MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, February 10, 2014

Grace happens

Where do you see it?

Last Friday, I came out of a day’s worth of meetings, got into my car and turned the key on the ignition. Lights never before seen on my dashboard flashed. I heard strange something-is-not right noises. Rapid fire mechanical diagnosis: I left the headlights on all day. The battery was dead. I envisioned a long wait and a big bill if I called road repair. Then I saw a guy unloading a van nearby and asked if he had cables. Even though he was in the middle of a delivery, he dropped what he was doing, pulled the van over, and got my car going. I offered him money. He wouldn’t take it. Grace happens.

The week before, I was giving a presentation, after which a number of folks lined up to talk about what I had talked about. As those conversations came to a close, I picked up my bag and realized my excessively heavy laptop was not in the bag. It was, in fact, missing. My life was on that thing. I freaked out. I called lost and found, and told them with certainty where I had left it. The head of facilities, a guy with lots more important things to do than look for my laptop, dropped what he was doing. He found it in a totally different place than I had told him. Grace happens.

Later this morning, I will preside at a graveside for the mother of an old friend. My friend’s mother died at age 91. In her youth, this woman had danced with the Ballet Russe. When she moved back home, she shared what she had learned with young people. She offered these lessons to children who could not afford to pay for them, venturing into parts of town that she had no business frequenting. In a time of hardened racial divide, she bridged those divisions for the sake of art, indeed, for the sake of grace in its many splendoured meanings. Grace happens.

I’m not sure that Jesus ever used the word “grace”. But he told stories of where it shows up in life, sometimes in ways that are so unusual that they seem downright irritating. A father welcomes home the errant younger son who had flushed the inheritance down the toilet. The father throws a party for the boy while the older brother looks on, steaming with resentment. Grace happens. An employer pays workers the same whether they worked 8 hours or 8 minutes. Grace happens. A detested outsider shows pity to a crime victim while the insiders, the representatives of institutional religion, perhaps the Episcopal clergy of the day walk on by. The Samaritan is from that point known to be good. Grace happens.

Our world is starved for grace. God extends it to us, and it often gets expressed in the ways we respond to each other. Think of a time, a story, an episode of grace in your life. Give thanks for that gift. Today, let grace happen. Make grace happen.

– Jay Sidebotham 

The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all. -Titus 2:14  Grace must find expression in life. Otherwise it is not grace. -Karl Barth   May God give you grace never to sell yourself short, grace to risk something big for something good, and grace to remember that the world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love. -William Sloane Coffin

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, February 3, 2014

When liturgies collide

It happened yesterday. Did you notice? There was the observance of the Super Bowl, that annual liturgy gathering millions in hope and fear, indicating much about what we worship as a culture. This morning: prayers of celebration for Seattle fans. Prayers of sympathy and consolation for Denver fans.

On the same day, there was the observance of Groundhog Day, that mysterious tradition by which a rodent ventures into meteorological prediction. I’ll leave it there.

And in continuing coincidence, there was the observance of the Feast of the Presentation. On February 2, the church recalls the story of Jesus presented at the temple, as Mary and Joseph, bringing the Christ child to that holy place, where by divine direction they meet Simeon and Anna. (Read the story in Luke 2:22-40). Both Simeon and Anna are getting on in years. Both had heard a promise that God’s hope would be realized in their lifetimes, that they would see what God would do to save and heal his people. Accordingly, both had spent their lives in the temple, worshipping and waiting and watching and expecting to see what God would do. On in years, they never gave up hope. For that reason, they model discipleship and teach us about faith. What struck me about their witnesses was that their hope was lived out in the institution, the organized religion of their day, in and through their tradition, in community. I’m sure that was easy some days. On others, I’m certain it was hard.

They made me think about how we hold onto the hope that God will act in our lives , our world. One way is by gathering in community, organized religion in its various manifestations, ever mindful of how it works well and how it doesn’t. Often when folks tell me they don’t believe in organized religion, I welcome them to the Episcopal Church, because we’re not that organized at all.

The challenges are real. Our culture shifts these days in regards to affiliation with church. Recent surveys polling young adults outside the church on their views of the church offer this challenge: 87% said it was too judgmental. 85% said it was too hypocritical. 72% said it was out of touch with reality. 68% said it was boring. The nicest spin I can put on it: There is a growth opportunity.

