Year A
Acts 1:1-14
Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
John 17:1-11<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Genesis\u2026 we learn about God being in relationship with the first humans\u2026 about God coming into the Garden\u2026 walking in the Garden\u2026 about giving us some guidelines\u2026 guidelines which would at least help ensure that we’d continue to live in paradise\u2026 don’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil\u2026 don’t eat of the Tree of Life\u2026 and it’s WE humans who made choices\u2026 choices which ended up with us being sent out of the Garden\u2026 away from a seamless harmony with God and all of creation\u2026 away from intimate knowledge of God’s Wisdom\u2026 and into the realm of knowledge about the world\u2026 and everything other than God’s will\u2026 God’s Word\u2026 God’s intent for us\u2026 and the story that God has been writing ever since\u2026 the story that God has been yearning for us to read\u2026 mark\u2026 learn\u2026 and inwardly digest ever since\u2026 is the story of God’s desire to restore us to that divine relationship\u2026 that divine intimacy\u2026 that divine unity\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now when a baby is born\u2026 it experiences no separation from mother\u2026 it’s been in her womb for upwards of nine months\u2026 and quite simply\u2026 it’s felt experience is that mother and I are inseparable that mother and I are in unity\u2026 that mother and I are One\u2026 and the Terrible Twos\u2026 are really the Terrific Twos\u2026 because the child is not only beginning to experience itself as a separate person\u2026 but is beginning to experience God’s gift of free will\u2026 is beginning to experience the consequences of making choices\u2026 is beginning to experience the freedom of having eaten from that Tree\u2026 and the freedom to choose to be in relationship or not\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now God could have made it\u2026 so that we had no choice about loving God\u2026 that we could have been pre-programmed to love God\u2026 but we all know that forced love is no love at all\u2026 and so the two-year-old\u2026 who’s learning about her or his place in creation\u2026 is also learning that they can choose to seek to recapture that experience of unity\u2026 but this time\u2026 instead of with their mother\u2026 it’s unity with God\u2026 it’s the same seamlessness that Jesus and the Father share\u2026 and this is the seamlessness into which we are invited\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In S1E10 of the Apple TV series Foundation\u2026 the character Gaal Dornick reminisces\u2026 My mother used to say that going to sleep was a leap of faith\u2026 our souls wander when we dream\u2026 or so she told me\u2026 and if we say our devotions\u2026 our souls will find their way back before we wake\u2026 climbing from our cradle is another leap\u2026 so is leaving the comfort of home\u2026 for some… it<\/em>\u2019<\/em>s setting sail\u2026 hurtling ourselves into the void\u2026 we send messages into space hoping someone will answer\u2026 praying we find safe harbor over the horizon<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in today’s reading\u2026 Jesus ascends\u2026 Natalie Wigg-Stevenson\u2026 a teacher at Emmanuel College in Toronto\u2026 asks some questions about the Ascension\u2026 are we to interpret it literally\u2026 metaphorically\u2026 or some other way altogether\u2026 she cites the character Nemo in the movie The Matrix\u2026 and asks with him in mind\u2026 So when I’m made fully in Jesus’ image\u2026 will I be able to fly too<\/em>\u2026 but his ascent is not about geography\u2026 it’s one of those leaps of faith about bearing witness\u2026 it’s not about the expansion of colonialism\u2026 not about heading out to the horizons\u2026 and she writes that\u2026 the idea that God came and went\u2026 and came again\u2026 and then went\u2026 but is coming back again\u2026 is one of the strangest mysteries of faith\u2026 but God’s incarnate self must leave\u2026 for God’s Spirit to stay<\/em>\u2026 for the Holy Spirit to come on Pentecost\u2026 and at our clergy retreat this week\u2026 on Thursday\u2026 at our Ascension Day Eucharist\u2026 Bishop Singh framed the Ascension in this way\u2026 Tag\u2026 you’re it<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because in his long speech on the night before his death\u2026 Jesus underscored what he\u2019d been doing and saying during his active ministry for those gathered with him for one final meal\u2026 some of his most memorable teaching legacies\u2026 loving one another\u2026 servant leadership\u2026 the gift and responsibility of intimate and productive relationships are recorded in this discourse\u2026 and in the priestly prayer at its end\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tag\u2026 you’re it<\/em>\u2026 means that Jesus is turning his work over to his disciples\u2026 he’s taught them\u2026 he’s trained them\u2026 he’s been patient with them\u2026 in fact\u2026 