God Provides

"Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large."
Mark 16:1-4

"Ugh! There's no way I'm going to get through the entrance."
Imagine that: three women are ready to perform a funeral rite of purification, but there's a large stone in the way - three women who were probably told that they were weak; three women who had only one thing to do.
We live our lives every day, going through many different issues.  I'm pretty sure that everybody who reads this has some sort of issue s/he has to face every day.  And, yet, we all get through them.
There are things that are difficult for every other person.  Perhaps my going to the gym every weekday is something that another person would think of as being impossible.  On the other hand, though, I think that getting up at four in the morning to report to work is impossible for me to do.  Dealing with taxes of many clients is something else that I see as impossible for me to deal with, yet one of my best friends does that day in and day out with the greatest joy.
We all have our own issues, and that's the situation here.  A woman's job would have been to anoint a dead body.  A soldier's job would have been to roll the stone in front of the tomb and away from it.  Yet, I'm sure that a soldier would not have known how to deal with anointing a dead body, just as the women would not have known how to deal with the large stone.  Add in the stereotypes - that the men were muscular brutes, and women were delicate homemakers - and these extremes become impossible to overcome.
But, today's Gospel is very clear about what happens: the stone will be rolled away.  God provides us with ways to overcome all of our trials.  This is something we need to believe in all of our tasks.

The women could just as well have chatted in this manner after buying the spices, "I forgot there's a huge stone in the way...let's not go".  But, it is with their dedication to complete their task that they saw the glory of God before them: a miracle of God providing.  For God provides us a way, and sometimes that way is something that we won't perceive until we get to the supposed "impossible stone" of our tasks.

The Greatest Commandment

“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”Mark 12:29-31

We are one.  We believe in one God.  The Lord is our God, and the Lord is one.  This is how the greatest commandment begins.  It's a statement about unity, and it's something that perpetuates throughout the rest of the statement.  Jesus preaches to us in every single word he says.  So, then, what is our issue?

Today, we have so many divisions in our churches, our congregations, and even our separate communities.  When we come together, we like to bring our prejudices and hatred into the sanctuary.  You know, the kinds where you look at that one lady from the corner of your eye because you know of what she has been doing.  It's that decision you make to avoid participating in the church just because of a petty argument one morning.  It is holding a grudge against that one person who disagreed with you before breakfast.  It's running away because there was that one musician you don't like.  But, we supposedly believe in the one God.

Jesus was always aware about the different issues among Jews and outsiders.  He commanded us many times to remember the more important issues, such as our devotion to God, as opposed to our personal opinions on matters of ceremonies or rituals.  In the same way, Jesus tells us about the greatest commandment in the best way possible.

In the middle of all the 'do nots', Jesus commands us to do one thing:

Love

Love the one God who unifies us, and love the ones who are already loving God.  Bring God to every single person around us in the best way possible: love.

After Jesus tells us this, the scholar who was talking to Jesus went on to explain that this love is far greater than any offerings or sacrifices.  The love for God and the love for our neighbors is one that is greater than just our 10% every week (or so), or our one hour and a half (depending on what time we wake up), or our (sometimes mindless) recitations of prayers.  And this is very important for us, for it takes our personal devotion to God into one that creates a community.

Even though Jesus retreated many times throughout the gospels to pray and meditate, he always commanded us to live in community with one another.  He tells us to go out and make disciples/students/friends of other nations.  He tells us to welcome those we may not feel so comfortable about.  He tells us to break down our walls to each other and find some common ground.  And, he gives us the common ground: the love for God.

When we truly love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, there is no room for anything else:

• When we give our whole heart to God, we begin to understand the complete love that God has for us.
• When we give our whole mind to God, we begin to understand what God is telling us through the living word.
• When we give our whole soul to God, we feel the Holy Spirit drive us in ways we could never have imagined.
• When we give our whole strength to God, we pick up the tools and stones, bricks, wood, and metal to build up the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

We love ourselves in the best way possible when we give ourselves to God, for there is no greater solution to all of our problems we face on this earth.  After we learn to love ourselves through the nourishment that God provides, we can express our love and fellowship to each other, thereby strengthening us all into becoming a community.  For we are one in Christ.

