Resurrection: guaranteed revitalization and a permanent promise

“God of life, we thank you for the mystery planted in us, the paradox of life from death and community from scattered disciples.  We praise you for the dying which save us from death and for the rising which brings us to life.”  “What was dead shall live; what was dark shall shine; what was forgotten shall be remembered, for the Lord is risen and walks among us…. Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia! ” (adapted from Intercessions for the Christian People edited by Gail Ramshaw. Liturgical Press: Collegeville, MN.)

Good Easter morning!  Who’s here this morning (some show-of-hand questions)?  Welcome to the Church of the Covenant (in Junction City, KS).  We want to get to know you and invite you to get to know us.  We’re all on the journey of developing deeper roots in faith and we hope that you’ll join us.

It’s Easter and we should begin with a smile.  Perhaps you’ve heard this joke before.  I just heard it this past Wednesday while I was at a convent (Congregation of St. Joseph) in Wichita for spiritual direction.  The woman who told it to me had just delivered a lunchtime lecture on non-violent resistance in remembrance of the assassination of Martin Luther King (April 4, 1968) and also spoke a bit about her ministry to people on death row and national advocacy against the death penalty.  Her name is Sister Helen Prejean – she’s the nun featured in the story Dead Man Walking (she was played by Susan Sarandon in the film version).

On the way to Easter services, a man who very much loved living things was driving on one of our country roads and saw a bunny on the side of the road ahead.  Afraid that the rabbit might jump in front of the car, he began to slow down quickly… but wasn’t able to completely stop in time before the bunny did, in fact, jump in front of his car.  The main cringed as he heard the thud, terrified that this was probably the end of the bunny.  After getting out of his car, he was moved to tears when he saw the rabbit lying there motionless in front of his car – clearly dead.  Emotions built up during Holy Week as well as his grief over having witnessed the bunny’s demise overcame him and he began to sob against his car.  Then, as if out of a cloud, came a smartly dressed woman, in Easter bonnet with white gloves and all, approached the man as he continued crying against his car and she asked, “What has happened?  Why have you stopped and why are you crying so?”  He replied, pointing to the dead, motionless rabbit in front of his car, “I’ve killed this Easter bunny on my way to church.”  Without missing a beat, the woman beamed and said, “Fear not, honey. All will be well.  It’s Easter after all and I’ve seen what’s possible - I have just the thing for this.”  She reached into her purse and drew out a can which she proceeded to shake with glee before pointing it at the rabbit and spraying out all the contents.  Miraculously, the rabbit jumped up from the pavement and began hopping about.  As it hopped a few steps, it turned around and waved its little foot at the alarmed man and the woman smiling beneath her bonnet.  It hopped a few more feet and turned around again and waved at them again.  As the rabbit hopped to the top of a nearby hill, it turned and waved a third time before hopping safely to the other side.  Amazed, and slightly scared, the man looked at the smartly dressed woman and asked, “What just happened?  What’s that you have there?”  The woman smiled a confident grin and responded, “Come and see – this does just what it says it does.”  The man read what she had in her hand, “Hairspray: Guaranteed to revitalize your hair and ensure a permanent wave.”  

Sappy as it is on one level, this tale actually presents some important elements to ponder on this Easter season.  Consider this morning where you are in this tale of the resurrected hare… or, if you dare, where you are with resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Like the women in our Gospel lesson this morning, or the man in this joke, it’s understandable if some of us are so awe struck or afraid that we’re not yet able to speak. 

It’s one thing for us to ponder life after death in the abstract when we have the leisure to do so.  But to face resurrection from the dead?  For anyone here who has experienced the death of a loved one, imagine what it would be like to return to where the body should be to offer one final act of loving remembrance, only to find the body gone and a radiant being telling you that it has been raised and that your loved one is now traveling ahead of you to share the good news of this resurrection. 

To be absolutely clear, amid all the beauty, flowers, and music this morning we’re not celebrating a church teaching or the moral instructions of a parable… we’re standing in glorious awe, perhaps with a bit of holy fear, at the power of God and the triumph of God’s love over death.  As one commentator put it, Jesus “did not give us ‘Seven Keys to Spiritual Riches’ or ‘Ten Laws for a Successful Life’ or any other simplistic teaching. Jesus came ‘to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us’ to God. He came to offer himself, ‘a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.’”  (The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia)

And through the next fifty days of this Easter season, the Spirit calls us to consider the implications of this resurrected love in our own lives today.