just a few chapters earlier\u2026 in John 14:12\u2026 Jesus said\u2026 Very truly\u2026 I tell you\u2026 the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and\u2026 in fact\u2026 will do greater works than these\u2026 because I am going to the Father<\/em>\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n But what catches my attention\u2026 is that the language in this morning’s Gospel\u2026 is language of reunification\u2026 of seamlessness\u2026 of Oneness\u2026 of the autonomous child yielding to God’s will and presence\u2026 and Jesus explains quite clearly that eternal life is knowledge of God\u2026 and not immortality\u2026 that’s why\u2026 I think\u2026 that in Acts\u2026 when the apostles have come together\u2026 and they ask\u2026 Lord<\/em>\u2026 is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel<\/em>\u2026 so they could align themselves with the world’s wisdom\u2026 and reign forever\u2026 and I can imagine Jesus letting out an exasperated sigh\u2026 because they’re not getting it\u2026 they’re stuck on issues of power and authority\u2026 and the church sometimes gets stuck on the same issues\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first verse of this morning’s Psalm is\u2026 Arise, O God, and let your enemies be scattered; let those who hate you flee before you<\/em>\u2026 in Latin\u2026 Arise, O God<\/em>… is Exurge Domine<\/em>\u2026 the name of the Papal Bull\u2026 or edict\u2026 which demanded that Luther recant forty-one of the statements in his writings\u2026 or face excommunication\u2026 and what did he do\u2026 he publicly burned the Bull\u2026 and was excommunicated a year later\u2026 Pope Leo X was certain he had the mind of God\u2026 but Luther was certain as well\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re not in the final stretch just yet\u2026 but when I was at the National Workshop on Christian Unity last week\u2026 there were indications that our Christian sisters and brothers were taking more to heart\u2026 the idea that denomination is a wonderful adjective\u2026 but is an idolatrous noun\u2026 and that there’s more that unites us than divides us\u2026 it’s like being one with mother\u2026 then being an autonomous person\u2026 and then relinquishing that autonomy for the sake of the collective\u2026 but living that out is the challenge\u2026 so what do we do when we are certain that we know what God intends… while others hold an opposing view\u2026 religious divisions have the same potential to spawn hatred and violence\u2026 in fact\u2026 in John 16:2b-3\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 i<\/em>ndeed<\/em>\u2026 an hour is coming\u2026 when those who kill you\u2026 will think that by doing so\u2026 they are offering worship to God\u2026 and they will do this\u2026 because they have not<\/u> known<\/u> the Father or me<\/em>\u2026 but even short of that there are still political\u2026 familial\u2026 or racial divisions\u2026 history and current events bear witness to that\u2026 we have to be very careful about invoking God against our enemies\u2026 it’s something Jesus never did\u2026 the cross shows that God refuses to use power against God’s enemies\u2026 a pacifist God\u2026 what do we do with that\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n This weekend we hear Jesus ask in his prayer for his disciples at the Last Supper in John\u2026 that God protect them and make them One\u2026 as he and the Father are One\u2026 he desires that his followers be united in love\u2026 so\u2026 we in our fractious church and world\u2026 can only pray\u2026 Lord, show us how to do this\u2026 <\/em>and take up the cross again\u2026 and continue to learn the way of love\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Acts 1:1-14 Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 John 17:1-11 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 In Genesis\u2026 we learn about God being in relationship with the first humans\u2026 about God coming into the Garden\u2026 walking in the Garden\u2026 about giving us some guidelines\u2026 guidelines which would at least help ensure that we’d continue to live in paradise\u2026 don’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil\u2026 don’t eat of the Tree of Life\u2026 and it’s WE humans who made choices\u2026 choices which ended up with us being sent out of the Garden\u2026 away from a seamless harmony with God and all of creation\u2026 away from intimate knowledge of God’s Wisdom\u2026 and into the realm of knowledge about the world\u2026 and everything other than God’s will\u2026 God’s Word\u2026 God’s intent for us\u2026 and the story that God has been writing ever since\u2026 the story that God has been yearning for us to read\u2026 mark\u2026 learn\u2026 and inwardly digest ever since\u2026 is the story of God’s desire to restore us to that divine relationship\u2026 that divine intimacy\u2026 that divine unity\u2026 Now when a baby is born\u2026 it experiences no separation from mother\u2026 it’s been in her womb for upwards of nine months\u2026 and quite simply\u2026 