Trinity Sunday to Proper 16
Trinity Sunday
May 24, 2024
Remember where you came from
What do Queen Latiffa, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, Donald Rumsfeld and many others have in common? They are all linked with this phrase. It is usually applied to someone who has risen above their station in life and presumably it is a caution not to forget that others are still at that station. But there are so many ways to run with that? Could you not just as easily say "good for me for all my hard work that got me here from there" as to say "if not for a break here and an opportunity there and I could still be where I was." I remember a shocking moment where the CEO of a midsize organization where I was a summer student said to me in a rather candid moment, "I am a poor ass nigger from the third world; I say that so I won't forget." To remember maybe is enough, what you do with that memory is a whole other matter. In the case of this executive it was clear to me that she was very determined any amount of career success or wealth get in the way of forgetting her roots. Prison ministry has always included a significant amount of volunteer recruitment and oversight. When volunteers came from “an experiential background” it was always important to note just how they “remembered where they came from.” The words “I was once where you are” can be both delightfully compassionate and horrifically judgmental. They can be used to unite and they can be used to divide. It is not enough to know where you came from. What is required is a realistic analysis of why you are not where you were.
John 3:17
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.
This is a “Jesus, remember where you came from” statement. Jesus was sent into the world, from God to save. Sadly, too much religion speaks of condemnation in spite of the clarity of verses like this one.
Proper 4
June 2, 2024
Everything happens for a reason
While Einstein seems to lead the world in being misquoted, he really did say, “God does not throw dice” when arguing against Max Born and quantum theory. Quantum theory acknowledges and embraces a level of randomness, at the molecular level, that Einstein never could. Those who like to use the phrase “Everything happens for a reason” live in the same camp as Einstein. “Everything happens for a reason” is similar to “There are no coincidences.” I hear these words often from inmates and others in crisis. They desperately want to make sense of their awful situation so they simply assert that there is a cause. Unfortunately, in the real world, it is actually a lot of work to sort out the differences between concepts like purpose and reason or responsibility and cause. One path people take to opt out of this hard work is to subscribe to the philosophy that “ours is not to reason why but to do and die.”
Psalm 139:6-8
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
It does not follow that if God is all seeing and all knowing that God is all causing. To make that leap requires two steps. One is to account for the freedom that God has given us in God’s love for us. The other is to acknowledge that our ability to understand what “cause” means to God may well be insufficient. Interpreting “all things work for the good” in Romans 8:28 as a statement of universal causation is also a big leap. Again, I wish to grab another entry that we examined a few pages previously. It may well be that everything happens for a reason but before you decide and act upon what you think that reason is, “think it possible that you may be mistaken.” Bypassing this hesitation may well be the equivalent of eating the forbidden fruit of Genesis Chapter 2.
Proper 5
June 9, 2024
Graveyards are full of indispensable people
This adage is similar to “a little piece of churchyard fits everyone.” It speaks to our common fate of death and a reminder that none of us is irreplaceable nor indispensable. This is true even though we often believe ourselves to be both of those. I attended my 30th high school reunion and stood next to a classmate I had not spoken to since graduation. As we looked at a memorial wall of our classmates who had died, he casually said to me, "No surprises there," and I looked back in horror. He quickly clarified, explaining that he had heard of all the deaths. Fortunately, he was not saying what I understood him to mean, that they were all the "type" of people you would expect to die young. Sadly, this says more about me than it does about him.
Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
I grew up in an era where it seemed an obligation for mothers to tell their children, “Even the Queen has to sit and pee.” It was the great equalizer: Having to relieve oneself was a human's fate whether you were the Queen of England or the lowest of society. Indeed, this verse from Genesis, often quoted in burial rituals, includes the same suggestion. Whenever we are tempted to think too much of ourselves, we are reminded that we are but mud until Spirit is breathed into us. The graveyard, like the toilet, awaits us all. At a recent Quaker meeting a Friend offered the following vocal ministry which puts a cosmic and delightfully positive spin. “We are all stardust. Carbon and oxygen, which we are all made of, are produced the explosion of stars.”
