A Safe and Sacred Community - Series Overview for June

Anchor: A Safe and Sacred Community (I’m still search for a good image or symbol) Keys? for unlicking and keeping things safe

Frames: Creating Community

                Fasting/Feasting

                Vulnerability

                Marking Time

                Pilgrimage

Thread: Song “Welcome”?

Welcome (Let’s Walk Together)

Laurie Zelman/Mark A. Miller

Verse 1

Let’s walk together for a while and ask where we begin

To build a world where love can grow and hope can enter in,

To be the hands of healing and to plant the seeds of peace,

Chorus 1

Singing welcome, welcome to this place.

You’re invited to come and know God’s grace.

All are welcome the love of God to share

‘cause all of us are welcome here;

all are welcome in this place.

Verse 2

Let’s talk together of a time when we will share a feast,

Where pride and power kneel to serve the lonely and the least,

And joy will set the table as we join our hands to pray,

Chorus 2

Singing welcome,…

Verse 3

Let’s dream together of the day when earth and heaven are one,

A city built of love and light, the new Jerusalem,

Where our mourning turns to dancing, ev’ry creature lifts its voice!

Chorus 3

Crying welcome!...

A Safe and Sacred Community

                The heart of the Urban Abbey is a safe and sacred community. Safe in all its facets: physically safe, safe from abuse, safe from judgment, safe to grow and explore and experiment. Sacred is both simple and impossible. Sacred community allows us to experience the Holy, the Mystery, directly and immediately, even in the most mundane and/or profane of moments. This series will explore the nexus of safe and sacred.

                There are a number of practices that are being rediscovered as valuable in both the safe and sacred aspects of developing community. Some of these spiritual practices help attune our physical beings to the presence of the Mystery, others help us to mark our time and place with intervals of intention. Fasting/feasting celebrates our physicality and focus on both our need for food and the great joy of being fed. Prayer (especially the kind of prayer that calls us to stop during the day, formally called the daily Office) and Sabbath taking offer a way of regulating our time and orienting toward more than ourselves. Finally, pilgrim invites us to get out of our comfort zones, to travel to sacred space and be changed by the journey. Whether or not we physically travel to Jerusalem or Iona, or make a virtual journey, pilgrimage takes us to holy ground.

                How do we create a safe community? Do we agree on the meaning of safe? How do we create a sacred community? How do we know when we have touched the sacred?

June 2 – Creating a Community

Luke 6:12-16

Common English Bible (CEB)

During that time, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night long. At daybreak, he called together his disciples. He chose twelve of them whom he called apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter; his brother Andrew; James; John; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus; Simon, who was called a zealot; Judas the son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

                As soon as Jesus’ ministry begins, people start to gather around him. But at this particular point, Jesus names a group of 12 apostles. Most often we see this as the great Teacher choosing the dozen with the most potential to begin an intensive course of discipling.  I think something else is going on. Certainly there was teaching and instruction to come. But I believe that Jesus took the step to form a community, a community bent on God’s kin-dom. It was a community because Jesus needed people, too. It was not just that Jesus was laying the foundation to start the Church (I don’t think he was). It wasn’t simply a Master-pupil relationship. It was a community. Jesus needed people to be with, to confide in, to be a part of.

                I have a sense that in this isolated, threatening world it is community that people are hungry for. We know we are hungry, but we don’t know how to solve the problem. We live in a society that excels in quick fixes, disposables, and fast food. None of that allows the time, the safety, the permission to develop deep relationships. The community that Jesus created, and the community that Christ offers to us, is highly counter-cultural in our society’s context.

                How will we support and invite each other to be a part of a deep and transformative community?

               

June 9 – Fasting/Feasting

Mark 6:32-43

They departed in a boat by themselves for a deserted place. Many people saw them leaving and recognized them, so they ran ahead from all the cities and arrived before them. When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things. Late in the day, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it’s already late in the day. Send them away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something to eat for themselves.” He replied, “You give them something to eat.” But they said to him, “Should we go off and buy bread worth almost eight months’ pay and give it to them to eat?” He said to them, “How much bread do you have? Take a look.” After checking, they said, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.” He directed the disciples to seat all the people in groups as though they were having a banquet on the green grass. They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke the loaves into pieces, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. Everyone ate until they were full. They filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish.

