07/01/07 First Sunday After Epiphany

07/01/07 1st Sunday after Epiphany

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Imagine this. You've just been promoted to an exciting and challenging leadership position. You realize that to be effective you will need to learn a lot in a short time. Assume you have time to adjust to the new job, and the staying power and experience to see it through. And just when you think you are
getting the hang of things, it all goes to pot. Perhaps you uncover evidence of financial improprieties or some kind of managerial misconduct, or perhaps a key colleague quits. Everything seems up for grabs. It's not just your leadership skills that are on the line at moments like this, but also your very sense of self. "Am I up to this task, am I even worthy of it?" you ask. No wonder we call such a moment a "baptism by fire." It's a turn of phrase that owes its power directly to today's gospel. As John the Baptist knew, we are not baptized in Jesus' name to a life of predictable comfort. We are baptized to a life of decision and discipleship, and challenged to fight fire with fire--to fight the fire of sin and injustice with the Holy Spirit's fire of all-pervading love.


Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

--Traditional


PRAY for the Diocese of Llandaff (Wales)

Ps 89:1-29; Isaiah 42:1-9; Acts 10:34-48



Daily Meditation from the works of Henri Nouwen

The Gift of Friendship

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or common histories. It is a bond stronger than sexual union can create, deeper than a shared fate can solidify, and even more intimate than the bonds of marriage or community. Friendship is being with the other in joy and sorrow, even when we cannot increase the joy or decrease the sorrow. It is a unity of souls that gives nobility and sincerity to love. Friendship makes all of life shine brightly. Blessed are those who lay down their lives for their friends.




Richard Rohr's Daily Reflection,
http://cacradicalgrace.org/getconnected/getconnected_index.html

"Incarnational Theology"

Every time Catholics celebrate Eucharist, we take something of this earth, of this world, bread and wine, and we say – daringly, unbelievably – it’s God. I don’t know any other religion that ever does that. Most of the world’s religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and many forms of Protestantism – are always trying to get you up into transcendental holy thinking: ideas, explanations and principles, visions. The Catholic worldview is always saying, “Get into history, get into the flesh, get into the bread and wine, get into the material.” Get into this world and this world will still be the mediation point of the spiritual. That’s our greatest strength. The fancy word for that is incarnational Christianity. The most popular feast is not Easter. You’d have no doubt about it if you have ever been to Europe, or any countries where Catholicism held the strongest sway. The big feast is Christmas, the feast of the Incarnation, the proclamation that God became flesh in a little baby. Easter’s redemption is just the logical conclusion.

from Why be Catholic?




From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.

A teacher to be imitated

Our faith is not founded upon empty words; nor are we carried away by mere caprice of beguiled by specious arguments. On the contrary, we put our faith in words spoken by the power of God, spoken by the Word himself at God’s command. God wished to win us back from disobedience, not by using force to reduce us to slavery, but by addressing to our free will a call to liberty.

The Word spoke first of all through the prophets, but because the message was couched in such obscure language that it could only dimly be apprehended, in the last days the Father sent the Word in person, commanding him to show himself openly so that the world could see him and be saved.

We know that by taking a body from the Virgin he refashioned our fallen nature. We know that his humanity was of the same clay as our own; if this were not so, he would hardly have been a teacher who could expect to be imitated. If he were of a different substance from me, he would surely not have ordered me to do as he did, when by my very nature I am so weak. Such a demand could not be reconciled with his goodness and justice.

Hippolytus of Rome (Hippolytus (170 - 236), the first anti-pope, was reconciled with the pope and later both died as martyrs for the faith.)
read more: www.newadvent.org/cathen/07360c.htm or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolytus_(writer)



Epiphany. Neat word. "To show upon." A disclosure. A manifestation.

"For God so loved the world that He gave . . .." " . . . and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

The Christian Church has long celebrated the 6th of January as the feast of the Wise Men. We have never quite figured out who they were. But, is it really important? Probably not.

They disclosed their finest to the One they believed to be the King of the Jews. Just as God had given his best, they gave what were the most expensive gifts of their day. Gold for prosperity, frankincense for sweetness and atmosphere, and myrrh as a preservative symbolizing his ability to overcome even the worst of times. Their finest to the Finest.

