March 19, 2014

It is certainly lovely to contemplate the Parable of the Sower – to think about planting seeds and working the soil and having something grow – in these dreary waning days of winter! 

The Parable of the Sower is the first of several parables related by Mark.  Jesus tells of a man sowing seeds, casting them in handfuls as he walked along.  The seeds fell on several different surfaces with varying degrees of success.  Some were strewn along a path and eaten up by birds; some could not grow deep roots because they were in shallow, rocky ground and thus withered away; some got caught up in thorns and any growth was choked before it could bear fruit; but some seed fell on good soil and yielded a good crop “thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 

Jesus told this story (from a boat!) to a large crowd that had gathered to hear him speak.  When the crowd dispersed, alone with the disciples and a few other followers, he explained the purpose of his parables, as well as the specific meaning of the Parable of the Sower.  Jesus, of course, is the Sower, and he is sowing the word.  And like the seed sown on different surfaces, the word will be heard by different people with varying degrees of success.  Some will turn a deaf ear; some will be ‘fair weather friends’ who lose faith when things go wrong; some will be too interested in material gain and be distracted; and some will “hear the word and accept it and bear fruit.”

 The Parable of the Sower is also a very fitting reading to consider for Lent, when we take a step back and reflect on our own personal spiritual journey.  There are obvious questions to ask: “What kind of soil am I?” “What about the soil of the people around me?”  “Can I ever change my rocky ground to good soil?”

If you really stop to think about it, you might be surprised by the answers you come up with.  I’d like to think I’m pretty good soil, most of the time; but I certainly recognize myself in the other categories as well.

The good news is that it’s not as cut and dried as in the parable.  If you’re on a bad path, the Sower can show you a better one.  If things are rocky for you right now, the Sower is with you to help remove those rocks, turn over the dirt and try again.  If you are stuck in some thorns, the Sower can cut those thorns back and pull you out.  And if you are blessed enough to be good soil from the start, then the Sower will help you keep it that way, “thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

March 18, 2014

Psalm 62:5 “For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.”  

Again, I am drawn to words about silence.  The idea of my soul waiting in silence for God makes me think about the busyness in my life and those around me. I signed up for the fall book study that Karen did online. I managed to read one chapter. For the Lenten book study I bought the book and haven’t yet cracked it open. I’m not going to the Lenten Quiet day; too busy. But when I am “too busy” is just when I should go; just what my soul wants and needs.

A long time ago I decided I was not going to give things up for Lent. For me, giving up chocolate doesn’t add meaning to Lent. What does work for me is doing something; daily readings at breakfast usually work best. I’ve been pretty faithful with the readings this year. It’s usual a quick read, a “hmm, that was interesting” and then getting on with my day. As I write this, I think it’s time to add another layer to the readings, to sit for 5 minutes in silence, to let the words sink in, not mull them over and decide what they mean to me or how I can incorporate the “theme” into my life, but just sit in silence and see what happens. In the words of the Collect: “Grant us so to hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them”.

- Laura Caswell

March 17, 2014

AM Psalm 56, 57, [58]; PM Psalm 64, 65 
Gen. 41:46-57; 1 Cor. 4:8-20(21); Mark 3:7-19a

The readings appointed for today are a good example of how the Word can comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.  In Genesis, Joseph is recognizing that God has made him ‘fruitful in the land of (his) misfortunes.’  In the Psalms, David is hiding from his enemies, and is comforted by God’s presence.  In Mark, people crowd around Jesus to be healed.  And when there are too many, Jesus multiplies his availability by choosing apostles.  But 1 Corinthians is different. The Corinthians already have all they want, and they are being admonished.

The use of the word “admonish” implies that Paul is warning us, “especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner.”  He’s not trying to be harsh or critical; he does not want to shame us.  He is appealing to God’s beloved people.  And what is his appeal?  To be wary of arrogance.  (Tough word, isn’t it?  Arrogance.  Now, that would be a good thing to give up for Lent.)  It seems to me that when arrogance takes hold, we don’t feel the need to seek.  We’re not hungry, we’re not sick, we’re not afraid.  We’re good, thanks.  We’ve got this. 

This is when Paul’s warning is for us.  This is when we are in danger of turning away and relying on our own resources.  This is when we become lost.  This is when habits born out of need are set aside.  We begin to feel removed and distant.  We go through the motions without engaging our hearts and minds.  It’s hard to get connected again, and we forget.

