Mountain Mystics

Jesus takes just three apostles up a mountain where they see him shining in all his divinity (Mark 9:2-10.)  We are either mystics or we are nothing.  What helps is getting away from the crowd.  Special time and place.  Lent.  Our bedroom, porch, nearby mountain.  Mystical insight usually brief.  Like Peter, we would rather prolong it.  It lasts in memory.

The Binding of Isaac

In Jewish tradition this binding (Akedah) is the last of  ten tests that Abraham has to pass.  It comes to occupy a central role in rabbinic theology and eventually came to be incorporated into the daily liturgy.  When God calls Abraham, he answers "Here I am." (hineni.)  There is no good English equivalent for this Hebrew word.  It indicates readiness, alertness, attentiveness, receptivity, and responsiveness to instruction.  The Lord declares, "All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command." 
Not only Jews, but Christians and Muslims trace themselves back to Abraham and hold him as a model of readiness to do God's will.

Abraham's Obedience

After lots of snow last night, I had a wonderful walk this morning, enjoying the woods in snow.  This is a swollen stream that runs under our road.
The story of Abraham's willingness to offer his son Isaac in sacrifice to God (Genesis 22:1-19) is next Sunday's first reading.  The commentary in The New Interpreter's Study Bible says, "Abraham's obedience is meaningful only if the story takes human sacrifice as a genuine act of worship, as was the case in the ancient Near East and apparently at some point in biblical history."  This requires us to appreciate a culture very different from our own.  Then Abraham's sacrifice becomes, not a killing that he finds morally offensive, but the giving up of the son whom he loves and whom he is counting on to fulfill God's promise that Abraham will be the "father of many nations."

Rainbow Covenant

Today's flooding rains are a timely backdrop for Sunday's first reading about God's covenant with  Noah (Genesis 9:8-15.)  A myth is a story that captures an eternal truth.  The eternal truth that Noah and the ark captures is that God is always ready to start over with the human race, no matter what evil we have done: slavery, prejudice against blacks, anti-Semitism, abuse of our fragile planet, wars, evil governments, tolerating shootings, poverty, sickness.  The rainbow is God's promise to keep on loving his creation.

Ash Wednesday Valentine

First time in 73 years that Ash Wednesday is falling on St. Valentine's Day.  We celebrate a saint who gave his life for Jesus.  We turn our back on our sins as they are reduced to ashes and make God the center of this holy season.

Look at God

If we focus on God instead of on our sinfulness we will turn from sin.  Sometimes we can let our sins become so large in our minds that there is no room for Love.  As God begs us to return to him (Joel 2:12-18) he gives as motivation that "he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love."  Who would not want to grow closer to such a God!

Care for Sick

In his first nine chapters Mark describes Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law, a leper and ten other sick individuals.  He tells us also that Jesus healed a lot more than that.   Mark wants to emphasize that care of the sick is a priority of Jesus.
When Jesus no longer walked the earth he wanted that care for the sick to be continued by his followers, not just as individuals but as a community.  Through twenty centuries we, as a church, have been outstanding in our care for the sick.  Don't you think Jesus would want our country to care for as many sick as possible?

Listening

Being on the sea helps me to be still and listen.  A  trip on a catamaran along the west coast of St. Lucia was one of the highlights of my vacation this year in the Caribbean.
In my life of prayer I went from reading Scripture, to talking to God, to saying less and less, to silence, and finally to listening. Not listening to myself thinking, but becoming silent until I hear God.