Number One

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything as this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children or they will become discouraged. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, and do it not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:18-24 RSV

This pericope on relationships sites submitting, being harsh, obeying, embittering, discouragement, duplicity, work. Each is difficult for the first person and easy for the second. Even a wealthy loner has work to do if for no one but him or herself, and then he or she is still dependent upon others for infrastructure. Mothers are left out, but in Luke 13:32 Y'shua describes himself as a hen who protects her chicks. In the above pericope, it seems we can just pick and choose which verses apply to the "others" in our lives. The verse addressed to slaves comes across as the most applicable for just about everyone. Oh, we don't do slavery anymore; that went out with the Civil War. I submit it has merely taken a modern form: namely, anything that we are accountable to that ties us down to a schedule for the purpose of survival (food, shelter) holds the position of master. The corporations that run our world with their endless levels of accountability are uncaring and impersonal taskmasters. Ephesians 6:9 and Colossians 4:1 do not let masters off the hook. Corporate officers at the top are responsible to directors and should be to workers. The author of Colossians admonishes us to do what we do as if for our beloved -  the One who first loved us long before we were even slightly lovable.  The "Lord," in this New Testament pericope, is the risen Y'shua of Nazareth. May he, in his loving kindness, embrace you as you do your work - for him. Shalom, Mother BE

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Straight Ahead

Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Matthew 3:3b RSV

Make straight the path that the Holy One will tread. The Greek word euthys rendered "straight" carries more nuances than "straight" as in a line between dots or a pathway without any curves. It connotes immediacy and levelness or smoothness as along a beaten trail.  As a way of life euthys refers to the absence of obstacles. In the context here, John the Baptist referred to the saying of the prophet Isaiah that there would some day come One who would accept our repentance, which is the preparation for our enduring relationship with our creator. To repent means to change direction, to return to the way set before us by Love, itself a path for the Holy One, Y'shua, to find us in the wilderness of our conceit. Shalom, Mother BE



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Angelic Longing

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. First Peter 1:12 RSV

Things! At what "things" do the angels long to look? The larger context tells us that "them" refers to the prophets who told about the coming of a Messiah who would bridge the gap between divinity and humanity. That was the fourth level of a line of communication. Then there are the "things... announced to you" by the third level - those who preached the good news (gospel in old English), through the second level - Holy Spirit, sent from the first level, heaven itself. No wonder the angels might not be able to look into those "things." Sometimes it is truly difficult to read scriptures written thousands of years ago and translated through several languages. We have plenty of material to wade through just getting on with the day at hand. What is so special that divine messengers long to see it, but that has come to us straight from heaven via the prophets, the preachers, and the Holy Spirit? The answer to that question has alluded the sages since time began: that "thing" we call Free Will. Angels are not human. Only humans have the ability to choose to follow Messiah, Y'shua, across the gulf between spirit and flesh. The angels chose to remain in heaven, to be governed by Love, and they watch to see how we will use our Free Will to encounter ordinary "things" in our daily lives.
Shalom, Mother BE 

Early Morning

And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large. Mark 16:2&3.

The early spring flowers are beginning to peek out in the high country, while lower elevations already enjoy lush spring colors. The blooms call to mind the new life we have in Christ, just as the colorful egg hunts of children remind us that the eggs are shaped like the stone at the door of the tomb of Y'shua of Nazareth. But that stone was huge. Archeologists have found grave stones so large that it takes fifteen to twenty hefty men to move them. The Sunday morning on which the world turns dawned sadly for those three women who approached the tomb of their beloved one. They had forgotten to plan ahead -- a common trait of the grief process -- and now they had a problem. How would they move the stone? Sometimes the stones in our lives seem insurmountable. Anything that blocks us from the presence of Y'shua is a huge obstacle to our peace. But if we look up into the face-spirit-mind of our Creator, the block crumbles or rolls on down the hill out of existence. As the ice and snow melt into refreshing rivers, and the crocus and tulips brighten our paths, may the Alleluia season bloom for you with new insights of love and grace. Shalom, Mother BE



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Holy Week

To the Leader: A lament of David when Nathan the prophet went to him after his affair with Bathsheba. Be gracious to me, Elohim, according to your merciful kindness let your great and tender compassion remove my defiance. Thoroughly wash away my guilt, and from iniquity cleanse me. For I know my transgressions; and my rebellion is ever before me. Psalm 51:1-3 Translation: BE

The word “sin,” usually used at the end of verse 3, has pretty well lost its relevance in the twenty-first century, but this pericope expresses the brutal honesty a person encounters when faced with the accusation of a standard. The Psalmist confesses his failure and pleas for mercy and the grace of reconciliation. We enter into the final days of Lent aware of our own estrangement from our Creator. We long for a union which will assuage our torn loyalties. The romance we found waving palm branches of self-absorption, self-conceit, self-righteousness, and self-delusion leads only to destruction. Holy Week celebrates the revelation of the truth that cleanses away our selfishness: Y’shua of Nazareth, the Incarnation - embodiment of Elohim, walked the sorrowful way through our own dissatisfaction to greet us at the other end of our trials. May this week be a time to consider how very brave Y'shua was to embrace our crosses. Shalom, Mother BE




website: www.woodlily.org