The On-going Search For Christian Unity

Jesus prayed that "we all may be one."

In Sunday’s readings, we hear various titles ascribed to Jesus.

He is the “lamb” who saves us through his death and resurrection. He is the “son” who is one with the God of Israel.  He is the “Christ,” the long-expected messiah who inaugurates God’s kingdom of justice and freedom and truth and peace and love. He is the sovereign “Lord” to whom we pledge our ultimate allegiance.  He is the “servant,” the “light” who illumines answers to questions about life, e. g., what on earth am I here for..

John’s description stands out for me: “Behold, the lamb of God.” John pointed out that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb who would re-establish a right relationship for us with God and one another. In death, there will be eternal life.

The author of Isaiah takes us back to the sixth century before Jesus, to the Jews exiled in Babylonia. This passage is a poem, a song, about a “servant of God” who will bring hope to those who have lost hope in the future. This “servant” will save all peoples, be a “light” to all. The Christian community saw in this “servant” Jesus, whose vocation or calling was to be our way to eternal life, our truth who sets us free from false isms, our light who guides us in our earthly journey toward our heavenly dwelling place.

Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth, a seaport city in Greece, speaks about his own vocation as an apostle.  God through Jesus by the power of the Spirit has bestowed his grace and peace upon us. Paul challenges us to live a life of virtue that’s worthy of our calling, to become a holy people.

In the Gospel, John points out Jesus as the Lamb of God, an allusion to the  Hebrew Passover meal and the sacrificial lamb in Jewish temple worship.  John then saw Jesus arise from the Jordan waters and the Spirit confirming Jesus as “Son of God.” This Jesus, truly human and truly divine, who through his death/resurrection by the power of the Spirit re-established our friendship with God again, is gloriously alive in his community of disciples, the one Church he founded, to continue his saving ministry until he comes again in power and glory to create a “new heaven and a new earth.”

Jesus prayed that this community would always be one.  Yet over the centuries it has divided into many communities: Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants: Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians etc.

And that is why we have a week of prayer for Christian Unity January 19-25. All Christians profess one Lord, one faith and one baptism. But they have split into different and sometimes opposing traditions.

As we pray with Jesus that “we all may be one,” we recognize that Jesus in today’s Gospel is the foundation of our world-wide faith community. And we ought to give thanks to God for this: a community that calls us to a life with God here and now, and to eternal life where we shall be like God and see God as God is.

Baptism of the Lord

Baptism of Jesus by John

Sunday we celebrated the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. We began our liturgy with the rite of the sprinkling of water upon ourselves, a symbolic invitation to renew our own baptismal promises and be ever more enthusiastic missionary disciples of Jesus.

Our baptism began our journey to the eternal dwelling place of God, with Jesus as our guide and teacher. We not only experienced water, as Jesus did, but we became disciples of Jesus. That experience changed our lives. We became new creatures, alive with God's life.

The word of God takes us back in our imaginations to the sixth century before Jesus, to the Hebrew exile in Babylonia (what we know as Iraq). This passage is a poem, a song, about a future “servant” who will be a light to those who live in darkness.

The early Christian community saw in this “servant” Jesus: who proclaimed a transcendent purpose for us: eternal life with God beyond our earthly life. This word may challenge us to ask whether we have our priorities straight: always to be in a right relationship with God and one another.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, John the Baptist invites people to live a God-centered, other-centered life. His focus was clearly to point to Jesus as the Messiah. John then baptizes Jesus. As Jesus arises from the waters, the power of God overwhelms him and fired up by the spirit of God, he begins his public ministry in Galilee.

Baptism is a rite of initiation into a world-wide community of Christian disciples. We baptize children to emphasize that baptism is a gift from God, like human life, not just something we choose to have.

To understand baptism, we recognize who we are in relationship to God. In the beginning, man and woman walked with God; they had friendship with God and with one another. But somehow they lost that friendship. They fell from grace. Genesis describes very powerfully their fall. They hid from God. Ever since, human beings have cried out for God’s friendship again.

That's why God became flesh – one with us -- in Jesus. God, through the dying/rising of Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit, re-establishes that friendship again.

This new relationship makes very straight-forward demands upon us. The so-called Ten Commandments are about freeing ourselves from attitudes and behaviors that undermine our relationship with God and one another. Put simply, God is an awesome creator God who loves us unconditionally; and our response always is gratitude.

As we celebrate Jesus’s baptism, I invite all of us to renew our baptismal promises now, to be missionary disciples of Jesus, gloriously alive especially in word and sacrament.

Living a God-centered, Other-centered Life

Pope Francis Baptizing a Child in the Sistine Chapel

Baptism is a transformative experience. God lives in us and we live in God. That’s our indelible identity. God empowers us, by his grace and favor, to live godlike lives, as sons and daughters of God our Father and co-heirs to the promise of eternal life.

And in this celebratory event, we are invited to renew our baptismal promises so that we can live ever more transparently, trying as best we can to do the right thing.

The beginning of the new year is a perfect time to do this. We may have already reflected on all that happened in 2018, for example: What am I thankful for? Or perhaps, we might sigh with relief, good riddance.  In any case, what do I look forward to in 2019? What will I do differently? Let's look to the word of God as a guide.

The word of God takes us back to the sixth century before Jesus, to the Hebrew exile in ancient Babylonia (known today as Iraq). The passage is a poem, a song, about a “servant” who will be a light, a doer of justice, a liberator, a faithful keeper of God’s covenant. The early Christians saw in this Hebrew “servant” Jesus, who proclaimed a transcendent purpose for us: eternal life with God by living a god-like life here and now.

In the Book of Acts of the Apostles, the author describes Peter, fired up by the grace of God, proclaiming Jesus as God’s anointed One, the Messiah. And you and I should be fired up by the grace of God, trying to live a life of virtue.

In the Gospel according to Luke, John baptizes Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River. And the power of God overwhelms Jesus and he begins his public ministry, proclaiming a new purpose for us.

John the Baptist’s calling was clearly to point to Jesus as the Messiah. And what is John doing? He is baptizing. He’s inviting people to turn their lives around, to live a God-centered, other-centered life. We might ask whether we reflect Jesus Christ in our relationships.

To understand baptism, we first have to understand who we are in relationship to God. The Book of Genesis captures this. In the beginning, man and woman walked with God; they had friendship with God and friendship with one another. But in spite of knowing what God wanted, they lost that friendship. They hid from God, each blaming others. Sometimes, we play the blame game, don’t we.
Ever since, the human family has cried out for God’s friendship again.

So God became flesh. God, through Jesus Christ and with the power of the Spirit, re-establishes our friendship.

Thus, baptism initiates us into a new community of fellowship, of grace. This makes very straight-forward demands and freedoms. Put very simply, our God is all-mighty and all-present, a God of love; and our response to God’s love is gratitude.

This planet of ours, and the people on it, reflect the image of God. And everything God has created – God’s people especially -- is worthy of reverence.

Facing the Light

Christ Risen

The word of God takes us back to the wisdom literature of ancient Israel. The author speaks about a person who always tries to do the right thing. But how do some react? They want to murder him. “Let’s see whether God will rescue him,” they say.

This raises the eternal problem of evil. Why do bad things happen to good people? The word assures us God is close to us, even during the storms or assaults of life.

The author of the letter of James asks: why do some people choose evil? People indeed at times choose wrong over right, falsehood over truth. Christianity calls this human condition “original sin.” The fall from grace is described in the biblical Book of Genesis: man and woman hid from God.

Jesus, the Word made flesh, through his life-giving ministry and terrible death and glorious resurrection is our healer, our reconciler with God and one another. In baptism, we have become by grace what Jesus is by nature: sons and daughters of God, called to live a life worthy of that calling.

In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus challenges us to serve one another even if it may cost us dearly.  Jesus predicts his own passion and death and resurrection. This mystery reveals our true destiny: in relationship with God forever in a new, indescribable, transformative life.

Jesus brings us face to face with his and our own death: a fact of life.

Today, some people may die in their 90s or 100s in hospitals or nursing homes or hospices, or alone. The best seller “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” by a surgeon, questions when to “let go,” when to stop offering medical treatments that likely don’t work. The doctor asks: why submit the dying to the full panoply of procedures only to see them completely lose their independence.

Many of us know Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s five stages through which many patients and loved ones may pass:
-Denial: “No, not me.”  A typical response if one is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
-Anger: “Why me?” God may be a target especially if one is young. But it's ok to be angry with God.
-Bargaining: “Yes me, but.” The patient accepts, but bargains for more time. I'll do this or that if you, God, lengthen my life.
-Depression: “Yes, me.” The person realizes he/she is not getting better. The person regrets things done or not done.
And finally,
- Acceptance: “My time is running out but it’s all right.”

These stages can apply as well to other major life changes.

Dr. Kubler-Ross also wrote “Death: the Final Stage of Growth.” The title leads us to the Christian understanding of death. The foundation is Good Friday/Easter.

The story of Jesus did not end in the tragedy of the cross but in the triumph of the Resurrection, God transformed Jesus into an indescribable heavenly reality. And God also will transform us into a new kind of spiritual embodiment.

Our faith challenges us to remember that the light of our resurrection will shatter the darkness of our own death.