January 14
Friends,
Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
This question has got me this week. It elucidates to me a constant human problem. Here in the midst of the Gospel, isn’t that what we expect?
Honestly, I think most of us most of the time do not dive into the humanity of
the folks in the Bible. It is odd, since it is a really big deal. Our scriptures are not full of folks without flaws, instead it is full of folks with flaws. It is full of me and you.
Here we see one of our biggest flaws. Usually it is St. Peter who best represents us, but this week in the Gospel according to John it is Nathanial.
I hope we can all see the prejudice that Nathanial exemplifies when he dismisses Jesus because of Jesus’ hometown. This is an example of the snap, unreflective judgments that you and I make all the time. I grew up in one of those little backwater towns. And we all now find ourselves in one of those backwater towns. What good can come from Taos?
That question should upset you. The question is easily dismissed with volumes of empirical data from our little part of Taos. And yet, I have
heard similar questions asked these days: What good can come from the Pueblo? What good can come from Rome? What good can come from the
Republicans? What good can come from the Democrats? What good can come from all this horribleness?
Yes, Nathanial and you and I, are all frequently guilty of this sin of unreflective prejudice, but there is a greater sin at work here that leads to the prejudice. You see, my friends, as we are wont to say, “God works in mysterious ways.” And “My ways are not your ways nor my thoughts your thoughts, says the Lord”. These two truths of our reality require us to have the faith to be willing to see God in all the ways God is working. In other words, God works in ways/people/events/ that makes no sense to us. And that is a good thing.
Philip came up to his brother and told him the most cosmic shifting Good News there is: the One who was promised to restore us all into relationship with the divine is in our midst. And Nathanial dismisses that Good News by not having faith that God could work in such a way in someone from such a place. How many times have we each committed the same sin?
I write all this on the 7th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood in God’s holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And so, I speak with some very intimate familiarity with God working in folk that most of us wouldn’t expect God to work in. Y’all, know me many many years down the path of answering God’s call. It took me years of wrestling, we call it discernment, to be able to respond to God. And friends, it wasn’t about anxiety or fear about seminary, or public speaking, or teaching, or providing pastoral care that kept me from answering God’s call. No, it was the nagging uncertainty, the personal prejudice, the firm belief, that I was not worthy. That God would not, nor should not, work thorough me.
16 years later, (6 of discernment, 3 of seminary, and 7 ordained), I can say that God works through those God loves. And here is the hiccup we all have to face: God loves everything God created. And so, this week, let us commit ourselves to a true faith, living into God’s love and call to all.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
This question has got me this week. It elucidates to me a constant human problem. Here in the midst of the Gospel, isn’t that what we expect?
Honestly, I think most of us most of the time do not dive into the humanity of
the folks in the Bible. It is odd, since it is a really big deal. Our scriptures are not full of folks without flaws, instead it is full of folks with flaws. It is full of me and you.
Here we see one of our biggest flaws. Usually it is St. Peter who best represents us, but this week in the Gospel according to John it is Nathanial.
I hope we can all see the prejudice that Nathanial exemplifies when he dismisses Jesus because of Jesus’ hometown. This is an example of the snap, unreflective judgments that you and I make all the time. I grew up in one of those little backwater towns. And we all now find ourselves in one of those backwater towns. What good can come from Taos?
That question should upset you. The question is easily dismissed with volumes of empirical data from our little part of Taos. And yet, I have
heard similar questions asked these days: What good can come from the Pueblo? What good can come from Rome? What good can come from the
Republicans? What good can come from the Democrats? What good can come from all this horribleness?
Yes, Nathanial and you and I, are all frequently guilty of this sin of unreflective prejudice, but there is a greater sin at work here that leads to the prejudice. You see, my friends, as we are wont to say, “God works in mysterious ways.” And “My ways are not your ways nor my thoughts your thoughts, says the Lord”. These two truths of our reality require us to have the faith to be willing to see God in all the ways God is working. In other words, God works in ways/people/events/ that makes no sense to us. And that is a good thing.
Philip came up to his brother and told him the most cosmic shifting Good News there is: the One who was promised to restore us all into relationship with the divine is in our midst. And Nathanial dismisses that Good News by not having faith that God could work in such a way in someone from such a place. How many times have we each committed the same sin?
I write all this on the 7th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood in God’s holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And so, I speak with some very intimate familiarity with God working in folk that most of us wouldn’t expect God to work in. Y’all, know me many many years down the path of answering God’s call. It took me years of wrestling, we call it discernment, to be able to respond to God. And friends, it wasn’t about anxiety or fear about seminary, or public speaking, or teaching, or providing pastoral care that kept me from answering God’s call. No, it was the nagging uncertainty, the personal prejudice, the firm belief, that I was not worthy. That God would not, nor should not, work thorough me.