                I know this story focuses on feasting side of the equation and that few of us give much truck to the fasting part. But both parts remind us that our Christianity is an intensely incarnational expression.  That means that the beginning point of spirituality is our bodies. Fasting reminds us that we are never truly self-sufficient. Fasting cleans us out and opens in us the possibility, the room for something else and most often those who practice fasting find that room is opened up for God or the Holy or the Mystery.

                Feasting helps us celebrate our bodiliness as well. Food satisfies us and gives us pleasure. In the context of Jesus’ day and society, sharing food together was an act akin to making the diners family.  It was an act of love and community. But we also live in times hallmarked by obesity, fat-food, and heart disease. We have taken feasting to its dark extreme.

                How do we shape a community that celebrates the Divine found in our bodies that is safe to be in despite all our diseases, proclivities, and weaknesses? What kind of fasting might make us more ready for God? What kind of feasting?

June 16 – Vulnerability

John 4:4-29

Jesus had to go through Samaria. He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” His disciples had gone into the city to buy him some food. The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.) Jesus responded, “If you recognized God’s gift and who is saying to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would be asking him and he would give you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket and the well is deep. Where would you get this living water? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave this well to us, and he drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty and will never need to come here to draw water!” Jesus said to her, “Go, get your husband, and come back here. The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.” “You are right to say, ‘I don’t have a husband,’” Jesus answered. “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are with now isn’t your husband. You’ve spoken the truth.” The woman said, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you and your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship him this way. God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.” The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called the Christ. When he comes, he will teach everything to us.”

Jesus said to her, “I Am—the one who speaks with you.” Just then, Jesus’ disciples arrived and were shocked that he was talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” The woman put down her water jar and went into the city. She said to the  people, “Come and see a man who has told me everything I’ve done! Could this man be the Christ?”

One of the characteristics of deep community is a great respect for and honoring of vulnerability. When one has the bravery to expose their true and deepest self, that vulnerability is rewarded with a welcome and cherishing of the gift. Too much of our culture is characterized by parry and riposte. We learn early to hide who we really are and bury the questions we long to ask. Real community, a community graced by Christ, creates an environment that allows us to practice exposing our true selves, and to learn to trust that this exposure will not be the cause of injury or peril. The Kin-dom of God treasures who we really are.

                When Jesus had this unusual conversation with the Samaritan woman, there were multiple reasons why she should never have made herself vulnerable to him: they were from cultures that did not associate, they were unrelated female and male, they worshipped God differently, and the subtext of the story seems to indicate that she was a woman with a problematic past. Nonetheless, somehow Jesus created an atmosphere that allowed the two of them to connect on a very real and transformative level. Jesus did not judge, but accepted her true self.

                In a very compelling TED talk, Brene Brown talks about the power of and the essential necessity for vulnerability: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o. How do we transform ourselves from a social club with spiritual trappings to a place that honors and cultivates true vulnerability> How do we make ourselves  a deeply safe and sacred community?

June 23 – Marking Time

Exodus 34:29-35

Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two covenant tablets in his hand, Moses didn’t realize that the skin of his face shone brightly because he had been talking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw the skin of Moses’ face shining brightly, they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called them closer. So Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and Moses spoke with them. After that, all the Israelites came near as well, and Moses commanded them everything that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever Moses went into the Lord’s presence to speak with him, Moses would take the veil off until he came out again. When Moses came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses’ face was shining brightly. So Moses would put the veil on his face again until the next time he went in to speak with the Lord.

                Spending time in the presence of the Mystery changes and transforms us. No, I don’t think that any of us will ever glow in the dark. But as a metaphor, I have known those people who have seemed almost to glow with holiness as they have spent regular time in prayer and meditation. Not a physical light, but a glow of love, wisdom, or compassion. A safe and sacred community makes time to spend in prayer, reflection, and meditation. It makes time for the Mystery.

                The Daily Office is an ancient practice where every three hours the practitioner stops whatever they are doing and directs their thoughts and hearts toward the Holy. It is a way of marking the hours of the day and being sure to spend time with God. An ancient practice it may be, but there are even smartphone apps for the Daily Office now! What are significant ways that we might include God in our daily lives?

                Another important time demarcation is the practice of Sabbath-keeping. This practice is memorialized in the first Creation story in Genesis when it is said that God rested on the seventh day. That established the practice of taking one day in seven as a day of rest and reverence. Sabbath-keeping is a way of remembering to whom the world belongs. It is healthy to rest and connect. How will a safe and sacred community take time for the practice of Sabbath?

