Wrestling with faith (union of sloth)

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

Ephesians 6:10-20

John 4:46-54

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Eph. 6:10: “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might… [P]ut on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.”

John 6:49-50: “The nobleman said to [Jesus], ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way.  Your son lives.’  The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.”

Reflection

This week, Lutheran churches will observe “Reformation Day,” the commemoration of the day when Martin Luther challenged the religious authorities of his time, and changed the Universal Church forever.  The celebration isn’t restricted to Lutherans or even Protestants alone.  I’ve noticed in my own Episcopal church that we may sneak in “A mighty fortress is our God” somewhere into the Sunday nearest October 31^st.

The spirit of reform is most appropriate for this Sunday, which the traditional lectionary has set apart for the union of sloth.  You may remember that the passion of “sloth” is more than mere laziness; it’s negligence, indifference, or apathy towards what one ought to do.  It’s what can happen when we begin to rid ourselves of the passions; if we’re not careful, we can be left feeling nothing, numb.  But sloth can also happen when we’re bombarded by all the problems and shortcomings of this world.  The overburden shuts us down, paralyzes us, and keeps us in survival mode, where we struggle to just get through each day instead of looking for ways to change our situation.

That’s not what Martin Luther did, and that’s not what the writer of Ephesians tells us to do.  The Epistle presents our spiritual journey—even at this late stage of becoming one with God—as a “wrestling”, for which we must continue to “be strong.”  It’s a battle, and we have to “put on the whole armor of God,” “taking up the shield of faith,” “the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.”  These militaristic undertones may be uncomfortable, but the image I get is of Jacob wrestling with the angel (or God), refusing to let go until he’s received a blessing.  The point is that faith is not always warm fuzzies; it’s also action, and maybe even warfare.

Faith was the centerpiece of Martin Luther’s theology.  In his view, we are made right with God only through our faith in God, and today’s Gospel reading supports that claim.  A nobleman begs to Jesus to heal his son.  Jesus remarks that people don’t believe without seeing, but then says that the child has been healed.  The nobleman believes first, and then his belief is confirmed by his servants’ news.  But look at what happens next.  The nobleman asks the servants at what hour his son was healed.  Their answer confirmed his belief that it was Jesus who healed his son, and not just coincidence.  For me, this supports that call to action.  Our journey doesn’t stop when faith comes.  There are still questions to be asked, and it’s okay to ask those questions, to seek answers, and look for confirmation.

So what do we do with sloth?  How do we make peace with negligence or apathy into our whole selves, or is that even something we should be doing?  In a way, I think we can.  Feeling the paralysis of overburden is a signal that we must, all the more, actively seek him who carries our burdens.  Feeling a numbness of heart is a call to remember that God is emotion, specifically hope and love.  The One who is above passion passionately and tirelessly seeks us nonetheless.  Whenever we feel empty on our journey, let us look up to the One who emptied himself for our sake.  God seeks us continually, not to leave us like the pre-Creation formless void, but to re-form us for his greater purpose.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God, gracious Lord,

we thank you that your Holy Spirit

renews the church in every age.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on your faithful people.

Keep them steadfast in your word;

protect and comfort them in times of trial;

defend them against all enemies of the gospel;

and bestow on the church your saving peace;

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect for “Reformation Day” (October 31^st) in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 58

O God,

forasmuch as we are unable to please you,

mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit

may, in all things, direct and rule our hearts;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Original Collect for Trinity 21 from the 6^th-century Gregorian Sacramentary.

Hymn: “A mighty fortress is our God”

(Words: Martin Luther, 1483-1546, based on Psalm 46; English translation by Frederick Henry Hedge 1805-1890; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘Ein feste Burg’, melody by Martin Luther; harmony by Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750)

A mighty fortress is our God,

A bulwark never failing.

Our help and shield amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing,

For still our ancient foe

Yet seeks to work us woe.

His craft and power are great,

And, armed with cruèl hate,

On earth he has no equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,

Our striving would be losing,

Were not the right man on our side,

The man of God’s own choosing.

You ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus, it is he,

The Lord of Hosts, his Name,

From age to age the same,

And he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God has willed

His truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo! his doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.

That word is, o’er all earthly powers,

No thanks to them, abiding.

The Spirit and the gifts are ours,

For Christ is with us siding.

Let goods and kindred go,

This mortal life also,

The body they may kill,

God’s truth shall triumph still.

God’s kingdom is forever.

Intruder alert (union of wrath)

TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

Ephesians 4:17-28*

Matthew 22:1-14

*Epistle texts for the 19^th and the 20^th Sundays after Trinity have been switched in accordance with the themes of each Sunday.

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Eph. 4:25b-26 (quoting Psalm 4:4): “For we are members of one another.  ‘Be angry, and don’t sin.’  Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.”

