Category: Year A Readings

Information, reflection, questions, opinions and study helps for one or more of the readings appointed for the Sundays and Major Feasts of Year A in the Revised Common Lectionary used by the Episcopal Church.

Well. . . what do you think?

This week we have (haven’t we?) been thinking about Spiritual Gifts (the main topic of conversation on Sunday Morning in the Forum). Rather than cite scholarly sources (which I have been reading), rather than offering extensive quotes, I will offer my current understanding of Spiritual Gifts as an invitation for you to also share.

You and I do not have to be experts, scholars, or theologians, to have an opinion and an understanding by which we live our faith—though it is helpful to let these opinions and understandings mature as they guide us (i.e., let them change as we gain more experience and understanding).

For brevity I will offer an “Executive Summary” of my current understanding. This is not meant to be exhaustive or the definitive “last word” on the topic of Spiritual Gifts—you know, I’m still learning a lot.

  • Everyone, including me, is gifted by God in some way
  • Gifted by God is foundational: God chooses which Spiritual Gift to offer, God takes the initiative, always
  • We choose to accept the gift or not (we always have this freedom, another gift of God’s initiative)
  • We choose to exercise the gift or not (don’t you love this gift of free will?). My own experience tells me that the choice to exercise the gift (or not) ebbs and flows like a tide (though not so regularly). Sometimes I do this easily and well and for a prolonged period (you could float a boat); at other times it is as if I have amnesia (or sloth) and the gift is not used (that boat is mired in the tidal mud).
  • The Spiritual Gift is meant (by God) to be used for the well-being of the Body of Christ (=the Church) and for the welfare of all God’s people and all of God’s creation (=the world). It is not meant to be hoarded, it is not meant to a personal delight nor a self-esteem booster—it is meant to be shared for the good of all (inside and outside the Church, indeed, to be shared for the good of all creation).
  • I’m still working out what the Spiritual Gifts are (according to our “teachers” in the Bible and in our Christian Tradition). As you heard Stan mention on Sunday there are multiple internet resources for exploring the meaning of and kinds of Spiritual Gifts.
  • Believing the Church (at its best) to be organic, living, changing, adapting—the “Body” of Christ—the gifts (from God) are meant to part of an organic whole, not part of some grand Organizational Flow Chart.
  • Closely linked to the organic nature of the Church is that the local church may need different gifts at different times (as communities and their needs change) so I believe a couple of things can happen: the gift you’re given changes to meet the new needs and/or new members are brought into the community with the necessary gifts to meet the new (changing) needs.

That’s probably enough for now. What do you think? What would you like to add (for me and others)? How can we grow together in our understanding of God’s generosity? Leave a comment, please. Let’s see where the Spirit will lead us.

It’s a great question

You are in for a treat. Often in the Sunday Morning Forum we open the First or Second Lesson or the Psalm appointed for the Sunday. Often our preacher takes up the Gospel Text. Today, The Rev. Troy Mendez (Associate Rector for Pastoral Care at St. Margaret’s) shares his sermon from Sunday, August 21, 2011. He begins with a story and finishes with an exhortation we can accomplish—with God’s help. ~dan

Are you Jesus?

Sermon for Proper 16A by The Rev. Troy Mendez
Associate Rector for Pastoral Care at St. Margaret’s in Palm Desert, CA 
 

Let the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

In his book, The Signature of Jesus, Brennan Manning tells us a story about five business colleagues who travelled on a day trip from Chicago to Milwaukee.   All of these 5 people had evening engagements back home, and so they planned their business meetings so that they could be back in Chicago for dinner.  Well, just as you’d expect, the meetings in Milwaukee ran way late, and there was no time to get on the train to Chicago.  As each of the friends ran towards the platform, one man raced through the station and kicked over a large basket of apples that a 10 yr old boy who had been standing by was selling.  As all the other friends ran-on because the train was leaving, one man stopped and felt compassion for the boy whose apple stand had been overturned.  He told the group to go on ahead, and he’d call and push back his evening dinner.   He ran back to the makeshift apple stand and realized that the 10-yr old boy was actually blind.  The man saw the apples everywhere and gathered them up….but he noticed something.  A lot of the apples had been damaged …some were bruised or split….so he reached into his wallet.  He said to the boy, “here’s $20 for the apples we damaged.  I hope we didn’t ruin your day.  God bless you.”   And as the man started to walk away, the blind boy called after him …..called after him wanting him to stop, and finally the man – already well on his way – came back towards the boy, and the boy asked “Are you Jesus?[i]

