Can We Become Today's John The Baptist?

 

 

In recent weeks our world news and our discussions have focused on post-election unrest, and ongoing spikes in Covid 19 which had  dampened the spirits of our traditional Thanksgiving holiday and is proceeding to take aim at Christmas 2020. Despite our efforts to muster some semblance of a Holiday spirit, the tinkling symbols of the Fourth Estate lean to the side of hype as they report. Is it disease incidence or positive tests? Do they distinguish between or cases or lab values, or do they even know? And what about hospitalizations? Are all hospitalizations in the time of Covid due to the virus? The Pandemic has been a bonanza for media and politicians who have inherited a windfall of publicity they could never ever managed on their own. If I sound a little cynical, I am. I make no bones about it It’s a matter of trust in what we hear and what we can believe. Our support systems are more interested in their own interests than the people they serve. 

So, what does my rant have to do with our readings this week (Mark 1:1-8)? It's not a coincidence that The Baptist's time, like ours was a time of fear, distrust, unrest and confusion. Can we make  Isaiah’s words for us, in our time, right now?

A voice cries out in the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed.

 Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest writes of another turbulent time in our history. “we need a blessed Advent, a transformation, a time to ‘put things back where the Lord God put them." The following is an adaptation of a piece he wrote in a Nazi prison camp, shortly before he was hanged in 1945:

May the Advent figure of John, the relentless envoy and prophet in God’s name, be no stranger in our wilderness of ruins. For how shall we hear unless someone cries out above the tumult and destruction and delusion? Not for an hour can life dispense with these John the Baptist characters, these original individuals, struck by the lightening of mission and vocation. Theirs is the great comfort known only to those who have paced out the inmost and furthermost boundaries of existence. They cry for blessing and salvation. They summon us to the opportunity of warding off - by the greater power of the converted heart - the shifting desert that will pounce upon us and bury us. 

The horror of these times would be unendurable unless we kept being cheered and upright again by the promises spoken….The first thing we must do if we want to be alive is to believe in the golden seed of God that the angels have scattered and still offer to open hearts. The second thing is to walk through the gray days oneself as an announcing messenger. So many need their courage strengthened; so many are in despair and in need of consolation; there is so much harshness that needs a gentle hand and an illuminating word, so much loneliness crying out for a word of release, so much loss and pain in search of inner meaning. God’s messengers know of the blessing that the Lord has cast like a seed into these hours of history. Understanding this world in the light of Advent means to endure in faith, waiting for the fertility of the silent earth, the abundance of the coming harvest. Not because we put our trust in the earth, but because we have heard God’s message and have met one of God’s announcing angels ourselves. 

“That God became a mother’s son; that there could be a woman walking the earth whose womb was consecrated to be the holy temple and tabernacle of God – that is actually earth’s perfection and the fulfillment of its expectations. (Be it Done Unto Me According to Thy Word)
So many kinds of Advent consolation stream from the mysterious figure of the Blessed Expectant Mary. The woman has conceived the child, sheltered it beneath her heart, and given birth to the Son. Advent is the promise denoting the new order of things, of life, of our existence. 

Advent comes in these three figures. This is not meant as an idyllic miniature painting, but as a challenge. My real concern is not with beautiful words, but with the truth. Let us kneel, therefore, and ask for the three-fold blessing of Advent and its three-fold inspiration. Let us ask for clear eyes that are able to see God’s messengers of  the annunciation; for awakened hearts with the wisdom to hear the words of promise. Let us ask for faith in the motherly consecration of life as shown in the figure of the Blessed Woman of Nazareth. Let us be patient and wait, wait with Advent readiness for the moment when it pleases God to appear in our night too, as the fruit and mystery of this time. And let us ask for the opening and willingness to hear God’s warning messengers and to conquer life’s wilderness through repentant hearts. 

(Watch for the Light, The Shaking Reality of Advent,”pp.90-91)

Be Watchful, Be Alert, You do not know when the time will come

 

Keep Awake for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. These words have been repeated for over 2,000 years, yet somehow we still fear the end of our life on earth. Sure, we are comforted by the many parallels in nature that reveal death to be a precursor to new life, but the fear of death lingers in the shadows.  We have - or likely have - lived longer than our parents and grandparents.  We are better fed; we lose fewer babies, and modern medicine protects us from contagion and diseases that can shorten our lives... and yet, we are still afraid.   Why? 

Shortly after 9/11 the words “Fear Not” rang hollow and seemed a little out of place.  Surely we had every reason to be afraid.  After the three devastating attacks, the country held its breath wondering if there were there more to come. During the first few weeks following the attacks, the country was suspended in a state of watchful waiting. We were led to believe that it wasn’t a question of “if” but “when.” We carefully listened to those in authority speak of preparedness, but the summary statement always was, “we just don’t know.” It took a while but in time we began to live our lives with the knowledge that life must go on… but we were implored to remain vigilant and the words “If you see something, say something” became a national mantra. 

