Pentecost: Martha of Bethany

 Last week we looked at Mary of Bethany, sister to Martha and Lazarus. This week we meet Martha who so often gets a bad rap for being ‘too busy’ to ‘sit at Jesus’ feet.’ Martha was, really, doing the ordinary things that a housewife needs to do when there is a crowd in the house. She was preparing dinner and getting rooms ready for the guests to sleep in. She was ministering to Jesus and his friends.

I think it’s perfectly understandable that she was a bit testy about Mary just sitting with Jesus and the other men. Aside from the social restrictions mentioned last week, Mary truly wasn’t helping. The Very Rev. Kristi Maulden preached on this scene a few weeks ago. She suggested some alternative scenarios, including Jesus saying, “come on everyone, let’s help Martha.”

I wonder what might have happened if Jesus had said that. We’ve all been at family and church gatherings where the same sort of situation happens. There are the kitchen workers and there are the rest of the people sitting around and visiting. It never occurs to the kitchen workers to ask for help because they are busy and perhaps happily involved in making sure everything is perfect and the food is nice and hot. It also doesn’t cross the minds of those chatting and making everyone feel at ease to ask if there is anything they can do to help.

In fact, I suspect that those not in the kitchen have offered their help sometime in the past and been told “No, we have it all taken care of.” It’s simply sometimes easier to do it yourself than explain to someone else what needs done.

If Jesus had suggested that he and his disciples pitch in to help Martha get the food on the table and the beds made, I wonder what sort of chaos might have resulted. Perhaps it would have been a joyful time, or perhaps it would have caused more stress for Martha as she saw her wonderfully made plans being messed up.

Would she have said, “Oh no, the hummus doesn’t go in that bowl”? Or would she have let James use whatever he found? Would she have fretted that the wrong blanket was used on the special guest bed reserved for Jesus? Would she have rejoiced in the helping hands that got the meal on the table in record time, or would she have been appalled at the way it looked?

If you are a Martha, you know that you have trouble delegating tasks to someone who might do it differently (i.e. wrong). If you are a Mary, you are just as happy to not have to deal with the details of whether the fruit looks better in that bowl or on that platter.

We each have gifts. Martha’s gift was the hospitality of a homemaker. Mary’s gift was the hospitality of a listener. It’s fortunate we aren’t all alike or the table might never get set, nor would the newcomer feel welcomed because someone said ‘hello’ and asked where she was from.

The shared gifts of all of us is what makes the world work. When we try to force someone to do something they aren’t gifted at, we can both get frustrated.

Perhaps when she was less tired and frazzled from getting everything done, Martha was able to appreciate Mary’s gift of simply listening to Jesus. And maybe Mary was able to understand that Martha was just a little tired after baking all morning.

What gifts do you have that make you a Mary, or a Martha? Maybe sometimes you are one and sometimes the other…?

Pentecost: Mary of Bethany

 It was an ordinary day when Jesus came to the house of his friends Mary and Martha of Bethany. Ordinary, just like the days of the Season of Pentecost. As school preparations start, and the new school year begins, a new routine and new daily ordinary fall into place. Perhaps that’s what really happened in Bethany 2000 years ago.

We hear that Jesus arrived and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. That, in itself, is noteworthy. Martha is the head of the household and welcomes Jesus and his friends. It wasn’t her brother Lazarus or their parents. Then something even more extraordinary happens. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. (Luke 10:38-39) That a woman would dare to sit in the company of men, and be taught by the rabbi was really counter-cultural. Mary was ushering in a new norm. She was setting the stage for a new ordinary. We talked about expectations earlier this month. The cultural expectation for Mary was to be a silent observer in the background, serving the men but not participating in their discussions.

Perhaps that is what makes her sister so sharp-tongued. Perhaps Martha is concerned about ‘what the neighbors will think.’ We’ll talk more about Martha next week. Today, we are looking at Mary’s actions and Jesus’ response to them.

Instead of sending Mary off to do ‘women’s work,’ he tacitly allows her to join the disciples by telling Martha There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:42)

Often the comparison is drawn between being contemplative and sitting at Jesus feet, vs. doing work. Mary was doing more than just sitting and adoring. She was listening and learning from Jesus. That gave her the ability to share the Gospel along with the men. A medieval French legend says that after the Resurrection, Mary and Martha arrive in southern France where they evangelize the population with Mary teaching, and Martha defeating a dragon with a cross and holy water!

