Advent 2 Loving Yourself; Knowing Yourself

The qualities of love proposed by Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving, are giving, care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge.  I am exploring these themes during Advent to see what they mean when applied to loving ourselves.  I believe that we need to love ourselves before we can truly love others.   In Advent 1, I explored caring for yourself.  Today I want to explore knowing yourself.

“I linger in the mirror and I don’t look away.” Cole Arthur Riley. To see yourself and not look away is, I believe, key to self-knowledge.  It can be a challenge to see yourself clearly.  I remember reading a definition of humility that really grabbed hold of me.  To be truly humble is to see yourself clearly.  This was a bit of a puzzle initially, but on reflection, I realized that if you see yourself clearly you will realize that you are not the self-image that you have constructed for yourself – this is sometimes called the persona.  To look in the mirror and not look away is to see yourself clearly with all the wrinkles and spots - age spots and a hairline which seems to be receding each day.  Of course, that is the physical part of myself.  It is also true for the soul and spirit as well as the body.  The impulse is to look away or at least not look too closely at any of these parts.

Author Judy Cannato speaks of an alternative way of looking at yourself in all your imperfections.  It is to take a long loving look at the real:

She speaks of the approach to contemplation by “Dorothee Sölle [1929–2003] who maintains that radical amazement is the starting point for contemplation. Often, we think of contemplation as a practice that belongs in the realm of the religious, some esoteric advanced stage of prayer that only the spiritually gifted possess. This is not the case…. The nature of contemplation as I describe it here is one that lies well within the capacity of each of us. To use a familiar phrase, contemplation amounts to “taking a long loving look at the real.”

God knows – literally and figuratively – that there are aspects of myself which I wish I didn’t have.  They are the ghosts that visit me at 4:00 in the morning – things I have done I wished I had done or had done differently and the things I had not done I wish I had done – it is tempting to complete this with the line form the prayer in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, ‘and there is no health in me’.  But no matter in what way my reality of myself does not live up to my self-image, I know that there is health in me because I am created by a loving God. 

However, what I have learned over the years is that I am loved despite, or perhaps even because, of who I am.  I can love myself because this is the way that I was made with my strengths and weaknesses.  I can love myself because God created me this way and God loves all that God created.  I have not learned this easily and am still learning it.

May you have the blessing of knowing and loving who you are on your Advent journey.

 

Experiencing the Divine

One of the deep questions which, I believe, is lurking behind or beneath life to day is, do people have an experience of God, however you want to name that experience of the divine, the ineffable other in your life?   Perhaps some people do not even have an awareness of that presence in their lives.  Perhaps they are not paying attention to that being too busy with the day-to-day routine or work and busy schedules which life seems to be organized around these days. 

In our culture for many people that experience used to be found in worship on Sunday morning or whenever the designated time was for their religion to come together and worship their God.  For those of us who attend church services today, how many of us have an experience of the presence of God/the divine in that time and place?  Organized religion, for many people, is no longer the designated institution in which people turn to for that experience.  Of course, worship is more than that – than an experience of the divine.  We come together to give thanks and praise to the source of life, to acknowledge our separation from that source, God i.e. our sinful estate, to ask for and receive forgiveness for the things we have not done that we ought to have done and the things we ought to have done and have not done.  Hopefully, we receive inspiration from hearing God’s word in scripture and being preached.  We physically receive the presence of Jesus Christ if the worship is a Eucharist. 

However, my question remains; do we experience the presence of God in our worship?  Liturgical renewal is an attempt to make worship more relevant to those participating in it.  It put worship in language which is supposed to make it easier for people to understand using the language of the day – language which is clear and easy to understand.  However, the divine and my experience of it is not clear and easy to understand and is primarily a mystery and is at its core mysterious.  Our culture does not encourage experiences which are mysterious.  Can you worship God with a Tweet or in clear simple language?  Or perhaps my question should be, can we experience God in a Tweet et al at all? 

In the work that I do with dreams we identify dreams as God’s Forgotten Language.  To understand our dreams, we need to learn the language that God speaks in dreams.  In the same way in our culture, we need to relearn the language of the experience of God.  Perhaps God can speak to people in clear, simple language.  However, that is generally not my experience with some notable exceptions such as the New Zealand Lord’s Prayer which I wrote about last week.  The genius of that prayer is its clear language which is also poetry.  It speaks to the soul and resonates at a deep level.  That is what is needed in our worship. 

Blessings on your journey. 

The Word Made Fresh and Refreshed

I have been, and continue to be, ambivalent about use of colloquial language in worship.  There is much value in the traditional but there is also much value in speaking the language of the people today.  I dislike it when traditional language is changed to make it more palatable to current sensibilities.  For example, to change the soul-wrenching confessional, “to save a wretch like me” in Amazing Grace to, “save a soul like me” defeats the powerful message in that wonderful hymn of redemption.  We are, after all, sinful people who continue to need God’s forgiveness. 