Proper 6
June 16, 2024
No matter what kind of web a spider weaves, it still takes a spider to weave a web.
Most fiction causes us to wonder about the fact beneath the fiction. Samuel Butler spent twenty years in the late 1800s writing The Way of All Flesh laid it on the line clearly, "Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself, and the more he tries to conceal himself the more clearly will his character appear in spite of him. I may very likely be condemning myself, all the time that I am writing this book, for I know that whether I like it or not I am portraying myself more surely than I am portraying any of the characters whom I set before the reader." It seems to be a safe assumption that most things we say and do reveal something about who we are.
2 Corinthians 5:17
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away;
see, everything has become new!
The danger in assuming fact within fiction comes when we allow our conclusions to limit others so we cannot see change, growth and new beginnings. I remember having a friend tell me that he had never lived with his wife or had sex with her before marriage because he had become a new creation, citing this verse, and it was not him who lived with his wife before he became a Christian. A few expressions came quickly to my mind. Namely, "whatever floats your boat" and "to each his own." If that was important for him, who was I to argue? Where I experienced the power of this verse was when I served on a reserve for 7 years on a small reserve (400 resident members) in Northern British Columbia. Many people had been pigeonholed at a very young age or by an indiscretion in early adulthood and it followed them forever no matter how their life had evolved. Many grasped this verse to cope. Even though others would not acknowledge who they were, they could themselves and they could trust in God's affirmation, on a daily basis. For those of us who have moved around enough, that such lifelong biases do not follow us, it is hard to imagine what a burden such prejudice can be.
Proper 7
June 23, 2024
Question Authority
I had these words on a bumper sticker on the back of my 1977 Dodge Monaco. Border crossing officers consistently found it worthy of comment, and often more than just comment. Timothy Leary, the LSD guru, is associated with this phrase. While others, including Carl Sagan and J.K. Rowling, have used these words, "Think for yourself and question authority" sums up Leary's teaching in a nutshell. He talks about the opportunities that we have in our contemporary culture, rather than a hunter-gatherer society where there are only two ways to think: hunter and gatherer. He questions the value of ancient understandings like "the Lord is our shepherd" saying the modern human is not a sheep but an active sensate, thinking, processing being that is free to make choices. We are not sheep like at all. His thinking extends to questioning the media (and this was before the Internet became what it is) and its influence and control of our thoughts. We have so many authorities that one would think questioning them is a necessity.
Mark 5:41-42
He took her by the hand and said to her,
“Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”
And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about
(she was twelve years of age).
At this they were overcome with amazement.
A function of many of the miracle stories is the assertion of Jesus authority. In this case it led to amazement. However one could point to stories such as the cleansing of the temple, told in all four Gospels, to say that it was Jesus’ questioning of authority that led to his death. However, not many years later, the church was teaching the opposite, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities." (Romans 13:1) I have mentioned the importance of timing in other entries in this book. I am not one that adheres much to rules that fit all situations.
Proper 8
June 30, 2024
You can't have your cake and eat it too
Not only is the precise first appearance of these words up for debate, phrases which seem to have similar intent, but use different images, appear in many languages and cultures. For instance, the French say, “You want butter, and the money of the butter” or Italians speak of “having your wine cask full, and your wife drunk.” These aphorisms all play on a situation where you clearly have two choices but are forced into one or the other. You cannot select both; you can't have it both ways.
2 Corinthians 8:15
“The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little.”
Viewed through the eyes of this verse, in its context of Paul teaching the faithful to be generous, having your cake and eating it too is simply a case of “having too much” that might also, in turn, cause someone else to “have too little.”