Lent is a good time to remember.  “Re-member” and reconnect with God, and with the “saints” who have been placed around you, even if all is well right now.  Remember the peace you felt in God’s presence when you were hungry, sick, or afraid.  Remember that, when the destroying storms came, as they did for David in Psalm 57, you were able to say, “Most High, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” 

~Sue Bastardo

Second Sunday in Lent - March 16, 2014

Fountain of life and source of all goodness, you made all things and fill them with your blessing; you created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance.  -Eucharistic Prayer D, BCP p. 373

Near my office, I watched the construction of a new bank building. After the preliminary framing, the first part of the building constructed was the bank's vault. It was clear from the very beginning that the vault represented the essence of the building's purpose.

In our spiritual lives, we rarely have the luxury of starting from scratch, of determining the core of what we do so that everything else can be built around it. Our lives grow in many directions, stretched thin by conflicting priorities, demands, and relationships. Rather than beginning with the vault, most of us build and fill countless other aspects of life and then try to place God in the center.

Eucharistic Prayer D offers a statement of the vault of Christian faith, the essence of what we do in our faith lives. In the prayer, we say, "Fountain of life and source of all goodness, you made all things and fill them with your blessing." We go on to say, "You created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance."

Those words tell us that God alone should be found in the innermost vault, the heart of the disciple. Remembering God as the "fountain of life and source of all goodness" means that God remains at the center of life. No earthly harm can come to a person whose life flows from the knowledge and love of God in Christ.

Today, and every day of our lives, even the most faithful and disciplined follower of Jesus Christ will navigate a life filled with demands. But we can fully and passionately seek God armed with this key guideline: We have to remember to build the vault first.

God, let all priorities in our lives flow from the fountain of your goodness.


From Disciples on the Way by Carol Mead

March 15, 2014

In past meditations, I have looked at the Old or New Testament Scriptures to find some new insight into an old story.  This time, the Psalms came through with a message so simple and clear that it speaks for itself.   The Psalm is 139, and the message from God is "I am always with you - in the brightest light, and in your darkest hour."   Peace be with you.

7)  Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
8)  If  ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9)  If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10)  even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11)  If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, 
and the light around me become night',
12)  even the darkness is not dark to you:
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

- Ruth Webb

March 14, 2014

In today’s day’s Eucharistic Reading from the Gospels, Matthew 5:20 – 26, I see my life “B.C.”   “Before Christ” brought me “back to my Baptism” I often wondered, “How good was good enough?” Not having been well instructed in scripture as a youngster, especially in the aspects of in the efficacy of Christ’s atonement and God’s grace, I struggled because I believed God was someone whom I never could please.  

 

In those days, this passage from Matthew didn’t help. It seemed to echo the fact that I best be right not only with God but with all humanity. In the day to day teenage angst of those times, it seemed that I was always at odds with someone:  parents, siblings, friends, coaches, as well as some of those in the political structure of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. I could never put everything right with my “brother” (or sister) before I approached a worship service on a Sunday. It seemed inevitable that I would reject this type of faith, a faith that seemed to say, you can “never be good enough”, out of shear frustration.  Yet something held me; enabled me to keep seeking. I hear that same song of grace that encourages me to search, coming from today’s Eucharistic Readings in Psalm 130:

³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.

Then, in my twenties, the Holy Spirit’s “something” that kept me seeking, allowed me to get a taste of that grace. The Spirit gave me just enough of understanding that my sins were forgiven in the atonement and dispersed the worst of the dense of the fog regarding who God is in my mind. Somehow, I experienced the same expression of God’s grace that held me to Him when I was a four year old and knew, that “Jesus loves me, this I know.  For the Bible tells me so…..” 

Yet, in these readings, I am grateful to be reminded of the infinite reaches of God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice. I see how extensive and how encompassing the Law really was in its revelation of what constituted sin. It prepares me for a greater celebration, with an attitude of gratitude, as I approach the superlative atonement on Good Friday and the joys of the Resurrection. I see “the forecast” of things to come in Eastertide and beyond as Psalm 130 concludes:

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
⁸ It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.

March 13, 2014

Genesis 39:1-23

The reading from Genesis for today is part of the story of Joseph. He was that young man that was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and arrived in Egypt, and eventually saved his family from famine. OK, so that is really over simplified, but we are only dealing with the portion of the story for today. Joseph has made it to Egypt. He is in the “employ” of Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, and has been given responsibility for everything that is his masters. This is because Potiphar noticed that the Lord made prosper everything in Joseph's hands. Whatever Joseph did, he did knowing that the Lord was watching him and watching out for him. No matter what Joseph did, he did it with faith in God, and according to God's law. When Potiphar's wife tried to get Joseph to betray his master, he would not. So she accused him and he was sent to prison.  In prison the same situation happens. The chief jailer recognizes the same thing about Joseph that Potiphar had. The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.  Joseph once again ends up with privileges and responsibilities because of his faith in action. This is all God asks of any of us, live every day as if God was watching and taking notes, because he is.  Live our lives according to God's law and the Lord will be with us too.