Joy to the World –Spiritual Blessings for All -- Lectionary Meditation for 2nd Sunday after Christmas

Jeremiah 31:7-14


Ephesians 1:3-14

John 1:10-18

Joy to the World –

Spiritual Blessings for All

As we meander toward the end of the Christmas season, which according to the commercial calendar began more than a month ago, if not sooner. The carols have all been sung, the presents opened, unacceptable presents have been returned, the trees and decorations have started to come down, and we have begun to focus on the coming new year, when all things become new. The liturgical calendar, however, won’t let us move on quite yet. Yes, according to the liturgical calendar we’re still in the season of Christmas. The texts for this second Sunday of Christmas (unless you decided to skip this day and move to Epiphany a few days early) speak in one way or another of the spiritual blessings that God has chosen to bestow upon God’s people, and the Ephesian letter and the Gospel of John root these blessings quite directly in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the prophet Jeremiah says to us – sing for joy and make your praises heard.

The Gospel lesson for the first Sunday after Christmas for this year comes from Matthew 2:13-23, a passage that speaks of the slaughter of the innocents and the flight of the Holy Family into exile in Egypt, from which they later return, bypassing Bethlehem and heading to Nazareth in Galilee. This theme of returning from exile appears in the Jeremiah passage, where the prophet invites the remnant people of Israel to sing for joy and make their praises heard, as they call out to God, asking that God would save this remnant. In answer, the prophet says, the Lord will bring the people home from the land to the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Everyone, the blind, the lame, the expectant mothers and those who are in labor at this very moment, yes a great throng of people will return to the land. And the message is this – God will be with them – continuing the message that we heard from Isaiah 7 in a previous Sunday – and God will lead them along streams of water (so they don’t thirst) and God will make their path level so they don’t stumble. Again, don’t you hear in this word from the prophet the promises that were heard during the Advent season, as we heard the story of the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. Now, it is the Lord who will prepare the way for God’s people to return home, and then will serve as the shepherd for this people, protecting and delivering them from the hand of the ones who are stronger than they. And again, in response, the people will shout for joy from the highest points and rejoice in the bounty of God. Yes, they will embrace the blessings of grain, new wine, olive oil, and flocks and herds full of young animals. Their land will be one of blessing, a well-watered garden. In that moment there will be no sorrow and the young and the old will dance with gladness. In that day of blessing, God will “turn their mourning into gladness.” Comfort and joy will replace their sorrow and the people will be satisfied. The blessings spoken of here are more material than spiritual, but the question of the day, as we await the coming of the magi bringing gifts, do we not need the material/physical blessings as well as the “spiritual ones?”

As we stand here with the people of God, rejoicing in God’s outpouring of blessings, we turn to the Ephesian letter, and standing right at the heart of this passage is a strongly worded embrace of predestination – or so it seems. In him, we’re told, God has chosen those whom God has predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in accordance with God’s plan. This is an extremely dense theological passage that requires much reflection, in large part because it speaks so strongly about election and predestination. For this meditation, I’d like to leave that discussion to one side (see my Ephesian Bible study, pp. 14-15, for a fuller discussion of this issue), and focus more on the opening line of verse 3, which calls on the reader to praise God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, because God has “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” The word about being destined – I prefer that form than the use of the word “predestined” – is rooted in this promise that God has chosen us for adoption to sonship in Christ. That is, we are heirs with Christ, of the full blessings of God, which comes to us as a result of God’s grace that includes forgiveness of sins. One of the key points in the Ephesian letter is that in Christ the mystery of God has been revealed, that God had chosen before the world began to bring Jew and Gentile into fellowship, with both peoples being made heirs of God in Christ, so that all might receive the blessings of God. It is, therefore, not a message of exclusion, as if God had chosen to bless some and not bless others, but that God had in mind an expansive sense of love and grace, and that sense is revealed in Christ, and it is sealed, so says the author of this letter, through the Holy Spirit, with which we have been sealed – a deposit guaranteeing that we will receive (redeem) our inheritance as God’s possession, to the praise and glory of God.

