Daily Office Reflection: Surprises

Psalms 26, 28 * 36, 39; Joshua 2:15-24; Romans 11:13-24; Matthew 25:14-30

Yesterday we began the story of Joshua's conquest of Jericho, a story in which Rahab plays a major role. We are told (yesterday) that Rahab was a prostitute, and the story implies that she was a successful one as she owned a house which was part of the wall of the city. She hides the two spies Joshua sent from the king's men and then helps them escape, telling them where and how long to hide outside of the city. They in turn promise to protect Rahab and all her family when they return to conquer the land, provided she keeps their secret and that she ties a crimson rope to the window from which they escaped. The story continues in tomorrow's reading.

In our selection from Matthew today Jesus tells the story of the talents used wisely juxtaposed against the talent that was buried, and thus taken away. Jesus is demanding that his disciples, and through them all of us, be daring and adventurous, to use the gifts we are given and those that we earn, in ways that benefit the development of the kingdom.

There is a swash-buckling-ness to these two stories. They are surprising too. I think both indicate that God will always act in surprising ways, through unexpected people and that we are called not to be judgmental, but open to God's work in the world all around us. We can be surprised and delighted by the generosity of a person who society and our culture has rejected. We must be risk-takers to embolden and enliven this kingdom we are called upon to make palpably present to the world. Surprises are a good thing for us to keep our eyes attuned to, always wondering what God has in store for us next.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Metaphorically Speaking

Psalms 18:1-20 * 18:21-50; Deuteronomy 3:18-28; Romans 9:19-33; Matthew 24:1-14

Jesus talks about the "end times" today. His discussion is spurred on by a question about his response to the disciples exclamations about the beauty of the temple buildings. Jesus foretells the fall of the temple and then his disciples ask him when this will happen, and off Jesus goes describing some pretty terrible events that will signal those "end times".

So many people read these verses with a literal lens, taking them out of context. They see an earthquake, or the start of a war, or famine, or religious persecution, and say Aha, we are at the end: Jesus is a'comin soon! So much damage has been done by these literal minded zealots. Such dangerous and deadly actions have been perpetrated throughout history. We don't have to look far back to find examples, nor is it hard to look around the world and find very recent examples of the things Jesus warns about as telling signs of the change coming.

What we are gifted with today from Matthew is the start of a long descriptive speech by Jesus. It continues in tomorrow's reading and into Saturday's, where we will find one of the metaphoric keys to understanding what Jesus is doing here. All ya'll have to wait until Saturday for my thoughts on that. In regard to today, one of the take aways from this Gospel reading is that Jesus is telling us that to be his disciple, to be his follower, will not be easy, will not make us the most popular kid in the class. And that is okay. Today's reading helps us remember, amidst "all the love stuff" (about which I write constantly!), that our journey can and will be difficult, and yet our reading clearly shows us we are not alone on that journey, nor is it a fruitless walk. There is good news in these rather difficult readings we are in the midst of right now.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Keeping Sacred Things Sacred

Psalms 5, 6 *10, 11; Numbers 35:1-5,9-15,30-34; Romans 8:31-39; Matthew 23:13-26

Jesus just lambasts the scribes and Pharisees today: he just lights into them. He has been in an extended conversation with them throughout his ministry in Matthew's Gospel. But it appears that he has just "had it up to here" with them in today's selection.

Jesus begins his chastisement of these leaders of the community saying how dare they lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. How can they twist Scripture to exclude rather than welcome? How can they miss the importance of what is sacred and place that blessing of sacredness, and give importance to things that are not sacred in and of themselves? Jesus condemns them by saying they "have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith." These leaders have become so consumed with who can be "in" and who shouldn't be, that they have lost themselves in the minutiae.

Jesus is making clear, yet again, that all are welcome into this kingdom he was sent to proclaim. All of us.... I cannot emphasis those three little words enough....all of us are welcome. Such good news this morning.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: God of the Living

Psalms 137:1-6(7-9), 144 * 104; Numbers 24:12-23; Romans 8:18-25; Matthew 22:23-40

Jesus flummoxes the Sadducees today with his response to their question about the childless widow marrying seven brothers and whose wife she would be in the resurrection. The Pharisees than give their shot at besting him and are likewise unsuccessful.

I believe that Jesus' response to the Sadducees not only serves up a mortal blow to their arguments, but also undermine any attempt by people of faith to be literalists: or in current parlance, "original intenters". Jesus is saying with his response that God is alive and with us, that God is not frozen on the page of Scripture and the laws and rules that emanate from those sacred texts. God is speaking to us in Scripture, wanting us to question, to learn, to grow: to be in conversation with each other and with God. And I think Jesus proves that purpose with his response to the Pharisees that the greatest commandment is to love God and, like unto that, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is not a frozen-in-time doctrine, but a living, breathing commandment to be actively engaged with the world, loving God, loving our neighbor.

God, Jesus is saying, is among us, with us, a part of our lives. God is not some distant figure to be feared and worshipped. But this loving God is the God of the living, and that statement and belief alone defeats any literalist, strict constructionist, narrow-minded attempts to box-in and define God in human terms. And that makes me smile this morning.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Myopia

Psalms 119:145-176 * 128, 129, 130; Numbers 22:41-23:12; Romans 7:13-25; Matthew 21:33-46

I got a wonderful surprise walking out the door at 6:00 this morning taking Allie for her morning constitution. The temperature has dropped at least 2o degrees, with a beautiful and refreshing wind out of the west. The humidity and heat that has been sitting over the former swamp that is Washington DC for the last two weeks has broken. I have all my windows open, and the air and breeze feels so refreshing this morning.

I am not usually bothered by heat and humidity, and much prefer it to cold and freezing temperatures, but I have noticed that I was a bit crankier these past few weeks, a bit more on edge. Now I recognize that this isn't only a weather induced state, as my employment situation has provided me with some reasons for being a bit off-balance. But I have noticed how the weather not only had an effect on me, but also on the intentional Christian community with whom I serve, as well as the residents of this city. Everyone was a bit on edge, more narrowly focused on themselves and allowing those feelings to control how they live in the world: closed down, unseeing, self-centered.

