Journeying Into Mystery

I am not very keen on the season of winter. My dislike for it is pretty much akin to almost the level of hatred … almost. Then, last evening, I was reading a book of poetry, entitled “Dog Songs”, by the poet, Mary Oliver, and came across the poem “The Storm (Bear)”. The poem reminded me of our two Great Pyrs, Floydrmoose (a play on Fliedermaus), and Henri. These were two massive dogs who loved the winter weather, especially following snow storms. They would leap and prance and rub themselves in the snow. It was great play for them.

THE STORM (BEAR)

Now through the white orchard my little dog
romps, break the new snow
with wild feet.
Running here running there, excited,
hardly able to stop, he leaps, he spins
until the white snow is written upon
in large, exuberant letters,
a long sentence, expressing
the pleasures of the body in this world.

Oh, I could not have said it better
myself.

(c) Mary Oliver, “Dog Songs”, Penguin Books, New York, New York 10014

In today’s readings, Isaiah is called by God to be God’s prophet. In the Gospel, Jesus calls Simon Peter, James and John to be his disciples. As we listen to both accounts, those who are called by God become fearful. It is not because Isaiah was scared of God, or that Simon Peter, James and John were frightened by Jesus. What scared them? In God’s light, they beheld their own sinfulness. They became clearly aware of their shortcomings, and their inadequacies as human beings.

This is not isolated to those “holy people” from the past. This is something that is consistent with all who have felt called to serve God. I remember weeks before my ordination to the Permanent Diaconate, the major question that I pondered very seriously was whether I was worthy enough to be ordained to serve God and the Church. Deeply aware of my own shortcomings and knowing that they were not going to be erased magically by the Archbishop’s laying of hands, was I worthy to be a servant of Christ in the Church? I reflected on a portion of St Paul’s 2^nd letter to the Corinthians in which he writes about a “thorn in the flesh” he wished God to take from him. The Lord replied to St Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” St Paul concludes, “I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ;for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor: 9-10). What ended up most important to me was not whether I was worthy enough to be ordained. Rather, in spite of my weaknesses, God deemed me worthy enough to be ordained.

You and I were not perfect when God called us at our baptism. God calls us just as we are. Like Isaiah, Peter, James, John, and Paul, we seek to serve God, well aware of our own brokenness. Let not our own sinfulness get in the way of our serving God and serving those whom called God has called us to serve. Rather, may we come to realize that which was spoken to St Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

Often times, Ordinary Time, sandwiched between the Season of Christmas and the Season of Lent, is generally quite short, two to four weeks at the most. This year, we have the luxury of eight Sundays in Ordinary Time before we begin our Lenten fasts and practices. Because this is Year C in the Lectionary cycle, the Gospels we will hear are drawn largely from the Gospel of Luke.

Jesus goes back to his home town and announces to the people that his mission in life is more than being that of a carpenter. The people of Nazareth reject him and are so furious they try to murder him. Jesus then begins to call people from all walks of life to join him. Some are notorious sinners and others are self-righteous.  Some are men, and some are women. Some come from well to do families, others are fishermen, homemakers, and common laborers. One is a tax collector who is in cahoots with the Roman Empire, and another is an armed revolutionary. One might think Jesus didn’t choose very well, given the motley group of individuals who followed him. For the self-righteous religious of his day, the relationships Jesus had with tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves and other societal reprobates was downright scandalous.

Let us use this Ordinary Time to reflect upon how Jesus has called us to be his disciples. We are no different from the men and women disciples he called to follow him 2000 years ago. We come from all walks of life, from different professions and backgrounds. Not a one of us is without sin. We are the same motley group of individuals. We sit in church trying to forget our past, or struggle with the present, and hope for the future. Over these ensuing weeks of Ordinary Time, may we sit at the feet of our Lord, and as we listen to the Gospels, learn from him what it means to be his disciple this new year.

The feast day of Tom Coleman is January 2nd and the feast day of Lucille Coleman is January 29th. They died 27 days apart in 2011.

Tom like many of the men in my class was very active in the church and various church organizations prior to diaconal formation. He and Lucy were strong, hardworking, and deeply committed to a strong belief and faith in God. Lucy was fond of cracking jokes during the class breaks we would have, and she had a very earthy sense of humor. Tom and Lucy suffered a tragedy early on when their only daughter, Teresa,  died. Tom and Lucy took comfort in their two other children and in one another. At the end of their lives, they shared the same room in the nursing home.

