Advent Matrix

Good morning. One of the best Christmas seasons I ever enjoyed was fourteen years ago. I had recently completed my psychotherapy degree, and I was working at a small counseling center in Loveland. On the hour-long rides up and back I listened to Christmas music, and Chuck Swindoll, an evangelical radio preacher, was teaching a wonderful series on the life of Mary. It was a special contemplative season, and I was sorry to see it end.

I wish I could tell you that all my Christmas seasons were like that one. But I can’t. Too many times I have arrived in January feeling sad that the season went too fast, and that I did too little to make it a meaningful time.

I’m sure we have all regretted Christmas seasons that got away. Why do we do that? In this most special season, why is it so hard sometimes for Christians to enter into the holy mystery of Christmas? Well, I have a theory about that. I believe the day after Thanksgiving, we are all given a choice. We can swallow the blue pill, or the red pill. Far too often we swallow the blue pill, and next thing you know, Christmas is over, and we missed it.

You all know what I’m talking about, right? I’m talking about the movie “The Matrix.” In this very popular movie that came out several years ago, a young man named Neo comes to believe that something about this world just isn’t right. There is something mysterious he can’t quite figure out. A John the Baptist figure named Morpheus sits Neo down and puts two pills in his hand, a red pill and a blue pill. Morpheus tells Neo that if he takes the blue pill, he will wake up in bed the next day, and he will have no memory of anything being wrong in the world, no memory of any mysteries, no memory even of Morpheus. But, if he takes the red pill, he will begin an exciting and dangerous journey which will show him the truth. The red-pill journey will strip Neo of his illusions, and reveal to him the true nature of the mystery of life.

The day after Thanksgiving we are all given a red pill and a blue pill. If we take the blue pill, we will wake up on January 2nd, and we will not remember anything about Advent, or Christmas, or truth. The Christmas season will simply be a hazy memory of consumer pressures, mall Christmas music, and too many things to do. But, if we take the red pill, we will begin an Advent journey where we will find the truth, where we will be stripped of our illusions, and where we will better understand the deep and holy mysteries of life. If we take the red pill, we will wake up on January 2nd, and we will be different people.

Our readings this morning are a call to a red-pill journey. Our readings show us that Christmas is about miracles, about home, and about hope, but miracles, home, and hope stripped of illusions and misconceptions. Our readings are a call to truth. And to battle. So, join me this morning as we take the red pill, and follow the white rabbit into the Matrix.

The first illusion and misconception we must battle at this time of year is what I call the illusion of the ordinary. This illusion says there is Christmas time, and there is ordinary time. Our culture works hard to cultivate the illusion that there is the holiday season, and there is regular life. In the church we have our own version of this illusion. After Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, what is the rest of the church year called? Traditionally, we call the rest of the year ordinary time. But the idea of ordinary time is an illusion, and our Old Testament reading blows it up.

In Second Samuel chapter seven, the prophet Nathan announces to David that he will be greatly blessed, and that his house and throne will endure forever. From David’s house and line will come the Messiah, who will give Israel a home where they will no longer be disturbed, and where wicked people will not oppress them anymore. One of David’s descendants would be, in the angel’s words to Mary, the Son of the Most High, who will sit on the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

What a miraculous blessing and promise for King David! For me, what is just as miraculous is that David lived long enough to get this promise at all. That is a miracle. David could have been killed by Goliath. Saul tried to kill David for years, and he almost succeeded. David survived dozens and dozens and dozens of battles with surrounding tribes. He was so discouraged that at one point he even fought for the Philistines. But through it all, David survived, he became King, and one of his descendants became the Messiah. All of David’s life was a miracle.

The fact that David’s line survived down to Mary was just as miraculous. After the promise of the Messiah, David had to endure the consequences of his sins of murder and adultery. His own son Absalom waged a civil war against him. The Kings who followed David were, for the most part, not so good. Israel’s fortunes declined, and the kingdom was destroyed and taken to Babylon. Somehow they returned, reorganized, and continued. Israel then survived the invasion of Greek culture, and later occupation by the Romans.

Absolutely miraculously, David’s line survived, until one day and angel appeared to David’s descendant Mary, and announced that she, a virgin, would give birth to the Messiah. Mary said, “how can this be?” The angel said, with God, nothing is impossible. Indeed.

