Year A
\nActs 17:22-31
\nPsalm 66:7-18
\n1 Peter 3:13-22
\nJohn 14:15-21<\/p>\n
And the Father will give you another Advocate\u2026 to be with you forever\u2026 this is the Spirit of Truth\u2026 and because I live\u2026 you also will live\u2026 I will never leave you orphaned\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
The Rev. Dr. Sam Wells preached recently\u2026 about the ideas of a transactional Jesus\u2026 and a transformative Jesus\u2026 he asked\u2026 do we use Jesus\u2026 or do we enjoy Jesus\u2026 do we think of Jesus like a ladder\u2026 which we simply use to climb up to the roof\u2026 to climb up to heaven\u2026 believing that our ladder is better than other ladders\u2026 or do we simply enjoy Jesus\u2026 do we rejoice in him for his own sake\u2026 and what he offers us\u2026 and I might add\u2026 and let ourselves be clay in the potter\u2019s hands\u2026 or gold in the refiner\u2019s fire\u2026 and be transformed\u2026 and it got me wondering\u2026 transformed into what\u2026<\/p>\n
And these questions got me thinking about free will\u2026 about how receiving the Spirit of Truth\u2026 choosing to allow the Spirit to abide\u2026 to linger\u2026 to hang out\u2026 within us\u2026 might affect our free will\u2026 and it got me wondering\u2026 what is free will\u2026<\/p>\n
I can use my free will to choose what to have for lunch\u2026 I can have a salad\u2026 a turkey sandwich\u2026 I could make grilled cheese and tomato soup\u2026 God doesn\u2019t mind for a moment what I have for lunch\u2026 does God\u2026 God certainly has bigger fish to fry\u2026 though my decision depends on what we have in the house\u2026 but what if I want something that\u2019s not here\u2026<\/p>\n
What if I\u2019m a billionaire\u2026 and I want freshly caught crab legs\u2026 and so I instruct my pilot\u2026 to fly my private jet to the Ketchikan Alaska King Crab Company to get me a few\u2026 are there any moral issues which might inform my decision\u2026 questions about how that expense could be used instead\u2026 to feed those who have nothing for lunch\u2026 what about the pollution getting this meal would create\u2026 or are crab legs on a whim\u2026 nothing more than capitalism at its best\u2026 and to take the question further\u2026 would it matter\u2026 if I earned my billions by honest\u2026 or dishonest means\u2026<\/p>\n
And I am by no means\u2026 an expert in the theory of economic development\u2026 but I do agree with Walter Brueggemann\u2019s conviction\u2026 that the Gospel has become all tangled up\u2026 in a white western sense of entitlement\u2026 so am I entitled to have what I want\u2026 even if it means that others can\u2019t have what they need\u2026<\/p>\n
For a very long time\u2026 I have believed that God gave us free will\u2026 so that we could choose to love God\u2026 because we all know that forced love\u2026 abusive love\u2026 isn\u2019t love at all\u2026 and in the Lord\u2019s Prayer\u2026 which we will pray shortly\u2026 we pray not that my will be done\u2026 but God\u2019s will be done\u2026 and so I wonder\u2026 how can I use my free will\u2026 to choose God\u2019s will\u2026 so I can fully experience that Jesus is in God\u2026 and I am in Jesus\u2026 and Jesus is in me\u2026 or is free will\u2026 little more than an exit strategy which enables me to reject God\u2019s will\u2026<\/p>\n
Romans 8:26-27 says\u2026 likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness\u2026 for we do not know how to pray as we ought\u2026 but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words\u2026 and God\u2026 who searches the heart\u2026 knows what is the mind of the Spirit<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n
The Spirit teaches us to pray in Jesus\u2019 name\u2026 training us to love what Jesus loves\u2026 and desire what Jesus desires\u2026 sometimes to the detriment of our own private desires\u2026 ambitions\u2026 or assumptions\u2026 so to pray in Jesus\u2019 name\u2026 is to pray with the hope that God will shape and refine our desires\u2026<\/p>\n
But in the pandemic wilderness we\u2019ve entered\u2026 many feel abandoned\u2026 or perhaps punished by God\u2026 as many felt abandoned or punished during the bubonic plague of the fourteenth century\u2026 during which time Julian of Norwich lived\u2026 author and Episcopal priest Mary Earle writes\u2026 one of Julian\u2019s most radical insights\u2026 is her insistence that there is\u2026 no anger in God<\/i>\u2026 and this forces us all to look at ways in which we project our own anger\u2026 vengeance\u2026 and bitterness\u2026 upon God\u2026 in a resolutely maternal way\u2026 she encourages us to grow up\u2026 to cast aside our immature and punitive images of God\u2026 and to be honest with ourselves about how our own actions have their roots in spiritual blindness\u2026<\/p>\n
