The Role of Boundaries in Spiritual Transformation during Lent

Published on by The Rev. Jason A Burns, DeaconLeave a comment

Boundaries are a significant part of modern life. For some they play a vital role in maintaining a sense of control and for others they are a challenge to their sense of control. This concept is heightened by the fact that we live in America, a nation built on the idea that boundaries are meant to be broken. In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner, outlined his argument that it had been the frontier, or the boundary between the known and unknown, that had defined American character and democracy. To that point he argued Americans had always identified with the possibilities that lied beyond the boundary and that our desire to know what lies beyond shaped us and instilled a sense of curiosity in the unknown as well as a willingness to cross established boundaries to satisfy that curiosity. Whether it be the Appalachian line drawn by the King in 1763, the countless barriers placed in front of the civil rights of all citizens, or the race to put a man on the moon, Americans have always seen boundary’s, not as a limitation, but as a challenge.

For Adam and Eve, the boundary was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the serpent was their own curiosity. If God did not want creation to have such knowledge then they would not have created the knowledge in the first place, nor would they have placed it within arm’s reach; I do not believe that the creator of the universe didn’t know that Adam and Eve would eventually eat the forbidden fruit, nor do I believe that God placed the restriction on eating the fruit as some cosmic test. Ultimately this story is just a story that reveals something about human nature. It reveals that when faced with a boundary we have the ability to cross the line, indicating that we have free will, which is vitally important because just as we can choose to ignore boundaries, we can also choose to love.

Prior to the fruit tree incident, Adam and Eve had no reason to fear God; they had no reason to fear anything. But once they ate, they learned the truth, which is that life is hard. They learned about hunger, thirst, pain, and death for the first time. They learned that God had been protecting them from the burden of free will by not denying it to them, but by putting off their loss of innocence for as long as possible. By delaying this inevitable weight of self-determination, the Creator allowed them to remain in a state of grace until they were ready to become the masters of their own destiny. The transition from the Garden to the wilderness was not merely a change in geography; it was a shift in consciousness. In the Garden, boundaries were external, a physical tree and a spoken command, but once that line was crossed, the boundary became internalized. Humanity moved from a state of passive being to a state of active becoming.

We trade the safety of the Garden for the dignity of the “Hard Life” every time we choose to grow. We accept the hunger and the toil because we refuse to be mere spectators in our own lives. We are a people of the frontier, defined not by the fences we build to keep the world out, but by our courage to look past them and ask what lies beyond. In our national history and our spiritual journey, we find that the boundary is not a wall; it is a horizon. It exists to define the moment of our next great choice, reminding us that to be truly human is to stand at the edge of the unknown and decide to step forward.

As we continue our journey through Lent, we find ourselves in our own version of the wilderness, standing between the comfort of what we know and the transformation of what is to come. Lent is, in many ways, a season of intentional boundaries like fasting, discipline, and self-restraint, but these are not meant to imprison us. Rather, like the frontier, these forty days serve as a perimeter that helps us define who we are when the distractions are stripped away. In the wilderness of Lent, we walk the same path Adam and Eve trod when they left the Garden: a path where hunger and thirst are real, but where the opportunity to rely on God’s grace is even more tangible. We use this season to examine the lines we have crossed in error and the new boundaries we must cross in faith, moving ever closer to the ultimate “boundary-breaking” event of the Resurrection.

Finding God in a Troubled World: Lessons from Micah and the Beatitudes

Published on by The Rev. Jason A Burns, DeaconLeave a comment

In the past few weeks, I have found it increasingly difficult to balance my emotions with my hopes for the world. As a history teacher I am acutely aware of the barbarity humanity has inflicted and continues to inflict on itself. Time and time again one group of humans has sought to declare themselves superior to others; we have created norms and laws that cement those beliefs, but over time those values bend, and ultimately break due to the strain placed on them by the people who resist the barbarity. I am not going to take us down the path of remembering what we have all learned in history class, instead I draw our attention to the words of Micah.