Are you Jesus?   One can only imagine what that man felt when he was asked the question.  We have no idea how he responded.  But when I re-read this question at the end of the story, I was a bit taken aback, because the story itself ended differently than I had predicted.  But I think the boy’s question is insightful, and calls us to explore what he asks.  Are you Jesus? Who is Jesus?

Now I realize scholars have written volumes about this very question, and so I want to narrow the context of the question to our gospel reading today.

Just like the business people in the story I just told, the disciples in today’s gospel reading have been travelling with Jesus – they had been up in the far north, actually near Sidon in modern day Lebanon.   Much like the distance between Milwaukee and Chicago or Los Angeles and San Diego, Jesus and the disciples were going back from Sidon back to Galilee.  Now remember from what we’ve heard over the past few weeks – Jesus and all the disciples in attendance had witnessed amazing things….Jesus healing a foreign woman, feeding miracles,   teaching in countless parables , continuously turning the world upside down, about the meaning of the Kingdom of God.

And the story today brings us to the region of Caesarea Phillippi….a place still in the far north.  This city pre-dated the Roman empire by several hundred years, and it was a cross-roads for all sorts of religions.  So in Jesus’s time, even though it was known as the Roman City of Caesarea Phillippi, the site where our story takes place had been an ancient place of great sanctity for a myriad of generations, a myriad of cultures, each with their own Gods – this city — at the source of the Biblically important  Jordan river, was a modern Dallas of Deities, an Indianapolis of Images and Statues—a Garden of the Gods – a Pantheon of Polytheism…And yet this is the exact place that Jesus and his disciples visit, and Jesus’s true identity is named and affirmed in such an unlikely locale.

One can only imagine what brought about the question Jesus begins to ask, but he starts very tactfully and asks the apostles, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?  To which they give a myriad of examples of what people are saying.

But then Jesus gets personal, and he looks for an exact answer when he asks, But you – you who have spent all this time with me, you have seen all these things with me, you who realize the Kingdom of God is literally bubbling up from every surface – you — who do you say that I am?

And this time, Peter gets it right.  He responds immediately by saying, “you are the Messiah, the son of the living God.”  Notice his choice of words about God – not a god of somewhere else or a God of a temple on a hillside, not a static god, no —  but the living God –a God who is alive.   That one God that the people of Israel knew – not the Pantheon of Ceasarea Phillippi—but that one God who lives and is truly merciful—seeking to rescue us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us—the  God who sets us free to live and move and to learn how to love one another.

Messiah?  Son of the Living God?   Who is Jesus?  Who do you say that Jesus is?  As Brennan Manning asks, “Who is this Jesus who is a magnetic field for so many people and a stumbling block for others?”  Why is it that almost every time we see this need to identify Jesus in one way or another, Jesus tries to re-define, tries to clarify, tries to deepen to shape to further our understanding of who he is.  Our world keeps getting  turned upside down.  And then we throw in his cross and resurrection and the question becomes an even greater one.

So let’s take a step back and think about the times in our lives that we have limited Jesus by the way that we perceive him.  In the story I alluded-to at the beginning, the boy asks if the man is Jesus…why?  Well, it’s obvious that the man showed mercy and kindness – true traits we know about Jesus.  But is Jesus only that?    According to Peter’s response, Jesus is Messiah, son of the living God.  A Messiah is surely much more than just mercy and kindness, even though those are great things.

It seems to be a human tendency to construct Jesus in our own terms of reference and reject any evidence that challenges our life situations.   We saw some churches express Jesus in new ways in the 60s – personifying Jesus as an agitator and a social critic—countercultural, a societal dropout.    In the 1980s, in the age of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, and Oral Roberts, and Jerry Falwell, Jesus was the provider of the good life…the Lord of the spa…a driven executive on a messianic mission.[ii]

But then hard times hit many people, and the TV televangelists had their own scandals, and many of us kept going with our own contextually specific terms of reference about  Jesus and we kept getting bruised and our lives got split, and so the question “who is Jesus?” looms.