Matt. 22:12-13a: “[The king] said to [the man], ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’  He was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness…”

Reflection

Jesus chose to teach the Kingdom of God by telling parables, stories that challenge our regular way of thinking, opening our minds to things we can’t even explain.  So how do we deal with today’s parable?  Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a king who prepares a marriage feast for his son, but massacres the invitees after they scorn and kill the king’s servants.  Then the king opens the event to the public, but after discovering an intruder, he orders his servants to bind and cast him out into the darkness.

What do anger, coercion, and violence have to do with the Kingdom of God?  “Nothing,” we might quickly say.  And yet this is the way the parable has been traditionally interpreted.  The king is God.  The king’s son is Jesus, for whom the mystical union between him and the Church has been prepared.  The king’s servants are the prophets, who suffered and were even killed by those whom they were sent to bring back to God.  And lastly, the unfortunate man not in wedding clothes is the unbeliever who has not accepted Christ.  He tried to sneak into heaven by another way that is not the “narrow door”, and now must be cast out into eternal separation from God.  Yes, the pieces of the puzzles fit, but—my goodness!—do we really believe this?

I’ll tell you of another interpretation I learned last year in my church, in a sermon appropriately entitled “The King is not God,” which I encourage you to read in its entirety.  To summarize, the story that Jesus crafted would have been all too familiar to his listeners.  Kings really could be this corrupt and bloodthirsty (remember Pharaoh and King Herod?); entire cities could be wiped out on a whim; a person could get executed for offending the authorities.  Yet right into this amoral scenario, a conscientious objector crashes the party, marching to the beat of his own drum, refusing to live by those rules.  Who does that sound like to you?  Exactly.  The Kingdom of God, then, is more like the intruder, the man without wedding clothes, who staged a silent protest against the status quo.

The Church clearly noticed the theme of anger in this parable, for they assigned it to this Sunday, the union of wrath.  So what else do today’s readings teach us about anger?  The Epistle reminds us that we belong to one another, an idea clearly lost on the king in the parable.  This murderous king with a volatile temper would be in union with others, as long as it was on his cruel terms, but—whispers the Epistle—“you did not learn Christ that way.” No, in Christ, we did not learn to harden our hearts, or act callously or selfishly.  We learned to act for others, even and especially when others are not acting for us.  “Be angry, but don’t sin.  Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.”  There’s a time for anger—we are human, after all—but we must always strive for reconciliation.

As with the other passions, we cannot, and probably must not, defeat anger.  But we can resolve to make peace with it, to extend to it the loving hand of friendship, and incorporate it into our whole selves.  Or, as the Epistle puts it:  We put off the old man, the callous and corrupt king, and we put on the new man, Christ, who allowed a different kind of anger to take him up to the authorities and, ultimately, to the cross.  We put away our former way of life and become renewed in spirit.  That's how we prepare to walk into the fullness of God, the marriage feast of the soul and her Creator, the invitation to which is eternally open, and we’re welcomed however we’re dressed.

Prayer of the Day

Lord, we pray you,

grant your people grace

to avoid the infections of the devil,

and with pure hearts and minds

to follow you, the only God;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Original Collect for Trinity 20 from the 6^th-century Gregorian Sacramentary.

Guard us, almighty God, by your right hand,

that neither alien sin nor our own

may prevail against us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

—Collect #2 for Trinity 20 in the 5^th-century Gelasian Sacramentary; translated and adapted from Latin by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Hymn: “From God, Christ’s deity came forth”

(Words: Ephrem of Edessa, 4^th-century; translated to English by J. Howard Rhys, b. 1917; adapted and altered by F. Bland Tucker, 1895-1984, and by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘Salem Harbor’, by Ronald Arnatt, b. 1930)

From God, Christ’s deity came forth,

His manhood from humanity,

His priesthood from Melchizedek,

His royalty from David’s tree:

Praised be his Oneness.

He joined with guests at wedding feast,

Yet in the wilderness did fast.

He taught within the temple gates.

His people saw him die at last:

Praised be his teaching.

The dissolute he did not scorn,

Nor turn from those who were in sin.

And for the righteous, he rejoiced,

But bade the fallen to come in:

Praised be his mercy.

He did not disregard the sick.

To simple ones, his word was given,

And he descended to the earth,

Fulfilled his work, and rose to heaven:

Praised be his coming.

Who then, my Lord, compares to you?

The Watcher slept, the Great was small,

The Pure baptized, the Life who died,

The King abased to honor all:

Praised be your glory.

Becoming a song (union of dejection)

NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

Ephesians 4:29-32, 5:15-21*

Matthew 9:1-8

*Epistle texts for the 19^th and the 20^th Sundays after Trinity have been switched in accordance with the themes of each Sunday.