June 30 – Journey toward Mystery (Pilgrimage)

Genesis 28:10-22

Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran. He reached a certain place and spent the night there. When the sun had set, he took one of the stones at that place and put it near his head. Then he lay down there. He dreamed and saw a raised staircase, its foundation on earth and its top touching the sky, and God’s messengers were ascending and descending on it. Suddenly the Lord was standing on it and saying, “I am YWHW, the God of your ancestors Abraham and Sarah;  and the God of Isaac and Rebekah. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth; you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. Every family of earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants. I am with you now, I will protect you everywhere you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised you.” When Jacob woke from his sleep, he thought to himself, The Lord is definitely in this place, but I didn’t know it. He was terrified and thought, “This sacred place is awesome. It’s none other than God’s house and the entrance to heaven.” After Jacob got up early in the morning, he took the stone that he had put near his head, set it up as a sacred pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. He named that sacred place Bethel, though Luz was the city’s original name.

                There is an odd paradox to holy ground. Sometimes we discover that ground is holy when we are found there by God, such as in this story of Jacob. Sometimes we make ground holy by the associations we attach to it: the place where we met our great love, where a child is buried, a church camp where we first discovered ourselves. But however ground gets holy, it holds for us a power of attraction that sets it apart from what we perceive of as ordinary ground. And because it attracts us, we long to go back there, to feel again the powerful presence of the Mystery.

                Pilgrimage is an important part of many spiritual traditions: for Islam it is one of the five pillars of faith, to travel to Mecca; for Christians in the Middle Ages the height of faith was to journey to Jerusalem and today Holy Land tours are still immensely popular. There is something quite spiritual about traveling the geography to sacred land. Some say the practice of praying the labyrinth and the Stations of the Cross became substitute pilgrimages for the faithful who could ot physically make the journey.

                I think the essence of the thing is the willingness to leave behind the known for the promise of the unknown. It is a giving up of control and a surrender to God’s providence. It has certainly been a practice of relying upon the hospitality of strangers all along the way. Pilgrimage allows us to see the world and our place in it differently.

                Jacob was running from and for his life. He stopped in the middle of nowhere because he was exhausted. His dream told him that the middle of nowhere was really the middle of everywhere, that it had a direct link to wherever God really was. When he awoke, Jacob erected a stele from the stone on which he slept and anointed it with oil. The anointing itself was an act of imparting significance to the place and the events that happened there.

                We are constantly on pilgrimage, and we suffer when we image that the hallmark of the spiritual life is arriving and staying at any given place. How might we prepare our community for a living sense of pilgrimage?

Creation Care, week 2: Hope is a seed.

Hope is a seed.

It seems that once again the weeds of the world have sprouted. The violent actions at the Boston Marathon are the blossoms of seeds of violence. And like weeds gone to seed, that violence has spread anger, fear, and suspicion around the world. On the other hand, we have the opportunity to choose what seeds we will scatter in the wake of this event: fear and anger or hope and peace.

Mark 4:1-8
Jesus began to teach beside the lake again. Such a large crowd gathered that he climbed into a boat there on the lake. He sat in the boat while the whole crowd was nearby on the shore. He said many things to them in parables. While teaching them, he said, “Listen to this! A farmer went out to scatter seed.  As he was scattering seed, some fell on the path; and the birds came and ate it. Other seed fell on rocky ground where the soil was shallow. They sprouted immediately because the soil wasn’t deep. When the sun came up, it scorched the plants; and they dried up because they had no roots. Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorny plants grew and choked the seeds, and they produced nothing. Other seed fell into good soil and bore fruit. Upon growing and increasing, the seed produced in one case a yield of thirty to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of one hundred to one.”

I believe that the seeds of our violence toward each other find their root in the compartmentalization of the human and the natural worlds. It is a hierarchy that sees the plants and animals as commodities for our use, and then when we dehumanize others we can see them as items for our use as well. We have the power of life and death over them, and too many times it is easier and more gratifying (seemingly) to choose death. Maybe, just maybe, if we learn to love Creation as equals instead of hierarchically we can begin to build a world where violence is a last resort instead of solution. And maybe planting a seed really can be an act of hope.