Proper 9
July 7, 2024
Don’t wash your laundry in public
Whether it be laundry, linen or clothes, the phrase has the same meaning: Keep your problems to yourself. It is the opposite of the straightforward advice to not keep secrets. To live out the advice could well involve intentional deceptions, if not barefaced lies. Of course, successive generations have found great entertainment in people washing their laundry on national television. Gerry Springer and copycat shows have had great success knowing that many are quite prepared to share the most intimate parts of their life in return for their “fifteen minutes of fame.”
2 Corinthians 12:10
Therefore I am content with weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions,
and calamities for the sake of Christ;
for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
One could be both delighted and private about their problems, or “blessed” in their hardship (Matthew 5:3) and private about those blessings. However, these verses and others like them (2 Corinthians 11:30) encourage us to not find shame in our life's struggles. Rather, we are to “boast of our weakness.” As such, we should not be afraid of what others see. To push the metaphor, if our laundry needs doing, we should do it, for “The Lord [and the Lord only] is our judge” (Isaiah 33:22a). Such readiness to show weakness can be truly shocking in a world where such candid assessment is foreign.
Proper 10
July 14, 2024
What do you know?
With the right tone, this question is a statement and the meaning is clear. This conversation is over! You don't know Jack! What is done is done! The Latin Roma locuta est, causa finita est translates as "Rome has spoken. The case is concluded." These words are constantly cited as coming from St. Augustine and his Sermon 131 in particular. They are not there and there is no record of him having said such a thing. There are lots of ways to dismiss someone else out of hand. Many of them colorful.
Ephesians 1:7-10
In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.
With all wisdom and insight
he has made known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth.
If I could meet anyone in history I would probably choose Paul. His words, superficially and through the lens of modern individualism can read profoundly arrogant. The verses above if claimed by one person over another are just that. However, Paul is not claiming that he is “all that and a bag of chips.” Quite the opposite he is saying that we are nothing on our own but these powerful gifts of the spirit are available to all. Seeing it this way, we can have the insight and confidence to never feel the need to dismiss another outright, not to fear that the same will happen to us. He speaks of an open heart and mind that celebrates God’s freedom to work through us all and bestow gifts in God’s own economy, not ours.
Proper 11
July 21, 2024
.No rest for the wicked
There is another saying tells us that the weary are also without rest. Do the weary and the wicked find each other in their fatigue? What if you are both wicked and weary? Sadly, we live in a world with many people in need of rest, and they are not limited to only the wicked and the weary.
Isaiah 57:20-21
But the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still; its waters toss up mire and mud.
There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.
While this translation says peace rather than rest, the likely origin of the phrase we know is Isaiah 57:21. The word lā•rə•šā•‘îm is found at several places in the scriptures in various forms and translated here and consistently in other places as wicked. Presumably wicked describes someone who unceasingly opposes God rather than someone who simply "misses the mark" which is the literal meaning of the word we know as "sin." Perhaps we can turn this expression on its head and take a clue that when we feel we have no rest, that we may just be involved in wickedness and not just weariness.
Proper 12
July 28, 2024
Think it possible that you may be mistaken.
This sentiment is often expressed with slightly more confrontational language such as the rhetorical question, “Are you a freaking idiot?”Oliver Cromwell is known for having written to the Church of Scotland in 1560 trying to avoid war with the Scots saying, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.” Cromwell's name is given to the Cromwell Rule in statistics which asks that statistical analysis make room for the “highly improbable.” It is unlikely, but possible, that British Quakers are directly quoting Cromwell in their Advices and Queries. Advice and Query number 17 provides the opportunity for reflection on respect in general and concludes with the sentence, “Think it possible that you may be mistaken.”
Psalm 14:2-3
The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.
They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.
If you like gentle language, then you probably like the query, “Think it possible you are mistaken.” If you are more direct in your speech, you probably would choose words like “there is no one who does good.” Both the psalm and the query and many words like it are in fact a serious call to humility when we consider ourselves to be certain.
