Easter 7
May 29, 2022

All for one, and one for all

This well-known phrase appears in the Three Musketeers, written by Alexandre Dumas in 1844. In fact, it is D'Artagnan, not one of the Musketeers, who utters the words coercively to Porthos before Athos and Aramis join in to swear this promise of unity. Although never officially adopted, these words have served as the motto of Switzerland since their first use there in 1868.Again, the intention is to rally to unity.

John 17:20-21
I ask not only on behalf of these,
but also on behalf of those
who will believe in me through their word,
that they may all be one.
As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,
so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Jesus' desire for our unity is a common and frequent theme in the Gospels. It is more pronounced in John and even more so within Jesus’ prayers as recorded by John. This verse is one of many where Jesus prays not only for those present but also for those who follow. This teaching is not time-bound; it applies today and into the future. The kinship we have with Jesus and our common Father points to the unity in which we are invited to live, within an ever-growing sense of “one for all and all for one.” Indeed, in our divided world, these are radical words.

Pentecost
June 5, 2022

When the student is ready, the teacher appears

The website fakebuddhaquotes.com names this as falsely attributed to Buddha and points to Theosophical teachers using like phrases in the early 1900s. The fact that these words are regularly misattributed is only the beginning of the problems with this phrase.  It is simply an assertion. If the only proof that someone is ready for their teacher is the appearance of a teacher then the quote is meaningless. It is dressed up as cause and effect but provides no support in making the claim.

John 14:16-18
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees him nor knows him.
You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you….”

These verses go well beyond the quotation.  The teacher is promised to appear and appear forever.  However, like the quote, the issue is one of recognition or "readiness" to receive or recognize the teacher's presence.  In a sense, this clarifies that it is a matter of faith to trust in the presence and teaching of the Holy Spirit [who is our Advocate and Counselor].  It is not that recognizing or sensing in any other way that the Spirit is teaching, proves the Spirit's presence. Instead, it is to acknowledge that we are free to choose to name, in faith, that we are grateful to the Spirit for wise teaching when we receive it.

Trinity Sunday
June 12, 2022

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it

While often attributed to Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Falklands Conflict, I was not able to find a direct citation to confirm whether she actually said or wrote this.  Logically, the quote makes little sense: obviously, one can win a battle with one fight. The phrase, therefore, can have several meanings. One would be “never admit defeat or “never stop trying.” Such words lie somewhere between the extremes of delusion and encouragement. Defeat is real; it does exist. Yet, many have the propensity to give up too early. There is a similar sounding phrase “lose the battle, win the war” credited to Sun-Tzu, author of the Art of War written in 6th Century BCE.  These words appear to counsel losing a battle as a strategy in some cases rather it being inevitable that lost battles will result in won wars. 

Romans 5: 3-4  
But we also rejoice in our sufferings, 
because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, 
character; and character, hope. 

Endurance is not some magical input that is the right code for a particular output.  God is not sitting and waiting for us to pass a test so we can get a gold star. Endurance is its own reward.  Laid out by Paul in a few tidy words, we can follow the path God has given us from suffering to hope. And such transformation may well demand us to "lose", not only more than once, but many times!

Proper 7
June 19, 2022

Grow thick skin

Risk will often bring reward but also risk can also be realized.  Those who venture in any way will have "bruises and cuts" to show for it.  The metaphor applies here. As your skin gets thicker so will your ability to handle the struggles of putting yourself out there in the world.  Although not explicit, the hardening or thickening of skin is not entirely a good thing. Pushing the metaphor, thick skin is less supple which means more cracking and other problems.  In the same way, one could warn the "thick skinned" to remain tender hearted while doing so. You could also push the metaphor by asking how much control we have. As far as I know we can't literally will our skin to grow any thicker.  In a like way, the ability to shrug off criticism and defeat may have significant natural elements that are hard to learn, develop or engender. Just as some people are taller, stronger or wiser than others, so some may have thicker skins than others. Don't Take Anything Personally is also #2 of Four Basic Agreements written by Miguel Ruiz.  

Galatians 3:26
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

Scripture holds a bounty of words that remind us of our essential goodness and the protection and value we have as not only a follower but a child of God. When it comes to having thick skin this can cut both ways. If we use this gift of God's intimacy to completely shrug off all criticism as irrelevant of secondary then we may miss some very important learning opportunities. However, we can also use this intimate love as a starting point to welcome all criticism in all forms trusting it can be of value as long as we never allow it to define us.  It is not so much that faith in God grows us a thick skin, it is more that faith and awareness of God's intimate love and provision allow us to make the very most of whatever thickness of skin we have.