Mary of Bethany is a woman of courage who can inspire us to step outside our normal, ordinary lives and take a step of faith. She heard and was inspired by Jesus. She set a new norm for her family.

What old normal, ordinary habits of study, prayer, work, life do you think have finished their useful life? Is God calling you into a new normal, even if it’s just a different prayer habit or taking a walk each day? Who knows where it will lead?

Pentecost: Elizabeth

 The Church Season of Pentecost is sometimes called “Ordinary Time” because there aren’t any major feast days to break up the long stretch between the Day of Pentecost and the First Sunday of Advent. It can be easy to slip into a daily routine during the hot days of summer. It can be equally easy to miss where God is acting during our Ordinary Days and Times. During this season of the church year, we’ll be meeting some Bible women who encountered God in their daily lives and were never the same. Last week we looked at Mary of Nazareth. Her daily routine and plans for a simple marriage were dramatically changed by her acceptance of Gabriel’s announcement “You shall bear a son.”

This week we think about Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin. She is an old woman who has given up hope of ever having a child. We hear her story in Luke 1:5-25 where we meet the elderly couple of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, both of the priestly order of Abijah. They had no children, a sorrow and tragedy for them as there would be no one to carry on the family line, and no one to care for them in their old age. Then Zechariah is honored to be chosen to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. While doing this duty, Zechariah meets Gabriel who informs him that Elizabeth will have a son. Zechariah dares to argue with his heavenly visitor, ‘How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years. The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’

Struck dumb by his doubt, Zechariah returns home, and Elizabeth does conceive. Her first reaction is to stay away from people. She recognizes God is acting yet she doesn’t want to share her joy with her friends. ‘This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’ 

Brene Brown notes, “vulnerability is at the center of fear and shame, but it is also at the center of joy and gratitude and love and belonging... If we continue to wake up every day and put our game faces on and think that invulnerability is the way to be … then we pay the price, because I don't know that we would ever fully experience joy and love and belonging.” Elizabeth chose to not be vulnerable to what the neighbors might think or say. She wanted to keep the special miracle to herself, just as she had kept the years of grief hidden.

It isn’t until Mary comes to visit that she fully embraces the joy of her gift. Mary’s response to Gabriel’s announcement is to rush off to see her cousin who is also blessed by God with an unexpected pregnancy. Elizabeth and her unborn child recognize the truth of the Incarnation. Elizabeth exclaims, “‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb…For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:42-45)

Writing for the DuPree Institute’s Life for Leaders daily meditation on December 17, 2021, Inéz Velásquez McBryde suggests we “Think about the vulnerability of these two women. Societally, Elizabeth had probably endured much deferred hope and waiting to have a child. Now, God had remembered and heard her long prayers at her older age. Think about Mary being pregnant with a child and not yet wed to Joseph. The plans of God are high risk! Yet, God sends us messengers to confirm and affirm the calling in us, the invisible hope before there is a visible manifestation of that calling.” 

This image, from Episcopal Café, is a modern representation of the light of God in the wombs and lives of these two women. Each of them holds the light and life of God within their womb. And each of them is taking a risk to do so.

We also bear the Light of God within us, just as does everyone else on the planet. As McBryde states, “the plans of God are high risk.” When we don’t think we can say ‘yes’, God holds us close and says, ‘yes you can.’ Just like our earthly parents and friends who support and encourage our endeavors, God is always there to urge us forward.

Who are the family and friends who support and encourage you? Tell them thank you—they are the embodiment of the Holy One in your life.

What can we learn from Mary and Elizabeth about saying Yes to God and bearing God’s love to the world?

Can we be vulnerable enough to share what God is doing in our life at this moment?

Pentecost: Mary of Nazareth

 We are in the season of Pentecost, or Ordinary Time. We’ll be looking at the lives of several Bible women as examples of ways to discover the Holy in the Ordinary. Women in the Bible, like the men, had their lives ‘interrupted’ by God. There responses are varied, just like ours. Whenever we are confronted by some change, or trauma, or disaster we react based on our life experiences, our family training, and our own state of woundedness or wholeness.

All of us have been forced into dealing with change and even trauma over the past couple years. Not only have we collectively dealt with COVID, but we have faced social justice inequities and tragic death, including horrific mass shootings. Where is God in the pain and fear and anger and despair?

This week and next we’ll look at Mary and Elizabeth from the New Testament. They had their lives completely overturned by God. At first glance, God’s action seems wonderful—the promise of a baby. However, the lives of each of these women was turned upside down by that simple thing.

