn every tree that doesn’t bear good fruit.” He is the fierce ascetic, who speaks truth to power and damn the consequences. John imagines a Messiah to come after him that is even more biting and austere than he, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. “His winnowing fork is in his hand,” John challenges. The Messiah is going to burn the chaff in unquenchable fire.

But it’s clear that Jesus is not the type of Messiah that John expects. Later, in ch. 13 after John has been arrested and he hears reports about Jesus that challenge his expectations, he sends word to Jesus, “Are you really the one we are waiting for or must we look for another?” Implicit in the question is his own hesitation: because you’re not fitting into the Messiah mold. And look at what Jesus says in response: Tell John, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the dead are raised, and happy is the one who is not scandalized by me.” Far from being the hard-nosed ascetic, preaching fire and brimstone that John anticipates, Jesus is something entirely different. Messiah: Yes, but a Messiah Through his messianic works, Jesus points to a God of love, who elicits dedication and devotion by love and not by force, by forgiveness that liberates and frees. Jesus is a healer, and his healings are both real and sacramental – pointing to what God is really like. We are being prepared by the Church to receive a Messiah that breaks the mold of all that is expected; who is not a political liberator, who is not a conqueror, who repudiates any sort of bogus triumphalism in favor of a radical vision of the Reign of God: whose purpose is to include rather than exclude and in so doing sow the seeds of real transformation. Jesus says, “Of all those born on earth none is greater than John the Baptist, but even the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he...” John is the apex of the old era: austerity, judgment and a call to repentance that uses a healthy dose of fear as the catalyst for change. Jesus is about something different, something new, even revolutionary. In his person he ushers in a real metanoia, a new vision of what the Reign of God is that elicits dedication on the basis of love and not fear.  It remains for us to deepen our understanding and experience of this throughout this holy season.

Brother Christopher

  

An interesting note about Pharisees from Daniel Harrington: He explains that they were a Jewish group active in Palestine between 2cent B.C. to 1^st century AD. Their name likely has some connection with the Heb word “paras” which means ‘separate’. They are the separated ones and developed traditions concerning how to live out Torah in everyday life. These emphasized ritual purity, food tithes, Sabbath Observance. Given how they became such opponents of Jesus, it is highly significant that they resemble in attitude some of the legalists in Orthodox Christianity (as well as traditionalists and fundamentalists in Catholicism and Evangelicalism). Orthodox can sometimes place more importance on ‘ritual purity’ than on simply living out the Gospel in love. 

Sermon 152 Nov 26: Jer 23:3-8; Gal 4:4-7; Mt2:1-12.

As preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Temple

        Christmas is the gift-giving season. The Christian pedigree of this gift-giving activity goes back at least to the three wise men who came bearing gifts when they visited Jesus and his family. Jesus at the time was maybe 2 years old if we use Herod's reckoning. In this setting we can see that gift-giving is a recognized part of the tradition.

        How this tradition is lived out varies greatly from family to family and I would guess from age to age and culture to culture. In some cultures, the gift giving is on St Nicholas Day, in others St Barbara and in many European countries it is New Year’s Day. We no longer think of the 12 days of Christmas as being the 12 days following Christmas, rather it is the month preceding Christmas.  At some time long past the feast was celebrated from Christmas through the New Year right up to Theophany, or as in our tradition, to the Encounter February 2nd. Now that is lost. Christmas Day comes and goes and quickly the season shifts to New Year’s Day and beyond. The Western church has created Advent to focus attention on the anticipation of this feast. Nevertheless, the culture governs much of how this feast is celebrated.

        I remember asking my father what Christmas was like when he was a youngster. And that was long ago since he was born in 1906. He said the tree and all the trimmings and presents were brought into the house Christmas Eve and the celebration was Christmas Day, not before. And in those days the lights on the tree were candles and not electric lights. That would make any modern-day OSHA official’s hair stand on end! I knew some families who would open their presents on Christmas Eve. In my family, Susie and I felt we were at a disadvantage with other kids in the neighborhood. We were allowed to open our Christmas stocking but nothing else until after Christmas breakfast, and that only happened after my father drove to my grandparents’ house and brought them over to our house for breakfast followed by the gathering around the tree. By that time the neighborhood kids were already riding their new bikes or testing out their skate boards. Notice I didn’t mention going to church on Christmas Day. Church remembrance of Christmas would be on the closest Sunday to Christmas plus a Christmas concert during that period.

        So, was Christ missing from these Christmas celebrations? Not at all. We had the usual nativity creche on the mantle or near the tree. Christmas carols were sung carrying the message of Christ’s birth.  And how can we not notice the way children live out the anticipation of this feast? So, excitement around this event is there. We need to channel that excitement to the deeper meaning of the event.

        And if we take this morning’s readings to heart we may see a dimension of the Christmas celebration that can be easily overlooked. This celebration is about a very special birth. Jeremiah prophesies that God would raise up a righteous shoot to David. Hence last Sunday we remembered the ancestors of Christ; a lineage that includes King David. The birth of this child, depicted in many popular hymns and carols, make that point. 

This feast is about a child and draws in the perspective of children; but that does not leave adults out. The nativity of Christ is about new life and how that new life connects all of us to God’s larger purpose. St Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, gives us a related insight on this very special birth when he writes that God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts to make us all children of God and thereby God’s heirs. I like to look at that as also as an invitation to us to become children at heart.  After all, Jesus said: Allow the little children to come to me. We too are to meet Jesus with the open heart of a child.

      God gives himself to us through the incarnation. And what a gift this is! A connection to the divine, becoming heirs of God. It all begins with the birth of a child.  Notice how all the other actors in this scene are depicted: the shepherds, angels and even the Wise Men approach this event with joy and celebration. Children and their anticipation, enthusiasm and joyful spirit, are integral to the Christmas celebration so let us join them!  Let us open our hearts to the reality that God, through his son, has entered our hearts.  Now we are called to take that reality to heart and to live it to the full every day that God gives us to live.

        Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Sermon 151 Nov 26: 2Kings 5:1-14; 2Cor 6:11-7:1; Lk7:1-10.

        Virtually every Orthodox liturgical service includes one or several litanies. Sometimes people refer in a dismissive way to litanies or petitions as “gimme” exercises.  A list of petitions asking God to do this or that for me looks like the ubiquitous “wish list” connected with many web stores which are especially popular this time of year. But if we take a closer look at the petitions we will notice that for the most part we are calling on God to remember people in need. We pray for those who are sick, those suffering from various ecological disasters, terrorism, war, civil strife, or that God remember loved ones who have passed away. We may also pray for peace, safety for travelers, a good harvest, success in various endeavors. The list will include personal needs too, such as forgiveness of sins. In a general sense we are praying for healing in our broken world. Do we expect these prayers to be answered? And if so, in what way? This is not like calling for a plumber to fix a broken pipe.

        In today’s gospel lesson the centurion asks Jesus to heal his servant. Although Jesus set out to go to the centurion’s home and personally attend to the servant, the centurion wasn’t expecting him to do that. Instead, his expectation was that Jesus could effect this healing simply by his intention to do so. The centurion’s servant was healed, not just because the centurion asked the question but because he recognized the power that Jesus had to bring about the healing. And Jesus recognized the great faith the centurion had in him to effect that healing.

        In the Old Testament reading we see another healing. But Naaman had  a completely different kind of expectation.  In his case he wanted a hands on experience, and he had in mind what that should look like. When Elisha gives instructions through another to Naaman on what he needs to do to be healed, Naaman is furious and storms off. His expectation of personal attention in a particular way was not fulfilled, and he was in no mood to do what Elisha had instructed him to do. It takes the intervention of a third party to get Naaman to reconsider his own actions and follow the guidance given to him by Elisha. Once he consents and does what Elisha told him to do, he is healed. The result? Naaman then comes to believe in Elisha’s God.

        Naaman and the centurion both experience the power of God, but the centurion had faith in that power from the beginning, Naaman approached that power with some reluctance but then through his experience his faith is transformed.

        So how does healing in our broken world come about?  Through faith and the active engagement with God to achieve God’s purpose in this world. Part of the reason faith communities pray and monastic communities exist is to model the kind of living relationships that can be a source of healing in this world. Prayers and petitions are calls to God to remember the needs of this world and also to be with us on the journey through whatever trial we may be facing on our path.  The petitions that call for healing are also ways to remind all of us to be part of the healing of our world. We can’t all be in every corner of the world where suffering exists but we can bring that suffering before God. Even more, we can be part of the healing in our immediate circumstances. Helping family, friends and neighbors in need puts hands to God’s intentions. It may be a direct act on our part or we may be like the third party in the Naaman story, the one who guides another back onto the path of healing. We can see examples around the world as well as in our own neighborhoods where people see needs and respond. And this is where saints and heroes are found.

        So both scripture and personal experience tell us not to be hesitant to take our personal cares and our concerns for others to God. By doing so, we  open the door to God’s salvific help. To do so with assurance as did the centurion is the message from Jesus; but if we are reluctant or timid, remember that Naaman’s hesitancy was the necessary first step that brought him the help he needed to see the power of God he sought but did not immediately recognize. The power of God is always there.

        Christ is in our midst.

Homily: Ancestor Sunday 2017

 As preached by Sr. Rebecca     

 December 24, 2017

Holy Wisdom Church

            Matthew's Gospel today focuses on Jesus' origins-his genealogy.  It manifests a struggle within Matthew's diaspora community in Syria some 10 years after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 CE.  His is a minority Jewish Christian community which takes Jesus as its leader and strives to establish a way life rooted in obedience and love as Jesus lived and taught.  But it is surrounded by some Jewish communities who do not accept Jesus as Messiah.  There is a dire need for Matthew’s community to show Jesus’ person as legitimately rooted in Judaism...  A religious community needs an overarching vision, to know itself under a 'sacred canopy', living in a world where division, up-rootedness prevails along with incredible insecurities not to mention persecutions and poverty. 

       When we begin to unpack the individual lives listed by Matthew, the message resounds loud and clear:  Jesus fully entered our human condition with all its virtues and vices.   It shows the continuity of Jesus in the history and tradition of Israel.  He was the natural development of the long process of God's steadfast relationship with his people and the long-awaited climax.  It responds to the question:  who is this Jesus.  Matthew attempts to unveil who Jesus is for him and his community.

     When we scratch below the surface of the persons in Jesus lineage we cannot help but note that God writes straight on crooked lines.  Matthew makes no effort to 'sanitize' Jesus’ origins or even the members of his immediate family.  Jesus was not born of all saintly ancestors.  Rather, as the genealogy shows, his family tree contains as many sinners as saints.  Among his ancestors were scoundrels, liars, adulterers, murderers, power-mongering men, some scheming women, mostly wicket and or weak kings, corrupt religious authorities, and sinners of all sorts.

