Toward the Way of Love

Last week I mentioned the Episcopal Church, and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s, Way of Love. What exactly is that, you might ask. It is simply a form of a Rule of Life encompassing: Worship, Go, Learn, Pray, Bless, Turn, Rest. You’ll notice there are 7 parts, and there are 7 days of a week. That’s so the Rule of Life fits neatly into your week.

First, though, what is a “Rule of Life”? Often, we think of monastics, or priests, or other ‘religious folks’ as the only ones who have a Rule of Life. This can be something set up by their Order or ordination. However, each of us has a Rule of Life, whether you’ve ever thought of it that way or not. If you read your Bible, or a devotional book, or do some journaling, or have a quiet few minutes to pray then you have a Rule of Life.

According to the Journeying the Way of Love, Advent Curriculum (by Jenifer Gamber & Becky Zartman; Copyright © 2018 by The Episcopal Church, 815 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10017) a Rule of Life is “not just a set of rules to live by; rather, it is a gentle framework to guide and support us on our way [that] It helps us clarify our most important values, relationships, dreams, and work.” The authors point out “a rule of life [is] commitments to regular practices.” It can include, so called, secular activities like exercise or eating dinner as a family.

The Way of Love as outlined by the Episcopal Church is a Rule of Life with the goal of helping us grow in our relationship with God, ourselves, and others. According to the Advent curriculum, “The Way of Love invites us to a rule of life that leads to incarnating Divine Love in the world, so it is appropriate to initiate a journey on the Way of Love during Advent, the season we slow down to get ready to welcome Jesus, God incarnate, anew.”

Let’s review the seven parts of the Way of Love Rule of Life and what they mean.

Sunday, we are invited to Worship as an intentional way to gather in community with and before God. “As we break bread, our eyes are opened to the presence of Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are made one body, the body of Christ sent forth to live the Way of Love.”

Monday calls us to Go across boundaries and live like Jesus. “He sends us beyond our circles and comfort, to witness to the love, justice, and truth of God with our lips and with our lives…to join God in healing a hurting world [and] to become Beloved Community, a people reconciled in love with God and one another.”

Tuesday reminds us that we must Learn. The authors of the curriculum note, “When we open our minds and hearts to Scripture, we learn to see God’s story and God’s activity in everyday life.”

Wednesday, the middle of the week, is a time to remember to Pray. Prayer is an offering of our thanksgivings and concerns to God while listening for God’s voice in our lives. “When we pray

we invite and dwell in God’s loving presence.”

Thursday is a time to Bless by sharing our faith and unselfishly serving. The authors note, “We are empowered by the Spirit to bless everyone we meet…and to share our stories of blessing and invite others to the Way of Love.”

Friday is a day to Turn and take a break. “With God’s help, we can turn from the powers of sin, hatred, fear, injustice, and oppression toward the way of truth, love, hope, justice, and freedom. In turning, we reorient our lives to Jesus Christ, falling in love again, again, and again.”

Saturday is a day of Rest when we can be restored by God’s grace and peace. This is an invitation to an intentional time “for restoration and wholeness…[because] by resting we place our trust in God, the primary actor who brings all things to their fullness.”

In preparation for Advent, consider what your current Rule of Life is-both secular and spiritual. To help with that, you can download the weekly planner page for this week. You’ll notice the theme for the week is Preparation. Isaiah 40:3 calls us to Hear “the voice of someone shouting, "Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!”

Are there parts of your life that might be called ‘wasteland’?

Can you make a straight ‘highway’ for God to enter your heart this Advent?

What changes might you want to make or include in preparation for Christmas?

I invite you to join me in journeying the Way of Live this Advent using the Advent calendar incorporated in the weekly planner pages available, with some additional hints, from this blog during Advent. Download the first page to get started on the journey. 

Or gather in a small group to follow the curriculum itself. Perhaps you would prefer to simply download the Advent calendar  follow it through the next four weeks with the following topics:

• Advent One: The Annunciation: Saying “Yes” to the Journey

• Advent Two: Mary and Elizabeth: Journeying with Family and Friends

• Advent Three: The Birth of John the Baptist: Journeying with Community

• Advent Four: The Birth of Jesus: Journeying with the World

Pentecost: Transitioning to a Way of Love

We’ve been talking about Ordinary Women since September. Each of them responded to something in their lives by making a change that affected more than just their immediate circle. Frances Perkins left us the legacy of fair labor laws. Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton both improved nursing because they were faced with crisis during wartime. The Bible women Esther, Ruth, Naomi, Judith, Mary of Magdala, and Mary of Nazareth faced the demands of their lives with courage and faith that made them heroines in their lifetimes and beyond. Teresa of Avila and Hildegard of Bingen, though separated by about 400 years each impacted the church of their time with their insight and teaching.

For each of them, there was a transitional moment in their life. The time when they were faced with something that demanded a response. For each of them, the response was a form of love of their neighbor. They gave of themselves as Jesus commands in the Great Commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength; and your neighbor as yourself.” Each woman looked beyond seeming differences and found something to love. These saints didn’t ask ‘does the soldier, the worker, the seeker, the endangered, the hurting, the lonely look or think like me?’ They simply reached out and cared for those who needed help.

How do we deal with the changes and transitions in our lives? Do we reach out, or lock ourselves away? Each day we have the opportunity to choose a response when confronted with a co-worker, a stranger, an inconsiderate driver, bad news, or a myriad of other things. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is calling for a change-to be the Jesus Movement in our environments. This is a call for each of us to love God and love neighbor. As Bishop Michael Curry noted in a recent sermon, ‘there is no asterisk’ in this commandment.