When we turn from the Ephesian letter to the prologue of John we move from one theologically dense work to another, though John 1 has a poetic sense to it. This lectionary passage places the first nine verses in parentheses and begins in earnest with verse ten, a passage that invites us to consider the one through whom the world came into existence. Interestingly, while the NIV uses the masculine pronoun in verse 10, the Common English Bible continues the train of thought from verse 9, and speaks of the world coming into existence “through the light.” But, as is often true in life, the world didn’t recognize the light when it came into the world. But, our theme that we’re following here has to do with blessings, spiritual blessings that come to us as a result of our engagement with the living God.

It would seem that the first and foremost blessing is the right to be born children of God, something that happens not because of blood or human desire, but from the decision of God. Consider the Ephesian letter which speaks of God’s election, God’s choice, in adopting us as God’s heirs/children. It would appear that the same theme is present in this text, though here the gift of God comes to us through the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. Even though we may not have recognized the light at first, for those who are willing, they will see the glory of this one who became flesh, whose glory is that of the father’s only sun, one who is full of grace and truth. This grace comes into the world through the Word (Light) made flesh, and it is this one we remember here in this moment that reveals to us the true nature of God.

As we move from Christmas into Epiphany, a move that continues the theme that began with Christmas, the sense that God has made God’s self known in our world. It is appropriate that this liturgical movement comes at the same time as the secular calendar moves into a new year. As we contemplate this new year, we can do so knowing that the one who is our shepherd goes with us, bringing the light of God into our lives, so that we might experience every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. What better gift could one one receive at Christmas? And the proper response to this gift is to give thanks and praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Adventurous Theology: A World of Wonders (Bruce Epperly)

We continue our journey through the Book of Acts with Bruce Epperly as our guide.  In today's posting, Bruce invites us to consider the mystical and the awe-inspiring nature of the life of faith.  Chapters five through eight takes us from the story of Ananias and Sapphira, a story that makes for difficult preaching, to the encounter with Simon the Magician and Philip's restorative encounter with the Eunuch.  The life of faith, the work of theology, isn't for the skittish!  Or so, Bruce would have us think.

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Adventurous Theology: A World of Wonders (Acts 5:1-8:40)

Bruce Epperly

Acts of the Apostles invites us into a world of signs and wonders in which nothing is fully predictable or settled. God is the source of surprise, adventure, and creativity in the life of the earliest Christians. Opening to God awakens life-changing energies; closing to divine possibility may lead to blocking the abundance God envisions for us.

Chapter 5 begins with the curious story of Ananias and Sapphira, falling down dead as a result of their duplicity. Power can create and destroy, cure and kill; but divine power, as I understand it, does not seek death but abundant life. Still, we are responsible, to some extent, for our health and well-being. Medical research as well as lived experience tells us that health and illness are associated with our attitudes; that hope and depression alike can have an impact on our immune, cardiovascular, and digestive systems. While I don’t believe that God desired the death of Ananias or Sapphira, could it be that being caught in their duplicity led to their deaths? Could it be that their death was psychosomatic, reflecting the impact of their emotional lives on their physical well-being? At the very least, this strange passage challenges us to consider the impact of our thoughts, attitudes, emotional life, and behavior on our health. While there is no linear one-to-one correspondence between our attitudes and our health and prosperity as some new agers (for example, Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret) or prosperity gospel (“name it and claim it”) Christians suggest, our thoughts and attitudes can be a tipping point between life and death and health and illness.

Awe came upon everyone in the wake of these unexpected deaths. Many people sought healing and expected that Peter’s shadow had a curative power. Once again, the role of faith in health and well-being is lifted up. While our faith is not omnipotent and works through natural causes in the interplay of divine and human call and response, surely our faith makes a difference in our overall health and may open the door to dramatic naturalistic releases of divine healing energy.

