The Treasury of Poverty – Mark 12:38-44

The collect and readings for today can be found here. The appointed gospel is Mark 12:38-44.

Teaching in the temple, Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, ³⁹and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! ⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

⁴¹He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. ⁴³Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Today’s gospel reminds me of my 34^th birthday. I sat down with Cyndy and our boys to open my cards and gifts. Our younger son, Randy, jumped up and said, “Wait, not yet!”  He ran to his room. He came back a few minutes later. He was excited, bouncing off the walls. He was beside himself as he gave me his present. It was a sandwich baggie with one hundred pennies. He had taken a black magic marker and had written on the baggie, “$1.00.” He was thrilled with his gift to me and could not wait to give it to me.

He thought he was giving me $1.00. But the truth is he gave me everything he had. And I do not mean the contents of his piggy bank. That little baggie contained more than just pennies. He gave his love, presence, bounciness, excitement, joy, life. He gave me his very being. For what else does a four year old boy have to give? What else do any of us really have to give?

We all know this text as the “widow’s mite.” We’ve read the commentaries and heard the sermons – “The poor widow is an example of generosity. You should be generous like her.” I suspect most of us have heard that one or something similar more than once. Sometimes I think that we are so familiar with this story that we no longer hear or even look for another meaning. So we expect and settle for the usual interpretations. We are not surprised when this text is used for the annual stewardship campaign. Or we anticipate its use to criticize the rich for not giving more. And it holds before us the fact that there is an unequal and often unfair distribution of the world’s resources reminding us that the majority of the world lives without enough – without enough money, food, shelter, education, healthcare.

All of that is valid. There is truth in those interpretations. But there is also something else going on in this story. This gospel is not simply about the treasury of money. It is, rather, about the treasury of poverty. Hafiz, the great Sufi poet of the fourteenth century, offered this prayer:

God, grant me the riches of poverty for in such largesse lies my power and glory.

The riches of poverty. Most of us, I suspect, have not see or experienced the riches of poverty very often. Instead we tend to view poverty as a problem to be fixed and not as a source of power and glory. Poverty is often a problem to be eliminated and solved but not in today’s gospel. The poverty of the poor widow is not a problem to be fixed but rather a virtue to be interiorized. The poor widow becomes our teacher and we her students.

She embodies the virtue of spiritual poverty. She has no need for the money of the rich, the long robes of the scribes, or marketplace respect. She has no need for the best seat in the house or even the appearance of holiness. The absence of the widow’s need to have becomes her need not to have. So she does what makes no sense. She gives her last two coins. “She out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” For what else does a poor widow have to give? She has no abundance, only the riches of poverty

The riches of poverty come not from acquiring but from letting go. All authentic spirituality is about letting go: letting go of comparison, competition, expectation, judgment; letting go of status, reputation, and appearances; letting go of the need for power, to control, to succeed, to win, to be right; letting go of our need for approval and perfectionism; letting go of all the illusions we create or buy in order to make ourselves feel better. Ultimately it means letting go of ourselves and the ones we love most.

Spiritual poverty begins with letting go and it always reveals the fragility of life. It takes us to the border between life and death where there are no guarantees – only hope, where there are no answers – only faith, and where there is no security – only love. This is where the poor widow lives. This is where God lives. And they live in union as one. In the face of the poor widow – the face of spiritual poverty – the Christ sees and recognizes himself.

The Poor Widow (thanks to Liturgy)

 

Love Came Down – St. Symeon the New Theologian

“Love came down, as is its way,

in the appearance of a luminous cloud.

I saw it fasten on me and settle upon my head.

And it made me cry out, for I was so afraid;

and so it flew away and left me alone.

Then how ardently I searched after it;

and suddenly, completely,

I was conscious of it present in my heart,

like a heavenly body.

I saw it like the disk of the sun…

It closed me off from the visible

and joined me to invisible things.

It gave me the grace to see the Uncreated.”

- St. Symeon the New Theologian

 

A Sermon for the Feast of All Saints

Today, November 1, is the Feast of All Saints. The collect and scriptures for today can be found here. The lectionary appoints John 11:23-44 as the gospel. As permitted by the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer I lengthened the gospel to begin at verse 17.

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” ²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” ²⁸When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” ³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

- John 11:17-44

Today’s gospel hits close to home for me – too close. I know this story well. My son, Brandon, died one month ago today. I do not just know about Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. There is a part of me that is each one of them. I am Mary – the one who stays at home, not wanting to get out, go anywhere, or do anything. I just want to hide from it all.

I am Martha with all my “if onlys.” If only I had done…. If only I had said…. If only I could turn back time. If only you, Lord,…. There are so many ways in which I fill in the blank that follows “if only…..”

