Easter 7 B + Walk in beauty + 5.14.21

-

 


M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Acts 1:15–17, 21–26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9–13; John 17:6–19)

“Now I walk in beauty. Beauty is before me. Beauty is behind me. Above and below me…”

This was the chanted song, part of a traditional Dine (Navajo) prayer that we learned this week in an online retreat in which I am participating. From Alene’s time living among the Navajo we have our own version on our dining room wall: “Before me may it be beautiful, behind me may it be beautiful, around me may it be beautiful, below me may it be beautiful, above me may it be beautiful, may it all be beautiful.”
These words echo in my heart this week as I think of Jesus’ words, praying to God on behalf of the disciples in John’s gospel. This is one of my favorite portions of scripture. You can sense Jesus’ tender love for the disciples and his other followers. You can sense that he is entering the liminal time when he will willingly walk towards death for them, and for us. In the complete section of John that we read over the lectionary cycle, Jesus first prays for himself, then for his disciples (what we hear today) and then for all the believers to come, including us. He wraps us all with care. And he says this phrase that so many Christians have grappled with over the years- they are not of this world.

What does it mean to “be of the world”? I imagine it depends on your definition of the world. Is it the beauty of God’s good creation, the abundance of sea and rivers, mountains and fields that Jesus is separating himself from? No. Nor is it the embodied joys of life- eating, embracing, working and building up a good honest sweat, the life of the mind. Playing, pushing our bodies to do new things, walking and feeling joy in our bodies or something similar if we cannot walk. No, those things are not “the world’ that Jesus refers to here either.

Instead, Jesus seems to separate himself from the aspects of the world that would deal death. In his case, trials that include an angry mob out for blood and arbitrary appeasement of an oppressed people – bread and circus gone dark. The injustices that separate us from God. The fears. In an episode I watched of Father Brown recently, English country Catholic Priest Father Brown encounters a Nazi-sympathizer in the 1950’s and he says something to effect of: “What I see in people like you is fear. Fear of new people who have different ways.”[1] That fear is death -dealing. It is the same fear that accompanies much of the racism that we see in our country.

But the good news is that we are not of this world. We as Christians do not have to fear the attack on the body. We have our immortal soul. Now of course it is natural that we still do have those fears. We must recognize a need to be gentle with our nature.

This is a time of fear in our country. There are many things going well. Just this week we heard that fully vaccinated people don’t require masks-although I suspect I will use one from time to time. While the pandemic is far from over and we have sobering news from India and other parts every day to remind us of that, we nonetheless are seeing heartening progress towards opening up of various activities that have been off limits for so long. And yet it is very natural that we will feel afraid. Is this safe? We have been told for over a year that it is not. And yet we who are not of this world must find a balance. We do not need to be so urgent about our desire to return to the way it was before that we throw caution to the wind. But also, Jesus treasured us and gave his life for us so that we could be open to moving forward.

So, let us be open to this new moment. Not so as to push ourselves beyond what we can handle, but neither holding back due to fear. Remembering that we are blessed, and we are walkers on the way of beauty and love and not in the world of fear.

And there is wisdom in community. In the Acts reading today we see the communal discernment around the replacement of Judas by Matthias. Of course, you might wonder at the choice to draw lots – it seems a bit random. And some have pointed out that of the many siblings of Christ of different genders who palled around with Jesus, only two cis-gender men were selected as replacements of the fallen disciple. Maybe they just couldn’t quite handle Mary Magdalene in that role yet- who knows? Anyway, the most important part is they trusted the Holy Spirit to guide, and we trust that she did just that in selecting Matthias.
In the online retreat I am taking, this week’s spiritual practice is slow discernment. What a wonderful spiritual practice in the middle of this rush to re-enter. You may not have a choice based on your job or school. But if you can, take re-entry slow. Pray on which aspects of “this world” you wish to return to and how. We at the church will welcome you in person or online with open arms in your good time. But be gentle with yourself, knowing that wherever and however you go, you walk in beauty, if you just take time to slow down and be present to it.


[1] Father Brown, "The Tower of Lost Souls" Series 8, 2020 Episode 10.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Faith or Fear? Advent 1C

-
Melissa Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard Year C + Advent 1 (Jeremiah 33:14–16; Ps. 25:1–9; 1 Thess. 3:9–13; Luke 21:25–36) So… what are you going to do when you stand before the man with the holes in his hands? Now that may seem like a strange question to ask this first Sunday in December.  Surely, Pastor Melissa, we’re gearing up for jollity, not getting ready to meet our maker? But in a sense we are, always, all the time, waiting for Jesus, and I think that’s what Advent is really all about.  Reminding us that we are always waiting not just for the Christ Child to come and be born in our midst, but that we are also waiting for that awesome, if slightly scary Second Coming of Christ. And it is true that this passage talks about distress and the roaring of the waves.  And many looked at the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, that iconic image of the ocean-side theme park, including a Ferris Wheel, in the waves, and many said, this is something w...
Read more

Proper 20 (B) + A community of power + 9.23.18

-
Image
M. Campbell-Langdell All Saints, Oxnard (Proverbs 31:10–31; Ps. 1; James 3:13–4:3, 7–8ª; St. Mark 9:30–37) Take a moment and think of the most powerful positive woman figure you know – in your life or in your favorite movie, show or book. Who is the woman who has most inspired you? Keep that image of that woman in mind as we look at this passage from Proverbs Chapter 31. Now here we see the verse “A capable wife who can find?” And all the feminists amongst us will be relieved to hear that a better translation from the Hebrew would be: “a woman of power” instead of a “capable wife.” [1] That changes things, doesn’t it? Then when we hear about this ideal ancient Hebrew woman’s exploits – her buying of lands, her trading prowess, her physical strength, even her domestic abilities such as weaving, and perhaps especially her kindness to the poor, we see strength and power in all of these. Of course, looking at this passage, this is not one woman but a concept of the most...
Read more

Proper21BAcceptingourownwounds29sept24

-
  Accepting our own and other’s wounds Mark 9: 38-50   St Michael’s, Isla Vista / All Saints Oxnard The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell; MCL additions   May I just start this morning by acknowledging that our Gospel reading is complex.   The images are startling (horrifying?) and the metaphors come almost too quickly to catch.   What is clear is that something serious is going on between Jesus and his disciples, and Jesus is using every means possible, including some pretty harsh language, to try to course correct.   To even begin to understand this passage, we need to back up to last week’s reading from Mark.   In that reading, the disciples are arguing with each other about who is the greatest and best disciple.   In response, Jesus gets a little kid, some commentators say “toddler,” and holds this child in his arms during the rest of the conversation.    The other part of the scene to keep in mind is that Jesus has just told...
Read more