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…)

Gabe Huck is a regular columnist for Celebration magazine.  His column in the current issue is titled: “The Brutality of All War”.  The sub-title is far more intriguing: “Ironies and contradictions beg us to be more introspective.”  He asks: “Should the Gospel we profess and the liturgy we do raise in us some great unease with the political, economic, military and environmental conditions that are our responsibility as U.S. citizens and residents?”

In the already-published February issue he quotes Kathy Kelley writing about what Oscar Romero’s last preaching might mean for us now.  She writes:  “The war on the Islamic State will distract us from what the U.S. has done and is doing to create further despair in Iraq, and much also to enlist new recruits for the Islamic State.  The Islamic State is the echo of the last war the U.S. waged in Iraq, the so-called “Shock and Awe” bombing and invasion.  The emergency is not the Islamic State but war [itself].”

These thoughts weigh heavy on my heart in the aftermath of the Paris killings this past week, including the killing of the young men who carried out the attack on the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.  These young men and others like them represent some of our worst fears.  They were filled with hate and rage toward the western world.  In the name of Allah they raged against injustice and oppression, though their understanding of Allah is greatly distorted. (more…)

I’ve spent several hours this week saddened and horrified over the “Torture Report” issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee after its investigation of the CIA’s treatment of detainees following 9-11.  I’m sure I’m not alone in this.  I have also been paying attention to the nationwide protest over grand jury failures in NY and MO to indict police officers for the strangling death of Eric Garner and the shooting death of Michael Brown.  As a nation we are reeling from these devastating glimpses of ourselves in the mirror.  We hear some of our elected officials actually CONDONING gruesome methods of torture.  We are forced to question the tactics and motives of law enforcement as well as the reliability of our justice system as we witness the underlying brutality born of hatred and fear.  How do we as American Christians manage this information in these final days of our journey toward Christmas knowing what we know now?  This horrific treatment of other human beings has been/is being done in our name under the rubric of community and homeland protection.  How can we reconcile this? (more…)

I’ve spent several hours this week saddened and horrified over the “Torture Report” issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee after its investigation of the CIA’s treatment of detainees following 9-11.  I’m sure I’m not alone in this.  I have also been paying attention to the nationwide protest over grand jury failures in NY and MO to indict police officers for the strangling death of Eric Garner and the shooting death of Michael Brown.  As a nation we are reeling from these devastating glimpses of ourselves in the mirror.  We hear some of our elected officials actually condoning gruesome methods of torture.  We are forced to question the tactics and motives of law enforcement as well as the reliability of our justice system as we witness the underlying brutality born of hatred and fear.

How do we as American Christians manage this information in these final days of our journey toward Christmas knowing what we know now?  This horrific treatment of other human beings has been/is being done in our name under the rubric of community and homeland protection.  How can we reconcile this? (more…)

A few days ago someone asked why we celebrate an opulent Basilica when so much of the world lives in extreme poverty?”  This person objected to today’s feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.  I think it’s a fair question, so I want to begin there and talk about what this feast is for us.

How many of you know what the Lateran Basilica is? (Give time for answers.)  First, St. John Lateran is the oldest Church in the West and the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome.  But most importantly, it is a symbol of the living Church, the Body of Christ, the People of God, rooted here in the ground of Earth.

A building is not only a place to gather, it is also a statement of PRESENCE.  Putting down roots has always been a statement about commitment.  It says “I’m here to stay!”  The Lateran Basilica as a symbol has that kind of staying power.  It has been built and rebuilt after earthquakes, vandalism and fire destroyed its physical structures over the centuries.  The Body of Christ has also been vandalized and shaken to its core countless times but it, too, has staying power.  The People of God ARE that body, and as long as the people gather, the Body of Christ continues to live in the heart and soul of the world.  The Body of Christ is here to stay. (more…)

As a child I had a practice of making sure blank pieces of paper were completely filled with words or doodling before I threw them away.  The nuns at school taught us to consider the starving children in Africa and Asia when we were tempted to waste food, but they said nothing about paper!  No one back then thought about wasting paper!  They also didn’t throw things like toys, household appliances or gadgets into the trash.  Most things could be fixed when they broke, or could be used for parts to fix something else or create something new.  Things were built to LAST, so the idea of “waste” wasn’t something we talked about much.