Many of us, and I count clergy in this too, have become expert in saying lots of things about our church with almost smug confidence – this is what we say here, this is what we put over there, this is when we’re supposed to kneel, this is when it’s appropriate to join in that sacrament, this is how it works, etc..  But how many of us have really become confident in speaking clearly about our belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, our Christian faith, and why this is good news to those who haven’t heard it?

Back to the seeming joke…. an unreasonably happy person, in the midst of your despair, has shown you the reality of something that revitalizes even what was thought dead.  Would you rush in here and share that good news with all of us with conviction and confidence?  Perhaps some of you would – praise be to God.  I suspect that some of you, however, like me, would arrive here still a little amazed at what you had just witnessed and a little terrified to tell anyone what you have seen for fear of judgment or ridicule.

And there it is… the crux of our Easter opportunity and challenge.  Once we’ve absorbed the awe and wonder of this moment, we should gather with friends to share the story and then, as God’s messenger told them / tells us, “go, tell” the whole world.

What the woman in the bonnet is carrying with her is the good news we are called to share with the world – God’s grace is guaranteed revitalization and God’s love is a permanent promise… that death can not kill.

Although portion of the Gospel we heard this morning (Mark 16:1-8) ends with the women fleeing in terror and amazement and saying nothing to anyone, we know that they eventually did tell people what they had seen… just as Peter tells Cornelius and others what he has seen and just has Paul later tells many, including those in Corinth, what he has seen – they’ve encountered the risen Christ in their lives, have been transformed through this experience, and are compelled with love to share this good news of hope, forgiveness, and salvation with love to others.

Let’s sit with this a moment.  Had the resurrection never happened, the women and others would have grieved the loss of their mentor and friend as well as some of their hopes and dreams about redemption and restoration with God... and the intensity of their grief would have eventually faded with time and focus on other things.  Perhaps some of them would have secretly been relieved that the controversy of his message and demands of their discipleship would now be relaxed and perhaps forgotten by those who were so disturbed.  


But… Jesus was resurrected.  Jesus lives!  His message is true and we can never deny or ignore his teachings and commands of us.  


Indeed this is exciting and worth celebrating this morning!  …and, if we take this to heart in our own lives, it can be terrifying as well, as we dare to go around proclaiming that resurrected life is possible, particularly as we approach people who are still in the grips of despair.  And yet, that’s precisely what a Lord did and what we’re called to do.

A quick reminder about the season we’ve now entered before we proceed.  Easter is not just a day – it’s an entire season of our church year which lasts fifty days.  You see here the lighted Paschal candle.  Had we shared the Great Vigil experience together last night, we would all have been reminded what is represents – light coming back into the world to guide us from bondage to freedom.  Symbolic of the great pillar of cloud and fire that guided the Israelites in their exodus journey, it also represents for us the light of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It will remain burning throughout our Easter season, all the way through the Pentecost when we’ll celebrate the Holy Spirit being given to us as a gift.  You’ll see this candle come out again for baptisms and funeral masses to be a visual reminder of the promise of life from death.  Over these next fifty days, each time you see this flame, be reminded that in Christ we are guaranteed revitalization and that God’s love is a permanent promise… death cannot kill what never dies.

Living Lord, whose love displaced the gravity of stone; you entrusted women, who loved you beyond death, with news of the resurrection: we praise you for the open gospel which ends where Easter faith begins.  Accept our fear, our disbelief and take us into this new world led by the risen Son, granting us the wisdom and confidence to speak through our own amazement so that others who need to hear the good news can be resurrected with us, through Jesus Christ, the firstborn of the [formerly] dead. Amen.  Alleluia! (adapted from a prayer by Steven Shakespeare in Prayers for an Inclusive Church. Church Publishing: New York)

What Did Jesus Do On Holy Saturday?

A video offering from Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix, AZ:

An article by Daniel Burke:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/jesus-holy-saturday_n_1398224.html?ref=religion

By Daniel Burke
Religion News Service

(RNS) Every Christian knows the story: Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. But what did he do on Saturday?

