Cana Up-close and Personal!

This Sunday, the Gospel is the Wedding at Cana: here are my reflections. 

A few years ago my niece, Debbie, and her husband-to be, John, invited me to do the “reflection” at their wedding ceremony.  I was thrilled and honored.  However, to gather their sacred story, I asked if I could interview them before hand. They accepted my request and this is what we did.  

The three of us met one evening of which I had two pitchers placed in front of them.  One was filled with water, the other one empty. When we settled in, we prayed and then began our sharing. Each time either one answered, they poured water into the empty pitcher until it was filled to the brim.  
Here are a few of the questions I asked them: 
• John, what are the gifts that you see Debbie brings to your marriage?  
• Debbie, what are the gifts that John brings to your marriage?
• John, how does Debbie help you grow to be a better person?
• Debbie, how does John help you grow to be a better person?
• What are your hopes and values?
• What do you hold sacred in your relationship?

On the day of their wedding, I placed the pitcher filled with the “waters of their friendship” in front of the podium. I also had a second “empty” pitcher along side of the one with water. Thus when I began my “reflections” and re-telling of our night of sharing, I poured some water from one pitcher into the “empty” pitcher.  However, with each pouring of the water into the second pitcher, the water was noticeably turning red like a rich wine!  The crowd began to have a soft hum. 

You see, I had put a large amount of red food coloring in the second pitcher and with each addition of water, the “wine” like water began to fill the pitcher. 

I went on to say that as we all witness Debbie and John’s marriage ceremony, we also witness that the “waters of their friendship” were becoming transformed into a rich wine of faith-filled married love.  This transformation continues to deepen for a life time.  And it has – their story continues to spill over with generosity and love for family, friends, relatives, and for all whom they serve through their work and relationships.

So what is the Good News today?

What "waters" in your life are waiting to be transformed?

What is the "rich wine" that you share with family, friends, co-workers, etc., that brings healing, hope, compassion, peace, or forgiveness?

Jesus' Baptism~ A purpose driven life!

Baptism of Christ by Dave Zelenka 2005

In 2002, Baptist pastor, Rick Warren published his book, The Purpose Driven Life. In the first year of its publication, there were over 11 million copies sold.  Within 4 years there were over 30 million copies sold and it became an international best seller translated into more than 50 languages. Why was this book so popular? Could it be that in today’s pop culture and social networking the messages that come to us are - we don’t have enough, we are not good enough, and we are not enough – which leaves people “wobbly within” and anxious to have someone help them understand God’s purpose and path for their lives?  Or could it just be that we fear to slow down, to become quieted, and still  - attempting to avoid pondering the questions that everyone eventually faces in life, which are: Why am I here?  What is my purpose?

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus has been walking around with the same questions – yet something happened to Jesus when he was baptized. He was changed – charged – transformed! Something spectacular happened – the heavens opened, the Spirit came upon him, and there was cloud-talk with a voice that said, “You are my beloved. With you I am well pleased.” Nothing like high drama and special effects to get our attention! With these intimate and consoling words, Jesus was changed forever and charged with the energy of the Spirit as he came up from the waters of the Jordan  His purpose was revealed. His mission was announced. No discernment or searching needed. All he need do in his short earthly life is to become it – his mission, his purpose!! As John Dear writes: “God does not mince words or make small talk. God gets right to the heart of the matter.”

As baptized followers of Jesus, we, too, stand in readiness, in vulnerability, in authenticity as we hear in our depths that God says to each one of us, “You are my beloved.”  We, too, are charged by the Spirit to claim, accept, honor, and embrace who we are – for we are beloved!

This being beloved carries personal, spiritual, social, interpersonal, and global implications. If we are willing to take this seriously, it means that we as God’s beloved have to be open to the awesome and wonderful news that every other human being in the world is also a beloved daughter or son of God – it means that we are all one; we are all chosen; we are all called to bring sight to the blind, release to those held captive, light to those who wander in darkness, and justice to those who are oppressed.

As followers of Jesus, we share in his baptism, his ministry, his death and resurrection. It means that just as Jesus heard the cloud-talk-affirmation, “You are my beloved,” God says to each of us, “You are my beloved.” God is loving us, affirming us; God is delighting in us, and calling all of us into our true Self, and to our true purpose.

Something to Ponder: “We stop searching for purpose, we become it.” ( I Will Not Die An  Unlived Life by Dawna Markova)



Holy Stubbornness!

