4th Sun of Lent: The Good Samaritan; March 18, 2018. Isaiah 49:1-7, Romans 13:8b-25, Luke 10:25-37

As preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Church

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” the scribe asks Jesus in this morning’s gospel. Jesus asks him a question, indicating the scribe already knew the answer, which is: To love God with one’s whole being above all else, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself. This was even written down to be carried on his person in his phylacteries. Among the teachers of the law, who the neighbor was had been discussed and at times been reduced to only other Jews.

Jesus’ message was clear: anyone in need of help was a neighbor to be loved.

St. Paul’s epistle this morning delineated that message clearly. Put on the armor of light. Put on Christ. We know we cannot put off the “works of darkness” without God’s grace.  Some prodding can be helpful at times. St. Paul had heard that some of his flock were interpreting part of the prayer Jesus had taught them—forgive us our debts as we forgive others—to mean they did not have to pay others what they owed them.  Paul pointed out that being unjust was not the way to love others. Even if death was right around the corner, they needed to be just and pay their debts. That is what Paul was talking about when he said: “Do not owe anyone anything.” There is an old saying: “Love God and do what you will.” If love is the mainspring of our heart, if our whole life is dominated by love for God and others, we will want to do as Gods. The same goes for all the other sins Paul mentioned.

To be dominated by love for God, we must be able to be aware of God’s presence within. This was spoken of quite eloquently at the retreat yesterday morning. We must be converted to the consciousness that makes us one with the universe. We must become aware of the sacred in every single element of life. We must be healers in a harsh society. How do we go about being in the world differently?

What needs to be changed in us? Metanoia- the word spoken by Christ has been translated as repentance but means change the mind, change the heart.

When we were growing up, at the beginning of Lent there was always the question of what to “give up” for the duration. Frequently it was candy, especially chocolate. If you are a chocolate lover, you know what a sacrifice that was or is. When we concentrated only on what we were willing to sacrifice, our understanding seemed to have gone astray. While our minds were focused on the object of our sacrifices, our purpose for the sacrifice was lost. Focusing on the food or time that we gave up, we missed out on the gain. What kind of sacrifice gains anything? Following our church traditions, perhaps a few lost pounds, a sense of having achieved something difficult. Only a sacrifice worth making, one that is made for God, must always focus on the gain, that is, coming to know Christ better.

Be joyful! God loves a cheerful giver.

It requires a special act of grace to accommodate ourselves to every condition of life, to carry an equal temper of mind through every circumstance. On one hand, only in Christ can we face poverty, pain, and sickness contentedly—that is, without losing our comfort in God. On the other hand, only in Christ can we face having plenty and not be filled with pride. In the end we will be judged not by the beliefs we hold but by the way we loved others. By the life we live.

Let us go forward, not as rigid keepers of the law, but with our minds and hearts open to all that comes our way, knowing that God is with us!    Glory be to Jesus Christ

Homily: First Sunday in Lent

 - February 25, 2018: 

As preached by Sr. Rebecca
Holy Wisdom Church

            It is fitting we begin Lent with the story of Jesus going into the desert; it is more fitting still that we recall the Spirit of God in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ baptism, an event in which Jesus experiences his own deepest identity.  Jesus hears himself named God’s beloved son and realizes his own unique relationship with the Father and the Spirit.  Jesus then is led by this same Spirit into that desert –paradise lost- to confront the devil, the same who tempted our first parents.  The word devil: diabolos in Greek- mean separation, division – the one who strives to separate us from God and God’s will.   

            The temptations aim at sabotaging Jesus’ newly experienced identity:  ‘If you are the Son of God then fill your emptiness, your hunger, by turning these stones into bread; then the devil uses another “if” to urge Jesus to prove to himself that if he is God’s son then he must have spectacular gifts and now is the time to display them: “make yourself visible, famous”. The last and most pernicious of the three temptations: grasp all the power and control the whole world.  But Jesus discerns this spirit and overcomes all the seductions of the tempter by the Word of God as in the Epistle to the Hebrews: (Heb. 4:12-13) “The word of God is alive and active; it cuts more incisively than a two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit…it can pass judgment on secret emotions and thoughts.” With the word of God in Jesus responses, the devil leaves him and the angels minister to Jesus.