Proper 13
August 4, 2024
The best things in life are free
These words are common in lyrics to multiple generations. They are the title to a song written in 1927 for the musical, The Good News. The song lists all kinds of beautiful things including the moon, stars, flowers and birds. In 1957, the early rock and roll hit, Money used the same catchphrase but in a sarcastic tone, as it names money as being better than things. In 1992 Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross had a hit with a new song by the name, The Best Things in Life are Free, in which these words extol the delights of romantic love. I guess we are overdue for another generation's take on these words!
Ephesians 4:7-8
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore it is said,
“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.”
If I had to choose one verb to describe what God does I would likely choose either giver or gifter. Verses like the one above lead me to this way of thinking. In the same way, a verb for God’s creation is receiver. We do not earn grace, We do not earn our talents or abilities and we do not gain reward for anything but God’s love for us all. Yet, our merit based social structure causes us to put such a false identity on God and rob us from the clarity that the best things in life, emanating freely from a self giving God, are indeed free.
Proper 14
August 11, 2024
Never go to bed angry
This commonly quoted advice was added to by comic Phyllis Diller, who added the words, "stay up and fight." This advice can be found in the Bible, in Ephesians 4:26. Paul may well be quoting a proverb that circulated previously. Although often quoted as marriage advice, Paul is speaking about neighbours (4:25) and distinguishing anger from sin, which he implies can come when we act on our anger. The problem is letting anger fester and build, rather than letting it go, presumably through prayer and ritual.
Ephesians 4:26
"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
This is verse is completed with the words "and do not give the devil a foothold." Anger, it is implied, leaves us open to temptation. There is a story that circulates that says we all have a "good wolf" and a "bad wolf" inside us and we should "never feed the bad wolf." Taking anger to bed with you is a way of feeding the bad wolf.
Proper 15
August 18, 2024
There is no such thing as a free lunch
This phrase is often attributed to economist Milton Friedman.But it comes from a time and place where bars and taverns actually did give out free lunches to entice people into their establishments. Retail continues to use "loss leaders," offering great deals on some things, like pop and chips, to get you to buy more expensive items while you are there. Not long ago I was going to a baseball game in Minneapolis and parked in a “free parking lot.” There is only free parking on a Monopoly©board, I thought, as we went into the bar next door to “register” as instructed. You guessed it. A 15-dollar order was needed to get the “free” parking. “Not free but a bargain at twice the price,” I said as I ordered dinner.
Ephesians 5:15-16
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise,
making the most of the time, because the days are evil.
I have said repeatedly in this book that grace is defined by its free and unqualified nature. Yet, when we experience grace we are bowled over by it and we naturally feel grateful. Gratefulness can take many valid forms but at its heart, gratitude is making productive use of what we receive. This is what Paul writes to the Ephesians encouraging them in“making the most of the time.” Paul sets up this response as the “cost” of the grace we receive. There is such a fine line between responding freely in appreciation and responding in a contractual way, so as to “keep the grace coming.” The image I prefer is to let the grace pass through you so you have room for more. As such, I am siding with the idea that the Bible is full of free lunches.
Proper 16
August 25, 2024
God is good.
In his book of quotations from the mystical traditions, Matthew Fox attributes the phrase "God is voluptuous and delicious" to Meister Eckhart. The phrase God is Good is used within many African American churches as a call and response with the other half being "All the Time." One can say these words and mean them. One can say these words and not mean them. One can also say these words and hope to mean them.
Psalm 34:8
O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
I was over 50 before I ever had the chance to go into a store and buy a bed. Beds are private places so to lie down on a bed with my wife in a store to imagine that is where we will spend a third of our time in remaining years together felt a little awkward. The sales people, while being confident that their customers will not do what people sometimes do in beds, offer a respectful space while this testing is going on. It is as if the salesperson said "taste and see that the bed is good" and then walked away, certain that it was good and all they had to do was wait for us to choose and buy. The Psalmist, Meister Eckhart, Matthew Fox and many others have figured out this approach with God. No amount of argument, coercion or logic will ever match our experience, our tasting, of God's goodness.