That question has spurred centuries of debate, perplexed theologians as learned as St. Augustine and prodded some Protestants to advocate editing the Apostles' Creed, one of Christianity's oldest confessions of faith....

(for the rest of this article, please view it on Huffington Post website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/jesus-holy-saturday_n_1398224.html?ref=religion)

Can we trust seemingly foolish, paradoxical, self-sacrificial love?

(opening remarks from Campus Missioner to congregation of St. James, Wichita)

• Thank you for your on-going support of diocesan campus ministry through your mission share apportionment and for hosting our Fall 2011 retreat in the fellowship hall 
• Thank you for your support of our Wichita-area ministries through your offering a monthly meal, nurturing young-adult leaders, and supporting the other adults who sustain these ministry efforts
• Thanks to Deacon Jeff Roper, Tristan Holmberg, and Ashley Petty
• Hannah Clayton is a PM at K-State… speaking of which, we’re looking for a campus ministry intern in-residence there

Who is here on this Tuesday night? (show of hands and some questions)

I’m going make an educated guess that, by your making it a priority to be here tonight, you’re serious about Holy Week and want to go deeper in your journey with the Jesus to the cross… and beyond.    

In conversations last night with young-adults gathered in one of our campus ministry programs, we talked about how it’s so much easier to simply come to church twice a year to revere and worship the superhero Jesus – the radiant, magical little child or the ascended, triumphant one floating in the sky.  But to flesh-out this Christianity thing the rest of the year… to really consider the earthly, incarnational, visceral life of Jesus, and to take seriously what he teaches, demonstrates, and expects of us is much more challenging.  And, in fact, can seem foolish.

The fact that we’re all here this week, remembering stories about a rural rabbi who, over two thousand years ago, dared to challenge the ways of his world and the rulers of his day… who built up great expectations among many people who were low on hope… who chose to buck the system in order to reach out to those who were considered lowly and untouchable… whose closest friends failed to be faithful when the going got tough…  who eventually let himself be humiliated and brutally executed… that we’re here imagining this guy as a king or lord and taking seriously the counter-cultural, self-sacrificial love that he calls us to exhibit toward our neighbors, particularly those we might not like so much or who don’t’ like us… well… that’s down right foolish, isn’t it? 

Have you ever tried to explain your faith or convictions to a friend, family member, or colleague who is critical of this whole organized-religion endeavor?  Have you ever been challenged about why you believe in such mythology?  Has anyone ever teased or actually faulted you for believing in the folly of ‘turning the other cheek’, the naivety of ‘loving your neighbor’, the simple-mindedness of more radical sharing or the economic problems with charitably re-distributing wealth, or the silliness of the notion that the weak and meek shall ever be given priority? 

Indeed, as we point toward this Jesus as our Lord, and to two crossed timbers upon which he was executed, as a sign of our hope we can certainly look, and perhaps sometimes feel, like a ship of fools. This has been the case among us Christians for a long time.

Excluding situations of clubby Christian identity in which people perceive that they’ve been afforded societal privilege or protection in proper society by ‘belonging’ to the right church, for most of our history as a people Christian faith, we’ve struggled with trusting in and acting earnestly on the seemingly foolish wisdom of Christ. It was certainly the case among our ancient communities who, by choosing to live the Good News, were often separating themselves from the societal norm and risking ridicule from the peers and even at times death. 

In our excerpt tonight from Paul’s first letter to the believers in Corinth (1 Cor 1:18-31), we hear him addressing head-on the seemingly foolishness of the paradoxical teachings and ideas that form the foundations of our faith.  What Paul is pointing out is well worth our meditation and prayer this Holy Week as we walk with Jesus through the final days and hours of his earthly ministry.

Paul tell them - tells us – that the good news of Christ – the message – will appear foolish to those who remain wrapped up in and dependent upon the warped ways of this so-called rational world for their sense of identity and purpose.  God’s wisdom and mercy doesn’t comply with indifferent logic or our own self-centered reasoning – it surprises in its economic favoring of the lowly and despised and its unreasonable and outlandish generosity, particularly toward those who have seemingly gone far astray.  The very notion that the mighty creator of everyone would humble himself to a humiliating death on a cross is a joker’s wild card in the deck of life that trumps everything most of us think we know about this game called life.