     Both persons and the institutions that gave birth to Jesus were a mixture of grace and sin, yet none the less, a mixture that mediated God's favor.  And of it Jesus was born.  This can be scandalous for our sense of propriety and integrity - high ideals of how God ‘should’ come to us that not everything that gave birth to Christmas was immaculately conceived.  The same holds true of what followed after Jesus' birth.  His earthly ministry was also partially shaped and furthered by the self-interest of religious and political authorities of his time and the fear and infidelity of his own disciples.  And this has continued throughout the 2000 years of history since.  No, Jesus' family tree up to our present day has a long list of selfless martyrs and selfish schemers, of virtue and betrayal. But by contemplating the mystery of Jesus Christ in Kairos (=eternal) time, with the innermost lenses of the Spirit, we perceive God's Light, shining in the darkness of our own present Chronos  (=24/7) time. This celebration of Christmas invites us to ponder and trust deeply that a loving a personal God guides each of us as well as in and through the tragic events of contemporary history and in our own personal lives.  This is an enormous challenge to us to today to trust that God is at work in our midst, in and through us, making crooked ways straight and that God's love does and will prevail. This trust is one of the authentic keystones of spirituality.  Matthew is assuring us that God does govern life and that nothing eludes God's power, that there is a guiding plan, beyond our comprehension, which gives meaning to our lives. Like a hidden seed, God's grace works, revealing divinity through people like us, in communities like ours, our very Churches, and in the world at large.

   In ending I would like to draw attention to the photo I posted in the vestibule: a picture of the Golden Repair-a broken pottery put together with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold. Perhaps we may see in this an innate intuition inscribed in the depths of humanity’s heart that brokenness is not the end of the story: the repaired piece is more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with new life.  May we trust that this points to what God’s grace is offering to us to embrace today?

(see added attachment for photo)

 Translated “golden joinery,” Kintsugi (or Kintsukuroi, which means “golden repair”) is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold.  Beautiful seams of gold glint in the cracks of ceramic ware, giving a unique appearance to the piece.

This repair method celebrates each artifact's unique history by emphasizing its fractures and breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with new life.

Thanksgiving: Mt. 6:25-34

November 23, 2017
As preached by Sister Rebecca

Holy Wisdom Church

     Jesus in today’s Gospel gives us a commandment:  do not be anxious.  Jesus is not saying we ought not to feel worry, anxiety but rather not be ruled by them or identified with them:

      The American physician and writer, Lewis Thomas observes that people are ruled by them: “We are, perhaps uniquely among the earth’s creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present…

Mary Oliver offers another slant on worry:

“I worried a lot.  Will the garden grow?  if not,  how shall I  correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong?  Will I be forgiven, can I do better?

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it?   Am I going to get rheumatism, dementia?  Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.  And gave it up.  And took my old body and went out into the morning and sang.”

Mary Oliver relates to her worries.  They are ‘faced and heard’ then they drop away.

     Feelings are one aspect of who we are as human beings, but our true nature is, as Teilard de Chardin wrote:  “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Or another way of expressing it:  We are humans seeking God; the Divine is here and now having a human experience in and through us.  And not just with the good and pleasant, but the whole of our experiences, including pain, all sorts of feelings such as worry and anxiety. All of these and more are not obstacles on our path.  They are part of the path.  We do not need to try to transcend them, but to be willing to become deeply intimate with our lived and embodied experiences.

      In a most difficult of events, a woman, Dorothy Hunt, described the fact that she had breast cancer.  As she lay waiting for the surgery to begin, she described how she felt no fear, just a complete curiosity. “This is the Mystery having a human experience and everything is OK and everything is present.” Later at the time for her checkup, she shares “that waiting for the result of the tests she felt very anxious, but also not wanting her anxiety to be different.  She felt free.  She is celebrating both the human and the Divine: everything is welcome:  whatever is arising: sadness, anxiety, anger, awe and wonder.

      For centuries in the western world, spirituality has often taught or implied that feelings are a distraction to truth, and that we need to get away from feelings, to distance ourselves from them.  But all aspects of our human nature are not only to be welcomed but also celebrated leaving behind the addiction to the storylines.  We just stay in the raw and innocent feelings without resistance or getting entangled in them.  The psalms portray and express this over and over again.

     Richard Rohr shares: “As I learn to rest and trust in the faithfulness of God, the anxious knots of my life begin to untangle. It begins to be possible to meet each day, not with fear and uncertainty, but with openness and acceptance.  I only need to open to the abundance of life that constantly pours out in an unceasing supply of goodness and blessing.

I would like to end with the hymn we sing at the Divine Liturgy during the Anaphora:

In all things and for all things we praise you, we bless you, we give thanks to you, O Lord and we pray to you our God.

November 5, 2017 19th Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 57:14-19, 2 Corinthians 1:1-17, Luke 5:17-28

As preached by Sister Cecelia

Holy Wisdom Chapel

The gospel this morning is such a good example of the scribes’ and Pharisee’s misunderstanding of the law. If Jesus had reversed the order of his words when he healed the paralyzed man, would the scribes and Pharisees have been as horrified? If he had healed the man and told him to take up his bed and go home, and then indicated his sins were forgiven, perhaps they would not have been scandalized? Perhaps. Most people in those days, and unfortunately even today, did believe that illness was a result of sinning, so if the man was healed it is obvious his sins were forgiven.

 It is the faith of the men carrying the stretcher, that prompted Jesus to heal the paralytic. Perhaps Jesus knew the paralyzed man considered his own sins to be the cause of his illness, and so Jesus had to put to rest whatever might prevent the man from being healed. The paralyzed man was truly transformed by his healing. He went on his way glorifying God.  So did many others who witnessed the event. Only those whose ego needs control and order did not give glory to God for Jesus’ compassionate act.

In the early days of Christianity, the person who chose Christianity chose to face trouble. There was most often abandonment from friends and family, hostility, and persecution from neighbors and the official powers of government. In our country today, the challenges we face are not always so obvious.   The comfort that St. Paul talked about in this morning’s epistle, though, is just as available for any of our afflictions as it was for St. Paul and his Corinthians. The physical and mental stresses we endure can sometimes feel like the weights that were used to crush the life out of people being punished in times gone by. How to live and be Christians can be stressful when we are faced with so many possible responses. St. Paul said much about the observances of keeping the Hebrew laws that had grown out of the original Ten Commandments given to Moses for his people. Basically, Paul said from his studies of the meaning, purpose, and limitations of the law that the law’s function was just to get us started. Instead, too often, the law just takes over.  Paul himself had been an enthusiastic perfect law-abiding Pharisee before Jesus spoke to him. Later, Paul must have wondered how keeping the law so perfectly could create such hateful and violent people as himself—as the person he had been before his conversion.