16 years later, (6 of discernment, 3 of seminary, and 7 ordained), I can say that God works through those God loves. And here is the hiccup we all have to face: God loves everything God created. And so, this week, let us commit ourselves to a true faith, living into God’s love and call to all.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
January 7
Friends,
Yesterday, we saw events that I would have never dreamed. Yes, I am talking about the insurrection held during the joint session of Congress. But this isn’t about the politics of the events; it is about the Theology of the events.
Over the past years, we have lost our faith, all of us, when we consider others with different political beliefs. I have succumbed to this sin and I know you have, too. This week we hear the Gospel of Jesus’ baptism, a cosmic event on the same magnitude as the 10 Commandments, the Expulsion from the Garden, the Resurrection of Jesus, and the Reconciliation of Creation. We probably pass it by, or baptize a baby and that is the depth of what we consider. And yet, this moment in time was a massive blow to the forces of evil and despair.
Jesus’ baptism was God kicking down the gates of to the Garden. The Holy Spirit dousing the flaming sword that separates God from us. All of this, and I mean ALL of it, is about God welcoming us back into the Garden. Jesus’ baptism opens the narrow gate for all to return. But just as our actions led us away from the Garden, so too our actions can help us return. God has opened the door, God has torn the veil that divided us. It is now on us, those created out of love with free will, to return.
Over the past years, I have fallen victim, at times, to the sin of forgetting God’s
grace to all. I have fallen into the sin of not seeing God’s beloved as God sees
them. I actually think that is the goal of many political efforts these days, to
divide us, to scare us, to make us believe lies about our siblings. And that is what I saw yesterday. In a violent act, a group of us forced ourselves onto others trying to suppress our sacred national traditions. Groups on every political spectrum have been roiled by lies and obfuscation to believe that our fellow citizens are evil, inhuman, and diametrically opposed to us.
St. Paul penned, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
He could have been writing to us. There should not be a differentiation between us; there is no Dem or Rep, no Gay or Straight, no male or female, but only those beloved by God and those, who in response, try to love like God. We have allowed our political forces to rob us of our faith that all are loved and cherished by God and that there is an equality in that love.
Yesterday could have been very different. Prayers were answered in the minimal loss of life and the safety of our public servants. My prayers are that tomorrow is very different. That we allow ourselves to reckon with our own culpability in the actions and repent from our divisive ways. God loves us and has kicked down the gates that kept us out. Let us follow Jesus as we walk side by side again into the Garden.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
Yesterday, we saw events that I would have never dreamed. Yes, I am talking about the insurrection held during the joint session of Congress. But this isn’t about the politics of the events; it is about the Theology of the events.
Over the past years, we have lost our faith, all of us, when we consider others with different political beliefs. I have succumbed to this sin and I know you have, too. This week we hear the Gospel of Jesus’ baptism, a cosmic event on the same magnitude as the 10 Commandments, the Expulsion from the Garden, the Resurrection of Jesus, and the Reconciliation of Creation. We probably pass it by, or baptize a baby and that is the depth of what we consider. And yet, this moment in time was a massive blow to the forces of evil and despair.
Jesus’ baptism was God kicking down the gates of to the Garden. The Holy Spirit dousing the flaming sword that separates God from us. All of this, and I mean ALL of it, is about God welcoming us back into the Garden. Jesus’ baptism opens the narrow gate for all to return. But just as our actions led us away from the Garden, so too our actions can help us return. God has opened the door, God has torn the veil that divided us. It is now on us, those created out of love with free will, to return.
Over the past years, I have fallen victim, at times, to the sin of forgetting God’s
grace to all. I have fallen into the sin of not seeing God’s beloved as God sees
them. I actually think that is the goal of many political efforts these days, to
divide us, to scare us, to make us believe lies about our siblings. And that is what I saw yesterday. In a violent act, a group of us forced ourselves onto others trying to suppress our sacred national traditions. Groups on every political spectrum have been roiled by lies and obfuscation to believe that our fellow citizens are evil, inhuman, and diametrically opposed to us.
St. Paul penned, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
He could have been writing to us. There should not be a differentiation between us; there is no Dem or Rep, no Gay or Straight, no male or female, but only those beloved by God and those, who in response, try to love like God. We have allowed our political forces to rob us of our faith that all are loved and cherished by God and that there is an equality in that love.
Yesterday could have been very different. Prayers were answered in the minimal loss of life and the safety of our public servants. My prayers are that tomorrow is very different. That we allow ourselves to reckon with our own culpability in the actions and repent from our divisive ways. God loves us and has kicked down the gates that kept us out. Let us follow Jesus as we walk side by side again into the Garden.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
Christmas Eve
Merry Christmas!!!
Here we are. We have traversed our Advent journey. We have walked to Bethlehem. And we now gather on this cold dark night to witness the divine and the humane. To see a child born from a woman all the while gazing upon God in our midst. Mary’s story is our story. She, as with all the other saints, gives us a glimpse into the true life offered to us in service to our loving and mightily merciful God. God said we would be made a house for God. Mary has been a living temple, housing God for the past nine months; and now birthed that presence into the world. If God resides in a young girl from a backwater town, why can’t God reside in us too? And if God resides in us, then what are we to birth? Well God is the answer there. But that looks different just as every baby looks different. Each a facet, and reflection, and glimmer of the totality that is the Loving God in our midst born from you, a unique facet and reflection of God.