Most of us know about Mary, so we’ll start with her. We find her story in Luke 1:26f. The angel Gabriel comes to her and gives her astonishing news, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:31-33) Mary is astonished and asks “How?” Gabriel responds by telling her about Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy.

Mary’s submissive response of Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word has been held up as the epitome of trusting in God. Indeed, Mary does offer herself fully to the work of God. In doing so, she risks everything. She risks her reputation, the reputation of her family, and repudiation by Joseph which could have led to her being stoned. We know from Matthew 1:18-25 that her fiancé Joseph did struggle with the unexpected news.

This teenage girl courageously says ‘yes’ to God’s call. We hesitate to do the same sometimes. I know I weigh the pros and cons before doing anything. Being open to God’s action is not something that can be measured by lists or rational planning. It requires simple trust and willingness. It requires living in a prayer-filled expectancy. In the December 19, 2021 Episcopal Café meditation Laurie Gudim asks, “Where are the wombs that will hold our hearts until the womb of new life makes itself known within us?” She ends by stating, “We are the wombs purified and opened through prayer.”  

Mary found the Holy in an unexpected announcement and the overturning of her life’s plans. By saying ‘yes’ Mary became Theotokos, the God bearer. She became the actual womb in which God was birthed. She lived the reality of being, and birthing, prophetic hope. This icon is called Theotokos of Vladamir. 

We too are part of bearing, indeed birthing, the Word of God into the world. Our prophetic voices will be different than Mary or Elizabeth or other Bible women. Yet, if we look deep within our story, we may very well find times when we heard and said ‘yes’ to speaking God’s word in our lives and actions. Of course, God acts even when we aren’t aware of it too. Sometimes it is in looking back that we see when and how God was at work. It may have been through a difficult time or a time of transition.

Think about the times in your life when you were aware of being part of God’s work. Consider the circumstances—was God present with and through you even though it may have been a transitional or traumatic time?

Try to be aware of God’s presence in the little things each day, and in the major traumas and fears you encounter. Next week we'll look at Elizabeth who also had her life changed by an unexpected pregnancy. 

50 Days of Easter: The Other Mary

 We conclude our look at the women who stood by the cross and came to the tomb by meeting Mary, the mother of James and Joseph (Joses). The Gospel of Matthew tells us that at the crucifixion Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee…. After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. (Matthew 27:55-56, Matthew 28:1)

This Mary is also mentioned in Mark 15:10, 15:47, 16:1 and Luke 24:10. Mary, or Miriam, was a common name for Jewish girls. The name recalls the famous Miriam who was Moses’ sister. She spoke to Pharoah’s daughter and saved his life (Exodus 2:1-10). Later, after crossing the Red Sea, she dances with the other women. (Exodus 15:20-21)

We don’t know a lot about “Mary, mother of James and Joseph.” Some scholars identify her as the “other Mary” mentioned in Matthew 27:61. Others think perhaps she was the wife of Cleopas or Alphaeus. Tradition says that her son James became known as “James the Less” to distinguish from the other apostle James in the New Testament. According to Wikipedia her relics are in France at the Church of the Saintes Maries de la Mer, and in Italy.

This painting by Mikołaj Haberschrack (c. 1470) shows her with Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas as one of the “Three Marys.” 

BibleGateway notes, “Motivated by the inner urge of gratitude to Him for all He had done for her, she became generous, faithful, loving and true. Hers was a simple faith and a trusting love. Thousands of Christian women down the ages have been likened to her because she loved her Lord and served Him unobtrusively. 

What can we learn from a woman about whom so little is known? Her life was faithful but she is not famous. I think that many (most) of us live lives of deep faith but little fame. We may think we don't make any sort of difference to the world. There are a lot of problems confronting us every day in the news. It's enough to make anyone get discouraged. Maybe this first century Mary felt the same way. Her son was overshadowed by the more famous James. She is barely mentioned and confused with the several other Marys in the Gospels. Perhaps she felt that she was not very useful. 

BUT--she is remembered for her faithfulness, her steadfastness, her support of the other women at the cross and tomb. She may have thought it wasn't really a big deal. Every time we hold the hand of a friend who is having a difficult time, or call someone just to say 'hi', or send a card or even offer a smile, we are showing the love of God. 