I believe we are called to stay with the church (in its many expressions) as we pray for the church, and ask God to work in it (and perhaps in spite of it) to make things new. One of my favorite prayers for the church appears in both the liturgy for ordinations and the liturgy for Good Friday. (Draw any conclusion you’d like from that coincidence.). It goes like this:

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 being 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, for ever and ever. Amen.

As we reflect on the “wonderful and sacred mystery” that is the Church, can we see it as a place where God makes things new, makes us new? That’s not always easy. I suspect we’ve all been wounded by the church in some way. I suspect we’ve all had our part, witting or unwitting, in inflicting injuries that have come to others in the church. Take this Monday to think about your own part in the life of the church, in the great varieties of ways people experience Christian community. Can you see God’s hope realized in and through the community? Can you do your part to help the church to grow, not so much in numbers as in depth? Do you stand in the way in any way? Do you stand on the sidelines? Knowing that we cannot be Christians in isolation (an option not given us), pray that the God of unchangeable power and eternal light will be at work in us, through us, in spite of us, making things new. Making us new. In whatever community you worship, do your part to participate in that process of renewal. Pray for the church, indeed a wonderful and sacred mystery.

And I hope you’re all recovering well from the Super Bowl. And that that rodent doesn’t bring us too much more snow.

– Jay Sidebotham 

A prayer for the church: Gracious God, we pray for the church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it. Where it is in error, direct it. Where in any thing it is amiss, reform it.   Where it is right, strengthen it. Where it is in want, provide for it. Where it is divided, reunite it, for the sake of Jesus Christ, thy Son our Saviour.   Amen.

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, January 27, 2014

Curve balls.

Last Friday, I did my best to fly to a Vestry Retreat near Sewanee to talk about the new work I’m doing with Forward Movement, work having to do with spiritual growth. I got to the airport at 6:00am, about an hour and half early, just to make sure I was on board. Before long, I heard the news delivered cheerfully over the p.a. system, informing us that the night before, someone had left the battery on. The plane would not start, and would not be leaving, oh, for a while. The upshot was that there would be no upshot any time soon. Again, the chipper delivery of the news added to my irritation. After a long time on long lines and not a few phone conversations, I was rerouted. I spent a whole lot of time in various airports and arrived late and frazzled for the retreat. My irritated disposition made my upcoming presentation about spiritual growth seem thin. I was keenly aware of my personal growth opportunities. And I was ashamed of myself when I reflected on stories of fellow passengers, including a couple who would miss their daughter’s wedding rehearsal dinner, a sister who would be the only sibling not able to attend a funeral.

The next day, I got to the airport allowing plenty of time before my return flight, eager to get home early enough to get a good night’s sleep. We were about to load the plane when the woman behind the counter came on the p.a. and cheerfully let us know that the flight would be delayed several hours because there was some mechanical difficulty. They’d let us know if and when it would all be corrected. That’s all. Standing on a long line to rebook, I turned to the man behind me, who had never been on a plane before. We shrugged shoulders. I said: “Serenity prayer.” He nodded knowingly.

For me, at least on this occasion, a delayed flight is what my kids call a rich person problem. It’s an inconvenience of minor proportion, a curve ball but mostly inconsequential. It hardly qualifies as hardship. As my wise wife would advise, I should breathe. I wish I was spiritually evolved enough to hear her voice, or for that matter, to embrace what I espouse, which is that the Serenity Prayer is the way to approach moments like this.

It’s ironic to me that as I’m flying around talking to clergy and lay leaders about spiritual growth, an inconvenient airline delay brings turbulence to my spiritual equilibrium. Coping with airline travel is a persistent growth edge for me. I’ve got lessons to learn for sure. It is a parable for how to navigate circumstances beyond our control, knowing that life happens instead of what we plan. What’s your growth edge?

This Monday, as you go about your day guided by your to-do list, chances are something will happen to scramble that list. Forces beyond your power may mock a carefully crafted agenda for the day, the week, the year. Some of those forces will be significant, maybe even tragic. Some will simply be inconvenient. What will it take for you to breathe through them? To see them in perspective. To trust that all will be well. To be thankful for what you have. To see today as a gift. To view curve balls as opportunities, and not as cosmic conspiracy. To learn from the moment.

