Monday, May 15, 2017
Fr. Matthew Fox's Earth Day Sermon
Enjoy.
Blessed be,
Joel
(Fr. Matthew Fox's web-site is here: matthewfox.org)
Earth Day 2017, Matthew Fox Sermon 4/23/17 from Trinity Cathedral on Vimeo.
Monday, May 1, 2017
A Vist with Bill Garden for May Day, 2017
Blessed be,
Joel
By the way, I believe that Mr. Garden is 87 in this video, which is "an excerpt from Throwbacks to a Golden Age of Northwest Boats, this tribute to the late, great naval architect was produced by videographer John Sabella in 2004."
Monday, April 24, 2017
Monday After Earth Day - 2017
The first video was created from photos of the Earth from space. When the Voyager was launched, Carl Sagon worked on the development of it, and he begged the NASA administration to have the Voyager turn the cameras onto Earth as it was leaving our Solar System. The administration relented and gave us the "Pale Blue Dot" photo.
This next link is a Washington Post Article about Space Junk, in particular the stuff floating around the Earth (dead satellites, etc.). It is a review of a new 12:34 minute documentary from the European Space Agency.
May we learn wisdom and perspective in dealing with one another, and the cosmos with which we are intimately connected.
Blessed be,
Joel
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Happy Easter - 2017
He is Risen indeed!
A number of years ago, I developed a Lesson and Hymn service that would parallel a Christmas Eve service of Lessons and Carols. For the Easter service, I have organized the readings from the earliest to the latest - as far as scholarship agrees (if such a thing is possible).
Enjoy. May the wonders of Easter Resurrection bless you this day, and always.
Joel
Invitation to Worship
EASTER ACCOUNTS – “ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK…”
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
HYMN: Christ is Alive (v. 1-3)...................................................................................................................... #318
HYMN: Christ is Alive (vs 4-5)...................................................................................................................... #318
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go Quickly and tell his disciples, ‘for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him,” This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
HYMN: Easter People, Raise Your Voices.............................................................................................................. #304
HYMN: Christ the Lord is Risen Today (vs. 1-2)..................................................................................................................... # 302
HYMN: On the Day of Resurrection............................................................................................................... #309
HYMN: Christ the Lord is Risen Today (vs. 3-4)..................................................................................................................... # 302
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have take the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together; but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings laying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings laying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not laying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
HYMN: In the Garden (v. 1) ..................................................................................... # 314
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
HYMN: Christ the Lord is Risen Today (vs. 3-4) .................................................... # 302
HYMN: He Lives .............................................................................................................. # 310
Benediction:
Friday, April 14, 2017
Good Friday: Tenebrae Service, Holy Week - 2017
May you continue to be blessed by God's movement in your lives over these Holy Days.
Joel
CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
(I have often started with a Lord's Supper communion service for those interested prior to the service starting.)
TENEBRAE – THE SERVICE OF SHADOWS
Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,
HYMN: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (vs 1, 2 & 4)........................................ #626
CHOIR: Adoramus Te Christe
HYMN: Go to Dark Gethsemane (vs 1 & 2)......................................................... #290
HYMN: Ah, Holy Jesus (vs 1 & 2)........................................................................... # 289
HYMN: What Wondrous Love Is This (vs 1, 2 & 3)........................................... #292
CHOIR: WHEN JESUS WEPT
CHOIR & CONGREGATION: Were You There................................................... #288
A Reflection on Violence for Good Friday
A Service of Tenebrae will be posted at noon.
Joel
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Maundy Thursday, Holy Week - 2017
For a reflection upon Holy Week in general, and Maundy Thursday in particular, here is a past post in which my reflection includes the scriptures and some historical context from Saving Paradise (Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker. Beacon Press. 2008).
Blessing on this Maundy Thursday.
Joel
(Hymn numbers refer to the United Methodist Hymnal)
Forgive us our sins
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Holy Week - Christ as Savior ... of How Much?
Richard Rohr's post from last week struck me, as I found he deals with this quite elegantly. So, I've decided to share his post with you.
May it give us somethings to reflect upon as we contemplate and celebrate Holy Week to Easter.
Blessed be,
Joel
[By the way, I just discovered that CAC's Daily Meditations are Archived Here.]