And is there any better year than the present, 2020, to reflect on the changes in our lives, the likes of which we have never or likely will ever see again. This time the foreign terrorist came in the form of a virus, an unknown novel virus whose virulence and pathogenicity confounded the greatest minds in infectious diseases. From an historical perspective, our lack of preparedness for flu pandemic went, for the most part, ignored as we exited the 2004 avian flu and the 2005 H2N2 seasons with plans in place but no tactical follow-through…falling back on an all too human response, “we’ll deal with it if and when it comes.” Well this time it came with a vengeance with atypical physiologic responses targeting every human organ leading to unknown morbidities and fatalities in people, especially those at risk. Ok will we stay awake now; are we even doing it now? 

 It doesn’t take much to see the connection between our gospel (Mark 13:24-37) and that fateful Tuesday or the winter of 2020. Our Spiritual journeys often get side tracked by the many distractions of the world, don’t they? In some ways it is understandable, we get relaxed and slack off a bit. Yet, we have been blessed to be living in the greatest country in the world. We are a “can do” people and from this disaster we will learn more than we ever knew and be better prepared in the future. But will we stay awake when the Master comes again? 

We know that in Christ's death and resurrection he relinquished his humanity as the divine Incarnation was complete in order that we could share in his resurrection and in so doing, remove our reasons to fear death forever. Knowing that God loves us and that there is nothing we can do to ever lose His love is a matter of faith, not intellect. So, we live out our lives enriched by Christ’s example when we resist the impulse to live for ourselves instead of others. It means being prepared to die again and again to ourselves, and to every one of our self-serving opinions and agendas. But about that day or hour no one knows.

Don't Ask, It's A Miracle

 

We celebrate those events in the life of Christ in the Gospel as stories that are meant to be lived as we are inspired to live them. I’ve come to the realization that it’s not a mystery when I really understand a concept and feel that I can explain it. Yet, we have this urge to do our best to try to explain that which defies explanation. Children never need to question mystery; they accept it and move on.

Somehow, the mistrust of all that has been handed down to us has stifled the imagination’s inability to take flight. How many times do we quickly turn the page because something we read in scripture challenges our ability to fully comprehend its meaning… instead of just letting it rest long enough in our hearts for it to speak to us without words?

So here we are just two weeks from the beginning of Advent which begins with the Annunciation, a beautiful mystery of epic proportions that defies rational explanation. It stuns us to hear that some will attempt to reduce the virgin birth to a mere story of an unwed pregnant teenager. Have we come to a time when anything that did not stand up to reason or that we couldn’t explain, should be characterized as primitive and infantile? Why do we think that an Almighty Spiritual Being would be confined to man’s limited intellect and his feeble language to communicate His message? Do we not see how metaphor and poetry reveal meaning, not mere explanation on a deep personal level to those of us who are willing to open our hearts and just know? After All, we are talking about the Incarnation of God in man and the Word becomes flesh in us.

For many of us mystery became an adversary; unknowing became a weakness. The contemplative spiritual life is an ongoing reversal of this adjustment. It is a slow and sometimes painful process of becoming ‘little children’ again in which we first make friends with mystery and finally fall in love again with it. And in that love we find an ever increasing freedom to be who we really are in an identity that is continually emerging and never defined. We are free to join the dance of life in fullness without having a clue about what the steps are…Confusion happens when mystery is an enemy and we feel we must solve it to master our destinies. And ignorance is not knowing that we do not know. In the liberation of the night, we are freed from having to figure things out and we find delight in knowing that we do not know. (Mystery & Freedom, May, Dark Night p.133)

 

Come Share Your Master's Joy

 

How many of us grew up thinking of God as one whose “performance standards” were rigid and unbending? Weren’t many of us taught to believe that this God requires us to work at and earn our salvation, and that it was up to us as to whether we enter the Kingdom? Yet, we are told that we are loved and there is nothing we can do to lose God’s love. And we don’t earn salvation; the Kingdom is ours just because we are children of God. Which is it? While it’s not my place to say that we have no “skin in the game,” and can’t do anything to earn it, I do believe we are “required” to live a God centered life as Jesus did…even if the Kingdom is our “entitlement.” And yet the word entitlement rubs me the wrong way. I’m not sure why. I wonder what this says about my faith?  It just seems to me that somehow, someway we play a role in our own eternal destiny. 

It gets confusing doesn’t it? On the one hand Jesus tells us the Kingdom of God is at hand, and on the other hand he seems to be telling us that there are certain standards expected of us.  Last week’s parables of the “foolish virgins” (Matthew 25:1-13) had more to say about being prepared than reward and punishment. It called for us to lead a God-centered life embodied in the Two Great Commandments and the Spirit of the Beatitudes. As such we are required to take personal responsibility in living our Christian faith. 