Jesus’ parable uses a sower as the protagonist. My guess is that the hearers of this story thought this particular farmer must have been a bit of an idiot. Seed was not an unlimited commodity and I’m sure that even when hand-scattered (the original meaning of “broadcast” by the way) it was done judiciously. But Jesus’ farmer throws the seed willy-nilly all over the place: on the good soil, on the path, in the rocks and thistles and thorns and everywhere. In the ensuing explanation of the parable, Jesus says that the seed is the word. In Luke and Matthew the explanation says, “word of the Kin-dom” or “word of God.” The gist of the parable seems to be that we are not to be concerned with where we scatter the seed, our job is to scatter it like idiots everywhere. Some will eventually find its good soil.

What is asked of us, I believe, is to figure out what kind of seed we are casting about. Diana Butler Bass has coined a phrase for the denigrating, fear-mongering stuff on the 24-hour news casts: disaster porn. I believe Jesus thought that we, as his followers, had better stuff to broadcast. Jesus wanted particular kinds of plants to grow in the Kin-dom: peace, justice (NOT revenge), love, equality, compassion, and more.  In science fiction they speak of terraforming: recreating a hostile planet to be more earthlike. Maybe by planting the seeds of Jesus’ teaching we are doing a different kind of terraforming. We are reclaiming the Creation of love that we were meant to be.

Easter - March 31

Easter 2013

What is there to say about Easter? It’s a celebration of life over death that Christians see in the resurrection of Christ. That celebration is overlaid on top of the Spring and fertility rituals of other cultures, and in fact the name “Easter” itself is not of Christian origin. I smile knowing that the highest Christian holiday is named for the goddess of the dawn, Eostre (of Anglo-Saxon origin) or Ostara. Some rather xenophobic Christians say that this is reason enough to stop celebrating Easter altogether. They can quit if they want to, but I kind of like Easter and its life-affirming position so I think I’ll keep it.

                A few observations about Easter, or the resurrection of Jesus, if you will: it is not depicted in any of the four canonical gospels. All we are shown is the empty tomb. We do not get to see the actual event itself. Beyond that, the 4 gospels begin to diverge in some significant ways: In Mark (the earliest gospel), it is the 3 women who find the empty tomb and hear the announcement that Jesus is risen from a youth, who tells them that Jesus will meet them on the road back to Galilee. In Luke, we now have two people (the Greek noun says men) in bright clothing who tell the women not to look for the living among the dead. In Matthew, the earth quakes when an angel rolls the stone back, causing the guard to faint dead away (Mark mentions neither angels nor guards). Again the message is given that Jesus will meet them back in Galilee.  John (the newest of the 4 gospels) tells us that Mary Magdalene is alone when she encounters the empty tomb, but she runs and gets Peter and the guys who run to the tomb and check it out for themselves.

                What I take from these various attempts to describe what happened is this: none of us ever witnesses resurrection itself. What follows in all four gospels are widely divergent accounts of people experiencing the risen Christ in their lives and in their midst. And, I believe, it is this ongoing experience that has fueled the best of the church ever since. People continue to experience the living Christ’s presence in widely divergent and mostly unexplainable ways but it is those experiences that sparked the early believers to continue on the Way, and do so for us as well.

                Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong has written specifically about this ineffable experience when he tries to enter into the mystery of the resurrection: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2001/04/The-Easter-Moment-Drawing-Conclusions.aspx
Maybe for those of us who look at things through a progressive lens this should be added as a fifth account.

                But it brings me to what I think Easter should be: us telling each other our resurrection stories, times and places where we caught a glimpse of something Christ-like on the road ahead of us or a healing presence when part of us was dying, or the love that beckons us to rise when all we thought we wanted to do was die. If Easter, or Christianity itself, is to make any sense in this hurting, crazy world of ours, then we have to tell our stories. Not to prove to disprove anyone else’s experience, just to say this is what I know, what I see, what I feel. Did Jesus bodily rise from death and walk or fly out of the tomb? To me, the answer to that question is irrelevant. What I can answer is how I sense the life of Christ in my own life.

                I’m still looking for music that we can use in worship that gathers all this together, and will probably be looking for a long time. Here’s a couple that I have found. The first is an old Melissa Etheridge song, “Heal Me.” Not a great video, but really good lyrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB5p_Vi4HXg
The other is by Christopher Grundy (the “More Light” guy): Every Step of the way https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Wj0cHXzAGTI
Not directly speaking to Easter, but easy to sing and talks about being on the Way.