We never know what’s coming. But we are not left alone. In it all, we are beloved. I wish I could really and always remember that. All will be well. A flight delay, or some other innocuous interruption, may be just the thing to remind us  of that truth. Are we learners?

– Jay Sidebotham 

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to his will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with him forever in the next.  Amen.

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, January 20, 2014

Here am I. > Who am I? 

As we remember today the life and witness and ministry of Martin Luther King, Jr, a question to consider in free time afforded by a federal holiday: How does his call inform your call and mine?

Our church views this contemporary saint as a modern-day Moses. So we read the story from Exodus about the call of Moses, that whole burning bush episode. (A portion of the story is printed in the side column.) It begins with Moses in the wilderness, noticing this unusual sight: a bush that burns but is not consumed with, oh by the way, a voice coming out of it. I imagine that voice sounds like James Earl Jones, or the guy on the Allstate commercials. Moses turns aside to look at the sight (What would have happened if he had kept going? Topic for another column) and says: Here am I.

Those are three dangerous words. As Moses opens himself to the call of God, he learns that God is paying attention to the suffering of the world and God expects Moses to do something about it.

Suddenly the words, “Here am I”, become “Who am I”, a response that often comes to God’s call. The call just must be a wrong number. God has made a cosmic recruiting error, a bad hire. Moses does not imagine himself up to the task. I don’t blame him. The suffering of the world was too great. The oppressors too powerful. The memories of Egypt and his past life too loaded.

How does God answer Moses? He doesn’t tell Moses how great he is. For that matter, God doesn’t remind him of the many ways Moses has fallen short. Guess what, Prince of Egypt turned shepherd: it’s not about you. What is the divine answer to the question: Who am I? God says: I will be with you. Apparently, that’s all Moses needs to know.

This is a day to give thanks for the Martin Luther King. It’s also a day to recall that the work to which he was  so deeply committed is unfinished. It’s work to which we are called in our baptismal covenant, work for justice and peace, respect for the dignity of every human being. Our big and beautiful world remains broken in so many ways, with insurmountable problems around the corner and across the ocean. Racism, bigotry, discrimination, poverty, inequality, violent conflict persist. God knows about those problems, those injustices. And amazingly, God calls us, uses us to respond, to heal a hurting world.

Today, how will you say “Here am I”, making yourself available to the pain of the world in some way.  Maybe you’ll wonder: “Who am I?” because the problems are too big, too intractable, too hard to solve. If you feel that way, and I bet we all do at some point, hear the voice that Moses heard, that Martin Luther King Jr. heard, the voice of God’s compassionate, justice driven heart that says: “I will be with you.”

– Jay Sidebotham 

The Collect for the Feast of Martin Luther King, Jr. Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last; Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Exodus 3:7-12  The LORD said to Moses, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, January 13, 2014

Jesus calls us. But what does he call us?

Sheep? Servant? Friend? Disciple? In Matthew 23, Jesus refers to his disciples as students. That is one way to translate the word disciple. This morning I want to stress the less biblical sounding word student. I’m thinking about how the spiritual journey calls us to be learners.

In his new book 8 Habits of Love, the Rev. Ed Bacon (a great guy who serves as a great rector of a great church, All Saints in Pasadena) talks about what it means to become a learner. He describes a conference where participants were asked to outline their autobiography in three ways: victim, hero and learner. This approach generated three different stories with different energies and outcomes. He writes on p. 42: “A victim feels the need to be defended, vindicated, avenged. A hero needs justification, ego promotion, validation. And a learner? A learner seeks illumination, correction and direction.”

Long ago, I figured out how to write my story of victim, with extraordinary proficiency in holding on to resentment. Most clergy (come on, admit it) have got some of the hero in them. I can write that story. In this chapter of my life, I want to be a better learner. I am learning that to be the path of discipleship is a matter of recognizing that wherever we are in the spiritual journey, there is more. It’s a matter of knowing that we don’t know what we don’t know. And it’s about remembering that we worship a God whose ways are higher than our ways, whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts. (Deo gracias!)