Get in touch with the potentially confusing and confounding truth here.  Bring to mind a super hero of your youth, or perhaps a leader today in whom you’ve invested great expectations and hope.  Now imagine witnessing that person willfully surrendering to brutal and violent public humiliation and cruelty to the point of death, all the while looking you in square in the eye and saying that this is how it is to be – we must die, sometime even a violent death, in order to truly live.  What?!

And, yet, here we are tonight hearing this type of paradoxical proclamation from Jesus.  The Spirit is compelling us this Holy Week to radically reexamine our attachments to this life – or at least our way of living it - and what it can mean to die with Jesus in order to embrace new life in the resurrection with Christ.

In tonight’s Gospel lesson from John (John 12: 20-36), Jesus is transitioning from his public ministry into the final days of more intimate instructions to his closest followers. The Passover festival has attracted not only faithful Jews, but curious Gentiles (Greeks) as well.  Jesus is speaking to them all – the mission and wisdom is no longer just for the Jews. It is heading into this holy celebration, with all sort of people gathered, that Jesus lays down one his most challenging lessons: each single grain (including himself) must die in order for the vine to grow and bear greater fruit for the new kingdom.

On one level, this makes sense – we understand the basics of this agricultural metaphor.  We plant seeds and things grow.  But the implications of this in our lives are profound.

Go deeper.  We must allow ourselves to be planted and for the boundaries of our shells to be broken open as we surrender the form that has kept us in tact for so long.  What we believe has held us together must be let go of in order to embrace the kingdom.

When we let go and break open, it’s messy and disorienting as the truest essence of who we are begins to combine organically with others around us going through the same process (think of the actual birth process, or the organic nature of composting).  Our former selves essentially die in this process of becoming something new – something that can grow taller and provide nourishment beyond ourselves.

In order to become part of Christ’s vineyard, we must again and again let go, surrender, and plant ourselves in fertile soil where a process of death is allowed to cleanse and redeem the life-generating essence of who/what we’ve been created to become.

Too abstract?  How about this… think of who you are today – what comprises your identity; where your pride is rooted; what keeps you feeling self, secure, and sanely contained in this otherwise chaotic world. 

Now look around at the needs in the world around you.  See specific types of people who struggle… struggle to survive with even basic dignity in a system that may never afford them opportunities that you and I take for granted.   Where do you sense unfairness and even exploitation occurring – hidden suffering that benefits others who’d prefer not to think about those who can’t seem to help themselves. Perhaps look no further than this city of Wichita… or maybe even in your own family. 

What would it look like, sound like, feel like if you were to step off the conventional merry-go-round of your seemingly predictable and stable life in order to venture forth to touch and help those in most need.  Not just occasionally, but every day. What would you have to give up in order to really speak your mind about what you sense is wrong with our way of doing things?  What might happen to you and your livelihood if you dared speak ‘truth to power’ and consistently speak out and advocate for the underdog, the unpopular, and the untouchables?

What if you lived your life like this every day?  How foolish would that be?  How foolish was Jesus for living this way?  Do you really trust in the ultimately redeeming power of his self-sacrificial love?  Are you willing to go near the cross yourself – do you trust in what’s on the other side?

As we walk the way of the cross this week, preparing for the Triduum ahead – Maundy Thursday’s last meal and intimacy of wash each other’s feet, Friday’s violence and death, and Saturday’s silence and waiting – let’s pray for the Spirit to help us absorb, digest, and be willing to live with foolish-faith into Jesus’s words:

"The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light."

AMEN.

Fools, Forsaking and Forgiven

Greetings, St. Bartholomew’s.  Thank you for inviting me back for Palm Sunday again.

Palm Sunday this year happens to fall on April 1^st – April Fool’s Day.  This is deliciously ironic in the sense that what we’re up is kinda foolish, no?  We’re re-enacting and remembering something outlandish that happened over two thousand years ago and supposing that it still has relevance to us today.

Too often, I fear, we half-heartedly process with palms (not quite sensing the celebration) and then proceed right into the powerful Passion narrative a bit numbed (not delving into despair of the story) – we’ve heard it all before and we’re just kinda going through the motions. 