Proper 8
June 26, 2022

There's no place like home

These words were immortalized in an operatic song from 1823 called Home! Sweet Home!  In that context they unapologetically referred the fondness one can have for home.  The phrase itself in other contexts can be ambiguous. Its delivery and timing can imply all kinds of irony resulting in a meaning altogether different than praise. The phrase is also often identified with Hesiod's Works and Days written in the 8th Century BCE.  English translations of line 365 are akin to "What a man has by him at home does not trouble him: it is better to have your stuff at home, for whatever is abroad may mean loss."  This document contains many other interesting teachings. For instance, it suggests that men should marry at age 30 and do so in the fifth year of knowing the woman and have the marriage on the 4th day of the  month. The best known context of this phrase is likely when Dorothy says it to her auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz.  

Luke 9:58     
And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

The Gospel message is pretty clear that whenever we seek our security in anything but God, we compromise our ability to find security in God.  Often this is the context of extremes such as wealth and power but here it is the simple ability to have a "place to lay our head." Jesus was born homeless, lived with no home and invited his followers to join him in that way of life.  While the Bible does not tell the story of Jesus' childhood presumably he had a home and good one and he may well have agreed that there was no place like it. It is just not where God asked him to be.

Proper 9
July 3, 2022

You make your own bed

This expression is said to come from the late 1500s in France.  It has many variations such as "you have made your own bed so lie in it."  Similar ideas are expressed with words such as "as you brew so shall you drink." They all mean when you create (usually unpleasant) circumstances they are yours to endure.  Although one assumes less common than a few generations ago, there are probably those who have moved straight from having their mother make their bed to having a spouse make their bed.  In the same way, no doubt there are many who use various forms of leverage and power to avoid the circumstances of their choices and actions. Those at the top of any social structure come to mind and this is particularly true when speaking of organized crime.  Generals Die in Bed is a short novel by Charles Yale Harrison. As the title suggests, war is described as a very different experience for generals than for foot soldiers.  To return to the metaphor, generals issue beds to the privates and generals have their beds made for them—nobody is making their own bed. 

Galatians 6:7-8        
Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.
If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh;
but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

The relationship between sowing and reaping is a constant one in scripture with more than 20 direct references.  However, there are also many verses, several identified in this book, which speak of God's freedom to provide as God wishes.  So we cannot use verses like this to tie God's hands. Such verses cannot to be taken as a verbal contract with God. The idea is better understood as an observation of the way things are then a rule that God must adhere to.   Otherwise, every situation where people benefit from evil or do not benefit from good requires an explanation that we may well not have.

Proper 10
July 10, 2022

Confession is good for the soul

This phase is recorded in David Fergusson's Scottish Proverbs in 1641.  “Confess and be hanged” is in Shakespeare’s Othello in apparent cynical opposition.  However, it also possible that the two expressions meld to form one thought - perhaps being hanged and being righteous are the same in some instances.    

Psalm 25:18 
Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.

Countless verses could be used to illustrate the essential promise of scripture, that our sins are forgiven.  This verse, in the context of a longer plea in the Psalm, provides the clarity that forgiveness is not a reward earned but a mercy granted. Is confession good for the soul in the absence of God's forgiveness? Whether the answer is yes or no, thanks be to God for the knowledge that forgiveness is always available and always accessible without question. This is the definition of grace! A gift offered freely without the expectation of any sort of outlay or repayment.

Proper 11
July 17, 2022

First things first

This simple and seemingly obvious, but not always followed, advice is the third of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. A generation earlier, these words were also the title of a world manifesto delivered by graphic designers in 1964. It was a call of twenty leading graphic designers to their peers to spend their talent and ability on something more important than advertising.  The Twelve Step movement also uses this phrase to help people focus on their priorities. A similar piece of advice exists in the form of "You have too many irons in the fire." The meaning is self-evident. Stick to your priorities! 

Luke 10:41   
"But the Lord answered her, 
"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 
there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part,
which will not be taken away from her."

Many verses speak of the importance of staying focused on the right priorities. Luke 12:34 is also direct and to the point. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Preachers interpret the story of Mary and Martha as praise for Mary in comparison to Martha. Mary paid full attention to Jesus while she could and Jesus praises her for this choice. Important criticism reminds us that without the "Marthas" of the world there would be no opportunity for the Mary and others like her to sit in peace. Keeping first things first requires adequate measurement, sober assessment and an acute sense of timing. No wonder these words are so much harder to live by than they are to say.

Proper 12
July 24, 2022

To be forgiven we must forgive

These words stand as an interpretation of a number of verses in the Bible, depending on translation, that has been embraced by the Twelve Step movement and others. The use of the word “must” could imply a condition which could yield forgiveness that was coerced. Or it could imply a causality that we cannot receive forgiveness without first forgiving others. Many would say that coerced forgiveness is impossible, that it is not true forgiveness. 

Luke 11:4
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.

Here, the teaching of the Lord’s prayer implies neither coercion nor cause.  The joining word is “for” or in some translations “as.” The two acts, forgiving and being forgiven, are presented as either a natural and logical consequence, one of the other or being alike and presented as a metaphor.  In the same way God forgives us, we can forgive others. Perhaps even, by the same power that forgives us, we forgives others. It is more of an organic connection than a mechanical connection. This does not mean it is always going to be easy or natural for broken human beings.  And this is reflected in the last sentence of the verse which reminds us that our ability to forgive will be put on trial, or tested, by the complexities of living with others. 

