Our Wilderness Journey

One of my favorite biblical stories as a youngster was the one about Noah and the ark.  It captured my imagination.  The ark, large, sturdy, and secure as it sailed on the flooded waters, was a refuge for all the life that entered it.  There were animals of every kind, birds and beasts that boarded two by two along with Noah and his family.  In a literal sense it provided me with an appreciation for all forms of life: “every living creature, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth.”

It never occurred to me that the ark was really crowded, smelly, dangerous, and worse than living in a zoo as that huge wooden boat no doubt rocked back and forth on the water. 

When you think about it, it must have been an intolerable experience.  The rest of the world was filled with a wicked and evil population, descendants of Adam and Eve who had disobeyed God, and Cain who killed his brother, Abel; and everyone else who followed their bad examples.   The ark floated for 150 days on a great sea of unbroken water as desolate as the empty chaos of what had prevailed before the world was created.

In spite of its stench and trying conditions, the story of the flood and its survivors on that old wooden ship is a wonderful story.  God wins.  The good overcomes evil.  The rain stopped, the sun shone once again, and there was a rainbow in the sky that became for Noah a sign of the covenant with God that the flood was over.  Never again would such a flood devastate the earth.  Good life was to be restored.

The point of the story is that God made a covenant with all the earth, with Noah and his family, and with all creation.  The story is a metaphor attesting to the reality that life's trials, storms, and wilderness experiences expose us to the assaults of injustice and evil and call us to a renewed faithful covenant with God.

Water is symbolic of life.  Like the waters of the great flood, the waters of baptism in our Gospel story of the beginning of Jesus' ministry serve as a sign of God's redemptive purpose.  Baptism is an invitation to struggle against evil by being driven into the presence of evil to be tested.  "The Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him."

As Jesus did, so must we enter the wilderness of our lives and the wilderness of the world around us.  The wilderness of our time is the result of the isolation, corruption, violence, greed and fear that is all around us.  People, our sisters and brothers who wander through the wilderness, are those who suffer and despair because they have no hope.  The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, the Ukraine, the murders in Nigeria, Paris, Copenhagen, North Carolina, and elsewhere all suffer from evil assaults.  

Lent is a time for us to enter into the wilderness as Jesus did.  We go there to be transformed by the work of God's Spirit, to repent, renew our faith, and to experience God’s promise of hope for a better world.  The challenge of the wilderness is to break through cynicism and despair, and to move beyond a sense of hopelessness so that we may come to know the presence of God in our world and in our lives.

Today we are on our way in this Lenten journey through the wilderness of our world.  Let us keep in mind a vision of new life, a world free of bigotry, hate and evil, toward a world that is restored to holiness and peace.  Let us trust in the Spirit of God to sustain, preserve, and forgive, confident that we shall be led out of the wilderness into a glorious new day. Amen.

Proclaiming the Message

Last Tuesday there was a meeting at the Diocese to work on the development of the National Center for Reconciliation.  The Center for Reconciliation  is a project approved by the Cathedral Corporation and our Diocesan Convention to redevelop the Cathedral building for this purpose.

Part of our meeting focused on a draft mission statement of the Center.  That statement reads, “Dedicated to the work of reconciliation and restorative justice, The National Center for Reconciliation (NCFR) sponsors a teaching museum, performances, worship, education and training programs on the roots of racism and the intersection of the sacred and secular histories of slavery in Rhode Island.”

The intersection of the sacred and secular brought to my mind the idea that part of the work of the Church is to make sacred what is commonly perceived as secular.  Our society today tends to compartmentalize our lives so that family, work, education, leisure, science, and religion fall into separate categories.  The result is that we often fail to see how these areas are inextricably connected and interrelated.   The individualism we cherish that is so prevalent in our culture needs to be related to the public good.

The public ministry of Jesus was a sacred call to health and wholeness.  After Jesus called his disciples he taught in the synagogue at Capernaum on the Sabbath.  While there he saw a person with an unclean spirit and ordered the spirit to come out.  The congregation was amazed that he would heal someone on the Sabbath.  They were also awed by his authority.  "At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee."

There are four things that happened in this passage from Mark's gospel: 1) Simon's mother-in-law was healed; 2) many people who lived in Capernaum were cured of their disease; 3) Jesus got up early in the morning and found a deserted place to pray; and 4) he moved on to neighboring towns to proclaim his message in their synagogues.

Mark understood that Jesus always acted with the power of the Holy Spirit and with a view of the coming reign of God.  Perhaps this is why physical healing, casting out demons, and forgiving sins are almost interchangeable actions.  Jesus acted with divine power and approval in his public ministry.  It was part of God's plan to vanquish suffering and evil, and to establish the kingdom.

Jesus proclaimed the good news of God's saving love over anything disruptive of human health and wholeness.  In these brief stories, and throughout much of the Bible, we are shown how God's grace reaches deeply into the realities of life.  Every follower, every disciple of Jesus has a responsibility to proclaim the gospel so that its saving power can be realized here and now.  It was and is an urgent message.  

