I am a wanderer. I would say that I am a seeker, but sometimes I have no idea what I might be seeking, so I will stick with wanderer. This blog is more a public journal than anything. I don't claim to have life figured out. I simply stumble from mystery to mystery, and share my reflections along the way. Sometimes I feel burdened, and trudge. Sometimes? Well sometimes grace breaks through, and its time to dance.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
heaven breaks loose
Jesus loves us this we know, for his baptism tells us
so. Sinful ones to him belong. We go down, and he’s along
Dale
Brunner
We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that
deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust,
sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity,
wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.
E.E.
Cummings
___________________________________________
When we think God
as “with us”
as coming into time and space
we think of his birth
that weird and wonderful entrance
as a child
of a mother born
with pain and tears, and I suspect, joy and relieved
laughter too
When we think of God
Identifying with humanity
We think of the manger
That humble, common, earthy birth
But when we think of Jesus identifying with sinful
humanity
With greedy, hateful, selfish humanity
With violent, abusive, destructive humanity
We need to think of his baptism
Of that time when Jesus,
“God’s beloved son”
The one who expressed the reality of the Sacred
Uniquely
Fully
Powerful
Went into the dirty waters of the Jordan with all those
Miserable sinners.
John’s Baptism was a baptism of repentance
It was an act of contrition
The people who flocked to the Jordan to
be dunked by a wild eyed, scruffy, politically incorrect
prophet
were people who knew
if they knew nothing else
that they had not lived up to their identity as “the
people of God”
they were remorseful, and regretful
and penitent
and their journey to the river was a statement
we have sinned against God and against humanity
we do not deserve to be part of this family of faith
we are prodigal
And while the religious elite of the time
Stood on the banks and watched,
Amused perhaps by the antics of the camel hair wearing
Locust eating baptizer
And by the foolish folk
Being dunked into the dirty water of the Jordon
Jesus jumped right in
They went down
He went along
Showing through that action
That he was, and is
“all in” with humanity
There are no contingencies here
Just total identification
Just love
He stepped into the muddy waters of the Jordan
And all heaven broke loose
And all those people
Soggy robes, wet hair
Tired souls, fearful hearts and all
Knew
It was OK
Knew that God is love
And all those people were set free
To do life a different way
For there is nothing as empowering
Nothing as freeing, as unconditional love
This is what the Sacred does when it comes
It touches us with love
It “reveals that deep inside us something is valuable,
worth listening to,
worthy of our trust,
sacred to our touch.
This is what the Sacred does
as it comes as Spirit, that same Spirit that came to
Jesus
It sets us free
To start again
To create not just new beginnings, but new endings
It sets us free to do life a different way
I allows us, because we are certain of Sacred love,
To risk
“curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight”
To risk generosity
To risk forgiveness
To risk kindness
To risk love
It free us to be who we truly are
Sacred children
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