At Christmas, we focus almost exclusively on the miracle of Christ’s virgin birth. We lose sight of the fact that God had been working miraculously in ordinary history for thousands of years to bring about Christ’s birth. The subtle illusion and misconception is that when the angel tells Mary that nothing is impossible with God, we think he is talking to Mary only about the virgin birth. In reality, the angel is talking about all of life.

The truth of Christmas is that there is no ordinary life. In exactly the same way that God miraculously worked in history to bring about the birth of Christ from the line of David, so too He has worked in “ordinary” history, from the beginning of time, to bring forth each and every one of us. Christ’s miraculous birth is the confirmation that all of us are God’s miraculous handiwork.

If you are like me, there are many times when I don’t feel particularly special. I look at all the billions of people in the world, or at the trillions of galaxies in the universe, and it seems likely that I am not very important. How could I be? Certainly, my joys and sorrows, my successes and defeats, are not at the center of anyone’s reality but my own. But the glorious truth of Christmas is that, in a very special way, I am at the center of reality. And so are you. If Christmas confirms that God worked through history to preserve the line of David, then Christmas certainly confirms that God has worked through history to miraculously create, love, and preserve each and every one of us. The angel tells us, with God, nothing is impossible.

All of life is miraculous, not just the big events. If we believe there is a difference between the special and the ordinary, then we have taken the blue pill. There is no ordinary life.

The second illusion and misconception we must battle at this time of year is what I call the illusion of activity. Our culture works hard, especially at this time of year, to make us think that we must do, do, do, and if we do, then we will be happy. Activity results in happiness. As Christians we have a similar version of this illusion. We believe we must do something for God, before He will do something for us. Good works result in God’s blessing. This sounds logical. And many Christians have taught through the years that before God can work in our lives, we must first do something for God. But David’s story in Second Samuel tells us that this kind of thinking just isn’t right.

After the death of Saul, David succeeded in uniting the tribes of Israel under his kingship. He made Jerusalem the capital, and he brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. But David wanted more. He said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” David wanted to build a glorious temple for the ark. But God had other ideas.

God says to David, “you want to build me a home? Well, let me tell you about the home I am going to build for you.” And then God proceeds to tell David that his son will build a temple, and that through David’s line the Messiah will come. God promises to make his home with David, David’s son Solomon, and David’s entire lineage, down to Mary. That comes first. Once God makes His home with us, then we can make a home for God.

At this time of year, the picture I have in my mind for God making His home with us is a great symbol of the faith. No, not the credit card, and no, not even the manger. The picture I have in my mind is a picture of a giant funnel. At the very top, at the open end, God decides to make His home in humanity. Then, moving down the funnel, God chooses one nation out of all nations in which to make his home. Israel. Then, further down the funnel, God selects one tribe of Israel, the tribe of Judah, which will be His home. Moving down the funnel, God then tells David that out of this one tribe, one family line, David’s, will be home to the Messiah. And then moving down the funnel to the very bottom, the angel tells Mary, your womb has been chosen to be the home of the Messiah, the Son of David. The entire Bible is a story about God making his home with us.

Christmas is the confirmation not only that there is no ordinary life, but also that there are no ordinary people. Each of us is the home of God. In exactly the same way that God funnelled all of life down to Mary, so too God funnels all of life down to each of us. The funnel that culminated in Mary united her humanity to Christ, the second person of the trinity. The funnel that stops in each of us unites our humanity to the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. We are the dwelling place of God. The good news of Christmas is that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us.

Sometimes, however, we don’t get this home stuff right. We labor under the illusion and misconception that there is something we must do before God will make His home with us. We must pray first. We must repent first. We must do our Advent devotional first. We must get our holiday shopping done first. Then, when we are ready, God will come to us.

Sometimes it feels like the church fosters this illusion. We hear a lot about the need to attend services, partake of the sacraments, pledge our money, and give our time. We might think that we need to do these things first, so that God will be happy with us, and make His home with us.

Wrong. God making his home with us is always the first movement in the dance. Always. Before we were born, God is making his home with us. Before we ever went to church, God is making his home with us. Before we committed ourselves to following Christ, God is making his home with us. Before we begin the search process for a new priest, God is making his home with us. God making his home with us is always the beginning. The second step in the dance is what we do in response. If we believe that we must do something for God before He will do something for us, then we have taken the blue pill. God is always saying to us, just as he said to David, “you want to build me a home? Well, let me show you the home I am going to build for you.”

