The Truth in Miracles

 

The Gospel readings for the last two weeks recount two of the signs in the Gospel of John.  John’s Gospel has seven signs or miracles performed by Jesus.  The first is the great one for any wine lover, when Jesus changes the water into wine at a wedding when the host had done the unforgiveable and run out of wine.  The last sign, and last week’s Gospel, was the raising Lazarus from the dead.

The miracles recorded in the bible, can be a test of faith for Christian believers and a reason that many people have in not being able to believe the word of God presented in the bible.  It is, I believe, a key to understanding the relationship between God and humans – between the Divine and the human. 

Catholic biblical scholar Murray Watson gives a continuum of possibilities in how to understand the inspired nature of the relationship between the Divine and the Human.    

 

 

  

 It struck me that this is a good illustration of the challenge that miracles bring to people in our culture today.  The belief in the part which God plays in the world relates directly to how miracles are understood and accepted or not accepted by people.  On the one end of the continuum, the stories of miracles in the Old and New Testaments in the bible are actual, literal accounts of the events.  On the other end they are made up stories which have no validity as factual accounts of actual events.

To illustrate, how do you understand the account of the flood in Genesis in which God told Noah to build an arc to hold a pair of every kind of animal to enable them to survive the flood which God sent upon the face of the earth?  Whether you believe that this actually happened as recorded in the Book of Genesis or was just a “myth” i.e., it didn’t happen, can create an inseparable barrier to people exploring with each other how God is working in their lives today. 

In my view, there is little to be gained by arguing over the details of this account or other accounts of miracles in the bible.  If we can put aside the issue of the historical nature of the event, and whether the details are historical facts, we are much more likely to have a meaningful discussion of how God in working in our lives today.  Rather than argue over the truth of the facts of the case, we can explore the capital ‘T’ Truth of how God was operating in the lives of the people who wrote down the account and explore that Truth in our lives today.

For me, the story of the flood shows that God’s creation is redeemable regardless of how fallen the world seems to be.  God can and does work through individuals who can work to redeem the world against impossible odds.  That is certainly applicable to the world today as we see the challenges that are facing the world from pandemics, to an outbreak of conflict between the Israeli and Palestine, and now the war between United States and Iran - not to mention the chasm that exists between political parties in our neighbour to the south.  To me, it doesn’t matter whether or not a person named Noah existed and whether or not he built an arc that held all those animals.  The Truth is that God has and does work through people to bring about the salvation of the world.  We can have hope in that and not give into despair when we read today’s news.

Blessings on your journey and may you know the Truth of God in your life.

The Two Adams

Recently, I heard an interview with New York Times Columnist David Brooks in which he referred to the idea of two Adams in the biblical stories of creation.  He noted how the two stories of creation in the book of Genesis give a very different picture of Adam and how humankind is still living out those different models of humankind.  Brooks noted that this idea was not original to him and it is one that I had not heard of before but on reflection it contains a great deal of truth.

First, let’s review what Genesis tells us about creation.  There are two accounts of God creating the world – the first in chapter 1, and the second in chapter 2, which, in my edition of the bible (the NRSV) is captioned ‘another account of creation’.  In both accounts, God creates humankind.  However, the accounts are very different for how those humans live after the creation.  In the first account, God creates humans in God’s image, male and female God created them.  In the second account, God creates ‘the man’ (Adam) from the dust of the ground – and, of course, later creates the first woman from the man’s rib. 

That is very different, however, the differences only get even more different.  In the first account, God gives Adam (and Eve actually) dominion over the earth, with the charge that they should be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over everything that God has created:

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1: 28)

In the second account of creation, God places the human couple in the Garden of Eden – first the Adam alone but then creating Eve as his companion, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” (Genesis 2: 15) 

The first account is one of domination.  Adam – humankind is to subdue the earth and all that is in it.  The world is to be used for humankind’s purposes.  Humans have been very good at this and continue to do it today.  We find new and improved ways of using the resources – both animal, vegetable and mineral – unfortunately, often to the detriment of the world God has created.  Admittedly, there have been benefits as well as detriments, but we are facing an ecological disaster of – well – biblical proportions, if we continue on the course we have set in conjunction with the first Adam.

