From The Well

Reflections on a Spiritual Journey

Reflections

Stewardship: Part 1 of 4

Think of the widow mentioned in the Gospel by our Lord: with two mites she surpassed the generous gifts of the wealthy.
Evagrios the Solitary

The second and third chapters of Genesis describe in lavish detail the abundance that God planted in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve. God fashioned each unique leaf, stream and animal out of abundant love; the humans named each out of abundant appreciation for these gifts.  Ever since then, we humans have strived for abundance. However, finding true abundance can be deceptive and illusive.  The fourth-century Christian monk and ascetic Evagrios reminds us of the importance of abundant simplicity that stretches far beyond material pleasures. 

Today our hustle-bustle world is troubled by fears of scarcity:  Do I have enough? Am I enough?  Will I have enough for the future? Am I doing enough now?

In reality, we are perfectly made and perfectly enough.  As Evagrios so pointedly says, we strive to be like the widow who depends on what she has at hand and commit all that she has for God’s kingdom.  This is real stewardship. This reflects true abundance of creation and her appreciation of it.

 This is the foundation of stewardship.  We belong to God, and we share his abundance with others by using our varied talents and treasures to spread God’s kingdom.  

Church

44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds[] to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home] and ate their food with glad and generous[chearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Acts 2:44-47

“When you are in church, and are going to partake of the divine mysteries of Christ, do not go out until you have attained complete peace. Stand in one place, and do not leave it until the dismissal. Think that you are standing in heaven, and that in the company of the holy angels you are meeting God and receiving Him in your heart.”
Abba Philimon
A Discourse on Abba Philimon
Philokalia Volume 2

What is the church? This is the greatest question for a body of faithful who come together every Sunday morning. The Youtube video below entitled “The Me Church” illustrates the great conundrum that we face

Is the church supposed to be all about me and my thoughts or is it a body of diverse people uniting to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Throughout the history of the church, we have seen splits and divides focusing on what church is and how it operates. In Acts, we read a utopian view of the church as a living, breathing example of Christ’s love in the world right after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This almost seems radical to us today. Abba Philimon, a third-century church father, reminds us that the spiritual church is a place for people to rest in God, or — put another way — move beyond themselves into the deeper mystery of God in the world.

After 10 years of ordained ministry, I have seen this play out in so many ways in so many people. For me, the church is a group of people who are committed to sharing the reconciling and love of God with the world. It’s that simple. However, I am not naïve about the struggles of our human condition on that simple task.

Perhaps the prayer we say on Good Friday will remind us and strengthen us to own our legacy as a people of God working toward the fulfillment of God’s kingdom here and now. Maybe, just maybe, we will let the institutional church grow out of that understanding.

Prayer for the Church
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer for Church from Good Friday Liturgy
Book of Common Prayer, Pg. 282

Mind the Gap

“Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.”
Luke 16:26

Those three words permeate the London Underground every time a train arrives at the station. This serves as a warning to individuals as they embark or disembark from the subway. If you look down then you realize that it is a very noticeable gap. Throughout history, those with power have created gaps between themselves and “the other”. Slavery, the apartheid, racial inequalities, economic inequalities, power differentials, and so many more show the many ways we, as humans, create or maintain gaps in our lives. God, like the voice in the London Underground, is constantly calling us to notice those gaps in our lives and bridge them. God bridged the gap of sin and death to show us the great love God has for the created world. We have the opportunity to open our eyes, hear the warning to “mind the gap”, and build bridges of God’s love into our world. This is the work of kingdom builders and we do it because God did it first!

Jesus

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
John 1:1-5

The beginning of all things comes squarely from the creator who spoke life into the void, spun order from chaos, shone light into the darkness. This is the God whom we worship and who guides our every move. Over the past several weeks, it dawned on me that sometimes in our zeal to find a message of God’s love, we forget Jesus and the immense love that moved at the beginning of time. This love is centered around this human who walked the earth 2.000 years ago, ate with outcasts and the disenfranchised, moved the crowd with the sheer eloquence of his words, and showed love and acceptance to everyone he met. Wherever our search for God takes us, it must start at the feet of Jesus and the simple message that God proclaimed in the second person of the Trinity: Life is love, and love is life! Perhaps we can dig deep within ourselves to harness the light and life of Jesus Christ so that we, too, can show love and acceptance to everyone we meet.

Evolution

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
Henry Ford

Evolution is a normal part of life.  Throughout the course of human history we have watched our species evolve and adapt to new situations.  In the United States, we have watched our country evolve from a post colonial existence to a self sufficient nation that plays a major role in the world.  There are so many large and small ways we evolve.  God’s relationship with humanity evolved from a series of failed covenants to the final covenant found in the person of Jesus Christ.  Henry Ford understood the importance of moving from static existence to dynamic existence.  When we are static we fall into the trap of seeing the world the exact same and work to try and protect what we know.  When we stand in a dynamic world we embrace change as a normal part of our existence.  Instead of fighting it we embrace it as a tool to make our life richer.  When we live a dynamic faith we are looking for opportunities to deepen our connection with the creator.  We meet new people, embrace new conversations, push ourselves out of our comfort zones to a deeper place, and accept change as a part of our existence.  If we live in the myth of doing the same things then we can expect to get what we always got!

Bound

“My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu

During my time as a Boy Scout I learned many different ways to survive in situations where I may have limited supplies, particularly survival gear.  One of the first lessons I learned was how to create rope. The trick to creating rope is finding material that can be bound together with a tension strength high enough for what you want to accomplish.  You can use vine, types of grass, and other types of flexible wood to create rope in a survival situation. What makes certain material better is its ability to be bound with something else. Humanity, as Archbishop Tutu reminds us, is bound together.  We are called by God to use our connections to serve one another and to further the kingdom. God never intended for humanity to be isolated from itself, but, rather, to be united and from that unity do the hard work of the kingdom. Our tension strength to love and serve is indescribable when we hold each other. As you travel through your day and your week notice your fellow humans and remember the bonds that unite all of us together with each other and with Jesus.