Day 1, "Before I Formed You, I Knew You," Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NRSV)

The following seven meditations appeared in the third week of August, 2019  by the Upper Room "Disciplines."

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Baby brother came home from hospital with his proud parents, to meet his sister.  The four year old asked her mom and dad if she could be with her brother alone.  Anxiously, they allowed her.  She went into the baby’s room, closed the door, and moved towards the crib. Her parents, their ears peeled to the door, listened as she whispered, “Quick, tell me who made you. Tell me where you came from. I’m beginning to forget!”

When the Lord God called young Jeremiah, God made sure that Jeremiah would not forget who he was and to Whom he belonged to.  “Before I formed you …  I knew you… I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (v. 5) Jeremiah wasn’t sure if he believed God or could fulfill His call.  … “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy” (v. 6).

When the bishop laid his hands on my head and intoned the timeless words, “Take thou authority as an elder to preach the Word of God….”  Like Jeremiah, I wasn’t quite sure I could fulfill God’s call in my life either, “…. for I [was] only a boy” (v. 6).

The Latin word, “vocatus” means to be called or summoned by an authority.  It also means a calling or a vocation.  Whether we are ministers, laypersons, professionals, or in the trades., we are all called and given a mission. In the new Revelation, Christ Jesus calls us as he did the disciples.   The stakes are higher than with Jeremiah. Christ invites us to co-create with Him in the Reign of God, today and into eternity. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19).

Prayer: God of prevenient grace, when you call, am I listening?

 

Day 2 "He Can Listen to God," Psalm 7:1-3 (NRSV

Sergio was born with a severe hearing impairment and a defective heart.  When he was a six years old, his parents brought him to Florida from Mexico.  They entered the United States as undocumented immigrants. After many years, his family continues to live in fear of deportation.  Sergio is temporarily protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).  His status may be revoked at any time.  Nevertheless, for now, DACA is his refuge. 

The psalmist trusts God’s protection. “In you, O Lord, I take refuge; … In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;…. Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me” (v. 3).

Refuge, "chasad," has many interpretations in the Hebrew scriptures.  Refuge is a shelter, a dwelling (tent), a sanctuary.  In a refuge, one gains strength as a rock or a fortress.  

Sergio discovered these growing up, playing, working in the fields, and going to school.  I mentored him until he graduated from high school. He earned a scholarship from “Take Stock in Children,” a private foundation that offers grants to students whose families’ incomes are under the poverty line. He is studying to be an auto mechanic committed to support his parents, so they won’t have to work picking fruit and vegetables.  Last year, churches and a physician helped Sergio receive his cochlear implants.  He is an overcomer trusting in God’s refuge that is within him.

Sergio lives with God’s refuge, because he can listen to God in spite of his hearing aids.

Prayer: “O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction,” (Jer. 16:19) my you extend your tent around me, all my days that I may live boldly proclaiming your salvation. Amen.

Day 3, "Taking Up the Cross is Risky Business," Psalm 71:4-6 (NRSV)

Jesus’s enemies often threatened to arrest and kill him. He admonishes his disciples“… whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matt 10:38-39).

 German pastor, theologian, conspirator, and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer challenged the churches to reject the Reich. Most didn’t.  A pacifist, he struggled with his role to remove Hitler.  Bonhoeffer was found out, imprisoned, and executed a couple of weeks prior to the end of the war.  Bonhoeffer must have prayed from his favorite song book, “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. For you, O Lord, you are my hope, my trust.” (vs. 4-5).

 I met Maria Cristina Gomez during a visit to El Salvador in the mid 1980’s. I served as a mission interpreter for Alfalit Latinoamericano, a Christian literacy and grass-roots community development ministry. Maria was a teacher at a Baptist school in her war torn country.  She directed Alfalit’s women’s program and was a leader of a teacher’s union.  One day, heavily armed men burst into her classroom and dragged her away, while her students watched in horror.  The next day, her body was found on a trash heap.  As disciples of Christ are we able to witness for Him, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice?  When we bear witness for Christ to others, we too are martyrs, because witnessing is martyrdom, no matter the cost. Whenever Maria’s name and other martyrs are remembered, their communities shout in solidarity, "Maria! Presente!" Maria! Present! because Maria is indeed present with us and the Resurrected Christ. 