I want to be clear and say that aspects of how we’ve all defined Jesus are not intrinsically wrong…some of it might not be 100% correct, however well intentioned,…they’re not intrinsically wrong, but the reality is that we have limited ourselves.  We have limited our ability to see Jesus for who he truly is….Messiah, Lord, son of the Living God – fountain of all love and mercy, forgiveness, restoration, and one who is personal — not an idea—but someone who breathed his Spirit upon his apostles after he rose and offered them the charge to go and make disciples of all nations….that means us!   We, in our many walks of life, in our varied educational backgrounds, family histories, cultures, orientations, in our talents and abilities—we’re called to be disciples of Jesus for one another and for the world.   Not to limit ourselves or to limit God, but to imagine all that God can be…and to be God’s loving presence, in our hearts, and in the lives of everyone around us!

Paul talks about this in the letter to the Romans that we read today – out of many members, we have one body in Christ – we belong to God, and we belong to one another.  Although our gifts differ, and our understandings of God aren’t always the same – that’s not a bad thing! – OK  this is Paul talking who many deem as rigid with some type of slanted agenda – read this— Paul is saying “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us – prophecy in proportion to faith; Ministry, in ministering; the Teacher, in teaching…the giver in generosity…the compassionate, in cheerfulness…..We all have a part to play.

So who is Jesus?  If we truly define Jesus as Messiah and Lord….the son of the Living God, then we have to continue to learn about Jesus together.  Peter’s confession tells us what conclusion we’re striving to affirm & reaffirm—and through faith, through prayer, and through our community life and fellowship—we’ll see the presence of Jesus Messiah among us – we’ll see the living God at work in the world around us, healing, feeding, strengthening the world, and we will help God—yes, that’s right – we’ll help God continue to usher in the fullness of creation – the pinnacle of all that God hopes and desires and dreams for us – that Kingdom of God

And so even though our American lives in the year 2011 are quite often way too hurried, there’s hope.  We often race for trains and kick over apple baskets.  But we have Jesus as Lord, Jesus as Messiah who can set us back on our feet, whether we’re the ones who kick things over or we’re the ones who get kicked over…this living God who longs to be in relationship to us, to live for us, to die for us, to rise again for us…this Lord empowers us, sets us free, to take the best that we have individually to offer—not just in Chicago or Los Angeles or Milwaukee or San Diego – but here in the desert—at this church up on a hill, and allows us to collectively, as members of Christ’s body, allows us to re-member Jesus’s presence on Sundays as we gather together, and every day of our lives.

A great book by Sara Miles, called Jesus Freak,  sums all of this up really well.  She writes:

Who is Jesus?   Jesus is real, and so, praise God are we.   Tremendous things the resurrected Jesus does on earth he does through the body of Christ – through our bodies.  You’re fed, you’re healed, you’re forgiven, you’re pronounced clean.  You are loved, and you will be raised from the dead.[iii]

Go!   Go with Jesus, Messiah

Go with the Son of the living God.

Go and do likewise.

[i] Brennan Manning,  The Signature of Jesus.  Colorado Springs:  Multnomah Books, 1988.

[ii] Brennan Manning,  The Signature of Jesus.  Colorado Springs:  Multnomah Books, 1988.

[iii] Sara Miles,  Jesus Freak.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  2010.

Two Fathers and Forgiveness: If they can do it . . .

Here is another story from our own day about forgiveness of “biblical proportions.”

As I re-read this article (from my “clippings” file) I thought again about the small acts of forgiveness that I have been asked to make. I thought again of the little annoyances that have the potential of becoming destructive prisons if simple words of forgiveness are never spoken. I also thought about the stories shared with me over the years of “heroic acts” of forgiveness that proved liberating: forgiving betrayals in the marriage relationship, forgiving coworkers whose dishonesty cost a job, forgiving family members for lies and half-truths leading to estrangement, and more. In both the little and the big moments of forgiveness there is seldom forgetfulness—one remembers the hurt, the wrong—but there is always a sense of freedom from the pain when the words of forgiveness can be spoken.

