A matter of perspective

In a movie watched long ago and whose name is long forgotten, a candidate for political office said, "What makes a living wage depends on whether you are the one paying it or the one receiving it."

Of course we know this to be true; it matters whose shoes you are wearing.  Or, in this case, whether you are the man in the ditch, or the traveler on the road.  It matters whether you consider yourself an important person, with an important job, with 'solid' moral standards and standing in the community, with a reputation to consider....or, if you are one of the anonymous ones, a person who would be painted in sepia tones, one of the folks whose name is never called out from the  podium for an honor.  It matters whether you consider yourself a person who gives to others, a source of charity, one of the generous ones.......or if you know yourself to be a receiver of the generosity of others.

It matters, although I don't think there is a definitive logarithm which can predict our behavior from bank balances or societal norms.  Sometimes the wealthy are generous and the poor stingy. But I think that what you think about yourself does matter when making decisions about strangers in a ditch.

So when Jesus spins the parable about the Good Samaritan*, we often feel hard pressed to explain the reaction of the priest and the Levite who chose to ignore the man in the ditch.  We might suspect that (quoting Dr. Seuss) that their hearts "were too sizes too small"**- although their lack of care and compassion might be chalked up to the bewildering need they met at every turn of the road (or standing at every street corner with a cardboard sign).  We are loathe to hold them too accountable for we have been them at one time or another, and for what we thought were good reasons.

Notice that Jesus doesn't condemn either because this isn't a story about judgment.

It is a story about mercy.
Not reason nor moral superiority, not use of wealth nor good 'up-bringing'.
It is a story about mercy.

Apparently mercy is the name of the road on which one discovers the 'kingdom of God'.

*the gospel of Luke, chapter 10
** How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Trinity? Well, it's like...........

Well, we have survived another Trinity Sunday in those faith communities who are prone to naming Sundays and following a set order for scripture reading.  Trinity Sunday, in these traditions, always comes the week after Pentecost, which is 50 days after Easter, which is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox.

In other words, it's a bit complicated unless you simply go with the flow and know that the rhythm of our worship life together mimics the evaporation, condensation, precipitation cycle of water, that is, it flows on in endless stream.  Ergo, we have just experienced another Trinity Sunday.

Which, of course, at some level is a silly designation.  It is similar to saying, 'We have just experienced another Jesus Sunday."  Of course we did.  Along with a God the Creator Sunday, and a Holy Spirit Sunday.  Every time we gather to worship as Christians we gather to worship a Triune God...........as defined over the ages by serious theologians and deep thinkers. 

Lest you think I mock, you try to explain the Trinity - or better yet, please don't.  Please leave it to the poets and mystics, plus all those talented writers and composers and artists who can open us to the possibilities of realities beyond our grasp, beyond our sight, beyond our comprehending.  Let's leave it to those who can invite us into a deep mystery which is not for our solving but rather for eternal exploration and discovery.   Let's leave it to those who don't attempt to explain but rather lead us to experience such unfathomables as love and truth and beauty.  And let us give thanks for the ways in which God speaks through them.

This is what Frederick Buechner (one of my favorite writers) wrote

     "THE MUCH-MALIGNED doctrine of the Trinity is an assertion that, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, there is only one God.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit mean that the mystery beyond us, the mystery among us, and the mystery within us are all the same mystery. Thus the Trinity is a way of saying something about us and the way we experience God.  

       The Trinity is also a way of saying something about God and the way [God] is within himself, i.e., God does not need the Creation in order to have something to love because within himself love happens. In other words, the love God is is love not as a noun but as a verb. This verb is reflexive as well as transitive. "  from his book Wishful Thinking

There is so much to like in this description, right up until the reflexive and transitive verbs.  Once English grammar comes into play, the playful creativeness of our God begins to fade.  

The Trinity is either a deadly doctrine (and frequent question on Systematic Theology exams) or it is a life-giving experience.  I'm going with the deep mystery and joy-filled experience.  How about you?