I’m also wrestling with re-writing Christ the Lord is Risen today, but as usual the Spirit is waiting three days for resurrection to happen.

                How have you experienced resurrection? How can we offer a worship experience that invites people to the possibility of their own experience?

Lessons from Downton Abbey - Palm Sunday

Lessons from Downton Abbey, Week 6 – Palm Sunday, March 24

Bates, the Wounded Servant

Luke 19:29-38
As Jesus came to Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he gave two disciples a task. He said, “Go into the village over there. When you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.  If someone asks, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘Its master needs it.’”  Those who had been sent found it exactly as he had said.  As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”  They replied, “Its master needs it.” They brought it to Jesus, threw their clothes on the colt, and lifted Jesus onto it.  As Jesus rode along, they spread their clothes on the road. As Jesus approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives, the whole throng of his disciples began rejoicing. They praised God with a loud voice because of all the mighty things they had seen.  They said, “Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
    Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens.”

John 13:1-15

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’ After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

                We began Lent by suggesting that the characters of Downton Abbey could give us some clues about following (actually apprenticing to) Jesus in our own world and lives. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, and the traditional texts bring us to what is commonly called the Triumphal Entry. My memory from Sunday School was that Jesus entered Jerusalem being heralded as king. I don’t remember any sense of political intrigue in this event (What would Herod – much less Caesar – think of that proclamation?).  What I remember is that the people would of course recognize Jesus as the true king, the appropriate heir of David’s throne, because of course WE see him that way. At that oung age I knew nothing about political theater or demonstrations and I’m sure my teacher did not read this story with those genres in mind. But today I cannot read or hear this story without that awareness that Jesus and his followers were very likely presenting an ironic critique of the status quo, the kings who upheld it. I don’t believe that Jesus really wanted to wear Herod’s crown any more than he wanted to be the next Caesar in Rome. The “Triumphal Entry” was a way of demonstrating what Mark’s gospel has Jesus saying at the very first: The Kin-dom of God has come near.

                John’s gospel shows that in an equally dramatic, though more intimate, episode. Jesus (an out and proud Messiah the way John tells it) strips to the waist and washes the feet of his students, and imbues this behavior with the implication that they should go and do likewise. For John, Jesus is the king who serves; authority is exercised by caring for the lowliest needs of the other. All four gospels use royal language when speaking of Jesus, but I believe it is used to present an alternative to the present world situation, not to simply put Jesus in charge of the present world situation.

                Throughout this series we have been looking at the various characters, titled and servant class alike, to find hints at how to live under the tutelage of Christ. While we have not explicitly asked “Where is Christ?” in this character, that seems to be the compelling question. If not where is Christ, at least how would the Christ respond? And so on this Palm Sunday we come to the Downton character that I see as the most Christ-like (obviously not entirely but like the rest of us, he’s only human) character: Bates.

                Bates enters the series as a wounded servant. He carries with him a physical reminder of the war in which he and Lord Grantham served together and his limp is a symbol of the wounds that all the other characters have but in not so noticeable ways. It is obvious that Bates has endured violence, and he continues to do so (both physical and psychological) at the hands of his co-workers. Only Grantham’s overwhelming sense of obligation to Bates keeps him from leaving at the end of the first episode. Still, Bates refuses to return harm for harm. And even though Bates has reason to retaliate, and damning evidence against the devious Thomas, he stalwartly refuses to cause anyone to lose their job – even an enemy. He serves his family with humility and honor, and even resigns to prevent even a hint of scandal to come near to the house of Grantham. When Carson’s past as a vaudevillian is exposed, bates offers no judgment.  I realize that this may not be a part of the character study, but the actor portraying Bates has what I believe is the warmest smile on the show, and when he smiles it warms the entire scene.

                And there is one particular episode that I believe speaks to us about how to be followers of Christ in our complicated world. Bates seeks a cure for his limp. He obtains a device that is supposed to correct his infirmity: a steel brace that screws into the flesh of his leg. The device tortures him as he tries to endure the pain in order to attain its promised cure. Finally Mrs. Hughes forces Bates to divulge this secret. At the end of the episode, the two of them gather at the side of the pond where Bates flings the instrument of pain into the waters and accepts himself just as he is: wounded, limping, but whole. Too many times I think Christianity has been offered to people like that leg brace: promising a “cure” for life but instead inflicting unnecessary and ineffectual pain. I believe Christ asks us to fling the instruments of our spiritual and physical torture into the abyss and live the life we are given, even if we limp.