From Richard Rohr: Universal Salvation: April 7, 2017
A universal notion of Christ takes mysticism beyond the mere individual and private level that has been seen as mysticism’s weakness. If authentic God experience overcomes the primary false split between yourself and the divine, then it should also overcome the equally false split between yourself and the rest of creation.
For some of us, the first split is overcome personally in an experience of Jesus, but for many others (maybe even most!), union with the divine is first experienced through the Christ: in nature, in moments of pure love, silence, inner or outer music, with animals, awe before beauty, or some kind of “Brother Sun and Sister Moon” experience. Why? Because creation itself is the first incarnation of Christ, the primary and foundational “Bible” that reveals the path to God. The first incarnation of the Christ Mystery started about 13.8 billion years ago at “The Big Bang.” So some start with Jesus, but many who began with the Christ Mystery did not have that experience validated by the Church. They looked secular, humanistic, or like mere “nature mystics.” But God uses and honors all starting points!
Pre-Christian and pre-Jewish people already had access to God. This is the ecclesia ab Abel (“the church that existed since Abel”) that has been spoken of so often by the early church Fathers and in the documents of Vatican II. From the first righteous victim (Genesis 4:10; Matthew 23:35) until now, all suffering cries out to God and elicits divine compassion and community. This is a momentous and universal truth. We are indeed “saved” inside the Christ Mystery since the beginning of consciousness. Only in eventual time did this community take the form of “church.”
So we are called to love both Jesus and Christ. You can begin with either Jesus or Christ, but eventually it is easiest to love both. Too many Christians have started and stopped with Jesus, never knowing the universal Christ. Many non-Christians have started with loving the Christ by another name. I have met Hindus, Muslims, and Jews who live in this hidden mystery of oneness; and I have met many Roman Catholics and Protestants who are running away from the Christ Mystery, as either practical materialists or pious spiritualists.
Tertullian (160–225), who is called “the father of Western theology,” rightly taught that “the flesh is the hinge of salvation” (Caro salutis est cardo). [1] The incarnation of flesh and Spirit is Christianity’s most important contribution to spirituality, and this is the meaning of “The Christ,” although you do not need to name it as such.
Now “the world, life and death, the present and the future are all your servants, for you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God” (1 Corinthians 3:22-23). Full salvation is finally universal belonging and universal connecting. Our Christian word for that is “heaven.” This is why Jesus can say to a man dying in time, “This day you are with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The Christ is now, here, everywhere, and always.
Gateway to Silence:
In Christ, with Christ, through Christ
References:
[1] Tertullian, De resurrectione carnis (Treatise on the Resurrection), 8, 2.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2014), 223-226.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Trinity as Relationship
Isn't that what the Trinity is about, too? The excited relationships between the Three call us into relationship, too. These Three aren't done with the creating yet either. I'll leave you with these quotes:
John 3:17; John 5:17; and John 14:26
"God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
"My Father goes on working, and so do I."
"The Holy Spirit ... will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
Joel
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Welcome Home
Bonaventure took Francis of Assisi’s lay intuitive genius and spelled it out in an entire philosophy and theology. He wrote: “The magnitude of things . . . clearly manifests . . . the wisdom and goodness of the triune God, who by power, presence and essence exists uncircumscribed in all things.” [1] God is “within all things but not enclosed; outside all things, but not excluded; above all things, but not aloof; below all things, but not debased.” [2] Bonaventure spoke of God as one “whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.” [3] Therefore the origin, magnitude, multitude, beauty, fullness, activity, and order of all created things are the very “footprints” and “fingerprints” (vestigia) of God. Now that is quite a lovely and very safe universe to live in. Welcome home!
Joel
Quote is from Rohr's Daily Meditations for 30 March 2017.
[2] Ibid., 5, 8, 100-101.
[3] Ibid., 5, 8, 100.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Joining the Creative Dance of the Universe
Over this last week I've been reflecting upon Cynthia Bourgeault's notion of the Law of Three (or the ternary workings of the universe). In particular I've been pondering those times in my life where I have felt the most alive and "connected" to that Great Source of Being.
It turns out that at least two things have been present (and I'm looking for a third): a sense of creativity, and a sense of play. The more I sit in reflection about this, the more I'm becoming convinced that the/a third element is the physical body connection. For the Hebrew Bible/Old Treatment Tradition, the body was a good thing; this wasn't the case for the Platonic Ideals (in which all bodies fell short of the Ideal Body).
