Meditation on This Week's Gospel

The readings for Sunday, November 15, 2009:

First Reading: Daniel 12:1-3

First Reading (Semi-cont.): 1 Samuel 1:4-20

Psalm: Psalm 16

Psalm (Semi-cont.): 1 Samuel 2:1-10

Second Reading: Hebrews 10:11-14 [15-18] 19-25

Gospel: Mark 13:1-8

Here we are, back to apocalyptic texts, a rather strange turn just before we launch into Advent (and just so you won't be surprised, those Advent texts can be on the apocalyptic side too). This week's Gospel is the type of text that many Christians use to support their assertion that we're living in the end times, that the rapture is near.

Keep in mind that the idea of rapture is fairly new; most scholars date it to the middle of the 19th century. But Christians have felt besieged since the beginning, and indeed, at certain times throughout the centuries, they have been severely threatened.

Most scholars believe that the book of Mark was written just after a particularly brutal suppression of a Jewish uprising and just before the destruction of the Temple, a time when the empire of Rome made it increasingly difficult to be an alien part of the empire. The Gospel of Mark is the most apocalyptic Gospel, perhaps because it was written when people really expected the end was near (and indeed, in many ways, the end was near). The whole of chapter 13 of Mark is grim indeed. Perhaps the Gospel writer uses such a chapter to launch into the Passion story, to set the mood.

Or maybe the Gospel writer wants to remind us of the cost of following Jesus. Maybe it's the larger cost of existing in the world. Even if we're lucky enough to be born into a stable time period, to be part of a country with a stable government, if we're conscious, it's hard to escape the conclusion that it could all vanish at any moment. And even if we don't suffer on the grand (genocidal) scale, most of us will endure more loss than our younger selves would have believed could be survived.

Before we sink too deeply into depression, we need to remember that Jesus came to give us Good News. And that Good News is that we have each other, and we have a God who loves us, no matter what. If we devote our lives to that love, then we can survive all sorts of betrayal, loss, and persecution.

It's also important to look at the last part of the last sentence of this week's Gospel: "this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs." Birth-pangs. What is being born exactly?

The most positive spin on this bit is to say that the Kingdom of God is being born. We tend to think of the Kingdom of God as referring to Heaven, but if you read all the references to the Kingdom of God, it appears that Jesus isn't talking about Heaven as we know it. In some places, Jesus seems to talk about the Kingdom as already existing, perhaps as Jesus walking amongst us. In other places, the Kingdom of God will come to earth later, in a kind of purifying, redeeming vision. Yet again, we see references to this process already beginning, both with Christ's efforts and with the efforts of his believers.

Those of us who have had children, or who have had relatives and friends who have had children, know that parents have to go through a fierce process to hold that little baby in their arms. Jesus reminds us that the process towards the Kingdom of God can be equally fierce. Jesus reminds us that we must stay alert and aware, but that we need not feel alarmed.

The Lock Out--What a Cool Consciousness Raising Idea

Well, I planned not to post until next week, but I couldn't resist passing on this idea. This post on Erik Ullestad's blog describes a Lock Out, an idea that's just the opposite from the traditional Lock In. This experience helps expose church youth groups to issues that the homeless face. Hopefully participating would raise sensitivity to the issues of homelessness and spur work on this social justice issue. Lock Ins of my youth didn't really see us accomplish much. We watched movies (I remember watching Halloween, of all things) and overate and spooked ourselves by going down dark hallways into spooky sanctuaries. A Lock Out could be so much more meaningful.

Blog Quiet for a Week

The picture above is from Lutheridge, a Lutheran camp in North Carolina, but it captures the nature of my next trip. I'm off to Mepkin Abbey for a writer's retreat. I plan to pray the Psalms with the monks for several services each day. I hope to assemble a poetry manuscript or two. I'll be seeing some friends along the way and enjoying some time away from computers, phones, and all the other distractions of modern life. I plan to resume regular blogging on November 12.

