And the lava flowed into the sea...

I remember as a young man seeing video of a volcano for the first time.  The lava was flowing down the mountain into the ocean.   When it touched the water, it roiled and exploded.   Such raw power, such destruction!   I was filled with fear that such a thing could happen to us!  I knew there were no active volcanoes anywhere near our home in Virginia.   Yet, the image was stuck in my mind and for days I couldn't sleep for fear of seeing them in my dreams.  That's the image that the Israelites experienced first hand in the desert of God.   Loud booming sounds, smoke and fire, lightning and thunder.   An image of God so terrifying that they begged Moses to go intercede for them for fear that just hearing God's voice would cause them to die.

The author of Hebrews gives us a different image of God.  That of a 'festal' gathering.  A party!  Recently I went to a wedding with Julie's family.   It had been years since we had been to anything of this sort.  With work and the kids we just couldn't find time or the money to go.   When we arrived though, we were welcomed with open arms and warm familial hugs.   We didn't feel out of place, but rather felt we were part of the family... The words that come to mind are: familiar, warm, inviting, peaceful, joyful, welcome.   That's the image we get of Heaven.   Not something to be feared, but a place to long for.   A gathering around the wedding feast of the Lamb where "everyone knows your name."

The key to being invited though, the key to the entire walk of the Christian life, is humility.   Not some false humility where one puts themselves down in order to make them look even more 'humble' than someone else, but a true sense of humility in which we realize exactly who we are.  An honest assessment of ourselves. A recognition that we are indeed sinners, and yet are called adopted Sons/Daughters of the most High!   That we are fallen in nature but chosen in calling.   Acceptance of the fact that we are holy, set apart, consecrated for God... not in some haughty manner, but in gentle, silent awe filled wonder that we are who God says we are.... that kind of humility allows us to take the lesser seat.   To sit at the foot of the table.  Because we know that's where we belong... and if God left us there?  We would have no qualms, no quarrels of sitting with the least of our brothers....

It's there that we encounter Christ in the here and now.   In the eyes of the distressful disguises that He chooses to wear.   In the outcast, the orphan, the widow... the broken, the fallen, the addicted, the scared... yes, there that we sit with Him at the table... Yet we are called to be like Christ in all things, yes?   To be not just guests at the wedding, but co-hosts with our adopted Brother.   Are you doing your part?  Are you going out to the honored guest and lifting them up to a higher place?  It's in the sick, the poor, the angry, the unappreciated, the fallen away, the mangled up, chewed up, and spit out person that we encounter Christ face to face... are you helping Him find a higher place at the table?  Christ deserves the seat of honor.. the highest praise... the best meal and the best plates... are you offering Him the best you have?  Or are you leaving Him sitting at the lower end of the table while you sit with those who make you comfortable?

We have work to do Church... more especially I have work to do.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

 A reflection on the readings for the Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: August 28th, 2016.  Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29; Psalm 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24; Luke 14:1, 7-14

The Princess and the Pea

When I was growing up in the mountains of southwest Virginia, God had blessed my family with the beautiful gift of being able to have horses in our lives.  I did not appreciate that immense gift for many years to come, but I did enjoy riding them.  I had this beautiful horse named Babe.  She was just the most gentle, loving, and amazing horse.   If you were riding her and began to lean to one side, as if you were going to fall out of the saddle, she'd walk in that direction to make sure you didn't fall.  I once did fall out of the saddle and decided to lead her for a while in the rain, a little fearful to get back on her.  The entire time I walked in front of her she kept nudging me to see if I was ok.

One day I saddled her for a ride and things seemed off.  She seemed distracted, constantly moving in odd ways.  It was as if she was shrugging her shoulders.  Turning her head to try and nip at me.  Even bucking once in a while.  I couldn't figure it out. She had never acted this way.  I rode her for a long while and then got her back to the riding rink.  I began to take off her saddle.  When I did there was a huge sigh of relief from the horse.  I noticed the blanket had a large wrinkle in the middle.   My dad had always told me that you had to make sure the saddle blanket was smooth before putting on the saddle.  I really didn't care I guess, being a teenager I thought I knew all the answers.  When I pulled the blanket off I noticed an almost bare spot on her skin.   What to me seemed unimportant had nearly made a raw place on the poor horses back.

Years later I had my spine fused.  Most of you know that story.  I was in a hospital bed in our living room for a very long time.  I can't remember much of that time.  It was mostly pain, sleep, bathroom, pain, sleep, bathroom.  The medicines they had me on were strong.  My wife took such great care of me.  I remember very clearly though that I had to have the sheets perfectly smooth.  If there was the slightest wrinkle, the slightest fold.. it would make my back scream in pain.  I am sure I was a pain to live with.. but I learnt first hand what I had put my beautiful friend through all those years ago.  What doesn't seem like a big deal, what seems insignificant, can create quite a bit of pain.. even begin to rub you raw if you give it enough time.

That brings me back again to today's readings.  We see John the Baptist beginning to prepare peoples hearts for the message they will receive from Christ.  We see the message from both Isaiah and Baruch that we must make crooked things straight, fill in the valleys and lower the mountains, until the pathway is smooth.  Just like a saddle blanket prepares the horse for a saddle and a bedsheet prepares the bed for the occupant, so too must the pathway be made ready for him who will walk on it.  We see Jesus use parables about seeds and farming.  In those parables the seed goes into the soil.  We are that soil.  We are the path that Jesus will walk on.  Our body is the temple that He resides in.

How powerful an image is that?  That is why during this Advent we are supposed to examine our hearts.  Our hearts are the place where God is supposed to reside.  We must ask ourselves, are there any things in there, no matter how small... no matter how tiny it may seem.. but anything that makes the path unsmooth?  It may not seem like much.  Our flesh may even try to convince us that "Oh that?  Nah that's being too picky."  Look closely.  Then ask God to clear it from you.  You see the horse is our heart, the saddle blanket our preparation, the saddle the gentle yoke of Christ.  The Holy Spirit is coming to bring Christ into the world.   He is to be born again, born again in our hearts every second of every day.  Is there anything standing in the way?  Anything that keeps us from wanting that saddle on us?  Remember, it might not seem like much at first.. but eventually it begins to dig in.. it begins to chaff.. to rub.. to make raw places.... Let God get all of it out of the way. 

I keep hearing people say God loves you and wants you just the way you are.  I agree.  He does indeed love you, and he wants you to come to Him regardless of your sins.. regardless of your bumps, bruises, folds and wrinkles.  He loves you too much to leave you there.  He wants to smooth things out.  He wants to make the pathway straight, the blanket pleasant, the sheet fit perfectly.  He loves you just the way you are.. but too much to leave you that way.  So open your heart, your mind, your soul to the Holy Spirit that he may prepare a manger for the coming King.  Then allow Him to be born in your heart, over and over... until that day when you are born again into His kingdom and he says to his Church, "take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship."