True glory (purging vainglory)

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

Romans 8:18-23

Luke 6:36-42

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Rom. 8:18: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.”

Luke 6:39-40: “[Jesus] spoke a parable to them.  ‘Can the blind guide the blind?  Won’t they both fall into a pit?  A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.’”

Reflection

Two days ago, the Supreme Court of the United States voted to end the ban on same-sex marriage, in effect making it legal for people to marry whomever they wish.  My Facebook and Twitter feeds flared with the good news, and of course I myself was (and am still) ecstatic.  Many of us recalled that one pastor who said, “if necessary, we will burn”, should marriage equality be introduced to all 50 states.  I jokingly posted that “he’s going to have to buy some gasoline or lighter fluid now.”  The mixture of emotions—joy, anger, satisfaction, in-your-face boasting—is completely understandable.  And yet, this emotional and historic ruling provides, in my opinion, the perfect opportunity to understand the passion of vainglory.

We seldom use the word “vainglory” nowadays, and it no longer appears in the list of “seven deadly sins”.  But the Epistle reading selected for today suggests that this passion indeed is the main focus.  Paul writes that “the creation was subjected to vanity… in hope that [it] will be delivered… into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.”  Dictionary.com offers the following definitions of “vainglory”:

—excessive elation or pride over one’s own achievements, abilities, etc.; boastful vanity

—empty pomp or show

At first glance, I can see why the concept has disappeared from church vocabulary.  Vainglory sounds similar enough to pride, so why not just make things simpler and fuse them together?  But there is a subtle difference between the two.

Recall that pride is “a feeling that you are more important or better than other people”.  We all live in our own little worlds, and there’s nothing wrong with that because that’s how we experience reality.  But last Sunday we realized how this can lead to sin whenever we start to think that our ideas, opinions, feelings etc. are better than someone else’s.  We learned that we are each important equally before God, and that our individual experiences of God’s creation are valid—but not at someone else’s expense.  But what if I do know more?  What if I read the Bible every day?  What if I live in a diverse city, exposed to different cultures and peoples?  Surely I know more than that guy over there, who comes from a small rural town?  Surely I’m on the “right” side of history.

Enter vainglory.

This is precisely the feeling, the “passion”, that the Church understood Jesus to be addressing in today’s Gospel parable.  “Can the blind guide the blind?”  “A disciple is not above his teacher.”  A man wants to remove a speck in his brother’s eye when he doesn’t see the beam in his own.  When we look at these short parables through the lens of the passion of vainglory, a lesson starts to emerge.  We may indeed know more things than another person, but, while we live on earth, none of us will ever have all the answers.  In that sense, we are all blind people leading other blind people.  Just because we can see someone else’s speck of wrong, that doesn’t mean we have reached a state of perfection.  We can’t go around pointing out other people’s faults, when we may have greater faults of our own.  

    What does it mean to challenge someone to set themselves on fire, while using the hashtag #lovewins?  How are we showing that love wins when we’re not showing love to our enemy?  I believe that we, who worship a God that beholds and loves us equally, ought to celebrate the milestone achievement of marriage equality.  But we have to ask ourselves where our joy truly comes from.  Is it because love now is the only criterion for marriage, or is it because we know better than all those who would’ve upheld the ban, and now we can prove it?  All of us are students of creation, and only when our lessons are complete, will we become like our great Teacher, in true freedom, and in true glory.

Prayer of the Day

O God,

the protector of all who trust in you,

without you, nothing is strong, nothing is holy.

Increase and multiply your mercy upon us,

that, with you as our ruler and guide,

we may so pass through things temporal,

that we finally may not lose the things eternal.

Grant this, O heavenly Father,

for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, Book of Common Prayer, 1662

Lord God, heavenly and merciful Father,

through Christ you have promised

that you will neither judge nor condemn us,

but will graciously forgive us all our sins,

and abundantly provide for all our needs of body and soul.