A short while ago, I participated in a spiritual direction instruction on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises with other participants who were entering into their second year of ministry preparation as spiritual directors. As I began to listen to the presenters speaking of meditation, they invited us to imagine ourselves at the birth of Jesus and present in the stable. I found myself resisting this form of prayer and I said to myself, “This is not how I pray. I am not comfortable with this form of meditation. The fewer the words, thoughts, and images, the better for me to be just present to the Presence.” Well, God thought otherwise. Somehow I was given a sacred nudge to just try it and open myself to the grace of the moment and the Gospel. The reflection below is the result of my struggle - God loves us even when we “act up” or “act out” as God delights and dares to move in and through our holy stubbornness.

Servant Freed! 

I stand in the darkened fissure of the stable,

lit only by the glowing face of the boy-child.

Parent eyes glistening with holy wonder,

while heavened stars point to

mangered Messiah.

I listen, I wonder, I breathe,

for I am only servant.

I stand in the darkened temple portico

observing those of the Law encircling

the teacher-child.

His face radiates with

purpose and passion about God’s call!

I listen, I wonder, I breathe,

for I am only servant.

I stand in the Cana garden among

the six stoneware water jars.

His mother moving his mission,

“Do whatever he tells you.”

Waters of purification touched

with words of transformation

become intoxicating wedding wine.

Speak these words over me . . .

fill me to the brim with courage as

I listen, as I wonder, as I breathe,

for I am only servant.

I stand along the steep grassy edges of the

partial rocky hillside,

His face emits energy with each spoken,

“Blessed are you!”

I listen, I wonder, I breathe,

for I am only servant.

I stand in the upper room, corner-concealed,

yet his eyes beckon me to move

within his touch.

His carpentered hands accept each foot

as with the artistry of fitting rough hewn wood.

With tender, soothing, healing – intimate

knowing, he bends to wash my feet.

Upon this embrace - God-light, God-love

streams into my very soul-

I listen and hear within me:

Untie her.

What do you want me to do for you?

Pick up your mat.

I do not condemn you.

You are worth more than many sparrows.

You are no longer servant – you are friend.

I wonder, I breathe . . .

 sjh

Epiphany 2013! - Part II

This moment is an “epiphany moment” – there is a sudden spiritual intuitive awareness, a flash of insight that God has come to more than the people of Israel – God is shining forth to all peoples – a “showing off” of God’s unconditional love of all people through the smile and laughter of a tender new born baby.

Now after they experience looking upon God’s face, there is a newer and deeper awareness of being welcomed, accepted, and loved.  They realize that their encounter with Jesus truly changes them and they now see life differently.  Could it be that their past efforts at searching constellations, charts, maps, wisdom figures, and robed rulers for knowing certainties will no longer give them what they truly desire?

God whispers to them in their dreams and warns them of the danger they will meet if they return to Herod.  Having been in the presence of God, they discover that they need to let go of old routes of travel and return home another way.  They leave with new inner knowing; they are filled with joy and awe and try to hold the meaning and mystery of this personal encounter with one who is beyond all galaxies, the Prince of Peace!

This feast reveals to us that for God there are no foreigners, no strangers, no aliens and no outsiders.  We all belong to our God no matter what external physical or cultural difference there may be between us; we all belong to God no matter what religious convictions or lifestyle differences there may be between us.  Our God is inclusive, unpredictable, imaginative, compassionate, creative, and an “infinitely incomprehensible holy mystery. . . "  This feast means that we are all called to be “epiphany people."  There is no turning back to “old routes” – just an on-going commitment to “shine forth” with courage, compassion, vision, and hope.

For reflection!
• What are the stars in our lives and to what is God calling us at this time?  Is there a star that beckons to lead us where we would choose not to go?
• Where does God want us to search for new Bethlehems and new Nazareths for our world so that we will discover how to live in right relationship with all creation, to dialog toward peacemaking, and to live in harmony with others, no matter under what faith constellation they live?
• Let us be grateful for the wise-women and wise-men in our lives who have been the star-gazers of truth, the whispers of compassion, forgiveness, and hope and who have brought to us their gift of a listening heart.

 

Epiphany 2013! - Part I

“At the heart of Christian faith is the almost unbelievable idea that the infinitely incomprehensible holy mystery of God does not remain forever remote but draws near in radical proximity to the world.” (Elizabeth Johnson, Quest for the Living God)

We celebrate this Sunday the feast of the Epiphany (Little Christmas) in honor of the incomprehensible, unspeakable nearness, and holy mystery of God as manifested to the Gentiles.  This Gospel  story http://usccb.org/bible/readings/010613.cfm  has the makings of a Hollywood movie with high drama, a plot which features desert travel, guiding stars, divine dreaming, a dark force of threatening danger accompanied with the shadows of envy, revenge, and power. And in contrast,  a vulnerable new born child.

These Magi were Gentiles from the Persian priestly class from the East, which is present day Iraq and Iran.  They were wisdom figures, interpreters of dreams, star-gazers, who observed the movements of the plants and stars.  Scholars do not know which star they saw, but it spoke to them about the entry of a king into the world.  They traveled to Jerusalem thinking that the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies was to be found there.