It is a long journey from the first day of Advent to Epiphany. If you have read each day you have laughed, cried, and discovered a new vision of God's greatest manifestation of His love for you. You too have felt your own emotions churn as the recollections and reminiscences of others have reminded you of days of hope, love, peace and family. You have had things disclosed to you that you had long forgotten. Some of those were blessings. Others may have been things that you wish had remained hidden.

But, each one of them is you. Your life, your dreams, your desires, your longings. Like it or not, you have to deal with each of them and accept yourself because and in spite of them. That is okay. It really is. God does, whether you do or not.

The whole story of the season is meant for you. You are the "whosoever" of John 3:16. God gave Himself for you. A whole year is ahead of you as the celebration of Christmas draws to a close. If you have not done it yet, please, be encouraged to give God the best gift you ever could. Yourself. You are important, so important that Jesus came and gave Himself on your behalf. All He has ever wanted is to give you the chance to be free in Him. To be His. To know Him as a personal God, Friend, Companion.

Won't you give Him what He wants most for Christmas?

- Joe Hittle
Ottumwa, Iowa, USA





"BAPTIZING THE LUKEWARM" AND "JUST HOW IS GOD WITH US?"

Today's eMo is really two different meditations on texts that will be read in many churches this Sunday. The first is the usual sermon preparation eMo. The second, intended for preachers who wish to focus their congregations' attention on the Church's service to the poor and those who suffer from the effects of war and natural disaster, by exploring the ministry of Episcopal Relief and Development. As with all the eMos, preachers and teachers are welcome to borrow, with the usual attribution. No further permission is necessary.
+
Baptizing the Lukewarm

The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus)...
Acts 8:15-16

So the newly baptized in this account were lacking something, it seems. Membership in the community that acknowledged Jesus seems not to have been enough, without having received the Holy Spirit.

So which is baptism: is it an initiation rite performed by a group, or is it the action of the Holy Spirit? Although we have always known it was both, baptism in recent decades has been all about the community: we speak of tiny babies as full members by virtue of it, tuck a microscopic piece of the host into their little mouths later in the service, their first Holy Communion. We all but refuse to baptize anyone privately, and sneer mightily at parents who want their children to receive the rite but don't understand themselves to be members of the church in any active sense. What do they know about baptism? we tell each other. To them, it's just Great-Grandma's christening gown. We congratulate pastors who set daunting requirements for families before they will even entertain the thought of baptizing their children: The early Christians risked death for this! we tell each other. This is not a rite for the lukewarm.

Actually, it is a rite for the lukewarm, as well as for those who are on fire with the power of the Spirit. Our readiness for the rite is not the only factor in baptism. The Spirit acts, too, and stands ready to work in the lives of people as they present themselves. We are on thin ice every time we attempt to rate other people's spirituality in comparison with our own and that of our friends, gaining little from the exercise, even if we happen to be correct in our assessment.

Some of the people who come to the waters of baptism will stay and grow in the community. Some will never set foot in a church again, until at long last a priest they have never met commends them to the care of a merciful savior, and off they will go into the mystery of whatever comes next.

Was the rite a failure in their cases? Wrongly administered, and therefore worthless? Or cheapened?

The rite is never a failure. We may fail, often, throughout our lives. We may fall short. But we are not the only actors in the story of our lives. When the Spirit is invoked, the Spirit comes. It comes to those who will plumb its presence to its depths and to those who will not even notice that it is there. Just who is whom is not ours to say, and we often get it wrong when we try to guess.

So we must assume the Spirit's presence. We must welcome the lukewarm and the passionate with joy. We must share the mystery in a way that can be understood. And we must trust in the Spirit's power to instruct -- the Spirit can bear the weight of our trust better than we can bear it ourselves.
+
Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke 3:15-17,21-22
+
And here is the ERD meditation:

Just How Is God With Us?

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you...
Isaiah 43:2

What does it look like for God to be with us when disaster strikes? Do we just smile through it all as the waters rise, serene and unruffled because we know God is there? I don't think many people who faced the deadly rush of water after Hurricane Katrina stood there smiling serenely -- they waded for their lives through the treacherous current, climbed up to their roofs, clung for dear life to a lamp post or a tree. There was no time for serenity on that terrible day, and I doubt if anyone was praying for serenity. The most one might hope for would be focus.