Let the big stories, such as these, inspire the small stories of forgiveness in your life. Also, let the big stories, such as these, inspire the the heroic acts of forgiveness to which you may be called. ~dan

Before the men sat in the kitchen, a humble place for such an event, they had walked in the garden. Two fathers, both raised in Catholic schools, both divorced from their children’s mothers, both who helped raise a son and a daughter, talked for more than an hour.

That the meeting took place seems miraculous. One man owns a business and had traveled from middle America. The other, in whose house they met, works in a New York state factory. They want the same thing: to save the son of the New York man from execution.

The father from Oklahoma, Emmett E. “Bud” Welch, had buried his daughter, Julie-Marie, on a 1995 spring day.

New York state resident William McVeigh is the father of the man sentenced to die for killing Julie-Marie and 167 others on April 19, 1995, in the Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Building.

via Oklahoma City Bombing: Two Fathers and Forgiveness – April 2000 Issue of St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online.

Is it possible to forgive like this really? Today? Ever?

Ah, Joseph! His own brothers hated him, (Genesis 37:4), and kidnapped him, (Genesis 37:23). They had even planned to murder him, (Genesis 37: 18ff). They “settled” for selling him into slavery, (Genesis 37:28), a possible if not likely death sentence.  (1)

  • Instead of revenge, Joseph forgave and embraced his brothers. (Genesis 45:1-15)

As Sherry and I prepared for Sunday’s Forum (8/14) she asked a really good questions:

A spectacular example of forgiveness and generosity of spirit:  how can Joseph do that?  Is forgiveness on this scale unreasonable to expect of mere mortals?

The Forum took up the question. Some of our number felt that Joseph may have needed to ask forgiveness of his brothers, suggesting that he may have baited them into their treachery. The discussion was lively and not always what you would expect.

My answer to Sherry’s question about forgiveness: “Yes, mere mortals are capable of such forgiveness.” You and I are, with God’s grace, capable of both ordinary and extraordinary forgiveness. Some examples:

  • We’ll start out close to home: child-parent issues. Bryan McGuire offers what he learned about his dad when he himself became a father; Bryan learned and offered forgiveness: Forgiving my dad (an audio piece from This I Believe)
  • Another audio clip from This I Beiieve: The Long Road to Forgiveness by Kim Phuc who was badly burned by Napalm in 1972 in Viet Nam. She shares her story of being able to forgive. [Transcript of this piece with the photo of Kim Phuc in 1972 after her village was attacked]
  • From 9/11 – Two 9/11 mothers who found forgiveness and friendship – this video speaks to us of the forgiveness found by two women — whose family members were on opposites sides of the 9/11 tragedy — one of whose sons contributed to the death of the other’s son. Click on the image below to see this powerful video.
  • Beyond the 11th – a website detailing the effort of 2 American widows—both pregnant when their husbands were killed in the 9/11 attacks—to help widows in Afghanistan. A documentary, Beyond Belief, is available on Netflix.

The effort to forgive requires effort (and grace, I believe). We all have stories to tell. We can help each other by telling the stories. What stories inspire you? Leave a comment, start a conversation.

____________
(1) WorkingPreacher.org for August 14, 2011. Commentary on Genesis (Alt. 1st Reading) by Wil Gafney

Ever want to “smite” someone?

Joseph made himself known to his brothers…

Hated by siblings? Betrayed? Treated unfairly? Abandoned? Sold as a slave? Hurt? If you are Joseph this is part of your story as you encounter your brothers after their destructive actions (See Genesis 37 read in church on 8/7/11 and Genesis 45 read in church Sunday 8/14/11 ).

How great, if he was human at all (and I believe he was), must have been his desire to take revenge, to “smite” his brothers then and there, to wreak his own kind of destruction on them and their families? He had the power to satisfy that urge.

Instead of smiting (what we expected, if we were honest) we heard that Joseph revealed who he was (apparently he was unrecognizable at first), invited his brothers to draw closer to him, he forgave them their hatred and treachery, and he embraced each one and wept with them in the moment of forgiveness. Here is a story of forgiveness of “biblical proportions.” It leaves me with many questions.

