Tag: Jesus

Wind Chimes: 21 Feb 2013

As I listen to the chimes I hear a constantly changing melody. It is a delight and a wonder which leads to contemplation. And contemplation leads to remembering. What do you hear?

Do you believe this?

The original context of the question is a meeting between Jesus and Martha on a road near Bethany with both Jesus and Martha grieving the death of Lazarus. Jesus declares some pretty amazing things about who he is and what he has to offer and concludes by asking Martha, “Do you believe this?” (See John 11 especially verses 17-27)

His question is the one my heart hears over and over again, “Do you believe this?” On Sunday we heard these pieces of scripture:

When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; (Deuteronomy 26:6-8 NRSV)

[God says] Whenever you cry out to me, I’ll answer. I’ll be with you in troubling times. I’ll save you and glorify you. I’ll fill you full with old age. I’ll show you my salvation.” (Psalm 91:15-16 CEB)

And this puts me in mind of this confession of faith (which sets a pattern, don’t you think):

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…. (Exodus 3:7-8 NRSV)

And the question I heard Jesus ask on Sunday and the question I hear today is “Do you believe this?” Today I continue to work out my answer, how about you?

B Proper 20 Art for September 23, 2012

REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn
(b. 1606, Leiden, d. 1669, Amsterdam)
Click to open Web Gallery of Art Artist Biography and to explore other works by this artist.

The Little Children Being Brought to Jesus (“The 100 Guilder Print”)
1647-49
Etching and drypoint, 1st state, 278 x 388 mm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Click to open Web Gallery of Art commentary page. Click image for large view.

Related art commentary by Hovak Najarian.

Little Children Being Brought to Jesus (The Hundred Guilder Print), c. 1647-1649, Etching, Rembrandt Harmenzoon van Rijn, 1606 -1669

Commentary by Hovak Najarian

Related post B Proper 20 Art for September 23, 2012

In the Hundred Guilder Print, Rembrandt has combined several subjects taken from the nineteenth chapter of Mathew into a composite image. As a result it is known by several titles. Among them are: Little Children Being Brought to Jesus, Christ Healing the Sick, and Christ Preaching. In Rembrandt’s lifetime it was known famously as the “Hundred Guilder Print” and it continues to be known by that title today. As a masterpiece, it was first sold for a hundred guilder; a very high price at the time.

Mathew’s account tells of Jesus departing Galilee and going to Judea where multitudes followed him; many were healed. While he was there, Pharisees came and he answered their questions. When mothers brought their children to him to be blessed, the disciples rebuked them but Jesus said: “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” A young rich man asked Jesus what he must do to enter heaven and was told to first give all of his possessions to the poor and then, “follow me.” Jesus noted it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. References to all of these subjects were combined in Rembrandt’s print.

In the center of this etching, Jesus is standing as he speaks to the crowd that surrounds him. At the far upper left a group of Pharisees are debating among themselves and to the right, the old and sick are trying to get closer to Jesus; one of them was brought in on a wheelbarrow. Others are coming in from the right as Peter (behind the pleading woman whose shadow is cast on Jesus’ robe) stretches out his arm to indicate there are too many people in the crowded space already. The rich man has returned to his camel (in the doorway); he is leaving because he cannot give up his possessions. In the central area are a variety of people of humble origins and differing needs. A woman with a child in her arms approaches Jesus (her foot is on the raised area on which Jesus is standing). Another woman (lower left) is holding her child’s hand as he reaches toward Jesus. The child’s dog is nearby. In this etching, Rembrandt demonstrates his remarkable ability to integrate and balance diverse subjects and to unify them in a single composition; the print is a superb example of his genius.

Note

Etching: An etching is made from a copper or zinc plate that has been covered with liquid asphaltum (an acid resistant ground). The artist draws an image on the plate with a scriber but scratches only through the asphaltum surface to expose the plate. The prepared plate is placed in an acid solution that eats into it and creates fine shallow grooves in the areas that have been exposed. The asphaltum then is removed, ink is pressed into the grooves, and the surface of the plate is wiped clean. A slightly moistened paper is placed over it and it is run through a press. The pressure pushes the paper against the ink and, as the paper is pulled away from the plate, it lifts the ink out of the grooves and reveals the image (in reverse).

