Homily for Lent 5, 29 March 2020

Lent 5, Year A, 29 March 2020

Ez 37:12-14; Rom 8:8-11; John 11

What a time we are living in. 

The Coronavirus is plaguing all of humanity, and there is no vaccine. 

There is fear and concern about our safety as societies. 

We are isolated from our family members and wider community.

The economy is plummeting and people’s businesses, jobs and incomes are being lost. 

And yet in the midst of this pandemic, the Church is calling us to reflect upon the new and risen life that Christ offers us in this life AS IT IS; even in this pandemic we are offered new life.

Life is filled with death. Not just mortal death from the Coronavirus and every other means of dying. But so many people live life like the walking dead: like Lazarus’ life in the tomb, like the dry bones of Ezekiel. 

Consumed with: fear, worry, anxiety, restlessness, bitterness, negativity, hatred, jealousy, etc. These are the things that separate us from God, that get in the way of Love and connection.

How many of you can relate to the dry bones of Ezekiel?

How many people feel like they are living in the tomb like Lazarus even in this life? Without meaning, without purpose, without colour, without joy, without love.

In the midst of our dead lives, our disconnected lives, Jesus comes to give us new and abundant life.

Jesus the Son of God has come not only to give us life without end. He has also come to give us abundant life IN THIS LIFE. In this crisis we can still know abundant life. 

[Make reference to the Guatemala team and the joy they experienced in people who have no material things, but faith in the living God.]

Christ can bring us out of the valley of dry bones.

Christ can bring us out of the tomb of death.

Christ can give us life and love IN ABUNDANCE.

To know Christ is to know the Life that is always New, always Becoming. 

And yet even now, in our Lenten pilgrimage…

- knowing the pain and suffering that Jesus will endure for our salvation, 

- knowing the pain and suffering that is so much a part of each of our lives,

- that we can still know Christ’s  abundant life,

-     that we don’t have to live in the spiritless and lifeless valley of dry bones or the darkness of the tomb of death.

In the connectedness and flow that is Christ, we are made free to live Christ’s life of Love in abundance and joy, even in this pandemic.

Jesus says “I am Resurrection and I am life”

“I came so that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”

So Many Faces

God,

You come

to me

in 

so 

many

faces.

When

my heart

is soft

and

my eyes 

are open,

I

see

you

in

every

face.

And

I see

in every

face

a longing

to be 

seen

by 

you

in

me.

11 March 2020

What is Mission?

What is mission?

What is the church’s mission?

The mission is

to know God 

and

to make God known.

The more

one comes to know God

within oneself,

the more 

one comes to know God

within the other.

To know God

within the other,

is

to love and serve God

within the other.

To love and serve God

within the other,

is

the mission of the church.

17 February 2020

The Future Church

My mother, who will be 88 years old in February, recently spent a few days at home with Valerie and myself (mom lives in a Seniors community in Witless Bay). She had a fall the week before her visit, and ended up with some stitches above her eye, a broken nose and a lot of bruising. She has become more frail in her elder years, and with her short term memory loss, a tenderness and compassion is invited in her presence, at the same time eliciting a clear reminder of the unstoppable nature of change and decay. As mom’s physical life inches closer to its end, its essence, continuity, and newness continues in me, in my children, and in their children. There is a universal truth in this one particular family story. This truth is true for all families. This truth is true for all of creation. This truth is true for the Church of Christ. We all share in the one continuous Life that is God, that is ever emerging in new ways disguised as our own evolving lives. God is in our lives as they change. God is in the church as it changes. We need “heart” eyes to see, we need “heart” ears to hear, and to join in the movement of the Spirit.

Like my mom, the institutional church is old, frail and in decay. Change is not only being invited, it is being demanded. And there may be some “short term” institutional memory loss (relatively speaking in the context of the last 2000 years). The institution is not the raison d’etre of the church. The reason the church exists is to support followers of the Way of Jesus. Christianity is not an institution. Christianity is a movement. The church’s remembering of its essence, its continuity and its newness in the Way of Jesus, has everything to do with the new and emerging church. 

Brian McLaren, in his book “The Future of Christianity,” says “This emerging or emergence Christianity will be decentralized and diverse rather than centralized and uniform. In other words, it will have the shape of a movement rather than an institution. It will be drawn together by internal unity of way of life, mission, practices, and vision for the common good.”  That sounds like the church of the New Testament. McLaren goes on to say that Jesus was a non-violent leader who started his movement by saying “follow me.” He recruited diverse disciples, and after learning to open up to the depths of their spiritual hearts, he sent them out to teach and multiply this Loving Way of Life among “all the nations.” It is time to let go of what is no longer relevant nor helpful in living out the Gospel. The Jesus movement is more needed now than ever before. It is time to go deep into the well springs of our spiritual hearts, to let go of all that is passing on the surface, and to re-emerge drenched in the ever new Way of Love. 

The End Times

One of the themes the church reflects on in the early weeks of Advent is “watching and waiting for the coming of the Lord” at the end of time. Daniel 12:1 says “At that time…there will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.” We are culturally living in a “time of distress.” The rate of cultural, institutional and ecological change and uncertainty is mind boggling. There is loss of trust in every form of institution: religious, social, political, and economic. Even our ecosystem is on the precipice of collapse. We are living in a time of great cultural anxiety. And on the margins of a society that is in disarray, the Church is in the “end times” of decline and change. But because of the Incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas, that Christ is in our lives, we have every reason to hope for a new tomorrow. 

Institutions and individual lives ebb and flow with rise and decline. There is a universal pattern that we can notice and apply to our lives and cultures: Order - Disorder - Reorder. You may recognize this pattern in your own life: when things seemed to be going along smoothly (Order); and then you were dealt some great loss (Disorder); and then in time, a new normal emerged for you (Reorder). This same pattern happens historically in the rise and fall of civilizations. And the same has happened and is happening in the church. As a church we are in a time of decline and Disorder. But underneath the surface chaos there is the incarnated Christ, our life, and we will trust in a Reordering in a new and emerging Church. 

We are constantly evolving and changing, and God’s incarnated life in the world is evolving and changing. Ilia Delio encourages us with these words: “On the whole we are not conscious of evolution, and we do not act as if our choices can influence the direction of evolution. What will it take for us to realize that we are unfinished creatures who are in the process of being created? That our world is being created? That our church is being created? That Christ is being formed in us? . . . The good news of Jesus Christ is not so much what happens to us but what must be done by us. The choices we make for the future will create the future. We must reinvent ourselves in love.” 

Let us not fear the times we live in, but let us trust in the Incarnation, that God is in our lives and unsettled society as it is. Let us go a little deeper into our Spiritual Hearts, and notice our Original Goodness, the emerging Spirit that is Creative Love, and let us choose and create a more compassionate, loving and inclusive tomorrow.

It is You that I desire

It is 

you

that I 

desire,

always 

and forever.

You are

a constant 

friend,

always 

with me,

always

deep 

within me.

My desire

for you

draws you

to the 

surface

of my 

awareness,

and there 

you are,

within 

me,

within 

the face

of the other,

within 

everything created

that emerges 

before

my eyes.

19 September and 2019

Summer Closes her Wings

Summer’s warmth

has begun 

to cool.

The forest’s leaves

are beginning

to turn.

Fall is opening 

her arms,

as summer closes

her wings.

The spirit

is still resisting 

the annual

and familiar

letting go

of the vibrancy

and rest

of summer.

Such resistance 

is futile.

Let go

dear spirit,

and lean in

to the ever new

and emerging,

cycle of life.

22 September 2019