On the other hand, some people need to be reminded that Jesus did not speak in the language of the King James Version of the bible.  Language has been continually updated and the battle of the bible over the use of the language of the people has been fought many times and many people have lost their lives in those battles.

I love the poetic language of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer compared to the pedestrian prose of the Book of Alternative Services which, if effect, did replace it despite the waffling of the church officials who gave it the title of “Alternative” while intending it as a replacement for the BCP.  There are, of course, theological issues which needed to be addressed with the Book of Common Prayer which was composed by Thomas Cranmer who produced a masterpiece of liturgical prose.  It is unfortunate that those who developed the Book of Alternative Services did not have anything approaching the genius of Cranmer but I am sure they did the best they could.

That being said, it is a spiritually satisfying experience to discover a updating of liturgical prose that does justice to not only the intent of a familiar piece but also is inspirational in making the message come alive in the language of today.  One of the best examples of this is the update of Lord’s Prayer developed by the Anglican Church in New Zealand in its Prayer Book.  One source, https://livinghour.org/lords-prayer/new-zealand-maori/,   described this effort, “This prayer book was celebrated by clergy and lay people alike for the way it combined the traditional Anglican prayers and forms of worship with the rich earth-based spirituality of the Maori and other Pacific Island cultures. It is eloquent in its wonderful simplicity and diversity, and is worthy addition to anyone’s book of prayers.”   Apparently, it is possible to update a prayer book and maintain  language that is moving. 

Here is the Lord’s Prayer from the New Zealand Prayer Book:

  THE LORD’S PRAYER: MAORI & POLYNESIA

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe;
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world;
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings;
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trial too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.

I thank God for the person who composed this wonderful addition to the prayer life of the people of God.  Blessings of your journey

Evangelism Today Part One

Some time ago, I went into a new store that had opened in my home town of Parkhill, Ontario and engaged the owners who I didn’t know.  When they found out I was an Anglican Priest one of them asked what the “official” position of the Anglican Church was on Islam.  I asked why they were interested in knowing this and was asked in return if I knew what “Islam” meant.  I admitted that I didn’t know and was informed that it meant “surrender”. 

The woman I was speaking to was emphatic that she believed this meant that non-Muslims should surrender to the rule of Islam.  That is not her exact words but it my recollection of the conversation. I responded to the effect that I thought that it meant that Muslims should surrender to the will of God and that similarly Christians are called to live their lives following Jesus Christ. Looking back, I wish that I had engaged her more constructively but I was caught somewhat by surprize with Muslims not being a significant presence in and around Parkhill to say the least.  Also, I must confess I hadn’t thought much about the position of my church on other religions.  I was not actually aware of what the Anglican Church position on this issue.  Anglicans are, course, part of the Christian Church that has had a long and difficult history in holding that it was the one true faith and the only way to salvation was through Jesus Christ.  It has had a checkered history of forcefully converting people to Christianity with checkered results.

However, in a multi-cultural country such as Canada and a world that is much smaller that when the church was sending out missionaries to convert the natives – with the best of intentions i.e. the belief that they were saving their souls – how are we to relate to our neighbours of other religions or people of no religions? 

Well, I decided to actually investigate and educate myself on this subject.  I had been aware that the issue of the Anglican Church has dealt with one aspect of the its relations to the Jewish faith at our recent General Synod - our national governing body.  There was approval to delete an invocation calling for the conversion of Jews from the Book of Common Prayer, and replace it with a prayer entitled “For Reconciliation with the Jews.”  Certainly, this is a positive step forward, if not something that should have happened many years ago. 

I also found some information of the Web site for the Anglican Church which enlightened me on the subject.  Under the heading of Ecumenical Relationships was this statement which is addresses the issue, “As members of the Anglican Church of Canada we believe that we are called to continue the ecumenical faith journey, in which we discover in sign, symbol, and practice God’s presence in ourselves and in others, at the same time learning afresh from the living heritage of our Anglican identity.”

Under the heading of Interfaith Dialogue there is a quote from Hans Kung, a Roman Catholic theologian, “There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.”  This is followed by a statement on the position of the church.

The Anglican Church of Canada pursues formal dialogue with people of other faiths together with the other member churches of the Canadian Council of Churches. We also participate in the Canadian Interfaith Conversation, which gathers representatives of different religious groups who believe that people of faith can contribute positively to the benefit of all people in Canadian society.

There are no statements, thank God, about conversion of others.  Evangelism today must take the form of demonstrating the love of Christ to others as Jesus Commanded us. As the early Christian hymn stated they will know we are Christians by our love.  That is the best way to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world.

