Advent 2 Wednesday: Love Letters

Guard us as the apple of your eye, O God. Hide us beneath the shadow of your wings.

Our reading this evening is from Revelation 1:17-2:7, and we are reading from the Contemporary English Bible translation.

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. But he put his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m the first and the last, ¹⁸ and the living one. I was dead, but look! Now I’m alive forever and always. I have the keys of Death and the Grave. ¹⁹ So write down what you have seen, both the scene now before you and the things that are about to unfold after this. ²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands, here is what they mean: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Message to Ephesus

2 “Write this to the angel of the church in Ephesus:

These are the words of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven gold lampstands: ² I know your works, your labor, and your endurance. I also know that you don’t put up with those who are evil. You have tested those who say they are apostles but are not, and you have found them to be liars. ³ You have shown endurance and put up with a lot for my name’s sake, and you haven’t gotten tired. ⁴ But I have this against you: you have let go of the love you had at first. ⁵ So remember the high point from which you have fallen. Change your hearts and lives and do the things you did at first. If you don’t, I’m coming to you. I will move your lampstand from its place if you don’t change your hearts and lives. ⁶ But you have this in your favor: you hate what the Nicolaitans are doing, which I also hate. ⁷ If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. I will allow those who emerge victorious to eat from the tree of life, which is in God’s paradise.

Those who wish to continue with Lectio Divina can click here, and then return for the meditation and prayer.

~~~

The One described in last evening's passage-- he of woolly white hair, and bronze-like feet, and a face so radiant we can hardly bear to look at him-- he is sending letters. Love letters.

They must be love letters or, frankly, why bother?

The letters are going to seven churches (seven, that perfect-days-of-creation-plus-rest number). 

The first church sounds so familiar. O God, I am your church, and I see myself, as if in a mirror.

We work hard. We have (we have decided) endurance.  And when we see evil we name it. We call it out. We put it on Facebook, by God. 

But when we are calling out evil, it is very hard to hold onto the love in our hearts. In fact, the white-woolly-haired-bronze-footed-double-edged-sword-coming-out-of-his-mouth-One says, we have lost it. We have let go of the love we had at first.

O God. We have lost love. And you have told us, You are love. And so, by horrible inference....

But you are here. We have not lost you, you reassure us again, and again. And you send us love letters, because, if they weren't love letters, frankly, why bother? 

But you warn us. Without love, we die. Without love, we can look forward only to death. Without love, we cease to be the church.

And you insist that we love the people who we most revile, roll our eyes at, resist. The ones who have hurt us, the ones who have rejected us, the ones who say. 

The ones who are ready to vote for _______________________________!!!!!!!!!

But love them we must. Love or death. A little like cake or death. Which shall I choose? 

Which shall I choose?

Prayer:

O God, why is it so hard to love? Don't answer that question. Or, rather, point us to your answer-- the One who came, and who is with us, and who is coming again, coming still. Remind us, you who are the writer of love letters. Remind us of your answer, in the name of the One called Love. Amen.

Advent 2 Tuesday: Three Things

Grace and Peace to you, from the one who is, and who was, and who is to come.

This evening's passage is from Revelation 1:9-16; we are reading the Common English Bible translation.

Christ appears to John

⁹ I, John, your brother who shares with you in the hardship, kingdom, and endurance that we have in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and my witness about Jesus. ¹⁰ I was in a Spirit-inspired trance on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice that sounded like a trumpet. ¹¹ It said, “Write down on a scroll whatever you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
¹² I turned to see who was speaking to me, and when I turned, I saw seven oil lamps burning on top of seven gold stands. ¹³ In the middle of the lampstands I saw someone who looked like the Human One.^[a] He wore a robe that stretched down to his feet, and he had a gold sash around his chest. ¹⁴ His head and hair were white as white wool—like snow—and his eyes were like a fiery flame. ¹⁵ His feet were like fine brass that has been purified in a furnace, and his voice sounded like rushing water. ¹⁶ He held seven stars in his right hand, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. His appearance was like the sun shining with all its power.

Those who wish to continue with Lectio Divina can click here, then return for the meditation and prayer.

~~~ 
One principle of Lectio Divina is, if God comes in the first verse, why go on to the second?

Then, this:

"I, John, your brother, who shares with you in the hardship, kingdom, and endurance that we have in Jesus..."

My ears prick up, because, this writer is telling me (or, more accurately, those for whom this writing is intended) that we have some powerful things in common.

We have a common hardship. 

We have a common kingdom.

We have a common endurance.

The hardship for the writer and his or her first readers is probably not too terribly different from the hardship faced by so many today, in so many places. The hardship of persecution. The hardship of war and destruction. The hardship of displacement from the familiar, the loss of home. 

I don't think it trivializes the situations of refugees and victims of war and terror to say that there are other kinds of hardship, and other kinds of loss, and that these too are real, even though they may not be making the headlines. 

This is a message to people who know hardship.

The common kingdom is something else again.... what can the writer be referring to if not that thing named, variously, as seed scattered, or a woman searching for a lost coin, or a shepherd leaving 99 perfectly viable sheep behind to go search for the one careless enough to get lost? Also, the cranky wedding host, and the bridesmaid who thinks to stop for oil for her lamp. Also, buried treasure. Also, a pearl, costly and rare. 

The kingdom of heaven is at once elusive and vivid, ethereal and tangible. And we have this in common, too.

This is a message to people who are drawn to the kingdom.

Now, endurance. There's something I'm not sure I have quite enough of. I, who love to swim, and make excuses not to go to the pool. I, who adore the smell of the fall air (not to mention the glory of a sunset), and fail to venture out for a walk. I who.... you get the gist. 

Maybe the author is not speaking to me. (Then I can get out of this.)

Maybe the author is speaking directly to me. (Do I tend to underestimate what is possible?).

This is a message to people who may or may not have endurance.... perhaps said to them, in the way we might say to a child who has just fallen, "You are ok. Right?" And the very act of telling her she is ok, makes her ok.

Then: This is a message to people who have endurance.

"The hardship, kingdom, and endurance that we have in Jesus..."

We share this life of faith. We share what is hard and painful and embarrassing and exposes our limitations, and we share what is beautiful and uplifting and draws our hearts, our minds, even our strength, beyond ourselves. And we share it all in Jesus, the One who holds it-- and us-- together.

"In Jesus..."

The Bright Wings Chorus, singing "Wester Caputh" by Brendan Taaffe 

Prayer:

Bind us to you, Lord Christ. Bind us to one another-- not a bondage of hardship, but of trust and support. Not a bondage of oppression, but of the winsome summons of the kingdom. Not a bondage of frailty, but of strength, and endurance. Bind us to one another, and to you, Lord Christ. Amen, and Amen.

Advent 2 Monday: Revelation

Let your light scatter the darkness, O God: kindle your lamp in our hearts.

Our passage this evening is from the book of Revelation 1:1-8. We are reading the Common English Bible translation.

Greetings

1 A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. Christ made it known by sending it through his angel to his servant John, ² who bore witness to the word of God and to the witness of Jesus Christ, including all that John saw. ³ Favored is the one who reads the words of this prophecy out loud, and favored are those who listen to it being read, and keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

⁴ John, to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace and peace to you from the one who is and was and is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before God’s throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ—the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To the one who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ who made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and always. Amen.

⁷ Look, he is coming with the clouds! Every eye will see him, including those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. This is so. Amen. ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is and was and is coming, the Almighty.”

If you wish to continue with Lectio Divina, click here; you can return to this page for meditation and prayer.

~~~ 

An excursus: 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, Revelation has to be the most misunderstood and misused book in scripture. First, everyone wants to call it RevelationS, plural, when it is actually RevelatioN, singular.

Oh that that were the worst of it. 

While this isn't a bible study, I am not comfortable even writing a brief meditation on a passage of Revelation in this context without sharing at least a few things for us to keep in mind about this book, the last book in the Christian bible.

1. I believe that the interpretation of Revelation popularized by the "Left Behind" series (which, itself, is based on a crackpot theory born in 18th century England) has been appropriated to a particular political agenda that is neither true to the original intent of the author, nor to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. I believe that any interpretation of Revelation that doesn’t hold that healing at its center has stepped away from the gospel. 

3. I believe that any interpretation of Revelation that attempts to use it as a blueprint for end times is sheer charlatanism. 

4. I believe that the author of Revelation was writing to a church-- a world-- in crisis, a place that was frightening, violent, and unpredictable.

5. I believe that the author is very clear that he is sharing something that has been "revealed" to him or "uncovered" for him. He is sharing visions that, he believes, "must soon take place." Many of his visions are descriptions of events that did, in fact, take place in the 1st century.

6. I believe these visions are meant to give hope to people who are suffering and oppressed.

Now, to this evening's meditation.