Intaglio (Italian, from intagliare – to engrave): This term is used for a family of prints in which the ink is held in grooves beneath the surface of a plate. In an etching, acid is used to create the grooves. When making an engraving, the artist removes the metal directly with a burin. When making a drypoint, the grooves are created by scratching with pressure into the surface of a plate (this makes a groove but leaves a burr). Etchings, engravings, and drypoints are all intaglios. Although the Hundred Guilder Print is primarily an etching, it was easier for Rembrandt to use drypoint and engraving techniques when touching up and refining some areas of the plate after it was etched.

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© 2012 Hovak Najarian

Long on Jesus

The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings is the newly elected President of the House of Deputies. She has written an op-ed essay published in the Washington Post. I’m proud to be Episcopalian:

Episcopal churches: Short on politics, sexuality debates and long on Jesus

You decide

“Recommend books, poetry, music, movies, videos, and so on,” we tell each other on Sunday. Just last Sunday (5/20/12) Stan recommended The Last Week by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. (It is available at the Rancho Mirage Public Library.) Here are 2 Book Reviews to help you decide to pick it up and read.

A book review from Spirituality & Pracitce

Marcus Borg (Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time) and John Dominic Crossan (Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography) set out to explore the last week in Jesus’ life against the backdrop of Roman imperial control. Their purpose is not to attempt a historical reconstruction of what has become known as the “Passion” or suffering of Jesus, but to probe the things Jesus was passionate about. The text they use is the Gospel of Mark, the earliest to be written, the most succinct, and the one with the most time markers for the week’s events. Read more.

A book review from Journey with Jesus

In this simple exposition written for a general audience, two leading New Testament scholars use the Gospel of Mark to explain what happened to Jesus during his final week. They use Mark because most scholars consider it the earliest of the four Gospels, the primary source for Matthew and Luke, and because when you read carefully you see that Mark details the last eight days of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. Read more.

Keep the conversation going: what is your experience with this book?

We pray for the gifts of ministry

On Sunday May 6th we heard “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” Last Sunday, May 13th, we heard “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last….” And today, May 20th, we hear, “[Father] as you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” The speaker in each instance, of course, is Jesus. He is speaking to those who gather around him—in every age—to hear what he is saying. He is speaking to us.

As the Sunday Morning Forum gathers (9am PDT) at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, CA this Sunday morning we will wonder aloud with each other what this means in 21st century America, in our lives, and in our common life. We will also pray for each other. Having heard something about who and whose we are and knowing that we are sent into the world to “bear fruit that will last” we pray for each other:

O God, we pray for the gifts of ministry. Inspire our minds with a vision of your kingdom in this time and place. Hear us, O Christ.

Touch our eyes, that we may see your glory in all creation. Hear us, O Christ.

Touch our ears, that we may hear from every mouth the hunger for hope and stories of refreshment. Hear us, O Christ.

Touch our lips, that we may tell in every tongue and dialect the wonderful works of God. Hear us, O Christ.

Touch our hearts, that we may discern the mission to which you call us. Hear us, O Christ.

Touch our feet, that we may take your Good News into our neighborhoods, communities, and all parts of the world. Hear us, O Christ.

Touch our hands, that we may each accomplish the work you give us to do. Hear us, O Christ.

Strengthen and encourage all who minister in your name in lonely, dangerous and unresponsive places. Hear us, O Christ.

Open the hearts and hands of many to support your Church in this and every place. Hear us, O Christ.

O God, we praise you for the depth of your love for the world revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We thank you for choosing and sending us to reveal by our word and example your steadfast love: making some apostles, some  prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip your people for the building up of the Body of Christ. Bless us in our words and works that your Name may be glorified, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany: The Book of Occasional Services, 2003, excerpted, p. 246, Collect, p. 237 adapted

I welcome you to join us (who have more questions than answers and who have love to share). Consider becoming part of the Forum. Have questions but can’t attend? I encourage you to leave your questions here and I’ll answer as best I can. ~dan rondeau