The death of Stephen also points to a world of wonders: as he was about to be martyred for the faith, Stephen has a vision of the glory of God. Mysticism led to compassion, as Stephen like Jesus forgave his tormentors in his final hour. Mystical experiences involve a widening of consciousness in which our self expands in its sense of identity and interest. Alfred North Whitehead once described religion, at its best, as world loyalty; this world loyalty is connected with the experience of Peace in which the self is not lost – identity does not disappear –but grows in stature to embrace the contrasting elements of life and welcome friend and enemy, human and non-human alike. Such experiences reflect the interdependence of life – there is no “other,” rather we are all deeply connected, shaping and being shaped by one another and the divine energy and wisdom flowing through all things.

The strange passage about Simon the Magician reflects the contrast between the self-centeredness that contracts and the self-centeredness that expands the flow of divine healing energy. If God is omnipresent, then everyplace is a center of divine care; but no one center has exclusive right to God’s care. As one mystic noted, God is the circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere. Simon attempts to claim an energy that cannot be fettered. God’s energy pushes us beyond self-aggrandizement to care for all creation. Mysticism leads to mission, not individual self-interest. Our encounters with God challenge us to world loyalty and to following the spirit to unexpected places.

The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch is an amazing tale of mysticism and surprise. You can imagine Philip’s amazement when he discovers the faith of an outsider, one who would be considered unclean and outcast according to Jewish law. More than that, the Ethiopian eunuch is inspired, and thus evangelizes Philip when he asks Philip to baptize him. The words “What’s to prevent me from being baptized?” capture the spirit of Acts of the Apostles – God’s Spirit is unfettered; it freely blows where it wills and calls us beyond our comfort zones. When we open to it, surprises happen and adventures lure us forward. Just as soon as Philip baptizes the Ethiopian, he is whisked away by the Spirit. While such an event stretches the imagination, it points to the fact that the moment we consciously commit ourselves to God’s holy adventure, our lives are transformed – we live in a world of wonders, with surprises around every corner. With C.S. Lewis, we discover that Aslan is not a “tame” lion and that those who follow God must be prepared for adventure. Strap on your seat belt, put on your helmet, be prepared for an adventure of the spirit.

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary, pastor, theologian, and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected 2009 Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.His most recent book is From a Mustard Seed: Enlivening Worship and Music in the Small Church, written with Daryl Hollinger.

Why Progressive Theology Matters: The God of Possibility (Bruce Epperly)

There is the assumption on the part of many that liberal or progressive Christianity talks more about what it doesn't believe in than what it does believe in.  Bruce Epperly is one of those progressive theologians who is concerned about probing what is possible to believe in today's world.  Today's essay speaks of the "God of Possibility," a piece triggered by the meditation written for this blog by seminarian Dwight Welch.  I invite you to read and engage in the conversation -- Who is the God of Possibility?

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Why Progressive Theology Matters:

The God of Possibility

Bruce Epperly

Yesterday I received the latest edition of the United Church of Christ Desk Calendar. The cover announced the following: “Imagine What’s Possible. God is still speaking,” – a reminder of the UCC affirmation from Gracie Allen, “never place a period where God has placed a comma.” Imagine what’s possible! Look beyond the data and bottom line, and awaken to God’s holy adventure!

In the past few months, I have reflected on naturalistic visions of healing and miracles. On the whole progressive Christians have taken the position that God works within the naturalistic matrix of cause and effect to transform bodies, minds, spirits, and communities. Divine power is always relational and contextual, rather than unilateral and coercive. In a recent “Ponderings on a Faith Journey” essay, Dwight Welch insightfully noted that continuity of divine action and human experience does not rule out extraordinary awe-producing events. There is enough wonder in the world without needing to invoke supernaturalistic explanations.

