Father Snort

The way of Jesus is the way of vulnerability and reconciliation. With Jesus, we get to be 100% who we are, including all of what makes of ashamed, and we are told that we are still worthy of love and belonging. We are reconciled and nothing will separate us from God's love. That means we get to be vulnerable with those we love and let our true selves show, warts and all. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, he brought only his three closest friends / disciples. He brought only those he knew he could trust with the revelation of his truest, inmost self. I can imagine Jesus being anxious about how his friends would react, thinking that they might run pell-mell down the mountain or be totally freaked out by him from then on. They were a bit freaked, wanting to build a booth for Jesus, supposedly so he could stay up there, and they could visit from a safe distance. Jesus wasn't having it, however, and came on down the mountain with them, telling then not to share what they had seen

Jesus' fame spread for his healing, but when folks gathered around looking for him, Jesus told his disciples that he wanted to go on to the surrounding region of Galilee to preach the gospel there also, for that is what he had come to do. The beginning of my call as a priest involved reading the Bible and seeing time and again how the religion of Israel eclipsed the God and the Kingdom of God which the religion was meant to connect people to and help them live. I noticed the same thing with Christianity, ways in which love of "church" as institution got in the way of people's discipleship of Jesus and living out the Kingdom of God. Then, two weeks ago, Bishop Doyle in his address to Diocesan Council said that for too long the church has been clergy led with lay support. He wants to see a church that is lay led with clergy support. Those words spoke directly to my call. We are to live out our lives as Jesus' disciples though service, evangelism, and reconciliation. The structures and institution

Jesus taught with authority and cast a demon out of a man in the Synagogue. In the cosmic struggle between light and dark, he was obviously on the side of light (even though he wasn't yet known as the Word of God which spoke creation into existence). He was a powerful force for light, and yet his detractors began to spread as fast as his admirers. Religious leaders feared him because he threatened the norm. Folks may have followed him instead of them, and so they responded out of fear. Faith is not the way of fear. Faith is the way of boldness and daring. It took boldness and daring for the man with the unclean spirit to enter the Synagogue. He was unclean and so shouldn't have been there, but he came seeking healing from Jesus. When we see people enter our churches who are unclean, sinners in need of healing, folks without faith, the fearful response is to have them leave so that we don't get dragged down by their unbelief or wayward living. The faithful response is to say "come, we

The first part of creation that wasn't good was that the man was alone. We were made for deep down "bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh", heart to heart connection. Without it, creation is not good. Johann Hari believes that disconnection is a root cause of addiction. While drugs play a big part, people with poor or no deep connection to others are more likely to become addicted to drugs, and folks with deep connection to others are more likely to recover from addiction. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html). He writes: "The rise of addiction is a symptom of a deeper sickness in the way we live -- constantly directing our gaze towards the next shiny object we should buy, rather than the human beings all around us." If ever there was a time to fish for people, it is now. Jesus came to heal our disconnection from God and our disconnection from each other. He called us to bring that good news to other and to fish for people. &#

Paul said to glorify God with our bodies, and he said not to join our bodies to a prostitute. We literally should not take another human being and turn them into an object for our visual arousal and physical pleasure. Paul was likely also referring to the prophetic idea of chasing after other gods as chasing after prostitutes. One such "god / prostitute" is that of perfection. We are constantly bombarded by airbrushed images of physical "perfection", an ideal body type that mostly doesn't exist. We are shown these images over and over so that we will pale by comparison and feel badly enough about ourselves to buy stuff to try to make ourselves look like airbrushed perfection. We also try to appear or be perfect in other aspects of our lives. All of this perfection is a lie, and a prostitute we are chasing, rather than loving our bodies for what they are and what they can do, glorifying God in our bodies: we work, we play, we go through daily life, and our bodies should

Baptism is like a second chance, a new start, and it brings us into a life of new starts which God offers as we continually do the wrong things, learn from those missteps, and try again to live well. These second chances, however, should not be taken lightly or wasted. When we intentionally turn our lives back toward a harmful way we had been living, we are turning our backs on God's forgiveness and God's second chance. When we do so, there is often hell to pay...not eternal damnation, but hurt and damage in this life. Living in the way of Jesus, on the other hand also has a cost. While God's forgiveness and second chances are freely given, the cost is how we live afterwards. While not very catchy, I'd say there's "heaven to pay." The cost of baptism, of following Jesus, is intentionally living as he taught, intentionally living so in such a way that if something is harmful to self or others, we won't do those things. We live the Kingdom Way, God's life of light and love.