What has continued to sit with me are some of the following images: "A ternary system [being] asymmetrical and innovative ... corkscrews its way through time, matter, form—whatever plane is at hand—in a riot of uncertainty and new combinations, the whole of which is the fullness of divine reality";* "For the late theologian Beatrice Bruteau (1930-2014), the Trinity is first and foremost an image of relational unity. The three “God-persons in community,” as she sees it, comprise the prototype and the prerequisite for the expression of agape love—the energy of the Godhead itself. Bruteau builds a detailed case for why threefoldness is the necessary condition for agape love. She goes on to demonstrate why threefoldness is by nature “ecstatic” or, in other words, self-giving and generative. By its very threefoldness, it “breaks symmetry” (a term borrowed from quantum mechanics) and projects the agape love outward, calling new forms of being into existence, each of which bears the imprint of the original symbiotic unity that created it. “It is the presence of the Trinity as a pattern repeated at every scale of the cosmic order,” she believes, “that makes the universe a manifestation of God and itself sacred and holy.”** and "Understood within the context of a universe in motion, and with the Law of Three as its template, the Trinity becomes a dynamic mandala of God’s ongoing creativity in an evolving universe. It becomes, in fact, the evolutionary principle. The Trinity as a symbol of relationship invites us to trust the relationality of nature itself and to reconsider what we understand about the very nature of love. It is no longer a pre-existent “property” of God, but an emergent property of the whole of creation, joined in that divine dance."***
Where and when do you going yourself fully "connected"?
Blessed be,
Joel
____________
*Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity, disc 2 (CAC: 2004), CD, DVD, MP3 download; and
The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three (Shambhala Publications, Inc.: 2013), 6, 64-65, 81. (See Richard Rohr's Mediation for 3/15/2017).
**Beatrice Bruteau, God’s Ecstasy: The Creation of a Self-Creating World (New York: Crossroad, 1997), 14. (See Richard Rohr's Mediation for 3/14/2017).
***Adapted from Cynthia Bourgeault, “Trinity: The Evolutionary Principle of Unfolding Creativity,” The Mendicant, Vol. 7 No. 1 (CAC: 2017), 1, 5. (See Richard Rohr's Mediation for 3/14/2017).
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Reality in Nature
Over this past weekend my daughters celebrated a friend's birthday. Their friend had just put together a Virtual Reality (VR) system. They were amazed at what it could do, and how their bodies were "tricked" by what they saw. As a for instance: one of my daughters enjoyed playing fetch with a virtual dog. However, when she went to walk outside the other side of the house, she noticed she was standing on a porch. Below the porch there was blackness. Did that mean shadow? Did that mean a drop off a cliff? She knew she was in her friend's room, but she couldn't force herself to step off the porch.
All in all, my daughters were amazed, but also left pondering the uses/misuses of VR. I think they have read too many sci-fi books (i.e. Ender's Game) and may have listened to their Dad's thinking. The friend's Dad jokingly made the comment, "I hope this doesn't mean my child stops going skiing with me because s/he is now Olympic quality on VR!"
Which brings me to the questions of this post: what is the nature of reality? How do we stay engaged in that Reality? How do our thoughts of reality make a difference in what we see?
If you haven't been reading Richard Rohr's Meditations over the last few weeks, I think your missing out on some good content. This week Cynthia Bourgeault has been a guest writer continuing to reflect upon the Trinity as a source of Reality. What has particularly caught my attention is Bourgeault's statement that the Trinity is inviting us out of a binary world view and into a creative, invigorating and innovative ternary. "Ternary systems have three independent forces coming together to form something new, a fourth thing."
Imagine the potentials here? What would it mean if we'd been tricking ourselves all along (like a good VR game) about the binary nature of reality. What if Realty was really ternary?
Enjoy your ponderings.
Blessed be,
Joel
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Micro and Macro Ponderings
I've started reading Richard Rohr's new book on the Trinity (Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House: 2016).
Did your eyes glaze over? Sorry, that wasn't the response I was hoping for. I don't mean to engage you in a long theological argument, but rather draw your attention into both the microscopic and macroscopic worlds (and everything in between).