Prayer: Jesus, what am I willing to die for, in order to live with you?  May I trust you as life-giver, “For you, O Lord, you are my hope, my trust.” (v. 5). Amen.

 

Day 4, “But you have come to Mount Zion… the heavenly Jerusalem." Hebrew 12:18-24

The first century Messianic Jews were being persecuted. The writer of Hebrews encourages them to persevere in their faith in Jesus, the long awaited Messiah. The writer reminds them what it was to live under the Law of the Old Covenant. God was perceived as unapproachable, vengeful, to be feared, and woe the consequences to those if they disobeyed the Law.  “For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’  Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear’” (vs. 20-21). 

The writer reminds them that the New Covenant was fulfilled from the Old with the Revelation of Jesus Messiah, showing them who God really is.  God loves, forgives, and offers salvation for all humanity through His extravagant grace. Fear and judgment are no longer the motivators for obeying God.  The Law of Love has been around since creation, in the midst of humanity. Therefore, the Messianic Jews are reassured, even at great cost, that they are loved by God and are called to love others even as they love themselves. 

The writer declares, “But you have come to Mount Zion… the heavenly Jerusalem... and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (vs. 22, 24). No longer are endless sacrifices needed to appease an angry God.  Messiah has forgiven all sin, once and for all, through his blood on the Cross.

 Which covenant do you choose to live in—Sinai’s or Zion’s?  In Sinai, fraught with guilt, terror and judgment or with joy, “… marching upward to Zion; …To fairer worlds on high” (Isaac Watts, UMH 733). 

Prayer: Creator God, you love us so much that you allow us to choose Sinai or Zion.  Sooner or later, we discover that our spiritual journey is marching towards You in Zion. Amen. 

 

  

Day 5, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, "Hebrews 12:25-29 (NRSV)

 The writer of Hebrews reminds his Jewish contemporaries about their ancestors.  “Indeed our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible” (11:2-3). ….“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside… sin,… and let us run … the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,…” (12:1-2).

Jesus preaches on Isaiah 63, at his home synagogue in Nazareth. He is surrounded by men who remember him as a boy. He reminds them of their legacy .  Then He proclaims, “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-22). Through His death and resurrection, Jesus is revealed as Messiah, who said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law…; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matt. 5:17).  The writer continues, “See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven!” (v. 25).

The writer warns, "At that time his voice shook the earth;... "Yet once in a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth” (v. 26). Those things that are shaken from the Old shall be removed. Those that are not shaken are the New Creation established by Messiah the Christ. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe:" (v. 28).

Prayer: Oh God may we know the difference between those things that are shaken from those that are not. May our daily lives be acts of acceptable worship with you. Amen.

 

 

Day 6, "A Woman Set Free"Luke 13:10-13 (NRSV)

“… there appeared a woman with a spirit, that had crippled her for eighteen years. When he saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’” “… immediately she stood up straight and began praising God” (vs. 12-13).  Today, she probably is the most famous unnamed woman, in the Bible along with the woman at the well, because of her great faith. 

 “Cat,” shuffled into the dorm for the intellectually challenged, where I worked the night shift.  She greeted me, mumbling about a poem she had written that she wanted to read to me.  She was a middle-aged, born with cerebral palsy with a brilliant mind. Her parents institutionalized and abandoned her as a child, assuming that she belonged there with the rest of the patients.  Years later, the staff realized her intellect restored her independence, though she was a ward of the state. She would never leave the institution because she had no family. 

 At first all I heard was gibberish, but as I listened carefully, her sounds were actually words-- beautiful, poetic,  words.  She had a voice. I realized that I was in the presence of a beautiful soul trapped in a twisted body.  And yet with determination and her deep faith in Jesus Christ, she was “set free (v. 12), as her soul “stood up straight" (v. 13). I too was transformed by having known this wonderful woman, 47 years ago, who uttered words of inspiration to all who would listen. 

 What self-imposed barriers do you carry which prevent you from standing up straight.  When Jesus calls you over, have you given Him permission to lift you up?  Remember that you are “set free” to “praise God” (v. 13) from the one who offers you His overwhelming grace. 

 Blessing: “Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing,…” (Jude 1:24). Amen.

Day 7, "A Daughter of Abraham," Luke 13:14-17 (NRSV)

The woman suffered from a twisted body for eighteen years.  She was victimized and abused as a sinner by the religious leaders.  She was exiled, rejected, despised, and even denied as being fully human.