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

Eph. 4:29, 5:18b-19: “Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up…, that it may give grace to those who hear… [B]e filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”

Matt. 9:2b, 6b-7: “Jesus… said to the paralytic, ‘Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you… Get up, and take up your mat, and go up to your house.’  He arose and departed to his house.”

Reflection

“If there’s one sin that humankind needs to repent of, it’s misusing the gift of music.”

I know there are worse sins that the human race needs to worry about, but I still couldn’t escape this thought while I was in church last week, listening to the soaring music, singing and absorbing its wonderful poetry.  This past year, I’ve been in a kind of “musical transition”, slowly moving away from the shallowness of commercial pop music, and looking for something deeper.  Don’t get me wrong: I still love pop, and I know that we need entertainment and distraction, moments that are not to be taken too seriously.  But there’s only so much I can take of songs about dancing at the club, getting drunk, getting lucky, or getting rejected.  I’m ready to start singing about more substantive things like hope, selflessness, and faith.

We underestimate the powerful, yet subtle, ways that music can communicate with us.  Ancient Greco-Roman culture ascribed this power to the inspiration of the gods, namely the Muses, hence the word “music.”  They weren’t alone in making the connection between music and the Divine.  The Book of Psalms, which one might call Israel’s “hymnal”, has long been a centerpiece in the musical worship of God.  Early Christians eagerly embraced their musical heritage, as we read in today’s Letter to the Ephesians, which evolved into Orthodox and Gregorian chant, Reformation hymns, all the way down to Contemporary Christian Music.

The Church devotes this Sunday to the union of dejection, recalling that this passion is more recognizable to us today as “sadness” or even “depression.”  It’s the feeling that led Peter to ask Jesus to go away from him.  God’s grace had made Peter worthy to receive God’s Son, but Peter couldn’t overcome the feeling of unworthiness, and had it not been for Jesus’ call, Peter might’ve remained paralyzed in that state of limbo, unable to move up into God’s purpose and goodness.

So what do we do with dejection?  How do we enfold it into ourselves and then bring it with us into union with God?  Says the Epistle writer, “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”  Music has the power to uplift the soul, and that’s the kind of language we’re encouraged to use.  When God becomes the focus of our singing, then our thoughts and our feelings have no choice but to be directed upwards, lifting our spirits up in the process.  We learn to “sing a new song”, songs of compassion, cheer, and hope; songs that build up and encourage one another.  If seven weeks ago, we were reminded that we are “a letter of Christ”, then now we become a song—a song that leaves no room for vulgar, “corrupt speech”, only for God’s grace that flows through us and out towards others.

St. Augustine once said, “The one who sings, prays twice.”  Bach adds, “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of soul.”  Singing to God—or about God—is not only a prayer to be raised up of the paralysis of Peter’s dejection, but also to be lifted up into the joy of a new life in God.  I think that’s why the story of Jesus’ healing of the paralytic was chosen to complement the Epistle.  Jesus heals others by saying things like “Be made clean” or “Be it done to you according to your faith”, but to the paralytic he says, “cheer up!”  He commands him to “arise”—the same word that will later describe Jesus’ resurrection—and to go up to his house.  Today, we’re invited to take whatever brings us down and lift it up to God, lifting ourselves and others in the process, up into the very presence of God, who is the source of our cheer, and our true home.

Prayer of the Day

O Lord, we pray you,

make us subject to you with a ready will,

and ever stir up our wills to entreat you;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

—Original Collect for Trinity 19 from the 6^th-century Gregorian Sacramentary.

O Lord, we pray you,

make us to obey your commandments,

from which all prosperous things come to us,

and thus may follow you,

who are the Author of all life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

—Collect #2 for Trinity 19 in the 5^th-century Gelasian Sacramentary; translated and adapted from Latin by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Hymn: “Joyful, joyful, we adore you”

(Words: Henry Van Dyke, 1852-1933; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015

Tune: ‘Hymn to Joy’, Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827; adapted by Edward Hodges, 1796-1867)

Joyful, joyful, we adore you,

God of glory, Lord of love.

Hearts unfold like flowers before you,

Praising you, their sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,

Drive the dark of doubt away.

Giver of immortal gladness,

Fill us with the light of day.

All your works with joy surround you,

Earth and heav’n reflect your rays,

Stars and angels sing around you,

Center of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain,

Blooming meadow, flashing sea,

Chanting bird, and flowing fountain

Call us to you joyfully.

You are giving and forgiving,

Ever blessing, ever blest,

Wellspring of the joy of living,

Ocean-depth of happy rest!

You our Father, Christ our Brother,

Yours are all who live in love.

Teach us how to love each other,

Lift us to the joy above.

Knowing who we are (union of vainglory)

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Readings:

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

Matthew 22:34-46

Key Verses (using the World English Bible):

1 Cor. 1:4-5a: “I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus; that in everything you were enriched in him.”

Matt. 22:41b-43, 45: “Jesus asked [the Pharisees] a question, saying, ‘What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘Of David.’  He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord…? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?’”