As a spirit-centered progressive, I affirm that God is present in every moment of life. With the causal interdependence of life, there is no ultimate distinction between sacred and secular. While most moments appear ordinary, deep down every moment reflects God’s movements within the each moment of experience and the causal interdependence of life. All moments can potentially be “thin places,” epiphanies and energetic vortices, revealing God’s vision for ourselves and the world. In the continuity of life, there is an ongoing call and response, which invites us to look deeper for God’s touch in our lives and experience the divine aim at beauty and complexity of experience.

For good reason, progressives have shied away from focusing on discrete and supernatural “acts of God.” However, our reticence to identify certain moments as uniquely God-inspired should not prevent us from opening to greater expressions of divine power in our lives and in the world. A key question for progressives is “what can we expect from God and what can we expect from ourselves in the dynamic divine-human call and response?” Although we cannot ever fully discern the divine intention, progressive theology can affirm that God, like ourselves, is a visionary and volitional being in such a way that some moments more fully reflect God’s vision and energetic activity than others. This is a matter of divine choice and personal and communal openness. These moments do not violate the causal relatedness of life, but express a deeper energy and vision within the creative interdependence of life. These are moments of incarnation and possibility that lure us forward toward new and life-transforming adventures.

Progressive theology is forward thinking and forward looking. This present moment and the future are not fully determined by either God or prior causes. In the spirit of Alfred North Whitehead, the limitations of the actual world are the source of possibilities that invite us to go beyond the familiar to embrace a world of adventure. These possibilities are never abstract, but always concrete and continuous with the environmental given. From the womb of possibility come bursts of energy and creativity that can transform our lives and the world. Our openness to God through spiritual practices – prayer, meditation, mindfulness, energy work, social concern, hospitality – opens persons and communities to more transformative possibilities and greater energy to embody these possibilities. God is moving within each moment of experience providing lures for adventures and making a way where there is no way.

These days, two of my best friends have life-threatening cancer. Two years ago, our son was diagnosed with a rare cancer. In all three cases, I committed myself to praying for them in words, visualizations, and hands-on and distant energy work. My prayers are part of a larger matrix that includes chemotherapy and other medical interventions along with their own spiritual practices, healing relationships, and God’s movements through each and all of these.

There are no guarantees of cure, but I believe that a naturalistic approach to divine activity suggests that prayer and optimism open the door for new energies and more lively expressions of divine activity.

As progressives, who are often daunted by the budget bottom line and the medical diagnosis, we need to be hopeful realists, fully aware of the current situation, but equally aware that each moment can be a revelation of divine vision, possibility, and energy. Imagine what is possible when we awaken to God’s movements in the concrete moments of life!

Bruce Epperly is Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary and co-pastor of Disciples Community Church in Lancaster, PA. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living and Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry.   For more on his vision of divine activity, healing, and wholeness, see God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus and  Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice.

Does God Know the Future? (Bruce Epperly)

If God knows everything that has happened and will happen, and God is all powerful, does prayer matter?  This is the question that Bruce Epperly ponders in today's posting.  It is an important question that too often we evade.  So, take a read and engage Bruce in conversation.

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Does God Know the Future?

Why Does it Matter for Those Who Pray?

Bruce Epperly

When I was a child, my mother posted a magnet on our refrigerator that proclaimed, “Prayer changes things.” I have always taken this motto seriously. While I have many ways of praying – I use words, images, energy, touch, and silence at various times – I pray for things, large and small, knowing that within God’s reign and the interdependence of life, there may, in fact, be no small things.

As a practical and constructive theologian, I am interested in how our beliefs shape our practices and everyday lives. Accordingly, the question of divine foreknowledge is important to me. Does the fact that God knows – or does not know – everything in advance shape our faith and practices of prayer? In this essay, my answer is a resounding “yes” and, more than that, I assert that a God who does not know the future – a God for whom the future is open – inspires us to pray and claim our role as God’s partners in changing the world. In contrast, a God who knows everything in advance renders our prayers unnecessary.