Trinity Sunday
May 24, 2024
Remember where you came from
What do Queen Latiffa, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, Donald Rumsfeld and many others have in common? They are all linked with this phrase. It is usually applied to someone who has risen above their station in life and presumably it is a caution not to forget that others are still at that station. But there are so many ways to run with that? Could you not just as easily say "good for me for all my hard work that got me here from there" as to say "if not for a break here and an opportunity there and I could still be where I was." I remember a shocking moment where the CEO of a midsize organization where I was a summer student said to me in a rather candid moment, "I am a poor ass nigger from the third world; I say that so I won't forget." To remember maybe is enough, what you do with that memory is a whole other matter. In the case of this executive it was clear to me that she was very determined any amount of career success or wealth get in the way of forgetting her roots. Prison ministry has always included a significant amount of volunteer recruitment and oversight. When volunteers came from “an experiential background” it was always important to note just how they “remembered where they came from.” The words “I was once where you are” can be both delightfully compassionate and horrifically judgmental. They can be used to unite and they can be used to divide. It is not enough to know where you came from. What is required is a realistic analysis of why you are not where you were.
John 3:17
Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.
This is a “Jesus, remember where you came from” statement. Jesus was sent into the world, from God to save. Sadly, too much religion speaks of condemnation in spite of the clarity of verses like this one.
Proper 4
June 2, 2024
Everything happens for a reason
While Einstein seems to lead the world in being misquoted, he really did say, “God does not throw dice” when arguing against Max Born and quantum theory. Quantum theory acknowledges and embraces a level of randomness, at the molecular level, that Einstein never could. Those who like to use the phrase “Everything happens for a reason” live in the same camp as Einstein. “Everything happens for a reason” is similar to “There are no coincidences.” I hear these words often from inmates and others in crisis. They desperately want to make sense of their awful situation so they simply assert that there is a cause. Unfortunately, in the real world, it is actually a lot of work to sort out the differences between concepts like purpose and reason or responsibility and cause. One path people take to opt out of this hard work is to subscribe to the philosophy that “ours is not to reason why but to do and die.”
Psalm 139:6-8
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
It does not follow that if God is all seeing and all knowing that God is all causing. To make that leap requires two steps. One is to account for the freedom that God has given us in God’s love for us. The other is to acknowledge that our ability to understand what “cause” means to God may well be insufficient. Interpreting “all things work for the good” in Romans 8:28 as a statement of universal causation is also a big leap. Again, I wish to grab another entry that we examined a few pages previously. It may well be that everything happens for a reason but before you decide and act upon what you think that reason is, “think it possible that you may be mistaken.” Bypassing this hesitation may well be the equivalent of eating the forbidden fruit of Genesis Chapter 2.
Proper 5
June 9, 2024
Graveyards are full of indispensable people
This adage is similar to “a little piece of churchyard fits everyone.” It speaks to our common fate of death and a reminder that none of us is irreplaceable nor indispensable. This is true even though we often believe ourselves to be both of those. I attended my 30th high school reunion and stood next to a classmate I had not spoken to since graduation. As we looked at a memorial wall of our classmates who had died, he casually said to me, "No surprises there," and I looked back in horror. He quickly clarified, explaining that he had heard of all the deaths. Fortunately, he was not saying what I understood him to mean, that they were all the "type" of people you would expect to die young. Sadly, this says more about me than it does about him.
Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
I grew up in an era where it seemed an obligation for mothers to tell their children, “Even the Queen has to sit and pee.” It was the great equalizer: Having to relieve oneself was a human's fate whether you were the Queen of England or the lowest of society. Indeed, this verse from Genesis, often quoted in burial rituals, includes the same suggestion. Whenever we are tempted to think too much of ourselves, we are reminded that we are but mud until Spirit is breathed into us. The graveyard, like the toilet, awaits us all. At a recent Quaker meeting a Friend offered the following vocal ministry which puts a cosmic and delightfully positive spin. “We are all stardust. Carbon and oxygen, which we are all made of, are produced the explosion of stars.”
