Year A
\nActs 2:42-47
\nPsalm 23
\n1 Peter 2:19-25
\nJohn 10:1-10<\/p>\n
In Ch. 9 of John\u2019s Gospel\u2026 the one before today’s\u2026 Jesus has just healed the man born blind\u2026 and he heard that this man had been driven out of the synagogue\u2026 and when Jesus found him\u2026 and the man professed his trust in Jesus\u2026 Jesus said\u2026 I came into this world so that those who do not see\u2026 may see\u2026 and so that those who do see… may become blind<\/i>\u2026 it\u2019s like saying\u2026 I came into this world so that those who are empty may become filled\u2026 and those who are filled may become empty<\/i>\u2026 it\u2019s like saying\u2026 I came to comfort the afflicted\u2026 and to afflict the comfortable<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n
And some of the Pharisees standing nearby overheard this\u2026 and asked him\u2026 Surely we are not blind\u2026 are we\u2026<\/i> and Jesus answered\u2026 If you were blind\u2026 you\u2019d have no sin\u2026 but now that you say \u2018we see\u2019\u2026 your sin remains<\/i>\u2026 it\u2019s like saying\u2026 you condemn yourselves<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n
And in today\u2019s Gospel\u2026 Jesus is talking about sheep and shepherds\u2026 he\u2019s using an example with which everyone is familiar\u2026 and that has\u2026 on one level\u2026 a meaning that\u2019s easy to understand\u2026 to protect your actual sheep from human or other predators\u2026 and on another deeper level\u2026 a more spiritual meaning\u2026 to not be led astray by false prophets or those who would cause you harm\u2026 the text says\u2026 in v. 6\u2026 that he\u2019s using a figure of speech with them\u2026 so that\u2019s a clear indication that his meaning is deeper\u2026 that the preferred way to enter the sheepfold\u2026 enter into community\u2026 is through the kind of spiritual shepherding that Jesus offers\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve shared this quote before\u2026 and I think it\u2019s pretty apropos today\u2026 The Rev. John Dominic Crossan said\u2026 it\u2019s not that ancient people\u2026 told literal stories\u2026 and we\u2019re now smart enough to take them symbolically… but that they told symbolic stories\u2026 and we\u2019re now dumb enough\u2026 to take them literally\u2026<\/p>\n
So in the story about the man born blind\u2026 Jesus isn\u2019t talking to the Pharisees only about physical sight\u2026 he\u2019s talking about insight\u2026 he\u2019s talking about second sight\u2026 what we might call it when intuition becomes as commonplace as common sense\u2026 it\u2019s like what Jesus said in Matthew 16:3\u2026 You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky\u2026 but you cannot interpret the signs of the times\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
In the story about the sheepfold\u2026 Jesus is talking about anyone who steals us away from listening to God\u2019s voice\u2026 like false prophets and corrupt leaders\u2026 Jesus is using a figure of speech\u2026 a parable\u2026 to help us go beyond the limitations of our senses\u2026 to move from the literal to the symbolic\u2026 the sheepfold is where we find God\u2019s safety\u2026 and community\u2026 and Jesus is the gate\u2026 the threshold across which we must pass\u2026 the liminal space through which we must pass\u2026 and which takes us back to the garden\u2026<\/p>\n
Richard Rohr write\u2026 the word “liminal” is related to the word “threshold”\u2026 liminal space is an inner state\u2026 and sometimes an outer situation\u2026 where we can begin to think and act in new ways\u2026 it\u2019s where we are betwixt and between\u2026 having left one room or stage of life\u2026 but not yet entered the next\u2026 we usually enter liminal space when our former way of being\u2026 is challenged or changed\u2026 it\u2019s a graced time\u2026 though it does not often feel “graced” in any way\u2026 in such space we\u2019re not certain\u2026 or in control\u2026 this global pandemic we now face is an example of an immense\u2026 collective\u2026 liminal space\u2026<\/p>\n
The very vulnerability and openness of liminal space allows room for something genuinely new to happen\u2026 we\u2019re empty and receptive\u2026 like erased tablets waiting for new words\u2026 liminal space is where we are most teachable\u2026 often because we are most humbled\u2026<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no surprise then\u2026 that we generally avoid liminal space\u2026. much of the work of authentic spirituality and human development is to get people into liminal space and to keep them there long enough so that they can learn something essential and new\u2026 many spiritual giants like St. Francis\u2026 Julian of Norwich\u2026 Dorothy Day\u2026 and Mohandas Gandhi tried to live their entire lives in permanent liminality\u2026 on the edge or periphery of the dominant culture\u2026 this in-between place is free of illusions and false payoffs\u2026 it invites us to discover\u2026 and live\u2026 from broader perspectives\u2026 and with a much deeper seeing\u2026<\/p>\n
