Speaking of scarlet and red
c. J. P. Mahon

God is faithful and merciful and just. Grace means that God blesses us with pure gift. Unlike the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, we know we cannot do enough to earn God’s favor. We already have God’s favor. We are created in the very image and likeness of God. God is the DNA of divine life flowing in us and through us. Continue reading →

Pelican, Port Canaveral
c. J. P. Mahon, 2013

The reading for the second Monday of Lent was from Daniel 9. Daniel 9 is Daniels’ confessional prayer on behalf of the people. For a detailed discussion of Daniel 9, see http://www.christfaithpower.com/2013/02/19/lets-make-god-look-good/.

Walter Brueggemann in the January Experience took us beyond Daniel 9 to a wonderful confessional prayer in Nehemiah 9. All these prayers show the people of Israel grappling with their relationship to the Lord God. They acknowledge that there is no God but Yahweh. They readily admit that they have sinned and deserved punishment. They understand that they deserve punishment. They also understand that God is merciful and compassionate and will relent in the face of their earnest prayers. The people will amend their errant ways. God will change God’s mind to look good to the nations. It is a roller coaster ride of covenant love, breaking the covenant by sinning, repenting, God relenting and forgiving. It happens over and over again as they grow in their relationship with the Lord God. As I was thinking about Daniel 9 and Nehemiah 9, I realized how this pattern of relationship is so much a part the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.  No wonder AA has been so successful for so many. Life is all about the give and take in human and divine relationships. Continue reading →

Eagle, Brevard Zoo
c. J. P. Mahon

Moses exhorts the Israelites to keep the commandments so that God will reward them with good life. Not to honor the commandments leads to death and destruction. Jesus urges his followers to “be perfect and your heavenly Father is perfect.” Luke’s version calls upon them to “be merciful or compassionate as the heavenly Father is merciful or compassionate.” Somewhat contrasting challenges,  to say the least. The first from Moses relies on command. The second from Jesus relies on invitation. Continue reading →

Pelican
c. J. P. Mahon

[This year on the First Friday in Lent, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter trumps the Lenten readings. Being I do not wish to reflect on the Patriarchal Chair of Peter, I have reflected on today’s Lenten Readings from Ezekiel and Jesus.

One theory holds that matriarchal societies persisted until about 2500 BCE. The picture of the pelican reminds us that pelican fossils date back to 40 million years ago. They may carry memories of the goddesses and matriarchy.]

“You have heard it said . . . but I say to you. . . .” These words of Jesus alert us to the reality of the Kin-dom Jesus is proclaiming. Jesus is warning us that, as the Kin-dom dawns here and now, it cannot be business as usual.

In the first reading, Ezekiel painted two pictures—the deeds of the just man and the deeds of the wicked man. His undergirding theology was that God will directly punish the wicked and reward the just. Our experience does not square with that as the Bible also says that the sun shall rise on the wicked and the just and that rain (grace) shall fall on the just and the wicked alike. Continue reading →

Art of Sand sculpture reminds us of all of God’s creatures
c. J. P. Mahon, 2013

The age old question is, “Does God really answer prayer?” The response of the believer is, “Yes!” The more realistic answer is, “What does your God look like?”

The Israelites saw God as having agency in their lives and affairs. God is active on behalf of his people if they are faithful. The amazing thing about God is that God is faithful, wants to look good to the nations, even when we go astray. We wander and stray; however, we then repent and God forgives. We thus move forward to a new and deeper level of relationship. It really is all about relationships. Continue reading →

Today’s readings are about prayer. God’s word is efficacious. It goes forth and produces results. Jesus taught the disciples how to pray. They are not to babble on like pagans. The prayer he taught them says it all.

I want to focus on new insights into prayer from Walter Breuggemann and Robert Heaney (http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/021913.html). Daniel’s prayer on behalf of the people in Daniel 9 is a prayer which recounts Israel’s failures at covenant keeping. Israel sins. Israel repents. God forgives. The prayer also shows that the Israelites realized that God has agency in their lives. God can and does act in the lives of people. The covenant is not s set pattern like Torah. The covenant is a back and forth negotiation between God and God’s people. Brueggemann says that Isaiah 56 is a deliberate contradiction to Torah. God will welcome eunuchs and foreigners to God’s holy mountain. God is not bound by God’s previous acst. God is free to change God’s ways as the relationship with the people progresses. (I bet Walter cannot sell this exegesis  to the patriarchs of the Vatican!) Continue reading →