I think those reactions to heat and humidity we have been living through in this area are analogous to the Balaam saga we have been reading in Numbers and to the parable Jesus tells the chief priests and the elders in today's reading from Matthew. The Balaam - donkey story (which we read yesterday) is partly about being so self-absorbed as to miss God's voice and actions and our opportunities to respond that are all around us. Jesus' parable about the fenced in vineyard and the workers' reaction to the owners' managers and son is similar in point.

This glorious breeze I am enjoying this morning is a tangible reminder about how closed-down we can become when we let ourselves be distracted from being open to the Holy Spirit's work in the world around us. This wind that has wiped away the humidity can be a palpable example of God always reminding us that, although we may make mistakes, we may get myopic and selfish, it is never too late to step out and do our part in building the kingdom, here and now.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: St. Peter and St. Paul

MP: Psalm 66; Ezekiel 2:1-7; Acts 11:1-18

EP: Psalms 97, 138; Isaiah 49:1-6; Galatians 2:1-9

This is a wonderful feast day with readings for The Daily Office which are critical under-pinnings of our faith and of our mission as a Church. Throughout history the members of the Church universal have argued about mighty things and petty ones. Our EP reading from Galatians provide an example of an argument amongst the early leaders of this Church. Our MP reading from Acts also exhibits this mindset of argument. Both resolve though in ways that are faithful to the prophetic words we hear in Isaiah: I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

As humans, many of us like to argue. Many of us like to win, to be right, and we utilize those wins and that right-seemingness as proof that our lives matter, that we are making a difference. Those ambitions and drivers can blind us and mis-direct us. Peter was dead-set against moving beyond the mission to the circumcised until his vision we hear about in our Acts reading today which ends with Who was I that I could hinder God? Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, tells of his argument with the leaders in Jerusalem about his continuing mission to those outside the 12 tribes of Israel and how some of those leaders rejected him, yet others reached out the right hand of fellowship, agreeing to missions focused on different groups, but all with the same underlining mission.

God made us as we are, with many of us contentious and unruly and (at times) tiresome. Our reading from Ezekiel points out to us that God does not get tired of reminding us of our primary agenda when we get contentious and rebellious. And although it is alluring at times of exhaustion to give up, close down, that is not what we are called upon to do. What we are called to do, unrelentingly, is to offer God's loving embrace to all we encounter, to reach out to those in need, whoever they are, wherever they are, and provide them with food, and shelter, and clothing, and companionship, and a community to which they are invited to be a part, and we are to offer them love. Not an easy assignment. Nor a quick one to accomplish. But together we can walk that path and do what we can.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Through the Noise

Psalms 102 * 107:1-32; Numbers 20:1-13; Romans 5:12-21; Matthew 20:29-34

There are times, when I am in a large crowd of people out on the street, and I get overwhelmed by the noise, the sounds, the constant distractions of so many different things going on at the same time. I can find it hard to focus on one individual, or stay a-tuned to the thing I am supposed to be doing. So today's Gospel account of Jesus hearing two blind individuals on the side of the road yelling out to him for help, while he is surrounded by "a large crowd", resounds with me. I marvel at the fact that Jesus could actually hear and notice their pleas for mercy and aid, as well as reach out to them, show his great compassion and heal them, all amidst the noise and tumult around him.

I do not know if I will ever have the ability to not become overwhelmed at times. I do know, however, that today's Gospel reading brings me great comfort. This Gospel explicitly shows me that I don't have to worry about that inability because we have a loving God who does not get overwhelmed and will reach out and help those who yearn for that loving embrace and healing. That is a great thought to carry through the day!

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Holy Women, Holy Men

The Nativity of John the Baptist

MP: Psalms 82, 98; Malachi 3:1-5; John 3:22-30

EP: Psalm 80; Malachi 4:1-6; Matthew 11:2-19

The readings set forth above are, as usual, The Daily Office readings assigned for today, which is the feast of John the Baptist's birth. Instead of reflecting on one or all of those readings today, I am taken this morning with the new book Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints, which was waiting for me on my arrival home from church yesterday evening.

This is the General Convention 2009 sanctioned revision o Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Holy Women, Holy Men contains a bit over 100 additional individuals whose lives have shown the movement of the Holy Spirit. whose impact changed these people and the world and time in which they lived. I am very excited about this updated addition to our lectionary cycle and will continue my habit of incorporating the prayers for these individuals in my Rule of Life and in the weekday Eucharist.

The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, retired Presiding Bishop, wrote a Foreword, part of which states: "Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints seeks to expand the worshiping community's awareness of the communion of saints, and to give increased expression to the many and diverse was in which Christ, through the agency of the Holy Sprit, has been present in the lives of men and women across the ages, just as Christ continues to be present in our own day. Faced with circumstances most often very different from our own, these courageous souls bore witness to Christ's death-defying love, in service, in holiness of life, and in challenge to existing practices and perspectives within both the Church and society.....The men and women commemorated in the Calendar are not simply examples of faithfulness to inspire us: they are active in their love and prayer. They are companions to the Spirit able to support and encourage us as we seek to be faithful in our own day."

I commend this book to you.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Human Fairness vs. God's Generosity

Psalms 101,109:1-4(5-19)20-30 * 119:121-144; Numbers 16:36-50; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 20:1-16

Our Gospel reading for today ALWAYS gets to me. I have heard and read this description of the Kingdom of Heaven un-countable times and I am invariably brought up short by it.