As I said last year, after such powerful lectionary readings on this day, it’s hard to know what to say.  Witnessing our adulation of our Lord and king with palms as he rides into Jerusalem in one moment, and only shortly thereafter hearing ourselves deny, condemn, mock, and shout to crucify him in the next… and then to imagine the suffering Jesus endured and to hear him cry out with a last breath to God, “Why have you forsaken (abandoned) me?” – the turn of events… the turn of heart… it turns my stomach, to say the least.   

This Palm Sunday morning, rather than offer a traditional homily, let’s engage in some conversation about what we’ve just heard and experienced.  Let’s bring the stories to life for ourselves in a way that invites us into the journey of Holy Week. This Palm Sunday morning, let’s get into the emotions a bit more and connect them to our current relationship with Jesus and the way of the cross. 

This is an opportunity to engage our imagination and see what the Spirit shows us.

GUIDING QUESTIONS
(distinguish between the procession experience and the Passion narrative)

1. Imagine that you were present (for the procession and then the Passion) – where were you, what perspective do you have on what’s happening, what do you see and hear going on

2. What is happening to you as you witness/experience these events?

3. How is this affecting your relationship with God?

4. This morning, what might the Spirit be calling you re-consider and do differently this Holy Week as we prepare for Easter?

SEEDS FOR DISCUSSION:

a)    How do you compare/contrast the different processions into Jerusalem that day? Which procession are more often attracted to / compelled to join? (toward crown or toward cross? pride, winning, and control vs. humility, service/sacrifice, and surrender)

b) What has this Jesus from Nazareth been doing that has everyone all stirred up? (the common folk as well as the establishment leaders)

c) In Mark’s telling, Jesus cries out, quoting the first line of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – who has abandoned/forsaken whom?

Examples from them that still apply to us:

• We sleep rather than stay awake with Christ, choosing our needs rather than his.
• We are willing to betray our friends for the sake of short-term profit.
• We are quick to violence, even after Jesus has made it clear we are to ‘turn the other cheek’ and forgive.
• We are quick to condemn someone who speaks truth to power, for fear that we might be also seen as sympathetic to a counter cultural new vision of common good.
• When pressed by accusers in the popular crowd, we sometimes shy away from, or outright deny our true Christian identity and convictions.
• Sometimes we choose to kill ourselves, rather than humbly repentant and believe that new life if possible through forgiveness and grace.
• When caught up with the crowd, we’ll even choose known evils, things that we know are bad of us, rather than stick up for the innocent underdog, the marginalized, the outcast.
• While one of us might occasionally step forward to carry the load, how much more often to the rest of us stand on the sidelines quietly thanking God that we don’t have to carry the burdens of others… maybe even believing that their misery is their own fault.
• And, how quick we are sometimes to test God, boldly demanding that God demonstrate proof for our faith – losing faith because God doesn’t perform just as we want God to when we want God to, as if God is under our command.

In Mark’s telling, Jesus cries out, quoting the first line of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


Please turn to page 611 of your Book of Common Prayer and let’s read (antiphonally – alternating sides of the congregation by asterisks) the final third (verses 21-30) of the 22^nd Psalm that Jesus began to recite from the cross:

I will declare your Name to my brethren; * in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

Praise the LORD, you that fear him; * stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel; all you of Jacob's line, give glory.

For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them; * but when they cry to him he hears them.

My praise is of him in the great assembly; * I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: * "May your heart live for ever!"

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, * and all the families of the nations bow before him.

For kingship belongs to the LORD; * he rules over the nations.

To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; * all who go down to the dust fall before him.

My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him; * they shall be known as the LORD'S for ever.

They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn * the saving deeds that he has done.

Despite our forsaking God, God has not forsaken us.  Despite our foolish abandon into our own self-concerns and ambitions, Christ does not abandon us.

Though we will remember this Holy Week how our Lord, even after doing so much good, was betrayed by one of his closest friends and made to suffer public humiliation and a painful death, we know that on the horizon in a week, there is redemption, hope, and new life through our risen Lord.  

AMEN. 

