9th Trinity III 2021, Work of My Heart

9th Trinity III

Matthew 6:19-34 

"Do not save up your treasures on the earth, where moths and rust destroy and thieves tunnel in and steal. Save up your treasures in heaven, where no moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not tunnel in and steal. Because where you have gathered a treasure, there your heart will bear you. 

"The lamp of the body is the eye. So if your eye is wholesome, your whole body is lighted, whereas if your eye is bad, your whole body is in darkness. So if the light inside you is dark, what great darkness! 

"No one can serve two masters: either they will hate one and love the other, or they will put up with one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and greed's demon of riches.* 

"Therefore I tell you, do not trouble your heart about what you will eat and drink or with what you will clothe your body. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds in the sky: they do not plant, do not harvest, and do not fill barns, and your heavenly Father still feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Can any of you, by being vastly concerned, add one moment to the span of your life? 

Jan de Kok

"And why do you worry about clothing? Study how the lilies of the field grow. They do not work, and they do not spin cloth. But I am telling you that not even Solomon in all his glory was ever arrayed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the wild grass of the field, here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will He not do much more for you, O small in faith? 

"So do not worry, saying, 'What will we drink? What will we wear?' The nations ask for all these things, and indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Ask first for God's kingdom and its harmonious order, and these other things will be delivered to you as well. 

"So do not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow can worry about itself. Today's trouble is enough for today."

9th August Trinity

September 19, 2021

Matthew 6:19-34 

In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the time of harvest and of 'putting by.' Older generations may still have experienced how families canned and preserved what they grew. August and September were times of intense, hot, hard work, work for the future. 

In our time, such work is largely done on a mass scale for us by others. Even though we work hard now in other ways, we always have the opportunity to examine our attitudes toward things of earth. Christ gives us some advice about our relationship to earthly things. First, He begins by directing our gaze toward the way we perceive and toward what it is that we value. For what is primary is what lives in our hearts. If we perceive in a clear and accurate way, then our inner life is full of light, enlightened. We will be able to see clearly in two directions.

First, we will be able to see that an over-eager and hot pursuit of personal gain comes from a spirit of greed that is demonically driven. And secondly, we will be able to see the glorious beauty of the created world, and the care that our heavenly Father gives to all creatures, including us. And therefore, our hearts can be striving, but in peace, even when we are hard at work. The poet Alice Luterman says:

….I think all the time about invisible work.

…. all the while,

as the Chippewa poem says, I am being carried

by great winds across the sky,

thought of the invisible work that stitches up the world day and night,

the slow, unglamorous work of healing,

the way worms in the garden

tunnel ceaselessly so the earth can breathe

and bees ransack this world into being,

….

I stopped and let myself lean

a moment, against the blue

shoulder of the air. The work

of my heart

is the work of the world's heart.

 

---

 *Mammon, the spirit of hindrances or avarice.

 **Alison Luterman, “Invisible Work” in The Largest Possible Life

 

 

8th Trinity III 2021, Capable of Great Love

  

8th Trinity III

Luke 17:11-19

And as he was on the way to Jerusalem, he passed through the middle of Samaria and Galilee. And as he was entering a certain village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, and they raised their voices, saying, "Master, Jesus, have mercy on us!" 

And seeing them, he said, "Go, and show yourselves to the priests." And it came about that as they went on their way, they were cleansed. 

James Christensen

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on his face at his feet and thanked himꟷand he was a Samaritan. 

And Jesus responded and said, "Were not all ten cleansed? And the nine—where are they? Was no one seen returning to praise the revelation of God's working in this event except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way. The power of your trust has healed you."

8^th August Trinity

September 12, 2021

Luke 17:11-19 

We human beings can rise above the immediate moment. We can see the bigger picture, the great sweep of the seasons. From this elevated awareness, we have learned to foresee and plan, to plant and harvest. By rising somewhat above nature, we have also developed truly human attributes: for example, to feel and express gratitude. 

The leper who returned to Christ to offer his thanks was the only one in ten who returned to express his gratitude. The nine accepted what had happened to them as a joyous event of the moment. Most likely, they felt tremendous gratitude. But the tenth recognized that he also needed to give something back. Christ says to him that what lives in him as trust and gratitude makes him strong. In offering gratitude, the man's evolving humanity was strengthened. 

The important element here is not just feeling grateful, but giving—opening ourselves and pouring out the soul substance of gratitude in return for all we have been given. Being able to offer gratitude is a necessary precondition to being able to give love. And learning to love is our primary task. 