I may or may not be serene at a given moment of crisis, but then my serenity is not always the evidence of God's presence. We don't always find God in the causes of a tragedy, or even in our own experience of living through one. We may find God, instead, in the response of other human beings.

The American people's response to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath was the biggest communal outpouring of love and support the nation has ever seen. We had had some practice: the response to New York's losses on 9/11 and the horror of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 were also immense. Something in us grew permanently as a result of knowing about these terrible things, and as a result of our participation in doing something about them. Helping made us want to help more. Something in us understood our relatedness as human beings in a new way. We derived a new sense of duty, one that kicked in readily when Katrina struck.

Through its work with local dioceses and ecumenical partners, under the guidance of bishops who know their own communities well, Episcopal Relief and Development continues to support community redevelopment in those places where community life was so devastated on those hot summer days in the late summer of 2005.

Perhaps we have changed. Perhaps we have developed institutional ways to be kinder and more aware of each other. Perhaps we feel more related. I pray that it is so. And, if it is, I think we have found just where God is when the waters rise.
+
For more information or to make a donation, visit www.er-d.org or telephone 1-800-334-7626, ext 5129.


Copyright © 2007 Barbara Crafton - http://www.geraniumfarm.org



Today's Reading in the Rule of St. Benedict http://www.osb.org/rb/

Prologue

And so we are going to establish
a school for the service of the Lord.
In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome.
But if a certain strictness results from the dictates of equity
for the amendment of vices or the preservation of charity,
do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation,
whose entrance cannot but be narrow (Matt. 7:14).
For as we advance in the religious life and in faith,
our hearts expand
and we run the way of God's commandments
with unspeakable sweetness of love (Ps. 118:32).
Thus, never departing from His school,
but persevering in the monastery according to His teaching
until death,
we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13)
and deserve to have a share also in His kingdom.

Commentary by Sr. Joan Chittister
http://www.eriebenedictines.org/Pages/INSPIRATION/insights.html

The spiritual life is not something that is gotten for the wishing or assumed by affectation. The spiritual life takes discipline. It is something to be learned, to be internalized. It's not a set of daily exercises, it's a way of life, an attitude of mind, an orientation of soul. And it is gotten by being schooled until no rules are necessary.

Among the ancients there is a story told that confirms this insight to this day:

"What action shall I perform to attain God?" the disciple asked the elder.

"If you wish to attain God, the elder said, there are two things you must know. The first is that all efforts to attain God are of no avail."

"And the second?" the disciple insisted.

"The second is that you must act as if you did not know the first," the elder said.

Clearly, great pursuers of the spiritual life know that the secret of the spiritual life is to live it until it becomes real.
The difference between Benedict and other spiritual masters of his time lay in the fact that Benedict believed that the spiritual life was not an exercise in spiritual gymnastics. It was to be nothing "harsh or burdensome." And it was not a private process. It was to be done in community with others. It was to be a "school" dedicated to "the good of all concerned." It was to be lived with "patience."

The private preserves of the spiritual life are far from dead, however. It is so much easier to go to daily Mass and feel good about it than it is to serve soup at a soup kitchen. It is so much more comfortable to say bedtime prayers than it is speak peace in a warring world. It is so much more satisfying to contribute to the building of a new church than it is to advocate for welfare legislation. It is so much more heroic to fast than it is to be patient with a noisy neighbor. It is so much easier to give the handshake of peace in church than it is to speak gently in the family. And yet, one without the other is surely fraud if life with God in community is truly of the essence of real spiritual growth.

The messages of the Prologue are clear: Life is very short. To get the most out of it, we must begin to attend to its spiritual dimensions without which life is only half lived. Holiness is in the Now but we go through life only half conscious of it, asleep or intent on being someplace other than where we are. We need to open our eyes and see things as they exist around us: what is valuable and what is not, what enriches and what does not, what is of God and what is not. It may be the neighborhood we live in rather than the neighborhood we want that will really make human beings out of us. It may be the job we have rather than the position we are selling our souls to get that will finally liberate us from ourselves. It may be what we do rather than the prayers we pray that will finally be the measure of our sanctity.

God is calling us to more than the material level of life and God is waiting to bring us to it. All we have to do is to live well with others and live totally in God. All we have to do is to learn to listen to the voice of God in life. And we have to do it heart, soul and body. The spiritual life demands all of us.