Reflection

Pope Francis has captured the interest of non-Catholics, non-Christians, and even quite a bit of non-believers.  We New Yorkers saw this ourselves during the papal visit last weekend.  The Central Park event alone counted 300,000 people to see him, all stuffed into 1⅓ square miles of space—not to mention all those waiting on his travel route.  And many of them were probably not even Catholic!  I know of at least one: a priest in my Episcopal church who was lucky enough to win a ticket.

I think all the buzz surrounding Pope Francis comes from the fact that we see him practice what he preaches.  Of course, he’s not perfect.  But ever since he assumed the Chair of St. Peter, he’s lived up to his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi—whose feast day we celebrate today—refusing papal luxuries, and advocating for the poor and marginalized of society.  In his visit to the U.S., he declined a meal with politicians, choosing instead to lunch with the homeless.  He’s been described as “a walking, talking parable”, who preaches the two commandments, which Jesus singles out in today’s Gospel as the greatest: love of God, and love of neighbor.

On this Sunday, we return to the passion of vainglory in an attempt to bring it, along with ourselves, into union with God.  Looking at today’s Gospel through this lens helps us gain a different understanding of it.  Now we’ve all heard Jesus’ summary of the Law (or Torah) so many times before—especially during Lent—that we think there’s probably not much more we can learn from it.  But what of the following exchange, in which Jesus and the Pharisees discuss the Messiah’s sonship?  Its semi-confrontational, riddle-like flow bears the hallmark of Jesus’ unique way of teaching.  On the surface, the point of the question was to get the Pharisees to really consider who Jesus is, his origin and identity.

But what did the Church think he was trying to say?  By placing this reading here, the Church is trying to connect it with the passion of vainglory, which, as we've learned, whispers something like “I know that I’m better than my neighbor!”  Jesus knew who he was and where he came from, and yet, in the earliest stories we have of him, he didn’t lord that knowledge, nor his power, over others.  Time and again, Jesus tried to downplay—even hide— his identity so that, like Pope Francis, people would focus less on who he was, and more on what he said and did.

As with pride, we cannot defeat vainglory.  All we can do is love and embrace it, inviting it to let down its guard and become one with us, so that together, we may enter into union with God.  And when this happens, vainglory is transformed.  We recognize finally who we are: beloved children of the living God.  But we don’t use that knowledge to pretend we’re better than our neighbor.  Rather, we use it to help others realize where they come from, and to whom they belong.  We use it to love our neighbors as ourselves—that is, not as our old flawed selves, which we’ve left behind.  No, now we love our neighbors as the new and true selves, which God has revealed to us that we are—the same way God loves all of us.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty and everlasting God,

show your pity upon us, your humble servants,

that we who trust not in our merits

may know, not your judgment, but your mercy;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God forever and ever.

Amen.

—Original Collect for Trinity 18 from the 6^th-century Gregorian Sacramentary.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is discord, union;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

—“A Prayer attributed to St. Francis”, as translated in the Book of Common Prayer, p. 833

Hymn: “All creatures of our God and King”

(Words: St. Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226; translated by William H. Draper, 1855-1933; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013

Tune: ‘Lasst uns erfreuen’, from Auserlesene Catholische Geistliche Kirchengeseng, 1623; arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958)

All creatures of our God and King,

Lift up your voices, let us sing:

“Alleluia! Alleluia!”

Bright, burning sun with golden beams;

Pale, silver moon that gently gleams,

O praise him! O praise him!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Great, rushing winds and breezes soft,

You clouds that ride the heav’ns aloft,

O praise him! Alleluia!

Fair, rising morn, with praise rejoice.

Stars nightly shining, find a voice,

O praise him! O praise him!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Swift, flowing water, pure and clear,

Make music for your Lord to hear.

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Fire, so intense and fiercely bright,

You give to us both warmth and light.

O praise him! O praise him!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Dear mother earth, you day by day

Unfold your blessings on our way,

O praise him! Alleluia!

All flowers and fruits that in you grow,

God’s glory let them also show.

O praise him! O praise him!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

All you with mercy in your heart,

Forgiving others, take your part,

O sing now: “Alleluia!”

All you that pain and sorrow bear,

Praise God, and cast on him your care.

O praise him! O praise him!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

And even you, most gentle death,

Waiting to hush our final breath,

O praise him! Alleluia!

You lead back home the child of God,

For Christ our Lord that way has trod.

O praise him! O praise him!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Let all things their Creator bless,

And worship him in humbleness.

O praise him! Alleluia!

Praise God the Father, praise the Son,

And praise the Spirit, Three in One!

O praise him! O praise him!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!