What is your priority?

 Based on Luke 9:51-62, the lectionary text for Sunday, June 26 - Pentecost III.

Rabbi Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem.  He knew His mission.  It was to challenge empire and its values of Greed, lust for Power and desire for Status.  It was to challenge hatreds.  It was to challenge the seat of corrupt Political, Economic, Military and Spiritual power and control.  It was to gather people who would demonstrate in front of and caricature the powerful of Rome.  It was to cleanse the Temple of the corrupt, greedy practices of false teachers.  It was to offer the ultimate sacrifice in the name of Agape Love as an example of what it means to be faithful to God and Neighbor.

I would submit that that is the mission of anyone who would profess to follow Rabbi Jesus.  Giving up personal comfort and gain, re-defining family and staying laser focused on the mission of living Agape Love in the face of empire and its values takes constant, consistent commitment and focus.  Having other priorities renders that mission irrelevant.  The world has had enough of the values of empire.  The divisions, despair, desolation, destruction and death caused by the living of empire values is quite apparent in the world in which we live.  The Way of Rabbi Jesus, the Way of Agape Love in the world is the only real, sustainable way for us to exist and hope to exist in the future.

What is your priority?  Is it your personal comfort and security?  Is it keeping the normative social mores of our time in order to fit in or "get along?"  Is it to get everything you can for yourself, your own and those just like you?  Is it to have power and control over others so that you can manipulate or exploit them, or even destroy their lives in hatred?  Is it to appear to be better than everyone else and reap the benefits of some false sense of your superiority that others are duped into believing?  Is your priority in life to promote the ways of empire and benefit from them at the expense of others in the world around you?  Or is it to transform the world around you in the living of Agape Love, to transform individual lives and communities by living an example of self-less, other-centered, communally responsible commitment that benefits all, equally?

One way leads to more of the same inequity, inequality, inhumanity, incivility, insanity, injury and destruction.  The other leads to sustainable life, unity, joy and peace.

What is your priority?  What will you put out in the world around you, the world in which you must live with the rest of us?  Will it lead to destruction or transformation?

Is it all about the swine?

 

Luke 8:26-39 is the lectionary Gospel text for Pentecost II on Sunday, June 19.

 

Jesus went to a largely non-Jewish region.  A man, marginalized by society because of his behavior, even being shackled and chained, met Jesus there.  The demons within him called Jesus out, and after giving Jesus their name, begged Jesus not to send them back to their confinement under God’s control.  They instead wanted to go into a herd of swine after being cast out of the man.  Jesus allowed it, and they ran the herd into the water and were drowned.  Jesus restored the man.  The man could now return to his life and life in the community.  It was a great spiritual victory.

But the swineherds told the people of the city, and they came out to find the man restored to his sanity.  It scared them.  They asked Jesus to leave.

Jesus took the time to engage the demoniac, to diagnose the issue, to consider a solution and to work a care plan for the sake of restoring the man to his life in community.  It was unsettling to some in the community, perhaps because of the cost.

We dare not disturb the status quo, even to bring healing to individuals.  People are scared when they see things that seem to work against their limited imaginations regarding how things work in the world, because they have bought into those things deemed normative in how society works.  Those with mental health issues need to be shunned and marginalized, because there is “nothing we can do about them.”  Those whose behaviors scare us need to be removed from being among us because we do not understand them, nor are we interested in getting to understand them.  That’s just the way it is and needs to be.  You start finding out what the underlying problems are, and the cost could be too great!  You start restoring people to their lives and it could make things uncomfortable or complicated or less profitable for the rest of us.  We can’t have that.

There is a cost to restoring people to Shalom in their lives.  It takes time, energy, effort in learning new ways, and it costs money.  Sending mental healthcare practitioners on calls for disturbances with the police, or instead of them, is much more time consuming and complicated than using brute force and then locking up the "perpetrators" in for-profit prisons or killing them when they respond badly.  It is also more costly of money.  It may mean less money for military-style equipment for those charged with protecting and serving all citizens equally.  Some in communities are calling for such measures because they value human life.  Others in communities are opposing them because they value the status quo and are not willing to pay the cost to restore lives. 

Some are more concerned with restoring people’s lives.

Others are only concerned for the swine.