God Hates Figs

"Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, [Jesus] went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard it."
Mark 11:13-14

This passage has troubled me for a long time, for it is a harsh curse from Jesus.  Now, don't get me wrong, Jesus does use many strong and harsh statements throughout the gospels, but, for some reason, this one seems to be among the harshest.  Maybe it's because of the fact that it's to a tree, which, in my experience, kind of just does its own thing (of course, my gardening skills are sub-par at best).  Maybe it's because the tree ended up withering away very soon after (Mark 11:20).  Jesus kills a tree with his words.
But, then I remember, God has the final word: the word is Jesus.  So, this has to have some sort of meaning for me, right?  God, Love, speaks to me through Jesus, but I feel stumped with this passage.
In my attempts to understand this, I have turned to other sources to "check" if my own suspicions are right.
But, of course, this unschooled guy here thinks of something that is totally off from what the authorities teach: that this is a prophecy against Israel for not producing fruit.
I don't want to let this passage to be just a prophecy for the Jews of their impending tribulations.  I feel that it speaks to me in this way:
A great tree that bears a promise of good fruit (fig newtons, anyone?) is replete with leaves well before fig-season.  What a gift it is for that tree!  I would be so excited if I saw something like that when I was hungry.  And now we have Jesus, about whom the gospel writers rarely state that he is hungry.  And, he goes to the tree, and there's nothing but leaves.  I already hear the words of a parable, where the sprout of the Gospel grows too quickly with such a small root that it dies out, for that is what this tree is: lots of growth with little to offer.  The tree is just showing off for no reason.  The tree deceives.  And so, Jesus commands the tree to die.  Now, there is no longer a deceiving plant, but shriveled pride.  

"He who has little will have it taken away from him."

The thing that punches me, though, is that Mark writes that Jesus replies to the tree, as if the tree were a person and had spoken something to Jesus. (Frequently, in Mark, whenever Jesus replies to his disciples or anyone else, the Greek phrase ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν 'he said in response' appears.)  So, now we have a tree that's like, "Jesus, here I am in all my glory.  Go away from your path and come to me."
Then, I think about how I am.  God has given me many talents, and many times I feel like I am just using them for my own gain.  Sometimes, when I pray, I feel that I am asking for something that is just for me and not for my job in life.  God works through each of us with our talents.  However, God counts on us making a good use of our talents.  So, instead of showing off our talents to lead others astray, wondering why they aren't good enough or why they don't have what another might have (despite lacking in their hearts), we should work together to cultivate each other's talents and incorporate them into the great garden that is the Kingdom of God.  For, we are all seeds that are wandering and beaten through the chaos that is this world, but we have one in heaven who is waiting with a watering can and a shovel to cultivate us into a wonderful tree with many fruits to offer.

Sam van Aken "Tree of 40 Fruit"

Not Losing Ourselves

"τί γὰρ ὠφελεῖ ἄνθρωπον κερδῆσαι τὸν κόσμον ὅλον καὶ ζημιωθῆναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ;
τί γὰρ δοῖ ἄνθρωπος ἀντάλλαγμα τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ;"
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Mark 8:36-37


Today's Gospel reading has inspired me to bring this blog back up after quite a long hiatus of inactivity.  I have not lost my faith, and, in fact, in the past few weeks, I feel that I have gotten closer to God.

The idea of gaining the whole world is one that can seem distant from us.  "Of course it wouldn't apply to me, for I only make a small salary and have a very small savings account, if any at all."
However, gaining the whole world, even in this context when Jesus is talking to the crowd, is an ideological gain.  This is a gain of people.  Why not just make life easier so I can fit in?  Why not just tell people what they want to hear so I can be their friends?  Why not just have friends of the table and not of the truth? Friends of the internet and not of reality?


I've slowly been learning that many of us just like to put on different faces in front of different people just to satisfy them for the moment.  I learned a lot about it when I was in a summer program, Freedom Ride, just a few weeks ago.
The message here, in the gospel, is that we need to be ourselves.  In fact, the word that gets translated into "soul" in Greek also means "self".
"What help comes from gaining the whole world and losing one's self?