                I see parallels between the Christ who enters Jerusalem on an unassuming donkey and Bates who enters Downton with a quiet dignity and grace. He does not seek equality with Lord Grantham, or any other person there, but he soon becomes an essential presence that they all rely upon. They are both trying to make the world a better place, even if only in the space each inhabits. Bates’ quiet commitment to the principle of “do no harm” is very Christ-like, and in keeping to that principle, Bates suffers for and at the hands of others

                As we wave our palm branches, are we seeking ways to live that make the world more whole, more nurturing, more welcoming (even for our enemies)? Though I do not think bates would describe himself as a good Christian, the way he lives offers us a compelling challenge and in many ways is very Christ-like indeed.

Lessons from Downton Abbey, Week 5

March 17, 2013

Lessons from Downton Abbey, Week 5

Matthew, the Reluctant Heir

Monotations: Inheritance

John 6:10-15

Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they* sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

The story of Downton Abbey begins with the tapping of a telegraph relaying the news of the sinking of the Titanic. We soon find out that the heir to the Earl of Grantham was aboard and did not survive the disaster. Because of British law at that time, none of Grantham’s daughters can inherit the title or the estate so they begin a search for the next nearest male relative. They find Matthew Crawley, a third cousin once removed. Matthew is a commoner who works for a living. To our way of seeing, as a lawyer and the son of a doctor, Matthew is already a part of high society but to the nobility he is middle class (a decidedly pejorative designation). Matthew has neither sought nor desired his elevation. When he and his mother arrive at Downton, he is determined to be unchanged by the traditions, values, and ways of the nobility.

Jesus, as best as we can read history, grew up among the poorest of the poor. The peasant class subsisted by raising crops on the land their family owned, hopefully making enough to pay their taxes and feed their household. The word we usually translate as “carpenter” in describing both Jesus and Joseph is “tekton” and it indicates a worker who has lost their land and must hire themselves out to others to earn a living. This may give us a clue as to Jesus’ love and commitment to the poor and destitute. He personally felt the weight of the oppressive systems that kept his family and others he knew in poverty. He could see the opulence that both Caesar and King Herod lived, and knew that lifestyle was supported on the backs of the poor.

However you want to read the miracle of the multiplied loaves (did bread magically appear, or did selfish people magically become generous with strangers?), the implication of story is that in the Kin-dom that Jesus teaches and demonstrates there will be more than enough food for all the people. It is the embodiment of a level field: no one has to compete to survive, no one has a place above any other.

But instead of catching the vision of a whole new system of living together, the well-fed people on the hillside begin to think, “this Jesus would make a better king than the one we have now!” Jesus has no desire to participate in a system that pits the poor against each other so that the rich can live in luxury. So when he sense that the crowd want to make him king, he flees. Still, in one form or another it seems that Christians have ben trying to make him king ever since.

As fascinating as the world of Downton Abbey is for us, the interplay between the titled class and the servants, the struggle to maintain roles in the midst of a changing society, we can ask ourselves where we are in this discussion about titles, kings, and inheritance.

Matthew was reluctant about his inheritance. It challenged his thinking about himself, his role, and his society. We may be reluctant heirs for much of our religious heritage. We have had some vigorous conversations about redefining some of our Christian traditions, practices and definitions. But what have we received from our forebears that are indeed worth carrying forward? What is valuable and helpful in our inheritance?

The original meaning of the word “tradition” is not to hold on or to keep but instead to hand on, to give away. Someone (really, many someones) handed their tradition on to us. Like Matthew, we may in fact be reluctant heirs. But Matthew accepted his role and it changed him even as he brought change to the system that endowed him. The estate that was once simply the opulent home of a distant relative grew to be something he loved and wants to insure its health and continuance. His style and values change the estate, and not without conflict but he pursues the gifts he brings to the estate because he believes it will make it healthier and longer lived.

Jesus inherited his understanding of God and world from his forebears. He was unwilling to leave the world unchanged, to mutely accept a system of oppression and isolation. He changed his inheritance and ours as he envisioned and enacted a different kind of world, one where love of the other was as importance as love of the self.