A part of my living in this world is looking for fairness and treating people fairly. And Jesus' tale of the landowner hiring workers for the vineyard throughout the day, yet paying the one who worked only one hour the same as one who toiled all day just causes me to squirm. How, in God's Name, I want to ask Jesus, is THAT fair! When I get to the part of the story where those who had worked all day in the scorching heat are talking amongst themselves and complaining, I always find myself agreeing with them....and then those words that stop me short: I chose to give to this last the same as I give to you......are you envious because I am generous?

Jesus tells us over and over again that God's ways, God's time, is not the same as our human petty greed. Jesus says over and over again the Kingdom of God/Heaven is something different. And that God's generosity, God's love, is far beyond our ability to love....so many preachers focus on vengeance and sinfulness - but Jesus points us to a loving God who is so generous as to astound and confound us. Perhaps Jesus, by describing the Kingdom of Heaven with this generous-landowning-winemaker is instructing us to re-think our priorities and understandings of fairness. Perhaps I should be happy that those who find God's love later than I are equally welcome in that generous and loving embrace God holds open for all of us. Perhaps it is not such a bad thing to be brought up short early in the morning.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Defining the Kingdom

Psalms 97, 99, (100) * 94 (95); Numbers 16:20-35; Romans 4:3-12; Matthew 19:23-30

Our Gospel reading for today may seem to pop out of thin air, if we haven't been reading what has been transpiring just prior. For if we just look at today's reading, Jesus appears to have a real problem with people of means, of wealth. But if we take today's reading in conjunction with yesterday's reading (and Saturday's as well), we will see Jesus painting a picture of what the Kingdom of God is like.

Today we hear the oft heard it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. And then he goes on to explain about people being appropriately focused on things that are important, and not transient things that fade. Yesterday, the first part of Chapter 19, Jesus points out the innocence of little children and how their approach to life is what we must mimic to be a part of the kingdom of God, followed by a conversation with a righteous and rich man who has followed all the laws and rules and yet wants to know how to ensure eternal life for himself. And Jesus tells him he should sell all that he owns and give it to the poor and then follow him. It is following this man's sad walk away that Jesus talks about the difficulty of wealth and the kingdom. In Saturday's reading Jesus berates the nit-picking Pharisees about Moses' permission concerning divorce. Jesus talks about the importance of fidelity and commitment and being focused, once again, on that which is important.

I honestly believe that Jesus did not "have it in for" people with wealth. He points to the truth that those of us of means can be at great risk for losing our way because of that wealth: being consumed by our humanness of wanting more, caring for our possessions more than we care for those who need our help. These last few days of readings have all been about being focused in the correct direction, and not getting lost: in the weeds of minutiae; in the caring of things over people; in the intolerance of difference. Scripture is directing us to evaluate what grabs our focus and attention and determine whether we are building the kingdom or undermining it.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Who Are Our Pharisees and Sadducees?

Psalms: 72 *119:73-96; Ecclesiastes 9:11-18; Galatians 5:1-15; Matthew 16:1-12

The disciples are their dim selves in our Gospel reading from Matthew, and Jesus is more than a little exasperated by that dimness. He is very clear with them about what he means when he says Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.....it is about their teaching and their closed-mindedness and their strict adherence to rules and their inability to change.

It is our human condition to look for comfort and familiarity. That understanding of life can infect the church and inhibit the church's ability to grow and respond to God's voice in the world. We have the biggest change agent in history, Jesus, as the leader of of our church, and whose name we bear when we say we are Christian. And yet one of the most constant refrains we hear in church is We don't do things that way because we have always done them this way. Who are the Pharisees and Sadducees today? Is it us?

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Persistence in the Face of Not-So-Niceness

Psalms 56, 57 (58) * 64, 65; Ecclesiastes 7:1-14; Galatians 4:12-20; Matthew 15:21-28

We have a pretty unfriendly Jesus this morning, and cranky disciples too boot. He and the disciples have just left Gennesaret where they were, rather unpolitely, requested to leave the district after healing the naked demoniac who lived in the cemetery. These folks did not welcome Jesus, nor respond to his curing of one of their own, which may have set him a bit on edge, and certainly would have done so to his disciples. So, perhaps this was the mood they were in when another individual from "outside the fold" comes a-hollerin for help.

She was persistent. Jesus ignored her but she kept on following and yelling at him to help, so much so that the disciples ask him to do something about her. He turns to her and is pretty insulting, comparing her and all non-Jews to dogs. She remains undeterred and says "well even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table!" That retort seems to bring Jesus up short and he grants this woman's wish, to heal her daughter.

There are so many times in life when things can seem not to be going our way.I think one of the beauties of today's rather difficult Gospel reading is the reminder that we cannot, nor should we ever consider giving up. Prayer is an integral part of not giving up. Being unafraid to ask for help from those who can give us that help is another part of not giving up. Being proactive about finding that help we may need is also a part of not giving up. We may hope for and pray that we don't have to expend that energy and that the help will appear magically. The reality is we need to be persistent in the face of difficulty. We may not get the exact thing we want, but we will get what we need.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Sharing a Meal

Psalms 50 * (59), 60 or 8, 84; Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:3; Galatians 3:1-14; Matthew 14:13-21

When I was growing up, a priest gave a sermon on this particular miracle event we have in our Gospel reading today. The gist of that sermon was that the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 was not some abbra-cadabbra moment but something for more important. The miracle was that Jesus got all those people to sit down in small groups and share. This priest talked about how it was customary for people, in that time and place, to have little pouches (in today's parlance a fanny-pack) in which they carried pieces of dried fish and dried bread. By having all those people sit down in small groups and open up their fanny-packs and pull out their food and offer it to their neighbors, who they did not know, this the priest said was the miracle. An opening of their hearts, one to the other, recognizing the need of your neighbor sitting right next them. Not only recognizing that need but doing something about it.

This burst my child's imaginative understanding of this story, and I remember leaving somewhat disillusioned and ill-at-ease (although as a child I probably would have said "I was feeling yucky".) Yet that sermon and explanation of this miracle story has always stayed with me, has always come back to me whenever I read one of the versions of the feeding of the 5000.