Jesus taught, commanded and modeled the living of agaph in the world.  Greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others, along with the hatreds they produce, are directly opposed to the living of agaph in the world.

Are you more concerned about living agaph and thus restoring others’ lives because you are following Jesus, or are you more concerned with the swine?

Truth will be declared to you

John 16:12-15 is the Gospel Lectionary text for Trinity Sunday, June 12.

The Spirit of Truth will come and declare all things true, taking what is Jesus' Way and declaring it to us.

Has the Spirit of Truth been seeing what is going on in this Post-Truth, Alternative facts era of ours?  Does the Spirit of Truth see whole TV and Radio networks spreading misinformation and disinformation purposefully in the world?  Does the Spirit of Truth see organized groups of computer hackers and social media influencers purposefully sharing what is false to further their causes of hateful ignorance with the masses?  Does the Spirit of Truth see a whole political party being hi-jacked to spin and twist any semblance of truth to suit their manipulative and exploitative goals?  

Oh, Spirit of Truth, where are you?

Well, it seems to me that the Spirit of Truth is the ultimate influencer.  The Spirit of Truth whispers in our hearts and minds, gives us a nudge and sometimes uses a board across our backsides to confront us with the truth.  The receptors are the problem.  The transmitters are the problem.  

The receptors have turned off their frequencies centered in empathy and compassion, integrity and active commitment to others.  The receptors have been influenced by Empire's propaganda machine and have turned inward, to look only to their own desires.  The receptors in communities, in business, in politics and in church have bought into the idolatries of the age - self.  The receptors filter everything they receive from the Spirit of Truth with, "Does it get me more money, power or status?"  The receptors have been tuned out or turned off from receiving the message of the Spirit of Truth.

The transmitters are too weak sometimes and are full of static at others.  The transmitters are too afraid to share the message of the Spirit of Truth, because it may put them at odds with their "constituents" or friends or family or the public, whose adoration they crave on social media and elsewhere.  The transmitters put out a message that is not the Truth of Jesus' Way, but a jumbled-up mess of messages about Empire and Jesus, to the degree that the Truth of Jesus is lost in its relevance to the Truth.  The transmitters take what is declared by the Spirit of Truth and confound the listeners with their own, mixed messages about wealth, power and status.  The transmitters transmit messages that are not in the Spirit of Truth.

The Spirit of Truth is listening and watching, present and powerful.  Those who desire to know what the Spirit of Truth declares - the truth of Jesus' Way of Agape Love, tune out the other noise and receive it clearly.  Those who desire to transform the world with Jesus' Way of Agape Love broadcast it clearly, with a powerful signal to many around them.  Those who desire to know the Truth of Jesus' Way of Agape Love and transform the world with it are the conduits through which Jesus' Good News is shared, even though others do not transmit that or receive it.  

Are you tuned in?  What are you transmitting out into the world around you? 

Not left Orphaned

 John 14:8-27 is the Gospel Text for Pentecost, June 5.

Jesus OWNED the Word, as the Word made Flesh.  He is the Logos.

Jesus OWNED Peace, not as the world gives (Pax Romana), but REAL SHALOM (completeness, wholeness and well-being for all people, that leads to real peace) for ALL people is that to which Jesus calls us, and that which is produced by living Agape Love with one another.

Those who love Jesus will keep HIS COMMANDMENTS, HIS WORDS.  Jesus' WORD, Jesus' COMMAND is the living of Agape Love in the world.

And Jesus promised not to abandon us, even after His death - that we would not be orphaned.  He promised the Advocate, the Holy Spirit to come IN HIS NAME.  He also OWNS the Holy Spirit.

Now, the Spirit of God was not a new concept.  The Spirit of God is referenced in the scriptures of old.  The difference for those of us who follow Jesus is that the Holy Spirit of God always points to, guides to, leads to, drives us to the Christ.  The Holy Spirit is RELENTLESS, working on us to open our hearts and minds to the Way of Jesus.  You can call the Holy Spirit power, influence or conscience if you like.  I believe that the spiritual reality, presence, power and influence of the Holy Spirit is that which speaks the WORD to our hearts and minds and brings us to find a better way to live with God and Neighbor in Jesus' Way of living with God and Neighbor - the Way of Jesus - the Way of Agape Love (committed action on behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy, and especially the most vulnerable among us).