            Micah was a prophet, his job was not to predict the future, but to point out where the Israelites had strayed from the path God has set before them. He begins by invoking creation, “Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice” this is to remind us that creation has witnessed it all. It has witnessed the entirety of human history; it has witnessed our rejection of God’s call to love; it has witnessed our moments of tenderness and inclusion; it has witnessed the things God has done for their creation. Micah then reminds his readers of those very things, the release from Egyptian bondage, the sending of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to help us understand the kind of society God desires for us. He protected us from the curses of enemies, by turning them into blessings. This heritage defines us as people of God; it tells us that from the beginning God has been and is present among their people. Micah ends by telling us something that would have been harder to hear in his time, he says that God doesn’t want us to bow before them; make burnt-offerings; pour out rivers of oil; or give up our first born for our sins. God has said, through Moses, through Aaran, through Miriam, and now through Micah that they want nothing more than for us to do justice, to be kind, and to walk with God in humility. The only sacrifice God requires is the sacrifice of sin because it is sin that stands in the way of justice and kindness and humility.

            Matthew is echoing the message of Micah in his recounting of the beatitudes. There are many ways to interpret these famous lines, but the one I like the most is that the first four remind us of the different and most common ways that humanity suffers. We endure sadness, we, at times, feel abandoned by God, we, at times, adopt a sense of helplessness in the face of apparent authority, all the while hoping it could be different, but not believing it could be. The last five lines point us to the very things Micah pointed to as things that God does and desires for us, mercy, humility, and justice. Collectively the beatitudes are a reminder that God is with us through it all and if we can hold on to that then the glory of God’s kingdom in heaven will be revealed, we will find comfort, our thirst for justice will be filled, and we will see God among us.

            It is difficult to see God in the world right now. It is difficult to see them among us as children are traumatized by the arrest of their parents or even themselves; it is difficult to see God among us as faithful people are gunned down while seeking the very justice God asks us to pursue. It is difficult to see God among us as we fight over government spending, or policies designed to ensure that all people are treated justly and humanely. It is difficult to see God among us as our neighbors freeze to death because communities ‘can’t afford’ to provide a warm space. It is difficult to see God among us when every day there are multiple news story about the lack of Justus, the want of kindness, and absence of mercy, which is why I know I have been finding it difficult to balance my emotions with my hopes for the world; but hope is not lost.

            Hope is not lost because history tells us that God’s love always wins over the sins of humanity. God’s people were freed from slavery, they were comforted, they received mercy, and their desire for justice was fulfilled and the same will be true again, but how does knowing this help us now?

            A key and unspoken component of Micah’s message and the beatitudes is that we must believe that God’s vision and hope for creation is possible and we must accept that we as individuals are not the solution, but we are a part of it. Jesus called us to be the church, to be his body in the world. A body that is imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit and empowered by God to act in their name as we seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with them. Walking with God, means that we are walking with each other, it means that we are aware of each other’s plights and even if we can’t help each other solve our problems, we can at least make sure we don’t make things worse. Walking with God means seeking to comfort and protect the oppressed in the ways the oppressed ask us to; it means speaking out when our fellow human beings are putting their beliefs about the world ahead of the humanity of their neighbors; it means respecting the dignity of every human being by putting their humanity before our political, cultural, and economic motivated views of them as “the other”; it means stepping back from the fray and asking where God is and accepting that if we can’t answer that question then perhaps we are the problem because as followers of Christ Jesus where we go, God goes.

            Clinging to God’s vision for creation, as best as we can perceive it; gathering as a community of faith to remind ourselves of God’s vision and command to love; and engaging in spiritual practices that remind us that God walks with us; and trusting that despite humanities best efforts to interfere with God’s plans, God always finds a way to work through us to bring an end to injustice. This was true in the time of Moses, in the time of Micah, in the time of Jesus, and it is true today. We need only believe that it is true and do our best to help or at least not get in the way. Amen.