So, what are the laws of our religion really for? Surely, they are not to make God love us. God already does love us. For almost anyone involved in religion, the relationship between the grace of the Holy Spirit and the laws is a central issue. The tension is between the religion as requirement—that is, the dos and don’ts of any religion—and the religion of transformation, understanding what God wants of us. The grace of God must win. Laws can only give us information. They cannot give us transformation into love and mercy. Law often frustrates the process of transformation by becoming an end in itself.

Are there spiritual laws connected with this transformative process different from religious requirements, or laws of the church? To be able to follow the ethical ideals of Jesus, it seems some level of inner experience with God is necessary. It does not seem possible for us to obey any spiritual law regarding issues like forgiveness of enemies, self-emptying, humble use of power, or treating others as we would like to be treated, except in and through our union with God. It is the Holy Spirit within, enabling us to obey any law or to know its true purpose. Today, with the help of God’s grace, let us open our hearts to this understanding and the strength to carry out our purpose in life. And like Levi-Matthew, let us follow Jesus.

 Christ is in our midst!

Sermon 150; Sir 15:11-20; 1Cor 14:6-20; Mt 25:14-30. Use it or lose it

As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church

And to the one who has, more will be given, but to the one who has not, even that will be taken away. [25:29]

When I was a youngster in Elementary School, I played the cello in the school orchestra and took private cello lessons. But as circumstances would have it, my cello teacher was in a car accident and I had a series of substitute teachers, then it was summer break and I did not resume cello lessons after the summer. I don’t think I am alone as an adult looking back and regretting not having followed up with childhood music lessons. 

We have an expression in English: use it or lose it. I went online to discover a wide variety of applications of that expression. Today’s gospel lesson can be read as a warning or it can be seen as prompting us to value the gifts we have been given. In this case, I was given the gift of music lessons, but I let it go. Now it cannot be recovered. It is lost. It is a shame to let an opportunity like that slip away. Too bad as a child we often don’t have the foresight to see what could develop from that early opportunity. And later in life it is something that can make us sad when we imagine what might have been.  And that is a place of regrets, that is the place the gospel colorfully describes as outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But life, and this gospel message, isn’t just about lost opportunities. And of course, it is not just about childhood opportunities lost.

Gifts from God, what I would like to call opportunities, don’t stop flowing our way just because we grow older. It is an everyday phenomenon.  They may look different but they are still within our grasp. And as youngsters, we may well have seized many opportunities and grown with them. This is the part of the gospel that speaks of doing well with small things, and greater things will follow. We may hear criticisms of the understanding of the gospel as being about doing well and reaping rewards. This is sometimes described as the prosperty gospel.  And yet those who take joy in the gospel message might be forgiven for presuming that the message is not only about pain and suffering. An expansive view of the gospel message embraces both realities. And this gospel passage opens with the image of a wealthy man entrusting talents to his servants. How we respond to that gift is the main point. Jesus is not asking us to throw away such gifts as an act of humility or poverty but rather to use them.

We are heading into the fall which includes the celebration of Thanksgiving. Indeed, giving thanks is a fundamental part of Christian belief. Giving thanks for the gifts we receive from God.  This understanding can be expanded to encompass everything in life as a gift from God. How do we respond to what God has entrusted to us? Whether it is as basic as the gift of life or the world we live in and care for, or a specific talent we may have and can develop; if we engage with it and with life, more will flow from that effort.

Still, the last phrase sticks in our minds: Throw this useless servant into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.  I can remember being told many times by choir directors as we were practicing music that the final phrase, or the finale, is the most important part of a performance because this is what will remain in peoples’ minds and ears. No matter what else happens, try to end well. The whole piece matters but the end reverberates longer. So, it is with today’s gospel reading. The ending is what so often sticks in our minds.  And yet, the greater part of the story is devoted to the gifts and how by using those gifts still greater things will follow. So don’t be fooled by the last phrase, remember the beginning, remember the gifts. As the Psalmist says: Be strong, take heart and hope in the Lord. [Ps 31:24] That’s the real message here.

Homily October 15, 2017: Matthew 24: 32-44

As preached by Sister Rebecca

October 15, 2017

Holy Wisdom Church 

            

We have just heard from the Gospel:  “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branches become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.  So also when you see these things, you know that he is here at the gates.  Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place.

            What is Jesus talking about when he says twice:  these things.  What ARE these things Jesus is referring to?  To understand what this we need to go back to what precedes today’s gospel.

            Jesus is sitting with his disciples on the Mount of Olives and begins a long discourse of what is to happen in their lifetime. In short, Jesus is predicting: There will be false prophets pretending to be the Messiah, lawlessness will reign, hearts will grow cold.   “Jesus goes into detail about the coming of the horrors and the chaos: at that time there will be great suffering such as not been from the beginning of the world until now and never will be.  In the midst, though, of all this chaos the good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed.

            These are the things that Jesus is telling his disciples and us today.  They are to see in these things the Presence of the glorified Christ.  But Jesus is telling them they need to stay awake, to be watchful, vigilant. Jesus is urging them to ‘wake up’: be mindful and behold with their inner eyes the Kingdom of God’s time, the Eternal time NOW even in the midst of oppression from the powers that be: the Roman occupation.  They are not to have recourse to violence: “whomever takes up the sword (read weapons) will perish by the sword.”  However, their minds are still locked into an image of the Kingdom of God as a tangible political kingdom that is going to free Israel from suffering the Roman occupation.  The disciples inquire:  when is this going to happen? What is the time frame?  Jesus contrasts chromos time and kairos time.  Chronos time is time as one moment after another, calendar time.  Kairos time is deep time.  It is the time when suddenly an insight breaks through: Oh! I get it.   The dots connect.  There is a sense of time coming to fullness right now in this moment.   It is seeing with the inner eyes, and there is deep meaning in what is happening in chronos time now.   The awakened mind beholds what is hidden from one’s ordinary mind.