The third illusion and misconception we must battle this time of year is what I call the illusion of hopelessness. Our culture says, eat, drink, and be festive, because the rest of life is pretty meaningless and hopeless. Our Christian version of this illusion is the belief that Advent and Christmas are beautiful Christian oasis surrounded by the rest of the year, and the rest of the world, which are bleak and hopeless. Certainly, the rest of the year, and the rest of the world, appear to be dark places. Natural disasters kill hundreds of thousands. Human beings kill hundreds of thousands. Terrorists never seem to disappear. Relations between countries never seem to improve. The world does not seem to be getting any better. It seems to be getting worse.

And when we look at our own lives, our lack of spiritual development can be pretty discouraging. I turned forty eight yesterday, and I was thinking, “Jimbo, you are still dealing with some stuff you were dealing with twenty years ago.” Maybe I’m not getting any better either.

But this is an illusion. The apostle Paul tells us that things are getting better. God is building something special in the world. In Romans Paul tells us that there is a great mystery, hidden in ages past, but now made known and revealed through the prophetic writings. And this great mystery is that the funnel doesn’t stop with Mary and Jesus. It is with Mary and Jesus that another kind of funnel actually begins.

Imagine again that the funnel of God making His home with us is completed with Mary and Jesus. Now imagine that another funnel begins with Mary and Jesus, slowly getting broader and broader, spreading throughout the entire world. This funnel slowly spreads from Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This funnel is a community, the new Israel, the literal children of God, where God now makes His home. This new community understands that that there is no ordinary life, and that there are no ordinary people. This is a new people who have God living in their hearts. This people is the church.

The church is the mystery hidden for ages past, but now revealed in Christ. Though too many times it appears that our world is going to hell, the church shows us that there is a heavenly drama being played out, if we can just see it, where this world is getting better and better.

That drama, hidden in ages past but now revealed to everyone, centers on Jesus and Mary. From before the foundations of the world the Father chose humanity, and within humanity He chose one people, and from that people He chose one tribe, and from that tribe he selected one family, and from that family one person, Mary, gave birth to the Messiah. Mary and Jesus are the centerpiece of the drama. The funnel came down to Mary and Jesus.

But now, the funnel flows from Mary and Jesus. As the funnel gets wider and wider, God calls every tribe, and every race, and every people and every person to become a part of His body, the church. The funnel will keep getting wider and wider, until Christ returns. That is the true story of Christmas. That is the mystery of the church. Our world is not a hopeless place. Christ’s body, the church is spreading through time and all over the world. That is good news.

And the Holy Spirit who is spreading the church in hope is the same Spirit who is working in our hearts, changing us into Christ’s image from one degree of glory to another, even if we are dealing with the same stuff we dealt with twenty years ago. We are all becoming more Christ-like, and that is good and hopeful news.

And that is why we return, every December, to the image of a mother giving birth to a child. As only the Eastern Orthodox can phrase it, so poetically, Mary, the centerpiece of both funnels, is both the mother of God, and, the mother of the church. On that most holy night, Mary gave birth to the Savior, and she gave birth to all those who would be saved. You and me. It is a great, and beautiful, mystery. If we can’t see it, at least a little bit, then we may have taken the blue pill, because this mystery of hope is what Christmas and everything else is all about.

In the movie The Matrix, when given the choice, Neo takes the red pill. His journey to comprehend the truth is a difficult one, and it takes him a while before he can distinguish truth from illusion. But, at the end of the movie it all comes together for Neo, and he sees reality, both truth and illusion, as it really is.

In this Christmas season, when truth and illusion get more mixed up than usual, may we all resist blue pill temptations to fall asleep, and may we have the courage to take the red pill and see God’s reality. And may we all feel the Christmas joy of knowing that we are extra-ordinary people, living an extra-ordinary life, in a world filled with extra-ordinary hope.

Amen

I am Protecting You

I am taking away your civil liberties because I am protecting you.

Okay.

I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi.

What is the Supreme Chancellor up to?

Coyote Think

Coyote, do you believe in intuition?

No he says, but I have a strange feeling someday I will.