Life, love and faith, like investments require taking risks in order to increase. And risks require relationships and true relationships require that we have the courage to be open, to be vulnerable, to let go of pretense and give our egos a rest. We must take risks and be willing to invest our lives in one another. Life in Jesus is all about relationships. 

When we put our talents to work in the service of God, we take risks (Matthew 25:14-30). When we are willing to be imperfect and reveal our humanity we are capable of being open to one another and we see ourselves in the other. Many who have participated in the Twelve Step program will tell you that its success depends on one’s ability to mirror one another: “The pain in me recognizes the pain in you; the love in me recognizes the love in you; the God in me loves the God in you.” This is risky business and taking risks is not easy; its consequences can cause anxiety. When we invest ourselves in one another, the outcome cannot be guaranteed. But, so what…we have a “safety net.” Matthew says those who were given much went to others for help in increasing it. That can do spirit grows everything it touches.

We Need a LittleThanksgiving

Take a look around. There is plenty of cause to be worried: we are in the throes of a bitter run up to the election for President this Tuesday which by the time this blog is published may already be decided. But then based on the mood of the polarized parties, and the antics that likely will ensue on Tuesday night, it’s unlikely we will know who the 46^th President of the United States will be. There is plenty of blame to go around and while it’s easy to blame it on the current cast of characters running for office or residing in Congress, the lack of civility or decorum in politics has been increasing over the last 20 years to the point that we have almost become immune to the name calling by politicians, the media, and especially social media.

 

And we haven’t even talked about the burden that Covid19 has heaped on our confused and frightened citizens, households and work-places.

 

So is my call for a prayer of thanksgiving even credible or make any sense? Perhaps lament might be more appropriate? But as I reflect on our reading selected by John B. for our discussion this Wednesday, I am reminded that of all of our responses to events blessed or challenging, great or small, are almost always overlooked,  is that of thanksgiving.

 

In this passage from Luke (Luke 17:11-19) , Jesus runs into a group of ten lepers -- unclean and outcast. They approach him with a plea for healing but also keep their distance, and here it’s not just “social distance,” the annoying parlance of 2020. In response, Jesus instructs them to go and show themselves to the local Jewish priest, since being cured, custom required them to be cleared by the priest as no longer outcasts. Of the ten, one turns back to express his gratitude, falling at Jesus’ feet in a posture of worship to give thanks. We should note that note that the other nine did nothing wrong and received the blessing promised them.

 

However the one who turns back is identified by Jesus, recognized and affirmed that he not only saw that he was healed but returned to give thanks, and was then blessed a second time. Blessed a second time? Yes, because Jesus instructs the man to rise and go on his way and saying that his faith has made him not only physically well, but also “whole” and, indeed, saved. The man who returned the blessing of healing and the blessing that comes from recognizing that he was blessed

 

Jesus reveals in this parable our conscious awareness of being blessed for even the tiniest gift or occasion multiplies the blessing. Thanksgiving is like that. It springs from perception and our ability to recognize a blessing. In the prayer we double down on our gift no matter how inadequate our words may seem at the time. Every time sight and word come together in thanksgiving we double our blessing.

 

David Lose writes “I think gratitude is the noblest emotion. Gratitude draws us out of ourselves into something larger, bigger, and grander than we could imagine and joins us to the font of blessing itself. But maybe, just maybe, gratitude is also the most powerful emotion, as it frees us from fear, releases us from anxiety, and emboldens us to do more and dare more than we'd ever imagined. (Working Preacher 10-3-17)

 

And that’s what the nine missed. It’s not that they did anything wrong; it’s that they didn’t acknowledge their good fortune in thanksgiving and missed out on in Jesus words being “made whole.”

 

Needless to say, our world seems to be filled with more troubles than we ever experienced in our lifetime. Without a doubt, the pandemic makes it unique to our time. Yet, we are constantly reminded of ordinary citizens stepping out of their comfort zones to ease the burden of others, and the caregivers, emergency responders and scientists who are still working to help us get through it.  And what about the parents and teachers who are faced with the challenge of taking care of our children as they tirelessly work to maintain a semblance of normalcy in their children’s lives so that one day our children will remember this as “something” that happened in 2020… just as we remember the polio pandemic of our youth.  

 

This world is full of blessing and challenges. Which will we focus on? Truth be told, there is a time for lament and cries for justice and activism. But given that we live in a culture filled with blame and accusation and almost devoid of thanksgiving, maybe by remembering the tenth leper, we can give thanks  and be filled with words of gratitude and in this way not only experience a second blessing but also share it with the world.

 

Speaking of which, let me offer my own words of gratitude and thanks to John for suggesting this reading. It’s been a while since I’ve read it. This time around, the word came alive for me and I say thank you and thank God for you with whom I share the Word.