Paula D\u2019Arcy\u2026 who lost her husband and young daughter in a tragic car accident\u2026 wrote\u2026 one afternoon\u2026 I began sorting through my daughter\u2019s clothes\u2026 a dress lay across my lap\u2026 a little piece of white cotton\u2026 it was such an innocent and common thing\u2026 a child\u2019s garment\u2026 yet even as it broke my heart\u2026 that dress became an opening\u2026 the soft cotton tore at me from within\u2026 and began to empty me\u2026 “You are not the only heartbroken parent in the world\u2026” it said\u2026 “the pain of loss is not yours alone\u2026 disappointment is the human condition\u2026” I continued to stare at the cotton and lace\u2026 but something had shifted\u2026 the dress was somehow connecting me to the texture and mystery of greater things\u2026 and without fully understanding why\u2026 I began to soften\u2026 I saw life\u2019s contour\u2026 its density and its brilliance\u2026 just as it is\u2026 nothing more\u2026 I saw how I\u2019d been caught in a script of my <\/i>own<\/i> creation\u2026 and was totally caught up in <\/i>my<\/i> own world\u2026 <\/i>my<\/i> emotions\u2026 <\/i>my<\/i> wants\u2026 and <\/i>my<\/i> needs\u2026 now it was simply my turn to know the darkness\u2026 and discover whether or not I was brave enough to accept the human journey\u2026 and find a way through<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n
John Shea writes\u2026 thieves and bandits always leave people “less”\u2026 than when they found them\u2026 true shepherds are the opposite\u2026 they leave people “more”\u2026\u00a0 <\/span>than when they found them\u2026 they\u2019re capable of this\u2026 because they know people by name\u2026 this means that they discern the inner potential of people and adjust their voice\u2026 so that this inner potential can hear them<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n Jesus is The Good Shepherd\u2026 and shepherds teach\u2026 teach us to discern who threatens us\u2026 and who protects us\u2026 and the thieves and bandits who don\u2019t use the gate\u2026 who try to bypass authentic spirituality and human development\u2026 and climb in another way\u2026 are like those in Luke 17\u2026 when Jesus says\u2026 occasions for stumbling are bound to come\u2026 but woe to anyone <\/i>by<\/i> <\/i>whom<\/i> they come\u2026 they would be better off falling into the sea with a millstone around their neck\u2026 than to cause any of these little sheep to stumble<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n And Jesus is the gate between the safety of the fold\u2026 and the freedom outside of it\u2026 and we want both of these\u2026 but we want them when we want them\u2026 and not when they\u2019re imposed on us\u2026 that\u2019s why some Michiganders feel so angry\u2026 and afraid\u2026 because we\u2019re chomping at the bit to get out of the house\u2026 and get back to life\u2026 and what we know as normal\u2026 but most of us\u2026 I think\u2026 don\u2019t believe the benefit is worth the rising cost of human life\u2026<\/p>\n We can resist liminal space\u2026 we can resist the threshold\u2026 but it will invite us over and over again into transformation\u2026 as Paula was transformed\u2026 and the Shepherd\u2019s voice which calls us is always available\u2026 in scripture\u2026 and in the small voice we hear when we are still\u2026<\/p>\n Jesus said he came\u2026 that we may have life\u2026 and have it abundantly\u2026 so is abundant life about quantity\u2026 or about quality\u2026 does it mean owning more stuff than anyone else\u2026 or does it mean owning a deep\u2026 abiding\u2026 and sublime peace\u2026 does it mean resisting social justice\u2026 or embracing it\u2026<\/p>\n For now at least\u2026 we are on a threshold\u2026 and like the Pharisees\u2026 we may willfully insist that we can see across it\u2026 by returning to the way things used to be\u2026 or we may see\u2026 that we cannot see\u2026 and just be\u2026 just breathe\u2026 and Be Not Afraid\u2026 and willingly let the Good Shepherd guide us into making all things new\u2026 that is\u2026 into a new normal\u2026 Amen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Acts 2:42-47 Psalm 23 1 Peter 2:19-25 John 10:1-10 In Ch. 9 of John\u2019s Gospel\u2026 the one before today’s\u2026 Jesus has just healed the man born blind\u2026 and he heard that this man had been driven out of the synagogue\u2026 and when Jesus found him\u2026 and the man professed his trust in Jesus\u2026 Jesus said\u2026 I came into this world so that those who do not see\u2026 may see\u2026 and so that those who do see… may become blind\u2026 it\u2019s like saying\u2026 I came into this world so that those who are empty may become filled\u2026 and those who are filled may become empty\u2026 it\u2019s like saying\u2026 I came to comfort the afflicted\u2026 and to afflict the comfortable\u2026 And some of the Pharisees standing nearby overheard this\u2026 and asked him\u2026 Surely we are not blind\u2026 are we\u2026 and Jesus answered\u2026 If you were blind\u2026 you\u2019d have no sin\u2026 but now that you say \u2018we see\u2019\u2026 your sin remains\u2026 it\u2019s like saying\u2026 you condemn yourselves\u2026 And in today\u2019s Gospel\u2026 Jesus is talking about sheep and shepherds\u2026 he\u2019s using an example with which everyone is familiar\u2026 and that has\u2026 on one level\u2026 a meaning that\u2019s easy to understand\u2026 to protect your