Next week I will continue on this theme with some very positive information that I became aware of recently that is very helpful on the approach we can use in interfaith dialogue; work done by the Snowmass Conference. 

Blessings on your journey.

Into Deep Waters

The Gospel appointed for yesterday in the Book of Common Prayer was Luke 5: 1-20.  This is the account of Jesus calling the first disciples.  Jesus preaches to the assembled on the shore from Peter’s fishing boat.  I thought this was a great strategic move by Jesus to gain the best position to assure the full attention of the people assembled.

From this vantage point, Jesus addresses the assembly–we could say he was delivering a sermon in today's context.  Unfortunately, Luke does not record what Jesus said so it is lost in the mists of time.  We can only speculate and use our imagination to fill in this significant gap in Jesus ministry. 

Once he finishes speaking to the assembled, Jesus urges Peter to go out into the deep water and let down his nets.  Here is Peter’s journey in a nut shell.  Here are the things that he will face in his life as a disciple.  He would need Jesus to channel all that energy he had.  Peter would want to run off in all directions; he would get into deep waters many times in his life as a disciple but Jesus would always be there to guide him.  He would declare that Jesus was the messiah and then go too far and try and forbid Jesus to go to Jerusalem and fulfill his divine calling.  Jesus would declare, “Get thee behind me Satan.” He would see Jesus transfigured on the mountain and wants to build a booth to contain that vision – as if Jesus could be contained.  He would declare that he would follow Jesus to the death but then deny him three times.  And yet he would be one of the first to see the risen Jesus. 

Have you ever taken the leap of faith and gone into deep water?  This is making more of a commitment than staying close to the shore.  If you are in deep water you may be out of your depth and have trouble getting back to dry land if you run into troubled waters.  However, you can get results that you don’t get by staying close to shore and do not take a risk.

It is a great temptation for many of us to stay close to the shore where solid ground is never out of reach.  If we push ourselves into deep water who knows what might happen.  We might run into troubled water.  We might fall overboard and not be able to get back to the boat or reach the shore.  I am the kind of person who does not take risks easily.  I am caution by nature.  I do not like to go against the flow.  However, I have found that often when I do this and take a risk, it can be very rewarding.   It does take a leap of faith and the rewards are often not immediate.  But they have led me to very rewarding places.

I am not suggesting that you should blindly leap into the unknown.  Don’t push into the deep waters without a life preserver; don’t be reckless.  However, sometimes that leap of faith is where we are being called to go.  Above all don’t forget to seek guidance from someone you trust as your guide. Be it a trusted friend, a counselor, a clergy person.  And don’t forget to pray to whomever is your ultimate concern (in Paul Tillich’s phrase) for divine guidance.

Blessings on you journey, especially if it takes you into deep waters. 

Caught in Sin

I have been reading and rereading an excellent essay by Dr. Timothy Keller on Forgiveness and Reconciliation.  It was brought to my attention by Lorna and can be found at http://www.thrivingpastor.com/serving-each-other-through-forgiveness-and-reconciliation/index.html.  It is the best exploration I have read on these topics. 

There is much in this essay I would like to reflect on in the coming weeks but today I would like to focus on one phrase that Keller explores, ‘caught in sin’.   In his exploration of forgiveness Keller looks at Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.”   When you first read this you may understand this statement of St. Paul to mean a gotcha, you have been watching the behaviour of someone and caught him or her in a sin or what you consider a sin.  Perhaps you were hoping that you would be able to catch that person in some misstep or mistake and be able to condemn them as a sinner and lord it over them. 

On reflection you will probably realize quite quickly that this is not the way that St. Paul approaches others.  Although he can be quite critical of the behaviour of others, as in his epistles to the church in Corinth, he is not out to lord it over others.  Indeed he is very quick to condemn himself; as Keller notes, “When Paul says he is the worst among sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), he is not exaggerating. He is saying that he is as capable of sin as the worst criminals are. The gospel has equipped him with emotional humility.”  Keller clarifies that this is “the image is of being trapped in a pattern of behavior that will be harmful to the person and to others.”

Being caught in a pattern of behaviour is putting into sound psychological language what a person may be doing with their life.  There is a danger of psychologizing behaviour these days and not treating the behaviour as sinful i.e. being out of relationship with God and not living the life God intends for us.  However, two thousand years ago Paul addressed a human condition that people struggle with just as much today as when Paul wrote to the church in Galatia. 

Being caught in sin has the essence of what people struggle with in their lives.  It can encompass both conscious and unconscious behaviour (to use more psychological language).  We can be caught in an addiction which of beyond our ability to control by our willpower.  It can also encompass decision we make because of the desire to be in control or to win in a situation which happens when our egos run our lives. 