The Epiphany of Jesus which we celebrate on January 6th is not really about the three magi or the gifts they bring. The Epiphany of Jesus is, surprisingly enough, about Jesus. When the magi visited Jesus, Jesus was revealed as Lord of Jew and Gentile, of all people. That's no surprise to us, but it was in Jesus' time. For us, Jesus is Lord of all, regardless of race, political affiliation, gender, etc. When we come together to worship on Sunday; when we encounter Jesus in the scripture, prayers, and bread and wine; when we encounter Jesus in each other; we encounter Jesus as Lord of us all, and we can't have that encounter on the golf course, or in a fishing boat, on in your living room. Jesus is in all of those places, and we can have spiritual encounters in all of those places, but only in communion and in community are we joined together by the Holy Spirit and manifest as Christ's body. In community, we are bound together in our disparate backgrounds, into the Body of Christ.

When Jesus was born, God became human and united himself to us forever. He was truly human, a real baby, just like us, and while I love the song "Away In A Manger", Jesus likely did cry that night. Perhaps Mary sang him a lullaby to help rock him to sleep. Parents sing lullabies to their children as they drift off to sleep to tell them, "I love you; be at peace; all is well." Jesus is like God's lullaby to us. God is telling us, "I love you; be at peace; all is well, and I will love you forever."

When Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she would bear God's Son in her womb, she responded with peace and trust. The story seems otherworldly...most of us would likely freak right out. In truth, Mary's world was every bit as violent and terrible as ours. Her world also had love and beauty, as does ours. Mary's response reminds us of what our response can be. We too have Jesus living within us, within our bodies. That makes a difference in how we treat our bodies, and how we treat other people's bodies. Jesus living within our bodies also tells us how much God loves us and how important we and our bodies are to God. Living into that reality, that Jesus lives within our bodies, we can respond as Mary did, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word."

When I was in middle school, my mom went away for a week's vacation, and while she was away, my dad and brother and I let things slide a bit around the house. We ate dinner in front of TV every night, and then we had a bit of cleaning up to do to prepare for Mom's return. We weren't afraid she'd not stay if the house wasn't clean. We loved her and wanted to honor her as she came home. That's part of what's going on with John the Baptist in the baptism he gave and in our lives as we are baptized. We're preparing with joy for Jesus' return. We could be spotless or messy, but without Jesus, we are empty. Just like the house could have been messy or perfectly tidy, but without mom, it wasn't our home.

The beginning of the Gospel for Mark is not Jesus' birth, but his fulfilling of Isaiah's prophecy that God was returning peace, Shalom, to his people. Jesus healed people, forgave people, and then paid the penalty for all people on the cross. As we await Jesus' return, then, Peter tells us to be people of shalom (peace, love, heart to heart connection and reconciliation). We are told in Psalm 85:13 that Jesus pathway is the way of peace. When we seek and live shalom, we are making pathways for Jesus to walk with us. Trusting in him and accepting his peace, we find a return to Eden, walking with God as Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden. That is just the beginning of the good news, according to Mark.

We joyfully anticipate Jesus' return. Advent is the joyful season of preparation in which we prepare for Christmas and in which we prepare our hearts for Jesus' return. Folks in scripture were often joyful at the thought of God coming, of the Lord's coming / return. They often had enemies, an "other" from whom they wanted God to save them. We feel the same way about Jesus' return. At the same time, we must be aware that we must may be someone else's "other" because of whom they are joyfully awaiting Jesus' return. Jesus' return is a joyful time and a time of fear and trembling. We should honor both. We should look into our hearts to see why we should have fear and trembling. We should repent of those ways. At the same time, we get to joyfully anticipate Jesus' return, the day when he will put all things right. In the mean time, we get to partner with Jesus in restoring creation. We get to serve others in Jesus' name. We get to seek Christ in all people.

