conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

sharing

Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out over a lovely bay or sea or a green valley that wound away among mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite the window there may have been a looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real one: yet at the same time they were somehow different - deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know. - C.S. Lewis

Here are the readings for today prescribed by the Northumbria lectionary:

Psalm 141:1-2

1 I call upon you, O LORD; come quickly to me;
give ear to my voice when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.

I Kings 17:6-16

6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the wadi. 7But after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9?Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.? 10So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, ?Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.? 11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ?Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.? 12But she said, ?As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.? 13Elijah said to her, ?Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.? 15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

Matthew 10:38-42

38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 40 ?Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet?s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple?truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.?

My habit to is to read each of these passages, pause for a moment and invite the Spirit in. Given these lessons, inviting the Spirit seems wise, no? This is a rule of life, I believe, inviting the Spirit. "Come, Holy Spirit! Veni Sancte Spiritus!" It can be that. There is s knock on the door and we can open it or not.

Come Holy Spirit
From heaven shine forth
With your glorious light
Veni Sancte Spiritus

Come from the four winds, O Spirit
Come Breath of God
Disperse the shadows over us
Renew and strengthen your people
Veni Sancte Spiritus

Father of the poor
Come to our poverty
Shower amon us the
Seven gifts of your grace
Be the light of lives - O Come
Veni Sancte Spiritus

Kindle in our hearts the fire of your love
That in the darkness of the world
It may row and reach to all forever
Veni Sancte Spiritus

Come in, brother. Come in, sister. Come, Holy Spirit. They are one in the same. The thing about the Trinity that amazes me so is that all of what we think of as parts of Christian life, prophesy, discernment, gentleness, love, fervor, passion, Spirit, Son...all are One and all are in relationship with one another. The prophet is mute without discernment. We are all, as believers, in need of one another to be the Body. Without the other, there is not body. The shunning of another, condesension, strife...all that divides the Body is a tragedy for without one another, in praise before God, recieving communion from the hands of a brother or sister (Do this in remembrance of me), the Body ceases to be and Christ is not proclaimed.

This has been my journey at least. I think that the discipline of hospitality is that important. Opening our doors to the stranger is a salvific act. When Jesus sends out the apostles two-by-two to witness to the messiah, is tells them to offer peace to those they visit. "Peace to this house." they are to proclaim. If that peace is returned, then they may enter. If not then they are to wipe the sand from their feet and move on. This is the disicpline one must have as the stranger. The story from I Kings is the discipline in welcoming the stranger. Perhaps two disciplines...closely joined.

Peace. Peace. We all bring the Spirit with us. Paul shares a kiss of peace with his followers to share the Spirit. Once upon a time, when a new believer was baptised, the bishop would greet them with a kiss. That exchange of breath was the sharing of the Spirit from the bishop to the newly initiated. In our weekly liturgies, in many churches at least, we share a sign of peace...a hug or a kiss...a handshake. This is a reinactment, a rehearsal of the invitation in Matthew and in I Kings...as well as being an actual invitation. We welcome one another in worship, in fellowship, so that we might learn to welcome the stranger. The stranger frightens us. I wonder if the lesson is that we are all strangers...and fear is the enemy.

Peace!

Posted by tripp at January 29, 2005 10:05 AM