Jesus came to Simon's mother-in-law who was in bed with a fever and "took her by the hand and lifted her up.  Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them."  Later that evening they brought all who were sick or possessed with demons, and Jesus healed "many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons."  The next morning Jesus went out to a deserted place to pray.  Simon and his companions found him and said, "Everyone is searching for you."  Then Jesus and the disciples went to the neighboring towns around Galilee, "proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons."

People searched for Jesus in order to hear him preach the good news and to have demons expelled.  The disciples hunted for him and found him at prayer.  Mark's gospel is a clear testimony that the proclamation of the good news and deliberate action to cast out demons and heal disease arise out of prayer.

Jesus healed many who were sick.  Then he commissioned the disciples to go and also heal the sick.  The power of the gospel is to bring wholeness to people and to cast out the demons and forces of evil that in anyway dehumanize or prevent a right relationship with God. 

As Christians we participate in this ministry and we do so in a number of ways.  We do it by examining our own lives, our relationships, and what we do with respect to others.  We do it in our prayer and corporate worship, in our work, in our community activities, and in participating in anything that advances love, justice, caring and compassion for those in need.

For Jesus, prayer was not an escape from the pressures of his ministry.  It was necessary.  Our worship and prayer are necessary for us as well.  Worship and prayer properly give us the courage and vision to get on with our work and our ministries.  That is what it did for Jesus, and that is what it must do for us as members of the Body of Christ.

We gather in this sacred space each week to open our hearts and minds to the mystery of life.  We are called as God's people, members one of another in the fellowship of the Spirit.  Part of the mystery of our coming together for worship, listening to God’s Word through Scripture, singing hymns of praise and thanksgiving, and receiving communion is knowing that God gives us the strength and courage to work for justice, peace and love in all of our relationships.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Today is the day God has made; we live and rejoice in it.  Our faith in God and the gospel changes our lives so that all people may share in health and wholeness.  We proclaim the gospel, heal the sick and cast out many demons.  Amen.

Teaching with Authority

This past week we were told that the snowstorm we had was historic.  The governors of New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts all spoke with authority advising everyone to stay off the roads and to “hunker down” as Governor Raimondo put it for their own safety and to allow snow plows to clear the streets.  People complied.  There were very few accidents, streets were cleared, some better than others, in record time, and most of us enjoyed a day off.  Another storm is predicted for tomorrow and I hope it will not rise to the level of being "historic".

While elected officials speak with authority, our scripture readings from the Book of Deuteronomy and the Gospel of Mark are about God’s authority.   It is God’s authority as spoken by the prophets, authority taught by Jesus in the synagogue, and authority to guide us and all humanity into a future of promise and hope.

Following Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt as they were moving to the promised land of Canaan, Moses said to his people: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet…. I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.”  The people, in their new experience of freedom are to live in a covenant relationship with God, a life freed from oppression and focused on justice and mercy.

Prophets often speak in ways that challenge the status-quo.  When they speak with authority those they are addressing would rather not listen.  In speaking God’s word they are challenged to see life differently.  Prophets call the people into a new relationship with God, a relationship of covenant fidelity, one that enables them to understand and know God as transcendent and loving.  What this means for us is that God is Authority (capital “A”), and our response is to hear and listen and to be nurtured by it.  God’s authority is a call to be freed from the burdens of our own making so we can be in loving and compassionate relationships with others.  When that happens we can stand before God in awe and reverence.

Jesus, like Moses and the prophets, taught with authority.  When “Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the Sabbath came he entered the synagogue and taught.”  The people who were there, his fellow Jewish worshippers, were spellbound by his authority.  As Mark’s Gospel tells the story, “there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.”

The people standing around and observing this event were amazed.  “They kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching – with authority!  He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." Jesus was invested completely with God’s authority.  God’s cause was his cause; he acted out of God’s mercy and compassion.

What does all this mean for us?  How do we understand the prophets about whom Moses spoke and the authority with which Jesus taught and healed?  The answer is that God’s authority and God’s spirit continues to be alive and well among the people of God.  God’s authority is at work whenever two or three people are gathered in his name.  This means that God’s authority of justice and compassion is alive and at work here and now.  It is experienced wherever life and goodness are fostered and wherever suffering and death are resisted.

For God’s authority to be heard and followed in today’s world, it must find voice in the lives of God’s people.  Jews, Christians, and Muslims are known as “people of the Book,” in other words, as God’s people.  It is about the way we live in relationship to one another, our shared values and commitments, and our decisions as they affect and determine our human future.  It is a daunting task, and the way forward is never clear-cut.  But as we are able to focus on God’s authority, God’s kingdom of love and compassion, it is more likely that the hope and promise we share for a new life of peace and justice will be fulfilled.   Amen.