We pray that, by your Holy Spirit,

you will establish in our hearts

a trust in your mercy,

teaching us also to merciful to our neighbor,

that we may not judge or condemn others,

but willingly forgive everyone,

and, judging only ourselves,

may lead blessed lives in holy fear of you;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity by Veit Dietrich, 16^th century Lutheran theologian and reformer; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Hymn: “The great forerunner of the morn” (24 Jun: Nativity of St. John the Baptist)

(Words: The Venerable Bede, 673-735; translated to English by John M. Neale, 1818-1866; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘The Truth From Above’, English melody; harmonized by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958)

The great forerunner of the morn,

The herald of the Word, is born,

And faithful hearts shall never fail

With thanks and praise his light to hail.

With heav’nly message, Gabriel came,

That John should be the herald’s name,

And with prophetic words foretold

His actions great and manifold.

John, yet still unborn, yet gave aright

His witness to the coming light,

And Christ, the Sun of all the earth,

Fulfilled that witness at his birth.

John’s mighty deeds exalt his fame

To greater than a prophet’s name.

Of woman-born shall never be

A greater prophet than was he.

To God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit, Three-in-One,

Praise, honor, might, and glory be

From age to age eternally.

Lost and found (purging pride)

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

1 Peter 5:5b-11

Luke 15:1-10

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

1 Pet. 5:5b-6 (quoting Proverbs 3:34): “‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”

Luke 15:2: “The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.’”

Reflection

Today we see the first signs of the crux of Reverend David G. Phillips’ theory on the Trinity Season, presented in his article, “The Rationale of the Trinity Season Lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer.”  You may recall his theory that these readings were chosen in an attempt to reflect on what we now call the “seven deadly sins”, using three cycles, the first of which is intended to purge us of them.  And indeed pride, the first “deadly sin”, surfaces as the main topic of the Epistle reading, which goes on to call us towards humility and self-control, cautioning us that this exercise will be filled with “sufferings”, but reminding us that we are not alone in that suffering.

But before we get into a discussion about pride, we first need to talk a little bit about the concept of “sin”, or even “deadly sin”.  Although the concept of “deadly sin” is found in the Bible, the early Church preferred to speak of the “seven passions”.  In this context, “passion” means more like “state of suffering”—think “the Passion of Christ”—and thus it’s no surprise that they chose an Epistle reading which references “suffering”. (References to “suffering” will become more frequent in the coming weeks.)  The early Church began to observe that whenever the faithful stumbled (“sinned”) on their spiritual journey, certain behavioral patterns (“passions”) were to blame.  They came to understand that sin emerges from the “states of suffering” we find ourselves in, the “passions” that rage within us.  In other words, “sin” is an outward evil we commit; “passion” is an inward malady we’re subject to.  “Sin” is what has been done; “passion” is why it has been done.  To prevent the former, we have to address the latter.

The first of these, then, is pride.  Merriam-Webster online defines “pride” as follows:

—a feeling that you respect yourself and deserve to be respected by other people

—a feeling that you are more important or better than other people

It’s easy to see how these feelings can lead to “sin”.  Yes, self-respect and self-love are important—Jesus repeats the commandment in the Torah to “love your neighbor as yourself”.  But we must be careful not to develop that self-respect by taking away someone else’s.  We can’t put others down to raise ourselves up.  In fact, in Christianity, we can’t even raise ourselves up.  “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time,” Peter’s Community warns us.  Only God can raise us up; without God, we are lost.

That idea is the opposite of what we often imagine a spiritual quest to be.  We think that we’re the ones “seeking God” and “finding God” when our faith is actually teaching us the reverse—only God can look for us and find us first.  And indeed the good news, as we learned two weeks ago from John’s Community, is that “We love [God], because he first loved us”.  This love is made clearer in today’s Gospel reading with the two parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin.  The shepherd and the woman go to great—and perhaps even ridiculous—lengths to recover what was lost.  When the search is over, they invite friends and neighbors to rejoice with them.  Now the parables are framed with “calls to repentance”, but this may be more Luke’s doing than Jesus’ intention.  Certainly sheep and coins can’t repent.  But read alongside the Epistle, these parables give us a glimpse of God’s irrational desire to search for us, and God’s extravagant joy upon finding us.