God gives through nature because He loves; our giving thanks is a step in learning to love. Developing great gratitude is a necessary step along the way toward developing our full humanity, and ultimately our divinity, the kingdom of God within. 

Oleg Shuplyak

In the Act of Consecration, we celebrate a Eucharist. The word in Greek means to give thanks. This giving of thanks is expressed in both words and actions. Christ takes the bread…the cup…and gives thanks to his Father. Christ offers thanks to his Father and offers all of Himself in love to the world. His great gratitude supports His great love. In the Eucharist, we are dedicating to God our full humanness by pouring out a deed of gratitude so that one day we too will be capable of great love.

 www.thechristiancommunity.org

7th Trinity III, 2021, Here is Everywhere

7^th Trinity III

Luke 10:25-37 

On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;' and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself."

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this, and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

 In reply, Jesus said, "A man was going

Van Gogh

down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 

"But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

7th August Trinity

September 5, 2021

Luke 10:25-37

Christ affirms that to love God with one's whole being and to love one's fellow human beings as well as oneself is the path to eternal life. Love directed outward, beyond oneself, overcomes the deadening effects of mere self-love. Yet there comes our somewhat defensive next question: which of my fellow human beings am I supposed to love? Christ's answer in story form is— Not just my family, not just my own tribe or those with whom I can identify. Any fellow human being whom I happen upon along the way can be the recipient of a love that expresses itself in concrete action. For it is our deeds, not our feelings, that live beyond the boundaries of this life.
The key here is to regard others with an attitude of mercy, of loving-kindness. And then we give and do what we can.

Corrine Vonaesch

It may be that in the story of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite felt that they could not touch the unclean man because they were on their way to do work that required their ritual cleanliness. The Samaritan, though despised by the Jews, was truly free to help (or not). He helps a stranger in both a personal, hands-on way and also by deputizing and paying the innkeeper to complete the work involved with the man's healing. He is thereby pulling in others to help. And he thus also maintains his own freedom to help the next victim he finds, to further practice his love for his fellow human beings.

Christ is saying that our neighbor is not necessarily one whom we know, the one who lives next door. It is also the stranger whom we meet along the way. It is we who are to act neighborly. The poet Wislawa Szymborska expresses the universality of this:

Some fishermen pulled a bottle from the deep. It held a piece of paper, with these words: "Somebody save me! I'm here. The ocean cast me on this desert island.

I am standing on the shore waiting for help. Hurry! I'm here!" 

"There's no date. I bet it's already too late anyway.

It could have been floating for years," the first fisherman said. 

"And he doesn't say where. It's not even clear which ocean," the second fisherman said. 

"It's not too late, or too far. The island Here is everywhere," the third fisherman said.*

 

* "Parable," in Poems New and Collected 1957-1997, trans. S. Baranczak and C. Cavanagh

 

6th Trinity III 2021, Ears of My Ears Awake

6th Trinity III

Mark 7:31-37 

Julia Stankova

As he was again leaving the region around Tyre, he went through the country around Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the region of the ten cities of the Decapolis. They brought to him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty and asked him to lay his hands on him. 

And he led him apart from the crowds by himself, laid his finger in his ears, and moistening his finger with saliva, touched his tongue, and looking up to the heavens, sighed deeply and said to him, "Ephphata, be opened." His hearing was opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he could speak properly. 

And he commanded them not to say anything to anyone. But the more he forbade it, the more widely they proclaimed it. And the people were deeply moved by this event and said, "He has changed all to the good: the deaf he makes to hear and the speechless to speak."

6^th August Trinity

August 29, 2021

Mark 7:31–37

Gem hunters look for a certain kind of rock formation, for certain round ball-shaped stones. These spheres are called thunder eggs. Cracked open, they have colored layers inside and often a hollow space filled with beautiful crystals. 

In today's reading, a deaf man is brought to Christ by his friends. Being hard of hearing makes it difficult to both hear and to speak. One of the unfortunate results of being deaf is that one becomes closed off from interacting with others. Christ softens the rock-hardness of the man's hearing, his tongue, with His own life-giving moisture. And like a gem hunter opening the thunderegg, Christ's words strike emphatically – Ephphata! – Be opened!