Foremost question: Is this kind of forgiveness (of biblical proportion) possible today? My one word answer, “Yes.” Which then leads to a host of questions: How is this possible? Are there any contemporary (20th and 21st century) models of such forgiveness out there? Am I capable of such forgiveness? Are we capable of such forgiveness? What role do we play in such forgiveness? What is God’s role in such forgiveness? What is at stake? I’ll admit I have more questions than answers. How about you?

I’ll have more to say about this passage—it is rich with mystery—but for now, I offer this poem as a way into the mystery of forgiveness:

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the windblown bud
which blooms in placid beauty at Verdun.

Forgiveness is the tiny slategray sparrow
which has built its nest of twigs and string among the shards of glass
upon the wall of shame.

Forgiveness is the child
who laughs in merry ecstasy beneath the toothed fence
that closes in Da Nang.

Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet
which still clings fast to the heel that crushed it.

Forgiveness is the broken dream
which hides itself within the corner of the mind oft called forgetfulness
so that it will not bring pain to the dreamer.

Forgiveness is the reed
which stands up straight and green
when nature’s mighty rampage halts, full spent.

Forgiveness is a God who will not leave us after all we’ve done.

____________
A poem by George Roemisch and quoted by Dear Abby in her column Feb. 10, 1998.

What do you know about faith within the chaos? Maybe more than you think.

Remember? The week began with a story about Jesus walking on the water. Before heading into the weekend and the next (lectionary) story let’s take one more look at Matthew’s account of Jesus and Peter and water and storm and … faith. Let’s take another look at what it could mean to us, far removed from that night and the Sea of Galilee, but plenty acquainted with chaos. I commend this reflection about our Gospel Story to you:

In Matthew’s Gospel, the story of Jesus walking on water morphs into a story of Peter walking on, then sinking into, the same water. It begins as a statement about Jesus’ authority; for Jesus’ contemporaries had learned from scripture that such mastery over the waters is God’s accomplishment. When Peter tells Jesus to call him, too, onto the lake, the story transitions into an illustration of what it looks like when people express faith in Jesus. Read the entire post: Matthew 14:22-33: Faith within the Chaos

I invite you to also check out St. Peter is walking on the water by Luis Borrassa in our Art & Music category.

Please make the time to leave a comment or two. Please get a conversation started as you consider this reflection on an ancient story which has a lot to say to us 21st Century citizens.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! | Episcopal Arkansas

Some of you may remember Mary Vano—St. Margaret’s Palm Desert sponsored her in discernment and seminary. She was ordained a priest right here in 2003 with Margaret Watson and then served as an Associate at St. David’s Church in Austin, TX. Married and the mother of 2 boys she was called to be Rector of St. Margaret’s Church in Little Rock, AR this year. Here she shares her insight into the Gospel parables we shared on Sunday, July 24th. Enjoy.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus has given us five little parables. Each one begins with the phrase, “the kingdom of heaven is like…”  If you like a good surprise, you should enjoy these!

Read: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! | Episcopal Arkansas.

Being the Beloved

In the past couple of weeks we have read and heard thrilling, comforting, and amazing words about who and whose we are and what that means from the Apostle Paul (his letter wasn’t just to the Christians in Rome, but to you and me as well). In a variety of ways we have heard “You are my beloved child.” (See Mark 1:9-11 and understand you are in Christ, these words are words addressed to you)

From Romans 8

all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. (v. 14)

you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (vv. 15-17)

God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spiritintercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (v. 27)

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. (v. 28)

If God is for us, who is against us? (v. 31)

in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (vv. 37-39)

Begin and continue the conversation (leave a comment, reply to comments)

  • Do you believe this? Do you believe that you are God’s beloved child?
  • Is it “easy” to believe this? “Hard” to believe this? “Impossible” to believe this? How does this statement “You are God’s beloved child” sit with you?