            In today’s passage Jesus goes on to warn his disciples that life is more than making merry, pursuing happiness in things that pass.  He is not saying that they should stop taking seriously the things of life or enjoying them or taking care of ones needs such as eating and drinking, getting married, and so on.  These things yes, but at the same time all of this will pass-and to deeply realize this.  Then one doesn’t get so engrossed in how things turn out, success or failure, feeling good or not feeling good about this or that, or worrying about the future.  God’s presence is here and now.  Often we can get so wrapped up in everyday life that we don’t heed the reality of God’s presence until something drastic happens. Then we are shocked into awareness of our need for God.  It is like an event when the rug is pulled out from under our feet. Suffering has an awakening aspect to it.  Let us now recall the Beatitudes:  The Kingdom of God Jesus proclaims is encapsulated in the Beatitudes.  God’s time, time of true peace, harmony and happiness lies in the NOW where God is perceived in the daily no matter what it looks like.  Yet chronos time is important.  And there is a sacred dimension to everything that happens. Stay in the present moment and everything has the possibility of leading to new life, to the Kingdom of God Jesus is striving to awaken us to and it is right now in our present moment.  Treat everything that happens in chronos time – in this very moment, in the light of kairos time.

            The challenge today for us is to go inward in our troubled times. We look at the front page of the newspaper or the latest news on TV and we see what a mess we are in.  We need to wake up.  We live in a time where authentic leadership has never been more urgent or confused.  When everything is in flux and old institutions are dying and so many misguided leaders lend their energy only to resist rather than light the way down a new road; when moral standards have been uncertain and the loss of integrity blurs vision.  This is because more energy is being channeled into what is transitory, crumbling, and dying instead of giving soul energy to the ’what’ the direction the Spirit of Christ is beckoning us toward.

            This morning a prayer from Teilard de Chardin comes to my attention that seems an apropos ending to our reflection on today’s Gospel and applies to our times to seeing God in every aspect of life.  He writes in a historical era whose traumatic upheavels foreshadow our own. His prayer is:   “As, you know it yourself, Lord, through having borne the anguish on certain days the world seems a terrifying thing: huge, blind, and brutal. . . . At any moment the vast and horrible thing may break in through the cracks—the thing which we try hard to forget is always there, separated from us by a flimsy partition: fire, pestilence, storms, earthquakes, or the unleashing of dark moral forces—these callously sweep away in one moment what we had laboriously built up and beautified with all our intelligence and all our love. Since my human dignity, O God, forbids me to close my eyes to this . . . teach me to see you concealed within it.

Sermon 149; Is 49:13-18,22,23; Gal 2:15-20; Mk 8:34-9:1 Cross

As preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Chapel

September 17, 2017

When I die, and I am laid out in a coffin I will be holding this cross to my heart. Inscribed on it will be the date of my profession and the date of my death. Though I will not die on a cross, holding on to that symbol in death is a statement about what the cross means for believers. The texts for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross are a wellspring of images about the cross. The text we use at Psalm 51 is almost a sermon in itself.

“O cross of Christ! Be our strength and our protection! By your power make us holy that we may honor you in faith and love. You are the hope of Christians and the guide of those who have strayed, haven of those tossed about by the storm of life, pledge of victory for all who battle evil, and resurrection for the fallen! By its power, O Christ, have mercy on us all!”

We don’t always need a lot of words to get the message across. During our retreat, I happened to pick up a slim volume by a French priest, Pierre-Marie Delfieux, who was the founder of the Jerusalem Community. The book of meditations is on the 7 last words of Christ on the cross and the 15 stations of the cross. Fr Pierre-Marie spent 2 years in the Algerian Sahara Desert in the hermitage of Charles de Foucauld, the famous French religious of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Fr. Pierre-Marie then took from his desert experience the idea that the prayer, silence and peace one can acquire from the desert is desperately needed in urban environments. The mission of the Jerusalem Community is to offer that kind of oasis in Paris, Montreal and other urban settings. His little book reflects that experience.

While using that volume for meditations I was particularly struck by two short phrases that truly captured for me the essence of the symbol of the cross.

The first comes in connection with the word of Christ given to the thief: very truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. To this Fr Pierre-Marie adds: “it is not so much our flesh that is buried when we die, but rather our past.” For the thief, that meant a full pardon for whatever he had done so that the path to heaven could be opened to him. And for us, the cross symbolizes the total forgiveness that Christ’s passion represents. So, as I hold on to this cross, whether in life or in death, I am grasping at that promise of forgiveness that is the foundation of God’s love for us. I am also being reminded that such forgiveness is our mission to others.

The second phrase is tied to the statement: woman this is your son, son this is your mother. Part of the meditation on that word of Christ is tied to the scene when the centurion uses his lance to spear the side of Christ and from that wound flows blood and water. That image has often puzzled me. Why the emphasis on both blood and water? Fr Pierre-Marie gives a beautiful answer: it is the blood of our life and the water of our pardon. Christ shed his blood for our salvation. He gives it to us again at every communion. The water symbolizes cleansing and purification to which the many examples in scripture testify. Water is used to wash away our sins, especially in Baptism. Water, living water, is what Jesus offers to the woman at the well. The water we bless at Theophany is then used in turn to bless others and our environment. It is the water turned into wine at the wedding feast that brings joy and foreshadows the eucharistic celebration.