We have the other option - humans (Adam and Eve) who were set in paradise and lived in harmony with nature.  That has not gone nearly as well as fulfilling the first account.  I must be honest and admit that I don’t see how that vision of humankind could be brought about in this world as it stands now.  We were, after all, expelled from paradise.  The best we can do is to take steps – small ones and perhaps not so small ones – to use that second vision of creation as a guide to how we should be living in harmony with creation.    That is something to consider in this season of Lent.

The Truth About Miracles

 

As I wrote last week, I am currently engaged in a biblical study course on the Old Testament.  Last weeks lecture raised the question about the human involvement in divine action – specifically, what does it mean for scripture to be inspired by God?  The following chart offered by the leader, Murray Watson, gives a continuum of possibilities in how to understand the inspired nature of the relationship between Devine and Human beings.

A spectrum of possibilities in terms of the human-divine relationship

 It struck me that this is a good illustration of the challenge that miracles bring to people in our culture today.  The belief in the part which God plays in the world relates directly to how miracles are understood and accepted or not accepted by people.  On the one end of the continuum, the stories of miracles in the Old and New Testaments in the bible are actual, literal accounts of the events.  On the other end they are made up stories which have no validity as factual accounts of actual events.

To illustrate, how do you understand the account of the flood in Genesis in which God told Noah to build an ark to hold a pair of every kind of animal to enable them to survive the flood which God sent upon the face of the earth?  Whether you believe that this actually happened as recorded in the Book of Genesis or was just a “myth” i.e., it didn’t happen, can create an inseparable barrier to people exploring with each other how God is working in their lives today. 

In my view, there is little to be gained by arguing over the details of this account or other accounts of miracles in the bible.  If we can put aside the issue of this historical nature of the event and whether the details are historical facts, we are much more likely to have a meaningful discussion of how God in working in our lives today.  Rather than argue over the truth of the facts of the case, we can explore the capital ‘T’ Truth of how God was operating in the lives of the people who wrote down the account and explore that Truth in our lives today.

For me, the story of the flood shows that God’s creation is redeemable regardless of how fallen the world seems to be.  God can and does work through individuals who can work to redeem the world against impossible odds.  That is certainly applicable to the world today as we see the challenges that are facing the world from pandemics to a new outbreak of conflict between the Israeli and Palestine - not to mention the chasm that exists between political parties in our neighbour to the south.  To me, it doesn’t matter whether or not a person named Noah existed and whether or not he built an ark that held all those animals.  The Truth is that God has and does work through people to bring about the salvation of the world.  We can have hope in that and not give into despair when we read today’s news.

Blessings on your journey and may you know the Truth of God in your life.

Sermon Baptism of Christ January 11, 2015

Gen 1: 1-5 (OT page 1)

Psalm 29 (B.A.S. page 738)

Acts 19: 1-7 (NT page 139)

Mark 1: 2-11 (NT page 34)

The 1994 movie Pulp Fiction, directed by Quentin Tarantino, begins with scene of two unusual characters committing armed robbery in a restaurant.   The robbery is committed by a very loving and very violent couple with the unusual names Honey Bunny and Pumpkin.    As is the case with most of Tarantino’s movies it is very violent and at times hard to watch but also very funny in a dark way.  However, Pulp Fiction is unusual as it presents the plot in a less than a straightforward manner.  The viewer is not really sure what is going on in the story for the first half of the movie.  There are many seemingly disconnected scenes and events – plots and sub-plots with twists and turns which the audience has trouble putting together.  However, as the movie develops the story all these disparate parts slowly come together and the plot is revealed.  It is a ground-breaking way of telling a story in a movie which has been copied in other movies since.

Today is liturgically very much like that.  We are not sure how all these parts fit together.  We are not sure what is going on with the story line.  We have a few plot lines going on at the same time and if we don’t pay attention we will lose track of the story.  Just last week we had we had Epiphany – with the arrival of the Wise Men – the Magi finally get to the stable bearing gifts for the Christ Child – better late than never certainly applies here. 