I recently heard a fine sermon at the beginning of the season of Epiphany, memorably posing a simple question: What are you looking for? That seems to be what the season of Epiphany is about, a series of stories about people on a search, whether it is those three wise guys following a star, or those disciples who answer Jesus’ invitation, “Come and see.” The season is about spiritual explorers, adventurers, all the more daring because they don’t really know what they’re looking for or where they’ll end up. These learners are saints. I want to be one too.

In recent days, I’ve been struck with how the theme gets played out in scripture. On Saturday, the reading for Morning Prayer was from the book of Isaiah: Seek the Lord while he may be found. The next reading was from the letter to the Colossians: Seek things that are above, where Christ is. The next reading, from John 14, has one of the disciples saying to Jesus: Show us the Father and we shall be satisfied.

The good news is that in the midst of our seeking, sometimes clueless fumbling in the dark, God seeks us. That’s captured in the verses from Psalm 139 printed below. That’s where our faith becomes so important. While we don’t know what the future holds, we know who holds the future.

Often on Sundays, we pray for those who seek God or a deeper knowledge of God. Let that prayer be a prayer for yourself today, a prayer to the God who seeks us out, so much so that he came to live among us. Resolve in this new year (it’s not too late for resolutions) to be a spiritual learner, whatever that looks like. Jesus calls us to that adventure. It may take courage to answer that call, because we don’t know what we don’t know. Answer anyway. Get ready to grow, to learn.

– Jay Sidebotham 

You have one teacher, and you are all students. – Matthew 23:8 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You trace my journeys and my resting places and are acquainted with all my ways.  Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O Lord, know it altogether. You press upon me behind and before and lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high I cannot attain to it. -Psalm 139:1-5

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, January 6, 2014
The Feast of the Epiphany

Searching for Joy

A poem once offered as sermon in reflection on the gospel for the day (offered below).

If I could meet the magi,
The question on my mind:
What made them take that road trip?
What did they hope to find?

Assume their lives were comfortable.
It paid well to be wise.
They spent their days at camel chase.
At night they scanned the skies.

They knew the stars like back of hand.
They’d studied well and hard.
Advanced degreed astrology,
In school, they got gold stars.

Another way to ask it:
What was it they were lacking?
Was there some royal restlessness
That sent them westward packing?

One eastern night when moon was hid
And stars were shining bright,
They wisely cast a glance above
And spied a different light.

Next night the same, but brighter still.
Where did that star come from?
How could they have been missing it?
And had it been there long?

Mounting camels, off they went
Following that light.
No need to go to mapquest.
The star would steer them right.

I’m sure you’ve heard the gender jokes
How men can’t ask directions.
Not so for these astrologers:
They made a course correction.

By calling on a colleague.
King Herod, deemed much wiser.
They asked if he would point the way.
He called in his advisers.

Who searched the scripture for a text
To pass along to them.
They told the Magi where to go
“Head straight for Bethlehem”

We each are like the magi.
I wonder if you know it.
(Though you may think it less than wise
for priest to pose as poet)

Our lives become predictable.
We live out our routines.
But then a light makes us look up
And restlessness creeps in.

We realize then we’re seekers
For things that fill the bill.
Will money make us happier?
Relationships fulfill?

We sometimes shop at Herod’s
(the king, and not the store)
To see if power fills that place.
We’re always after more.

If we could just work harder.
The next promotion reach.
If we could just act better.
And practice what we preach.

What are you seeking in your life?
Is search for joy your quest?
Have you a clue where it is found?
Or where it’s best expressed?

A search for joy can lose its way
When clouds obscure the star.
And pain of life can hide the light
And then we don’t get far.

Our search for joy can get bogged down,
Get gridlocked spiritually.
Our lives get in a traffic jam
There’s no green light to see.

We focus on what others have.
But what we fail to do
Is seek for joy by looking up
By looking for what’s new.

What’s new is represented
In Bethlehem’s young boy.
That’s where we find an answer
If we’re really seeking joy.

Like those kings who made that trip
And left their status quoing.
There’s new life to be found by all
If we will start let going.