In all these cases, whether knowingly or unknowingly; whether these things that we do are done consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, we are in a sinful state.  As it says in the confession in the Book of Common Prayer, “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done”.  I have deliberately left out the next phrase, "And there is no health in us," because that raises a whole different can of worms that I don't want to address at this time.

Often there is a moral judgement which is made in the context of sin and declaring that someone has sinned.  However, that is the beauty of the phrase ‘caught in sin’.  It puts the emphasis on being in a state of sin and not in the act.  We are caught in a condition or circumstance that leads us to be and do something God does not want for us.  We are called to amend our foolish ways and to repent i.e. turn around and aim once more at living the lives God calls us to.  The wonderful thing is that we are offered and assured of God’s forgiveness. 

Thanks be to God. 

Grace and Mercy

Sunday I was doing something I usually don’t do; nothing radical or heretical.  Rather than preaching on the epistle or Gospel appointed for the day, I based my sermon on the collect. We were celebrating the 11^th Sunday after Trinity and the collect for the day addressed the themes of grace and mercy.  I believe that these concepts are important so I want to reiterate and expand a bit on my sermon.  Not because anything I said is radical or new but grace and mercy is key to our relationship with God and each other.  For those of you who do not follow the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, here is the collect:

O God, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 As I noted in my sermon there is much to unpack in that short prayer.  First, let’s look at what grace and mercy mean.  One simple way of looking at them is that grace is receiving what we do not deserve.  Mercy is, you could say the opposite, not receiving what we deserve.   This is not original to me, I heard it some years ago and I’m sure it has been around longer than that. 

That needs some clarification.  When I say “deserve”, I mean they are not something which we earn or is based on our efforts or actions either good or bad.  Grace and mercy are offered to us by God unconditionally because we are God’s children and they are expressions of God’s love for us.  Growing up in the fifties and sixties there was a lot in the ether and culture about unconditional love.  It was something that everyone was supposed to desire in their heart of hearts.  It, unfortunately, became something of a cliché in part because I believe people realized it seemed to be impossible.  It is unfortunate because I believe it is true.  We do desire it; we want to be accepted and loved for who we truly are and not on the basis of having to earn it.

It is indeed hard to truly believe in our heart of hearts—or I could say souls—that we can be loved unconditionally.  Our experience does not generally support this idea.  We believe that we need to earn the love of others.  As I write this a song came up on the media player on my computer (which is set on shuffle).  The song is “Outrageous” by Paul Simon.  The chorus is, “who’s going to love you when your looks are gone”?   After that chorus is repeated a number of times the answer is, “God will”; thank you Paul and thank you synchronicity.  That is exactly the message and meaning of grace and mercy.  God does love us unconditionally no matter if our looks are gone or what kind of a life we live. 

That does not mean we have a free pass.  It does not mean that it doesn’t matter to God what kind of a life we live.  Grace and mercy are freely offered but it is up to us to accept them.  We need to be in relationship with God.  Often our lives can be out of relationship with God.  The grace of God is freely offered.  This is the love of God.  There are many things in our lives which prevent us from being open to the love of God and sharing it with others; past experience of being hurt by others and receiving conditional love to name a two.  We learn to put up walls to protect ourselves and those walls can seem to be almost impenetrable.   

That is where God’s mercy comes in (thank God).  God' mercy is also offered unconditionally as it is also God’s love in action.  When we are not in relationship with God we are in a state of sin.  However, God’s mercy offers us forgiveness.  We can come to God and seek to re-establish our relationship with God; it is two sided—God and each of us.  We have the assurance of God’s forgiveness when we do that.  As I noted in the sermon, we have the mercy that is offered to us in the confession and absolution in both the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Alternative Services.  We confess that we have not lived as God has intended us to live.  We are in a state of sin.  We ask for God’s forgiveness and God’s forgiveness is granted to us in the absolution.  Again this is freely offered to us—it is ours for the asking. 

If we were to truly believe in our hearts and souls that we are unconditionally loved by God think how different our lives and the world would be.  It is hard to imagine but it is worthwhile imagining it.  That is the first step to living it.  I will close with a quote from Richard Rohr’s Daily Mediation (more synchronicity) for today which speaks of the mystery of forgiveness and the possibility of an infinite ocean of grace: 

The Spirit within us creates an unrelenting desire toward forgiveness and reconciliation. The entire Gospel reveals the unfolding mystery of forgiveness; it is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the Gospel’s transformative message. The energy of being forgiven—in our unworthiness of it—first breaks us out of our merit-badge mentality. The ongoing experience of being forgiven (when we don’t even think we need it) is necessary to renew our flagging spirit and keep us in the infinite ocean of grace. Toward the end of life a universal forgiveness of everything for being what it is becomes the only way we can see and understand reality and finally live at peace. 

Blessings and love on your journey.