That is what we celebrate on Pentecost.  First, Shavuot, what became the celebration of the giving of the Ten Commandments on Sinai - God's commanded code for how we are to live with God and Neighbor.  On the celebration of The Word, the Holy Spirit's presence and power were made known, not to damage or destroy life, but to open minds and hearts.  The Holy Spirit is known in UNIFYING the people in the room to see that they hold much more in common than their differences.  The Holy Spirit spoke, and people understood in whatever language they knew, the Word.  The Word is Life.  The Word is Shalom.  The Word is Unity.  The Word is Agape Love.  Community was formed in spite of differences.  Commonalities are the foundation of building that community, in which the people were of one heart and mind, lived in harmony, committed to the well-being of one another and found a new, shared context.

For some, Jesus is just the last prophet who came to give God's Will through God's Word.  For others, Jesus is Son of God, Lord and Savior, the Messiah.  The Spirit of God is the Spirit of God.  Either way, the Holy Spirit, the presence of God, points to Jesus' Way of being children of God - a better way for us, a sustainable way for us and a faithful Way for us - the Way of Jesus in the living of Agape Love.

The whole book of ACTS is a witness to this drawing together around Agape Love, and the wondrous transformations that can take place when people find unity in their commonalities.  

Whatever your ethnicity or faith background, first language or economic class, the Way of Agape Love is the only real, sustainable Way for humanity to survive and thrive.  It is the only faithful Way to live with God, according to Rabbi, Prophet, Savior and Lord Jesus, the Christ.

We are never alone.  God is with us.  That is to be both, a comfort and a reminder of our accountability to God and one another.  We have not been orphaned or abandoned.  It may feel like it sometimes, but the Spirit of God is working on us, within us to bring transformation within each of us, in our communities and in our world.  That transformation can bring sustainable and abundant life if we have minds and hearts open to it.  The world, empire will bring destruction and despair, if we continue to close our minds and hearts to the living of Agape Love.  We have seen the results of that all too clearly.  God is working to help us find the other way, the sustainable way, the justice way, the Way of Agape.

God is working on us.  We need to work on ourselves and show the wisdom of the Way of Agape Love to those around us, in order that the transformation to sustainable living may happen in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.

Last Will and Testament

 John 17:20-26 is the Gospel Lectionary text for Sunday, May 29.

This is Jesus' last Will and Testament before God.  It is His prayer of what He has done in His mission to draw humanity together, and His Will that all humanity be one, even as He and the Father are one.

So much of the witness of Jesus' teachings and commands are about human conduct with one another, along with acts of love that restore people to their well-being and to community, that we must look at this desire of Jesus, expressed here in John's Gospel, as His Will.

I have written, preached and talked about Agape Love being central in the teachings, commands and examples of Jesus, toward the Shalom of all people, for a long, long time now.  I believe that I can spend the rest of my life focusing on that and the perfecting of the living of it, and that I should do so.  The unity expressed here is very touching to me, and profound.  It is the Will of God that we all be unified in that Love, humanity with humanity and humanity with God.

I believe that we have much more in common than we have differences.  We have been taught and conditioned to immediately look at our differences, and that creates a barrier toward unity.  We go into encounters with others looking for what sets us apart, rather than what unites us.  We immediately have barriers to overcome in order for us to come together, learn about each other and form friendships or even civil acquaintanceships with others.  Stereotypes and prejudices immediately cloud our vision of one another, regardless of how much we may have in common.  Some among us have used these superficial differences to pit us one against another, so that they might manipulate us toward their own gain.  It has helped to create huge divisions within our nation and across the world.

Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi, reached out to gentiles, women, lepers, the unclean and even those who opposed Him, teaching and modeling love.  Rabbi Jesus used people of other beliefs as examples of faithfulness to God and healed them.  Rabbi Jesus taught people how to mend the broken relationships they had with God and with one another.  Rabbi Jesus gathered crowds and empowered them, even under the oppressive occupation of empire.  Rabbi Jesus acknowledged the worth of women in a society that de-valued them, and Rabbi Jesus lifted up children as special recipients of God's blessings and ones who are to be protected by adults.  Jesus gave His life for humanity, the ultimate unifying act of Love.  Jesus forgave even those who were executing Him, the ultimate unifying act of Love with enemy.