Meditation on This Week's Gospel

The readings for Sunday, November 8, 2009:

First Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16

First Reading (Semi-cont.): Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17

Psalm: Psalm 146

Psalm (Semi-cont.): Psalm 127

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

In some churches this Sunday, congregations will hear the story of Ruth, and then hear about the poor widow in the Gospel. Some pastors will tell their congregations that the lesson to be learned is to be nice to your mother-in-law, and some will wrap the poor widow into a stewardship Gospel as they ask congregations to give until it hurts. What is Jesus really trying to say?

I've often had trouble with the historical church's approach to women, but rarely has the message of Jesus seemed anti-female. With Gospels like this one, at first I'm pleased to see that Jesus uses a female as a model of good behavior. The Gospel seems to fit with the story of the rich young man who is told to give away all that he has to the poor and with the message of Jesus about the yoke we must wear.

But then I stop and think. She's not just any woman. If Jesus just wanted a model of good behavior, he might have stopped there. No, she's not just any woman. She's a widow. Women didn't have much status in the days of Jesus, and widows had even less. Why would Jesus make her a widow?

I suspect that Jesus, as always, has something to tell us about the power structures of his day--power structures that look a lot like power structures of our day. The poor widow is poor not because she couldn't manage her money. No, she was poor because of the class structures put in place to keep her destitute. She is surrounded by men who have no trouble making their financial commitments to the Temple, while she gives all that she has.

Jesus calls us to always--always--help the poor, the destitute, and the outcast. But that is not enough. Jesus also calls us to participate in Kingdom building. We are to work to transform the world so that nobody will be poor and outcast. We are to work towards a world where everyone has enough so that no one has to donate their last coins to the Temple to help the poor.

Helping the poor is charity work, and it's important. We're called to do it. Transforming our society so that we have no poor people in need of charity work is social justice work, and we are also called to do that.

You might think about your own life. Where do you see poor widows in need of help? How can you help transform our society so that at some point there will be no poor widows?

Jesus also has a message that we shouldn't ignore about holding on too closely to our coins. Those of us who are successful have an increasingly easy time believing that we're successful because we're worthy and smart. We have an increasingly easy time believing that we're successful solely because of our own efforts.

Those of us who have suffered misfortune realize that our station in life often has little to do with our efforts. We have the luck or misfortune of the family we're born into. We make decisions early in life about jobs, marriage, education--and those decisions have impacts decades later that we couldn't have realized at the time we made them. There are global forces at work that are much more powerful than our puny efforts in our own behalf.

We like the American Success Story, which tells us that anyone can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. We like that story, although statistics don't bear out the truth of that story--quite the opposite.

Jesus has a different story to tell us, a story where we are truly free, and judged by a different rubric, one that is seldom valued by the world. Jesus values radical generosity, generosity that the world would regard as lunacy. Jesus invites us into the transformative grace of that story.

God's Gardeners: When Writers Create Religious Movements

I spent the last week reading Margaret Atwood's latest novel, The Year of the Flood. In this book, she develops the religious movement, God's Gardeners, that she briefly mentioned in a previous novel, Oryx and Crake. In reading this book, it's clear that Atwood understands how religions evolve and the purpose that they serve for human communities.

God's Gardeners have their own saints, and Atwood weaves some liturgy from various Saint's Days throughout the book. In this time of environmental desecration in the novel, it's not surprising that God's Gardeners would choose environmental activists as saints, so readers discover the Feast of Saint Rachel and All Birds, and the Feast of Saint Dian, Martyr.

Despite the more modern saints, this new religious movement doesn't abandon the past. They celebrate the Saint's Day of Julian of Norwich (Saint Julian and All Souls). They still rely on the Bible, along with the surprising new interpretations that come with every new generation.

Atwood has even created hymns for her God's Gardeners. On a recent interview on Diane Rehm's show (go here and scroll down to listen), she describes having recently spent a lot of time with traditional hymns, as she chose the music for her parent's funerals. Writing the lyrics came naturally. And in the interview, she talks about how the lyrics came to have music. The Diane Rehm interview includes some of the music (and Margaret Atwood singing her favorite hymn!), as does the website for the book--and there's a CD available.