Aren't Jesus' parables supposed to make us uneasy? Aren't they supposed to put us on edge? Aren't they supposed to make us feel like we are perilously balancing ourselves on the abyss of self-understanding and responsibility, not only for our own actions but for those around us? Are we ready to trust what will happen if we allow that abyss to be our world?

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: To Whom We Listen

Psalms 45 * 47, 48; Ecclesiastes 2:16-26; Galatians 1:18-2:10; Matthew 13:53-58

We reach the end of Jesus visiting his hometown today, where just prior we heard about healings giving way to arguments with the Pharisees, leading to Jesus talking to his disciples about what "the kingdom of God is like". Jesus tries to teach in his hometown synagogue but the folks there took offense at him. After all, they knew him from a child - who was he to teach them?

So often in life that trite phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" proves true. We see that phrase play out in today's Gospel reading. So often in life we are looking for that "new thing" to follow, to lead us someplace exciting and new. Having a fresh set of eyes on something has great value, many times. But, what about those whom we get to know well, do we listen to them still? I think what happens today in our Gospel exemplifies the need for being able to be balanced in our consideration of ideas: are we high-tailing it after a new fad simply because we bored with the old? Are we discounting what someone has to say because we think we know them and what they are going to say? Are we able to listen and not be reactive? Can we see the gifts that are right in front of us?

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Tiny Gestures

Psalms 31 * 35; Proverbs 23>19-21,29-24:2; 1 Timothy 5:17-22(23-25); Matthew 13:31-35

We have the mustard seed parable and the yeast mixed with flour metaphor in today's Gospel selection from Matthew. The last few days in our Daily Office readings Jesus has been throwing out a whole bunch of these very short "parables" of "the kingdom is like...." sayings. These are so familiar to so many people that they are almost hard to hear, or decipher something new from, or remind us of something we perhaps have forgotten.

One of the points Jesus is driving home today is the truth that our smallest seeming action can have enormous consequences in the creation of the kingdom he is announcing. These actions can be corporate and public or private and personal. An example from my Rule of Life, is that in the last year I have incorporated various "free form" prayers while I say Morning Prayer. One is "Gracious and loving God, guide me to be an effective Episcopal priest today." Another is "Lord Jesus, and through you to our gracious and loving God, help me to be open to your next call and help that parish to be open to discerning me as their next rector." Rather simple prayers yet I find them centering and a "turning over to God" things that are out of my control. I find these (and other intercessory prayers) help me to focus and be more focused, and they do buttress me in doing the work I am, at present, called to do.

Simple, yes I know, but effective for me and I think are examples of that yeast and that mustard seed that can and does change form and substance and create and inspire new things.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: A New World

Psalms: 38* 119:25-48; 1 Timothy 3:1-16; Matthew 12:43-50

Jesus insults two groups of people today in our Gospel reading from Matthew. First we have Jesus concluding his back and forth with his hometown Pharisees by saying they are lost to the kingdom because of their actions and disbelief. And then he diss-es his mother and brothers who are standing outside of where he is teaching.

His family knew Jesus was different, and certainly his mother had first hand knowledge and experience at just how different he was. This must have been harsh to hear from a member of their family they probably thought had come to visit them. But Jesus has a different purpose. He is talking about a the founding of a changed community, a community where people unrelated by blood are treated as family, loved as family, honored as family....no matter how different they may be from one another.

What we have today is Jesus laying the ground work for us, the Body of Christ in the world today. Jesus is saying (in part) that our intentionality in living in a church community needs to not only model the love of a daughter/son for her/his parents and siblings, but actually be that family unit. This is a radical concept that, over 2000 years later, we are still struggling to figure out. Figuring it out is, I think, part of our mission.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: The Kingdom of God Has Come To You

Psalms: 25 * 9, 15; Proverbs 10:1-12; 1 Timothy 1:1-17; Matthew 12:11-32

Jesus is having a pointed discussion, yet again, with the Pharisees today. They claim his authority to heal comes from the leader of the demon world. Jesus says that the Pharisees own exorcists claim to be able to cast out demons, even though they have no authority as his, which was granted to Jesus by God. Jesus not only makes clear to the Pharisees who he is, and from whom he has been granted the gifts of healing he has been exercising, but also announces to the world that God's kingdom is among them and available to them.

How can and does this reading from Matthew be relevant to us in our 21st Century lives? Perhaps if we think about what drives us, what is important to us, we can make something out of this lesson. Where do we find our center of being in the world? Do we act out of an understanding of Jesus' teachings or from a more secular and culturally driven perspective?

Jesus calls each of us into this Kingdom he announces today, to assist in the furtherance of its manifestation. Jesus calls each and every one of us to be in the world, working within it, but not to be of this world, not to be a product driven by the changes and chances of culture. Jesus is asking us to be different, to stand apart. He knows how hard this will be for us, but shoves us in this direction nonetheless, for this kingdom of God is what he came to be human among us to announce, open and invite us to live.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Faith and Wellness

MP: Psalms 107:33-43, 108:1-6(7-13); Ezekiel 36:22-27; Ephesians 6:10-24; Matthew 9:18-26

EP: Psalm 33; Exodus 19:3-8a,16-20; 1Peter 2:4-10

We are on the cusp of Pentecost today and a switch in our liturgical seasons. This week is a "red" week, next Sunday, for Trinity Sunday, we wear white one last time, and then we enter the long green season. The church calendar crams so much into this first half of the year: following Christmas we have the short Christmas season, then a few weeks of Epiphany, followed by 40 days of Lent, Holy Week, Easter, the 50 days of Easter, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and then.... that long green season, the Season after Pentecost, where we must focus on faith as opposed to liturgical events to keep our interest tweaked.