In his recent book The Power of Love, and in all his sermons, Bishop Curry issues a call to love. Love is the foundation of dealing with the changes and challenges around us. In his well-known Wedding Sermon, Curry calls us to remember the “redemptive power of love”. He says, “there is power in love to help and heal…to lift up and liberate…to show us how to live.” Living love is to “change not only their lives, but the very life of the world itself.”

The Episcopal Church has issued an invitation to The Way of Love. This includes 7 Practices: Turn to Jesus, Learn from Scripture, Pray, Worship, Bless, Go, Rest. I invite you to join me during Advent with some of the exercises and activities outlined in the Way of Live Advent Calendar and Curriculum. You can use the Advent calendar incorporated in the weekly planner pages available from this blog during Advent. If you prefer, gather a group together to do the study as outlined online. Next week we’ll look more closely at the 7 Practices of the Way of Love in preparation for Advent.

This week, in all the bustle of Thanksgiving preparations, I invite you to consider how to love God and neighbor in a life changing way like the women of God we’ve learned about over the past couple months.

Does any of them inspire you more than the others? What in your life is like hers? Can you make changes to live more fully committed to what you believe in?

Pentecost: Ordinary Women: Mary of Nazareth

This week we come to the end of our series about Ordinary Women by meeting Mary of Nazareth, mother of Jesus. Over the past couple months, we’ve looked at reformers, saints, and Bible heroines. What they have in common is that they said ‘yes’ when God spoke to their hearts. They felt the same Spirit that was present at Pentecost move them to do surprising things. They each, in their own way invited God into their life. The George Herbert poem Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life, is one way to offer your life to God.

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
such a way as gives us breath,
such a truth as ends all strife,
such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
such a light as shows a feast,
such a feast as mends in length,
such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
such a joy as none can move,
such a love as none can part,
such a heart as joys in love.

This past weekend was filled with many images. I was part of the team that worked on the Ordination of Bishop Hunn as the 11^th Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande. It was a busy and yet uplifting trio of days (tridium, if you will) that was the culmination of over a year’s work. My mind is still processing the ministry, joy, music, worship, community, and glory of the weekend. With Herbert I can praise with a heart that ‘joys in love’.

I wonder if Mary of Nazareth was filled with similar emotions at the highlights of her life. She experienced great highs and lows of emotion, as we all do. It all started when she said ‘yes’ to God. We first meet Mary as a teen girl confronted with the angel Gabriel who has an astonishing message: ‘you are going to bear the son of God, even though you are not married.’ What must have gone through her mind at that moment? We know she had questions. ‘How can this be?” she asks. Confusion and fear and perhaps some anticipation probably swirled around in her head and heart.

Then she rushes off to see her much older cousin, Elizabeth, who is also pregnant. We might expect that relief, joy, and even prayer flooded over her as she and Elizabeth visited and bonded over their shared miracles. Perhaps she and Elizabeth felt the truth of the second verse of the poem by affirming that God is “strength as makes his guest’. With God’s strength all things are possible.

Nine months later, as she holds the infant Joshua/Jesus in her arms, she is visited by shepherds with stories of angel choirs. Then she ‘ponders all these things in her heart’. What things did she ponder? Adoration, surprise, awe, and like all mothers-love. Surely her heart overflowed:

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
such a joy as none can move,
such a love as none can part,
such a heart as joys in love.

Over 30 years later, she again holds her son’s body. This time as a lifeless corpse. How might she have struggled to reconcile all the images in her life and heart with the death of her child? We can be sure that grief, despair, and fear were among the feelings she felt at that moment.

Then he arose! How does a person comprehend the incomprehensible? Astonishment, fear, confusion, and probably joy came to Mary at that time. We know Thomas had his doubts. Did Mary or the others in that upper room also wonder, at first, if such a thing could really be true? Perhaps it is only then that she knows the truth of the first verse:

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
such a way as gives us breath,
such a truth as ends all strife,
such a life as killeth death.

Saying ‘yes’ to God’s call doesn’t mean that we know all the twists and turns of the journey ahead. Mary didn’t know how her life would be when she agreed to bear the Son of God. She simply had to trust God even when things were frightening or confusing. She could offer praise and adoration in the wonderful times. In the scary times, she could offer her fear and confusion.

Each of us has the same chance. When things are glorious and beautiful, we can offer praise and thanksgiving to God. In the dark times, we can come to God with our fears and doubts. Through it all, we can, as Presiding Bishop Curry reminded the congregation at the ordination, love God and love our neighbor. We are to be the bridge that brings God’s love to the hurting world.

We are called, like the other saints, be instruments of God. As the hands and feet of God to the brokenness around us, we must trust God. We are those who love our neighbor, even when they are ‘different’ than us. The Presiding Bishop suggested a retelling of the story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate this. He asked us to imagine that rather than a Samaritan and Jew, it was a Republican and Democrat… A good reminder in this week when we are having elections. It doesn’t matter what labels we put on others, the truth is that each of us is a beloved child of God. We must learn to see each other that way-through the lens of love!

Just like Mary and the other saints we have learned about, we experience a variety of emotions every day. We may find ourselves slipping from joyful praise, to frustration, to prayer, to sorrow, to doubt and back again in the course of a day, or even an hour. The poem by George Herbert reminds us that God is ‘the truth as ends all strife…the life that killeth death’.  

Are there times in your life that resonate with the words of Herbert’s poetry?

Can you use this poem as your prayer when the news is troubling? Or is there another prayer or hymn that helps you remember God is love and God is in charge?