The one seemingly disposable thing I DID use as a kid was paper.  It not only seemed wasteful to throw away blank paper, it felt WRONG, almost irreverent.  I felt something sacred in the “things” of the world, in paper, and it followed that everything required my respect.

I believe I came to this sense of appreciation by absorbing a deeply sacramental attitude toward the world and all of life.  It was a direct result of learning that simple, ordinary things like water, oil, candles, fire, bread and wine had the power to draw us into a deep awareness of God’s presence in the world, in the community and in me.  (more…)

How many of you read the National Catholic Reporter?  I’m going to tell you a story I read in the current issue. [NCR, Vol. 50, No.24, Sept. 12-25, 2014] It’s about a man and his family who live in an area outside of Bethlehem.  His name is Daher Nassar, and his grandfather purchased land in that area in 1916 to build a farm for his family.  At the time the area was part of the Ottoman Empire.

After the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I, the British took control, so the Nassars registered their land with the British.  After World War II, the state of Israel was formed and the farm came under Jordanian control.  They registered their land with Jordan.  In 1967 Israel annexed the West Bank and the land became part of Israel.  In the 70’s Jewish settlers began building towns on the hilltops of the West Bank and in the 80’s friction between Arab and Jewish neighbors escalated.  The Nassar farm was vandalized several times.  Water tanks, olive trees and other properties were targeted.

In 2002, 250 olive trees were destroyed.  Considering that it takes 10 years for an olive tree to produce any fruit, this was a terrible loss for the family.  But rather than retaliate or leave or wallow in their misery, the family decided to create a nonviolent resistance movement they call the Tent of Nations.  (more…)

Anniversaries invite us to look back and reflect on where we came from, so a few days ago I decided to open my file of Sophia Christi’s first Mass to see where things were seven years ago.  That first Mass was also on a Saturday—August 25, 2007 in Portland, to be exact—and I was scrambling at the last minute to find a place for us to meet after our host Church became suddenly unavailable the day before.

On Thursday an article about my ordination had appeared in the Oregonian, and early Friday morning I got a call from the pastor of St. Andrew Episcopal Church letting me know the Episcopal Diocese had pulled the rug on our celebration scheduled the next day at his church.  He was upset and apologetic, but felt he had to comply with the decision.  I made a quick call to the Methodist pastor down the street who I’d worked with on a committee, met with her and members of her Council Friday afternoon, and they welcomed our fledgling community the next day with open arms.  A line from my homily that day reads:  “Walking in the ancient shoes of God’s people is never a straightforward hike over a well-worn trail.  The journey requires us to remain open to surprise.” (more…)

In a speech a few days ago at the University of Molise in southern Italy, Pope Francis told his listeners “exploiting the earth is our [modern] sin.  One of the greatest challenges of our time,” he said, is to convert ourselves to a type of development that knows how to respect creation.”  Back in May he told another group: “Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is it the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, to be cared for and used for the benefit of all…with great respect and gratitude.”

In Jesus’ day, the farmer went out to sow her seeds.  There was no machinery involved, no metal arms drilling seed into the ground at precisely the correct depth and distance for optimum growth.  The farmer flung those seeds across the field by hand.  Many fell on rockier ground or along the footpath or among thorns.  Birds swooped down on the exposed seed, and the sun withered many of the new, young plants. There was a lot of wasted seed.

But Jesus didn’t talk about the soil or the seed.  He didn’t need to.  There wasn’t a question about depleting topsoil back then, and seeds weren’t being genetically modified, patented or mass-produced to create wealth rather than food.  Seeds were seeds, and it was where they fell and the type of ground they landed on that really mattered.  (more…)