Julian uses the idea of “oneing”\u2026 to describe the divine union about which Jesus speaks\u2026 she writes\u2026 this beloved soul\u2026 was preciously knitted to God in its making\u2026 by a knot so subtle and so mighty\u2026 that it is “oned” in God\u2026 and in this oneing\u2026 it is made endlessly holy\u2026 if I pay special attention to myself\u2026<\/i> she wrote\u2026 I am nothing at all\u2026 for it is in this oneing that the life of all people consists\u2026 the love of God creates in us <\/i>such<\/i> a oneing\u2026 that when it is <\/i>truly<\/i> seen\u2026 no person can separate themselves from another<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n
And Julian\u2019s insight reflects a recurring theme in all of the world\u2019s religions\u2026 that (1) there is a Divine Reality underneath and inherent in things\u2026 that (2) there is in the human soul a natural capacity and longing for this Divine Reality\u2026 and that (3) the final goal of existence is union with this Divine Reality\u2026 so as God emptied Godself into human form\u2026 so we humans\u2026 pour our small self out\u2026 so we can make room for God\u2019s unbounded Self\u2026 and fill our humanity\u2026 with divinity\u2026 we empty ourselves\u2026 as a river empties itself into the sea\u2026<\/p>\n
And so as I\u2019ve thought about free will\u2026 I wonder how I can use my free will\u2026 to choose God\u2019s will\u2026 and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s rocket science\u2026 but it may begin\u2026 just begin\u2026 in asking ourselves\u2026 why we do\u2026 what we do\u2026 and for whom do we do it\u2026 do we do it on a whim\u2026 or it is to seek\u2026 as Julian wrote\u2026 the oneing which already exists\u2026 but to which\u2026 too many are blind\u2026 or afraid\u2026<\/p>\n
We are on a new wilderness journey\u2026 most of us more fortunate than the ancient Israelites\u2026 and we don\u2019t yet know where new Promised Land will be\u2026 what it will look like\u2026 or how we will be transformed\u2026 though we hope we will arrive sooner than yesterday\u2026 and we hope it will be familiar\u2026 and we hope that the Spirit teaches us to pray God\u2019s will\u2026 but as Henri Nouwen wrote\u2026 Jesus speaks about hope that is not based on chances that things will get better or worse\u2026 <\/i>Jesus\u2019<\/i> hope is built upon the promise that whatever happens\u2026 God will stay with us at all times\u2026 in all places\u2026 and will <\/i>never<\/i> leave us orphaned<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Year A Acts 17:22-31 Psalm 66:7-18 1 Peter 3:13-22 John 14:15-21 And the Father will give you another Advocate\u2026 to be with you forever\u2026 this is the Spirit of Truth\u2026 and because I live\u2026 you also will live\u2026 I will never leave you orphaned\u2026 The Rev. Dr. Sam Wells preached recently\u2026 about the ideas of a transactional Jesus\u2026 and a transformative Jesus\u2026 he asked\u2026 do we use Jesus\u2026 or do we enjoy Jesus\u2026 do we think of Jesus like a ladder\u2026 which we simply use to climb up to the roof\u2026 to climb up to heaven\u2026 believing that our ladder is better than other ladders\u2026 or do we simply enjoy Jesus\u2026 do we rejoice in him for his own sake\u2026 and what he offers us\u2026 and I might add\u2026 and let ourselves be clay in the potter\u2019s hands\u2026 or gold in the refiner\u2019s fire\u2026 and be transformed\u2026 and it got me wondering\u2026 transformed into what\u2026 And these questions got me thinking about free will\u2026 about how receiving the Spirit of Truth\u2026 choosing to allow the Spirit to abide\u2026 to linger\u2026 to hang out\u2026 within us\u2026 might affect our free will\u2026 and it got me wondering\u2026 what is free will\u2026 I can use my free will to choose what to have for lunch\u2026 I can have a salad\u2026 a turkey sandwich\u2026 I could make grilled cheese and tomato soup\u2026 God doesn\u2019t mind for a moment what I have for lunch\u2026 does God\u2026 God certainly has bigger fish to fry\u2026 though my decision depends on what we have in the house\u2026 but what if I want something that\u2019s not here\u2026 What if I\u2019m a billionaire\u2026 and I want freshly caught crab legs\u2026 and so I instruct my pilot\u2026 to fly my private jet to the Ketchikan