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! 

Feb 4th, 2018 Encounter and Prodigal Son

As Preached by Sister Cecelia
Transfiguration Temple


Since the Encounter is moved from its actual date of the 2nd to today, we are commemorating it as well as the Prodigal Son.

There are similarities between these two feasts. Simeon was moved by the Spirit to go to the temple on the day that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus. He had faith that his God would keep his promise to him that he would not see death until he saw the Messiah of his people. The Prodigal Son was no doubt moved by the Spirit to return to his father when he came to his senses, having nothing to eat. His father had faith that his younger son would return someday.

The son had faith that his father would not turn him away but would certainly feed him and take as good of care of him as the father took care of his slaves. Mary had the faith expressed in Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” She could not have known exactly what was in store for her own son but she believed in Simeon’s and Anna’s words.

Faith enables us to see God as a God of love at work through pain and hardship in our lives. The Prodigal through his pain and hardship returned to his home with a humbled heart.

Faith enables us to realize our true positions as sojourners on this planet. Faith makes us look differently at visible things around us. Faith gives substance to invisible things. Spiritual concepts that had no form, suddenly become embodied through faith. Things that once loomed so very important take on a different meaning when viewed with a fuller vision of the meaning of life. A friend once said: “Through faith we understand that we are not physical beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a physical experience.”

C. S. Lewis once said: “Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.” Unlike the person whose mind is on earthly things, as a sojourner, a pilgrim on this earth we begin to appreciate our citizenship in heaven. On earth we have nothing but we possess everything. We are sorrowful, yet we are able to rejoice. We are poor but we are rich. That is life when we ascribe substance to invisible things. We begin acting as responsible citizens. We begin to invest wisely in relationships. Conversations, goals and motives become purer of heart and more honest. This serves everyone well not only in heaven but also on earth.

The Prodigal Son reminds us that Lent is approaching with all the human regulations intended to help us prepare for the great Paschal mysteries. As responsible citizens of this earth, what are our intentions for these coming weeks? The epistle today reminds us that it is possible that carrying out the regulations of Lent can be of less value than checking our self-indulgence, our self-absorption, our disdain of others. Consider the lesson from the Pharisee in last week’s gospel reading.

Whatever we be or do in these coming weeks, keep ever in mind that God is with us at all times.

Let us learn what it means to “pray always!”

Glory be to God.

Sermon 153 Jan 21: Mi7:8-10,18-20;2Tm2:1-10;Lk18:35-43. What do you want?

As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church

I don’t know about you but for me being assertive was not something encouraged by my parents when I was growing up. I’m not sure how much that applies to young people growing up today, but it is a teaching with a long pedigree. What do we make of that parental line: “children are to be seen and not heard?” The unstated message is that it is not good to put yourself or your “needs” forward. Don’t be assertive. Don’t speak up unless spoken to. As adults this learned behavior can be played out in a variety of ways. For example, a husband comes home from work and the wife asks: “What do you want for dinner?” He replies “Whatever you want is fine with me.” Or you are thinking of buying a new car: “honey what color of car would you like?” The reply: “Whatever you want is fine.” Where would you like to go on vacation this summer?” “Wherever you want to go is fine with me.” And this list can go on and on. You might recognize this scenario, but I would submit that these answers are not the answers Jesus wants from us. So, what does Jesus have to do with this?

         Today’s gospel lesson may appear to be just one more miracle story connected to Jesus. But I think there is more here. As the scene opens, the blind man is aware of a commotion and asks what is going on. He is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. He obviously has heard about Jesus and so he cries out “Jesus son of David, have pity on me.” And just as quickly he is put back in his place: Those in front of him tell him to shut up! Unperturbed, the man shouts all the louder: “Son of David have pity on me.” So even before we hear from Jesus, the gospel writer is telling us that this story is not about toeing the societal line but about breaking out of it. Society says be quiet, be content with where you are, but the man will have none of it. And this theme is found in other gospel stories: the women who hounds the dishonest judge, the advice to keep knocking at the door, to pray without ceasing, the woman with the issue of blood, etc.

        Once Jesus is aware of what is going on, he directs that the man be brought to him. And he asks him straight out: “What do you want me to do for you?” No ambiguity there. And the blind man replies: “please let me see.” He gives the response that we are all invited to give. He says exactly what he wants. No beating around the bush, no attempt to just hint at what he wants and then expect Jesus to read his mind. He is direct and he fully owns what he needs.  And Jesus says: “Have your sight.”