Let go. Let God. Our travel tip.
Let star become the guide.
And know that when we take a step
We go with God beside.

We each are on a journey
One guided by the Spirit.
It sometimes is a bumpy road.
It’s sometimes hard to steer it.

But the journey is a gift itself
When made by me and you.
When traveling with other folks
We come on something new.

A life we’d not expected.
Grace that helps us cope.
Light that shines in darkness.
Amid the cold night: Hope.

Community in loneliness.
A place to bring our gifts.
A common spirit traveling.
A star that spirits lifts.

It’s possible to travel far
And never leave this place.
A journey of the spirit
Starts with a step toward grace.

The biggest trek can be one step
Of welcoming God’s love.
Of worshipping with eyes raised up
That’s how we start to move.

Our world requires magi,
Needs wise folk seeking love
Who look beyond the glitter
To see a star above.

So let’s head back 2000 years
To what these magi teach us.
Across the miles, across the years
Their witnesses still reach us.

We find the magi traveling.
The Exit: Bethlehem
They’re slouching in their camel seats.
The next step’s up to them.

They’ve traveled far. They’re tired.
They’ve quarreled just a bit.
Go right. Go left. Head north.
Head south. But it was worth the trip.

For when they met the infant king,
Entitlement surrendered,.
They offered gold, incense and myrrh
The best they had to tender.

The star they followed led them
To child they now adore
The one they flood with presents
Has given them back more.

It all made sense, so quickly clear
The reason for those miles
The search for joy now ended
With holy family smiles.

It all made sense in worship
They found it filled their needs
And when we worship Christ child king
Our search for joy succeeds.

This ending a beginning
Move ahead they must
They headed home another way
Left Herod in the dust.

Their story teaches lessons still
Through years more than 2k
It teaches us to move ahead
Go home another way.

Go forward from the place you offered
Gift on bended knee.
Go forward to the journey next
Based on Epiphany

Go forward based on glimpse of light
That guides when dark surrounds.
Go forward on your journey.
There’s more joy to be found.

written by Jay Sidebotham 
and offered with apologies to real poets everywhere.

Matthew 2:1-12  In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: `And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'” Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

 

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, December 30, 2013

You say you want a resolution…

A long, boring stretch of the interstate, family and dogs asleep in the car during Christmas season travel provided time for reflection on impending New Year’s resolutions. As a way of postponing any resolution I might actually decide to make, I got to thinking about the word itself, realizing its varied meanings. When I arrived home, I looked up the definition in the dictionary. In the column to left, you’ll find just a few of the entries. The word is rich indeed, loaded with implications for the spiritual journey.

Resolution: a matter of intention or firm determination.

I’m wondering what you hope for in the coming year in terms of your own spiritual growth. Take this day, the 30th of December, to set some spiritual intention for the coming year. Perhaps even make a firm determination for the spiritual journey. Many people at this time of year decide on a program of physical exercise. Run 3 miles a day. No more french fries. What would a program of spiritual exercise look like? Maybe it’s as simple as deciding to start each day by naming five things for which you are grateful. Maybe it’s establishing a daily rhythm of reflection, quiet time or solitude. Maybe it’s remembering that each day is a gift, that once that day has passed, we’ll never receive that particular gift again, and that we should live each day of 2014 to the fullest.

Resolution: a matter of clarity or fineness of detail

I’m wondering where you wish for greater clarity, greater vision in your spiritual life. What is the spiritual counterpart of higher resolution, as in a television or photograph or scan. Take some time before 2014 begins to think about where the path forward seems foggy or dark or out of focus. What in the past have been the resources that brought clarity when you had a hard time seeing what lies ahead? Were there people in your life who have been your guides? Make it a point to thank them, and call on them again if needed. Perhaps God has sent writers, current or from another era, whose insights helped you navigate? Maybe the prayerful reflection on scripture has brought that kind of clarity, as in the psalmist’s comparison of God’s word to a lantern upon the path. If you’re facing the fog, offer a prayer that clarity will come in the coming year.

Resolution: a matter of movement towards healing and harmony 

I’m wondering where in your life you seek this kind of resolution, which is comparable to a move in music from dissonance to harmony. Where is there brokenness of body, mind, spirit, relationship, memory? Where can spiritual and/or relational discord be resolved? How in the coming year can you practice more forgiveness? Where do you need to ask for it? Can you move from resentment to resolution? It is indeed a practice, i.e., we get better at it the more we do it. It calls for daily, maybe hourly practice. Resolve to let go and let God provide the strength to resolve differences and injuries that have you in their grip. Like most holy work, it can only happen through a power greater than ourselves. Pray each day for more love in your heart, as one of my spiritual advisors describes it.

If you’re looking for some help in the resolution department, reflect on the reading from St. Paul that is given below. It’s been chosen for the Feast of the Holy Name, January 1. It challenges the reader to have the mind of Christ. Not a bad resolution, if you ask me. How would all of our lives be different if we each resolved in the coming year to have the mind of Christ?

-Jay Sidebotham

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death– even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. -Philippians 2:5-11

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, December 23, 2013

The opposite of faith

Two days ago, our church observed the Feast of St. Thomas, of doubting fame. In the thick of jingling bells and decking halls (fa la la la la), the liturgical calendar takes us to the days after Holy Week, to a locked room with disciples gathered in fear they’d be executed, perplexed by the rumor of resurrection. There we meet Thomas, who refuses to believe what other disciples have reported. “Unless I see it for myself, I will not believe.” says Thomas, earning him the title of doubting Thomas, a bit of a scriptural smackdown. Some scholars suggest that the writer of this gospel wanted to put Thomas in his place, and denigrate a gospel attributed to him. (Imagine. Rivalry and petty spirit in the church. I’m shocked.)

Maybe it’s just wishful reading on my part, but I see the story another way. Thomas’ doubt led him to one of the greatest affirmations in the gospels. The doubt, the questions, his rigorous desire for truth, the open wound of losing his purpose led him to faith by which he saw Jesus resurrected (which really means “standing again”) and exclaims: My Lord and my God.

While the story can be read to frame doubt and faith as opposites, it seems to me that Thomas’ dubious questions brought him to faith. Sure, he gets roughed up in the process, but with the help of his questions, he moves and grows and changes. He comes to see something he didn’t see before. Faith emerged from doubt, illustrating what Frederick Buechner said: Doubt is the ants in the pants of faith.

If Thomas were around today, church-shopping, I bet he’d end up in an Episcopal pew. Many, including me, have been drawn to this denomination because of its hospitality to questions, seeing that welcome sign not as a precursor to some litmus test but as invitation to inquiry and exploration. So think with me about faith and wonder with me about its opposite. Annie Lamott asked her pastor about just that, about what is the opposite of faith. “I remembered something Father Tom told me–that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.”

Last July, Pope Francis (I have to quote him again this week. He is, after all, man of the year.) wrote about faith and its opposite. He said that what really opposes faith is in the end idolatry. “We either seek God or we seek, knowingly or unknowingly to replace God with false gods.” Idolatry, the pope explains, “is always polytheism, an aimless passing from one lord to another.” But faith “consists in the willingness to let ourselves be constantly transformed and renewed by God’s call.” He said that faith is born of an encounter with God’s primordial love, wherein the meaning and goodness of our life become evident.

Which may well be the link between the Feast of St. Thomas and the Feast of the Nativity. Because as we wonder as we wander through this season, face it. It takes faith. I don’t just mean faith to believe in angels in the sky or virgin birth or stars that serve as GPS. I mean faith that the God of all creation would become a human being. I mean faith that we are loved as we are. I mean faith that the central fact about our lives is that we are on the receiving end of grace. Unconditional acceptance. If I really believed it, how different would my life be? So I come to Christmas like Annie Lamott. (No dreadlocks, though.) I come with a faith that notices the mess, the emptiness, the discomfort and letting it be there until some light returns, the light which our church sees in that candle at the center of the Advent wreath.

Bring your doubts with you to Christmas this year. You won’t be alone. Let them open the door to a deeper faith, faith by which the holy child of Bethlehem may in some miraculous way be born in you and me this day.