Classical theology asserts that God knows the plot lines of our stories before we were conceived. As Rick Warren states, God has planned all the important events of our lives without our input. God holds the past, present, and future, according to classical theology, in an eternal now. Divine omniscience and omnipotence are intimately connected: because God’s knowledge is always active and never passive – God creates but does not receive. Accordingly, we can add nothing new to God’s experience. More interestingly, if God perfectly knows and decides all that will occur in changeless eternity, then nothing new can happen to God and God can do nothing new in the ongoing history of the universe. If divine knowledge is complete and divine action is perfect, any variation of either on God’s part is unnecessary and would imply the existence of imperfection in God’s nature.

What are the implications of divine foreknowledge theologically? First, our prayers really make no difference to God or anyone else. God already knows – and may have planned – what will happen. Prayer is entirely for our sakes and changes nothing in the condition of those for whom we pray. Our belief that our prayers make a difference is an illusion, grounded in our temporal existence. Second, and more radical, a God who knows and plans everything in advance may be described as “all powerful,” but such a God actually has finite power, since God can do nothing to alter God’s knowledge or plan. God is caught up in an eternal “Groundhog Day” in which God experiences the same universe and same finite events over and over again, with nothing new possible.

I assert that a God who neither knows – nor can determine – the future in its entirety not only makes the statement “prayer changes things” meaningful, but also has more options and influence than a God who knows and determines everything in advance. To clarify, there are two ways of looking at omniscience: 1) knowing everything – past, present, and future – as actual or 2) knowing everything in the past as actual and knowing the future in terms of possibility, but not actuality. I opt for (2) and believe that it allows us to interact creatively with a living God, and not a fully determined, unchanging God. God knows everything up to this moment in time and the landscape of future possibility, but not the actuality of what will occur.

To summarize, if God neither knows nor determines the future in its entirety, then our prayers add to the universe and support God’s ever-present aim at wholeness, beauty, love, and healing. Our prayers open the door for new possibilities of well-being for others and allow God to be more creative in bringing shalom to our lives and the world. Our prayers shape, to some degree, others’ experiences and, thus, allow for a greater influx of divine energy and possibility. Second, a God for whom the future is open can do new things, explore new possibilities, and shape the world in unexpected ways in partnership with the ongoing universe. God is not a prisoner of God’s past decisions. This is truly a living God: even though we have real freedom and creativity that places limits on the expressions of divine activity, God has infinite resources to respond to the world as it is and will be. Ironically, a God who is limited in some ways has more power and creativity than one who has determined everything in advance. God is alive, creative, novel, and creative yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

In an open universe in which creativity and freedom and real, our prayers are important: they shape us and others, and enable us to be God’s partners in healing the world.

Bruce Epperly is Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary and co-pastor of Disciples United Community Church in Lancaster, PA. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living and Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Kate Epperly.

Why I Challenged Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life

This is the second in a series of guest posts written by Dr. Bruce Epperly, a Disciples/UCC minister and professor at Lancaster Theological Seminary.  His first post spoke of a "passionate progressive Christian revival."  In this posting, he takes us a step further, outlining a spirituality that contrasts with Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life.

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Challenging Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life (PDL) is just like David going up against Goliath, especially if you’re the pastor of a small congregation who also teaches at small seminary. But, when the call came, I had to respond. You see, for a few years I had seen signs announcing “Forty Days of Purpose” and had heard from pastors and church growth consultants that “if you really want folks to come to a church program, you should offer the Purpose Driven Life. Nothing succeeds like success, after all.” And, folks came to PDL studies, often in record numbers. But, I heard other messages, ones that pastors and congregants whispered to me and one another in private. Many didn’t want to contradict the new congregational orthodoxy being promoted in the “Forty Days” studies. In private conversations, I heard pastors and congregants admit:

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  “Folks are coming and they are buying PDL hook, line, and sinker. This isn’t the theology that I’ve been preaching all these years.” 
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  “I want to challenge some of the theology, but it would stir a theological hornet’s nest in my congregation.”
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   “PDL confirms peoples’ prejudices – only Christians are saved; the rest are eternally lost.”
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   “This book has caused a lot of pain in my congregation. When people who’ve been traumatized hear that God’ planned their abuse, they don’t know if they can trust God to be on their side.”
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   “If we step out of line, God is going to get us. This book should be called ‘the puppet driven life’!”
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  “I’m worried about the implicit politics behind the text, especially in regards to equal rights of gay and lesbian people and the role of women in the church.”

