News from Sophia Christi

God so loves the world…

I have seen the reference to John 3:16 on the side door of truck cabs and on the back of 18-wheelers.  I’ve seen it on billboards along interstate highways, on bumper stickers and on flyers distributed by evangelical Christians.  The focus of those materials, as well as the people I’ve listened to, has been on the word ‘believe.’  If you ‘believe’ in Jesus you will have eternal life; if you do not ‘believe’ you are judged already for not ‘believing’ in him (Jn 3:18).

Since we in the Western world put so much emphasis on what our MINDS do, rather than what our hearts do, many think these passages in John’s Gospel mean we must agree that Jesus is the Son of God and fully accept that it is only through him the world can be saved.  Furthermore, many think ‘believing’ means that our minds must close around this thought in a posture of absolute CERTAINTY or risk God’s judgment & condemnation.

Left out of the discussion are verses 19 through 21.  They provide the basis on which our actions (not our beliefs) are judged.  What matters to God is not what we THINK or the ideas we hold.  What matters to God is whether we are able to be compassionate and merciful toward ourselves and each other, or whether we are blindly or willfully acting out of an interior darkness.  If we live by the truth of our being our actions will naturally express the love, compassion and mercy of God.  What we do is done “in God”.  If we do not live out of that truth, then our actions emerge from that inner darkness. (more…)

In the first chapter of Genesis God created the heavens and the earth, the seas and the stars, every kind of plant, every kind of tree, birds of the air, all creatures of land and sea as well as human beings.  God called all of this ‘good’ and ‘very good.’  On the seventh day God rested.  God declared the seventh day not just ‘good’ or ‘very good.’  God BLESSED this day, and called it HOLY.  In the reading today from Exodus the first and third commandments are the only  ones receiving God’s special emphasis: “I am the one and only God.  Create no idols and bow to none other than me;” and “Keep the Sabbath Holy because I have blessed it and made it sacred.”

Barbara Brown Taylor tells us Rabbi Abraham Heschel once wrote that the “first holy thing in all creation was not a people or a place but a day.”  In her book ‘An Altar in the World,’ she says it is up to those of us who love God to resist the ravenous economic forces laying claim to lordship in our day, demanding allegiance and worship as did the idols of old.  “In the eyes of the world,” she says, “there is no payoff for sitting on the porch.…If you want to succeed in this life (whatever your ‘field’ of endeavor), you must spray, you must plow, you must fertilize, you must plant.  You must never turn your back….That is what the earth and her people are for, right?  Wrong god”, she says.

“In the eyes of the True God, the porch is imperative—not every now and then but on a regular basis.  This not called ‘letting things go’; this is called  ‘practicing Sabbath’.”  It is not laziness; it is a commandment!  We are COMMANDED to rest! (more…)

A minister was in the habit of sneaking off to the track to bet on the horses.  One day he was losing badly when he saw a priest step onto the track and bless one of the horses on the forehead.  The horse was a long shot, but the minister saw this as an omen, bet a small amount on the horse and it won!  At the next race the priest entered the track and blessed another horse.  It was also a long shot, but the minister bet a little more on that horse and IT won!  The third race came along and, again, the priest blessed another long-shot horse on the forehead.  The minister put even more money on this horse and it, too, won!  The pattern continued throughout the day with the minister placing larger and larger bets and the horse always winning.  At the last race of the day, the minister watched with great excitement as the priest walked up to one of the horses and blessed its forehead, eyes, ears, and hooves!  The minister ran to the ticket counter and put all his money on that horse.  It came in dead last!  As he was leaving the track he saw the priest.  He walked over and demanded, “What happened?  All day you blessed horses and they won even though they were long shots!  Then that last race you blessed a horse all over and it lost!  “That’s the problem with you Protestants,” the priest said.  “You can’t tell the difference between a simple blessing and the Last Rites.”

The Anointing of the Sick we celebrate today is neither a simple blessing nor, of course, the Last Rites!  It brings the healing ministry of the Church to those within our community who are ill, impaired, elderly or facing surgery.  We follow the example of Jesus as he enters the home of Simon and Andrew. They are worried about Simon’s mother-in-law who is sick with a fever, and it’s the first thing they tell Jesus when he comes in.  Immediately he goes to see her.  Gently he takes her hand and helps her up.  In that moment the fever leaves.  Restored to full and vibrant health she doesn’t hesitate.  She returns to her work, joining in Jesus’ own ministry by doing her part to serve others. (more…)