It's interesting to observe Atwood's creation of a new religious tradition and to think about the parallels to other religions. I see how the Liberation Theology developments of the 70's and 80's might have seemed a similar mix of tradition and new creation to earlier generations of Christians. It makes me wonder if traditional religions will be able to offer sustenance to whatever coming generations will face--or will they, like Atwood's God's Gardeners, have to recombine the genes into something new which feels very ancient?

All Souls' Day

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain leaves on his quest on November 2. Medieval audiences would have recognized this day as All Souls' Day, and this heavy foreshadowing wouldn't have been lost on them. All Saints' Day celebrates all the saints, while All Souls' celebrates those who have died in the past year. As Sir Gawain leaves, his castle-mates would have been expecting to celebrate his life the following year.

All Souls' would develop into the kind of day that drove Martin Luther crazy. On All Souls' Day, people would be encouraged to spend money so that their loved ones would get out of purgatory sooner. According to medieval theology, a soul wasn't ready to go to Heaven right away.

In most Protestant churches, All Saints' and All Souls' have merged into one, and that makes sense to me. Still, my inner English major will always have a sense of these alternative liturgical calendars. I like having more to celebrate, more ways to remind myself that there's more to life than what occupies most of my time (work--both on the job and at my house). I like having holidays that remind me that we're only here for too brief a time. It helps me to treasure the fleeting moments that I have.

Celebrating the Feast of All Saints

Last week, I enjoyed creating a post that suggested ways to celebrate Reformation Sunday. So, today, let me write a post that suggests ways to celebrate All Saints. Of course, being Lutheran, I think the best way is to go to church--and hopefully, you'll find a church that is doing something special. In the past few years, I've gone to Lutheran churches that did a butterfly release or did something special in a garden. But even the most traditional church should be celebrating All Saints' Sunday today--well, at least the high church ones (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Episcopalian). My friend tells me that Presbyterians and Baptists would have no such Catholic-like celebrations in churches she's attended. More's the pity . . .

So, if you're cast adrift, here are some ways to commemorate the souls who have gone on before us to Eternal Peace.

--Plant some flowers. In many parts of the United States, now would be a great time to plant bulbs. Then in the spring, you'll have an additional treat. Over at LutheranChik's blog, she writes a moving post about planting daffodils for All Saints on the graves of her family members.

--Take a page out of the book of our Hispanic brothers and sisters. Prepare a picnic to share with the dead. Make some special sweet treats. This website has all sorts of interesting pages: recipes, photos of altars, information . . .

--For information about the Catholic approach to this day, including images and prayers, go to this website.

--Make something with the herb rosemary, traditionally used as a symbol of remembrance. How about a chicken, roasted with rosemary, lemon, and garlic? Vegetarians can make a tasty bean soup with the same trio of rosemary, lemon, and garlic--add several cans of beans (whirled up in the blender, if you prefer a thicker soup) to your pot of rosemary, lemon, and garlic, and you've got an easy delicious soup. Throw in some steamed carrot pieces for an even more nutritious soup.

--Remember your family stories. Even more important, start writing them down. You won't remember them forever. And there will be younger generations who will be starving for those stories. If you write them in a blog, hopefully, they'll be there forever.

--Write your living older family members a note or a card. Some day, you'll remember them on this feast day. Write them a note of appreciation now, while they are alive to appreciate your gratitude.

--Think about the saints that aren't related to you. Who has served as an example to you as a way to live your life? How can you follow that example?

--Here are the readings from the Common Lectionary for this day:

First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-9
First Reading (Alt.): Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9
Psalm: Psalm 24
Second Reading: Revelation 21:1-6
Gospel: John 11:32-44


The prayer book that I use, The Divine Hours series by Phyllis Tickle, includes these readings:

Revelation 7: 9-17
Psalm 15

Here are two prayers from that book:

"May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."

"Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give me grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that I may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen."