June 9

The retreat was amazing.  No other word for it.  Those women blew the lid off the place.  I cried for days, just releasing energy that was in that room.  It’s taken me all week to recover!  Thank God, thank you God, for a retreat day and a quiet week.  Thank you for brave women.  Now that’s what I call Pentecost!

And now, as we move toward Trinity Sunday, I’m reading Bede Griffiths.  In his search for points of commonality with all religions, he also touched on what is distinctive about Christianity: not, for him, the place of Jesus, but rather the Trinity.  The awareness of plurality and movement in the heart of the Godhead struck him as the unique gift of Christianity to the world.  I don’t know enough about other religions to know if it’s true that this is so unique, but his words made me sit up and look again at the power of the Trinity.

God is love: not merely the love that God sends into the world, the love we share with God, but the love within the Godhead itself.  God loves, in an endless flow.  God’s love for us is like the meteors that shower us; it is the overflow, the scattering, of a love that is perfect within itself.   And our love in return is the bounce of that same love, like light bouncing off a mirror.  But it’s not just a reflection of one thing: it is authentic, distinct, and yet one with the greater light.

This brings me back to forgiveness.  Henri Nouwen wrote, “Forgiveness is love practiced among people who love badly.”  Forgiveness repairs the gaps and the tears in the fabric of love.  In our daily lives we experience ourselves as not only distinct but as separate, even opposed, and so we hurt one another.  Forgiveness clears the ground for the dance of love to begin again.

I’m asking forgiveness more and more.  I’m granting forgiveness more and more.  My life is richer because of these.  And that is what God desires, what Jesus promises: abundant life.  In that abundant life I am free to dance with the One in Three, to find myself in God and God in me.  May you, may we, share that life today and always.

Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:25-35,37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39

Interesting how much choice is given in the readings, isn’t it?  I wonder what’s up with that.

I’m leading a recovery retreat focused on forgiveness this weekend, so my readings are Acts, 1 Corinthians, and John 20.  I was tickled to see the John reading especially: “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”  I love that this instruction is given to all the disciples, not only to Peter (and I imagine there were male and female disciples in that room).  We all receive that Spirit at baptism, and we all have this power.  But what does it mean, to have the power to forgive or to retain sins?

This is a dense passage.  If you aren’t up for a slog, you might stop now.  But we’re going someplace important.  I’m following Gail O’Day’s commentary here, as best I can.

For John, “sin” is not a moral category so much as a theological one.  Sin is the state of separation from God, not by our bad acts but by our failure to see God in Jesus.  When John’s Jesus accuses the Pharisees of being “sinners” he is not calling them morally bad, but he’s saying they are blind to the presence of God among them (John 9).

“Forgiving sins” for John is not about removing a stain from our character, but is about revealing God at work in Christ.  If the faith community does not “forgive” this blindness by proclaiming and witnessing, then people will be left in their state of separation - their “sins will be retained.”  This is not then about penance and confession and absolution, as the Church later developed them (based on a passage in Matthew, very different); it’s about manifesting God and giving people a chance to see what we have seen.

Why use the word “forgive” here?  It doesn’t sound like the way we use it at all.  And because of that, it might open a new window on forgiveness.  When I forgive someone for particular violations, that’s a good thing; but if I’m really about new life, I don’t want to leave it there.  If I want release for myself and others, release from the past that so easily becomes the future, I need to find another way forward.  How about turning to God, turning to Jesus, seeing the glory that awaits us all?  Not so much about turning like “have mercy on me, a sinner” (which is still all about me), but turning like “Wow!  I never knew how much beauty and love are here all around!”

What if forgiveness is sharing the “Wow!” and letting the anger and regret of the past heal itself?  What if gratitude is the key to forgiveness?

If I retain your sin, I do my part to leave you in the dark.  I don’t really think I can claim to live in the light and do that.  I can’t make you live in the light; I can’t always even be sure I’m there!.  But I can do my best to let the light shine through me, so others might see what I’ve glimpsed.  Jesus isn’t authorizing the disciples to withhold or judge the “sins” of others; he’s commissioning them to do their best to let the light shine.  Peter’s speech on Pentecost is an example.  He doesn’t walk around forgiving people; he announces God at work in Christ, and opens the door for others to experience what he has experienced. 

Let’s do that.

June 1

Feast of the Visitation (transferred from yesterday)

1 Samuel 2:1-10; Psalm 113; Romans 12:9-16b; Luke 1:39-57

We had some chaos at home that made yesterday not a good day to celebrate this most blessed among feasts, so we’re doing it today.  I hope you all celebrated, but if not, you have another chance!

Today we remember Mary’s visit to Elizabeth after she’s learned she’s pregnant.  She arrives alone, likely afraid and confused about her future.  She may have encountered Gabriel, the angel of God, but I imagine a part of her wondered if she just made it up.  Elizabeth immediately changes her context and validates her faith.  She affirms that Mary is carrying a holy child, that she has been blessed.  Mary in turn sings the song of praise and power that has meant so much to so many (in fact, the Magnificat has been banned in Latin American countries where the rulers knew it was too empowering to be safe!).

