One thing I know...

EP - Year 2
Readings: Psalm 35; John 9:18-41

"One thing I know…"
That’s what the blind man says when he’s being interrogated by the Jewish religious leaders.
"One thing I know … I was blind, and now I see."
At the beginning of the story, before the part we just heard, Jesus and his disciples walked by the blind man, and they started talking about him, about why he was blind, whether it was his own fault or his parents.’ Jesus said it wasn’t anybody’s fault; it was so God’s work would be shown in him. Then Jesus spit in the dirt and put the mud in the man’s eyes and told him to go wash it out, and when the man came back, he could see.
He was blind - now he can see. What more is there to know in this story?

Well, apparently there was some explanation needed. Before you know it, the Jewish religious leaders have got the blind man standing in the witness box, peppering him with questions – but it’s really Jesus they want to put on trial. Maybe Jesus has got this guy in on the scam, pretending he used to be blind to lure people into following Jesus.
The Jews call the blind man’s parents in, but the parents are no fools. ‘Yes, that’s our son, and he was blind, but we don’t know how it happened - ask him.’
They call the blind man back. ‘Admit it – you’re lying! We know this man’s a sinner.’
Except that he’s not lying, and he’s beginning to get adamant about it. ‘I don’t know whether he’s a sinner or not – one thing I do know… I was blind, and now I see.’
The Jews start repeating their questions and harping on Jesus as a charlatan, ‘We know God spoke to Moses, but this guy? We don’t even know where he comes from!’
From the one thing he knows, the blind man starts seeing a lot of things more clearly. ‘Amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, but he opened my eyes… if this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything.’
"Are you going to teach us?! " the Pharisees shout back at him, "Get out!"
Sometimes what we know can get in the way of our seeing. That’s what happened to the Pharisees. They knew a lot about the Messiah; they’d been waiting for the Messiah for hundreds of years, and they knew what to look for.
In the film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Richard Dreyfuss’ character, the head of an acting troupe, comments that in the theater, ‘audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in.’
And Jesus –Jesus was not what the Jewish religious leaders expected in a Messiah. So they didn’t see what was really happening. The blind man was starting to see, though – even though he didn’t know as much. He basically knew one thing – he was blind, and now he could see. And from knowing that one thing, by the time the Pharisees kicked him out, he was prepared to believe in Jesus, the Messiah - the whole shebang.
Interestingly enough, it was his blindness that set the stage - to prepare him for believing in Jesus, to prepare him for giving up everything to trust someone he never saw who had put mud in his eyes and healed him and changed his life forever.

Were you expecting the call you got? I wasn’t.
What was it that set the stage for you to be willing to answer it? When you answered all the many doubts and questions saying, ‘but one thing I do know….’ What was the one thing that prepared you to believe and to follow?
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, throughout the film, try to figure out what they’re supposed to be accomplishing on their mission, which seems vaguely but very urgently defined. The nearest they can come is remembering someone sent them.
‘There was a messenger – we were sent for.’
‘Yes, I remember…’
‘A man standing in his saddle to bang on the shutters… But then he called our names! You remember - that man woke us up. We were sent for. That’s why we’re here, traveling. A royal summons – off at a gallop, fearful lest we come too late…’
‘Too late for what?’
‘How would I know? We haven’t got there yet.’
That’s how it feels to me sometimes. My purpose sometimes seems vague at best, but one thing I know – I was called and, for whatever reason, sent here. We all were. The exact purpose? How would I know? We haven’t got there yet.

In the Four Quartets, TS Eliot writes:
‘what you thought you came for
Is only a shell, a husk of meaning
From which the purpose breaks only when it is fulfilled
If at all. Either you had no purpose
Or the purpose is beyond the end you figured
And is altered in fulfillment….’

If we don’t know what to expect, then we might not limit as much what we’re prepared to believe in – and even so, God can still do infinitely more.
Amen.

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Given to the Iona School for Ministry
September 5, 2008

Be patient

MP - Daily Office Year 1
Readings: Ps 30,32; OT- 1Kings 12:1-20; Epistle- Jas 5:7-12,19-20



Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the wholebody of your faithful people is governed and sanctified:Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer beforeyour for all members of you holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you;through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
This prayer, that in our vocation and ministry, we may truly and devoutly serve God, seems particularly relevant as we start this year.
Probably most of us have at least a few questions about how this will work out.
Looking around, we might be thinking…
Can I relate to these people? Should I really even be here?
What if the teachers have some crazy theologies or weird ideas about liturgy?
What if these students have some crazy theologies or weird ideas about liturgy…
We all likely have uncertainties: some small, some enormous, some hanging right overhead, and some foggy, off in the distance.
What about field work and church assignments – What if people don’t receive me? What if I’m supposed to be leading and nobody wants to follow?In the epistle, James urges, "Be patient, beloved…"
But what about the future? What happens at the end of this process? What will this be like long-term? What will when Bishop Wimberly retires? Will we get shuffled off in a corner somewhere and ‘set aside?’
How can I make promises to serve here without knowing what I’m getting into exactly?
What’s going to happen to the National Church – what’s going to happen to the Anglican Communion? Am I really in the right place?
"Be patient …"
That could sound dismissive, like I’m trivializing what it’s like to make a commitment, not knowing what it may cost. But in today’s epistle, patience and endurance are not trivial.
I want to examine ‘patience’ and ‘endurance’ here, trying to get a handle on what they may have implied to their early hearers.
It’s always a challenge to convey the meaning of one person’s words using someone else’s words, especially if they’re several hundred years apart in different languages. Images can be more direct, so along with explaining, I want to show you some things.
Ed and Cynthia have very gamely agreed to help.
I’d like you to see, so please move up if you need to.

The first word for patience we’ll show you, hupomone, is translated in this passage as ‘endurance.’
[Cynthia lies down on the floor, and Ed puts his foot on her neck]
According to Strong, this word has a literal meaning of something like ‘stay under’ and it has the sense of living under some oppressive situation, or undergoing suffering….
Look for a moment and notice what reactions you have to this image.
How do you feel about it?
Does it make you think of anything? Is there any situation you relate it to?
…
How does this image track with the passage?
"You have heard of the endurance of Job…"
Job seemed to feel God had a heavy hand on him, causing him all manner of suffering. At one point, he says to God,
"Does it seem good to you to oppress? … Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again?" (Job 10:3, 8-9)
And he complains, "If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!" (Job 9:19)
By ‘staying under’ a difficult situation, the word also means not giving up – and not giving in to despair. Job is neither resigned nor stoicly silent. He bears the suffering, and refuses to curse God, though he doesn’t refuse to question or challenge."Be patient, beloved…"
"Have you considered my servant Job?"
Who else is noted in this passage for patience?"As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord."Looking at this image, it’s not an unlikely parallel to recall Jeremiah– wearing a yoke on his neck, telling the people and the king to submit to Babylonian rule.
Becoming a prophet was not something he ever wanted to do in the first place. And even though he was doing it as service to his people, at God’s command, no one listened to him, and more often than not, they wanted to kill him.
We talked some last night with Mary about the risks inherent in acting on a call – and the way people may respond. It’s not always supportive.
The word translated ‘patience’ here is makrothumia. It means being ‘long-tempered.’ It’s sometimes translated ‘long-suffering’ or ‘forbearance.’ We describe some patient people as having ‘a long fuse,’ and this is part of the meaning here also. Earlier in James, we read, "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry…"(Jas 1:19)
Patience can mean sticking with something or someone regardless of what happens to provoke or discourage you. It can have a lot to do with forgiveness, with keeping anger in check to allow fellowship to continue.
This is patience as a willingness to trust, even to suffer at each other’s hands and forgive.
There are some weighty examples of this kind of patience in the scripture.
Looking at this image, can you see Isaac submitting to his father? Can you see Christ?
One further aspect of ‘patience’ in the Greek turns this image of long-suffering and endurance around, adding another dimension.
If Cynthia and Ed were to change places - [they change places]
if the guard were to suddenly be at the mercy of the prisoner, -
how would that change the dynamic?
What would it mean now for Cynthia to show patience?
"… you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful."
This kind of patience is rooted in God’s patience.
God is so faithful to us, so patient with us, choosing to suffer because of us rather than break fellowship. We’re called to be patient with each other and with all whom we serve, to forgive as we’re forgiven, to love as God loves us
[Ed and Cynthia sit down]
What would it take to develop patience like this – to put yourself here?
Do you have the feeling that it’s what we’re doing here now in this formation process - laying our lives on the altar, for God to change us however he plans, re-forming us to give his life and his promises - in us - to the church and to the world?
"Be patient, beloved…"


Another part of James’ message about patience has to do with what we’re waiting for. In the OT reading, we heard about King Solomon’s son refusing to lighten his father’s oppressive forced labor policy, threatening to be even more oppressive. So all Israel deserted him. All but Judah. Judah stayed; it doesn’t say how they felt about it but just that they stayed – Judah was committed to the promise of a Messiah who would come from the house of David. So they stayed even under this arrogant, oppressive king and served him, waiting for the promise.
The prophets – those patient prophets - repeatedly asked, "How long…?"
Perhaps we should think about the same questions; we’re right at the beginning of some new works here. It may take a while to see where it’s going exactly. How long can we live with difficulty, with uncertainty, with each other? How long can we wait for promises we may never see?"Be patient…"
"Be patient, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. …Don’t grumble against one another… Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near."

