Fishernen and Repentance

Fishing is really fun and exciting when you catch a fish. The fishermen who Jesus called didn’t fish with a rod and reel but with nets and it was hard work. In some churches you can see boats hanging from the ceiling as a reminder to pray for those who are out at sea and to remind us that we are all fishers of people. Fishermen and Repentance In the late 1980’s a drought lowered the Sea of Galilee and two fisherman brothers found a boat in the mud. It was 27 feet long and 7 feet wide and made up of 10 types of wood. It has been called the Jesus Boat. http://www.jesusboat.com/boat.php “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the good news.” That is it brothers and sisters. The men Jesus called were not religious leaders or leaders of any kind. They were hardworking illiterate men. Why did he call these people? Perhaps it was because their lives following Jesus was going to be hard and he called people who were used to hard work. Perhaps it was because he knew that his message was going to be harsh and we need to get away and fishermen could get him away from the crowds and danger. In the First Century there were the few, the many and the beggars. Jesus is showing that the Kingdom of Heaven is fro everyone, the many not only the few rich who could afford sacrifices. The real outsiders were the Gentiles, which is us, who were not worthy of forgiveness. Repentance: Confession and Forgiveness always go together. Last year during Lent I invited everyone to come and see me for confession. Two people came and they did not confess anything juicy. It was very much like what a priest said about taking confession in the monastery—being stoned with popcorn. There is nothing that we confess that cannot be forgiven. John the Baptist began preaching repentance of sin for the many. It was a letting go of what we are hanging on to. The Gospel of Mark begins with the Heavens being torn open; they are irrevocably changed. God is present with us and the Heaves will not close again. We are forever changed through the transforming power of Christ’s presence. This applies to us! Jesus is our leader. Illiterate fishermen are as good as if not even better leaders than the pre-existing leaders. We are all workers in the Kingdom of Heaven. Today there is no spiritual or moral center in our culture. God is not very important to have a reformer like Martin Luther today. It is rather like the First Century. There was an interest in God, but what they thought was God wasn’t God. Jesus begins to move the spiritual and moral center into the world. There are people who are ready to move into that center. What we have here exists truly, it is the message Jesus brings is the true center of spirituality and morality.

Come and See!

Come and see! How do we see God today? We see God in Holy Communion; we see God in one another and in how people act reveals God. A microscope allows us to see small living organisms, and a telescope allows us to see large bodies in space, which are very far away. We need to learn to see God with the eyes of our heart. .... The message "come and see" maybe familiar to you if you have ever visited our website. Come and see God is a rather larger thing to say. We humans, by nature, are idolaters, that is we make up our own gods. Atheism has become quite popular recently, there are atheists clubs and families that openly declare themselves as atheists. Unlike the agnostics who openly admit they don't know if there is a God or not, atheists say that there is no God at all. So far in what I have heard no one has been theologically minded enough to ask them, "which god don't you believe in?" It really means something when you say God does not exists. ... Perhaps the god they are rejecting is an angry god who causes destruction. We don't believe in that god either. The early Christians were accused of being atheists because they rejected all the gods. Being Christian means loving everyone including our enemies. ... The new generation, Generation Y, have been saying that Christians are a bunch of phonies, because they hate gays and are judgemental. Our claim to fame is not that we are great ; we are not so great, but rather, that Jesus is here. Do you feel and sense that is true? Do you sense the presence of Jesus Christ. ... To find out how real He is, come and see. All those other gods are nothing more than projections of ourselves. What instrument do we use to see God? What part of ourselves is more like God? We see God with our inner beings, our souls where the Holy Spirit connects with us. We can look and not see; we can hear and not listen, and then just not get it. We have to come with our spirit tuned to see God.

Two complicated words: Epiphany and Manifest. They basically mean the same thing. In Mark's Gospel the heaven's were torn open and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove on Jesus. It was an Epiphany and Jesus was the Truth Manifest.

..... John the Baptist was a wild man. At at time when God and gods were important, John was talking about God and people came and listened to him. The understanding of God was that God was all boxed in the Most Holy Place, a small box in the back of the very large Temple. God was only accessible through the priests and they only allowed access to those who made sacrifices to God, and sacrifices cost money. The only acceptable sacrifices were the expensive priestly approved sacrifices.

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John the Baptist, the wild man, says that you can have access to God if you only repent. Later, Jesus comes around and bring the Holy Spirit to us. With the Holy Spirit comes forgiveness, enlightenment and spiritual gifts. The word spirit is the same word as breath. The Holy Spirit brings us life! As Martin Luther said we are drowned in the waters of baptism, and I will add the Holy Spirit breathes new life into us. The Holy Spirit gives us authority to speak for God. We have all been given this authority through our baptisms into the name of the Holy Spirit. There is no central rule or ideal for a culture. The golden rule is that there are no golden rules. George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists"Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950) In the Middle Ages people were killed over the Golden Rule. In reality, it all depends on our philosophy of light. G.K. Chesterton offers this story: Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, “Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good—” At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark. (From Heretics) No matter what they wanted, they are now in the darkness. We need to understand our philosophy of light. It is daunting to figure out how to make the light plausible in a world committed to darkness. In St. Francis Cathedral people have been entering there during they day, many more people than there have been. They enter sit and put their head in their hands. We have the light to bring them and those like them.

Second Sunday in Christmas

Gifts--God gives us gifts all the time, not the wrapped up kind in paper, ribbon and bows, but gifts like Jesus. He gives us gifts all the time, like life, light, nature and all creation. With every heartbeat and every breath, within in each nanosecond, God gives us gifts. 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. The apostle talked about predestination--to the praise of his glory he says we are destined and chosen. The predestination of which the apostle speaks is not Double Pres destination where the elect go to heaven and the reprobate go to hell; the truth is revealed as to who is what and everyone is sorted at death. He is saying that being predestined is receiving an inheritance, mainly, our inheritance. He is speaking of ourselves only; this was planned for us before we knew we were saved. At some point we realize that God's love is so right that is t was planned for us. nec⋅ro⋅man⋅cy   /ˈnɛkrəˌmænsi/ [nek-ruh-man-see] 1.a method of divination through alleged communication with the dead; black art. 2.magic in general, esp. that practiced by a witch or sorcerer; sorcery; witchcraft; conjuration. King Saul used necromancy to conjure the spirit of the Samuel the prophet to find out what would happen in the future. He died for it. Foretelling the future if all souls comes close to engaging in necromancy. Since God created all humans all humans have the possibility of being redeemed by God, even after they died. In 1 Peter we read that Jesus descended into hell and preached there and some souls were saved. The concept of going to heaven or hell after death comes from Islam. During the Crusades in the Middle Ages the Christians encountered this understanding. The Roman Church (Latin West) developed the teaching of Purgatory form the Islamic influence. Later, John Calvin who liked his theology neat and orderly came up with Double Predestination. We are predestined. The plan was already in place. The mystery of God's saving love can be opened to all people at anytime, even those who are already dead. After All Saint's Day we have All Souls Day where we pray for all those are departed. We don't know what will happen to those who are dead. I was asked recently by Baptist evangelist if I knew whether or not I was going to heaven. It was good that they asked, but they asked the wrong question. The story we have, the only story we have, is the story of God's Grace. We don't have to cone out with the implied threat of hell. There is a Hell but it is for those who chose to be there; they reject God's Love. God's decision is the liberation in Jesus Christ.