And I think our Gospel for this morning's reading is a perfect vehicle to reflect on this point. An individual who was part of the group that opposed Jesus, his actions and teachings, falls in front of Jesus begging him to save his daughter. On the walk to the synagogue leader's home, we hear Matthew's version of the hemorrhagic woman's faith leading her to being healed by simply touching Jesus' cloak. Their faith brought wellness: a rebirth of sorts for all three of them, the daughter (as a by-product of the father's faith), the leader and the healed woman.

That hemorrhagic woman had been living with her condition for 12 years we are told, incurable, being cast-aside as unclean. The leader of the synagogue's beloved daughter was dead and he was lost. Faith brought them healing specific to their needs.

There are occasions in life when we have dramatic healings as exemplified in today's Gospel reading. I think more often in life we have little healings along the way, that may be dramatic for us but not so public as the two heard about today. I think this long green season we are on the cusp of entering is very much like that: normal life with personal growth, step by step. Inch by inch, as we plod through this green season, our faith deepens, we are changed, we are slowly healed and we grow: so slow at times that we don't even recognize it until we look back and see the difference. A holistic wellness provided by our ever deepening faith.

A Happy Pentecost.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Who We Associate With

Psalms 102 * 107:1-32; Jeremiah 31:27-34; Ephesians 5:1-20; Matthew 9:9-17

An old adage that floats around our culture is "be careful with whom you associate." And there is some truth to that adage for if we are not sure of ourselves, and strong in our convictions and beliefs, we can lose focus and direction. But if we are centered strongly in not only who we are, but what we believe (and who we follow) than that adage is an impediment to our assisting in the creation of the kingdom.

The reverse is likewise true: if we are so certain in our beliefs and set in our ways, we will miss God's voice coming to us from unimagined places.

Jesus calls the tax collector Matthew today, and then sits with other "tax collectors and sinners" and shares a meal. The Pharisees object, thinking those people are unfit to associate with people of Jesus' pedigree. But Jesus says "hold on now....I am strong enough in myself to not get lost being with these people." I can imagine Jesus saying, After all, they are just that, people, needing to see that there is another way to be, to exist in the world. They are created in God's image, and perhaps they don't fit our understanding of how the world is to work, but what is God saying to us, if anything, if w associate with them?

We are challenged by today's Gospel to ask ourselves: How centered and strong are we? Are we capable of being with those who might challenge us and our beliefs? Are we open to hear God's voice in those challenges?

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Frozen

Psalms 105:1-22 * 105:23-45; Zechariah 4:1-14; Ephesians 4:17-32; Matthew 9:1-8

Many things can "freeze us up," make us stay in place. Fear can do that to us. Self doubt can make roots grow down into the ground around us inhibiting our progress. Remembrance of things we have done and, perhaps, left undone can cause us to become immoveable.

I wonder if we can understand the miracle story in our Gospel reading today with that understanding of the paralytic individual Jesus heals. What if it wasn't a physical issue causing this person to be frozen but instead caused by the individual's own self doubt, fear and remembrance of transgressions left unresolved, unforgiven? What if the miracle we are presented with today is to remind us that no matter how great a sin we may be guilty of, there is forgiveness readily available to us. That forgiveness can serve to unfreeze us, allowing us to live into and be a part of this kingdom Jesus creates.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: When We Are Afraid

Psalms 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30 * 119:121-144; Isaiah 4:2-6; Ephesians 4:1-16; Matthew 8:28-34

In our Gospel from Matthew today, Jesus heals the two demoniacs who were living in a cemetery. These two are described as "fierce" making all afraid to go near the place. Jesus cures them sending the demons into a herd of swine, who run wildly over a cliff (or down a steep incline) and drown. The folks charged with minding and caring for those swine run into town, tell those present who come out and ask Jesus, actually beg Jesus to leave.

Here Jesus does a good thing (maybe not so much for the swine or their handlers), but certainly for the two individuals who were cast out from society because of their difference and illness. And perhaps the handlers and the townsfolk were pissed off at Jesus for hurting the livelihood of folks in their town. Or perhaps they were frightened at seeing those two healed individuals, who had been so fierce-some and now were "normal".

How do we react when we are afraid? When we are in the midst of something new and unexplained, how do we handle those times? It is much easier to be reactionary and fling away the new, clinging to the old and familiar. It is much harder to trust in the newness that is God's work in creation: to live into that newness with a sense of wonder and delight and joyful enthusiasm. Jesus did something new today: he gave new life to two individuals. How accepting would each of us be to meeting someone who no longer fits into the locked and defined box we have assigned to them? Could we accept their new life with us?

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Seeing

Psalms 89:1-18 * 89:19-52; Joshua 1:1-9; Ephesians 3:1-13; Matthew 8:5-17

I think we have a peeved Jesus in today's Gospel reading. He reacts with appreciation to the centurion who sees him for the authority that he is, while he strongly condemns those for whom he thought he had come. This latter group refused to see him and recognize him for who he was. From their point of view I suppose Jesus was this young upstart, from a nobody family, even though he was "part" of their community. Those folks couldn't see past their own prejudices.

So often in life we need to have an outsider's eyes to see something new and fresh. Many times, we have to force ourselves to try and see something familiar as new, to see something that we have grown accustomed to as needing some repair.

This is one of the messages from today's Gospel reading - a reminder that we need to look and see, and ask what are we overlooking? What are we judging too quickly? What would a new set of eyes see that ours just skims over? Are we missing God' presence in our lives by not seeing?

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Choosing

Psalms: 87, 90 * 136; Numbers 11:16-17,24-29; Ephesians 2:11-22; Matthew 7:28-8:4

It is a beautiful morning here in DC. The sun is rising, the sky is that soft, light blue, there is a cool and light wind from the west blowing over the Potomac and the birds are singing mightily. Walking Allie along the waterfront I was thinking about the leper and Jesus' encounter and wondering about choice.

God gifted us free will. Many times in life we may feel like we do not have a choice, but we do. We may do something and use the "I didn't have a choice" excuse to try and cover for a bad choice. Making mistakes is human. Owning up to them is being adult. Blaming God for the predicaments we are in is a choice, but not a good one.