And I am also Lazarus stuck in the tomb of my grief, tied up and surrounded by the stench of death, unable to free myself and escape.

I hope you know, however, that this is not about only me. Today’s gospel is as much about each one of you as it is me. It is about every human being who has ever lived – including the saints. Today’s gospel highlights the reality of loss, grief, and sorrow. And it is not just about the death of a loved one. Loss and grief come to us in many other ways as well – the loss of a dream, the loss of a marriage, the loss of direction, the loss of meaning and significance, the loss of a job, the loss of health, the loss of one’s identity, and sometimes the loss of hope and faith. I suspect that every one of you can name the losses and deaths you have suffered and how you too are Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

You see, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus embody the human response to death, loss, and grief in whatever form it comes to us. Like Mary we hide from the present. Like Martha we live in the past. And like Lazarus we can see no future. But Jesus will not leave us where we are just as he would not leave Mary, Martha, or Lazarus where they were. He calls each of us out into a new place.

St. Mary is called out of the house to the feet of the one who is resurrection and life. St. Martha is called out of the past to see the glory of God here, now, in this present moment. And St. Lazarus is called out of the tomb to see the light of a new day. With each calling out all things are being made new.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus stand before us today as saints. Through their lives they bear witness to our own experience of sorrow and loss. Through their lives they bear witness to the Christ who called them out into a new place. And they now join him in calling us out into a new place. That is what saints do. Through the power and love of Christ they call us out of our grief and loss wherever that may have taken us. They guide us to the one who is resurrection and life, to see the glory of God and the light of a new day. All along this journey we are supported by their prayers and encouragement.

On this journey of mine I see St. Anthony of Egypt trusting the silence and solitude and I take a step forward. I hear St. Julian of Norwich remind me, “all shall be well, all shall be well, every manner of thing shall be well” and I take another step. I feel the hug of St. Brandon of Texas and I take still another. We never walk alone. The saints are with us every step of the way – calling, guiding, comforting, encouraging, loving, and praying.

And so this All Saints’ Day we remember with thanksgiving and honor all the saints who have gone before us, all those with whom God has knit us together in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of his Son Christ our Lord.

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For All the Saints

 

St. Macarius the Great on Apophatacism

The following quotation and icon were originally post by Moses at The Burning Bush. Thank you Moses.

But if man were to begin to investigate the mind of God and say: “I have discovered something and truly understand it,” the human mind would be found transcending the mind of God. Truly you wander far into error in such thinking. For the more you wish through knowledge to search and penetrate God, the more deeply you descend away from him and you comprehend nothing.

Those visits of God to you that happen each day, they are so mysterious and incomprehensible. You can receive them only with gratitude and belief. Have you been able to know your own soul from the moment of your birth until now? Tell me, then, from morning to night what are the thoughts that spring up in you? Tell me your thoughts over three consecutive days. If, then, you cannot understand the thoughts of your own soul, how can you scrutinize the thoughts of God and his very mind?

St. Macarius the Great in Fifty Spiritual Homilies.

 

Unwedded Bride, Agni Parthene, O Virgin Pure

Refrain: Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!
O Virgin pure, immaculate/ O Lady Theotokos
O Virgin Mother, Queen of all/ and fleece which is all dewy
More radiant than the rays of sun/ and higher than the heavens
Delight of virgin choruses/ superior to Angels.
Much brighter than the firmament/ and purer than the sun’s light
More holy than the multitude/ of all the heav’nly armies.

Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!
O Ever Virgin Mary/ of all the world, the Lady
O bride all pure, immaculate/ O Lady Panagia
O Mary bride and Queen of all/ our cause of jubilation
Majestic maiden, Queen of all/ O our most holy Mother
More hon’rable than Cherubim/ beyond compare more glorious
than immaterial Seraphim/ and greater than angelic thrones.

Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!
Rejoice, O song of Cherubim/ Rejoice, O hymn of angels
Rejoice, O ode of Seraphim/ the joy of the archangels
Rejoice, O peace and happiness/ the harbor of salvation
O sacred chamber of the Word/ flow’r of incorruption
Rejoice, delightful paradise/ of blessed life eternal
Rejoice, O wood and tree of life/ the fount of immortality.

Rejoice, O Unwedded Bride!
I supplicate you, Lady/ now do I call upon you
And I beseech you, Queen of all/ I beg of you your favor
Majestic maiden, spotless one/ O Lady Panagia
I call upon you fervently/ O sacred, hallowed temple
Assist me and deliver me/ protect me from the enemy
And make me an inheritor/ of blessed life eternal.

This prayer was written by St. Nektarios of Aegina.