 “… the leader of the synagogue [was], indignant, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath…” (v. 14) “But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey… and lead it… to water’” (v. 15)? 

 Jesus lifted her up, to the highest status in Jewish society. He declared her as a “… daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound… [to] … be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day” (v. 16) This woman is infinitely more valued in the eyes God than any narrow interpretation of the Law.  Jesus shamed the religious leaders for their lack of compassion.  He called them hypocrites. He reminded them that keeping Sabbath has a broader interpretation than refraining from physical labor. Jesus taught that Sabbath is the practice of Shalom- love in action. It is God’s divine and outrageous interruption by His Reign suddenly being present in our midst.  

Walter Brueggemann, writes in his book, Sabbath as Resistance, "Saying no to the culture of now,” that Sabbath is being neighbor with all without distinction. Sabbath means to join with God and co-create with Him in His Reign. We are reminded of God’s great reversal and the option with the “least of these,” (Matt. 25:40). who become the “first” to receive God’s grace-- “and the entire crowd, was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing (vs. 17).  

 How may I live Sabbath beyond just obeying it?

 Prayer: Lord of Sabbath, may I rest in thee for the rest of my days, when Sabbath is fulfilled in our presence. Amen.

 

 

 

My Testimony

 This is my testimony why I am so passionate about the Covenant between the churches in Cuba and the United States. I had the unique privilege to witness the birth and execution of the Covenant, and why it is thriving today. 

My parents were missionaries when we arrived in Camagüey in 1951. I was two years old and my brother David was six. My father became the pastor of  “la Iglesia metodista San Pablo,” now known as “la iglesia de la Unción Divina,” “the church of the Divine Unction.” My mother was a high school teacher at the Pinson Methodist school next door to the church. David and I attended Pinson for the next 10 years.

We lived in Camagüey until we had to leave in June of 1960 because of the revolution. These were happy years. I had close friends, having fun with all kinds of adventures, and participating at the church and school. 

Leaving Camagüey was very traumatic. I was so attached to Cuba that was more Cuban than American. When we landed in Miami, I was in foreign country.

The break in 1968 between the conferences turned out to be an interruption, because the Covenant was really established in 1883, when the Methodist mission was planted in the rich soil  of Cuba by Methodist lay pastors Enrique Someillán and Aurelio Silvera from Tampa and Key West.

In 1995 Bishop Hasbrouck Hughes went to Cuba and was surrounded by Methodists who said to  him “We feel abandoned by our Methodist sisters and brothers in Florida.” Convicted, Bishop Hughes convened a meeting in Miami between exiled Cubans and Methodists from the island. He shared his vision for re-establishing a bond across the Florida Straits. Friends met with friends who had been separated for years. They embraced, wept with shouts of joy!  

Finally (al fín!) in 1996, my brother and I were returning home after 36 years. We were back our home, our church, and school. Nothing had changed; everything did change. 

In 1997, Bishop Cornelius Henderson convened a task force to write the document defining the Cuba-Florida Covenant. The Cuban Methodists did the same. 

At the June Florida annual conference session the Covenant was unanimously acclaimed.  A few weeks later, Bishop Henderson led a delegation to the session of the Cuban annual conference session. David and I were a part of that delegation. The bond was re-established as the Covenants were signed. As the vote came in, at the Vedado church, the delegates erupted with joy, weeping, arms uplifted with shouts of “Alleluias y Gloria a Dios.” 

Only by the power of the Holy Spirit  was this possible.

Today, almost 30 years later, Cuba is facing its greatest crisis. The challenges are daunting. Yet, the Covenant between the US. and Cuban Methodists is stronger than ever. 

Yes! the Covenant is reaching beyond Florida and welcomes other denominations to participate as well. 

The Covenant is the bridge that makes our work possible. It is safe to say that the Covenant has more lasting power than any others in the Christian world!

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. You have multiplied exultation; you have increased its joy.” Isaiah 9:2-3

The Arrival of Celtic Christianity to the Isle of Iona, Part 1

In 563, an Irish monk named Columba sailed in a primitive coracle (like a circular canoe) with twelve companions from Ireland, setting foot on a one by three mile isle of Iona, Scotland. A monastery was established. Eventually, others were built across Scotland, each becoming a learning center. The monks recovered portions of the Bible saved from the raveges of the barbarians. The monks painstakenly made copies painting the colorful calligraphy on their pages

Its east side is located across the Iona Sound from the much larger Isle of Mull, which is ferry ride to the Scottish mainland. The western side faces the Atlantic Ocean. If you cast off from Iona and head west, the next landfall is 2,300 miles away on Newfoundland.