Alongside learning about different aspects of the history of civil rights in the United States, South Africa, and Botswana.
The idea of "separate, but equal" really spoke to me when I saw every single example, with living spaces, schools, public spaces, and even laws.  Different people in power (or claiming power) were lying to themselves and to others just to gain the world: a following.  Even today, we still have people who do this on a daily basis (I shall avoid politicians, for it is, in fact, the beginning of the presidential race).  I have some acquaintances that I know who will tell one person one thing and another another (in fact, it becomes entertaining for me when the different people from completely different circles come together before me so I can witness these differences).  I am guilty of the same thing.
However, we also have people doing the opposite as well.  I have met some great people who have taught me that I do, in fact, have a voice and that I do have the same power that some whom I may see as my enemies wield.  One of my new friends taught me to get in touch with different emotions when I write.  Another told me to speak out at any given moment.  Different people told me that I have many different ways of becoming active for the cause of unity and love among all of our people, our community, our church.
As a result of finding these abilities, I wrote two poems in the program.  In the first one, I decided to reinterpret a memory.  In the second, I stated my feelings about events that have transpired in the past two months regarding marriage equality in the United States and in the Episcopal Church.  

What will a person give in exchange for her/his self?"
Jesus tells us that he loves us just the way we are.  We do not need to judge others or to put others down.  What we need to do is to follow Jesus in all that we do.  Through all of our challenges and struggles we will get even closer to him.

God is Good

"It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to your Name, O Most High; to tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning and of your faithfulness in the night season." (Psalm 92:1-2)
It is such a relief to take off our masks and just fall on our knees in praise.  It is good to renew our own relationship with God at all times.  When we run to God, God refreshes us.  God will take all of our pains like thorns and toss them out, cleaning our wounds and binding us up in the process.  It is a great thing to think positively in the morning and at night.  God is always good to us, so why don't we take a moment to think of all the good that comes from God?

Family

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" (Luke 13:34)
This shows how Jesus knew that though Jerusalem was a major city for the Jews, it still faced quite a few problems.  It is almost like an elaboration on another statement that a prophet is rejected in his own home.
But Jesus is speaking to us.  Imagine, God is in this world, uniting people and gathering them together in a great unity, but we are going after God and making God's job difficult.  We start to reject those that God sends us.  We turn our backs when people point out what we need to work on.  This is a place where we know that we should be listening to others more and helping others out.  We need to be uniting everybody instead of pushing them away.  We must face everybody with love rather than hate; friendship rather than enmity.

Less Is More

"And again he said, 'To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.'" (Luke 13:20-21)
This reminds me of the times I would spend trying to master my technique to make naan.  At first, I thought that I needed to put as much yeast as possible so that I could make a fluffy bread.  However, when I did that, the bread would just form into weird shapes and not be very fun to eat.  After a while, I learned that the best amount was just a little pinch.  Then, I would let the dough rise with the yeast before putting it to cook.  Now, I like to think along these lines with this parable, for it shows us how Gos works in our lives.  In fact, I remember Paul's saying that God will never put us through anything we cannot handle.  Thus, the yeast parable.  God puts the Spirit in us and gives us our ministries and missions. However, so long as we do not take on too much more than we could handle, after taking the time to learn how Gos speaks to us and how we are to serve our community, then we can become a very appetizing and successful bread.  We will become the best products of God.

Finger Pointing

"But the Lord answered him and said, 'You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?'" (Luke 13:15-16)
There are times when we all get caught up on different issues and customs in our beliefs.  The pharisees decided to make very strict interpretations of the Ten Commandments, but those interpretations would get in the way of truly loving God.  Even today, while we don't really have as strict of rules regarding the Sabbath (if any at all), we like to get caught on other issues.  We can't help but point our fingers, even when things aren't the way we want them to be.  Sometimes we accuse others of not being good Christians because they don't say a certain prayer or because they don't pray to a certain saint.  Sometimes we don't like people because they go to a centuries old church rather than one in a smaller building.  We can take this a step further and look at how we treat each other outside of church: if somebody does not subscribe to every single opinion of some of our great advocates, s/he is not part of our LGBT family; if somebody does not identify with a certain subculture in our LGBT family, that person is not doing her/his part.  However, when we get caught up with these issues, we are only hurting ourselves.  Sure, we can point all we want, but our shoulders will tire before anything will happen.  God is the ultimate judge, and God has given us what we need to know: how to love.  When we take the time to point our fingers back to ourselves and notice how we are no longer living in the love of God, then we can change ourselves to be closer with God.