 

The Feast of All Saints

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

- Collect for All Saints from the Book of Common Prayer

The Feast of All Saints will be celebrated on Sunday, November 1, 2009. The Feast of All Saints is one of the seven major feasts in the church year. It is the day when we remember, celebrate, and give thanks for the lives of “all saints,” known and unknown.

The saints are our spiritual ancestors. They have gone before us and now pray for, encourage, and guide us in our journey. They are an affirmation of the resurrection. To deny the saints and their work is, at some level, a denial of the resurrection. The saints are our spiritual guides and mentors. We build on the gift of their legacy and one day we will entrust that gift to others—those who came after us.

Many people find a particular saint’s life and his or her writings attractive and instructive. As we study and venerate a particular saint we begin to cultivate a spiritual friendship. They become our companion on the way.

We must remember, however, that saints are not necessarily saints because they were morally perfect. More often than not they were ordinary people who lived a heroic commitment to Christ. Too often we look at the saints and their lives and think, “That looks hard—too hard for me. They are more than I could ever be.” Instead, we should look at them and think, “How astonishing! Human lives can be like that. Behavior like that can be and is quite natural.” Perhaps that will lead us to wonder how we can find what they have found.The saints in some way mirror for us both who we already are and who we are to become. It is as if God sets before us the saints and says,

“Behold what you are; become what you see.”

Saints bear witness through their life, actions, and writings to the presence of Christ. It should encourage us to remember that the saints, like us, are first and foremost redeemed sinners in whom the risen Christ’s words to St. Paul come to fulfillment, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

 

Bless the Lord (Taize)

Bless the Lord my soul, and bless God’s holy name.

Bless the Lord my soul, who leads me into life.

“Since my youth, I think that I have never lost the intuition that community life could be a sign that God is love, and love alone. Gradually the conviction took shape in me that it was essential to create a community with men determined to give their whole life and who would always try to understand one another and be reconciled, a community where kindness of heart and simplicity would be at the centre of everything.”

- Brother Roger, founder of The Taize Community

 

Sobriety, the Guardian of the Spirit

Sobriety is a guardian of the spirit. It stands on guard day and night at the gates of the heart, to sort out the thoughts that present themselves, to listen to their suggestions and to observe their intrigues.

In the first place, control the imagination strictly: it is the only route by which Satan can slip thoughts into the mind to deceive it.

Then preserve in your heart deep silence, an undisturbed tranquility.

Next, invoke the help of Jesus unceasingly and humbly.

Finally, keep the thought of death alive in your soul.

This is the way for that guardian, sobriety, to stop evil thoughts from approaching.

– Hesychius of Sinai

The early church fathers and mothers often spoke about the practice of “guarding the heart,” what Hesychius calls sobriety. The heart was understood to be the center and deepest part of our humanity – our truest self. It is the place where our humanity and divinity reside. It is not so much about emotions and sentimentality as it is the place of wisdom, decision-making, and connection with God, each other, and ourselves.

This sobriety or guarding the heart is an ongoing spiritual practice. We must guard ourselves against fears, anger, distractions, disappointments, and speculation about the future. Guarding the heart is about living in and acting out of a place of prayer – that place where we are still and know that He is God. We must turn away from anything that would distract us from a life of prayer and sanctification. Hesychius’ guidance offers four practices:

1. Controlling our thoughts;
2. Preserving and trusting silence;
3. The Jesus Prayer; and
4. Remembrance of our mortality.

This does not mean, however, that we simply isolate ourselves or ignore the present circumstances of our life or the state of the world. Rather, sobriety is the means by which we  engage life at a deeper level. It is the means by which we prayerfully discern which of our words and actions are life giving, and which are not. It is also the means by which we prayerfully discern to which voices we will listen – and there are many voices demanding our time and attention.

 

The Protection of Archangel Michael

Blessed Michael Archangel, defend us in the battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and you, O Prince of the heavenly host, cast down into hell Satan and all evil spirits, who wander the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Hymn of Praise to The Holy Archangel Michael and all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven

Heavenly Commanders, Who watch over us with great care, Cover us with your wings, And shield us with your power.

Armed with the power of God, Crowned by His glory, You wield flaming swords, To cut the demons down.

Swift, swift as rays of light You soar on the clouds- The clouds of the air- Where you do battle for God.

Without fatigue and without sleep You hover ceaselessly Over men and created things, And over countless worlds.

Behold, yours are mighty armies, Legions virtuous, And gentle battalions of angels: And, according to the Creator, our brothers.

Commanders of the might of heaven, Lead us where we need to go- To the throne of the Most High Who created us from nothing.

(From the Prologue of Ohrid)

 

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

This Psalm of Thanksgiving was arranged by Bishop BASIL (Essey). The words and music are available here.