Jesus did choose to heal the leper today, after the leper chose to approach Jesus and ask for his merciful healing. Perhaps it was a choice made out of desperation by this leper. Perhaps it was a brave and daring choice for someone deemed "unclean" and "cast-out" to approach an individual of such apparent authority as Jesus and ask for help.

For what can we choose to ask God? What deep healing do we require that only that unexplainable love of God can touch, heal and make new? The choice is ours to make.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Ascension Day

Psalms 8, 47 * 24, 96; Daniel 7:9-14; Hebrews 2:5-18; Matthew 28:16-20

So many people I know "draw the line" at Ascension Day.... well just before Ascension Day. They say they believe other parts of the Gospel story but not this particular piece of Jesus' story. This bodily ascension of our resurrected Jesus into heaven is just too outrageous for them to accept. When I run up against this kind of argument, I find myself being saddened, because by putting tight parameters around what we will or will not, or can and cannot believe, we are limiting God's presence in our lives. By doing this limiting, we are looking out a window, observing, but not participating.

Doubts are one thing, disbelief another. By falling into the latter we miss Jesus' final instructions to his disciples which we have in Matthew's last chapter today: Go and make disciples of all nations.....I am with you always......

Just as the whole of Jesus ascended into heaven, so all are invited into this kingdom he has opened for us. Perhaps that symbolism of Jesus' whole being ascending into heaven is a linchpin upon which we can understand the fullness of God's love for each one of us....a completeness to the invitation that all are welcome, all invited.

I think we are invited to take down those barriers we erect around ourselves this Ascension Day and allow the completeness that is God's love for us to envelope us.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Phases

Psalms 78:1-39 * 78:40-72; Leviticus 26:1-20; 1 Timothy 2:1-6; Matthew 13:18-23

Today we have Jesus' explanation to his disciples of the parable of the sown seed. He gives four examples of how the word can be received by the people who hear it: 1) path - it is not understood and rejected out of hand; 2) rocky ground - misunderstands it by accepting it with joy and then when things get tough, rejects it; 3) thorns - the word is heard but the cares of the world get in the way of truly understanding it; and 4) good soil - the word is heard, understood and bears much fruit.

At first glance this seems like an un-hopeful parable. It has certainly been used through the centuries to cast aside whole swaths of people by categorizing them and giving up on them. But Jesus was not known for giving up. What if that initial reading of the parable is to narrow a reading of it? What if Jesus is talking about how people really are: that we develop our understanding over time, or at least most of us do. If we are honest with ourselves I think all of us believers have probably fallen into categories 1, 2 and 3 more often than 4. What if Jesus is saying there is a path, a journey, that there are phases of faith development and that upon reaching 4, we are ready to keep questioning but at the same time helping bring along those in earlier phases of spiritual growth and development. That is a much more hopeful understanding of Jesus' parable and one to be quite joyful about!

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Eyes & Ears

Psalms: 80 * 77 (79); Leviticus 25:35-55; Colossians 1:9-14; Matthew 13:1-16

We are gifted part one of the parable of the sown seeds (we have to tune in tomorrow to get the "explanation" of the parable to the disciples). But even without that explanation by Jesus of what this parable means, we have a goodly amount of ideas to chew on.

Jesus says he speaks in parables because the folks he has come to save have closed their eyes and ears to him, and therefore will "never understand" the miracle standing before them. I find this a very sad thing to contemplate, that missed opportunity to know God-taken-human-form in an up close and personal way. Jesus says their "hearts have grown dull". How very condemning that statement is!

But I wonder how many of our hearts have grown dull? How many of us have built up walls around ourselves, sure of what is right, confident in what we are doing? I think the problem with that kind of confidence is that we can become self-delusional and then not really use our eyes and ears and really see and hear. I think that is the dire warning and the good news of today's part one lesson. Stay tuned!

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Response Time

Psalms 30, 32 * 42, 43; Exodus 25:1-22; Colossians 5:1-17; Matthew 4:18-25

Today we have Matthew's calling of Simon Peter and Andrew, and then James and John, followed by Matthew's description of Jesus' early ministry of healing and teaching. Matthew says that Peter and Andrew "immediately" followed Jesus upon his call to them. James and John "immediately" leave their father Zebedee to follow Jesus as well. And Matthew describes throngs of people flocking to Jesus' side from all over that area: from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond.

There was this instantaneous response to Jesus, an immediacy of following, wanting to be near him, be a part of this movement, this phenomenon. The way Matthew describes this first calling and people's response to Jesus indicates that there was not a great deal of time for reflection and evaluation and rationalization: they just responded.

It is very true that we can make mistakes when we "jump" at something. It is also true, and different from those knee-jerk reactions, that when we know something is right, we just know it deep down within ourselves. So deep down that it is difficult if not impossible to articulate the "why" answer: it just "is". I think many of us have lost the ability to recognize that deep part of us telling us something is right, and just going for it, responding to it. There is risk in this kind of endeavor. Certainly Peter and Andrew, James and John's lives were risky after their response to Jesus. Yet, those lives, post-meeting-Jesus, were as they should have been and had impact and inspiration beyond their wildest imaginings.

Where is God calling each of us? How do we listen to that deep, instinctual place and know that it is right to respond without rationalization or articulation? How do we know when something is just right?

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Pain into Joy

Psalms 20, 21:1-7(8-14) * 110:1-5(6-7), 1116, 117; Exodus 17:1-16; 1Peter 4:7-19; John 16:16-33

Jesus is talking to his disciples today telling them pain is coming, but joy is not far behind. He says: Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy: And then he gives an analogy to a woman giving birth. Later on in today's reading Jesus says I have said these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage, I have conquered the world.