Plants

"He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" (Luke 13:8-9)
Jesus has come down into our lives to put in new fertilizer and other vitamins so that we can grow and bear fruits.  The only way we can bear fruits is by taking all that Jesus teaches us in and applying it in our lives.  In this parable, in particular, Jesus mentions that we are given a chance to become better.  In fact, God is always working within us to make us better.  When we allow God to dictate what happens in our lives, we will grow to bear great fruit.
Another note is that Jesus preaches against judging.  Therefore, He considers this to be of such a great importance, for He speaks of it before teaching us that we need to live in Him.  Thus, by making peace with our neighbors and becoming a unified family of God, we shall live and breathe the gospel.

The Fire

"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" (Luke 12:49)
These are the words of Jesus himself.  I just read an article where the author desired for the reader to know that Jesus was indeed a radical.  Jesus calls us to action against all that is wrong in our society.  However, the real kick is made once He introduces the very poignant "judge not, lest you be judged."  So what is this fire?
This fire is the Holy Spirit, which lives in each one of us.  The Holy Spirit guides us in all facets of our lives.  If we allow the Holy Spirit to work though us, we will be able to accomplish all that is going on in our lives.  Indeed, Jesus reminds us that we have a hard life ahead.  We will face persecution from our best friends and even from our families.  So long as we have the Spirit, the fire, within us, we will have nothing that will take us away from the will of God.
So, let us remember to live as Jesus did, forever being guided by the Holy Spirit and forever in contact with our Father through prayer and meditation.

Sainthood Continued

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." (Matthew 5:9)
Today we celebrate All Saints Day or All Souls Day, depending on your church's choice.  The idea is that we remember those who have lived and gone before us in the ways of God.  This verse is a great way to think about that because when we make peace with those around us, we spread the love of God all around us.  With our gospel being about love, we should make sure to always surround ourselves with this love.  By loving others, we unite our family as one body of Christ.  By loving others, we can be sure that the Kingdom of God is coming to earth.

Sainthood

"These are they who have put off mortal clothing and have put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God.  Now they are being crowned and receive palms."
(2 Esdras 2:45)
This passage describes to us what it means to be a saint.  Many times, we forget that there is much more to the person than what is depicted in the portraits.  Despite the fact that we have so many portrayals of these saints, we forget that these portraits contain a life story behind them.  Paul goes into excruciating detail by explaining the different execution methods.
And yet, where do we lie?  Why do we pray to celebrate together with all of the saints?  If we can celebrate the same way the saints do, what makes us saints?
First and foremost, Jesus reminds us that the saints are very much living indeed by saying that God is the God of the living.  But there's more to that statement.  Aside from the resurrection of our souls in the end time, we must prepare our ways to become saints. We need to act for God in order to become saints.  Now, that does not mean that we need to live spotless lives.  If we ever doubt that, just look at Paul's life and conversion in Acts.  In fact, the only reason why certain lives are remembered is because some have some drastic stories, usually involving some form of execution.  However, that does not meant that each one of us does not live a "saint's life," filled with temptation, tribulation, and trepidation.
No, what we need to do is follow God by preaching the gospel far and wide in all the different ways we know.  Dance the gospel, sing the gospel, listen to the gospel, proclaim the gospel, live the gospel.  By keeping the gospel of love in our hearts, we will be among the saints, praising God in every moment of every day.

Faith

"If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
(John 8:31-32)
As Jesus has said elsewhere, all of the law hangs on serving God and loving your neighbors.  The way that we become disciples of Jesus is by becoming disciples: respectful followers.  As long as we adhere to Jesus' teachings about loving, we will be near to Him.  There is no amount of money or family lineage that will make us any closer.  As Martin Luther taught, we are saved by our faith in Jesus.  The way we have faith is by truly following our Lord.

Action

Today, we honor John Wycliffe, a notable translator and theologian from the Middle Ages.  Through his life, we learn that God calls us to action.  Indeed, "the sower sows the word," (Mark 4:14) speaking of Jesus, but we must nurture that word in our hearts.  Wycliffe took action and preached about how the church is not about how much money one has, but how much spiritual money it has.  He taught that the church depended on the people.  One of the ways he brought the church to more people than the rich was by translating the Bible into English.  Of course, he was ostracised by the Roman Catholic Church because of his actions and teachings, but that's what we must do.  Jesus preached about the corruption among the pharisees and gave us a solution to these problems.  In fact, Jesus gave us a very simply stated instruction: follow God.  When we put all of our talents to God, we glorify God.  When we glorify God, we bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.  So, let us take our time to think about our talents: teaching, listening, preaching, writing, volunteering, cooking, dancing, acting; and then we can put them forth to God to make earth the New Jerusalem.

