Posts by Br. Sean Glenn
Varied Paths for Varied Hearts – Br. Sean Glenn
Br. Sean Glenn
St. Margaret of Scotland
From time to time I make the mistake of comparing my journey to the journeys of others. The stories of those I meet for whom Jesus has been a life-long companion or for whom God has been the object of many, many years of devoted searching, these are the stories that arrest me and leave me tempted to see myself in an unworthy light.
For I did not grow up in the conscious company of Jesus, and my path into the faith was something I unexpectedly tripped over one day in some field of my heart. No years of devotion or study prepared me to meet him there, but I quickly sold all that I had to buy that field of heart.
I can see now what a mistake it has been of me to entertain those episodes of self-pitying comparison, however, because we see them both affirmed in this morning’s gospel. Jesus begins, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” and then spells out two different ways one might approach the life of faith—two paths to the same kingdom.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field,
which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”[1] Read More
Love divine, wild and free – Br. Sean Glenn
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Br. Sean Glenn
This should come as a surprise to no one, but I really like liturgy. In fact, the Anglican tradition’s rich, sensual liturgical life is what beckoned me into the peculiar and frequently bewildering relationship that eventually brought me here to SSJE. That is, the peculiar and bewildering relationship with Jesus Christ.
And so it should also not surprise anyone that this morning’s reading from Isaiah has from time to time arrested me—particularly as I have almost always encountered it within the context of Christian liturgical action—that is, corporate worship. Read More
Prayer
Prayer does not begin with us. Whatever we pray, in whatever capacity, is ultimately a response to God. To know this is to rest in the faith that, whether we feel anything or not, God has already initiated something within us whenever we pray.
Br. Sean Glenn, SSJE
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Life’s Many, Many Crosses – Br Sean Glenn
Br. Sean Glenn
Job 9:1-16
Psalm 88:10-15
Luke 9:57-62
I hope it isn’t controversial of me to say so, but this morning’s readings are, in a word, difficult. If we came to church today looking for encouragements and consolations in the scriptures, we will be hard pressed to find any.
Job’s searching journey of suffering takes him out of an awareness centered purely on the human being—it takes him into the vastness of creation, its complexity, and its awful scale and dimensions. This leaves him with a stark awareness of the sheer immensity of God and the utter smallness of the human creature. My heart breaks for him as he says, “ Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.”[1]
The gospel doesn’t help much either: three times Jesus presents his listeners with councils that are, to my mind, lacking in a certain pastoral sensitivity. I will follow you! says one. Then prepare for a life with nowhere to lay your head, he replies. He tells another to follow him, who asks if they might first bury their father. Let the dead bury their own dead. Finally, to another, his remarks about the unfitness of any who look back, having put their hand to the apostolic plow. Read More
Providence
God is the sole provider for those who seek to venture into His love. Any effort of ours is only brought to maturity or fruition by God’s grace and provision.
Br. Sean Glenn, SSJE
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A Mirror Of The Miracles Of God – Br. Sean Glenn
Br. Sean Glenn
Hildegard Von Bingen
Ecclesiasticus 43:1-12
John 3:16-21
Omnis caelestis harmonia speculum divinitatis est,
et homo speculum omnium miraculorum est Dei.
All celestial harmony is a mirror of divinity,
and the human being is a mirror of all the miracles of God.
—Saint Hildegard, Causes and Cures
I recently overheard a very energetic conversation between two young technology enthusiasts while sitting by the Charles River on a sunny Sabbath afternoon. They were clearly very excited by the ideas they discussed, evidenced by the liveliness of their tone. “And, well, just imagine!” said one, “soon we’ll be able to leave behind all the mistakes of previous generations—we’re so close! With enough investment and research, humanity will probably leave this earth and start a new life on some other planet.” “I think you’re right,” replied the other, “we’ve turned a corner here, you know, with the climate and all. We’ll probably have no other option than to start over somewhere else.” Read More
God-bearer
With a heart firmly fixed on God’s love, Mary cooperates with God’s call—a call from which she does not shrink back. She does not allow the weight of her finitude to keep her from trusting God’s power to call, to justify, and to glorify. Holy Mary of Nazareth, God-bearer, whom the church remembers today.
Br. Sean Glenn, SSJE
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The Work of God – Br. Sean Glenn
Br. Sean Glenn
1 Corinthians 6:1-11
Luke 6:12-19
Today is one of those days where the compilers of the lectionary have, whether intentionally or not, paired together two passages from the New Testament that I find—because of their pairing— unexpectedly arresting.
At first glance, this pairing of epistle and gospel may strike us as a bit lopsided. We hear a dense admonition from St Paul, some of his harshest words, as he decries the inclination of the community at Corinth to pursue one another with lawsuits. In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
And then there is this bit from the Gospel According to Luke, a good seventy percent of which is but a list of names, names familiar to us now, names so familiar we might wonder what could possibly edifying about them. Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. Read More
Love
Christ’s eternal act of sacrificial love will draw us out of the paralysis of suspicion, competition, judgement, and disintegration. Listen today as Jesus whispers to the heart: Get up, walk. You are forgiven. Go, share the power of that forgiveness, for God has desired to meet you where you are, eyelash to eyelash.
-Br. Sean Glenn, SSJE
Force
The God of Love has given us that precious gift, which, in some ways, makes us most like God: our ability to decide. God will allow us to make mistakes, to decide foolishly, to proceed without first obeying his voice in our hearts. For, as the hymn goes, force is not of God.
-Br. Sean Glenn, SSJE