Jesus told his followers, if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. (Matthew 10:42) It is the little flames of love the each of us bear throughout the world that light the way for souls that may be troubled, floundering, afraid, or lonely. Mary’s presence in the Bible assures us that we don’t have to be rich, famous, or even noticed to be important. Mary, with the other women stood at the cross. Mary and her friends went to the tomb. The quietly serving women heard the amazing announcement about the Resurrection before the men.

It can be the quiet servants among us who have the deepest impact. 

Who in your life has had an impact on your faith or upheld you during a difficult time? Can you thank them?

In what way can you be a little light by something small you do? 

50 Days of Easter: May Day

 Today is May Day. When I was a little girl, this was a fun time of making little baskets and giving them to friends or hanging them on doors to brighten someone’s day. The tradition goes way back to ancient Britain with the celebration of “Mary’s Day,” which in fact was adopted from the earlier Celtic spring celebration of Beltane with dances around the May pole, flowers, and feasting. Around the world, there have been many early May celebrations welcoming summer and new life. Celebrations of the Virgin Mary in May seem to have started in the 1700’s in Italy but are less common now. Many celebrations across Europe and beyond included the crowning of a statue or icon of Mary with flowers.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, figures prominently in the background of the Resurrection accounts. She is not specifically listed as being one of the women who go to the tomb on Easter morning, but we know she was at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday. The Gospel of John tells us, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. (John 19:25-27)

Many works of art have been crafted showing the moment Jesus is taken from the cross and laid in Mary’s arms. Perhaps one of the best known is Michelangelo’s Pieta. The greatest anguish any mother, or parent, can have is to have to bury a child. Too many mothers (and fathers) around the world experience this devastating feeling because of war, famine, murder, illness, accidents, etc. Michelangelo captures this in the helpless posture of Mary holding her dead son.

Mary can invite us into the grief that precedes Easter Sunday, and can lead us into hope for a new way of living around the world where mothers are not experiencing the deep grief of the loss of a child (of any age). Mary can help us embrace our family relationships more fully. She was such an integral part of the story of the Holy Family. We also know she was part of the family of the early church and present at Pentecost. Then they returned to Jerusalem [after the Ascension]…Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James….together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus. (Acts 1:12-14)

This Mary Day liturgy, adopted from A Contemporary Celtic Prayer Book is a way to bless our families on this special day.

Begin in a circle

Leader: Let us bless others with new energy and life.

Participants around the circle name those they want to pray for saying:

Those I wish to bless with new energy and life are…

Leader: Bless, O Threefold true and bountiful all spouses and children, all mothers and all fathers.
Bless everything with each dwelling and each possession,
With goodly progress and gentle blessing.
From sea to sea, and every river mouth,
From wave to wave, and base of waterfall.

All: Be the Three Persons taking possession of all to me belonging.
Be the sure Trinity protecting me in truth;
Oh! Satisfy my soul in the words of Paul,
And shield my loved ones beneath the wing of Thy glory,
Bless everything and every one,
Of my household by my side;
Place the cross of Christ on us with the power of love,
Till we see the land of joy.

End by singing or saying the Shaker hymn, if desired. During the singing the group may circle clockwise while holding hands. (If doing this by yourself, allow your body to move in time to the music) 

Tis a gift to be simple
Tis a gift to be free
Tis a gift to come down
Where we ought to be.
And when we find ourselves
In the valley of delight,
Turning, turning
Come around right.

Raised joined hands and move to center of circle. Raise hands and sing

When true simplicity is gained

Step back and bow while singing

To bow and to bend
We will not be ashamed.

Release hands and turn in a circle singing

To turn, to turn
Will be our delight.
And turning, turning
We’ll come around right.

Repeat song as desired.

You may want to make a call, send a text, or post a May Day meme. You could even make a May basket or two as you celebrate the lives of the people in your family (related by blood, commonality, and/or faith).

Next week we’ll meet Joanna and the so-called “Myrrh Bearers”

Pentecost: Women in the Bible

This weekend, I led a retreat that looked at the lives of 5 women of the Bible: Esther, Ruth, Mary Magdalene, Mary (Jesus’ mother), and Judith (from the Apocrypha). You can read a brief bio of each of these women.

These women are just a few of the many women in the Bible. Some have names, and many more are mentioned as the wife of…, or daughter of… Wikipedia has a list of women who are named in the. It’s a pretty impressive list, and doesn't even include the women without names. However, we rarely hear from or about these women in our Sunday morning lessons.

