Fully Alive in God

Reading the readings for this week in the late afternoon light, I was filled with a strange lightness of spirit despite the darkness of the words.  This feeling transported me back to a moment, a couple of years ago, when as a curate at All Saints, Riverside, I spent several afternoons visiting with Father Lyn, a retired priest of that parish who was dying.  I used to go and visit him and we would sit in his yard.  His son would stoke the little fire pit that Fr. Lyn had and he would offer me something hard, and I begging the need to drive, drank only water, and sparingly.  Lyn, jaundiced and grave in his quietness, yet somehow full of light, filled me up with wisdom those afternoons.  I was ministering to him in some ways, attending to a dying man’s spirit, but really he was ministering to me.  Do I remember much of our conversations?  A bit, but out of context little of what passed between us seemed very grand, but the afternoons after I would drive ...

Leyendo las lecturas para esta semana en la tarde avanzada, me llene de una liviandad de espíritu, al cambio de las palabras oscuras.   Although I was saddened by the darkness of the words of the Reading this week, I was nonetheless filled with a certain lightness of spirit.   Esta sensación me transportó al momento, hace un par de años, cuando era asistente en Todos los Santos, Riverside y estaba pasando varias tardes con Padre Lyn, un sacerdote jubilado de la parroquia que estaba muriendo.  When I was in Riverside, I remember at one point I used to go and visit Fr. Lyn, who was dying of cancer and we would sit in his yard in the afternoons.  Su hijo prendió un pequeño fuego en el hogar pequeño que tenia afuera y nos pasamos el tiempo, con mucha calma.  É l me ofreció algo fuerte de tomar, pero como tenia que manejar solo tomaba agua yo, y muy poco.  Lyn, ictérico y grave en su quietud, pero también de una manera llena de luz, me llen ó con sabiduría en a...

¿De que tienen miedo Ustedes?  Seres humanos hemos temido a las serpientes para toda nuestra existencia.  In the Harry Potter series, some of the scariest moments feature a huge snake slithering through the walls.  Un momento de mucho susto en la serie de Harry Potter es escuchar el siseo de la serpiente moviendo por las paredes de su escuela, y las palabras extrañas que dice. Algunos lugares literalmente tienen que temer a las serpientes.  En la iglesia de Christ Church en Red Shirt en la reservación indígena de Pine Ridge en Dakota del Sur, ¡están preguntando que los jóvenes que vienen este ano para el proyecto de ayudar a la iglesia hagan unas barreras para evitar que las serpientes de cascabel no entren debajo de las escaleras en la entrada de la iglesia para morderles a los feligreses!  I know one church in South Dakota, Christ Church on the Pine Ridge Reservation, that needs snake guards so that the parishioners won’t get bitten climbing the steps to chu...

Of what are you afraid?  Snakes have scared humans since before time.  In the Harry Potter series, some of the scariest moments have a huge snake slithering through walls, its eerie hissing voice resonating through the stone walls. Some places have to be literally afraid of snakes.  At the Lakota Sioux congregation of Christ Episcopal Church in Red Shirt, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, they need to make snake guards to cover the steps since the rattlesnakes will curl under the stairs up to the church and could strike a person entering to worship.  When I visited, I was petrified of visiting the graveyard, where they said rattlesnakes loomed.  And every year, the youth of our diocese clean out that same graveyard and help with such projects, after knowledgeable adults scare off any loitering critters. The Israelites traveling with Moses in the desert sure had a genuine reason to fear snakes—here they had them come, seemingly out of nowhere, to str...

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, * O LORD, my strength and my redeemer. (Ps. 19: 14) In the scene with Jesus in the temple today he is livid, driving out the money-changers with a whip and so forth.  Jesus came to the temple preparing for the Passover, a very holy time, and instead he is met with what must have seemed like a mockery of faith.  Imagine your church being turned into a shopping mall-not the parish hall mind you, but the actual church building.  Jesus is pretty upset about all of this, but it isn’t just about his need to purify the temple for his personal piety or personal relationship with God.  No, it’s about how we act toward each other—are our commercial interactions more important than praying together?  And it’s about how we treat God’s house, and by extension, God.  Because in knowing how to relate to one another, we really learn how to be in relationship with God.  Community i...

Sean gratos los dichos de mi boca y la meditación de mi corazón delante de ti, *             oh Señor, Roca mía y Redentor mío. (Salmo 19: 14) En esta escena Jesús esta quitando los vendedores de novillos del templo porque han hecho una broma del espacio sagrado.  Y e s bien intenso .  In this section of John’s Gospel, Jesus is getting all ready for the holy moment of Passover, when he enters what must have seemed a mockery of a religious space.   Pueden imaginar que su iglesia sea convertida en una gallería, en un “shopping mall?” He’s mad.   Él esta enojado, y no es tanto sobre su piedad y su necesidad individua de tener un lugar sagrado para su propia alabanza a Dios, no, es sobre la comunidad y como están relacionando uno con el otro, especialmente en el lugar sagrado.  It’s about their relationships with each other and with God.  Aun en el templo es más sobre vender que orar y alabar juntos. ...

“The only thing to fear is fear itself.” [1]   “You can’t handle the truth!” [2] These are just some of the quotations that came to mind as I pondered this week’s scriptures.   Here Jesus is, telling the truth, and the disciples just can’t handle it.  You might note that Jesus is responding to the truth Peter has just told—in fact, this passage occurs right after Peter has said, “You are the Messiah.”  This amazing truth is too big to be held by the moment—Jesus immediately tells them to stay mum.  But Jesus responds to this truth with the much sadder truth—that humanity won’t be able to handle him—he just wreaks havoc with our powers and principalities across the board.  He is too kind, gentle, loving for the earth to hold him in its present state—he will be expelled from the organism he is trying to love into a metamorphosis.  This is the sad truth that we ponder during Lent—that we struggles with sin, not only personal, but institutional and ...

“The only thing to fear is fear itself.” [1]   “La única cosa que tenemos que temer es el temor mismo.” “You can’t handle the truth!” [2]   “¡Tu no puedes soportar la verdad!” Estas son algunas de las frases populares que llegaron a mi mente después de leer las lecturas bíblicas de hoy.  Porque aquí esta Jesús, diciendo la verdad, y no pueden soportarla los discípulos.  Jesus is telling the truth, but the disciples just can’t handle it! Esto pasa después de que San Pedro se da cuenta de que Jesús es el Mesías y lo anuncia a todos presentes.  Jesús dice que esa verdad, de que él es el Mesías, no es una verdad que el mundo puede soportar en este momento.  Pero continúa de hablar de la verdad, y comparte lo que va a pasar consigo.  He says yes, this is true that I am the Messiah, and you know what?  The world can’t handle it.  The world can’t handle the truth so much that I am going to suffer and die. And Peter says, “Wait up!”  San Pedro d...