The Soul

"So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you." (Luke 11:40)
Before God, there will be no faking.  God will see through the mismatched colors, the cargo shorts, and the flannel shirt.  God sees what is deep within.  God sees the glitter and the fabulousness that is within.  So, before we go about living a life that is "clean" on the outside but "dirty" on the inside, let us come forward to God.  Let us give to God all that God has given to us.  Let us take off our mask that we use to get by and praise God with our whole heart, mind, and soul.  Just as Jesus made sure to make the unpopular and the downright ugly righteous and holy, so shall we make what is seen by others as detestable a glorification of our Lord of all.

The Gospel Centered Life

"But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." (Ephesians 4:15)
Here's the simple message from Paul, this time, which calls us to love.  The only way we can grow into Christ is through love.  It's simple because the only way we learn anything is through careful practice.  As a musician, I feel like I know this all too well.  For starters, one must practice so much to be good. However, mindlessly spending hours on things only makes a habit, as opposed to perfection.  My teacher always says that I must focus whenever I practice.  Therefore, playing through the things I'm good at only reinforces the things I'm good at, and, consequently, makes everything else glaringly bad.  However, when I focus on a certain issue for a given amount of time, I make my playing all the better.  In the same way, the only way we can make our lives closer to the Gospel is by living in love.  However, we cannot just practice loving those we already love or those who already love us back.  We must practice loving those who may not be easy to love.  We must love those who have hurt us.  We must love those who preach against us.  We must love those who don't understand us.  By practicing what Jesus already did and what God teaches us daily, we will live a truly gospel centered life.

United We Stand

"Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house." (Luke 11:17)
This is a universal ideal that we need to embrace.  When we divide ourselves against each other, we become weaker.  Indeed, we still bear our family names.  When we say certain people of the LGBT community are not for us, we make ourselves smaller, weaker, more vulnerable.  We need to unite with one another.  We need to accept the diversity of our family.  We need to accept each other's personality.  We need to unite in the love of God.  God will deliver us. We need to be ready for God's coming.

Love

In today's gospel, Jesus tells us the main message: love God and love your neighbors.  However, despite the fact that this is a reiteration of levitical law, Jesus adds one more statement: upon these hang all of the laws.  God's law is a law of love.  Anything that gets in the way of our loving relationship with God is sin.  Anything that gets in the way of our love for our neighbors is sin.  When we welcome our friends, strangers, and enemies, we are living for God.  When we devote ourselves entirely to God, we are indeed living for God.  When we take the position of God, we are separating ourselves from God.  When we start to punish others because of our own misunderstandings, we are no longer living for God.  Instead of pointing fingers, let us join hands, for we all live under the grace of God, and we live to praise God: our creator, our redeemer, our sustainer.

Asking

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give tho Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13)
This comes at the end of one of my favorite passages.  Jesus tells us to be direct: ask and you shall receive.  There are no ceremonies or rituals that we need to do.  We just need to ask.  We need to establish a connection between God and ourselves.  How do we get friends? Do we not communicate.  Do we not start with a simple, "what is your name" or, "how are you?" We need to ask of God, for God has so much in store for us.  God asks us if we are ready.  All we need to ask is, "What do You need of me?" With God's reply, we will get our mission, our talent, our ministry, and the means by which we can accomplish our mission.

Pure Devotion

Today's gospel is about Martha and Mary and what Jesus cares about.  It tells of Martha becoming so obsessed with cleaning that she forgets that Jesus is already there with them.  I really enjoy this story because it puts a great issue into perspective: ceremony.  Sometimes we would prefer for there to be pictures of thousands of saints in our bedrooms.  Sometimes we would prefer to have a grand altar with incenses and candles and books all around.  Yet, at the end of the day, the only thing God asks for is our heart.  God asks for our devotion.  The pictures and candles and incense can be helpful for our devotion, but if our belief becomes the candle, then we need to take a step back and reevaluate our devotion to God.