A Tale of [cleansing] Three Temples

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, * O LORD, my strength and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14)

Welcome to the third Sunday of Lent.  Whereas last Sunday, our focus was on what it means to be a follower of Jesus, today our focus turns to what it means to be the church of Jesus – that is, expectations of how we are to be a community of faith in Christ’s name.

The reading from Exodus highlights how we are to be a people of God.  We have ten commandments given to Moses to give to the chosen people to guide them in their relationship with God and with each other. Essentially, as is re-stated in Deuteronomy 6:5, the people of God are to put honoring God first on our priority list, followed closely by what is re-stated in Leviticus 19:18, that we are to honor each other – respecting our ancestral wisdom about how to behave, avoiding covetous obsessions and harmful actions.

You might recall Jesus repeating this Jewish wisdom when asked which commandments are the greatest.  Jesus repeats the summaries from Deuteronomy and Leviticus saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt 22:35-40)

So, there we have it, right?  That’s how we’re to be the church.  Just follow the ten commandments.  That sounds good… but in action it’s even more challenging.  Being the church of Christ – embodying Christ’s mission ourselves – requires us to apply this wisdom to our complex cotemporary living in a way that can be, frankly, foolish.

The church as a ship of fools was an idea even back in Paul’s day.  In the excerpt we heard this morning from his letter to the Corinthians, Paul is saying that to really follow the way of Christ will appear foolish to others, particularly those who focus on rational wisdom of the day.  Paul reminds them that our resurrected ‘church’ is founded more on the humble ‘way of the cross’ than on a prestigious convention of a crown… a path focused on the redemption of all, especially the weak and lowly, through a revolutionary processes of surrender, suffering, and sacrifice even unto death.

To be a faithful church of Christ, we not only focus on God first with everything we are and have, we are not only rigorous in our avoidance of harm toward others, but we are to be boldly foolish in letting go of things that might otherwise provide prestige and power but actually separate us from each other, focusing not on winning by getting things right, but on redeeming each other through loving so deeply, that it sometimes appears just plain wrong.

And now we stand in the Temple court with Jesus in the Gospel excerpt we’ve heard this morning (John 2:13-22), looking around us at this ‘house of God’ and asking, what wisdom is being followed here? 

This scene is rendered in all the Gospels.  In Mark, Matthew, and Luke, this moment is toward the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry and becomes the final provocation that mobilizes the establishment against him.  Interestingly, in John’s telling, this scene occurs at the beginning of Jesus’s adult ministry and serves as the second of many signs that people grapple with as they try to understand who Jesus is --  this event is disturbing to them, but not the ‘final straw’ in John’s telling as it is in the other Gospels.  But I digress…

On one level, what we see going on in the Temple court is perfectly reasonable.  Pilgrims from all over have come here to worship God, who is thought to reside here in the holiest of holy places, and out of respect, they must offer certain types of prescribed sacrifices.  In keeping with ancient customs, the animals they offer must be without blemish.  Because it’s hard keep your animal unblemished while traveling long-distances through harsh terrain, the temple authorities offer the convenience of simply buying unblemished animals here on-sight – no need to cart your own over long distances.  Of course, any money brought into the temple must not contain graven images, like that of the emperor who was presented as a god.  No problem, here in the temple court, we have exchange booths (like we see in international airports today) where you can trade your local coins for the temple-approved coins. 

Oh, by the way, now that you’re here with your money and sense of devotion, can I interest you in this religious trinket or this crafty momento of your time here in Jerusalem? 

What?  You’re not one of the chosen people, but you’ve come here anyway to seeking God?  No worries, although you can’t be admitted to the most revered places in this house, you can still enjoy your time here in this outer court – despite all the noise and mess, we encourage you can find a quiet corner in which to pray.

Yes, on one level, everything going on here is reasonable, given the conventions of the day.  Ok, so some of the merchants might be more focused on turning a profit than on turning people on to what it means to follow God.  Ok, so some of the exchange rates might be a bit unfair – we’re not meaning to exploit, we’re just trying to look out for ourselves while giving you some of what you need to find your own way here.  Look, we’ve been doing it this way for a long time and it seems to work for the leaders of our temple as well as for the Roman Empire.