Expanding and refining our vision

Earlier this month I introduced you to Hovak Najarian who will expand our vision as we view Stan’s offerings in art each week. Not only will Hovak expand our vision but he will offer an experienced and educated eye to help us refine our vision as we enter the world of art. On the Third Sunday in Lent Stan directed our eyes to Rembrandt’s painting of Christ driving the Money-Changers out of the Temple. Hovak presents this additional information to help us into the art. ~dan

Comments on Rembrandt’s Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple by Hovak Najarian

Rembrandt’s painting, Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple was painted only a year after his earliest dated work but it already shows his interest and ability to create paintings of emotional depth.  Like his teacher, Pieter Lastman, Rembrandt was particularly interested in faces and in “Money-Changers,” each face, figure, and gesture is a focal point of deep expression.

The art of the Italian Renaissance grew out of a rebirth of classicism (the art of the Greeks in particular). The Greek gods were sculpted with idealized human proportions and this idealization and refinement carried over into Renaissance painting and into the works commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church and wealthy families.  The art of Protestant Northern Europe of the seventeenth century, however, did not reflect the classic ideal and their paintings were less likely to be of Mary and child, the crucifixion, or one of the saints. Their figures were more like everyday people, not idealized images.

Dutch businesses thrived during Rembrandts time and he earned a very good income from painting portraits of his patrons.  Rembrandt also painted Biblical subjects of deep emotional content. There is realism in the faces of the people in “Money-Changers.” They are not men with classic profiles set in place for a lovely picture.  The money-changers’ faces show furrowed brows, mouths agape, and surprised reactions as Jesus moves into action. Jesus is not centrally located in the scene as is often the case but rather he is at the upper left side as though he just entered the scene and caused the money-changers to scramble.  He is not a handsome man with a sweet beatific expression.  He looks tough, serious, and his eyes are focused and intense.  The money-changers seem like real people in a real situation; the painting does not give the effect of a scene that is staged.

The facial expressions and sense of activity of the figures seen in Rembrandt’s earlier paintings gradually changed in focus as he became older.  Instead of movement, his figures tend to remain still with a sense of heavy emotional weight and feeling concentrated in facial expressions.

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© 2012 Hovak Najarian

B The Holy Name, Art for Readings for January 1, 2012

REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn
(b. 1606, Leiden, d. 1669, Amsterdam)
Click to open Web Gallery of Art Artist Biography and to explore other works by this artist.

The Circumcision in the Stable
1654
Etching, 94 x 144 mm
(3.7 x 5.7 in.)

Click to open Web Gallery of Art display page. Click on their image to enlarge/fit page etc.

Are you ready for another timely word?

Words are important. We use a lot of words in the Sunday Morning Forum. We hear a lot of words—from scripture and from each other. In Sunday’s Gospel account (12/4/11) we heard that John “appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Mark 1:4. Once again the SSJE brothers give us a word:

REPENTANCE

“Repentance is one of the essential words of the Scriptures. It’s found on the lips of the prophets, it’s found on the lips of John the Baptist, and it’s found on the lips of Jesus himself…. We’re almost programmed to expect words like hellfire and brimstone to follow, and sometimes they do, but we can’t avoid it or do without because it is one of our essential words—and practices.”

-Br. Kevin Hackett via Brother, Give Us A Word a ministry of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) in Boston, MA (members are also known as “The Cowley Fathers”)

More on the word:

Repentance: A change of mind or behaviour; this may be attributed even to God in OT (1 Sam. 15: 11). It was demanded of the people whose repentance was often merely formalized in cultic actions and as such condemned by prophets as inadequate and empty (Amos 4: 6; Hosea 6: 4; Isa. 1: 10–17) and without the radical change demanded by the Law. The hope lay in the possibility that one day God would give his people a new heart (Ezek. 36: 26–31) and there would be forgiveness to all who repented (Isa. 1: 18–19). In the NT repentance is called for by John the Baptist (Matt. 3: 9–10) and is to be validated by baptism. The call is repeated by Jesus (Luke 5: 32) and sometimes Paul (e.g. Rom. 2: 4) and in Rev. (2: 5).

“repentance.” In A Dictionary of the Bible. , edited by W. R. F. BROWNING. Oxford Biblical Studies Online http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/article/opr/t94/e1610 (accessed 07-Dec-2011).

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.