The Magi confront King Herod, telling him that they seek a new ruler – a new Light – a new Truth! This does not go over well with Herod.  He gets distressed when he hears of their intentions.  The Gospel story continues to reveal Herod’s secret meeting with the Magi, desiring his need to find this new born king, but it is only false piety, arrogance, paranoia, and hate that rule his heart.

The Magi continue their trek across deserts, without any assistance of Map Quest, or a spiritual GPS – with only the light of an extraordinary star which stops over the place where the child is in the small insignificant town of Bethlehem.  This drama continues to reveal that they entered the home, finding Jesus in the arms of his mother - they are filled with joy at the sight!!

Creator of the Stars; God of Epiphanies, You are the Great Star; You have marked our paths with light; You have filled our sky with stars naming each star,
Guiding it until it shines into our hearts; Awakening us to deeper seeing, new revelations, and brighter epiphanies (Author ~ Macrina Wiederkehr)

To Be Continued:

Happy New Year ~ 2013!

The story is told that the little Alice was captivated with the stories of Jesus, especially the eventual death of Jesus on the cross.  And she was overjoyed when she was chosen to be an angel in the school nativity play.  She learned her lines to perfection.  However, little Alice was known to add her own logic to every situation.  So the nativity play was well under way and when it was Alice’s turn to say her lines to Mary, she said: “Don’ t   worry, Mary, you will have a lovely baby and you will call him Jesus.”  Then she added, “But I wouldn’t get too attached to him ‘cos he’ll be gone by Easter.”

Isn’t it amazing how certain voices keep us grounded in truth and cause us to ponder, reflect, review, or even reframe our lived realities?  Certainly this feast of the Solemnity of Mary, calls us, like Mary, to ponder all the “joyful and sorrowful mysteries” of our own lives.  And yet, not to get too attached to them because they are only stepping stones that gently move us forward with courage, hope, imagination, new insight, and wisdom into this new year of 2013!

In our Gospel, we see that Mary and Joseph are transients, equivalent to the homeless of our city streets.  In this setting, Mary, a young woman in a patriarchal society brought her child into the world without the security of a home.  She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, the traditional Palestinian way of protecting a newborn, and laid him in a manger.
Mary was very much like the majority of women in the world today; she was a peasant from a small village; she was poor, exploited by the rich; she had to pay taxes to Caesar, to Herod, and to the temple.  She was like many people in our world today, especially women in Asia, Africa, and Latin America - in all those tiny villages where women work 10 or more hours a day on domestic chores – fetching water, gathering wood, and preparing meals.

In our Gospel, Luke is telling us that Mary was someone who throughout her entire life pondered, reflected, and listened deeply to God.  In her pondering, she let go of control, and trusted deeply, and was open to all possibilities.  She allowed God’s love to direct her life rather than letting her fears catapult her into illusion and darkness.

Today is also World Day of Peace – a day to ponder the new Bethlehems and new Nazareths that are happening in us where the Divine can find a home within us and within our world once again. 

So let us pray:
• That like Mary, we may risk moving to the margins, and let God direct and guide us as we walk this New Year’s path perhaps finding ourselves needing to go gently, and learning to hum in the darkness for comfort and courage.

• That God will truly look us full in the face, smile upon our efforts at peace and justice for all, and shine upon our world and bless us .

• That like Mary, may God grace us in our attempts to hold, keep, treasure, and toss together our ponderings, act on them and give birth to deep peace in our hearts, our homes, our church, our government, and in our world.

Season of Gladness

Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
Into this climate of fear and apprehension,
Christmas enters.  It is the season of gladness.

This is the season of gladness; the season of smells of bayberry and cinnamon, songs, and poetry.  This is the season of stories of hope, faith, forgiveness, generosity, light, healing, and homecoming.  Some say stories are medicine and that they have power – we need only listen, be attentive and receptive. “Stories are crucial to our sense of well-being, to our identity, to our memory, and to our future.”

Our God has truly entered the human condition; a condition that is not all clean and lovely, warm and welcoming as Hallmark Christmas cards would have us believe.  As one author writes, “Our secular, consumer society has usurped much of the wondrous mystery of it all from under us.  Have we not, as well, sanitized the whole scene? Have we not softened the rough straw with Downy, sprayed a fragrance to cover the smells of the animals; silence the cries of Mary in childbirth; tranquilized Joseph in his fear as he heard the first cries of this baby boy?”

We are made for these times as a people, a church, a nation, a world ~ we are made for these times and called, invited, chosen, and challenged to not only sing of peace, not only to speak of peace -  but BE peace.  Blessings of comfort and joy to you and yours!