Jesus told a parable about people who used oil lamps to see at night and some took just enough oil for their lamps. Others took an abundance of oil. Surprisingly enough, those who took just enough didn't have enough. As disciples of Jesus, we don't take just enough oil of discipleship. We don't say, "I've done enough discipleship; I've done enough healing; I've done enough reconciling. I'm good, and I don't need to do that anymore." That's not who we are as disciples of Jesus. As disciples of Jesus, we take with us an overabundance of the oil of discipleship as reconcilers and healers. We trust Jesus that he has made us into reconcilers and healers, and we practice our discipleship every day, trusting in him. We then don't worry about doing enough discipleship. We simply become his disciples and live naturally as his disciples as reconcilers and healers.

We are blessed by God. He has declared us his children. As we trust in God, we live more fully into our identity as God's children and the righteousness that dwells within us. The saints of God, those who have died and are still alive with God in Christ, help us to live into our identity as blessed and beloved of God.

God's love transforms us...if we let it. If we believe that God has already transformed us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, then we can begin to trust that God's love dwells in us. We are his children, brothers and sisters of Jesus, sent by the Holy Spirit to help heal people, sharing God's love and the light of Jesus. That is the heart that was given to Paul, who had been a first century Jewish terrorist, gathering up Christians to be executed. He met Jesus and became an apostle of Jesus, loving so much the gentiles to whom he was sent, that he shared not only the Gospel of Christ, but his own self. It was not a burden for him but a joy. He was simply trusting in and living out his transformed self.

When we become disciples of Jesus, we put on "a wedding garment", meaning we adopt Jesus' life and his way of life. We often lose our focus and sometimes are distracted, take Jesus for granted or in other ways choose to take off that wedding garment, i.e. we stop living as Jesus taught; we stop truly believing in Jesus and his teachings. Keeping the wedding garment on, we continue in the joy of life of Jesus, described as a wedding banquet. As Paul writes: Rejoice in the Lord always...let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything...and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The trap of the Chief Priests and the elders was that of holy living, but with contempt for those who didn't share in holy living. Jesus and John, on the other hand, judged those in need of repentance (e.g. the tax collectors and prostitutes) as needing repentance, but they judged them with compassion and love. For them, seeing people turn around and begin life anew was more important than punishing them for their misdeeds. Unlike the chief priests and elders, through Jesus and John the Kingdom of God was being lived, proclaimed, and received. Our challenge as the church is to live and proclaim the Kingdom of God in such a way that it is received by those who need it. We too judge when people need repentance, not to condemn, but to acknowledge the need for repentance. We do so with fear and trembling on our part, never presuming not to need repentance ourselves. We avoid the trap of the chief priests and elders and live and proclaim the Kingdom of God so that it will be received. We keep t

God is not fair. He gives generously not because people particularly deserve his generosity, but out of love for his children. We too are unfair, but our unfairness tends to favor the giver or those with money and influence. We do give grace to those whom we know, but those with money and influence are more likely to receive leniency than someone earning $15,000 / year. Our economy determines that those at the very top of organizations earn more than they would need in 50 lifetimes (approximately), while those at the bottom of organizations often earn not quite enough to get by. Disciples of Jesus at the top of organizations, if they are living as their Lord taught, would not have this be so. They would voluntarily give up much of their salary and pay those at the bottom more...not because of some stupid law passed by congress to muck things up, but because they believed in God's unfair generosity, rather than humanities unfair selfishness. That is life in God's kingdom.

Jesus preached a lot about forgiveness. He also said blessing those who curse us will be like heaping burning coals on their heads. I believe that is in order to refine them like silver is refined in the fire. The purpose is to open our hearts to love God and each other more. The song, "Oceans", by Hillsong United (http://hillsong.com/store/products/music/united/oceans-ep) describes faith, trust, and reconciliation with God through Jesus. Resting in God. That is the point of forgiveness.

Jesus taught on the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation. Indeed, without forgiveness and reconciliation, there would be no Gospel, and we would not be reconciled to God. There would also be little love within the church. A church without love is not truly the church. Jesus commanded his disciples to love one another and told them others would know them as his disciples by their love for one another. Without love, we are not the church. Even if a group of people gathers for worship ever Sunday and believes in Jesus, but they also hate each other, that is not a church. As James point out, "even the demons believe." Forgiveness and reconciliation, and the love they bring about are essential for our faith and hope in Jesus to be truly alive in us.