These words are important for me to hear this morning. I am one of the clergy people who will be leading a funeral service for a 31 year old man who died unexpectedly and quickly after being diagnosed with a vicious and virulent form of cancer recently. He leaves an equally young wife, his parents and in-laws to sort through their loss and grief.

The deep pain of losing someone who had been so vital and active makes these words of Jesus stand out for me today. Perhaps these words will not bring solace to this family's pain and loss right now, but in the near-term future when the pain is not so sharp and new, these words can help bring about healing. For Christ has gone ahead of us, just as Matthew has now gone ahead of us to join all those saints that have also gone before, and who surround us as a great cloud of witnesses, all gone into God's loving embrace.

The unquantifiable pain of this loss can only be softened by this fact: that we know that when we die, it is not over. Perhaps dying in Eastertide, at the rebirth of all things, can help those of us with grief in our lives to remember that tenet of our faith.

God of all, we pray for all those whom we love but see no longer. Grant to them eternal rest. Let light perpetual shine upon them. May the souls of al the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. (BCP p. 498)

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way

Psalms 5, 6 * 10, 11; Exodus 15:1-21; 1Peter 1:13-25; John 14:18-31

Jesus gives a confidence building speech to his disciples today. In typical John fashion, there are a lot of words, written in a very circular manner, that can be, if we don't take our time, confusing and/or overwhelming..... Jesus is in God and God is in Jesus and Jesus is in the disciples.....Jesus is going away but will be with the disciples.....They shouldn't be sad, but happy that he is going away to God....Those who love Jesus will follow his word, which aren't his words but Gods, and because they love Jesus and follow his word, God will love them and both Jesus and God will come to them.....The Spirit is coming to them, whom God will send because Jesus asked, and they will know that Jesus is with them when the Spirit comes because the Spirit will remind them of everything Jesus taught them and will teach them anew......(sigh.....breathe).....and then Jesus says "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you....." And then Jesus tells them not to be troubled as what he has given them is different than anything else the world can give....and that the ruler of this world may have power over his human body, that ruler has no real power over him..... (breathe again).

There is just a huge data-dump of thought and theology and prayer and love by Jesus. He knows his time with them is short and he is dropping the mother-load on them (and us) to digest over time. This information overload shows a loving and caring side of Jesus that can build confidence in us to face what each of us must, each and every day, knowing we do not walk alone, unloved, unknown.

One of the hardest things for many is to do the last thing Jesus orders his disciples to do today, for to "Rise, let us be on our way" indicates a change in the scene, a turning of the page, an ending to a part of life's experience. But to live this life Jesus models for us and commands us to dwell within, we all have to face that some chapters end, but that we still must always Rise and be on our way.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: The Way, The Truth, The Light

Psalms 1, 2, 3 * 4, 7: Exodus 14:21-31; 1 Peter 1:1-12; John 14:(1-7)8-17

The disciples constantly struggled with believing in Jesus and believing in God, even when they were with him, witnessed the miracles he performed, heard first hand the things we only read and have read to us. Philip wants Jesus to "show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." That is a pretty gutsy request on Philip's part. This, after Jesus has just said those famous words about way and truth and light. It is like Philip is saying, "Okay, enough with the rhetoric, the metaphors, the nice words! Show me something concrete! Something, perhaps I can understand!" And Jesus, somewhat gently, chastises him, and points Philip, and us, to the fact that who and what Jesus is, and how God operates in the world, is far different than Philip, or we, commonly think.

God has done something new, Jesus is saying, and that is part of what makes this "belief thing" such a constant challenge, for his disciples.....and for so many of us.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Saturday in Easter Week

Psalms 145 * 104; Exodus 13:17-14:4; 2Corinthians 4:16-5:10; Mark 12:18-27

We end Easter Week today with Jesus explaining about resurrection to unbelieving Sadducees, telling them they are quite wrong. You are quite wrong, Jesus says, something they probably didn't like to hear, or did not hear said to their face very often. Who among us likes to be brought up short in the manner Jesus does to the Sadducees today? I think this is a good reminder to us that we do not, nor will we ever, have all the answers.

Jesus begins his response to the Sadducees with the statement Is this not the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? Jesus is upbraiding the Sadducees for trying to define God in their own narrow construct, and in the same way their narrow and literalistic manipulation of scripture takes them away from God's presence in those holy words. Jesus doesn't say we will be angels in the resurrection, but are like angels in heaven, trying to explain the unexplainable to those Sadducees. Jesus is saying, putting human limits on God's power makes them get it wrong.

A good reading to end Easter Week, for God's unlimited power, unimagined by the Sadducees, who shown true by Jesus' resurrection six days ago, where human-made limits and beliefs and understandings are shattered.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Thursday in Easter Week

Psalms 146, 147 * 148, 149; Exodus 13:3-10; 1Corinthians 15:41-50; Matthew 28:16-20

We are given the "Great Commission" in Matthew's Gospel today. Jesus tells his disciples Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..... I think the inclusivity and openness of this command (and invitation) is lost on a number of individuals in our Church structure. This Great Commission goes hand-in-hand with part of our Baptismal Covenant (which so many of us renewed this past Saturday night at our Great Easter Vigil) where we are asked: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being? And we reply I will, with God's help. This also dovetails with the ending of The Nicene Creed where we say We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. When we say "catholic" we are not talking RC, we are saying "catholic" as in "all embracing," being open to and reaching out to everyone, not a select few who agree with us.

This is a work of a lifetime, as summed up in our Collect for today: Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. That middle part I have bolded jumps out at me today: this living into our faith and showing it in what we do, indicates an understanding that we are imperfect and have to continually work at this thing called Church. We can't walk away because we disagree, we can't sit idly by not actively questioning and expect to grow in our faith. And we cannot exclude someone because there is something about them we dislike or disagree with.