So, what the church has done over centuries is lift up not just this faith, but particular expressions of this faith, as the only right, legitimate belief system for all time and all people.  Jesus taught, commanded and modeled Love, and the church has taught, commanded and modeled indoctrination and assimilation into a culture of greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others.

We have not honored Jesus' Last Will and Testament.  We have not become one, even among those who profess to follow the same Lord.  We are not united, but are divided - a broken, disjointed body.

I believe it is all about the Agape Love of Rabbi Jesus.  I believe that it is all about that within HUMANITY, and not just certain faiths or ethnicities or cultures or nations.  What we first have in common is our humanity, and the Love that Jesus taught can draw us together regardless of our differences, even of faith.  If it is about LOVE for everyone, then it is faithful to God.  If it is about LOVE for everyone, then it is faithful to Neighbor.

God, whom I believe to wholly other and yet immanent, or more accurately pervasive, is Love.  (I read that somewhere.)

I truly believe what a preacher, preaching among those who did not practice his same faith said, "The Lord is the one within whom I live and move and have my being."

I truly believe the witness of Rabbi Jesus saying, "The Kingdom of God is WITHIN/AMONG you."

I also believe many truths that I have heard and read from countless other belief systems and sacred texts that call for love, unity and peace (Shalom, Eireinei, Salem, etc.).  

In spite of our little differences, let us find our oneness with one another and thus with God, which is the only sustainable way for us to live in Shalom (completeness, wholeness and well-being for all people, which will lead to peace) in this world.

Otherwise, we are doomed to continue on this unsustainable path which leads to despair and destruction.

This is Rabbi Jesus' Last Will and Testament.

We had better start figuring out our own! 

"Those who love me..."

 John 14:(18) 23-29 (31) is the Lectionary Gospel text for Sunday, May 22.

Those who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them... Those who love me will keep my Word... Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives."

This new covenant relationship is built on love.  It is Agape Love - that love that Rabbi Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have witness in the Gospels.  Jesus' commandments were centered on that love.  "Repent and believe in the Good News. You give them something to eat.  Give to everyone who begs from you.  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Do not judge.  Beware of all kinds of greed.  Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep."  These are but a few of the imperatives of Jesus.  The Gospels are full of them - commands for any who would listen and follow Him.

And they are all designed for one thing - to establish or restore Shalom to ALL of God's people.  All people need the completeness, wholeness and well-being of Shalom.  All people need to have enough to sustain them, equal justice, equal opportunities, respect, dignity, equitable treatment and to be valued equally to others.  When those things that make for Shalom are in place, there is peace.  When they are not, then there is no peace.  Indeed, until all have Shalom, truly none have it in the world.

Jesus said that He left them with Peace, His peace, not as the world gives.  The peace they were used to, under which they had lived for a few generations, was the Pax Romana, which was not real peace.  It was coercion, violent occupation, ruthless domination and bringing a people into submission against their will.  It was good for the elites of Rome.  It was bad for everyone else.  Though they "kept the peace," mostly by executing anyone who did anything they didn't like, it was not real Peace.  It was not Shalom or eireinei - completeness, wholeness and well-being for all people that lead to peace.  The greed, lust for power and desire for status that drove empire was not about Shalom for all the people - it was about more and the best for the few.  Jesus called for, taught and commanded a real Shalom for people in the living of Agape Love.  It would alone be the way to restore any sense of Shalom.  It still is the only way.

And those who love Jesus, love the Way of Jesus in Agape Love.  Those who truly love Jesus see the value of the Good News way of living in the world - that it is the only sustainable way for the world, that it is the Way of God for the world.  If we love Jesus, we will keep His commands around Agape Love and keep His Word of Love and Shalom.  If we do not love Jesus' Way, then we do not love Jesus, who was all about this Way for us.  Oh, we can claim that we love Jesus in order that we might gain favor and salvation, but if we do not keep His commands and live His Word, that is by nature a selfish, self-centered love and not Agape Love that means active commitment to the other.  Jesus commanded Agape Love for stranger, enemy and the most vulnerable - committed action on their behalf.  If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments and live His Word.