For many of these women, we don’t have anything more than a name. We don’t know much of their story or where they came from. For others, it takes some research through the Bible to learn about them. For instance, Miriam (Moses’ sister) is mentioned in Exodus and in Numbers. You have to tease out her story to learn that she was a dutiful daughter and later considered a prophet, and even later confronted Moses (and got leprosy as a result), and finally died.

As an author, that is what I do when I write a story about a Bible woman. I find all the bits of her story and then try to fill in the blanks. You can read how I told ‘the rest of the story’ of Miriam in my novel Miriam’s Healing. It is also what we do when we study a passage using lexio divino or other in depth method. We want to get into the story and learn who the woman is and what she can tell us.  

Over the next few weeks, we’ll take a look at the 5 women we discussed at the retreat this weekend; and see what we might learn about them. It may be that they are nothing like they are often portrayed in culture and even theology. We’ll see that they are brave and godly women, who acted for God. In some cases we might wonder if they made the best decisions. However, we have to also put them in the context of their time and place. We cannot impose 2018 values on a woman living a nomadic life in a patriarchal society 2000 years ago.

Come along and see what we might learn together on this adventure.

I’d like to share a thought-provoking, and moving poem I just recently heard. It is by Frances Croake Franke. I think the image by Jeremy Winborg catches the essence of the moments soon after Jesus birth (at least it was the best one I could find online that showed a human side of Mary). 

Did the Woman Say?

Did the woman say,
When she held him for the first time in the dark of a stable,
After the pain and the bleeding and the crying,
‘This is my body, this is my blood’?

Did the woman say,
When she held him for the last time in the dark rain on a hilltop,
After the pain and the bleeding and the dying,
‘This is my body, this is my blood’?

Well that she said it to him then,
For dry old men,
brocaded robes belying barrenness
Ordain that she not say it for him now.

(Son of Man, Son of God by Jeremy Winborg)

Palm Sunday: Persist in Faith, Hope, Love

All these “Women of Lent” that we’ve considered since the first Sunday of Lent give us inspiration to continue to live into our calling as Princesses of the Kingdom. To Love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and to live lives of faith, hope and love. God doesn’t call anonymous or stray people. God knows our names and calls us beloved, and calls us God’s own. We are assured in Isaiah 43:1, “But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” In this same way we are named, called, and loved by God. 

As called and chosen and beloved Princesses of the Kingdom, we can look to Mary of Nazareth and Miryam of Magdala as inspirations for stepping out in faith, even when we are asked to do something very uncomfortable, or anti-societal. We can know that as God was with those 2 Marys, God will be with us. We can make the choice each day to walk in Hope of new life like Joanna and Salome did. The sisters Mary and Martha demonstrate that we are loved whether we are busy servants, or contemplative listeners. All of our gifts are important and necessary in building up the Kingdom.

Each of these women stepped out of the normal life of women of their time. They looked beyond their initial images of God’s work in their lives. They found more than they expected in following Jesus and they inspire us to look outside the boxes we may make for ourselves and for God. Fr. Mike Gemagani, the Provincial chaplain for the DOK is also a poet. One of his poems is called Walls of Words and describes what we too often try to do with God.

My God, I will wall you in with words.

Imprison you in attributes so grand I know you will be pleased.

All-good, all-knowing, all-powerful, three walls;

And the fourth wall - perfect.

Four walls to hold you fast

So I can find you when I need you.

How thrilled I was to look upon the room containing God,

Bounded by the constructs of my mind,

Walls of words, words to please and praise,

Walls to bound a God of my design.

But when I peeked inside the room to see what God was doing,

The room was empty.

When we try to confine God to our own definitions, we’ll also find that God isn’t in our rooms. When we chose to follow and let go of our plans and notions, we will be found by God and we will be changed. Each of these women, these Princesses of the Kingdom, have shown us that living into I Corinthians 13 is the way to make a difference in the world.

The Rev. Monica Whitaker (who will be our leader at the Women’s Bosque Retreat in November), in light of Elizabeth Warren being silenced in Congress, and the rallying cry #she persisted, re-posted an article about some Biblical women who were ‘warned, received explanations, and yet persisted.  Of Mary of Nazareth she writes It is most appropriate to begin with Mary, the mother of Jesus. We can only speculate the warnings and explanations she heard as a young girl regarding appropriate social behavior for a first-century Jewish woman. No wonder she was perplexed when the Angel Gabriel announced God’s plan for her. Nevertheless, she persisted. Her fiat was not only a yes to bear the son of God, but a yes to the daily struggles that that task would require. She was a prophet, bearing all the pain that came with bearing God’s good news into the world. She persisted in her yes through pregnancy, through labor, through fleeing her homeland, through child-rearing, and through her son’s ministry. She persisted in her yes even when she watched her son being brutally crucified and die. She persisted in her yes as she too learned of Jesus’ resurrection, pondering all of God’s work in her heart.