Proper 6
June 16, 2024
No matter what kind of web a spider weaves, it still takes a spider to weave a web.
Most fiction causes us to wonder about the fact beneath the fiction. Samuel Butler spent twenty years in the late 1800s writing The Way of All Flesh laid it on the line clearly, "Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself, and the more he tries to conceal himself the more clearly will his character appear in spite of him. I may very likely be condemning myself, all the time that I am writing this book, for I know that whether I like it or not I am portraying myself more surely than I am portraying any of the characters whom I set before the reader." It seems to be a safe assumption that most things we say and do reveal something about who we are.
2 Corinthians 5:17
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away;
see, everything has become new!
The danger in assuming fact within fiction comes when we allow our conclusions to limit others so we cannot see change, growth and new beginnings. I remember having a friend tell me that he had never lived with his wife or had sex with her before marriage because he had become a new creation, citing this verse, and it was not him who lived with his wife before he became a Christian. A few expressions came quickly to my mind. Namely, "whatever floats your boat" and "to each his own." If that was important for him, who was I to argue? Where I experienced the power of this verse was when I served on a reserve for 7 years on a small reserve (400 resident members) in Northern British Columbia. Many people had been pigeonholed at a very young age or by an indiscretion in early adulthood and it followed them forever no matter how their life had evolved. Many grasped this verse to cope. Even though others would not acknowledge who they were, they could themselves and they could trust in God's affirmation, on a daily basis. For those of us who have moved around enough, that such lifelong biases do not follow us, it is hard to imagine what a burden such prejudice can be.
Proper 7
June 23, 2024
Question Authority
I had these words on a bumper sticker on the back of my 1977 Dodge Monaco. Border crossing officers consistently found it worthy of comment, and often more than just comment. Timothy Leary, the LSD guru, is associated with this phrase. While others, including Carl Sagan and J.K. Rowling, have used these words, "Think for yourself and question authority" sums up Leary's teaching in a nutshell. He talks about the opportunities that we have in our contemporary culture, rather than a hunter-gatherer society where there are only two ways to think: hunter and gatherer. He questions the value of ancient understandings like "the Lord is our shepherd" saying the modern human is not a sheep but an active sensate, thinking, processing being that is free to make choices. We are not sheep like at all. His thinking extends to questioning the media (and this was before the Internet became what it is) and its influence and control of our thoughts. We have so many authorities that one would think questioning them is a necessity.
Mark 5:41-42
He took her by the hand and said to her,
“Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!”
And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about
(she was twelve years of age).
At this they were overcome with amazement.
A function of many of the miracle stories is the assertion of Jesus authority. In this case it led to amazement. However one could point to stories such as the cleansing of the temple, told in all four Gospels, to say that it was Jesus’ questioning of authority that led to his death. However, not many years later, the church was teaching the opposite, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities." (Romans 13:1) I have mentioned the importance of timing in other entries in this book. I am not one that adheres much to rules that fit all situations.
Proper 8
June 30, 2024
You can't have your cake and eat it too
Not only is the precise first appearance of these words up for debate, phrases which seem to have similar intent, but use different images, appear in many languages and cultures. For instance, the French say, “You want butter, and the money of the butter” or Italians speak of “having your wine cask full, and your wife drunk.” These aphorisms all play on a situation where you clearly have two choices but are forced into one or the other. You cannot select both; you can't have it both ways.
2 Corinthians 8:15
“The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little.”
Viewed through the eyes of this verse, in its context of Paul teaching the faithful to be generous, having your cake and eating it too is simply a case of “having too much” that might also, in turn, cause someone else to “have too little.”