Because His Word is LIFE.  The only sustainable way of life on this planet is that of Love for One Another.  We have seen what a lack of selfless, unconditional love can do in the world - we have been perfecting that for a generation.  It leads to division, destruction and despair.  That is the way of the world, the way of empire.  Jesus' Way of Agape Love leads to unity, upbuilding, hope and Shalom.  Isn't it time that we give Jesus' Way a chance in the world?  Jesus thought so a couple thousand years ago.  We still have not tried it fully.  But with a new generation comes new hope.  Perhaps THIS is the time that we will choose Agape Love over Apathy and Hatred, choose selfless love over selfish pursuits, choose people over profit, shared power over abuses of power and equality in value of one another over status above others out of a false sense of superiority.  When we choose Agape Love, we will have Shalom, Eireinei, not as the world gives, but as Jesus has given.  Not until then.

How are you known?

 John 13:31-35 is the Gospel lectionary text for Sunday, May 15.

A new command Jesus gave them. 

Loving God with all that one has and loving Neighbor as self was taught and commanded from of old.  Here, we have Agape Love to be lived in the example of Jesus as our command.  Jesus has modeled how we are to love in the world.

All that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us is wrapped up in this Agape Love.  It is the Way of Jesus, and it is the Way for anyone who would follow Jesus.  We are called out (eklesia - church) to live a different life from that lived in the world, in empire.  We are called out to be the followers of Jesus in how we live in this part of God's reign, here and now.  If we are to be followers of Jesus, this must be our Way.  Where Jesus went, we must go.

Jesus said that we will be associated with Him by this love.  It is how others will know that we are His disciples.  Not in that we speak in tongues, worship and praise, tithe, carry big and floppy Bibles, quote the scriptures, point out how pure we are or holy or better than others.  Others will not associate us with Him necessarily because of those things.  Wow is that true!  No. We will be known as Jesus' followers simply by how we actively commit ourselves to the well-being of strangers, enemies and the most vulnerable among us (see Luke 10:25-37).  We will be associated with Jesus, not by our claims or labels, church vocabulary or church social mores, but by our committed actions on behalf of others and their well-being, especially those who are not like us and those most in need. 

There is a whole world of people who have been hurt by those who claim to follow Jesus.  Because of their race or ethnicity, because of their socio-economic status, because of their different faith practice or no faith practice, and because of their sexual orientation many have been hurt by the very people who proport to be followers of the Jesus of Agape Love, who reached out to those marginalized by society and welcomed them as His own.  These people have been judged by those who have claimed the name of Jesus and have been commanded by Jesus not to judge.  They have been shunned by some who claim to love the One who called them to welcome these children of God.  They have been refused forgiveness by those who claim the name of the One who commanded forgiveness and gave it to those who unjustly executed Him.  They have been rejected by those who claim to follow the One who was rejected for their sake.  They have even been hated by the people who claim to follow the Lord of Agape Love.  

And the world has seen this.  Many in the world have seen the example of those who claim to follow Jesus, and they summarily reject to be a part of the institutions that bear Jesus' name.  But there are still those in the movement of Jesus' Way, committed to living the Agape Love that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled as God's Way.  And like in the First Century, when the Apostles actively committed to the living of that Agape by actively committing to the well-being of others in it, many see this Agape Love in action and are drawn to it.  They see a very different Way than the Way of empire and the church within empire, for they see a genuine, faithful living of the values of the reign of God.  It is an uphill climb, because they are labeled as "Christian," just like those who have walked away from Jesus' Way in the institution.  Yet, they persist in living this Agape Love in the Way of Jesus, following Jesus.  Because, ultimately, does being a Christian not mean being identified with the Love of the Christ?  For them, it does.  

I see them.  I know them.  They are known to me to be Jesus' followers because of their Agape Love for others.  I want to be with them, work with them and strive to transform the world with them, for I KNOW that they are followers of Jesus' Way.  I am with them, not in the institution that is a part of the world, but in the movement of Agape Love that addresses the world and works to transform it.  I am thankful for those who are known by their living of Agape Love.

You may proudly proclaim your faith, worship all the time, quote the scriptures, speak in tongues, tithe more than your ten percent and preach from the rooftops if you like.  But it is by this that everyone will know that you are a follower of Jesus, and this alone, according to Jesus - in that you live AGAPE LOVE with one another.  Period.  Everything else is just something else.