Like He Said

I don't agree with everything Charles Krauthammer says, but I love the way he writes. This gem says in a paragraph what I have believed for years.

"How ridiculous to make evolution the enemy of God. What could be more elegant, more simple, more brilliant, more economical, more creative, indeed more divine than a planet with millions of life forms, distinct and yet interactive, all ultimately derived from accumulated variations in a single double-stranded molecule, pliable and fecund enough to givew us mollusks and mice, Newton and Einstein? Even if it did give us the Kansas State Board of Education too."

Or if it gave us Pat Robertson. Nothing is perfect.

A Field Of Dreams

Good Morning. Over the course of my life there are three movies I have had a very emotional response to, and no, none of these three is a Star Wars movie! The first movie that really moved me was Born Free. This movie tells the story of a lioness, Elsa, who was born in captivity in Africa, and who must be returned to nature. Her return to the wild is incredibly difficult, but ultimately successful. I still cry every time I think of her heart-rending journey. The second movie that tugged at my heart was Forrest Gump. Forrest, a simple man with a giant heart, loves Jenny his whole life, after many years he finally gets to marry her, and then she dies. It gets me right here every time I see it, and that is all I have to say about that.

The third movie that really got to me was A Field Of Dreams. Ray Cansella, played by Kevin Costner, hears a voice telling him to plow up his Iowa corn field and build a baseball diamond. He builds it, and then baseball players from the past start showing up and playing on Ray’s baseball field. At the end of the movie Ray’s dad, who is long dead, appears, and Ray gets to play catch with him for the first time since he was a kid. Oh man! I remember seeing this movie with Andrea before we were married. Afterwards, I took Andrea home, went back to my apartment, and then bawled my eyes out for an hour. The strongest response I have ever had to a movie was to A Field Of Dreams.

Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, and my soul always responds to this Feast Day in a very deep way. And, I often think of the movie Field Of Dreams when I think of All Saints. This morning I want to use Field Of Dreams as a guide to understanding both our scripture readings and the Feast of All Saints. Both the movie and the Feast remind us that when we keep dreaming, and obey the Voice, we will find heaven.

So here is how Field Of Dreams starts. Ray Cansella is out in his cornfield, and he hears a Voice saying, “If you build it, he will come.” He knows the Voice is telling him to build a baseball field right in the middle of his corn. And so, he obeys the Voice and builds a baseball field. Eventually one baseball player, long dead, Shoeless Joe Jackson, shows up to play baseball. And then, more and more players, the heroes of the game, all dead, start showing up to play. In one scene Ray tells his daughter about all the players in his corn field, what they were famous for, and what great ball players they were.

Ray Cansella was having an incredible All Saints experience. He was living in presence of the saints of baseball, he was reliving their experiences and praising their accomplishments, and, he got to actually play ball with his heroes. For a baseball fan, could this be heaven? Our Old Testament reading this morning encourages us to do exactly what Ray Cansella did. We are to sing the praises of our famous ancestors. We are encouraged to remember the prophets, rulers, musicians and other great people of our sacred past, who were godly and righteous followers of our Lord.

The author of Hebrews in the New Testament encourages us to do exactly the same thing. In Hebrews eleven, verse two, the author says “This is what the ancients were commended for,” and he then goes on to list, for an entire chapter, saint after saint who, by faith, followed God.

Why is it important to remember the saints, celebrate their lives, and praise their accomplishments? The main reason is this: within our remembrance, our celebration, and our praise, the saints are alive. When a baseball fan praises and celebrates dead players, it feels like those players are alive. But when we celebrate, remember, and praise the saints, we acknowledge that they actually are alive in Christ. The Feast of All Saints has nothing to do with the dead. The Feast of All Saints is a giant party when all living saints, whether in heaven or on earth, join together in worshiping God. Is this heaven?

So Ray Cansella plows up his corn, builds a baseball field, and baseball saints from the past start showing up. So far so good. But all is not good for Ray. He is running short of money, money from his corn crop that is now buried under a baseball field. How is Ray going to pay his bills? Just about then Ray hears the Voice again: Go the distance. Go the distance. What does that mean? The Voice is telling Ray that even though the journey is difficult, don’t give up. Go the distance.