Need more prompting? Henri J.M. Nouwen presented a Sermon Series “Being the Beloved” at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA. I’m not sure what year this was presented (Henri Nouwen died in 1996), but the message is timeless. The series consists of 8 videos on YouTube (the link is to the first in the series; just above the video you will find a menu item “8 videos” which you can click and all 8 video links will be presented to you). I commend this series to you. –djr

LISTEN AND VIEW
Being the Beloved by Henri J.M. Nouwen

The kingdom of heaven is like

On Sunday, July 24, 2011 Brian got us all thinking about the parables of Jesus in his sermon. We were invited to consider Jesus’ words more deeply, including the fact that his images may not be as neutral as one would think (or as you have been led to believe). While we wait for the podcast and posting of his sermon, here is another preacher, a Lutheran, raising the same issues for us in her own words:

… Today we heard Jesus say that The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that when it has grown becomes the greatest of all shrubs. Um, the greatest of all shrubs?  What kind of off-brand kingdom is this?   It’s like saying someone is the smartest of all the idiots or the mightiest of all baby dolls. Yet he says Heaven’s kingdom is like Shrubs, and nets and yeast  – and the yeast part might be the worst when you realize that yeast is considered impure – we’re not talking little packets of Flieshman’s we find at King Soopers – we’re talking big lumps of mold which contaminate….and that in fact, Jews were required to  rid their entire house of yeast before celebrating some Holy Days.

We mistakenly may think that the kingdom of God should follow our value system and also be powerful or impressive and shiny. But that’s not what Jesus brings.  He brings a kingdom ruled by the crucified one – populated by the unclean, and suffused with mercy rather than power. And it’s always found in the unexpected.… Read the whole sermon

Share your thoughts about Brian’s sermon  and Nadia’s sermon and the words of Jesus in Matthew 13. Keep the conversation going, leave a comment; two fine preachers have set us to thinking about the kingdom…

Jacob dreamed

On Sunday, July 17th we read from the book of Genesis:

10    Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.

11    He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place.

12    And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

13    And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring;

14    and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.

15    Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16    Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!”

17    And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

18    So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.

19    He called that place Bethel. —Genesis 28:10-19a

How is this (Genesis 28) our story?

Consider these questions about Jacob’s dream.

  • Do you believe this story?
  • Do you think that God has ever spoken to “mere mortals” in dreams?
  • Do you think that God, to this day, uses dreams as one way to communicate with us?
  • Do you know anyone who has dreamed and in that dream has heard God? If yes, do you believe what you have heard from this person? What clue(s) did the person use to know it was of God?
  • Have you ever “heard” God in a dream? How did you know it was God?
  • When was the last time God spoke to you in a dream?

These are a few of the questions that occur to me as I hear Jacob’s story. In the Sunday Morning Forum we shared our answers to some of these questions. We invite you to share your answers here as we continue to live in the light of this reading from Genesis. –djr

For further consideration and reflection

Consider that Jacob encountered God (v. 13), “a very personal Being.” within his dream, and was transformed. Dreams are mysterious in their power because of the One who meets us there at just the right time. —djr

Nearly midway into life I had come into a dark woods, into a blind alley. I found my way out of that stalemate through an understanding of dreams. I worked with a Jungian analyst, a Jew who had escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. He believed that the Holy One still spoke to both sleeping and waking human beings in dreams in the silence of the day and in the night. With his help I discovered that my dreams were wiser than my well-tuned rational mind and that they gave me warnings when I was in danger. They also described in symbols the disastrous situations in which I found myself. These strange messengers of the night also offered suggestions on how to find my way out of my lostness. When I followed these symbolic suggestions, much of the darkness lifted, and my situation no longer seemed hopeless. Many of my psychological and physical symptoms of distress disappeared.

In addition to all this, I found a very personal Being at the heart of reality who cared for me; my theological dry bones were covered with sinew and flesh. And then, as I continued to listen to my dreams, I experienced the risen Christ in a way that I had not thought possible. And last of all, I realized that the Holy One continued to knock on the doorway of my inner being in my dreams even when I paid no attention to them, and he would also be waiting for me when I deliberately opened the door of my soul to the risen Christ. Prayer, contemplation, and meditation, then, became real and necessary aspects of my life as I journeyed toward fulfillment and wholeness.

Morton T. Kelsey, God, dreams, and revelation,
Kindle edition, Preface (search: stalemate)