it’s felt experience is that mother and I are inseparable that mother and I are in unity\u2026 that mother and I are One\u2026 and the Terrible Twos\u2026 are really the Terrific Twos\u2026 because the child is not only beginning to experience itself as a separate person\u2026 but is beginning to experience God’s gift of free will\u2026 is beginning to experience the consequences of making choices\u2026 is beginning to experience the freedom of having eaten from that Tree\u2026 and the freedom to choose to be in relationship or not\u2026 Now God could have made it\u2026 so that we had no choice about loving God\u2026 that we could have been pre-programmed to love God\u2026 but we all know that forced love is no love at all\u2026 and so the two-year-old\u2026 who’s learning about her or his place in creation\u2026 is also learning that they can choose to seek to recapture that experience of unity\u2026 but this time\u2026 instead of with their mother\u2026 it’s unity with God\u2026 it’s the same seamlessness that Jesus and the Father share\u2026 and this is the seamlessness into which we are invited\u2026 In S1E10 of the Apple TV series Foundation\u2026 the character Gaal Dornick reminisces\u2026 My mother used to say that going to sleep was a leap of faith\u2026 our souls wander when we dream\u2026 or so she told me\u2026 and if we say our devotions\u2026 our souls will find their way back before we wake\u2026 climbing from our cradle is another leap\u2026 so is leaving the comfort of home\u2026 for some… it\u2019s setting sail\u2026 hurtling ourselves into the void\u2026 we send messages into space hoping someone will answer\u2026 praying we find safe harbor over the horizon\u2026 And in today’s reading\u2026 Jesus ascends\u2026 Natalie Wigg-Stevenson\u2026 a teacher at Emmanuel College in Toronto\u2026 asks some questions about the Ascension\u2026 are we to interpret it literally\u2026 metaphorically\u2026 or some other way altogether\u2026 she cites the character Nemo in the movie The Matrix\u2026 and asks with him in mind\u2026 So when I’m made fully in Jesus’ image\u2026 will I be able to fly too\u2026 but his ascent is not about geography\u2026 it’s one of those leaps of faith about bearing witness\u2026 it’s not about the expansion of colonialism\u2026 not about heading out to the horizons\u2026 and she writes that\u2026 the idea that God came and went\u2026 and came again\u2026 and then went\u2026 but is coming back again\u2026 is one of the strangest mysteries of faith\u2026 but God’s incarnate self must leave\u2026 for God’s Spirit to stay\u2026 for the Holy Spirit to come on Pentecost\u2026 and at our clergy retreat this week\u2026 on Thursday\u2026 at our Ascension Day Eucharist\u2026 Bishop Singh framed the Ascension in this way\u2026 Tag\u2026 you’re it\u2026 Because in his long speech on the night before his death\u2026 Jesus underscored what he\u2019d been doing and saying during his active ministry for those gathered with him for one final meal\u2026 some of his most memorable teaching legacies\u2026 loving one another\u2026 servant leadership\u2026 the gift and responsibility of intimate and productive relationships are recorded in this discourse\u2026 and in the priestly prayer at its end\u2026 Tag\u2026 you’re it\u2026 means that Jesus is turning his work over to his disciples\u2026 he’s taught them\u2026 he’s trained them\u2026 he’s been patient with them\u2026 in fact\u2026 just a few chapters earlier\u2026 in John 14:12\u2026 Jesus said\u2026 Very truly\u2026 I tell you\u2026 the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and\u2026 in fact\u2026 will do greater works than these\u2026 because I am going to the Father\u2026 But what catches my attention\u2026 is that the language in this morning’s Gospel\u2026 is language of reunification\u2026 of seamlessness\u2026 of Oneness\u2026 of the autonomous child yielding to God’s will and presence\u2026 and Jesus explains quite clearly that eternal life is knowledge of God\u2026 and not immortality\u2026 that’s why\u2026 I think\u2026 that in Acts\u2026 when the apostles have come together\u2026 and they ask\u2026 Lord\u2026 is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel\u2026 so they could align themselves with the world’s wisdom\u2026 and reign forever\u2026 and I can imagine Jesus letting out an exasperated sigh\u2026 because they’re not getting it\u2026 they’re stuck on issues of power and authority\u2026 and the church sometimes gets stuck on the same issues\u2026 The first verse of this morning’s Psalm is\u2026 Arise, O God, and let your enemies be scattered; let those who hate you flee before you\u2026 in Latin\u2026 Arise, O God… is Exurge Domine\u2026 the name of the Papal Bull\u2026 or edict\u2026 which demanded that Luther recant forty-one of the statements in his writings\u2026 or face excommunication\u2026 and what did he do\u2026 he publicly burned the Bull\u2026 and was excommunicated a year later\u2026 Pope Leo X was certain he had the mind of God\u2026 but 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