Epiphany took place last week on the 6^th as it always does.  So we should be in the season of Epiphany with the change in liturgical colour being green.  However, the calendar call for white as you can see on the Altar.  That is because we are also celebrating the Baptism of Christ by John in the Jordan River.  We have the Gospel reading Mark 1: 2-1.  We were celebrating Christmas and the nativity of our Lord just a few days ago.  But John doesn’t have anything to do directly with the Nativity. We go right from the Nativity story to the Baptism – quite a leap.  We have to wonder what is going on in this story - this plot of the Life of Jesus. We can only hope that it all comes together if we pay attention and stay with the story.  Of course we are told very little about Jesus’s life between the birth and his baptism.  At least we seem to have the consolation that it’s not violent like Pulp Fiction.  Or perhaps it is—we will have to wait and see how this story unfolds.

Well the plot line actually follows the life the Jesus quite closely.  Jesus baptism by John in the Jordan River is the start of Jesus public ministry.  Mark’s Gospel actually starts at this point – it has no account of the nativity of Jesus.  Some people—even some Christians—are surprised to be told of this.  We depend on Matthew and Luke to give us that part of the plot.  The story of Jesus life basically with one minor exemption jumps from his birth to his baptism.   We know almost nothing about his life growing up from the Gospel – with the exception of his journey to the temple when he was twelve. So in this sense we have an ending and a beginning. 

The beginning is reflected in the OT reading the beginning of the creation story in Genesis.  The OT reading gives us another beginning—the beginning of all creation.  As few weeks ago we heard about John as the voice in the wilderness crying, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”   He prepares for the coming of the Christ Child – the Messiah.  And so it begins and ends for each beginning marks and ending.  But we do not know the ultimate end of the story yet. That still must unfold.

So is this story one without violence unlike Pulp Fiction?  Actually, no.  We do have the slaughter of the innocents – King Herod orders all children two year old and younger in and around Bethlehem killed in his futile attempt to prevent the usurping of his throne by the new King of the Jews.  But the baptism—surely there is no violence in the part of the plot we have today.  Well, the assigned Gospel reading cut off the story prematurely.  If we read on to the next verse we have a new subplot, ¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

 This is no nice, pleasant church baptism here.  The wonderful epiphany of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, the declaration from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  No—immediately we have a twist and turn—the unexpected happens.  That same Spirit—now not in the form of a peaceful dove—but something much more dramatic with an implication of violence—drives him into the wilderness—apparently against his will if not violently.

Why baptism at the beginning of the public ministry?  Jesus submits to the Baptism of John for the repentance of sin—he who is without sin.  This baptism is to me as much an ordination as a baptism.  Jesus is ordained to begin his journey that will take him to the cross.  It is a journey which is worthy of a plot by Quinten Tarantino—will have twists and turns, betrayals and traps sprung but escaped through wit and God’s will.

Jesus did not need to repent but he did need a way to mark the beginning of his ministry.  In a sense that happens at every baptism.  It marks the beginning of a new journey—for us—imperfect humans that we are—it is one that marks leaving the old life behind.  The slate has been wiped clean. 

There is a dramatic representation of this in Pulp Fiction.  One of the principal characters Jules is a hit man—he kills people for a living.  Jules has an interesting twist on his occupation.  Just before he is going to kill someone he quotes the bible – a passage from Ezekiel.  As Jules put it so succinctly:

There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

As Jules explains he has been saying this for years and if someone heard this he knew he was a dead man.  However, after Jules experiences what he considers a miracle and escapes what seems certain death he has an epiphany – seemingly a revelation from God. 

I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was a cold-blooded thing to say to someone before I popped him. But I saw something this mornin' made me think twice. See, now I'm thinking: maybe it means you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here... he's the shepherd protecting me in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. And I'd like that. But that ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.

I have cleaned up some of the language given where we are – if you want the unexpurgated version you can find it online.  As a result he decides to give up his life as a hit man and goes straight.  That, is a true epiphany and a true beginning.  What God asks of us is not perfection.  God asks that we try “real hard” and have the intention of turning our life around and making a new beginning.  May we all have a new beginning in Christ in this New Year.  Amen

Whose Prosperity Do We To Serve

Victoria Osteen, who is the wife and co-pastor of mega-church pastor and televangelist celebrity Joel Osteen, has raised a lot of eyebrows in Christian circles by her recent statement.  Victoria Osteen has been reported to have said:

When we obey God, we're not doing it for God...we're doing it for ourself. Because God takes pleasure when we're happy. Do good 'cause God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God, really. You're doing it for yourself because that's what makes God happy.