Proper 9
July 7, 2024
Don’t wash your laundry in public
Whether it be laundry, linen or clothes, the phrase has the same meaning: Keep your problems to yourself. It is the opposite of the straightforward advice to not keep secrets. To live out the advice could well involve intentional deceptions, if not barefaced lies. Of course, successive generations have found great entertainment in people washing their laundry on national television. Gerry Springer and copycat shows have had great success knowing that many are quite prepared to share the most intimate parts of their life in return for their “fifteen minutes of fame.”
2 Corinthians 12:10
Therefore I am content with weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions,
and calamities for the sake of Christ;
for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
One could be both delighted and private about their problems, or “blessed” in their hardship (Matthew 5:3) and private about those blessings. However, these verses and others like them (2 Corinthians 11:30) encourage us to not find shame in our life's struggles. Rather, we are to “boast of our weakness.” As such, we should not be afraid of what others see. To push the metaphor, if our laundry needs doing, we should do it, for “The Lord [and the Lord only] is our judge” (Isaiah 33:22a). Such readiness to show weakness can be truly shocking in a world where such candid assessment is foreign.
Proper 10
July 14, 2024
What do you know?
With the right tone, this question is a statement and the meaning is clear. This conversation is over! You don't know Jack! What is done is done! The Latin Roma locuta est, causa finita est translates as "Rome has spoken. The case is concluded." These words are constantly cited as coming from St. Augustine and his Sermon 131 in particular. They are not there and there is no record of him having said such a thing. There are lots of ways to dismiss someone else out of hand. Many of them colorful.
Ephesians 1:7-10
In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.
With all wisdom and insight
he has made known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth.
If I could meet anyone in history I would probably choose Paul. His words, superficially and through the lens of modern individualism can read profoundly arrogant. The verses above if claimed by one person over another are just that. However, Paul is not claiming that he is “all that and a bag of chips.” Quite the opposite he is saying that we are nothing on our own but these powerful gifts of the spirit are available to all. Seeing it this way, we can have the insight and confidence to never feel the need to dismiss another outright, not to fear that the same will happen to us. He speaks of an open heart and mind that celebrates God’s freedom to work through us all and bestow gifts in God’s own economy, not ours.
Proper 11
July 21, 2024
.No rest for the wicked
There is another saying tells us that the weary are also without rest. Do the weary and the wicked find each other in their fatigue? What if you are both wicked and weary? Sadly, we live in a world with many people in need of rest, and they are not limited to only the wicked and the weary.
Isaiah 57:20-21
But the wicked are like the tossing sea that cannot keep still; its waters toss up mire and mud.
There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.
While this translation says peace rather than rest, the likely origin of the phrase we know is Isaiah 57:21. The word lā•rə•šā•‘îm is found at several places in the scriptures in various forms and translated here and consistently in other places as wicked. Presumably wicked describes someone who unceasingly opposes God rather than someone who simply "misses the mark" which is the literal meaning of the word we know as "sin." Perhaps we can turn this expression on its head and take a clue that when we feel we have no rest, that we may just be involved in wickedness and not just weariness.
Proper 12
July 28, 2024
Think it possible that you may be mistaken.
This sentiment is often expressed with slightly more confrontational language such as the rhetorical question, “Are you a freaking idiot?”Oliver Cromwell is known for having written to the Church of Scotland in 1560 trying to avoid war with the Scots saying, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.” Cromwell's name is given to the Cromwell Rule in statistics which asks that statistical analysis make room for the “highly improbable.” It is unlikely, but possible, that British Quakers are directly quoting Cromwell in their Advices and Queries. Advice and Query number 17 provides the opportunity for reflection on respect in general and concludes with the sentence, “Think it possible that you may be mistaken.”
Psalm 14:2-3
The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.
They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.
If you like gentle language, then you probably like the query, “Think it possible you are mistaken.” If you are more direct in your speech, you probably would choose words like “there is no one who does good.” Both the psalm and the query and many words like it are in fact a serious call to humility when we consider ourselves to be certain.