As one commentator observed, “more than likely, all involved had simply settled into comfortable behaviors that enabled them to meet institutional goals, turning a blind eye to the unsavory possibilities of corruption inherent in changing money.” (Paul S. Shupe, Pastor, Lake Edge United Church of Christ, Madison, WI)

And another commentator has written, the temple/church can gradually be “…taken over by buyers and sellers, consumers and marketers who know how to fill the pews and meet the capital campaign goals…. The ways of the world invade the church gradually, subtly, never intentionally, always in service of the church and its mission.  Soon the church is full of cattle and sheep and turtledoves and money changers….” (W. Hulitt Gloer, Preaching Professor, Truett Seminary at Baylor, Waco, TX)

And here we stand with Jesus, in God’s house, the temple, the ‘church’, a place which should be focused on amplifying the application of the greatest commandments and a place where we all people are welcome and can find peace and well as inspiration. 

It wasn’t traditional Jewish wisdom and piety that now raised Jesus’s blood pressure – it was the commercial conveniences, personal profits, and rule-based distractions that had been allowed, even encouraged, in the name of God. 

Jesus snaps.  “Making a whip of cords [NOTE: only John mentions this whip – vivid image], he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"” (John 2:15-16).

Does this thrust of righteous rage from our Lord make us a bit un-easy?  It should.

Who and what would Jesus target with his whip of cords if he came into our temples today?

As another pastor wrote, this morning’s Gospel passage “pushes us to imagine Jesus entering our own sanctuaries, overturning our own cherished rationalizations and driving us out in the name of God… it is important for us to tolerate and explore through prayer, preparation, and preaching [this Lent] the queasy anxiety of seeing Jesus with the whip of cords in his hands and hearing him with the righteous judgments of God on his lips – knowing that he speaks for us, yes, and with us, but also to us and even against us.” (Paul S. Shupe, Pastor, Lake Edge United Church of Christ, Madison, WI)

Consider our churches.  How have we aligned any our gathering places more with societal status and privilege rather than sacrifice and service? What traditions and expectations have evolved over time to serve seemingly good purposes that, perhaps with Christ’s eye, are actually getting in the way of people encountering God and each other more deeply and authentically here?  Are we radically welcoming everyone, particularly the newcomer, so that they feel drawn closer to intimacy with God, not awkward or out of place because they don’t know all the rules? What might Jesus have us overturn in order to make this place more hospitable for the pilgrim, more focused on the greatest commandments?

Consider ourselves as temples of Holy Spirit (“know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit dwells in you” 1 Cor 3:16).  What corruptions would Jesus have us drive out of here (pointing to the heart and head) in order to make more room for compassion that might drive us to greater sacrificial love for each other?

AMEN.

Way of the Cross: Stations 5, 6, and 7

Homily notes: The Rev. Michael S. Bell for Lenten chapel service on 7 March 2012 at Bishop Seabury Academy (Lawrence, KS) 

What’s the difference “absolute historical accuracy” and “truth-telling” when it comes to stories that inspire and move you?  Though we don’t have much historical evidence of the factual accuracy of the stories represented in these images, they nonetheless tell us about truth.   These stories have endured for hundreds of years in our traditional telling of the Way of the Cross.  And, people from all over the world, when visiting Jerusalem today, will walk the Way of the Cross in remembrance of these images.  Why do you imagine we tell these stories over and over?  What truth do you think they represent?  

·         There’s no reference in the Bible about Jesus falling a second time, much less a first or a third time.  We easily imagine, however, given all that he had been through and the weight of the timber used for the cross, that Jesus may have fallen several times as he made his way along the road.

·         There’s no reference in the Bible about a woman coming up to wipe the bloody and sweaty face of Jesus as he carried his cross to his own execution.   We can easily imagine, however, given all the good news that he had spread and all the people that he had helped and healed, that someone had enough compassion for Jesus to risk approaching him amid the Roman soldiers to at the very least wipe some of the blood and salty/stingy sweat from his face as he passed by.  Tradition calls names this woman Veronica, which is derived from Latin words meaning true icon/image.

