The View from the West Mesa

The news reports that William Atchison, 21 was the person who killed two students at Aztec High School. We have asked the lover of our souls to comfort and grant peace to those he killed, their families, and their friends. We believe also that our God loves and cares for William's parents and we pray that He grants them solace, peace, and sleep as they too face the coming days, weeks, and months without their son, knowing now the emotional turmoil he was living with, and the violence he caused their community. They face the stigma of being the parents of William for longer than they may be able to bear. William's terror has no doubt been burned into the consciences of his parents. There will be no memorials for their son, no community remembrances, no community processions from chapel to cemetery. They will have to deal with this on their own as they ask themselves questions without answers, cast, at least in their own minds, as "the murderer's parents," not eli...

Veterans Day. Since 1776-ish, our neighbors, family members, and friends have volunteered and been drafted to protect the freedoms we enjoy. In the United States we think of our freedoms as rights – things we can do or not do simply because we breathe. We live in a bubble though and it’s a bubble that could burst at any moment because our government is made of human beings who have their own agendas and to whom we give enormous power. Around the world and throughout history, the freedoms we hold as rights are not common. In fact, we constitute a small minority of humans in the history of the world who have had such freedoms. Yes, others have similar ones and yet others have had them in the past, but many, many more have never had them at all.  We are lucky, to be quite honest to have been born into or to have moved to this country which has had both our Constitution, and government officials who have respected the rights in that document and who have rarely, but with some nota...

This question, asked twice by YHWH of his prophet - of Israel’s prophet apparently - comes while Elijah is hiding from Jezebel in a mountain cave somewhere in southern Judah. He has come after a number of significant events as a prophet of YHWH. Before we get to those though, let’s rehearse the political situation in Israel. If you’ve read the history of Israel in the book of Kings, you will have been struck by the repeated descriptions of both Israel’s and Judah’s kings. They are to say the least, a mixed bag of faithfulness to YHWH, with Israel’s kings being roundly bad - evil even. We are introduced to Ahab in chapter 16 and find that he is worse than any king that had come before him. He has married a non-Jew from Sidon who is a worshiper of Ba’al, the infamous Jezebel who will end up being eaten by dogs before her story is done. Jezebel influences Ahab to worship Ba’al and Asherah. He erects a temple for Ba’al and he sets up as...

Today was the last of a triduum that began with All Hallowed Eve, then into All Saints' Day, and now All Souls' Day. Often over-shadowed by costumes and candy, this period is much better used to reflect on the lives of all those who have gone before us in the faith. Some of these have been tortured and murdered because of our shared faith - those that hated them would have hated you. Even today, martyrs are made daily around the world as those who claim our God are even in the 21st century,  hunted, abused, and killed for the same faith that you hold. Remembering them and honoring their faith once a year is hardly sufficient for their faithfulness to our God. It is true though, that most believers no longer with us have not been martyred, but all of them have influenced someone. Have any of those who have died influenced you either to believe, to return to God, or perhaps to own your faith more strongly and more assuredly than before? Who were they; can you bring them to mind ...

The lection this morning was the Good Samaritan, and Mary and Martha; two very familiar stories from Luke’s Gospel. Seemingly two different stories, Luke places them together for a reason. Let’s see if we can figure out why. In the first story, a teacher of the Law decides he’s going to have some sport with this itinerant rabbi, and so he asks, “how can I inherit eternal life?” A couple things here with this question. How would one inherit eternal life anyway? Well if you’re a child of Abraham, you likely thought you could – the Children of Abraham, the People of God – because it was passed on by natural birth (didn’t Paul say something about “not by the will of man?”). For now though, let’s pay attention to that question – how can I get eternal life. Don’t lose sight of that question. Jesus doesn’t say you’re a child of Abraham, so you’re in. No, he turns the question back: what does the Law say? The teacher responds with the two greatest commandments (we’ll be told that combined,...

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my h...

Lent is a season to refocus or repurpose ourselves in this common faith. The season looks toward the Triduum, as a sober period that focuses on the movement of God in the world - namely the reconciliation of all people to God. The season calls for reflection on the need of that reconciliation and my part in that need. This period though, isn't primarily about denial or self-flagellation, but intentional and deeper reflection. At the risk of sounding morose, let me observe that this period leads toward, or focuses on our own death; our own self-giving of ourselves for and to others. Looking toward death, living in death is counter-intuitive in most societies. One of the more interesting ideas in some monastic communities is a reminder of the "moment of death." In these circles, this moment is to remind us that we are mortal and that no matter who we are or what we accomplish, we remain mortal. As mortal, we will all proceed to that moment. All of us will proc...

The lection for this morning was the latter part of Luke 9, the Transfiguration and the healing of the demon-possessed son. These are tied together by their seeming contrast and yet their similarities, even if those similarities are not overly positive. The Transfiguration begins when Jesus take Peter, James, and John and in a seeming premonition of the scene in the Garden, these three seem oblivious to what is happening around them. In the Garden they will sleep; here Luke tells us that they are heavy with sleep. Not quite asleep maybe, but their heads are nodding. Jesus has come up the mountain to pray and these three probably expect the same sort of non-event as is normal for Jesus when he “goes away to pray.” An interlude on identity, if you will. Jesus has, a week earlier, asked the disciples who people and they think he is. Various options are offered, John the Baptist (odd since John and Jesus had been baptizing at the same time, but their messages were similar), Elijah, or ...

In Luke 6, Jesus tells us that he is "Lord of the Sabbath." Now the purpose of the Sabbath is given as two seemingly different reasons. First, because God worked six days and rested on the seventh, so should we rest on the Sabbath. The second reason is that YHWH had brought Israel out of Egypt - they had been saved and had now been released. The Sabbath then, pictured rest and release from oppression. It is not a large stretch to say then that the Sabbath means life, healing, release for the people of God. Jesus tells us that he is Lord of the Sabbath. What did he mean? A number of meanings have been suggested but, in it's simplest form, it means that he as the Son of Man can best interpret it; that he can illustrate what it means to observe the Sabbath. He has to say this because he has been just accosted by those who objected to his followers "working" on the Sabbath by "harvesting grain," and walking through the fields. The Sabbath, they knew wa...

What does it mean to be the image of God? This question has been debated and still is in various quarters. Scripture doesn't give us a clear statement as to what this means for us. Some ideas that have been suggested include that we are spiritual beings, that we are persons, that we are creative, that we are a triune being, and that we have free will, among others. Some have suggested that Adam was created in the image of God, but that after the Fall, he produced offspring in his own, presumably fallen and corrupted image. To be honest, Scripture does say that Adam produced children after his image, but it doesn't add that that image was corrupt or fallen. What are we to do with this; are people today the image of God or not? Do we even need to spend time on this question if Adam has so messed us up that any image we might bear is unrecognizable? God Creating Man As His Image (Sistine Chapel) I don't know that Adam caused such a change in the image we bear and he likely d...