As reluctant heirs, where are we uncomfortable with our inheritance? What changes to the tradition will our values and understanding bring? And what do we see as valuable enough to hand on to somebody else?

Lessons from Downton Abbey: Following Jesus the Master/Servant

Fourth Week of Lent

March 10, 2013

Anchor: Downton Abbey

Frame: Thomas and O’Brien, betrayal and brokenness

Thread: Monotations

Matthew 26:14-16 (JB Phillips)

After this, one of the twelve, Judas Iscariot by name, approached the chief priests. “What will you give me,” he said to them, “if I hand him over to you?” They settled with him for thirty silver coins, and from then on he looked for a convenient opportunity to betray Jesus.

Judas is the quintessential Lenten drama character. He is an enigma. Was he evil and bent on destroying all that Jesus was attempting to build? Was he misguided? Was he politically motivated? Was he hoping to shove Jesus into action? Simply, we do not know why Judas did what he did. We only know what he did. I also find it intriguing that all 3 synoptic gospels agree that the ultimate sign of Judas’ betrayal was an act of love and affection: a kiss.

Thomas the footman and O’Brien the lady’s maid are two of the most easily unlikable characters on Downton Abbey. They scheme and betray their coworkers as well as the family that they serve. Again and again they act out of purely selfish motivation and sometimes just plain meanness. 

Thomas is a thief and a coward. He steals wine from the house and blames it on Bates the valet. During the World War he wrangles himself a post in the medical corps hoping that would keep him from seeing action, but when he is sent to the front lines as a medic he has himself shot in the hand so that he will get sent home. After the war he dabbles in the black market and loses what little resources he had. He wants Lord Grantham to trust him enough to make Thomas his new valet, so Thomas steals Grantham’s dog in a scheme to be seen as the triumphant hero when he almost miraculously finds the pet.

O’Brien is a bit harder to read. While her character is somewhat more complex than Thomas’, she is even less sympathetic because of it. She seems to despise her role as a maid to Lady Grantham, even though it is a position of great responsibility and respect. She takes an instant dislike to Bates the valet and humiliates him in front of the visiting Duke. She schemes with Thomas to impugn Bates and get rid of him. She belittles her coworkers and speaks with spite of her employers. She causes physical harm to Lady Grantham (albeit surreptitiously).

Thomas’ and O’Brien’s characters contrast starkly with the rest of the servant staff, who are fiercely loyal to the family they serve. In fact the whole system works on loyalty. Thomas and O’Brien’s action not only betray those whom they serve and work with, but the whole structure and order in which they live.

Betrayal and denial are maybe obvious themes for Lent. I hope we can avoid the whole conversation about how our daily betrayals (mostly trivial sins) cause baby Jesus to cry.I’m pretty sure very few of us see ourselves as a Thomas or O’Brien, much less a Judas or Peter. Yet many of us have felt betrayed by those we love, injured deliberately or inadvertently but injured nonetheless. And more than a few of us have acted with the best of intentions and still hurt others. There are obvious betrayals such as allowing our nation to ignore the plight of the poor and hungry while we find the means to increase the stores of war and power.

I am all too aware of my desire to answer the question of betrayal by quoting other things that Jesus taught, like loving your enemy and turning the other cheek. I am also aware that when I am hot with anger at the injury someone has caused me, those answers ring hollow and snarky. There is a great chasm between the “do this” and the “how the hell do you do that?” 

We all betray the best dreams of ourselves, we get distracted from lofty ideals by the mundane duties of everyday life. We want to be daring Christians - daring progressive Christians, no doubt - but all too many times it is easier just to go along than to cause a scene.

So when we are confronted by a Thomas or an O’Brien, a Judas or a Peter, in someone else or inside our own selves, how do we respond? How do we follow this almost super-human Jesus who does seem able to love even his betrayers. Did Jesus kiss Judas back?

A good friend of mine was a clergy woman who had risen above the sexual abuse inflicted upon her by her pastor when she was a youth. At a state-wide gathering she and I were heading into the main hall to attend a service of Holy Communion. She stopped at the threshold of the entryway. Standing at the head of the main aisle, holding the communion bread, was her abuser. She said, “I can’t do this. I can’t receive grace from him.” She turned and left, and I couldn’t blame her. She felt betrayed both by the man holding the bread and by the system of the Church which never held him accountable for his crimes.