actual sheep from human or other predators\u2026 and on another deeper level\u2026 a more spiritual meaning\u2026 to not be led astray by false prophets or those who would cause you harm\u2026 the text says\u2026 in v. 6\u2026 that he\u2019s using a figure of speech with them\u2026 so that\u2019s a clear indication that his meaning is deeper\u2026 that the preferred way to enter the sheepfold\u2026 enter into community\u2026 is through the kind of spiritual shepherding that Jesus offers\u2026 I\u2019ve shared this quote before\u2026 and I think it\u2019s pretty apropos today\u2026 The Rev. John Dominic Crossan said\u2026 it\u2019s not that ancient people\u2026 told literal stories\u2026 and we\u2019re now smart enough to take them symbolically… but that they told symbolic stories\u2026 and we\u2019re now dumb enough\u2026 to take them literally\u2026 So in the story about the man born blind\u2026 Jesus isn\u2019t talking to the Pharisees only about physical sight\u2026 he\u2019s talking about insight\u2026 he\u2019s talking about second sight\u2026 what we might call it when intuition becomes as commonplace as common sense\u2026 it\u2019s like what Jesus said in Matthew 16:3\u2026 You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky\u2026 but you cannot interpret the signs of the times\u2026 In the story about the sheepfold\u2026 Jesus is talking about anyone who steals us away from listening to God\u2019s voice\u2026 like false prophets and corrupt leaders\u2026 Jesus is using a figure of speech\u2026 a parable\u2026 to help us go beyond the limitations of our senses\u2026 to move from the literal to the symbolic\u2026 the sheepfold is where we find God\u2019s safety\u2026 and community\u2026 and Jesus is the gate\u2026 the threshold across which we must pass\u2026 the liminal space through which we must pass\u2026 and which takes us back to the garden\u2026 Richard Rohr write\u2026 the word “liminal” is related to the word “threshold”\u2026 liminal space is an inner state\u2026 and sometimes an outer situation\u2026 where we can begin to think and act in new ways\u2026 it\u2019s where we are betwixt and between\u2026 having left one room or stage of life\u2026 but not yet entered the next\u2026 we usually enter liminal space when our former way of being\u2026 is challenged or changed\u2026 it\u2019s a graced time\u2026 though it does not often feel “graced” in any way\u2026 in such space we\u2019re not certain\u2026 or in control\u2026 this global pandemic we now face is an example of an immense\u2026 collective\u2026 liminal space\u2026 The very vulnerability and openness of liminal space allows room for something genuinely new to happen\u2026 we\u2019re empty and receptive\u2026 like erased tablets waiting for new words\u2026 liminal space is where we are most teachable\u2026 often because we are most humbled\u2026 It\u2019s no surprise then\u2026 that we generally avoid liminal space\u2026. much of the work of authentic spirituality and human development is to get people into liminal space and to keep them there long enough so that they can learn something essential and new\u2026 many spiritual giants like St. Francis\u2026 Julian of Norwich\u2026 Dorothy Day\u2026 and Mohandas Gandhi tried to live their entire lives in permanent liminality\u2026 on the edge or periphery of the dominant culture\u2026 this in-between place is free of illusions and false payoffs\u2026 it invites us to discover\u2026 and live\u2026 from broader perspectives\u2026 and with a much deeper seeing\u2026 Paula D\u2019Arcy\u2026 who lost her husband and young daughter in a tragic car accident\u2026 wrote\u2026 one afternoon\u2026 I began sorting through my daughter\u2019s clothes\u2026 a dress lay across my lap\u2026 a little piece of white cotton\u2026 it was such an innocent and common thing\u2026 a child\u2019s garment\u2026 yet even as it broke my heart\u2026 that dress became an opening\u2026 the soft cotton tore at me from within\u2026 and began to empty me\u2026 “You are not the only heartbroken parent in the world\u2026” it said\u2026 “the pain of loss is not yours alone\u2026 disappointment is the human condition\u2026” I continued to stare at the cotton and lace\u2026 but something had shifted\u2026 the dress was somehow connecting me to the texture and mystery of greater things\u2026 and without fully understanding why\u2026 I began to soften\u2026 I saw life\u2019s contour\u2026 its density and its brilliance\u2026 just as it is\u2026 nothing more\u2026 I saw how I\u2019d been caught in a script of my own creation\u2026 and was totally caught up in my own world\u2026 my emotions\u2026 my wants\u2026 and my needs\u2026 now it was simply my turn to know the darkness\u2026 and discover whether or not I was brave enough to accept the human journey\u2026 and find a way through\u2026 John Shea writes\u2026 thieves and bandits always leave people “less”\u2026 than when they found them\u2026 true shepherds are the opposite\u2026 they leave people “more”\u2026\u00a0 than when they found them\u2026 they\u2019re capable of this\u2026 because they know people by name\u2026 this means that they discern the inner potential of people and adjust their voice\u2026 so that this inner 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