On the Feast of All Saints, the saints are telling every one of us, go the distance. We finished the race, and so will you. After the long list of saints in Hebrews eleven, the author says: therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses (the saints), let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. When the going gets tough, we can go the distance, because the saints are cheering us on every step of the way. Switching sports metaphors for just a second, the image in Hebrews is running a race like the Bolder Boulder. When you run this 10-K you get very tired near the end, but as you hit the home stretch there are people lining both sides of the road, cheering you on, and many of those people are runners who have already finished the race, and who have come back to encourage those still running. That encouragement is like extra energy that carries you through the last mile. You know that if they went the distance, you can too.

In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and our companion on the journey, encourages all of us to persevere to the end. Blessed are you when you are poor in spirit. Go the distance, for your reward will be the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when you are sad and mourn. Go the distance, for you will be comforted. Blessed are you when you are meek. Go the distance, and you will inherit the earth. When the injustices of this world crush your soul, blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for righteousness. Go the distance, for you will be filled. Blessed are you when you show mercy to others. Go the distance, and mercy will be shown to you. Blessed are you when you heart is pure. Go the distance, for you will see God.

In this world of violence and destruction, blessed are you when you make peace. Go the distance, for you will be called children of God. Blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake. Go the distance, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil things against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, go the distance, because great is your reward in heaven.

The Feast of All Saints says with the saints cheering us on, and with Jesus at our side, we are going to make it. We will go the distance. Could this be heaven?

Now we come to the real turning point in the movie Field of Dreams. Ray is hearing voices again. This time the Voice says, “Ease His Pain.” What on earth could that mean? In the movie this means several things. First, Ray is supposed to go to Boston, find Terence Mann, and ease his pain. Terence Mann, played by James Earl Jones, is a sixties icon who is burned out. He used to dream dreams. He used to hear the Voice. But now he just wants to be left alone. Ray is to ease his pain by showing him his baseball field.

Second, at the end of the movie, Ray’s dad appears on the baseball field, and Ray realizes that he is supposed to ease his father’s pain. Like Terence Mann, Ray’s father had become burned out. Years of hard work and taking care of a family had worn him down. He wasn’t dreaming or hearing voices anymore either.

And Ray, with his baseball diamond in a field of corn, was on the verge of losing his dream too. Ray was about to lose his faith. He had obeyed the Voice, and seen long dead heroes of baseball show up on his field. But there was one big problem. The bank was about to foreclose on his farm. He was following his dream, and obeying the Voice, but he didn’t have the resources to make it work anymore. He was bankrupt. He could either stand by his dream and go under, or sell the farm and lose the dream. What would he do?

I think we at Christ The King know what Ray Cansella was going through. There has been a lot of change around here recently, and many of us are wondering, to greater and lesser degrees, where will we find the resources, both individually and corporately, to do what we have to do? How will we ease our pain?

Lets be honest. Sometimes, belonging to a church community is the pits. There is no other way to say it. Losing both our rector and assistant priest within one week is the pits. Even if it is God’s will, its still the pits. And it leaves us asking, who are we now? And, where will we find the resources to to what we have to do?

I have talked to many of you, and I know some of us are feeling sad, and angry, a bit panicky, and even orphaned. I understand these feelings because I have felt exactly the same things. And we are all wondering, how long will the search process take? How long will Christ the King be in this uncertain place? Where do we find the resources to deal with our uncomfortable feelings? Where do we find the financial resources to get us through this transition?

These are important, and sacred, questions. Though I can’t provide many answers, I can, I think, provide us with a direction. When we feel anxious about where we are going to find the resources to deal with all the feelings and issues we have to deal with, I say we must turn to the one and only place that has all the resources we need. And that place is, baseball.

When Ray Cansella had to decide whether to sell his farm or stick with his dream, Terrence Mann told him this:

“People will come, Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. Its been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past Ray. It reminds us of all that was once good, and could be again. Oh, people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.”

Isn’t that wonderful? Though America is like a blackboard that has been erased, rebuilt, and then erased again, baseball is a like a constant, never changing river that flows down through the generations. And when people connect to that transcendent, never changing river of baseball in Ray’s cornfield, they will find all the resources they need, and give the resources they have. Ray is not bankrupt. His field will pay for itself.