So, as we continue to celebrate this feast of the exaltation of the holy cross, may our gaze upon that cross help us to see in it God’s gifts to us and to pass them on: the gift life, the gift of understanding, the gift of forgiveness, and the gift of love.

Homily for Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

As Preached by Sister Rebecca

September 14, ‘17 

Holy Wisdom Church

            There are 2 levels in which we behold the Holy Cross of Jesus: in the Chronos Time: the cross of abasement, of unthinkable suffering, of losses beyond counting of Good Friday.  The second level is Kairos Time, God’s eternal time when today we are celebrating the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.  We behold this Cross through the lenses of the Paschal mystery: the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost.  During the feast of the Transfiguration, we also receive a glimpse of its glory. 

            We have just listened to Johns Gospel of Jesus’ death on the cross.  John wrote his Gospel approximately 70 years after the event.   He recounts Jesus’ dying on the cross in the light of the paschal feast: it is laced through and through with allusions of the already glorified Christ. It differs dramatically from the Synoptics: How so?  Let us reflect on the last sentences of our Gospel:

“Jesus knowing that all was now finished said to fulfill the scriptures: I thirst…so they put a sponge full of the vinegar to his mouth.  “When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said: “it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Two key words here:

1.  “It is finished” may be translated from the Greek as:  “it is completed, accomplished.  What is completed?  John tells us in Ch. 4:34: when Jesus answered his disciples: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work”, the work given to him by his Father.

      Scripture scholars perceive Genesis 2: 2-3 as backdrop illuminating our text:‘On the 7^th day God finished his work (of creation) …and rested on the 7^th day … God blessed the 7^th day and made it holy because on it God rested from his work from all his work in order that it may be completed.’

            Jesus is declaring his work finished, completed-the work God the Father had given to the Son to accomplish on earth. Nothing was wanting.

2. The second keyword is bowed or rested:

The Gospel says: “Jesus bowed his head” but this could also be translated from the Greek as “he laid his head to rest”. This is the Rest where Jesus, having completed the work of his Father, now enters fully into God’s Holy Sabbath and opens it for all humanity.

     Jesus’ cross in Kairos time reveals God’s unconditional love.  The cross tells us, more clearly than any other revelation, that God is utterly vulnerable and the cross invites us into this same vulnerability. 

            We, humans, are forever connecting God to coercion, threat, guilt, shame, and to the idea that a power should somehow rise up and crush by force all that is evil.  “Why doesn’t God do something about this hopeless world of ours?” God is not the great avenger of evil.   Rather, God is love, light, truth, and beauty; a gentle if persistent invitation and one that is never a threat.

            God’s power lies at the deepest base of things and will, in the end, gently have the final say.   It is also the only power upon which love and community can be created because it and it alone ultimately softens rather than breaks the heart.  Its power invites us in.  Surrendering to this invite we do not give in to bitterness and grow mean when we are slighted when our dreams are dashed, when we feel helpless and there is nothing obvious that we can do about it.   When we remain in trust and in stillness we are acting in a divine way, in that vulnerability in which lies our coming to love and community.

This morning, what message may we open our hearts to as we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross?

PRAYER

God of all time, You call us out of the ordinariness of our everyday lives to see the world anew in your time. Help us to respond to your call to see in all things: both a completion and a new beginning; both an end and a renewed start; both sadness and joy. While our time marks your death on a cross as an end, Your time marks the Transition from one life to the next. Enflame in our hearts a desire to see in life and death the Transition and transformation your life, death, and resurrection has brought forth in the world. Your time is a time of fulfillment that makes little sense to the world, for what is logical is replaced by what is Kingdom-oriented, and this way of thinking appears as foolishness to the worldly. Help us to live as your fools, willing to announce your Kingdom. Give us the strength to keep your time, where relationships take priority and we start over, again and again, to serve the least among us.

Christ is in our midst!

(I did not include the following in  the homily as it would make the homily too long.)

One of the key revelations inside the cross: We have a redeeming, not a rescuing God! It took Christians some time to grasp that Jesus doesn’t ordinarily give special exemptions to his friends, no more than God gave special exemptions to Jesus.   So like us, they struggled with the fact that someone can have a deep, genuine faith, be deeply loved by God and still have to suffer humiliation, pain, and death like everyone else.  God didn’t spare Jesus from suffering and death and doesn’t spare us either from them.  Jesus never promised us rescue, immunity from cancer, or escape from death.  Rather like this morning’s feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, he promised that in the end there will be redemption, vindication, immunity from suffering and eternal life. 

Homily August 13, 2017

As Preached by Brother Christopher
Holy Wisdom Chapel

Many years ago I remember the time that Archbishop Iakavos, the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese came to visit New Skete. He stayed with us for a weekend and after sharing Divine Liturgy with us on Sunday, he accepted our invitation to speak informally with the Monks, Nuns, Chapel Community and visitors. Sitting at our dining room table during coffee hour, he graciously answered a variety of questions we asked him. I’ll never forget his response to a question about the time he marched with Dr Martin Luther King Jr to the Selma Courthouse in 1965, something that was, at the time, highly controversial. He replied, “Unlike most of you, I was not born in the United States where I could enjoy democracy. I came from Turkey, where I was a 3^rd class citizen. So when Martin Luther King had his walk to the Selma courthouse, I decided to join him. It was my way of witnessing against all those who would oppress other people. Some called me a traitor... others said I should be ashamed of what I had done because I had violated the tradition of how a hierarch should behave publicly. I even received death threats. But in my heart, I knew that at that time I had to stand publicly with all those who were oppressed, whose civil rights were being violated.” What a paradox: at that time in 1965 Archbishop Iakavos was the public face of Orthodoxy, on the cover of time magazine with Martin Luther King Jr, a traditional bishop acting in the most “untraditional” of ways.