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Given to the Iona School for Ministry

Sept. 8, 2007

fighting, struggle

Morning Prayer - Daily Office Year 1
Epistle: I Tim. 6:6-21


The writer of 1 Timothy is speaking as Paul to his young protégé, urging him to fight the good fight, to keep his focus and not to get distracted by temptations or contentiousness.
The format of the letter, written as from a teacher to a student and giving advice for leading faithfully in a time of conflict, has similarities to what we’re doing here in the Iona School. Here, some of you are passing on a deposit of faith and learning, and some of us are preparing to carry it forward into an uncertain future.
I feel a little odd preaching to you about it, since it feels like a role-reversal – you all are to me certainly more like Paul than Timothy.
It’s also a bit odd, because a few of the themes here – namely money and conflict - are not ones comfortably addressed in our culture – but a pulpit is still one place where people partly expect and even accept occasionally being bothered about them.
This may be part of my training as a deacon – my rector, Fr. Hugh Magers, seems to feel I have a ways to go in the diaconal gift of irritating people - but there are few things more irritating, I would imagine, than someone – especially a young person - preaching to you about how to view your money, so here we go – forging right ahead.
Warnings about the love of money are particularly adamant in this passage, as in the much-misquoted verse ‘for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.’ The dangers of falling into this desire are so great, Timothy is told to shun it or flee from it. One commentary noted that this warning is as severe as those against idolotry and sexual immorality and makes this observation: "evidently some threats to piety are so subtle and so powerful that they can be dealt with only by running from them." (New Interpreter’s Bible)
I think this is a very wise defensive tactic – it may look wimpy, but it works really well. I do fencing, and one of the first and most important concepts we learn is keeping distance from your opponent. If you are farther away than your opponent can reach, you don’t get hit. It’s a very simple concept – and the most effective method of defense – just back up – get out of the way.
I think it’s good to know the areas where we’re weak or most likely to have trouble – and this is an area that universally troubles most people – this verse is probably so much quoted and misquoted because the love of money and the pains people pierce themselves with because of it are obvious in society today.
For example, there are unfortunately so many examples of this dynamic at work in our society and in our churches even, that each of us could probably name five or six without having to think hard.
Think of one example and have it in mind -- If the culprit had run away from that temptation, what might be different? Since the culprit didn’t run, what’s remembered: the noble and lonely last stand or the terrible fall?
As well as running from temptation, Timothy is urged to run or chase after a collection of virtues that all complement each other: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness – and to ‘fight the good fight of the faith.’
Several commentaries noted that the word translated as ‘fight’ comes from the Greek word that gives us ‘agonize.’ It can be translated several ways, including ‘to struggle,’ ‘to contend,’ or ‘to compete’ as in competing for a trophy in a sports event. ‘Compete’ brings out the connotation that living faithfully requires the energy and discipline of a good athlete. (New Interpreter’s Bible) Just as athletes must practice to compete well, anyone struggling to live faithfully needs a disciplined practice as well, and it will take energy and time. ‘Contend’ and ‘fight’ include the idea of an adversary, and people trying to live faithfully certainly face adversaries, but ‘struggle’ is closer here because the meaning is more like perseverance against many kinds of odds than just combat - except that ‘struggle the good struggle’ doesn’t sound right.
This urge to ‘fight the good fight’ seems very relevant to us here, at this time. Last month, Bishop Wimberly met with the deacon candidates, and he talked some about what the church is facing in the next few months and how this intra-Episcopal struggle has been for him. ‘Agonizing’ would probably be a good word. What does it mean for the church if its members are struggling with each other? What might it mean for us in this room, as we begin to carry this struggle forward? It would seem that fights may be a given.
I think in the fact of facing struggles internally and externally, we’re not so different from the communities addressed in many of the letters, including 1 Timothy. Right from the beginning, there was conflict among members of the church, all the way through its history to the present day. These stories offer both perspective and encouragement.
Today, for example, is the lesser feast of St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 900s. He was a confessor, among other things. I don’t know much about what being a confessor implies, except that initially, saints were given that title after enduring persecution and torture for confessing their faith rather than recanting it. St. Dunstan’s story also involves falling in and out of favor with a succession of kings and political rulers, but he stayed constant. So there was certainly struggle in his faith practice.
In light of the church’s fairly consistent behavior regarding conflict, it should probably not seem strange that we are going through it now. The issues change, but struggle itself seems fairly constant. The set of issues the Episcopal Church is wrestling with now are not what many would have chosen - I wouldn’t have picked them - but this is the situation we’ve been called to live faithfully in.
Eight years ago when I was confirmed in the Episcopal church, I didn’t know any of this was on the horizon; probably many of us didn’t. I hadn’t planned to consider ordination; the diaconate didn’t even exist in this diocese at the time. Now, a completely uncertain future with many possibilities stretches ahead, and it seems uttlerly overwhelming at times. We are learning enough here to know that there’s a whole lot we don’t know, but also getting inspired enough to want to try and do something anyway.
"Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?" (R. Browning "Andrea del Sarto: Called ‘The Faultless Painter’")
We should struggle to reach goals that are beyond our ability to achieve – like righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness – and we should also trust God to strengthen us, as we ask in the Collect for Renewal of Life: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace.
And we should keep our distance from distractions – they’re not ‘the right hill to die on’. When it comes to making stands, we need to be fighting the good fight of the faith and staying away from contentiousness. Let God make up for our weakness in this area with His strength.
I think this is the other part of the message written to Timothy – struggle with all your strength and skill – and wait on the Lord, who will do things according to His plan in His good time.
This is the same dynamic as faith and works, the same as the debate about grace and the law.
We have to learn both to labor and to wait.
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Given to the Iona School for Ministry
May 19, 2007