It is exactly the same for us. For us, the never changing river that flows down through the generations is the liturgy and the Eucharist. It is the one constant that marks the time. And though life sometimes steamrolls right over us, and though sometimes at church it feels like we build something, it is erased, and then we have to build it all over again, the liturgy and the Eucharist always continue. We are not empty. In the liturgy and the Eucharist we find all the resources we need. And having deeply connected with the liturgy and the Eucharist, we will give the resources we have. Priests will come and go. We have come. And someday, we will go. But the bread and wine becoming the body and blood of Christ continues forever.

At the end of Field of Dreams, Ray’s father asks, looking out over the baseball field, “is this heaven?” Ray says no, it’s Iowa. Then he looks around and says, maybe this is heaven. And then he asks his dad, “is there a heaven?” And his dad says, “oh yeah. Heaven is the place where dreams come true.” We all long for heaven. Our deepest yearning is for permanence, for joy, and for home. Many times this world seems far away from heaven, so we all hope that, someday, in the future, we will find our home with God.

But if you were to ask me, is there a heaven?, I would say, Oh yeah, it’s right here. The Eucharist is our field of dreams. The Eucharist is our heaven. If heaven is being in the presence of God, and worshiping Him with all the saints, then we are, right now, in heaven.

Every Eucharist, all the heroes of the faith join us in worshiping God. That is heaven! Listen to these words from Eucharist prayer C: “Therefore we praise you, joining with the heavenly chorus, with prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and with all those in every generation who have looked to you in hope, to proclaim with them your glory....Heaven doesn’t begin when we die. Heaven is right here. Right now. The Feast of All Saints is a yearly reminder that every Eucharist is All Saints. Every Eucharist is heaven. Every Eucharist we come home. When we anchor ourselves in the Eucharist, we anchor ourselves in All Saints.

So, in the spirit of All Saints, how do we navigate our pastoral transition? I suggest that we devote ourselves more than ever before to meditating on the mystery of the liturgy and the Eucharist, to prayerfully partaking of the Eucharist, and to seeing the whole world Eucharistically. In this time when church life is somewhat up in the air, we must be grounded by immersing ourselves in the timeless and changeless liturgical river that flows through the generations. In other words, we must fully explore the mystery of All Saints.

If you build it, he will come. As Christ is truly present in the bread and wine, so too he is truly present in His body, the church. Christ is eucharistically present in His people just as He is eucharistically present in the bread and wine. Therefore, we must continue to build and nourish the church, for in so doing we participate in the mystery of the Eucharist. We must continue our ministries, we must fulfill our mission statement, we must keep up our tithing, and we must reach out to the suffering and the lost. These are not just activities we do. These are participations in the mystery of the Eucharist.

Go the distance. In normal times life can sometimes be rocky. In a period of transition, rocky times are magnified. Issues that were small three months ago may feel much bigger now. That is why we must all hang in there and go the distance. Together. Perseverance through time is the preeminent characteristic of all the heroes of the faith. As we eucharistically worship with all the saints, we can learn from, and even lean on, their lives of perseverance.

Ease his pain. Some parts of our transition will be very exciting. Nevertheless, this is a painful time for all of us. And it is okay to talk about our pain. This is a wonderful time to listen to our brothers and sisters, and bear each others burdens. One of the great mysteries of the Eucharist is that Christ, in His sufferings, has healed the entire world. As we allow His healing to flow through us to others, we not only participate in the Eucharist, but we also represent Christ eucharistically to others.

Last week I read a small story about Lani McCool, the wife of Willie McCool, who was the pilot of the Space Shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated over Texas a few years ago. The story was about how Lani had tried to put her life back together after losing her husband in the shuttle tragedy. One line in the story really struck me. It said that Lani tried to go to church, but every time she got close, she started crying, “because the Eucharist is as close as we get to someone who’s dead”, and that reminded her of the times she and Willie attended church together.

What a wonderful statement about what All Saints is all about. May we all know what All Saints is all about that deeply and that instinctively, and may that participation in the Eucharist and the communion of saints bind us all together as we move through Christ The King’s pastoral transition.

Amen

Mysterious Coyote

Greetings
Dear Coyote.
You seem awfully quiet.
If I didn't know better,
I'd think you were sad.

You've been gone for so long,
And now, there you sit,
With your back to me.
What are you looking at?

You have something in your mouth.
Is it me?