We are the Body of Christ in the world. A good reminder today of a hard challenge which is worth the effort.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Wednesday in Easter Week

Psalms 97, 99 * 115; Exodus 12:40-51; 1Corinthians 15:(29)30-41; Matthew 28:1-16

We are blessed this week being given the Resurrection narratives of Mark, Matthew and Luke. Many look at these and marvel at the differences between the three. I prefer to, although acknowledging their differences, focus instead on their striking similarities.

If we think about how stories get passed down, person to person, from age to age, the accounts of the repeated story can differ quite dramatically, making it sometimes unrecognizable. When these accounts of Jesus' Resurrection (and his life and ministry) were written down well after his life, death, resurrection and ascension, there would have to have been differences in: how the story was told, the order of the narrative, different emphasis on various parts of Jesus' ministry.

Does it really matter who rolled back the stone to uncover Jesus' tomb? The women who loved Jesus came to that tomb and found it empty, and (depending on which Gospel we are reading) reacted differently, some immediately, some eventually, understanding the import of his Resurrection.

Jesus is arisen. Not much more is important.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Tuesday of Easter Week

Psalms: 103 * 111, 114; Exodus 12:28-39; 1Corinthians 15:12-28; Mark 16:9-20

Yesterday we had the "first ending" to Mark's Gospel, and today we have the "second". Most people who study these things opine that "someone" (or some group of people) appended verses 9-20 to Mark's chapter 16. The short explanation is that Mark was writing to a particularly abused Christian community, and this appended ending was added when Mark's Gospel went into wider circulation.

The two are quite different - one leaving lots of questions and the second providing some answers and direction. I have always found this academic exercise, although interesting, rather superfluous to the life and teachings of Jesus. I find much greater learnings and support and guidance from studying that life and those teachings than any knowledge I gain by engaging in the academic struggle of which is the proper ending point of the Gospel of Mark.

Be that as it may, we have Jesus arisen. Thanks be to God.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Monday of Easter Week

Psalms 93, 98 * 66; Exodus 12:14-27; 1Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8

There is an exhaustion lying over me today. Not a bad one, but one emanating from long hours and good hard work and a "successful" Holy Week, Vigil and Easter Day services. 11 distinct services over the course of 7 days is a lot of planning, choreographing, organizing, cajoling and prayerfulness. Each service had its own tone, tenor, meaning and experience, and at times leading to a rich and complex feeling of sensory overload.

I am excited to be in Eastertide, moving toward Pentecost, some 50 days hence. I am also excited to revel in this "good" exhaustion of knowing I have served God as well as I can this past week and I look forward to these next 50 days of glorious celebration. For through all the work of the last week, knowing that we were walking the Passion walk, and remembering and worshiping our God who loves us beyond our comprehension, and to witness how deeply impact-ful this week can be to individuals who immerse themselves in the experience, all of these things make God's palpable presence and love so very real, and the work a wonderful labor of love.

A glorious Eastertide......

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Holy Saturday, Yr. Two

Psalms 95, 88 * 27; Lamentations 3:37-58; Hebrews 4:1-16(MP); Romans 8:1-11(EP)

Jesus is in the tomb this morning having suffered a terrible day yesterday. He is resting in his tomb today.

We are in that in-between time - that unsure time. How do we treat this Holy Saturday? Many of us (me included) will be very active today getting ready for the Vigil tonight and tomorrow's onslaught of services and receptions. I find it very challenging to appreciate and live into this Holy Saturday moment because of all the activity that I will immerse myself in shortly. And I am not sure if that activity is partly due to being uncomfortable in this in-between time of Lent and being able to shout that "A" word tonight and tomorrow. That uncomfortable knowledge that God went silent on this day.

Perhaps I will have to work on this Holy Saturday ritual some, in the future. For now, I have to take the few moments on my terrace, saying MP, with the birds chirping and the sun rising as my "rest", and as I scurry on to the busy-ness of the day I will try keep in my head the prayer for today - found on page 283 of the BCP:

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God, for ever and ever.

Amen

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Good Friday, Yr. Two

Psalms 95 & 22 * 40:1-14(15-19), 54; Lamentations 3:1-9,19-33; 1Peter 1:10-20; John 13:36-38(MP), John 19:38-42(EP)

In our MP Gospel reading we have Jesus letting Peter know that he (and the rest) will betray him in their own ways, while in our EP Gospel we have Jesus being buried in Joseph of Arimathea's own new tomb, a quiet follower of Jesus whose faith grew as Jesus' story unfolds in John's Gospel.

So, in these two readings we see part of the breadth of life experiences and some very true human traits portrayed in all there horror and glory. We have devoted friends and folllowers, who swear allegiance and then when the going gets really tough are no where to be found. And we have a person who was on the sidelines, watching, with lots of questions, a person who was part of the ruling religious class, being effected in ways by Jesus' ministry that he didn't understand, who in a tragic moment of sorrow acts in very loving and compassionate manner. All very human....all very true.

We remember and mourn that the human Jesus died today. And there is great sadness in that fact.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.

Daily Office Reflection: Maundy Thursday, Yr. Two

Psalms: 102 * 142, 143; Lamentations 2:10-18; 2Corinthians 1-:14-17,11:27-32; Mark 14:12-25

Today is the "official" institution of Holy Eucharist in our Gospel reading. The four-fold action of the Eucharist (taking, blessing, breaking, giving) that Jesus has done at other times in the Gospel is solemnized at the Passover meal he shared with his disciples with his words: Take, this is my body, and This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. And then he tells them he will never drink the like of it again.

Just before this Jesus tells the disciples he is going to be betrayed by one of them. This betrayal is the reason for the picture choice this morning. Jesus is headed to that frightening day.

I find it hard to stay in this moment of Maundy Thursday, and find it even harder to stay in Good Friday.....I want to leap ahead to the Vigil and Easter Sunday morning. But I am going to struggle on, trying to live into this rich liturgical day. Come help me do this by attending a Maundy Thursday service and wash someone's feet or witness the stripping of the altar.

Live into this day with me. Every time we do this, it changes us.

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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.