~~~

Where is God?
 
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the one who is, and who was, and who is to come."

This is an odd answer to my question.

Where is God? God IS.

Yes, but WHERE?

God IS. In fact, in the Hebrew scriptures, God's very name is Being..... "I AM Who AM."

God IS.

But....

And God WAS.

Ah. Now we're getting somewhere. Even in the worst of times, I can usually remember when God WAS.

I was thirteen. I was on a youth retreat with other kids from my high school. We were sitting around an old painted table in a lighthouse-keeper's house, handing around terrible juice and chicken nuggets as it grew darker outside, and we were telling everyone the good and beautiful things we saw in each other, person by person. It was an AGAPE feast, a word meaning, basically, "God-Love."

And I am here to tell you, GOD WAS.

And God IS TO COME.

I think I'm getting it now.

God IS. God WAS. God IS TO COME.

The Alpha and the Omega.

Every eye will see him.

OK. I think... I think I'm getting it now.

Every eye will see him.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Amen.

"Cantique de Jean Racine" by Gabriel Faure, sung by the Cambridge Singers

Prayer:

God, you who are, and who were, and who are still to come: make us faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ— the firstborn from among the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Let us share our knowledge of your presence and your love, in his name. Amen.

Advent 2 Sunday: Comfort

The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.

Our reading this evening is from Isaiah 40:1-11. We will be reading the New Revised Standard Version.

Comfort, O comfort my people,
    says your God.
² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that she has served her term,
    that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.

³ A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
⁵ Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all people shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶ A voice says, “Cry out!”
    And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All people are grass,
    their constancy is like the flower of the field.
⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades,
    when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
    surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades;
    but the word of our God will stand forever.
⁹ Get you up to a high mountain,
    O Zion, herald of good tidings;^[a]
lift up your voice with strength,
    O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,^[b]
    lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See, the Lord God comes with might,
    and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
    and his recompense before him.
¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead the mother sheep.

Those who wish to continue with Lectio Divina can click here, and return to this page for the meditation and prayer.

~~~ 

Imagine that God had abandoned you. Had abandoned your people. (For good reason.) Had gone, pulled up stakes, disappeared, shown no sign, sent no inspiration, left no messenger. Imagine the echoing, horrible, nightmarish silence of God. 

Imagine your city destroyed, your political and religious leaders either carried off into exile or butchered, your holy place.... church, synagogue, mosque, temple.... burned to the ground, all in a siege that takes torturously long.... years upon years.

Imagine your eyes swollen with tears, your heart numb with fear, your home an unrecognizable wilderness. 

Imagine trying to pray. Imagine what your prayers might be like. Imagine how you might call out to God-- in pleading, in sorrow, in anger. Imagine abandoning prayer. Imagine giving up.

Imagine, just imagine: After too long, far too long, an answer. This answer.

Imagine. 

Imagine.

"My Soul in Stillness Waits," written and performed my Marty Haugen

Prayer:

O God, we your people call out to you this hour, this night, from our many places of exile. Our souls thirst for you, our flesh faints for you. We long for your presence. Come, without delay. Give the comfort only you can provide. Restore us, God of exiles, in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen.

Advent 1 Saturday: I Doubt It

The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the people shall see it together!

The letter of Jude is so short, it has no chapters. This evening we are reading Jude 17-25, the second half of the letter, in the Common English Bible translation.

¹⁷ But you, dear friends, remember the words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the end time scoffers will come living according to their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These people create divisions. Since they don’t have the Spirit, they are worldly.

A strategy for the faithful

²⁰ But you, dear friends: build each other up on the foundation of your most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep each other in the love of God, wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will give you eternal life. ²² Have mercy on those who doubt. ²³ Save some by snatching them from the fire. Fearing God, have mercy on some, hating even the clothing contaminated by their sinful urges.

Blessing

²⁴ To the one who is able to protect you from falling,
        and to present you blameless and rejoicing before his glorious presence,
²⁵ to the only God our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
        belong glory, majesty, power, and authority,
            before all time, now and forever. Amen.

If you wish to continue with Lectio Divina, you can click here, then return to read the meditation and prayer. 