-Jay Sidebotham

The Collect for the Feast of St. Thomas (Observed on December 21) Everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in your Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. John 20:24-29 Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with the other disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  Hebrews 13:1 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

 

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, December 16, 2013

Joy to the World

A Christmas carol when it’s still Advent? Not to worry. Liturgical know-it-alls and Advent police have informed me that “Joy To The World” is not really a Christmas hymn. In the 1940 hymnal, it was not even listed in the Christmas section. It’s less about Bethlehem and more about the future coming of Christ. Some churches sing the hymn in the dog days of August. It’s been requested at funerals, liturgies which according to our Prayer Book, have to do with joy. So with that in mind, a Monday reflection on joy to the world, well before the Christmas season begins.

The theme is prompted, in part, by the exhortation recently offered by the new pope. Confession: Over the years, due to my sloth or indifference or Protestant ancestry, I’ve never gone out of my way to read Vatican documents. But this one, entitled Evangelii Gaudium, has triggered exceptional commentary. After I saw the politicians and pundits who criticized it, I thought to myself: “If these folks are upset by this, I’m gonna like it.” So I downloaded it and read away. It focuses on the challenges in our world prompted by income inequality, and the fact that money has grown as an idol, that money is meant to be servant, not ruler. The pontiff’s critique of unfettered capitalism drew the critical attention that drew my attention.

But passages that dealt with the call to social justice were only part of what the Pope had to say. The title of the document (which means “The Joy of the Gospel”) framed the discussion in terms of the call for Christians to experience and share joy. The Pope said this: “The life of the Church should always reveal clearly that God takes the initiative, that “he has loved us first” (1 Jn 4:19) and that he alone “gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). This conviction enables us to maintain a spirit of joy in the midst of a task so demanding and challenging that it engages our entire life. God asks everything of us, yet at the same time he offers everything to us.”

In another section, the Pope said that “the gospel joy which enlivens the community of disciples is a missionary joy. The seventy-two disciples felt it as they returned from their mission (cf. Lk 10:17). Jesus felt it when he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and praised the Father for revealing himself to the poor and the little ones (cf. Lk 10:21). It was felt by the first converts who marveled to hear the apostles preaching “in the native language of each” (Acts 2:6) on the day of Pentecost. This joy is a sign that the Gospel has been proclaimed and is bearing fruit.

A bit more from the Pope: “I can say that the most beautiful and natural expressions of joy which I have seen in my life were in poor people who had little to hold on to, the real joy shown by others who, even amid pressing professional obligations, were able to preserve, in detachment and simplicity, a heart full of faith. In their own way, all these instances of joy flow from the infinite love of God, who has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ. I never tire of repeating those words of Benedict XVI which take us to the very heart of the Gospel: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”.

Going back to my Protestant roots, I’m reminded of the definition of a Puritan: Someone who is unhappy because somebody somewhere is having a good time. The Pope seemed to know about this dynamic in the church, as he wrote: “A tomb psychology develops and slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum. Disillusioned with reality, with the Church and with themselves, they experience a constant temptation to cling to a faint melancholy, lacking in hope, which seizes the heart like “the most precious of the devil’s potions”. Called to radiate light and communicate life, in the end they are caught up in things that generate only darkness and inner weariness, and slowly consume all zeal for the apostolate. For all this, I repeat: Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of the joy of evangelization!”

Reading these last comments, I’m challenged to consider the extent to which the Pope has me in mind. It makes me wonder where we find joy, even in adversity. Where does it come from? How I can know more of it? How can I pass it on? I’m thankful that the Pope has reflected on the challenge, and indeed, that he shows us the way. I saw joy last week, in evidence at the memorial for Mandela, a celebration of music and dancing in the pouring rain, an extension of Mandela’s life which even in adversity exuded joy. It’s evident in the ministry of Desmond Tutu who navigates life’s most challenging passages with a contagious exuberance. Yesterday, the Third Sunday of Advent (a.k.a., Gaudete Sunday), takes its cue from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, in which he calls on readers to rejoice in the Lord always (The word gaudete means rejoice). That’s striking because Paul’s letter was written from a prison cell. As he writes from that dank, dark place, every other word in the letter seems to be about joy. C. S. Lewis, whose spiritual autobiography was called Surprised by Joy, said that joy is the serious business of heaven. But it is business we undertake here and now.