        He also tells him: “your faith has saved you.” What faith might that be? Of course, we have the obvious implication that it refers to his faith in Jesus Christ. But we might wonder if that is really the point here, after all we don’t have much information about that in the story. But what if we think about those other occasions when Jesus says to his disciples, “oh you of little faith.” For example, when they are out in a boat and a storm arises. This blind man has faith that the disciples often do not have. This blind man never gave up. When the crowd told him to shut up, he cried out all the louder. When we live in fear we live without faith.

        One more element of the story follows. The blind man then follows Jesus. The door to the kingdom has been opened to him and he walks right in. This is the kingdom Jesus is preaching to all of us. It is there to be seized.

        It is good that this gospel passage falls so close to the Theophany celebration. During the festal season we heard from several gospel writers about the incident when John the Baptist sent some of his followers to Jesus to ask if he is the one they were expecting or should they wait for another?  And Jesus’ reply: “Tell John what you see: the hungry are fed, the lame walk, the blind see…”

        But it’s not just about some miracle cure. The blind man received his sight and then followed Jesus. The image of the blind man receiving his sight is about being released from the fetters that bind us to patterns of living that are preventing us from becoming the complete human beings we are called to be. It is a message for all of us and not just for those who may be physically blind. Remember last week Sr Rebecca underscored the lesson from the scripture reading: the kingdom is among us and within us.

Christ is in our midst!

THEOPHANY 2017 EZ 36:25-28, 33-36, TITUS 2:11-14,3:4-8, MT 3:13-17

As preached by Sister Cecelia

Holy Wisdom Church

You shall be my people and I will be your God. A new heart I will give you and a new spirit will I put within you. From the first reading of Ezekiel this morning. It could be confusing for us to look upon our humanity(flesh) as something to be appreciated since, so often we read or hear that the flesh is something to be tamed, to be beaten down, to be brought into submission so that our spirit can fly to the heavens without being brought down by our bodies. Our flesh, our humanity, is the clay out of which we shape a better tomorrow rather than to think that the way God made us is inherently bad. The psalms affirm that “the whole earth is filled with God’s love”.Ps.33-5. God is most high, El-Elyom, but God in transcendence is not simply the one that directs billions of galaxies, but the one Who watches over each being and leads it on the path of love. “A new heart I will give you and a new spirit will I put within you.” God’s love lives in my intelligence, in my mind, in my heart, for if the whole earth is filled with God’s love, then my whole being and also my whole existence are filled with this love.

The Baptist’s call to repentance was just that. It was a call to change the way people were, the way they thought of life up until then. It was a call to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. The ritual washing with water does not represent penance for sin but rather a sincere dedication to lead a new life.

A long time, about 4 million years, was needed for the first humans to rise from the dust of the earth. A long time was again needed for the marvelous incarnation of Jesus into our human history. How are we doing so far in this dedication to leading a new life since Jesus became human?

In this unique moment -unique because it is the only moment at my disposal; the past no longer belongs to me and the future is not here yet- what counts today is my position in relation to God. How do I regard myself in this light? Each day is given to us not so that we might progress in years but so that we might progress in our knowledge of God; that we might progress in the enjoyment and peace of being aware of God’s presence in all things. Walking with Christ, -Emmanual-God with us, we are also led into the desert to discover our own path. Each moment on this path, this journey, is unique. The success of our life is to progress in the discovery of who and what God is, to know God better, to come to recognize God better in all creatures.

We know that God is in unapproachable light and that no name can fully express this most mysterious, most divine being. But Who is God for me now and what am I before God?  I’m assured that God loves me for myself, even with my faults, just as I am, for it was God who created me. Do I love God simply for what God is, a God of mercy and compassion, (among a thousand other names we can attribute to our God)?

Today we celebrate Jesus’ beginning of what we call his public ministry. From our knowledge of what happened during his next few years, we learn how He expressed his teaching and love for us.  Through listening to His Spirit, we too will be guided on our journeys at each unique moment to live and love as we are meant to do and be.

For those who give you a face, Lord Jesus, by spreading your love in the world, we give you praise. For those who give you hands by defending the weak and oppressed, we give you praise. For those who reveal you simply by what they are, reflecting beauty by their lives, we give you thanks.

Be embodied in us so that we might be the revelation of your love for all, our brothers and sisters. 

Christ is among us.

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!