Columba's mission was to bring Christianity to Northern Scotland. His method of evangelization was to build a monastery near a Celtic community. The monks established relationships with the pre-Christians treating them with kindness and respect. They won them over by example, not by the sword and oppresion. They even mingled the some the  customs and ceremonies that were compatible with Christianity. 

Celtic Christians borrowed from the pre-Christians that nature is the divine essence, which is "panentheistic," where everything exists within God, but God is greater. Dualism is a false doctrine. Creation and Spirit are One. The separation between the physical and the spiritual is as close "the thin spaces." There is no heaven nor hell. There is one Creation- spiritual and physical. God isn't "out there." God surrounds us and is within us. 

This prayer is known as "Patrick's Breastplate." Christ within me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise."

Creation is the "second Bible" along with the written one. In other words, the Celts live Genesis 1:27-31 which says that "God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them.... God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good." That is their baseline for including all humanity and sentient beings as beloved of God. No exceptions. 

 

In the fifth century, St. Augustine coined the phrase, "original sin." He ignored Genesis 1:27. He taught that even children are born in sin. Sex was sinful. Sex for procreation was tolerable. Eve was blamed for bringing sin into the world, because she first ate of the fruit in garden. Her disobedience to God justified that women were considered second class, to be dominated by men. 

Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 597 30 years after Columba arrived on Iona. His mission was to establish a Roman mission in Britannia, an outpost of the Roman Empire.  

Roman Christianity was hierarchical consisting of the pope, bishops, and priests, in that order.  The clergy were the authorities in Christian doctrine and theology. To be a Roman Christian meant that you obeyed the clergy. Only the priest could teach and interpret the Bible. The laity were forbidden from having a Bible. 

Obedience to the priest was mandatory under the threat of excommunication or hell. The only way back to the fold was to recant by confessing one's sins. Only the priest could forgive sins by granting absolution, forgiving sin, or otherwise.

Celtic spiritualy, pre-Christian and Christian emerged in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Northern England where the Roman Empire had little or no influence. Celtic Christianity did away with the heresies of the Roman church and continued the teachings "of the Way," from the first century house gatherings.

Iona became the center if Celtic Christianity and spread throughut northern Scotland. Iona also became a learning center for missionaries who came even as far as central Europe. Many brought suriving manuscripts that would have been destroyed during the chaos fromthe fall of the Rome empire and conquering barbarians.

Iona and the other monastaries copied recovered books and portions of the Bible. Many had beautiful caligrophy adorning their pages. 

The Vikings first attacked Iona in 795, and continued in 802, 806, and 825. Eventually the Iona community abandoned the island. For almost 400 years, there was no monastic activity.

What Christian presence did remain are two Celtic high crosses, St. John's and St. Martin's installed between the years 750 and 800. St. John's cross recently collapsed and its pieces are reconstructed in the Abbey musuem., along with St. Oran's and St. Matthew's cross. St. Martin's cross keeps vigil on the same spot at the abbey as it has for over 1200 years.

At around 1200, the Benedictines arrived on Iona revived monastic life by constructing an abbey and other structures made of stone. Most survive as ruins today. The Scottish protestant reformation in 1560-1561 caused the Benedictines to abandoned Iona. However pilgrims continued to arrive on Iona, through there was no established community on the island. A partial restoration of the abbey was completed in the late 18th century.

Then Presbyterian pastor and social activist George MacLeod led the movement for the full restoration of the abbey and the founding of the Iona Community. The abbey continues to be the destination of thousands of pilgrims to this day. 

The Iona Community is formed by persons who foster Celtic spirituality with weekly prayer services morning and evenings and eucharist on Sundays. They host youth groups and volunteers who serve in the abbey and are taught by members of the community. The Iona community has a number of communities around the world. Their mission is to pray act for peace and justice, through the teachings of Jesus' sermon on the mount and the parables.

 For learning more about Celtic spirituality and how Christianity was influenced by it, read "Listening from the Heartbeat of God," by John Phillip Newell.

To be continued in Part 2