We are called to Persist in living a life of Faith, Hope, and Love! Paul’s Letter to the Philippians reminds us, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on/persevere to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:7-14)

After Aslan returns to life, in the Lion, Witch & Wardrobe, he invites Lucy and Susan to ride him as he soars to the White Witch’s castle to free all her captives, the statues of her enemies. Jesus invites us to persist, soar, and work with him to free captives too. Live outside your box. Step onto the unfamiliar escalator and go to wonderful new places! It’s not an easy adventure, but we are not alone! 

What can we do to live into our legacy as Women of the Kingdom/princesses?

How are we princesses, beloved, holy, called, chosen?

When God Changes your Plans

This Advent, we are meeting some of the main actors in the Christmas drama in the light of the spiral dance of Creation Spirituality. We’ve seen how Elizabeth and Zechariah encountered God in an amazing ‘yes’ to their years of prayer for a child. That encounter left Zechariah, at least, fumbling in his faith along the darkness of the Via Negativa until he affirmed God’s work by praising and prophesying about his son’s life.

Last week we saw that Mary’s ‘yes’ to God came with consequences when she had to tell her family and her betrothed husband of the words of Gabriel. Mary accepted God’s Spirit into her heart and soul and womb, thereby becoming the bearer of the total Via Transformativa for the world. This week we’ll enter the world of Joseph of Nazareth, Mary’s ‘espoused husband’, as the KJV puts it.

God’s Via Positiva comes crashing into Joseph’s neatly laid plans for a wife and family when Mary tells him of Gabriel’s visit and promise. In the Gospel of Matthew we hear, “the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” God’s creative force can prove that our carefully thought out plans are worth nothing. In my book, Mary, My Love, poor Joseph is stunned and unable to believe Mary’s words. She leaves him alone in his shop where “Reeling and devastated, I smashed a fist against the tabletop. The perfection of the smooth finish mocked me with a reminder of my love and her betrayal.”

Stop and Think: When have you encountered God’s plans at odds with your own? What happened?

Joseph was plunged into the Via Negativa, where we can feel like we are far from God. This can happen through our own actions, or through circumstances. In Matthew 1:19 it says simply, “Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.” Because the betrothal is just as binding as the wedding, Joseph was within his rights to divorce Mary or even to have her stoned for adultery. His first response was to doubt her story of an angel visitation and look for ways to get out of the betrothal.

When we are confronted with God’s plan and it seems too incredible or too difficult to comprehend, we can be like Joseph. In my book, he rushes to the hills outside of Nazareth to try and come to terms with what to do. Eventually, “Worn out from the day’s passion, I sank to my knees. The Name of the Most High was all I could say. Over and over I repeated the word. Eventually, I resolved to divorce Mary and send her away to preserve her life.”

The Via Negativa often involves letting go of our deepest desires to accept God’s even better gifts. Joseph decided to divorce Mary, to give up his dreams of life with her, so he could save her life. God sometimes seems to ask us to give up the very thing we most passionately want to hold onto. Many of those ‘tested’ by God are in the genealogy in the first seventeen verses of the Gospel of Matthew. Think of what Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Rachel, Rahab, David, Solomon gave up to be part of God’s work of salvation. In my own life, I was devastated when I had to quit being the “Director of Religious Education” many years ago.

Stop and Think: How does it feel when God seems to take away something special in your life? Is God asking (or has God asked) you to give up something you hold dear?

God does not leave us alone in the Via Negativa. When we turn back to God, we can discover that in fact what we thought was terrible is part of the gracious hand of God as we are involved in the working out of the Via Creativa. For me, leaving the position turned out to be the thing that unlocked other parts of my creativity, like writing. As part of the Via Creativa, we act as part of the divine energy that is the same energy that created and is creating the universe. I recently learned that there is no past tense in Hebrew, so “in the beginning, God creates (not created)”, therefore creation is ongoing and continuous and we are part of it.