The Trinity has to deal with these worlds because the one reflects the other. The Trinity is ultimately about relationship: the three persons are in interaction with one another; they outpour love one to another; they depend upon the others to fill them back up again, only so they can outpour once more; they are diverse, yet cherish that very diversity; ... On a microscopic level isn't this what happens within atoms and between molecules? What about on the macroscopic level? Aren't we discovering that universe operates in relation with other universes?
It definitely happens on the human level: we are retational beings.
But what does this say about the church; about how we are to relate to the world?
So this week in Lent I marvel and ponder the implications, all the while relating. May it be so with you also.
Blessed be,
Joel
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Ash Wednesday Reflection - 2017
A blessed Ash Wednesday to each of you.
While I was in Tokyo with the Blaine Wind Ensemble, we visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (as I mentioned in my last post). One of the interesting exhibits was on global issues facing future generations (including ours?). The exhibit focused upon the choices we have and how they effect the future. What I thought was interesting was the time spent distinguishing between "forecasting" and "backcasting". "Forecasting" gets the most press in the United States. To forecast, we extrapolate current conditions adding/multiplying (depending upon the case) a rate of change allowing us to predict (often quite accurately) what will happen. Backcasting moves in the other direction. What kind of future do we want? What type of future is beneficial? Backcasting then asks, "how do we get there?" Backcasting is goal oriented.
What does this have to do with Lent? Rather than just giving something up for Lent, why not practice backcasting?
These are but an example of the type of questions backcasting asks. What would it mean if our investments aligned with our values/kin(g)dom of God? What does a healthy mind, body and spirit look like, and what steps to I need to put into place to get there? If I truly want to lower my carbon footprint, can I continue to sail in this really light wind (challenging myself in the process)? Do I need to drive, couldn't I walk or bike instead?
So rather than give something up for Lent, I'm going to try using backcasting as a spiritual discipline. Who knows, maybe by the time we reach Easter the process will become a spiritual habit.
Blessed Be,
Joel
Below is my Ash Wednesday Service for those of you apart from a church community this Ash Wednesday.
GREETING:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.
God’s mercy endures forever.
OPENING PRAYER (from the United Methodist Hymnal #353)
O God,
maker of every thing and judge of all that you have made,
from the dust of the earth you have formed us
and from the dust of death you would raise us up.
By the redemptive power of the cross,
create in us clean hearts
and put within us a new spirit,
that we may repent of our sins
and lead lives worthy of your calling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SCRIPTURE:
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51 (#785 in the UMC Hymnal)
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
INVITATION TO THE OBSERVANCE OF LENTEN DISCIPLINE
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
the early Christians observed with great devotion
the day of our Lord's passion and resurrection,
and it became the custom of the Church that before the Easter celebration
there should be a forty-day season of spiritual preparation.
During this season converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism.
It was also a time when persons who had committed serious sins
and had separated themselves from the community of faith
were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness,
and restored to participation in the life of the Church.
In this way the whole congregation was reminded
of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ
and the need we all have to renew our faith.
I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church,
to observe a holy Lent:
by self-examination and repentance;
by prayer, fasting, and self-denial;
and by reading and meditation on God's Holy Word.
To make a right beginning of repentance,
and as a mark of our mortal nature,
let us now kneel (or bow) before our Creator and Redeemer.
(a brief silence is kept)
THANKSGIVING OVER THE ASHES
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth.
Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence,
so that we may remember that only by your gracious gift
are we given everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
IMPOSITIONS OF THE ASHES
(as people come forward, a leader dips a thumb in the ashes and makes
a cross on the forehead of each person saying:
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
DISMISSAL WITH A BLESSING
Monday, February 27, 2017
Reflections on Technology and Art
Joel
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Out of the Country for a bit
Sorry for not posting on Monday, I'm leaving tomorrow for Japan and I've been a little pre-occupied. Our kids are in the HS Wind Ensemble (honor band). The Wind Ensemble has been invited to play at The Festival of a Thousand People, in Funabashi. Impressive. And to think, I get to go as one of the chaperones. More when I return. ...
Blessed be,
Joel
Monday, January 30, 2017
First They Came After ...
As we live in interesting times, may we all keep looking, speaking and acting with grace toward one another.
Blessed be,
Joel
Here's the quote:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Monday, January 23, 2017
Where Do We Look For the Kin(g)dom of God
Joel
Monday, January 9, 2017
An Errant Circumnavigation - Russell Heath
Enjoy and Blessed be,
Joel