Proper 13
July 31, 2022

There is nothing new under the sun

These words appear as an exact contradiction of "wonders never cease."  One says everything is new and wonderful and the other implies that everything is old and familiar if not worn and tired.  It takes creative mental gymnastics to hold such phrases together. But why not try? Perhaps there is a familiarity to all things, a mystical commonness, a connection that cannot be denied, erased or ignored.  Yet in the same instance we are each gifted with an imagination that allows us to delve deeply into everything we encounter to explore beneath the surface and recognize what is unseen. How does a computer work?  Well, you turn it on, wait for to warm up and then start typing and clicking. Nothing new! How does a computer work? Well, it all starts with ones and zeroes... and wonders never cease. 

Ecclesiastes 1:9       
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

The New Living Translation suggests "history repeats itself" for the first part of this verse. It certainly can be read that way. These words can also be heard with a comforting tone, as if they were to say "you are not alone" in the fact that whatever you have experienced, others have also experienced before you.  I loved Easter weekend when I was working in the maximum security jail. I would usually begin the Good Friday service saying "I am about to tell a story of a man who sold out by a friend he thought he could trust, was arrested by corrupt police and beaten mercilessly while in custody and then put on trial and found guilty without cause.  And I am going to ask you to try and relate to this story." This usually got a laugh, but I believe it got their attention in a way it would not have in most congregations. Eventually, I would explain that Good Friday journey leads us to reflect on the fact that, “whatever betrayal, despair, isolation, pain and punishment you have experienced is something we have in common with Jesus.  In that unity” I would explain to the prisoners, you “are more prepared to join him in the resurrection than I am.” If Christ is in all things then even if there are no new things, we have nothing to worry about. We can find new ways to see, smell taste and experience what we have, every day! It is enough that we find things to be new.

Proper 14
August 7, 2022

Home is where the heart is

Pliny, Plutarch, Cicero and many others all wrote of a romantic fondness for home.  A modern cynical variation is "Home is where the mortgage is." 

Luke 12:34   
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I could put this in equation form.  If home equals heart and treasure equals heart then home and treasure are equal as well.
If a=b and b= c then a=c.
We may not all be in a position to treasure our homes but it is a common desire.  This can be the case even when the home is quite humble representing a case where treasure or “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”  In my years of working with people coming into and out of jail I have found a completely new meaning to the phrase “I found a great place to live.”  This brings to mind the expression that “one person's treasure is another person's trash.” To return to the math, this means that c=d and if d equals trash then home equals trash. Well, let’s not return to the math.  The point is that we value what we love and we express that value in our thoughts, choices and actions.

Proper 15
August 14, 2022

A house divided against itself cannot stand

While often attributed to Abraham Lincoln, he was quoting the Bible. (Mark 3:25, Matthew 12:25) The “house” in Lincoln's case was nothing less than the burgeoning nation of the United States of America, and the division was around slavery. The Labour march chant – the people united will never be defeated – was first sung in Chile in support of Salvador Allende. Since then, its rhythm has been maintained and translated for use throughout the world. Aesop's fable The Bundle of Sticks also makes a similar point that unity is better than division. The bundle of sticks is stronger than the same sticks held individually.

Luke 12: 51-52
Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? 
No, I tell you, but rather division!  
From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three

It is a challenge to read the idea of the divided house being a problem and the division that Jesus comes to bring as direct contradictions. However, division of a false unity can be a step to connection to true unity.  A surgeon needs to divide broken or infected tissue in order to create the opportunity for the healing and integrity. The path to salvation is not a benign niceness but a brutal honesty. 

Proper 16
August 21, 2022

Give me a firm place to stand, and I will move the earth

These words are attributed to Greek mathematician Archimedes in describing the power of "the lever." A lever only works when there is sufficient resistance, that is to say, a firm place. 

Isaiah 28:16 
. . . therefore thus says the Lord God, See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone,
a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:
"One who trusts will not panic."

This verse is known mostly for it being quoted in 1 Peter 2:6 in direct reference to Christ.  In its original context, an architectural illustration was used to show how our life of faith is built upon the promises of God. The person of faith, who is not likely to be talking about the science of levers can certainly adopt the words, "Give me a firm place to stand [i.e. the promises of God], and I will move the earth."
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​​Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
Pentecost to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to The Reign of Christ

Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
​Trinity Sunday to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to The Reign of Christ

Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary (Click on the season you wish to see)
Advent​
Christmas and Epiphany
Transfiguration and Lent
Easter
Pentecost to Proper Sixteen
Proper Seventeen to Reign of Christ


For more on Glenn Morison and his book that led to this page, check out The Things We Say.

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