This “Minuet for Tom and Lucy” is Psalm Offering 3 Opus 5. I composed the piano music of Opus 5 as ordination presents to the diaconal couples of my ordination class in the summer of 1994 (we were ordained on September 24, 1994). While there is no corresponding psalm or other scriptural text associated with this song, I think this prayer composed for deacons expresses the kind of lives both Tom and Lucy led.

“God of mercy,
You gave us Tom and Lucille to proclaim the riches of Christ
through the Word of God
and in service to all of God’s children,
particularly to the poor, the despised, and the hopeless.
By the help of their prayers
may we grow in knowledge of you,
be eager to do good,
and learn to walk before you
by living the truth of the gospel.
Grant this through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and brother,
who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

January 29th is also the feast of another deacon mentor of mine, Jack Vieman. May he rest in the peace of Christ.

This past Saturday, January 26th, was the feast day of my cousin, Cheryl. In the Catholic tradition, the day of one’s death is the day of his or her birth into heaven, hence, that day becomes his or her feast day. Cheryl died, unexpectedly following a surgery on her back, last year on the 26th of January. Kind and generous, fun-loving and loving, smart and industrious are all words that describe Cheryl. She could be a wee bit overly-indulgent to her dog, Buster, and I suppose, Buster was equally overly-indulgent (as dogs can be) toward Cheryl. She loved her family, and doted on her nephews and her grand nieces and nephews.

In her memory, I composed this Mazurka for Cheryl. A Mazurka is a Polish dance in three, usually with the second or third beat of the measure heavily accented. One of the most celebrated composers of Mazurkas was the 19th century Polish pianist and composer, Frederic Chopin. It is figured that he composed 45 Mazurkas, of which 41 have Opus numbers, and 13 more Mazurkas published posthumously, of which 8 have posthumous Opus numbers. It is believed that there are still 11 Mazurkas manuscripts of Chopin’s that are either in private hands, or untraceable.

Since Cheryl’s Mazurka is part of my collection of piano music I call, Psalm Offerings, think of this song as an aural prayer for Cheryl. Like Cheryl, the music is lively and full of fun. I composed this song and the rest of the piano music for Opus 9 during the winter and spring of 2018.

The music’s corresponding psalm is Psalm 149.

Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing,
 making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with victory.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their couches.
(Psalm 149: 1-5. NRSV Bible)

In St Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians this Sunday, we hear his teaching on the Body of Christ. This is my bulletin reflection on that reading. It is the companion piece to my initial article on the Glorification of the Self, albeit, far shorter.

In 1998, newsman, Tom Brokaw, wrote a book entitled, “The Greatest Generation”. These were young people who grew up in the deprivation of the Great Depression, fought  World War II, and helped build up the United States into a nation known not only for its prosperity, benefiting workers with a livable wage, but shared that prosperity with nations shattered by war and poverty. This was a generation who believed and lived the words expressed by President John F Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” The greater good of the nation was far more important than the good of the individual. Everybody prospers as long as the common good prospers. As Jim Hightower has said, “Everyone does better when everyone does better.”

This is not a new teaching. It is Divine revelation. Today, St. Paul exhorts the Corinthian community to be the Body of Christ. Jesus is the head of the Body. The Christian community makes up the rest of the Body, each contributing their gifts to build up the greater good of the Body. The good of the whole Body, Paul writes, is more important than the individual parts of the Body. “God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.” With the exception of Christ, the head, all parts of the Body are equally good and necessary.

When people wonder why our society is floundering so badly today, it is because we have lost sight of this Divine revelation of the Body of Christ. Since the 1980’s, we have lived in a world that glorifies the individual at the expense of the greater good of all, and our society suffers because of it. If we wish America to be “great again,” the glorification of the individual must be abandoned. All people must place the common good of all people first again. When we live this Divine Revelation of the Body of Christ, captives will be set free, the blind will see, the oppressed will go free, and God will bestow favor upon our world.

The Wedding of Cana is more than just a Jewish wedding at which Jesus turned gallons of water into wine. It is the first of seven signs in the Gospel of John revealing the Divine nature and mission of Jesus. More importantly, it is the point of “no return” for Jesus, in which he makes known his Messianic Mission to our world. We hear this in his dialogue with his mother. When Mary tells him that there is no wine, Jesus answers her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” Mary replies by telling the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” In her own way, Mary is telling Jesus to quit stalling and do what he is suppose to do (We all need a little push from our moms from time to time).

It is significant that this miracle occurred at a wedding. For the Jewish people, marriage was symbolic of the covenant between God and the People of Israel. The prophets often speak metaphorically of God as the faithful groom and Israel as the bride, albeit unfaithful bride. For the Jewish people, the Kingdom of God, eternal life, was often described as a wedding feast in which everyone’s hunger was satisfied and everyone drank wine to their heart’s content. In light of the symbolic meaning of a wedding feast, it seems apropos that Jesus chose a wedding feast in which to first reveal his mission of ushering the Kingdom of God into our world.

All of this was not lost on the disciples of Jesus. Their eyes and their hearts were opened to what Jesus was doing. As in all of our lives, they had a decision to make. Were they going to make a leap of faith and go forward with Jesus on his mission into an unknown future? Or, were they going to play it safe and stay behind in the status quo of the past? At the conclusion of this Gospel story, the disciples make that leap of faith and go forward with Jesus.

The choice presented to the disciples is presented to us today. Jesus beckons us to join him. Will we play it safe and remain in the status quo of once was? Or, shall we boldly trust him, and with him usher the Reign of God into our world? It is our choice.

This is a reflection on the current crises we are experiencing in our politics and our culture. I apologize for its length.

THE PANDEMIC OF SELF-GLORIFICATION

Back in the late 1980’s, there was a great amount of interest in Satanism/Black Magick (not to be confused with the White Magick of the Wiccans). This attraction can be attributed to a number of things and events at the time, everywhere from a naivete “Red light Green light hope to see a ghost tonight” mentality, pop culture, and entertainments especially amongst adolescents to those seriously exploring this area of supernatural life. The lives, works, and rituals of renowned Satanists, e.g. Aleister Crowley, were in demand. There was an increase in the number of grave desecrations in Minnesota, and many articles written in the daily newspapers about the topic, including the Minnesota Monthly. One of the greatest concentrations of of witches covens was in Minneapolis/St Paul during this time (I don’t know if that is currently true). I had a good friend who was a public school art teacher who told me he once experimented with Black Magick/Satanism while as an art major at the University. He got out of it when the things that were supposed to happen actually began to happen. Frightened, he left the occult life altogether and, at the time we knew each other, was a very devout evangelical Christian.

At the time, I felt the need to know more about this subject, so I did a copious amount of research. My own children were growing up during this period of history and as a responsible parent and working in parish ministry, I thought it important to be informed.

At this time (essentially the Reagan Era of the ’80’s), along with this increased fascination with Black Religious practices, there was also occurring the glorification of the self, making one’s own self-interests primary in life with the exclusion of the needs of others. This was documented in the scholarly study “Habits of the Heart” in which it was found that the individualism that marked what was great about the United States, e.g. the common good was greater and more important than the individual good, was being replaced with an individualism that ignored the common good and glorified the needs of the individual. From that time to our own present time, the common good of all Americans has been jettisoned as garbage, while the glorified self has become all the more prominent.

Is Self-Glorification synonymous with Satanism? No, that would be like the Church Lady from SNL trying to equate the word, Santa, with Satan (illustrated by the rearrangement of the letters in the word, Santa). One can self-glorify without belonging to a coven or doing Satanic ritual.

So, what does Self-glorification share with Satanism? The common denominator is that Self becomes God. It is the worship of Oneself. It is the worship of “Me”.

In Satanism, the basic tenet of faith is that the one to be worshiped is not Satan, it is one’s own Self. The Self is God. The highest feast day of the year is one’s personal birthday (a twisted, dark kind of Christmas). All the other occult feast days are less important. The practices, rituals, sacrifices are performed to coerce Satan to do the bidding of the Self. In essence, one uses the power of Satan to advance Oneself. To go back to the book of Genesis, what was it that expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden? They wanted to elevate themselves to be God. Satan, in the guise of the serpent, tells them to become God they must eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. As we know full well, they did and quickly found out that they were NOT God.

In our present time, we are experiencing the effects of the glorification of the Self. More so than in other times, there is an obsessive cult of celebrity in our culture. It is pandemic. It is visible in check-out counter reading material, or on the television and radio. As the artist, Andy Warhol, once said, everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. More serious is the cult of celebrity present in the Halls of Congress, the Cabinet, and, tragically for our nation, in the White House. At the funeral of President George H.W. Bush, when all present were praying the Apostles Creed, only one person refused to pray. The “leader of our nation” kept his mouth shut, the creed hanging statically at his side.