So today we remember the power of community, of companions, to sustain us in our times of uncertainty.  Today I remember those, women and men, who saw something in me and called me blessed, or gifted, or beloved.  Thank you Mr. Rifkind and Mr. Wilhite (high school teachers); thank you Alan Garfunkel (college professor); thank you, faculty of the department of Political Science at UMass Amherst; thank you, Kaile Goodman; thank you, Bishop Beckwith; thank you, Don and Susan and Jim and Bob and all my coaches and mentors and sponsors.  Thank you, Elizabeth, for taking this journey with me and calling me blessed.  All of you are in the song I sing today.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

Who sings to you?  Who calls out your song?  Thank them today.

Seventh Sunday of Easter

The heavens are full of the glory of God!

We decided to have an outdoor Eucharist this morning.  We started hiking at 6:30 in the Mohonk Preserve.  After an hour or so we stopped for Eucharist on a rock overlooking the Rondout Valley, then we had breakfast.

We didn't take this photo, but it gives you a tiny idea of what we experienced.

Where do you go for replenishment?
Give thanks for those who ensure access to natural beauty, and pray for those who lack that access.  Pray that our whole earth become a mirror of God's glory, and that we find our rightful place in it.

May 22

We just led a wonderful retreat with an amazing group of people.  The retreat is about encountering Mary Magdalene, getting inside her story rather than just learning about it.  How well it goes depends on the participants (as is true of any retreat), and this group just soared.  Elizabeth and i came out of it exhausted but wondering, “When do we get to do that again?”  And they were suggesting venues and possibilities.  So stay tuned!

For me the most powerful part is getting to be Mary at the tomb.  I won’t say “playing” Mary; it doesn’t seem like that.  It seems more like Ignatian prayer, getting inside the story with my whole body and heart.  I’ve done this a few times, with Mary and with some other Biblical figures, and I find my desire growing.  I’m thinking of doing it just on my own, without others there, just to get really deeply in touch with Jesus.

What makes a retreat like that work, though, is the willingness of the participants to enter in.  I don’t lead the retreat for myself, and we tell the retreatants that they are there to bring something back to others.  This group totally showed up - minds and hearts, ready to be transformed.  So thank you to all of you who made it what it was!

Tomorrow I return to the monastery for the Making A Difference workshop.   It’s a totally different event, but once again the truth shows up: the workshop is a mutual creation.  We will all be transformed there, opened to new possibilities.  It’s a privilege and a joy to be present for this.

Please keep us all in prayer this week, that the participants and the assistants and the leaders all get renewed in their ministry and desire to serve.  And I will be praying for you to find that same endless well of love.

May 17: Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Easter

Eastertide has been a whirlwind for me, for us.  I’ve been to Northern Ireland to help lead the Mastery Foundation’s School for Leadership.  This is a volunteer operation, everyone pays to go work with these gifted and dedicated people.  I came back inspired and exhausted.  Then we went on “vacation” for five days.  We drove, walked, hiked, and took a bus that broke down on the highway in New Jersey.  It was lovely, but I came back more exhausted!  I got rested over the weekend, then we had two days at home before getting back in the car for meetings down in Long Island.  Now, some people love driving and love cities; I’m not one of them.  I’m ready for a few days in one place.  

I’m getting my wish: this weekend we lead the Mary Magdalene retreat at Holy Cross Monastery.  We get two days off, then I’m back to lead “Making A Difference,” another volunteer effort for the Mastery Foundation.   Then a week off before leading the Forgiveness retreat for AA and AlAnon women in Connecticut.

It all seemed like a good idea at the time . . . 

And I believe it was, and is.  Our lives move in ebbs and flows.  This is a season of big flow for me.  For others it’s a quiet time.  I know many people who are grieving loved ones right now; their lives are following another rhythm.  At each moment I need to remind myself, “This too shall pass.”  The exhaustion will pass.  The excitement will pass.  The grief, the joy, whatever I’m experiencing, will pass.  Our work is to be present to it all without grasping or denying.  

And yes, we can learn from it.  Next time I won’t squeeze so many things in so tightly - or maybe I will!  Maybe this is part of who I am.  I delight in chances to share what I’ve been given.  I love seeing people come alive in new ways.  That’s worth some weariness.  

But i do miss writing during those periods.  I sense you all with me when I write and post, and I look forward to your responses.  I lose something when we’re out of touch.  Know that during those periods I continue to pray for you, even those I don’t know.  You are my partners in ministry.

So, these next two weeks are likely to be pretty quiet again.  I won’t have much internet access, or much time.  But nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, and in Christ we are members of one body.  I know that, and rely on it.  Please keep me, keep us in your prayers these next weeks, and pray for all those who will be participating with us.  Thank you for being with us on the road.

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

Fourth Sunday in Easter

Hi everyone! I'm (Shane) back from a week working in Northern Ireland with the Mastery Foundation School for Leadership. Exhausted by inspired by the amazing participants.

In honor of Good Shepherd Sunday and Ireland, let me recommend this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qniwI2hNhDs

Readings for today are Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10.

Have fun!