Living on the edge

He was a man living on the edge. 

He lived  on the edge between reason and insanity.  Who knew when all the powers that competed for his life would once again attempt to crush his will, his mind, even his very life? He lived on that edge between love and hate as his neighbors first tried to help, then in fear and frustration left him to rant and rave beyond the community.

 He lived on the edge of civilization, in that town across the sea, where pigs were raised.  He lived in a land that knew not YHWH and therefore, beyond the blessings of the Divine Creator.  He lived on the edge between life and death, out there among the tombs, hidden among the dead.

Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee to step into the world of a man who was living on the edge, just as Jesus crossed the eternal divide to step into the world of humankind who was perpetually living on the edge.

Take a moment and focus in.  Zoom in on that moment when Jesus stepped out of the boat on the other side of the sea, on the other side of the acceptable, on the other side of the land of blessing.  Focus in on that first step when Jesus, the very presence of God in our world, took that first step..  He came as the Divine Creator, the Divine Lover, the Divine Healer, the eternal bridge between our reality and God's desire.

Jesus came to see the anonymous man who was out of his right mind, raving at the furies, naked in every aspect of his tormented life, and 'living' (if you could call it that) among the dead. Jesus came to him and he was re-born.  The oppression of the Legion of demons - like the legion of Roman soldiers who ruled with an iron fist - was expelled.  His mind was released.  His tongue was released.  His body became his own once again.  Jesus stepped on that distant shore to give this man back his life.

That is all.  One man across the vast sea, living in a foreign land, experienced the total healing of every part of his life.  Then he is left behind to lead others towards this person who heals, this Son of God who gives life, this Savior who recognizes neither race or social status, but only wounded need.

In the end, the anonymous man was given two gifts: the gift of life and the gift of community.  Jesus?  Everyone asked him to leave.  They were frightened - by what?  Too much good?  Too much unknown?  Too much that was going to change?  Not sure, I just know that in the end, it was Jesus who was pushed to the edge, without community, without protection, without status.

The one who traveled to the edge to bring life was pushed to the edge yet promised life.  Whatever edge you are living on.....look for Jesus.

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they many all be one.  As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."  John 17.20-21

Prayer. Unity. Invitation. Obedience. Glory. Death. Resurrection. These are the thoughts that flutter around as I consider these  final moments of wisdom imparted from Jesus to those who sit at table for their last meal together.

Jesus' time with the disciples is coming to a close.  The meal is soon over; the long discourse and overheard prayer complete.  Unlike that meal of bread, fish, wine and herbs, this final overheard prayer is rich and dense.  Just before Jesus steps out into the great abyss that awaits, he allows us a glimpse of his inner conversation with the Divine Father, giving us words to hold before our lives as we stumble forward in the coming gift of resurrection life.

Pray my beloved friends.  Pray that you may be one. Why? Because you need each other: each other's strength, each other's gifts, each other's doubts, each other's need for healing, each other's hunger. Pray that every one finds their seat at the table where our Lord is both the host and the meal that gives sustenance.  Left on your own, too many will be excluded; too many seats will go empty; we are not whole when even one is missing, so, pray my friends.

Pray that the Divine Will be manifest in this place, among these people, at this very moment, wherever you are. Daily bread. Justice. Peace. Healing. Forgiveness. Shalom. Nothing less will suffice because anything less is not the Kingdom of God. Pray, because the path to the kingdom requires some dying.

Pray that the life revealed on Easter morn becomes your life blood, and that of your community, and that of your nation, and then of God's whole creation. When Empire crushes you and disease breaks you and evil rears its ugly head, pray.

Remember that this night, most especially this night, just before it all happened, Jesus prayed that all would become one. Just before Jesus broke through the final barrier, he handed us this parting gift, this parting command. Pray.

It's a radical thing, this praying, because we are talking to the one who in the beginning created all beginnings and in the end, holds all things in Divine care.  In obedience to our Lord's command, for the sake of the whole world, and to be made whole in yourself, pray.