Don’t worry! Our time frames are not God’s. What is to be born from us, may not yet be ready. We may not even yet be pregnant with that anticipation. Yet, that does not mean that new birth isn’t happening around us. It may be so unexpected we are yet to see it. Just as shepherds blinded by an unexpected light, we are called to find the new life. Just as promises from ages past become a reality to behold this night, we, like those shepherds, are called to witness what sages and saints spoke of in ages past. As we enter Christmastide, the 12 days of Christmas, we are called to shift our discipline from getting ready, to revealing in the truth that the promises are fulfilled, that God is in our midst, that we can see, even in the darkness, that God is all around.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
Here we are. We have traversed our Advent journey. We have walked to Bethlehem. And we now gather on this cold dark night to witness the divine and the humane. To see a child born from a woman all the while gazing upon God in our midst. Mary’s story is our story. She, as with all the other saints, gives us a glimpse into the true life offered to us in service to our loving and mightily merciful God. God said we would be made a house for God. Mary has been a living temple, housing God for the past nine months; and now birthed that presence into the world. If God resides in a young girl from a backwater town, why can’t God reside in us too? And if God resides in us, then what are we to birth? Well God is the answer there. But that looks different just as every baby looks different. Each a facet, and reflection, and glimmer of the totality that is the Loving God in our midst born from you, a unique facet and reflection of God.
Don’t worry! Our time frames are not God’s. What is to be born from us, may not yet be ready. We may not even yet be pregnant with that anticipation. Yet, that does not mean that new birth isn’t happening around us. It may be so unexpected we are yet to see it. Just as shepherds blinded by an unexpected light, we are called to find the new life. Just as promises from ages past become a reality to behold this night, we, like those shepherds, are called to witness what sages and saints spoke of in ages past. As we enter Christmastide, the 12 days of Christmas, we are called to shift our discipline from getting ready, to revealing in the truth that the promises are fulfilled, that God is in our midst, that we can see, even in the darkness, that God is all around.
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
December 17
Friends,
This week we hear of that visitation of the angel Gabriel with the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are many facets of this encounter that intrigue me. At the end of the reading we hear of Elizabeth, of whom we have heard before, the mother of John the Baptist. His father, Zechariah, was approached by the same angel while he was serving his duty as a priest in the Temple. He too asked the angel how this could be, not because his wife was a virgin, but because they were too old, they thought, to have children. But look at the differing response. In the temple, Zechariah is struck mute until the day that they name the child John. Mary, however, is given this nice explanation. Why is that?
Could it be because Mary was so favored? Maybe Zechariah wasn’t the best priest? Maybe it is to be a comfort for us? Yes, this scene is the Annunciation. Yes this is the mother of God. Yes this is a faithful woman and angel with flaming wings. But if we leave it just there, in the totally divine, then I am not sure it is as much comfort as it is intended. Yes it was all of these sights above, and it was also abject poverty. It is the mother of God and it is also a child bride. It is the blessed virgin and a girl becoming woman. It is divine presence and it is humanity reproducing.
I think Gabriel gave Mary an explanation instead of being muted because God wanted to show us what can happen when we say yes to God. We talk a lot about being like God in our actions, being like Jesus in our response to the world. But this week, what if we were more like Mary? Willing to step into our humanity completely to be present with divinity. Willing to bear God into the world. Willing to say, “Here am I.”
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown
This week we hear of that visitation of the angel Gabriel with the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are many facets of this encounter that intrigue me. At the end of the reading we hear of Elizabeth, of whom we have heard before, the mother of John the Baptist. His father, Zechariah, was approached by the same angel while he was serving his duty as a priest in the Temple. He too asked the angel how this could be, not because his wife was a virgin, but because they were too old, they thought, to have children. But look at the differing response. In the temple, Zechariah is struck mute until the day that they name the child John. Mary, however, is given this nice explanation. Why is that?
Could it be because Mary was so favored? Maybe Zechariah wasn’t the best priest? Maybe it is to be a comfort for us? Yes, this scene is the Annunciation. Yes this is the mother of God. Yes this is a faithful woman and angel with flaming wings. But if we leave it just there, in the totally divine, then I am not sure it is as much comfort as it is intended. Yes it was all of these sights above, and it was also abject poverty. It is the mother of God and it is also a child bride. It is the blessed virgin and a girl becoming woman. It is divine presence and it is humanity reproducing.
I think Gabriel gave Mary an explanation instead of being muted because God wanted to show us what can happen when we say yes to God. We talk a lot about being like God in our actions, being like Jesus in our response to the world. But this week, what if we were more like Mary? Willing to step into our humanity completely to be present with divinity. Willing to bear God into the world. Willing to say, “Here am I.”
Mac+
The Very Rev. Mac Brown