Alaska King Crab Company to get me a few\u2026 are there any moral issues which might inform my decision\u2026 questions about how that expense could be used instead\u2026 to feed those who have nothing for lunch\u2026 what about the pollution getting this meal would create\u2026 or are crab legs on a whim\u2026 nothing more than capitalism at its best\u2026 and to take the question further\u2026 would it matter\u2026 if I earned my billions by honest\u2026 or dishonest means\u2026 And I am by no means\u2026 an expert in the theory of economic development\u2026 but I do agree with Walter Brueggemann\u2019s conviction\u2026 that the Gospel has become all tangled up\u2026 in a white western sense of entitlement\u2026 so am I entitled to have what I want\u2026 even if it means that others can\u2019t have what they need\u2026 For a very long time\u2026 I have believed that God gave us free will\u2026 so that we could choose to love God\u2026 because we all know that forced love\u2026 abusive love\u2026 isn\u2019t love at all\u2026 and in the Lord\u2019s Prayer\u2026 which we will pray shortly\u2026 we pray not that my will be done\u2026 but God\u2019s will be done\u2026 and so I wonder\u2026 how can I use my free will\u2026 to choose God\u2019s will\u2026 so I can fully experience that Jesus is in God\u2026 and I am in Jesus\u2026 and Jesus is in me\u2026 or is free will\u2026 little more than an exit strategy which enables me to reject God\u2019s will\u2026 Romans 8:26-27 says\u2026 likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness\u2026 for we do not know how to pray as we ought\u2026 but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words\u2026 and God\u2026 who searches the heart\u2026 knows what is the mind of the Spirit\u2026 The Spirit teaches us to pray in Jesus\u2019 name\u2026 training us to love what Jesus loves\u2026 and desire what Jesus desires\u2026 sometimes to the detriment of our own private desires\u2026 ambitions\u2026 or assumptions\u2026 so to pray in Jesus\u2019 name\u2026 is to pray with the hope that God will shape and refine our desires\u2026 But in the pandemic wilderness we\u2019ve entered\u2026 many feel abandoned\u2026 or perhaps punished by God\u2026 as many felt abandoned or punished during the bubonic plague of the fourteenth century\u2026 during which time Julian of Norwich lived\u2026 author and Episcopal priest Mary Earle writes\u2026 one of Julian\u2019s most radical insights\u2026 is her insistence that there is\u2026 no anger in God\u2026 and this forces us all to look at ways in which we project our own anger\u2026 vengeance\u2026 and bitterness\u2026 upon God\u2026 in a resolutely maternal way\u2026 she encourages us to grow up\u2026 to cast aside our immature and punitive images of God\u2026 and to be honest with ourselves about how our own actions have their roots in spiritual blindness\u2026 Julian uses the idea of “oneing”\u2026 to describe the divine union about which Jesus speaks\u2026 she writes\u2026 this beloved soul\u2026 was preciously knitted to God in its making\u2026 by a knot so subtle and so mighty\u2026 that it is “oned” in God\u2026 and in this oneing\u2026 it is made endlessly holy\u2026 if I pay special attention to myself\u2026 she wrote\u2026 I am nothing at all\u2026 for it is in this oneing that the life of all people consists\u2026 the love of God creates in us such a oneing\u2026 that when it is truly seen\u2026 no person can separate themselves from another\u2026 And Julian\u2019s insight reflects a recurring theme in all of the world\u2019s religions\u2026 that (1) there is a Divine Reality underneath and inherent in things\u2026 that (2) there is in the human soul a natural capacity and longing for this Divine Reality\u2026 and that (3) the final goal of existence is union with this Divine Reality\u2026 so as God emptied Godself into human form\u2026 so we humans\u2026 pour our small self out\u2026 so we can make room for God\u2019s unbounded Self\u2026 and fill our humanity\u2026 with divinity\u2026 we empty ourselves\u2026 as a river empties itself into the sea\u2026 And so as I\u2019ve thought about free will\u2026 I wonder how I can use my free will\u2026 to choose God\u2019s will\u2026 and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s rocket science\u2026 but it may begin\u2026 just begin\u2026 in asking ourselves\u2026 why we do\u2026 what we do\u2026 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":769,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767\/revisions\/769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}