Interesting Christian Music

Check out Sufjan Stevens at:

http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl?tmplt_type=spec&tmplt_name=find_results&p
ast_shows=all&radiodate=button_fixed&any_text=sufjan%7Cstevens&sort_order=AirDat
e&order_type=ReverseOrder&show_code=mb

A remarkable musician.

Could It Be Me?

Here's a fun quiz: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=43870

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan.

You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
89%
Emergent/Postmodern
79%
Roman Catholic
71%
Neo orthodox
68%
Charismatic/Pentecostal
57%
Classical Liberal
46%
Fundamentalist
39%
Reformed Evangelical
29%
Modern Liberal
21%

What Might have Been

If you like Civil War stuff, be sure to read "Gettysburg", "Grant Comes East", and "Never Call Retreat" by, of all people, Newt Gingrich. Good stuff. It all begins with Lee winning the battle of Gettysburg, and concludes with the end of the Civil War in the fall of 1863 instead of 1865. These books really get you to thinking about what might have been.

Fate, Destiny, and Dancing With The Garth

Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared beneath the stars above
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known you'd ever say goodbye

And now, I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end, the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance, I could have missed the pain,
But I'd of had to miss the dance

Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I the king,
But if I'd only known how the king would fall,
Hey who's to say, you know I might have changed it all

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end, the way it all would go,
Our lives are better left to chance, I could have missed the pain,
But I'd of had to miss the dance

Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain, but I'd of had to miss the dance

A Theology Of Nature

What if we made one simple change in the way we think about nature. What if we viewed nature as a subject, and not an object. I am not sure, but I think that one small change would completely reshape the way we approach the earth, science, other species, and one another.

Upchuck

Maybe I am missing something.

Deep Throat is finally revealed, and Chuck Colson comes out and says he was a bum for going to the press instead of to his superiors at the F.B.I. This seems to me to be total bullcrap on Colson's part. Now I want to say that I have a great deal of respect for Colson. He is a good man, he loves God, and he knows more than most people about what true repentance is. I am a true admirer of Chuck Colson.

But on what basis at all does Colson chastize Felt? Has Colson forgotten how corrupt everyone was back then? Has Colson forgotten how corrupt he was back then? Felt would have been destroyed had he gone to his boss, or to the White House. The whole Watergate mess was a sewer of corruption, and sometimes the best thing to do is avoid the sewer and go somewhere else. Felt sought to clean the sewer the best way he knew how, which was to give information to the press, which at least was less corrupt than everyone else in Washington.

Felt and Woodward and Bernstein are heroes. Heroes. And on this subject, Chuck, just shut up.

For Saint Ephrem

Saint of uncontainable joy,
You loved, and gently tip-touched,
The sacred mysteries of God.

You became one with silence
At the edge of sacred time,
And understood that all times
Are contained in every time,
That sometimes only the smallest can hold heaven,
And that eternity can often be found
In a grain of sand.

Delighting in the Bridegroom,
I see you dancing, forever,
On the perimeters of paradox.

Gargoyle

Soaring cathedral spirit high,
Surrounded by little monsters shy
In such a sacred, holy place,
Your presence seems so out of place.

And yet, somehow, you fit,
The veil between our worlds is slit,
And in stained-glass holy light
You speak of bonfires, and pagans, and
Ghost filled night.

Ferocious ancient gods of night,
Made small because of Christian light
Now smile
Adorning edge of sacred place,
'Round priest, and prayer, and saintly face.

Now we of scientific mind
Have left such darkened thoughts behind,
And cleansed our churches and hearts,
Of the monsters and demons of the blind.

But ancient gods not given place,
Return full-size with angry face,
And we bow down,
In war, and treachery, and sex,
Not remembering.

So let's bring back the little creatures
And let them be our constant teachers,
Reminding us
That though our spirits soar towards light,
Our earth-souls still belong to night.

Moab Coyote 2001

Oh my coyote,
They say you bring
Wisdom.
But I have watched you,
And I know you bring not wisdom,
But hell.
Just when heaven is within reach
You make sure its opposite
Is there to sting.
Like the desert.
The sting of hell
That no explanation
No consciousness
And no preparation
Can ever take away.

Oh my coyote,
When you destroy me
With your hell,
Please try to leave
A little something
Standing.