This is obviously wrong on many levels and particularly when you consider what Jesus Christ taught and what Christians generally profess.  How do you reconcile this with statements such as, turn the other cheek, go the second mile ,  and of course the beatitudes such as blessed are the pure in spirit and the meek shall inherit the earth, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the poor.  I probably don’t need to go on.  The statement by Victoria Osteen smacks of the prosperity Gospel which holds that, “financial blessing is the will of Godfor Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth”.   The Osteen’s are apparently big in the Prosperity Gospel movement (if I can call it that).

The basic problem that I see with this theology is that it gives free reign to the ego and all that the ego desires.  Humans can easily fall into the hubris of creating God in our own image rather than what we are told in Genesis — that we were created in God’s image, male and female He created us.  The ego is our great gift from God and an integral part of being created in God’s image.  The Ego is an integral part of what makes is conscious beings and knowing that we are Children of God and not the centre of the universe.  However, the ego also wants to keep things in our lives just as they are.  The ego hates and resists change.  It wants security and comfort.  As Richard Rohr noted, “if there is one thing that the ego hates more than anything else, is to change. I know that if I keep meditating, it is going to change my worldview, my priorities, and my preferences”. 

That is what we called to do.  We are called to put God ahead of ourselves and to try as best we can to do God’s will and not our ego’s will with my priorities and my preferences.  The Prosperity Gospel emphasizes the importance of personal empowerment, holding that it is God's will for his people to be happy.  I believe God does want us to be happy.  However true happiness for people comes when the ego is in service to God and not in maintaining our self-interest.  I will close with quote from Br. Robert L'Esperance, Society of Saint John the Evangelist, “In the Christian worldview we’re not at the center of everything. God is the center of things: God and God’s creation, of which we’re a small, wonderful, privileged part. John 10:10 reminds us that Jesus, not overconsumption, is the way to “abundant life”.”  Blessings.

Reading the Bible 33 Genesis 41: 1-36 – Dreams of Things to Come

There are times in our lives that it doesn’t seem that things will ever get better.  We hope that the trials and tribulations of our lives will end and better times will finally arrive.  However, days turn into weeks and the weeks pile up and nothing seems to change.  For those of us who believe that God is with us we wonder if He or She has forgotten about us.  All our prayers and efforts seem to amount to less than nothing; they seem to be a waste of time. 

Reading the account of Joseph in prison I can’t but think that Joseph must have felt that way in spades.  God seemed to be with Joseph from his earliest years.  God had given him the gift of dreams – big ones that seemed wonderful.  However, the way he used and misused that gift led him to his exile and a prisoner in a foreign land.  That gift had stood him in good stead while in prison and he had predicted the fates of his two cell mates to the despair of one and the joy of the other.  However, even that blessing did not appear to do him any good.  When this chapter in his story opens we find that Joseph has been languishing in prison for two years.

In my imagination Joseph would have pretty much given up hope when a minor miracle happened.  The Pharaoh was visited with disturbing dreams which none of his magicians and other assorted wise men could interpret for him.  This jogged the memory of Joseph’s former cell mate who had benefited from Joseph’s ability in dream interpretation and tell the Pharaoh about it. 

The rest as they say is history.  Joseph successfully interprets Pharaoh’s dreams predicts the good times and bad times ahead – seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.  Joseph shows that he has gained wisdom from his trials and knows that his ability to interpret dreams is a gift from God.  Joseph advises the Pharaoh to make hay while the sun shines and as we shall see the Pharaoh is wise enough to know wise advice when he encounters it.

Those two years as I say must have seemed like an eternity to Joseph sitting in his prison cell with no rescue on the horizon.  And it is a valuable lesson for us when we are in the midst of a dark period in our lives.  God is with us whether it seems that way or not.  Good times or bad; feast or famine; God is with us.