Statistics vary but most say that somewhere between 1/5 and 1/3 of all women have suffered sexual abuse or violence. That means that if 50 women come to SCUCC on a Sunday morning (just an arbitrary number), 10 to 20 of them may have been victims of abuse or violence. It also means that probably every one of us knows someone who has been a victim.

So while betrayal may be a stereotypical topic for Lent, the question of how do we heal and move on from betrayal is anything but trite. How do we help each other heal? How do we live in the world and transform the world so that there is less violence, less propensity for abuse and betrayal?

March 3 - 3rd Sunday of Lent

Lessons from Downton Abbey - Jesus as the Master-Servant

Anchor: Downton Abbey

Frame: The Crawley Daughters: Mary, Edith, and Sybil

Thread: Monotations

Luke 10:38-42

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

When I first thought about this series, I focused on the obvious connection between Mary Crawley, the eldest daughter, and Mary of the gospel telling. But all three of the Crawley sisters are in their own ways yearning and stretching for a different kind of reality. 

Mary is very aware that she is being denied the family inheritance because she is female instead of male and she chafes at that injustice even if it the law of the land. She is stubborn and resists any suggestion that she should marry this man or that man just because she is told to, or that the marriage would position her well. 

Edith is the middle sister, often overshadowed by the family’s concern that Mary be married and fixed well. It is Edith who first learns to drive, a skill which she hires out during the war (which I would guess would never have been allowed otherwise). Later in the series she finds her voice and begins (much to her father’s chagrin) writing a column for a London newspaper.

Sybil most obviously challenges her status quo both as a female and as the member of a titled family. We see this when she models her new gown for the family, which turns out to be a daring outfit of bloomers (watch the eyebrows around the room!). But then beyond this rather symbolic dalliance, Sybil falls in love with the chauffeur: the Irish socialist, radical, Catholic, unlanded, untitled chauffeur. Her marriage shakes the family’s standards to the core as they struggle to accept her choice and then to accept this common man into their midst.

These three women embody the changes of the society around them. The privilege of the titled class is eroding away. They struggle to stretch and reach beyond the restrictions of their roles even as Sybil struggles against the practice of wearing a corset! The contrast between these three young women and the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith’s character) is often marked and obvious (but even she is faced with and undergoes change!).

We don’t have much back-story for this Mary from the bible. Like Mary Crawley, she seems to be dissatisfied with her assigned role. While her sister Martha is busy with domestic chores, Mary is seated at Jesus’ feet - taking the position of a disciple. Scholars have still not been able to come to a clear consensus to what is happening in this encounter, but it is clear that traditional gender lines are being crossed. Are there others in the house (it would be scandalous for Jesus to be alone in the house with 2 women to whom he is not related)? Mary is pretty clearly sitting in the part of the house reserved for men’s interaction. And as often been noted, Mary seems to be neglecting Martha and her own responsibilities as a hospitable woman with guests in her house. For all this, Jesus pronounces that Mary has “ chosen the better part.” He seems not only to accept her place in the teaching scheme of things, he upholds her unusual choices. Jesus appears to be embracing the changing of roles and it is this kind of encounter that later lets Paul proclaim “there is no male or female for we are all one in Christ Jesus.”

As we have spent a good deal of time discussing, our roles as religious people and as a church in today’s culture is changing dramatically. Which of these changes would Jesus embrace? What new positions are we ready to adopt? And if we take seriously the perception of many people in our society that they do not find Christ in church, in whose house will we find Jesus where we may find a place to sit and learn? The challenge of both the changing Crawley daughters and Mary and Martha is to eyes and hearts that can perceive where the Spirit is at work. These shifting roles are not the end of the story, but the wrenching beginning of a new chapter. If “religion” has become the corset of our day, then let us join Sybil and find some daring bloomers to wear out into the world!

I gave the invitation (and will post it on facebook) to create monotations that use the word “evolve” or “change.” I have seen a few already posted (yay!), and they may give us some idea of how we perceive this kind of ongoing Spirit-led  evolution. I hope that in the Studio this weekend that we may experience the bracing winds of change and evolution as a Spiritual, God-enlivened event just as the Crawley sisters seem to sense. Things for them, and for us, cannot be the same. Life will develop ot on the windy scarps where the Spirit gusts.