We do not need to host a show on radio or television, perform on stage or screen, write books, be elected to public office etc to fall prey to the cult of celebrity. Do we not to some degree feel the desire to self-worship, to glorify ourselves? It is pandemic on and in all areas of our lives. We can see it evident in our communities, our places of work, in our own homes and even in our places of worship.

In direct contrast to this self-worship, cult of celebrity of our present time, is the person of Jesus. He made it clear that his mission on earth was not one of self-glorification. The self-servicing ethic of the cult of celebrity did not play any part in Jesus’ mission to humanity. He ran away from those who tried to force celebrity status upon him (Note: in John’s Gospel, after the feeding of the 5000, he fled and hid from those who wanted to make him King.) He made it abundantly clear that he came to serve, not be served. Even as he approached his own execution, he prayed that it was God’s will, not his will, that must be done. As the Servant of God, he refused to elevate his own Self, and chose to empty himself of his own Self. He then commanded those who are his disciples to do the same.

This is extremely pertinent to those who are religious leaders. Pope Francis warns against the sin of clericalism in the Roman Catholic Church. Clericalism is a form of self-glorification. It seems that in the last 20 years, there has been a restoration of clericalism in the formation of priests and deacons . I haven’t seen so many black cassocks (something to which I refer as clerical cross-dressing), birettas, and other unnecessary clerical accessories as I do in some of those recently ordained as priests and deacons. As a Roman Catholic Deacon, I am allowed to wear clerics (clergy shirt and collar, something I refer to it as wearing my flea and tick collar). I wear clerics only when absolutely necessary. A simple deacon’s cross is generally the extent of my clerical ensemble. At Mass, I wear a simple alb (an alb is basically a long baptismal gown) a stole, and a cincture (to keep me from tripping on my alb). As a Deacon, I am to be “Christ as Servant”. A priest is to be “Christ as Sacrament”. In neither role, are we to raise ourselves to cultic celebrity. We are to be servants of the Servant of God, nothing more and nothing less. While I cannot speak for any other Christian denomination or world religion, if we are truly religious leaders we will forswear a life of Self-glorification.

So how do we respond to this pandemic? What are we to do? It is as simple as repeating the oft abuse cliché, “What would Jesus do?” And, then doing it! Jesus emptied himself of his self in service to God and to humanity. We are to do the same. Thomas Merton and Richard Rohr are great Roman Catholic sources who have written extensively on this. I am sure that my brothers and sisters in other Christian denominations, in the Jewish faith, and in other world religious traditions can cite other sources in their religious traditions to help all in following this way of life. We seek our entire life to find fulfillment. Paradoxically, we find that we are not fulfilled not in Self-glorification, but, as Jesus says in the Gospels, in losing oneself so as to be one with the One who loved us into existence.

We seek our entire life to find fulfillment. Paradoxically, we find that we are fulfilled not in Self-glorification, but, as Jesus says in the Gospels, in losing oneself so as to be one with the One who loved us into existence.

If you were to ask me, “What is the most important sacrament?” I would answer, “Baptism.”  On this upcoming Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, that closes the Season of Christmas, what follows is some random thoughts of mine upon this very important, vital sacrament of the Church.

The sacrament of Baptism allows us to enter into a deep, special relationship with God. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Primordial First Sacrament is Jesus Christ. The second most important level of sacrament are those who have been baptized, the living and breathing Body of Christ on the Earth. On the third level of importance is the other sacraments of the Church (Confirmation, Holy Communion, Reconciliation, the  Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, and Holy Orders). It is through our baptism that we are ushered into all these other sacraments we will celebrate during the span of our lives.

Because infant mortality was so high, in the past, it was pressed upon parents of newborns to baptize their infants ASAP following the birth of their child. Why the rush? Many in the Roman Catholic Church believed that eternal salvation was attained only through being baptized. Should a child die unbaptized, not having been cleansed of Original Sin, the child would not be permitted in heaven. The child would go to Limbo, a place that was neither heaven nor hell (not to be confused with a dance in the Carribbean). Approximately 30 years ago, the Roman Catholic Church dismissed this teaching as false, making the correction that a child dying prior to being baptized is welcomed back into the loving arms of God.

