Table Talk - Surprised by God

The Good News of Jesus Christ according to the evangelist John, chapter 1, verses 29 to 42.

John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, `After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel." And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

The discussion over dinner reflected on these questions:

1.  How has God surprised you?

2.  How is God surprising you now?

Sunday Supper, Prayer, Theology-on-Tube

Bob wrapped up the conversation with these thoughts:

The overarching theme that I got from what I heard [in the discussions around the table] is God’s ability to surprise.  So many of us are locked into – or feel that we’re locked into – this schedule of ‘this is what I have to do today’ and ‘I have to get this next thing done because of this other thing.’  My eyes were really open to this at Thanksgiving.  [Lisa and I] had eleven guys from Sudan sharing Thanksgiving with us, and one of them said to me, “You Americans, all you do is work, eat, and sleep.”  Work, eat, sleep.  

Work.  

         Eat. 

              Sleep . . . .  

                               And I thought, wait - what else is there?  

I was surprised that he saw that so clearly . . . and reflected that back to me.  We can get locked into that, can’t we?  Work, eat, sleep.  But there’s really so much more to this life.  

And if we just have the eyes to see it, God has the capacity and the ability [to surprise us], and he’s surprising us all the time – 

all of the time.

Even if we have an expectation and things don’t go well or the way we expected, God has the ability to surprise us.  And God often surprises us in way that our expectations are blown away.  We had a great gathering last Sunday evening for our first Sunday supper, prayer, and theology-on-tube dry run.  And I had expected that we’d have a few folks and it would go well, but we had whole lot of folks and it went incredibly well.  The discussion was really deep and wonderful.  What a surprise!  Even though we were expecting good, it was great. 

So the question I think I’ll leave you with to ponder as we leave this place is, where might you be surprised?  If you’re feeling sort of locked into that schedule of work-eat-sleep, work-eat-sleep, where are some places for to pick your head up, open your eyes, and be open to those surprises – to God’s surprises?  This is the season of Epiphany, so where might you have an epiphany – or, as the Greeks say, a theophany?  Where is God opening your eyes in this season of Epiphany?     

Believe in the Resurrection? Heck - We've seen it!

If you haven't heard about it, there's recently been a blog battle waged between two of the big, popular Christian thinkers of the day.  The first shot was fired - apparently without any attempt to offend - by author and Theologian-in-Residence at Solomon's Porch, Tony Jones.  On his blog, responding to the question of a reader, Jones casually characterized the view of Christ's resurrection held by Marcus Borg as a feeling that "only happens in the believer's heart," rather than an event that occurred in objective reality.  Borg - the well-known historical Jesus scholar and Canon Theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral - countered by claiming that Jones has misrepresented his take on the Resurrection of Jesus.  Jones allowed that perhaps his original characterization was off the mark, but that Borg's perspective, even with all the nuance it demands, amounts to a denial of the resurrection as a real event.  Finally, Borg followed up with a post in which he further explained his perspective and reiterated the question at the end of his previous post: "does [this] disagreement matter?"

Not a few bloggers have weighed in on this whole debate.  And I certainly have my own thoughts on that matter (some of which can be read in this Easter sermon about zombies and vampires).  But I'd rather talk about another reflection on the resurrection I've heard recently.

Photo by Ben Thomas

The other day, our merry missioner, Bob and I were riding back from a meeting that included some of our fellow clergy in the area.  During our conversation on the drive, it became clear that the negativity of a few of the clergy about their ministries had diminished Bob's usual joviality.  Later in the day, Bob was back in high spirits.  So, I asked him what could have lifted the cloud of gloominess that followed us from the meeting.
He answered, "The Holy Spirit, man."

Bob explained that he had been driving back after presiding at the Eucharist at a nearby church for a rector who was away.  As he was returning to the Southside, the Spirit filled him with her sighs too deep for words.  He saw that old chicken factory that employs so many in and around the Southside.  He saw that motel that doubles as the most affordable housing for those folks and families who otherwise wouldn't have a home - the same motel where Southside Abbey put up a bouncy-castle, some tables-and-chairs, and a grill a few weeks ago, throwing a party to celebrate one year of striving to be the beloved community in this neighborhood.  He saw this neighborhood we call home, for which Southside Abbey has declared a Jubilee Year and begun collecting the funds to make it so.  He saw that the tomb was indeed empty, and - between laughing and crying - he said out loud:  "The Resurrection is real!  There's resurrection all around us!"

In their blog debate, neither Jones nor Borg have addressed why some saw the risen Christ while others did not, and why some at first only saw a gardener or stranger but later recognized him as their resurrected Lord.  But an Anglican priest and theologian, Sarah Coakley has explored those very questions.  Coakley has looked to the teachings of the early Church fathers and mothers on the development of the spiritual senses for recognizing the resurrected Christ and the new creation begun in him.  In the word proclaimed, we learn to hear and receive the voice of the risen one.  Through the liturgy - our common prayer - our deepest desire is reoriented to its true object, the risen Christ, and we come to recognize him in the Eucharistic meal that we share.  But Coakley points out that the development of these spiritual senses brings with it an awareness of real absence, of the cross, of the empty tomb.

This is no less true when we develop our spiritual senses morally, to see the resurrection in the world around us. "By the same token," Coakley writes, "in my moral life, in my intended acts of mercy, though it is Jesus I seek to obey and emulate, it is always in the erasure of expectation that Jesus truly presents himself to me - in the entirely unromantic other, in the exhausting and defeating poverty of my neighbor . . . ."  And it's this real absence, this erasure of expectation, this recognition of the empty tomb as an empty tomb that empties us, dispossesses us, opens us to the Holy Spirit.  For, finally, the development of our spiritual senses only creates the possibility for recognizing the risen Jesus.  To truly see him - in the Eucharist and in the face of those we serve - is to have received him as a gift given "in the incarnational physicality of" the meal we share and the neighbors we serve, through the Holy Spirit.

"The Resurrection is real!  There's resurrection all around us!"