Understanding Repentance: A Call to Think Differently

Published on by The Rev. Jason A Burns, DeaconLeave a comment

Last week we heard from Matthew that Jesus warned his disciples to be ready because only God knows when he will return. The commonly implied interpretation of this passage is that on the day of judgement the ones who believe will be saved and the rest will be left behind; this is affectionately known as The Rapture. Today we are told of John the Baptist’s call for repentance, a word that has changed meaning over the millennia. Today it means the act of having sincere regret, which is similar to what the word meant when Matthew used it, but only if you read between the lines. For Matthew, for John the Baptist, repentance was the action of changing your mind or thinking differently. The call is not to get on our knees and beg for forgiveness so that we can go to heaven, the call is to prepare ourselves for the second coming by thinking differently about creation and our place in it, so that when Jesus returns, we are not confused and caught off guard; it is not a threat of damnation as that would be wholly inconsistent with our understanding of God as revealed through the teachings of Christ Jesus.

There are many things that we collectively need to repent for. There is the sin of racism, sexism, capitalism, genocide, the sin of war, greed, indifference and so many, many more. There is of course no way that we can all repent for every sin humanity has brought into existence, nor are we expected to. What we are called to do is make the conscious choice to live counterculturally, or at least strive to do so.

I would like to say that I have been astonished by the level of indifference many people seem to have towards our neighbor’s ability to access basic necessities such as food, health care, and housing; but I can’t say that because it doesn’t surprise me, though it does sadden me.

I understand that we are selfish creatures, with an innate urge to live, it is the same survival instinct that all living things have; animals avoid danger, plants lean towards the sun, mosquitos avoid our attempts to squish them and we revert to our primal instincts when we perceive a threat to ourselves or people we love. What separates us from other living creatures is our ability to overrule our instincts, we can choose to share what we have, to not fight back, to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others and doing so is not only counter to our instincts but counter cultural; which is the whole point. God wants us to consciously choose to treat everyone as if they are a part of our inner circle, in God’s kingdom there is no us and them, there is simply us.

I dream of a world where everyone has a home, food, and the physical, mental, and emotional care they need and I have hope that someday the world will be a place where love rules over the hearts and minds of all of us, because it will be on that day that my hopes will come true.  

Dreams are nothing more than a wish, but hope is more than that. Hope, especially Christian hope, is fixed in our belief that something will happen and that is a powerful difference. I dream of winning the lottery so that I can bankroll ministries that provide the necessities I want everyone to have, but I don’t have much hope that it will happen and not because I am unlikely to win, but because that dream is based on what I want for the world and has little to do with God’s promise for it.

In God’s kingdom, which is coming, possibly even today, there will be no hunger, or death, or illness, or poverty, or war, not because only the “good” people will be there but because those that are there will have done the work necessary to change how they perceive their neighbors, to recognized that the kingdom is right here, it is right in front of us, but it is hidden by the multitude of sins that we collectively commit every single day and to be clear I am in fact saying that we are all responsible for all of the sins and we all have a duty to repent for them; but repentance requires more than getting on our knees and begging God for their mercy, it requires us to actively love our neighbor enough to do everything we can to stop ourselves and others from perpetuating the sense of entitlement and selfishness that is so pervasive in the world.

Every time a finger is pointed with the pretext that someone is not worthy, and every time we see that finger and remain silent the fog between this world and God’s kingdom thickens. Our readiness for the return of Jesus is not about being pious, it isn’t just about being faithful to God, it isn’t about being free from sin; it is about recognizing that if our hope for the future is going to be fulfilled then we have to accept our part in the story. We have to see and understand how we participate in the sins of the world, not so that God can forgive us but so that can we recognize that when the last day arrives, when Jesus returns to the earth it will not be a moment when we will be swooped off to heaven, but a moment when all of the of the sins and all of the joys will be revealed at once and if we haven’t prepped ourselves we won’t even realize its happening; which is why we need heed the call of John the Baptist, we need do the hard work of repentance. Which means that we must examine how we see and interact with the world and reject the thought that we are blameless because we aren’t. Following the path trodden by Jesus requires that we strive to approach everything with love which requires us to examine our lives, most especially the systems we use to organize them because the systems are the sins and unless we accept that repentance isn’t possible. My hope is that love will rule over the hearts and minds of all of us and I know it will happen. The road ahead is long and it is filled with potholes, detours, off ramps and perhaps even collapsed bridges, but all of these are just distractions because with Emmanuel, God with us, all things are possible. Amen.