While I believe that there is much to gain from certain aspects of PDL, I felt called to respond. My response is part of my commitment to the progressive Christian “revival” that I see emerging. If progressives don’t present creative alternatives to the conservative Christian message conveyed in the media, then seekers and spiritual orphans will assume that Rick Warren and Joel Osteen speak for all of us.

I believe that God likes theological diversity and spiritual contrast, and I believe just as Rick Warren felt called to write PDL, I was called to respond with a progressive/moderate theological and spiritual vision, Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living (Upper Room). Although I take responsibility for Holy Adventure (after all, I typed the words and formulated the chapters), I am sure that Holy Adventure emerged from the ongoing call and response that characterizes God’s movements in our lives. While I aim to present an affirmative theological and spiritual vision in Holy Adventure, I also sought to respond to some of the concerns I heard among pastors and congregants, who struggled with Warren’s belief that:

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  God plans all the important events of our lives without our input.
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   Every experience, including traumatic events, is “father filtered,” or planned by God for our growth.
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  In every event God is testing our fidelity.
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   God “smiles” when we follow directions and do as “he” says.
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   God wants us to “color inside the lines.” Coloring “outside the lines” leads to meaninglessness in this life and alienation from God (hell) in the next.
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   God prefers obedience to love.

None of these statements reflect my understanding of God and the human adventure. So, as I pondered Warren’s text, I was challenged to present an alternative vision of reality that sees our lives as a “holy adventure” in partnership with God in which God wants us to be imaginative, creative, and innovative in shaping the world. God is the great adventure who likes surprises and who is not hemmed in by God’s own previous decisions (for example, knowing and determining everything in advance), but likes to do new things and enjoys being surprised by what we do.

In Holy Adventure, I sought to teach creative theology by integrating 1) a vision of the universe and God, 2) a promise that we can experience God as a lively adventurer who calls us to adventure, and 3) practices (affirmations, prayers, imaginative prayers or visualizations, and actions) that enable us to experience God’s holy adventure in daily life.

At the heart of the Holy Adventure are a number of theo-spiritual affirmations:

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  God is adventurous and wants us to be adventurous as well.
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   The future is open for God and us.
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   In partnership with God, we create the future. God doesn’t decide the future, but creates the future along with us.
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   God is constantly inspiring us in every situation.
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   God loves surprises, creativity, and experimentation.
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   God wants us to “color outside the lines.”
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  God doesn’t determine the events of our lives, but moves within them as the source of inspiration, creativity, and healing.
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   God inspires and delights in diversity of spiritual pathways, ethnicities, sexual identities, cultures, and personal gifts.
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   Our prayers and actions really matter and enable God to do new and creative things.
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   There is no predetermined outcome to human or planetary history, but many possible outcomes depending on the ongoing call and response of God and the world.
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   God’s vision is to “save” everyone – Christians, Hindus, indigenous peoples, agnostics, and atheists….There is no one outside God’s love, now and forever more.

I believe that creative progressive/moderate theo-spirituality can transform persons’ lives. We are truly on an adventure in which what we do really makes a difference in the future of this planet. Today, we need to color outside the lines, to do surprising things, to bring healing to the earth in partnership with God. We don’t need to be “driven” in order to share in God’s holy adventure. We are part of it right now!

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator, pastor, theologian, and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy. (http://www.bruceepperly.com/)

Next week:  Bruce will share his thoughts on a "Spirit-Centered Progressive Christianity."