We purge ourselves of the passion of pride through humility.  We recall that we owe our existence to something greater than us—a Higher Power: “Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves”, reads Psalm 100 in the King James Version.  And, in the same way, this same Higher Power has searched for us and found us, and not we ourselves.  God’s grace has started the conversation with us, and God’s love equips us with the tools to return the favor, making us capable, and even worthy, to seek and follow after our Creator.

Prayer of the Day

O Lord,

we pray that you will mercifully hear us.

Grant that we,

to whom you have given a hearty desire to pray,

may, by your mighty aid,

be defended and comforted

in all dangers and adversities;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Third Sunday after Trinity, Book of Common Prayer, 1662

Lord God, heavenly Father,

we all, like sheep, have gone astray,

having allowed our sinful nature

to lead us away from the right path.

For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray you:

Graciously forgive us all our sins,

and quicken our hearts by your Holy Spirit,

that we may abide in your word,

and, in true repentance and steadfast faith,

continue in your Church until the end,

and obtain everlasting life;

through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Collect for the Third Sunday after Trinity by Veit Dietrich, 16^th century Lutheran theologian and reformer; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Hymn: “Lord, teach us how to pray aright”

(Words: James Montgomery, 1771-1854; stanza 3 from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2006; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘Song 67’, melody from Llyfr y Psalmau, 1621, bass perhaps by Orlando Gibbons, 1583-1625; harmony by The Hymnal, 1940)

Lord, teach us how to pray aright,

With reverence and with fear.

Though dust and ashes in your sight,

We may, we must draw near.

We perish if we cease from prayer.

O grant us pow’r to pray.

And when to meet you we prepare,

Lord, meet us on the way.

Give deep humility, the sense

Of godly sorrow give,

A strong desire, with confidence

To hear your voice and live.

Faith in the only sacrifice

That can for sin atone,

To cast our hopes, to fix our eyes

On Christ, on Christ alone.

Give these, and then your will be done,

Thus, strengthened with all might,

We, through your Spirit and your Son,

Shall pray, and pray aright.

No excuses

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

1 John 3:13-20

Luke 14:16-24

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

1 John 3:14a, 15: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers… Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.”

Luke 14:16, 18a: Jesus said, “A certain man made a great supper, and he invited many people… They all as one began to make excuses.”

Reflection

Last week, I started reading Janet Conner’s Writing Down Your Soul.  Conner describes how meaningful, “soul writing”, dialoguing with what she calls “the Voice” through words on a page, helped her get through a painful divorce, and regain focus for her life.  I’ve always been drawn to the idea of writing, keeping a journal, and exploring that creative side of myself.  I guess that desire of mine has always been obvious to others, as I’ve been getting journals as Christmas gifts for years now.  But it’s never really seemed to work out.  Some of the reasons stem from silly excuses like thinking the journal is too pretty and sleek for me to write my “chicken scratch” on it.  Other reasons come from having an irregular work schedule, writer’s block, not being able to find the right time, the right place, etc.  And so my gifted journals stay on my shelf—gorgeous to behold, but collecting dust nonetheless.

We’re all good at making up excuses when we want to avoid something, even when it may end up being good for us.  Jesus tells a story about a man—presumably a wealthy man—who invited many people to a great banquet.  But they all started to make excuses.  One of them bought a field, a second bought oxen, and a third recently got married.  Now I’ve got to tell you that, as an introvert, I completely understand shunning large social gatherings, but, with the exception of the newlywed, the given excuses just sound like a bunch of hogwash to me.  I mean, you’re refusing a “great supper”—likely a free one—because you’ve got to see your field now??  Because you’ve got to “try out” your oxen now??

Jesus’ parables often come with several layers of meaning.  But in this particular one, the early Church seems to have made a connection between the man’s “great supper”, and the “Lord’s Supper”, that heavenly banquet whose celebration is made possible by the Easter mystery, and whose invitation is extended to all.  So then, by extension, is the Church putting us in the place of those who made up excuses and rejected the invitation?  What exactly are we rejecting—especially if we go to church regularly, or read our Bible, or pray often?