Why is it important to have our children baptized? The answer is simply to be in an everlasting relationship with the God who loved our children into existence. God permeates our very being. God is above and below, before and behind, to our right and to our left, within and outside of us. The Jewish faith has long taught that the breath that animates our bodies is the breath of God. The gifts which we have been given have all been given to us out of love by God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, baptism enables us into a deeper relationship with God than if we were not baptized.

What is baptism not?  In the parlance of the game of Monopoly, baptism is not a “pass go, collect $200 card” into heaven. As with the relationships we have with others in our lives, we can choose to enter into a deeper relationship with God or we can refuse to be in relationship with God. Baptized or not, a relationship with God will not be forced upon us. We must choose to be in relationship with God. If we reject God, God will respect our choice and will leave us alone. Baptism is more than just joining the “Jesus Club.”  Baptism is NOT a free pass into heaven.

Why wouldn’t we want to be in relationship with God?

Admittedly, I was formed and raised in my faith by two very faithful people, my mom and dad. However, like many of my generation, I just didn’t take and believed what they said to believe as true. I had to find out for myself. I questioned, doubted, fell into “disbelief”, questioned my disbelief, studied, meditated upon the faith I had been taught. My faith is not a “Blind Faith,” but, rather, like the Apostle Thomas, I had to probe the wounds in the hands and side of Christ. I began to believe again not because I was told to believe, but because I CHOSE to believe. I, intentionally CHOSE to fully enter into a relationship with God.

What had been missing during my time of disbelief? I found within myself a deep seated longing for something more than just the relationships I had in my life. This longing was deeper than the longing I felt and continue to feel for Ruth, my wife, who is the greatest experience of God in my life. It was a longing, a sense of not being fully complete. From that point onward I have been following that longing, that need to be united with the source of my longing.

For better or for worse, I have dragged my family along on this journey to completeness. After 42 years of ministry in the Church, a graduate degree in Pastoral Studies, ordination to the Diaconate, receiving my certification as a spiritual director, the longing is still there, and more intense than ever. I have not arrived but am still enroute.

The only way to be completely fulfilled as a human being is to be in a deep, loving relationship with God. That is why baptism is so important. The Church (inclusive of all Christian denominations) is filled with broken and sinful people, clergy and laity alike (after 42 years of ministry in the Catholic Church, how well I know this). However, it is through this most broken institution, in the sacrament of baptism, that we find the entry point into an everlasting relationship with the God who is the source of all for which we long. Why would we walk away from this baptism? Why would we deny ourselves the very breath that we need to fully live?

On this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, let us embrace the gift of relationship that we received at our own baptism. Let us choose to deepen that relationship with the God who loved us into existence. Let us choose to “One” ourselves to the One who is the very source of all our longing.

The feasts of the Epiphany, and the Baptism of the Lord, which closes the season of Christmas, are, in fancy terms, theophanies. A theophany is a visible manifestation of God. On the feast of the Epiphany, God is visibly made manifest in the person of the infant Jesus to the Wise Men. On the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Jesus is visibly made manifest to John the Baptist and those who had gathered at the Jordan River to be baptized by John.

Biblically, when theophanies occur, they are rather startling supernatural occasions, great storms and winds, a pillar of fire, the parting of the Red Sea for example. In their own way, the Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord, are, in themselves supernatural events. However, in the day to day events of life, God is made visibly manifest to us less dramatically, and far less supernaturally.

I have written about her before, but one person whose life for me was a daily theophany was a good friend, Blanche Schutrop. Blanche never advanced beyond an 8^th grade education, She tutored school children. She was a sacristan, a professed Secular Franciscan, and coordinated home communion visits. She liked to watch the Twins over a couple of beers with her husband, Ivo. She was a homemaker by profession. Blanche was a simple, uncomplicated person. Yet, in her simplicity, in her humble service to others, God was made visibly manifest. If there was a pastoral need in the parish, people didn’t go to the pastor or to me. They went to Blanche. Blanche was a living, breathing, visible manifestation of God. Blanche was a theophany.

Who are those living, day to day, theophanies in our lives? This is something to ponder during these waning days of the Christmas season. They are all around us. There are no cracks of lightning, thunder booming, great winds rising when they enter a room or interact with us. Yet, we sense that within them God is very much present. By virtue of our own baptism, we are to be a visible manifestation of God to others. Are our lives theophanies? Or, are they anything but a theophany? May our new year resolution be to ask for the grace in becoming a living manifestation of God to others.