~~~

The well-kept secret about Advent is that it really isn't about the birth of the baby in a stable at all. Well, it is, sort of. But the texts by now have probably tipped you off that we are spending this Advent time pondering something called "the day of the Lord," or "the return of Christ in judgement," or simply, "the second coming." In the Hebrew scriptures, the prophets are begging people to get right with God before it is too late and God comes in wrath. The New Testament writers consistently speak of a return of Jesus in power that feels very imminent, and yet, 2000 years on, maybe hasn't happened yet.

Maybe. I'm not sure. 

I'm not sure what I believe about the "return of Jesus" or the "second coming of Christ."

Be patient with me. That's Jude's advice. Actually, "have mercy" on me, is what he says.

Have mercy on the doubters.

Mercy on the doubters (which seems, in our current discourse, to refer to "anyone who doesn't believe what I believe") is sorely lacking. We seem to be really, really angry with one another much of the time. I will confess that there are certain issues that rile me up, and a conversation about them can leave me feeling like the top of my head might pop right off. 

Jude suggests we spend our waiting time in another way. 

Build one another up. Keep one another in the love of God.

It is an interesting experiment, keeping someone who drives you crazy in the love of God. Which, I take to mean all kinds of things, including: praying for them, being kind to them, using softer words than our reptile brain keeps wanting to squeeze out of us. (The reptile brain was a brilliant device when we were running from woolly mammoths in the wild; not so useful when we are cut off by another car.) Give them the benefit of the doubt.

Dear, dear friends. Let us keep one another in the love of God.

"Veni, Veni Emmanuel", Sung by Loreena McKennitt

Prayer:

Keep us in your love, O God of day and darkness, so that we will be ready to meet one another in faith, hope, and love, whatever your magnificent and mysterious plans may be. We pray in the name of Emmanuel. Amen.

Advent 1 Friday: The One Who Made the Pleiades and Orion

Stay with us Lord, for it is evening, and the day is almost over...

Our passage this evening is from the Amos 5:1-17. We're reading the Common English Bible translation.

A song of lament

Hear this word—a funeral song—that I am lifting up against you, house of Israel:

²     Fallen, no more to rise,
        is virgin Israel,
    deserted on her land,
        with no one to raise her up.
³     The Lord God proclaims:
    The city that marched out one thousand people
        will have one hundred left,
    and the city that marched out one hundred will have ten left in the house of Israel.

Words of encouragement

⁴     The Lord proclaims to the house of Israel:
        Seek me and live.
⁵     But don’t seek Bethel,
        don’t enter into Gilgal,
        or cross over to Beer-sheba;
    for Gilgal will go into exile,
        and Bethel will come to nothing.
⁶     Seek the Lord and live,
        or else God might rush like a fire against the house of Joseph.
        The fire will burn up Bethel, with no one to put it out.

Words of doom

⁷     Doom to you who turn justice into poison,
        and throw righteousness to the ground!
⁸     The one who made the Pleiades and Orion,
        and turns deep darkness into the morning,
        and darkens the day into night;
    who summons the waters of the sea,
        and pours them out on the surface of the earth—
        this one’s name is the Lord—
⁹     who causes destruction to flash out against the strong,
        so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

¹⁰ They hate the one who judges at the city gate,
        and they reject the one who speaks the truth.
¹¹ Truly, because you crush the weak,
        and because you tax their grain,
    you have built houses of carved stone,
        but you won’t live in them;
    you have planted pleasant vineyards,
        but you won’t drink their wine.
¹² I know how many are your crimes,
        and how numerous are your sins—
    afflicting the righteous,
        taking money on the side,
        turning away the poor who seek help.
¹³ Therefore, the one who is wise will keep silent in that time;
        it is an evil time.

Words of inspiration

¹⁴ Seek good and not evil,
        that you may live;
    and so the Lord, the God of heavenly forces,
        will be with you just as you have said.
¹⁵ Hate evil, love good,
        and establish justice at the city gate.
Perhaps the Lord God of heavenly forces
        will be gracious to what is left of Joseph.

Divine wrath anticipated

¹⁶ Truly, the Lord proclaims,
        the God of heavenly forces, the Lord:
    Crying will be heard in all the squares.
        In all the streets they will say, “Oh no! Oh no!”
    They will call upon the farmers to wail,
        and those skilled in mourning to lament.
¹⁷ In all the vineyards there will be bitter crying because
        I will pass through your midst,
says the Lord.

Those who wish to continue with Lectio Divina can click here, then return to this page for the meditation and prayer. 

 ~~~

Sometimes the words of scripture really do feel "ripped from the headlines," as the promos for that TV show used to say. We read and hear, on a daily basis, of people driven from their homes by war and destruction, of the strong oppressing the weak, of the wealthy oppressing the poor, of bribes taken, crimes concealed, and righteousness thrown to the ground.

It is overwhelming...

...said she, in her warm living room, a candle lit for her time of prayer and meditation.

What is a person of faith to do? Where is a person of faith to go?

We go to the One who made the Pleiades and Orion. 

We locate ourselves, first, as very, very small, in God's grand scheme, and yet, at the same time, precious enough, and beloved enough, to receive words of supplication from that very same Creator. 

I have heard it said, "To be humble is to carry a slip of paper in each pocket. On one, it says, 'I am as low as the lowest worm that crawls through the earth.' And on the other it says, 'I am a beloved child of God, and all the stars in the heavens were created for my delight.'" 

We are of the earth and of the heavens at the same time. We can't use one to escape from the other. Our calling is both to lift our hearts, minds, wills to God, and to use our hands, legs, and mouths for God's suffering people.

We seek the Lord and live. We establish justice.

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel," based on an 8th century text and 15th century French melody,

 performed by Linda Ronstadt

Prayer: 

You who made the Pleiades and Orion, you alone are the Maker of all that is. Look with tenderness on your suffering people, and teach us what we must do to show them your love. We pray in the name of Jesus, the One who came as a poor refugee. Amen.

Advent 1 Thursday: A New Heaven and a New Earth

Grace, peace, and hope; as the darkness thickens, we gather around Christ our Light.

Our passage this evening is from 2 Peter 3:11-18, the conclusion of this little letter.

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? You must live holy and godly lives, ¹² waiting for and hastening the coming day of God. Because of that day, the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt away in the flames. ¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

Preparing for Christ’s coming in judgment

¹⁴ Therefore, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found by him in peace—pure and faultless. ¹⁵ Consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as our dear friend and brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, ¹⁶ speaking of these things in all his letters. Some of his remarks are hard to understand, and people who are ignorant and whose faith is weak twist them to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.

Final instruction

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been warned in advance, be on guard so that you aren’t led off course into the error of sinful people, and lose your own safe position. ¹⁸ Instead, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him belongs glory now and forever. Amen.

Those who wish to continue with Lectio Divina can click here, then return to this page for the meditation and prayer.

~~~

I've been thinking today about what I was like as a young mother. When my son was small, and so active, and funny, and wonderful, he was also exhausting, and at times I lost my patience with him and yelled. Screamed, even. I became angry, and, poor little guy, he had the unfortunate experience of being the recipient of my frustration, usually in a loud, scary voice. 

These are the things that haunt me.

But life is a wonderful teacher, and at a certain point I was able to teach myself patience. I would talk to myself, and I would say things like, "Be the mother. What would a good mother do?" (Probably not scream.) "What does the good mother want?" (She wants her child to be safe and well-cared for and happy.) By engaging in this self-talk, I was able to change how I responded to my child, and I became a better mother. By talking myself through a frustrating moment, I was able to find, and practice, patience. 

"Consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation," we are told, in these final paragraphs of this little letter. We are loved by a God who does not have to engage in self-talk to practice patience, but whose very nature is covenant love and faithfulness. Though the anger of God comes through in these passages, so does the absolute conviction that God's sure intention is the creation of a new heaven, and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. God very much wants to see us there. It is my opinion that God can accomplish it.

"E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come," by Paul Manz; performed by Canticum Novum

Prayer: 

Patient God, loving God, perhaps even angry God, we give thanks that it is your patience and love and anger that will bring about the era of righteousness for which we long. Let it be so, and soon. We pray in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.