Christ also speaks to us today—be opened! For we have become hard of hearing, hard of heart. Yet we can be opened; we can become actively receptive. We can receive and bear the One who is himself the Word of God, the Logos. And we can actively bring Him forth, sending Him from within us, out to others on the stream of our own words. In the words of e.e. cummings, we can jubilate:

i thank You God for most this amazing

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

 

….how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any-lifted from the no

of all nothing-human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

 

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)*

*e.e. cummings in Complete Poems 1904-1962

 

 

5th Trinity III, 2021, Unthinkable

5th Trinity III

Luke 18:35-43 

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of

Brian Jekel

Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 

Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 

Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want that I should do for you?" 

He said to him, "Lord, that I may look up and see again." 

And Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you." [or, your faith has healed you.] 

At that moment, his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being—and all who saw it praised God.

 5^th August Trinity

August 22, 2021

Luke 18:35-43 

Imagine only being able to look downward, to only see the ground under your feet. Certainly there are small miracles there—the beauty of sand grains or green grass. But looking up, elevating our gaze, opens up whole worlds. We can take in the majesty of mountains, the ever-transforming sky, the magnificence of the stars. We can perceive the wonders of all our fellow creatures. Whole levels of meaning emerge.

Jorge Coco Santangelo

The blind man asks Christ to help him look up and see again. He wants to elevate his gaze, to take in the expanse of the universe, to experience new levels of meaning. And Christ tells him that because he trusts that this is possible, the power to enlarge his vision is already operating in him, is already elevating his gaze. His openness allows him to receive his sight.

In a sense, we are all blind. Yet the ability to see, the power of vision, is not merely given to us from without. It is an indwelling capacity given to us by God, a capacity we can further cultivate. It is partly a matter of ignoring those inner and outer voices which would squelch our attempts to elevate our gaze. And it is a matter of trusting that it is possible, and listening for the Voice that says that we have the power to heal our own inner blindness, to raise our gaze upward.

And ultimately, when our eyes open and our gaze rises, we encounter the One speaking to us, the One who helps us heal, the One who gave us our sight.

And in the words of the poet, He tells us to look at the true yet commonplace miracles:

…a small and airy cloud
is able to upstage the massive moon.

...

 A miracle, just take a look around:
the inescapable earth.

 An extra miracle, extra and ordinary:
the unthinkable can be thought.*

---

*Wislawa Szymborska, "Miracle Fair"

 

4th Trinity III 2021, Star Bread

4th Trinity III

Luke 9:1-17 

He called the twelve together and gave them potent authority and formative power to work against all demonic mischief and heal all sickness.  And he sent them out to heal and to proclaim the Kingdom of God, appearing now on earth, the kingdom of human beings filled with God's spirit. 

Tissot

And he said to them, "Take nothing with you on the way: no staff for support, no bag for collecting, neither bread nor money, nor change of clothes. If you enter a house, remain there until you go further. And where they do not accept you, leave their city and shake the dust from your feet as a sign that they have refused community with you."
 

They left and walked through the villages of the country, announcing the joyful message of the new working of the kingdom of the angels and healing everywhere. 

Meanwhile, Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was happening, and he was very perplexed, for some said, "John has risen from the dead," and others said that Elijah had appeared, and yet others, "One of the Prophets of old has risen again." And Herod said, "John, I have had beheaded; who now is this, about whom I hear all these things?" And he wished to see him himself. 

And the apostles returned and reported to Jesus everything that they had accomplished. So he gathered them to himself and retreated with them to a city called Bethsaida for special instruction. But the people became aware of it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them of the Kingdom of God of the future, of the human kingdom on earth filled with the divine spirit, and he healed all who needed it. 

But the day began to decline. The twelve came up to him and said, "Send the crowd away so that they can reach the villages and farms in the vicinity and find food and lodging, for here we are in a deserted place." However, he said to them, "From now on, it falls to you; you give them to eat." 

They answered, "We have nothing but five loaves and two fish. Or shall we go and buy food for all of them?" There were about five thousand people. 

Then he said to the disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of fifty." And they did so, and all reclined. 

Then he took the five loaves and the two fish and, raising his soul to the spirit, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. And they ate, and all were satisfied. And they took up the pieces that remained: twelve baskets full. 

4^th August Trinity

August 15, 2021

Luke 9:1-17 

When we go to sleep at night, our souls and spirits rise out of the body. We rise in sleep to the world of the stars. We commune with the angels. They feed us 'star bread' and 'star wine.' They nourish our souls and spirits so that we return to earth strengthened and refreshed. 

Even on earth during the day, when we are very hungry, we can feel how, with a good meal, body and soul come together again, realigning themselves. This happens not because of the food's material content but because of the life force it offers us. 