As we move from the season of Advent to the season of Christmas, make room for joy in your life. When have you experienced it? What caused it? Give thanks for that. And then ask yourself: How can you share joy with others?

-Jay Sidebotham

Note: I’ve you managed to read this far, you may note that this week’s entry is a bit longer than most. I try to be more succinct than this. I guess I could blame the Pope. He just wrote a lot of good stuff, and I had a hard time selecting what to share. Believe me. There’s more where this came from. Take some time before Christmas and read Evangelii Gaudium in its entirety.

He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love. I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy. -C.S.Lewis  The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus, it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. -Isaiah 35: 1,2  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:4-7

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org

MONDAY MATTERS
Reflections to start the week
Monday, December 9, 2013

Let it go.

My own spiritual journey has shown me that I have a remarkable skill for remembering slights and injuries from years, even decades, past. I am really good at it. These memories are commonly known as resentments, which literally means “feeling again” or “feeling backward.” It is a grasping, clinging, retrospective frame of mind. It’s opposite, I imagine, is forgiveness, which literally means “giving forward”. As such, forgiveness is oriented toward the future, and the opposite of holding on. This spirit of generosity, of letting go, is in my own life a growth opportunity. Disclaimer: I can’t claim to know much about it, or to practice it well.

But I’m thinking about it a lot this week, because of one of the stories I’ve heard about Nelson Mandela, in accounts that have aired as our global community honors his life and ministry and witness. An interviewer asked him how he felt upon leaving Robben Island (Capetown’s version of Alcatraz) where he had been held for 27 years. The interviewer asked him about whether he harbored anger towards his captors.

My wife, Frances and I, were privileged to visit that island a few years ago. We saw the small cell which was Mandela’s home for those years. We saw the quarry where he and others labored, breaking rocks in the hot sun. Our tour guide had been a prisoner under apartheid. He showed us how the prison was designed to preclude any view of Capetown, just a few miles away. Prisoners might well have been on the other side of the globe. Our visit to that prison helped me understand the significance of the question asked of Mandela. If ever there was a case for justified anger and resentment, this would be it.

Mandela said that, of course, he felt anger towards his captors, for all kinds of reasons. But he indicated that he had chosen not to live in that place. If he lived in resentment (again, literally, feeling backward), then his captors would still hold him captive. He chose another path. He simply said to his questioner: I let it go.

I was embarrassed comparing the monumental injuries experienced by Nelson Mandela with the resentments I savor. How could he “let it go”, let go of those years filled with injury and insult, while I harbored relatively silly slights? Mandela showed us all what it means to move forward.  Working with Desmond Tutu, who wrote about this period of transition in a book called “No Future Without Forgiveness“, Mandela charted a course for his country marked by reconciliation. It was not cheap grace. It involved truthful accounting for the injuries over the years. But he demonstrated that what matters is figuring out a way to move forward. Nelson Mandela chose a path of reconciliation when he could have chosen retribution. If he could do that, given what he experienced, I’m guessing I could give it a shot. Not a bad project for the remaining days of this season of Advent.

A great theme in this season of Advent, the beginning of the church year, is the theme of a future, the call to hope. Forgiveness, it has been said, is giving up the hope of a better past. It’s future oriented. I suspect each of us harbor resentments. I’m betting that each of us has caused resentments. One way to honor Mandela is to figure out how to practice forgiveness (and I’m here to tell you it takes practice), to ask it of those we’ve injured, to extend it to those who’ve triggered resentments, to take those resentments to the water’s edge and watch them float down the river, to let them go.

-Jay Sidebotham

I’ve known for years that resentments don’t hurt the person we resent, but they do hurt and even sometimes kill us… unfortunately, change and forgiveness don’t come easily for me, but any willingness to let go inevitably comes from pain; and the desire to change changes you, and jiggles the spirit, gets to it somehow, to the deepest, hardest, most ruined parts. And then Spirit expands, because that is true in nature, and it drags along the body, and finally, the mind. Anne Lamott in “Plan B: Further Thoughts On Faith”

Contact:

Rev. Jay Sidebotham
jsidebotham@renewalworks.org
RenewalWorks is a ministry of Forward Movement.
www.renewalworks.org
www.forwardmovement.org