Fate, Destiny, and Character

Oedipus tried to avoid his fate. He tried to flee the fateful oracle that said he would kill his father and marry his mother. But Oedipus learned the hard way what all good Greeks knew, that you can't avoid your fate. For Oedipus, this was the beginning of wisdom.

Anakin Skywalker sold his soul in order to change fate. He gave in to the diabolical lie that if you sell your soul to the devil, you can get want you want in return=avoid fate. Anakin's journey is more like that of Faust than Oedipus. Anakin learned in the end that by selling your soul you don't get what you want. Instead, you destroy what you love.

Luke Skywalker tried neither to avoid his fate, nor to change his fate. He simply purposed to love his father and redeem him, or die in the attempt. Darth Vader tempted him to accept his destiny of following the dark side as his father had, but Luke would have none of it. He was not obsessed with his fate. Thus he fulfilled his destiny.

It seems to me that the difference, for all of us, between fate and destiny is character. We have all been endowed with genetic, family, and life factors that certainly seem like an oracle locking us into a predetermined path. If we try to avoid that oracle, we will fulfill it. If we sell our souls to avoid that oracle, we will destroy ourselves and those we love. But if we accept the cards that life has dealt us, and purpose in our souls to do the very best we can with who we are, then we move from fate to destiny. Fate looks backwards towards an oracle, or a dream, or a bad life situation. Destiny always looks forward. The difference between fate, and destiny, is character.

A Disturbance In The Force

Darth Vegas, my Sith friend, has seen Revenge Of The Sith twice. On consecutive days. The first two days. This is most unusual. A great disturbance in the Force there is. Twisted by the dark side she has become. Pouring money into Skywalker Ranch she will continue to do, as she searches the galaxy for Darth Tater. I don't know what has happened to her. She was my chosen one.

Simply The Best

I have seen Revenge Of The Sith twice. At this point I am thinking that, all things considered, Revenge Of The Sith may be the best of all the Star Wars movies. The first one was the most fun, and The Empire Strikes Back was the best made, and introduced us to the deeper mythological themes teeming in Lucas' mind. But for breadth of scope, emotional texture, action, mythology, and tragedy, Revenge Of The Sith is the magnum opus. It is the crescendo that all the movies either point toward, or look back to. And to end the Star Wars saga with the crescendo is great form. How often do you get that?

Homerun

All things considered, Revenge Of The Sith was a homerun. I had tears in my eyes at the end. This movie needed to have the most emotional impact of all, and it certainly did. What Anakin feared the most, in the end, he brought about. A true tragedy. Bravo!

Coyote Haiku

Crazy Coyote
Standing in line for Star Wars
Without your iPod

Sith Happens

Is anything better than the anticipation?

I hope Lucas hits a home run with Revenge of the Sith. But it seems to me that in many ways right now is the very best time for Star Wars fans. The anticipation is just wonderful. I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas. I will be at the 12:01 show with my two sons, and then at the 7:45 show that night with my wife, two nephews, and other family members. What a great ride it has been!

Yesterday a friend of mine showed me a movie poster he bought several years ago for two-hundred dollars. On the bottom it says Revenge Of The Jedi. Totally awesome. One of the holy grails. I think there are only a few hundred of these in existence. His talking Yoda is cool too!

The Jedi have a lot of problems. I think this movie will show that, for whatever reasons, the Jedi missed a lot of obvious stuff, and that knowing the Force does not necessarily bring wisdom. Sith happens.

And speaking of Sith, and knowing that Lucas is writing, somewhat at least, from a Joseph Campbell worldview, I think there is a lesson here that has universal psychological reality. What we deny and repress always comes back with a vengence. As a therapist I see it every single day in my practice, and I see it in my life and the lives of my friends. God has arranged the world so that our darkness never stays hidden for very long. No matter what our darkness is, whether it is an addiction, an attitude, a character quality, or something we have done, if we try to push it away, it always, always, always comes back. 100 percent guaranteed. Knowing this is the beginning of wisdom. We must acknowledge our darkness, we must embrace our darkness, and we must expose our darkness to God and to others. This is the ONLY path to healing. This is the only path that will bring balance to the Force.

So, the saga concludes. What great fun. I have grown up on these stories. I am sorry to see them end.

Stupid Coyote

Stupid Coyote

Every morning you wake up
And see your tail
As if for the first time.

Then you chase it
Over and over again.
Round and round you go.

Nobody should have that much fun.