Eventually, in the midst of his agonizing struggle with God, and his decision to give up Mary, Joseph finds the path of Via Creativa. The Gospel tells us, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’ (Matthew 1:20-23)

Joseph is assured that his role in the drama is important. ‘Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife’ says the angel. Mary will need a husband. The infant will need the protection and nurture of both mother and father. Joseph will be part of the Via Creativa in the child’s life that will help him grow into a good, strong man.

Throughout our lives we circle and ‘dance’ through the four parts of the journey of Creation Spirituality. Matthew Fox quotes Mechtild of Magdeburg who explains, “the Creator has given us two wines to drink from: the white wine of bliss and harmony and ecstasy and the red wine of pain and suffering and loss. To fully live, to live spiritually, therefore is to drink of both wines in our lifetimes.” In the space of time between hearing Mary’s news and coming to accept it as God’s will, Joseph drank of both wines.

Stop and Think: Can you name times when you drank of the white wine of bliss, and of the red wine of pain?

The Gospel of Matthew says, “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.” (Matthew 1: 24-25) In his acceptance of the will of God, Joseph aligns himself with the Via Transformativa. He becomes part of working with God to bring redemptive change to the world.

In my book, when Joseph comes to acceptance, he acts.

The words of Isaiah came to me, ‘A young woman shall be with child, and you shall call his name Emmanuel.’

“Emmanuel.” I said the name aloud. “God is with us.”

The meaning had never seemed so real and possible. Suddenly, God was not a distant figure from the past who only spoke to Abraham and Moses. The One whose true Name was too holy to be spoken had come to a fourteen year-old girl in Nazareth.

“Mary is pregnant by the will of God,” I whispered in awe.

My words were absorbed by the night breeze and my heart thudded at the audacity of such a thought. The memory of my dream reassured me. The touch of the soil in my fist convinced me that I was awake. I watched the moon set. The pre-dawn darkness on the hillside was not frightening. Angels still seemed to hover nearby. A red glow in the eastern sky foretold the dawn.

“I must go to Mary.”

Like Joseph, when we understand that we are, as Madeline L’Engle says “co-creators with God”, we can step onto the Via Transformativa and start working with the Creator of all to change the world for good. That may be just helping a child with homework, posting a positive saying on Facebook, writing a blog, or it could be starting a movement for some social justice issue.

Joseph knew that the path he accepted would not be easy. His part was to be an earthly father and faithful husband. MC Richards notes “Let no one think that the birth of humanity is to be felt without terror. The transformations that await us cost everything in the way of courage and sacrifice. Let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other.” Joseph had no way of knowing that the journey would take the Holy Family to Egypt and back, or that they would face danger from Herod. He did know that he would need courage. All he knew was that he had accepted God’s will for his life and he must move forward. In fact, all we can each do is step onto the path we think we are called to follow and trust God.

Stop and Think: Do you spend time thinking ABOUT the path, rather than walking the path stretching out in front of you? Are you stuck on the sidelines because you don’t think you have the courage to step out in faith?

Next week, we will see what happens when God comes knocking. 

Advent 4-Wednesday-Mary

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

We are almost to Christmas when Jesus comes. Christmas is the annual reminder that Jesus came, and comes, and is coming. God’s love is so encompassing that God desired to be with us and came in human form! The idea is amazing, almost unbelievable, and must cause us great joy.

In the creed each week, we state that ‘we believe’ that Jesus was ‘born of the virgin Mary’. Luke tells us how that happened, “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:26-38)

Jesus entered Mary’s womb so long ago by the action of the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit is Jesus living within us now, and forever.

Can you join Mary in saying, ‘here I am’? 

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today we enter the final few days before Christmas. In the secular world this is a hectic time of last minute gifts, parties, baking, and other preparations. In the world of church workers, the same is often true. There are the last minute rehearsals for pageants, anthems, and final touches to put on the Christmas decorations for the altar.

The collect calls us to something much different. We are reminded that Jesus is present and that we are ‘mansions’ that we make ready for God. That is hard to do when you are busy, busy with details and worried that things might not be just right.

Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary, faced that same issue while fixing a meal for Jesus and his disciples when they visited. Jesus reminds her that there is another way, and that simple can sometimes be better. 

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”(Luke 10:28-42)

Martha was fretting about having just the perfect feast and forgetting that true hospitality involves spending time with the guests. Jesus wants to be our guest this Advent and Christmas, and every day. This week's chain is here.
Do we take time to welcome Him into our homes, our mansions?