            Lent invites us to stop ‘eating’, taking into ourselves, whatever protects us from having to face our inner desert.  It invites us to feel our own vulnerability, to feel our fears and to open ourselves up to the chaos of the desert so that we can give the angels a chance to feed us, to encourage us to go inward and to face our own chaos.   We are now a week into lent and some of us may well feel that we are still in process of entering the desert.  As we enter more deeply into the desert we will find ourselves wrestling with our false-self

            The desert is the place where stripped of all that normally nourishes, boosts and supports us.  Our body, mind, and soul are exposed.   We become vulnerable to being overwhelmed by chaos and temptations of every kind.  But precisely, because we are so stripped of what we normally rely on, this is a privileged time for God’s visitation.  Why? Because all the defense mechanisms, support systems and distractions that we normally surround ourselves with, keep much of God’s grace at bay. Why are we so resistant to desert time? The desert embraces us and makes us open.  It is a time apart from noise, fragmentation, useless talk and worry. It provides a space of silence, meditation, prayerful reading of Scripture, where there are no unnecessary computers, phones or iPods to check on the latest news, the latest Facebook, latest Tweet.  All this is more entertaining than going inward for surely we will be confronted at some point with our baggage and shadow stuff lurking just beneath our ordinary consciousness.

            The desert is not only a place of temptation but especially a place of encounter with God: When the devil leaves Jesus, the angels come and minister to him.  And God’s Spirit speaking through the prophet Hosea says: “I will lure her and lead her to the desert and speak to her heart”.

            Desert time is vital to a mature and intimate relationship with God.  If we are committed men and women of faith then God is going to bring us to the desert at some point to look deeply at ourselves and see ourselves as God sees us.  And God’s gaze upon us is one of unconditional love. 

            The voice of God addressed to Jesus is also addressed to us: “You are my beloved”:  “this is who you are”.  And if we really hear this, we will be driven into a wilderness, wherein, if we open our minds and hearts and persevere through the painful awareness of our brokenness we will encounter a joy beyond anything we can imagine. 

Touching God

Sermon 154 Mar 3: Tob8:4b-8, 10, 13, 15-17;Rm12:6-19;Mk5:24b-34. 

As preached by Brother Luke

Holy Wisdom Temple

Last week I took one of our German shepherds, Shiloh, with me to the bank. She is usually with the Christy’s but they are away so I am caring for her during their absence. She is a Verna-Kahn daughter and she is super alert about all that goes on around her. She is also full of energy and very playful. I was particularly amused at the bank this time because Shiloh was so intent on checking out everything. Sniffing all around the floor, into the offices, she would have gone into the bank vault if I had let her go! I was with Amanda, a bank officer, at her desk and had Shiloh on a down-stay on leash. Good thing she was on leash as she was fixated on Amanda. Not hostile, just inquisitive and very attentive. When Amanda rose to go around the desk to get a document from the printer, Shiloh wanted to go too. With my foot on the leash, that did not happen! Shiloh knew where she wanted to be. Near Amanda!

Today’s gospel lesson is one we hear every Lent. At first glance, it is a healing story. But it also is conveying another message in the context of Great Lent. It’s about touch, getting in touch with God. Or to put it another way: Being in God’s presence and being aware of God’s presence around us. What would it take for us to be as aware of God’s nearness to us as Jesus was aware of the woman who touched him? Or to want to touch the divine person as did the woman with the issue of blood. Or as Shiloh was aware of, and wanted to be near to, Amanda?

The various practices of lent can begin to feel like punishment rather than liberation: eating less, avoiding unnecessary distractions [TV, surfing on computers, endless activity on social media, etc.], reining in destructive emotions [also called passions: anger, jealousy, hate, discontent, etc.], attending more and longer church services, spending more time in prayer and meditation, feeding unexpected guests, helping rather than fleeing from those in need, etc. Sound familiar? Doing these things out of some felt obligation misses the point. These activities take time, some of it to help us recollect ourselves and quiet the busy noise whirling within our minds and hearts, and some of it to focus our energy on the needs of others as tangible acts of reaching out to God. For, as we heard a couple of weeks ago, Christ tells us: as you do these things for others you do them for me. If our journey through Lent doesn’t get us any closer to God then we are on the wrong road.

The Gospel is calling us to be aware of God’s presence even when it means waiting or persevering without a response to some immediate need.  Waiting patiently is in short supply in modern society. One minute can seem like an eternity on the phone or the computer, where we expect responses instantaneously. The woman in today’s gospel spent years and all her money seeking relief from her condition. The path she journeyed was the path she had to be on. She did not give up. When the response came she was alert and ready to reach out and seize it, even though she had to overcome her fear around the awesomeness of what she was doing.

If our Lenten observances help us to acquire patience and a willingness to persevere and to put in the time to seek God, then we are making progress. It may not always feel like it. Do not give up! Those moments when we sense God’s presence may begin to multiply and we may begin to notice our own attitudes changing and our anxieties waning as we realize that we are indeed being accompanied on our life journey by the best friend we will ever have – in addition to our dog!

Christ is in our midst!