Tradition is a precious gift that has been passed down to us from the past. Tradition – from the Greek ‘paradosis’ – ‘to hand down’. Each of us understands that the faith has been passed down to us as an act of love. We are accountable for it.

However, there is such a thing as tradition with a big T and tradition with a small T. Tradition with a big T is the Gospel law of love, the commandment of God. This is tradition that is always unyielding, always to be obeyed. But then there is tradition with a small “t”, tradition that is merely custom and human convention, not law and never absolutely binding. It is simply how we’ve always done things. Whether it’s nuns wearing veils, monks wearing klabuks, chanting X amount of stichera at Vespers, or particular fasting practices, so much of our religious practice is built on convention and not on gospel law. That doesn’t make it good or bad. It is simply how things are done in a particular place.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus recognized that people could get hung up on tradition with a small “t” and miss the bigger “T” tradition. And he was absolutely resolute in challenging this whenever he encountered it. This morning’s Gospel is a perfect example of this: Jesus confronts the scribes and Pharisees because they were using small ‘t’ “traditions” for their own selfish ends. And notice how he throws Isaiah back in their faces: This people honors me with lip service, but their hearts are far from me... their reverence of me is worthless.”

The real test of our faithfulness as disciples of Christ is not our conformity to small “t” tradition, but always looking to follow the Gospel of love. Whenever religion gets stuck in small ‘t’ rigidity, we dishonor the core tradition that Jesus passed on to us: Love one another, as I have loved you.” 

Sermon 148; Mal 2:5-7, 3:20-24; Acts 13:25-41; Mk 9:2-13 Pilgrimage Saturday of Transfiguration

As preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Church

“Don’t tell anyone what you have seen…” --Mk 9:9

Whenever I think about the feast of the transfiguration the expression that immediately leaps into my mind is to “see the light.” I wonder if that expression might have this feast as its origin. The light surrounding Christ is a central feature of the story. This feast is about seeing the light that illumines the deeper reality of who Christ is.  But what happens when we, or in this case, the three apostles, see the light? Does the reality of the event become immediately clear? The tradition, as expressed in the icon of the transfiguration, would seem to indicate that the apostles are bowled over and thrown into confusion rather than brought to a new and clearer awareness of the reality of Christ. So, seeing clearly in the moment may not be the message here. The Transfiguration of Christ may not be violent as an explosion [the atom bomb], but maybe what is happening here is a clearing away of our expectations and preconceived notions so that a new opportunity to see clearly emerges.

        After all, the apostles had lived with Jesus for a long time. They heard him preach. They ate with him. They traveled with him. Now they are about to approach his passion and yet they remain in the dark about what is really going on. It reminds me of driving a car into either the morning or evening sun. Rather than being illumined by the light, we are blinded by it. And it’s scary! Our first inclination might be to pull over, stop the car and wait until the angle of the sun changes enough so that we can get our bearings and see again. A reasonable and human response, but not often possible. No surprise then that Peter proposes setting up shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah to freeze the moment. But that moment passes as quickly as a turn in the road moves the sun into another less threatening trajectory and we heave a sigh of relief. Moses and Elijah are gone and only Jesus remains. And in their confusion and bewilderment, Jesus guides his three companions back down the mountain to the reality of his passion and death that will unfold in a relentless and steady way. The moment on the mountain is not to be talked about now, it is to be reflected on as the days pass and then understood after the resurrection.

        Isn’t it often true that we understand confusing circumstances in our lives through twenty-twenty hindsight? It is the later reflection on what happened that finally helps us “see the light.”  And isn’t this an axiom of life? If someone does something that triggers anger in me, the best response is to wait and reflect first, not to immediately react. A marriage falls apart; it may not be best to marry the next person you meet! Lose a job; don’t sign up for the first available position, but rather take the unemployment check and do a thorough search for the right position for you. And elsewhere, what does Jesus say? Slapped in the face? Turn the other cheek. This is not to encourage us to become floormats for others but rather to avoid taking the easy route of immediate reaction that will simply escalate the situation rather than resolve it. So, the Transfiguration of Christ may very well be about the transfiguration of the moment as much as the transfiguration of the person.

Today, we are very fortunate to have Dr. Roberta Ervine as our guest presenter who will speak to us this afternoon about this idea of transfiguration as understood and depicted in the Armenian tradition.  I encourage all of you to come back here at 1:30 for her presentation. I know you will not be disappointed.

Christ is in our midst! 

Homily: Feast of the Transfiguration:

As preached by Sister Rebecca

August 06, 2017

Holy Wisdom Church 

     This morning’s Gospel describes Peter, James, and John witnessing Jesus’ transfiguration: “His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light”… Peter’s immediate reaction was to make three tents:  for Jesus, Elijah and for Moses.  He no sooner said this that a bright cloud cast a shadow over the disciples and then from the cloud, a voice said:  This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him”.  Upon hearing this they were full of fear and all fell on their faces.

Instead of tents that Peter would like to make, a different kind of tent, not from human hands, covered the disciples, as in the hymn at this morning’s matins:  

     “You were transfigured on Mount Tabor, O Jesus, and a shining cloud spread out like a tent covered your friends with your glory.  The hymn continues: “At once they turned their gaze earthward, for they could not bear the sight of the unapproachable glory of your face, O Savior Christ.”   I would like to pause here to reflect on the shining cloud that covered the disciples and their inability to sustain the sight of the uncreated Light shining forth from Jesus’ person.