For that answer, we have to look at the Epistle lesson.  We have yet another reading from John’s Community about loving one’s brother (or sister) in faith, but what I find most striking about the passage is the connection of hating your brother with being a murderer.  That’s such a strong connection to make, perhaps echoing the first biblical murder, Cain killing his brother Abel.  But I think that, for John’s Community, it’s so much more than that.  The Epistle warns us that if we have the world’s goods, and are not moved to help out a brother in need, then how can we hope to have the love of God?  Possessing the love of God comes not only from an introverted quest, but also from outward acts of compassion.  If you withhold compassion from brothers or sisters in faith, then you are, in effect, killing them spiritually.

The would-be guests in Jesus’ parable were invited not just to a dinner, but also to share a meal with one another, and with a generous host, who ostensibly threw a party for no reason—and they refused.  In the same way, we are invited to come together in fellowship with one another, and with a generous God, who loves us for no reason other than that God is God—but we refuse that too.  We refuse it whenever we ignore the needs of those around us, retreating into ourselves, away from those who differ from us.  We refuse it whenever we think we’re better than someone else, or even when we think we’re not good enough to attend.  But the good news of this parable is that the invitation is always open.  There’s no such thing as the “right” time or place; God keeps extending the invitation every day, and there’s more than enough room for us all.

P. S. I think I will take my journals off the shelves now, open them, and begin to explore my writing.

Prayer of the Day

O Lord,

you never fail to help and govern

those whom you bring up in steadfast fear and love.

Keep us, we pray you,

under the protection of your good providence,

and make us to have

a perpetual fear and love of your holy Name;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Second Sunday after Trinity, Book of Common Prayer, 1662

Lord God, heavenly Father,

we give thanks to you that, through your holy word,

you have called us to your great supper.

We pray you,

quicken our hearts by your Holy Spirit,

that we may not hear your word without fruit,

but that we may follow the invitation to your banquet,

unhindered by any worldly care;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect for the Second Sunday after Trinity by Veit Dietrich, 16^th century Lutheran theologian and reformer; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015, from http://www.olcc.us/liturgical-resources/collects-veit-dietrich/ and Den Danske Salmebog, 2011

Hymn: “The King of Heaven his table spreads”

(Words: Philip Doddridge, 1702-1751; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘Dundee’, Scottish Psalter, 1615)

The King of heav’n his table spreads,

And dainties crown the board.

Not Paradise with all its joys

Could such delight afford.

Pardon, and peace, and endless life

To dying souls are giv’n,

Through Jesus’ priceless lifeblood, shed

To raise the soul to heav’n.

You hungry poor who long have strayed

In sin’s dark mazes, come!

Come from the highway and the hedge,

And grace shall find you room.

Millions of souls in glory now

Were fed and feasted here.

And millions more, still on the way,

Around the board appear.

God’s house and heart are yet so large,

That millions more may come;

Nor could the wide assembling world

Fill up the spacious room.

All things are ready, come away,

Nor weak excuses frame.

Crowd to your places at the feast,

And bless the Founder’s Name.

Grounded in love

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

1 John 4:15-21

Luke 16:19-31

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

1 John 4:20: “If a man says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

Luke 16:25: “But Abraham said [to the rich man], ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things.  But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish.”

Reflection

Last week, I said that our mission during the Trinity Season is to examine and purge ourselves of those seven “passions” or “sins”, which hinder our relationship not only with God, but also with each other.  To that end, the church has crafted a threefold (trinity?) cycle of seven Sundays each to take us every step of our walk with God.  But before we get to this mission, we need to understand why we have to go through with it in the first place.  After all, aren’t we already “saved”?—as some Christians proudly proclaim.  And, sure, even if we make a mistake here and there, well, “Christians aren’t perfect—they’re just forgiven.”  Yes, I’ve unfortunately seen that bumper sticker too.