Proper 13
August 4, 2024
The best things in life are free
These words are common in lyrics to multiple generations. They are the title to a song written in 1927 for the musical, The Good News. The song lists all kinds of beautiful things including the moon, stars, flowers and birds. In 1957, the early rock and roll hit, Money used the same catchphrase but in a sarcastic tone, as it names money as being better than things. In 1992 Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross had a hit with a new song by the name, The Best Things in Life are Free, in which these words extol the delights of romantic love. I guess we are overdue for another generation's take on these words!
Ephesians 4:7-8
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore it is said,
“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.”
If I had to choose one verb to describe what God does I would likely choose either giver or gifter. Verses like the one above lead me to this way of thinking. In the same way, a verb for God’s creation is receiver. We do not earn grace, We do not earn our talents or abilities and we do not gain reward for anything but God’s love for us all. Yet, our merit based social structure causes us to put such a false identity on God and rob us from the clarity that the best things in life, emanating freely from a self giving God, are indeed free.
Proper 14
August 11, 2024
Never go to bed angry
This commonly quoted advice was added to by comic Phyllis Diller, who added the words, "stay up and fight." This advice can be found in the Bible, in Ephesians 4:26. Paul may well be quoting a proverb that circulated previously. Although often quoted as marriage advice, Paul is speaking about neighbours (4:25) and distinguishing anger from sin, which he implies can come when we act on our anger. The problem is letting anger fester and build, rather than letting it go, presumably through prayer and ritual.
Ephesians 4:26
"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
This is verse is completed with the words "and do not give the devil a foothold." Anger, it is implied, leaves us open to temptation. There is a story that circulates that says we all have a "good wolf" and a "bad wolf" inside us and we should "never feed the bad wolf." Taking anger to bed with you is a way of feeding the bad wolf.
Proper 15
August 18, 2024
There is no such thing as a free lunch
This phrase is often attributed to economist Milton Friedman.But it comes from a time and place where bars and taverns actually did give out free lunches to entice people into their establishments. Retail continues to use "loss leaders," offering great deals on some things, like pop and chips, to get you to buy more expensive items while you are there. Not long ago I was going to a baseball game in Minneapolis and parked in a “free parking lot.” There is only free parking on a Monopoly©board, I thought, as we went into the bar next door to “register” as instructed. You guessed it. A 15-dollar order was needed to get the “free” parking. “Not free but a bargain at twice the price,” I said as I ordered dinner.
Ephesians 5:15-16
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise,
making the most of the time, because the days are evil.
I have said repeatedly in this book that grace is defined by its free and unqualified nature. Yet, when we experience grace we are bowled over by it and we naturally feel grateful. Gratefulness can take many valid forms but at its heart, gratitude is making productive use of what we receive. This is what Paul writes to the Ephesians encouraging them in“making the most of the time.” Paul sets up this response as the “cost” of the grace we receive. There is such a fine line between responding freely in appreciation and responding in a contractual way, so as to “keep the grace coming.” The image I prefer is to let the grace pass through you so you have room for more. As such, I am siding with the idea that the Bible is full of free lunches.
Proper 16
August 25, 2024
God is good.
In his book of quotations from the mystical traditions, Matthew Fox attributes the phrase "God is voluptuous and delicious" to Meister Eckhart. The phrase God is Good is used within many African American churches as a call and response with the other half being "All the Time." One can say these words and mean them. One can say these words and not mean them. One can also say these words and hope to mean them.
Psalm 34:8
O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
I was over 50 before I ever had the chance to go into a store and buy a bed. Beds are private places so to lie down on a bed with my wife in a store to imagine that is where we will spend a third of our time in remaining years together felt a little awkward. The sales people, while being confident that their customers will not do what people sometimes do in beds, offer a respectful space while this testing is going on. It is as if the salesperson said "taste and see that the bed is good" and then walked away, certain that it was good and all they had to do was wait for us to choose and buy. The Psalmist, Meister Eckhart, Matthew Fox and many others have figured out this approach with God. No amount of argument, coercion or logic will ever match our experience, our tasting, of God's goodness.