     First of all, the luminous cloud spread out like a tent covering the disciples:   This imagery is full of meaning.  One important aspect of it: it is a cloud blinding our normal, everyday consciousness-that is, our minds that reasons, plans, figures things out in our daily.  This luminous cloud trans-figures the ordinary mind.  It goes beyond trying to figuring things out, like Peter not knowing what to do about this awesome sight. It is not a question of doing something: it is a question of being.   This luminous cloud may be described as the Cloud of unknowing, or rather a deep heart knowing of awe and wonder, which cannot be contained by anything-even words.  It is beyond human control; it points to a divine visitation in what the Gospels call Kairos Time, Eternal Time, God’s time and the Kingdom of God. It is in this ‘space’ that the 3 disciples hear the Word of God piercing through their hearts:  “This is my Beloved Son,..listen to him.”  Just prior to this event they all heard Jesus words about his passion and imminent death.  However, they heard the words but missed the meaning; they were unable or unwilling to listen, that is, catch the meaning.  Even after the Transfiguration experience, they still did not get it. They fled during Jesus’ passion and death.           

Transfiguring experiences or enlightening ones are not immediately transformative.  It will take the coming Pentecost experience for this to happen in them.

    What about our lives?  Can we relate to transfiguring experiences?  Yes, even when we share in humanity’s broken condition.   There are cracks in the soul where Light and new life can break through.

This is alluded to by Gerard Manley Hopkins when he describes the world as ‘charged with the grandeur of God” or Elizabeth Barrett Browning who presents a similar image: 

“Earth’s crammed with heaven

And every common bush afire with God;

but only he who sees, takes off his shoes.

The rest of us sit round it and pluck blackberries.” (Eliz Barrett Browning: Aurora Leigh)

     Both Hopkins and Browning were able to experience the grandeur and sacredness the Divine Light because their inner eyes welcomed awe and wonder.   What smites us with an unquenchable amazement is not that which we can grasp or control.  The overemphasis on reasoning and doing ends up on the shore of the unknown.  The ineffable dwells in the immense expanse beyond our everyday mind.

     True transformation begins when we let go of control, grasping, and willful trying to figure out our life’s direction.  The mystery of transformation we are reflecting on more often happens when something old falls apart-a deep hope, an ideal.  The pain of something falling apart invites the soul to listen at a deeper level and this sometimes forces the soul to go to a new place-the liminal space of the cloud of unknowing.  Transformation needs to become a process of living in the confusing dark space for a while and allowing ourselves to be spit up, like the prophet Jonah onto a new and unexpected shore.

     Wonder transforms perception.  It gives us new eyes. Nothing we do can produce wonder.  We can, however, be open to it and welcome it.  We can make space for it.  The setting can be wherever we find ourselves. Now, I invite us to simply clear a space within ourselves and pray:

Jesus, as you made your light shine on that glorious day, now let it shine on our souls, O Gracious master.”

6th Sunday after Pentecost. The healing of the Paralytic

Homily by Sister Cecelia

Micah 4:6-10, Romans 7:14-24, Matthew 9:2-8

A cousin of mine was telling her daughter that she did not like all the time she was spending with her new boyfriend.  The daughter, Monica, exploded and answered her mother in a not nice way. Monica later said to me that she did not know why she had answered that way, as it was not like her to be like that. As St Paul indicated this morning in the epistle, we are all capable of sins against others and against God, even as we know we don’t want to be “like that.”

When we behave in ways we would prefer not to, consider this: are we more concerned about our own lack of victory over our weaknesses than we are about grieving the heart of God? Don’t we like to think ourselves as above average, not quite as wretched as those who commit really ugly offenses against God? For those with understanding and insight, every evil, no matter how small or great, is ugly. If we find ourselves quite intolerant about any failure in our struggles with evil actions or thoughts, it is likely because we are success-oriented rather than because we do not want to offend God. Are we being more self-centered than God-centered? St Paul indicates we will succeed only if we rely on God’s help. We can’t do it alone.

 The men who brought the paralytic to Jesus believed that Jesus could help—and their faith ultimately brought healing to the man who was paralyzed. Jesus had been preaching and healing long enough for many to have faith in him. But not the scribes. To the scribes who were scandalized by his words “Your sins are forgiven you,” Jesus asked: “Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts?” They readily accepted that if the man was sick, he must have sinned. That was the cultural belief of that time. All sin was an offense to God, so only God could forgive.  The scribes found unacceptable Jesus’ saying that the paralytic’s sins were forgiven. Jesus was equating himself with God. The scribes were unable to think outside their boxes of ritualized do’s and don’ts and were scandalized that Jesus was making himself God. We never hear whether any scribes were open to Jesus after witnessing the paralytic’s sins being forgiven and his obedience to Jesus’ directions to get up and go home.

One direction Jesus has given us is to be of one mind and one heart with one another. It is a difficult thing to really achieve, as we are so different from one another. We have had different experiences; we are different temperaments, of different origins and families. We have different talents and different responsibilities. We have different views and understand each other imperfectly. Being different from other people, we may well grate on them, weary them with what we are, what we think, what we do, and what we feel.

We may not achieve empathy for all, but we can be of one mind in Christian forbearance, each bearing the other’s burden. I bear the burden that the other is to me simply by being himself or herself, because I know I am a burden to him or her simply by being myself. Besides praying for understanding and a peaceable, forbearing heart, we can take that person who is a burden into our prayer. Would we then find our heart a little lighter, more at ease, more patient if we did this? Say to God: “Here is someone I truly find a pain in my side. You put up with me, let me put up with him or her.  You, Lord, might not like the way the person is, but you not only allow the person to be, you love them.”

Mutual harmony and understanding—being of one mind—is difficult for us. We can only bear with each other, bear with one another’s burdens. Jesus showed us the example of true humility. Only by acquiring the same kind of humility will we be able then to love others and not just be able to bear with one another. Then we will be doing our best to be of one mind and heart.

Today we commemorate the successful testing of the atom bomb. May we all take all those responsible for nuclear warfare, and all those who have suffered from nuclear warfare in the past and will suffer in the future, into our prayer as well.

Remember: only in God, in whom we live and move and have our being, is being of one mind and one heart possible. 

God is in our midst.