Woloschina

In today's reading, the crowds stay with Christ to hear the good news, the message from the realm of the angels. And as the day dims into night, the first stars appear, and Christ feeds them from the heavenly realm of the stars. For Christ's thanks and blessing bring down to earth the life force that streams in from the stars. With the food, the people take in 'star bread,' offered to them by the angels, distributed by Christ's disciples on earth. 

In the Act of Consecration of Man, with Christ's help, we too raise ordinary bread to receive the life of the universe. Though but little in material terms, we are fed in abundance. Our hearts, our souls, our spirits drink deep at the wellspring of life, and our spirits are satisfied.

 

 

3rd Trinity III, Slide Past Trouble

 3^rd Trinity III

Luke 15:1-32 

Now many customs officials, despised by the people, who called them sinners and expelled them from their community, sought to be close to Jesus. They wanted to listen to him. The Pharisees and teachers of the law, however, were upset by this and said, "This man accepts sinners and eats with them!" 

Tissot

So he told them this parable: 

"Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open and go looking for the lost one until they find it? And when they have found it, they lay it on their shoulders rejoicing. And when they come home, they call together their friends and neighbors and say to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!' 

"I tell you, there will be more joy in the heavens over one human being, living in denial of the spirit, who changes their mind, than over the ninety-nine righteous who think they have no need of repentance. 

"Or which woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, does not light a lamp, sweep the whole house and carefully search until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost!' 

Tissot

"In the same way, I tell you, there will be joy among the angels in the world of spirit over one human being living in denial of the spirit who manages to change their heart and mind." 

And he said further, "A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Give me the share of the estate which falls to me.' And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a far country and squandered his estate in the enjoyment of loose living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine came over the land, and he began to be in need. So he went and attached himself to a citizen of the country who sent him out into his fields and let him herd swine. And he longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one gave him anything. 

"Then he came to himself and said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here of hunger. I will rise up and go to my father and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].' 

"So he rose up and traveled along the road to his father. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt his misery, ran toward him, embraced him, and kissed him. And yet the son said, 'Father, I have sinned against the higher world and against you. I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Make me one of your hired men [workers].' 

Kathryn Doneghan

"But the father called his servant to him.
'Quickly! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and slaughter the fattened calf. Then we shall eat and be merry. For this, my son was dead and is risen to life. He was lost and is found again.' And they began to celebrate. 

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he returned home and came near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him and asked him what it meant. He gave him the news, 'Your brother has come home again. So in joy, your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back again safe and sound.' 

"The son grew dark with anger and didn't want to go in. But his father came out and pleaded with him. He, however, reproached his father saying, 'Look! For so many years, I have been with you and have never neglected one of your commands. But you never gave me so much as a goat that I might be merry with my friends. And now comes this son of yours who has eaten up your wealth in scandal, and you offer him the fattened calf.'

However, the father said to him, 'Child, you are always with me, and all that I have belongs to you too. But now we should be glad and rejoice; for this, your brother was dead and lives; he was lost and has been found again.' "  

3rd August Trinity

August 8, 2021

Luke 15: 1-32 

In this series of stories, Christ frames the human condition. He is describing human souls as 'lost,' as having fallen like the coin, or as having wandered off, like the sheep. In these cases, the owner searches until 'the lost' is found. 

And then, there is the lost son. A poem by William Stafford* describes this way of being lost: 

Sometimes from sorrow, for no reason,

…you accept

the way of being lost, cutting loose

Bosch

from all else and electing a world

where you go where you want to.

 

Arbitrary, a sound comes, a reminder

that a steady center is holding

all else. If you listen, that sound

will tell you where it is and you

can slide your way past trouble.

 

Certain twisted monsters

always bar the path—but that's when

you get going best, glad to be lost,

learning how real it is

here on earth, again and again. 

Christ adds another element, another aspect to being lost. In the story of the lost son, He shows us that we need not passively wait to be found or rescued. We are not coins; we are not sheep. There is a third way; we ourselves can recognize ourselves as lost and hungry and far from home. And we can make our own, sometimes difficult, way back. 

The journey back requires that we acknowledge that it is we ourselves who have wandered off course through our own choices.  We need to be willing to apologize and to make amends. This means we are willing to take responsibility for developing an active, healing relationship with the divine world. 

That is the good news. And the even better news is that God is willing to meet us more than halfway home. He is on the lookout for us. He senses that we have come to ourselves and recognized our situation. And when we turn our face to Him, move toward Him, He runs to greet us with great joy and celebration. 

 

---

*William Stafford, “Cutting Loose”, in Dancing With Joy, ed. By Roger Housden