But we know it’s not that simple.  We know that things are not right in the world, and that they never have been.  Nothing, not even the Church, is exempt from that reality.  The First Letter of John says that God loved us first—not because God is obligated to love, but because “God is love” (emphasis mine).  John’s Community goes on to ask how anyone can love an unseen God, and yet hate a neighbor they can see every day.  We might take it a step further.  If the Creator, who is above the creation, still loves the creation, then how can we not love our neighbor, who is our fellow human being, equal to us in every way that matters?

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is a perfect illustration of this, but before we get to that, let’s first take a moment and discuss what this story is not about.  It’s not about doctrinal details of what exactly happens after death.  Consider that, in the parable, both men, immediately after their deaths, go to their assigned eternal dwellings—one to “Abraham’s bosom”, the other to “Hades”—whereas Paul envisioned the afterlife quite differently.  I think Jesus took advantage of popular speculation of the afterlife, and wove together a story in order to make a point.  The story itself contains clues to support this, extremes like: the rich man’s life of daily sumptuous feasts, dogs licking sores, even angels carrying away a dead beggar.  My own favorite is the exchange between the rich man and Abraham.  The rich man’s plea sounds almost comical: “Oh and hey, Father Abraham… would you mind sending Lazarus to me with water?  It’s so hot down here!”  Not what you'd expect from someone “in anguish in this flame”.

Now if we are to look at both the moral of this parable, and the reason why it was chosen for the First Sunday after Trinity, then we have to look at the rich man.  He’s the one who does all the talking—Lazarus has no lines—and when he finally talks to Abraham, we learn a great deal about how his mind works.  First, he knows Lazarus’ name!  This whole time, Lazarus hadn’t just been some nameless beggar on the corner; this was someone he saw every day, knew on a first-name basis, and still passed him by on his way towards his parties.  But second, and more important, even in the anguish of hellfire, the rich man still sees Lazarus as some sort of servant.  He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him with water.  Then he asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers as a warning.  The rich man may have asked for mercy, but does he really sound contrite to you?  Does he sound like he’s learned his lesson?

We can contrast the rich man’s kind of love with God’s love.  God loved us when he didn’t have to; the rich man didn’t love when he should’ve—when, out of his abundance and means, he could’ve.  He feasted daily in front of the starving Lazarus, almost mockingly, whereas God has invited all of his children (even calls us by name!) to feast at a table of grace, equally and without restriction.  This kind of love, then, is what we ground ourselves on as we begin our journey, not only through this Trinity Season, but also, by extension, through our lives.  We may not always be able to help everyone we meet, but the lesson before our inward quest is that we can always show love outwardly, and at least acknowledge each other as fellow human beings.

Prayer of the Day

O God,

the strength of all who put their trust in you:

Mercifully accept our prayers,

and because in our weakness,

we can do no good thing without you,

grant us the help of your grace,

that in keeping your commandments,

we may please you both in will and deed;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect for the First Sunday after Trinity, Book of Common Prayer, 1662 (used as the Collect for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany in the 1979 edition).

O God,

you have taught us to keep all your commandments

by loving you and our neighbor.

Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit,

that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart,

and united to one another with pure affection;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

—Collect for “Proper 9: the Sunday closest to July 6” in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979; ultimately derived from the Leonine Sacramentary (Commentary on the American Prayer Book,, Marion J. Hatchett, p. 188)

Hymn: “God is Love, let heaven adore him”

(Words: Timothy Rees, 1874-1939; © A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd.

Tune: ‘Abbot’s Leigh’, by Cyril Vincent Taylor)

God is Love, let heav’n adore him.

God is Love, let earth rejoice.

Let creation sing before him

And exalt him with one voice.

God, who laid the earth’s foundation;

God, who spread the heav’ns above;

God, who breathes through all creation:

God is Love, eternal Love.

God is Love, and love enfolds us,

All the world in one embrace.

With unfailing grasp, God holds us,

Every child of every race.

And when human hearts are breaking

Under sorrow’s iron rod,

Then we find that selfsame aching

Deep within the heart of God.

God is Love, and though with blindness,

Sin afflicts all human life,

God’s eternal lovingkindness

Guides us through our earthly strife.

Sin, and death, and hell shall never

O’er us final triumph gain.

God is Love, so Love forever

O’er the universe must reign.