·         And, we know very little about Simon of Cyrene except that he was a father and that ‘of Cyrene’ means that he was from the northern territory of Africa, i.e., perhaps a foreigner/visitor in Jerusalem who perhaps didn’t have the same the skin color, ethnic identity, religious etc. as Jesus – Simon might have been Jewish, he might not have been; he might have just visiting his children, he might have been a migrant worker, who knows…  We don’t know precisely what compelled Simon to lift the cross, but we can imagine that to Jesus, this man was an unfamiliar face from the crowd who showed up just in time to lift some of the burden from Jesus even if only briefly.

·         Jesus had a family – we’re told he had sisters and brothers.  Yet, in this walk with Jesus, we don’t hear about them coming to help.  Jesus had close friends and followers (the apostles and disciples).  Yet, we don’t see any of them coming to his aid on this painful journey.  In fact, out of fear of being hurt themselves, they’ve run away from this scene.

·         Jesus knows what it’s like to feel abandoned, to not have the strength to go on, and the humiliation of falling vulnerable in front of others.  And, Jesus knows what it’s like to receive kindness from strangers.

·         The people we remember so vividly in today’s stations are ‘strangers’ who stepped out of the crowd to walk with someone struggling, shouldering the cross for him for bit and offering a moment of relief and dignity.

What do you do when you know others might need your help? 

If you had fallen, were out of strength, and unable to move on, how’d you feel if help came, not from one of your family or friends, but from a compassionate stranger?

Have you ever felt like there was no way to go on by yourself – the burden was too heavy / you were too tired?  Did someone come along and lift you up?  Have you thanked them?

Have you ever seen someone carrying something heavy (literally or figuratively) or being picked-on?  Were you bold enough to stand in and help/defend them, or at least compassionate enough to offer them comfort?

Who do you know that might feel alone right now? 
What help can you offer, even if only for a little while, so they’ll know they’re not alone?

PRAYER: Jesus, as we walk the Way of the Cross, through the humiliation and pain of your Passion, in these images of your own vulnerability and humanity, with an eye toward your ultimate victory, help us find strength and courage to face our own struggles.  Help us to see more clearly how to express love for our neighbors, particularly when they suffer, and even when it’s risky to do so; and how to accept kindness from strangers, even when we’re weary.   AMEN.

Comfort & Challenge: living up to and into God's love requires sacrifice

Welcome to the second Sunday of Lent.  How’s Lenten journey so far? 

We’re deep into it today.  Our lessons, though containing some ultimately comforting hope, are also presenting us with the promise of challenges in our walk with Christ.

Comfort and challenge – a good combo on which to cogitate this Lent in our walk with Christ.

Comfort: God has promised to be faithful to us, even when times get tough. We are known by name and beloved by our creator.  We inherit this promise not “through the law (by following all the rules most perfectly) but through the righteousness of [our] faith”, as our ancestors Abraham and Sarah did (Rom 4:13-14, 16).  God sent is love to us in the very tangible form of Christ Jesus and has gifted us his Holy Spirit – comforting, indeed.

Challenge: While there is great freedom in being beloved of God and inheriting his Spirit, living up to this love and into this inheritance requires sacrifice on our part.  It’s risky and costly to graciously seek and consistently share culture-challenging charitable love with others as Christ has done with us.  Furthermore, God’s Word made flesh, Jesus, has shown us and told us that when we set our mind more on our will than on divine will (more on our sense of how things should be rather than God’s desire), we inhibit the holy mission, risk forfeiting our life, and head toward shame.

Let’s look a bit closer at some of our lessons for today and then consider what the Spirit might be leading us to re-consider during our Lenten journey this year.

Abraham & Sarah

As Paul is suggesting in the excerpt from his letter to the Romans that we’ve heard this morning (Rom 4:13-25), faith and trust are most fundamental to our right relationship with God. Well before Moses encountered God on the mountaintop and delivered ‘law’ to us (traditions meant to support and encourage our faithful living), we have the story of God’s outreach to Abraham and Sarah, the actions they faithfully take in respond to God’s call, and God’s promise to redeem us all through their legacy. 

Before Abraham and Sarah, God sought to turn us from self-centered ways and return to divine righteousness as a family.  God attempted a re-boot through the great flood and the call of Noah to restore better order.  Alas, as faithful as he was initially, Noah fell off the wagon.

Then along comes Abraham.  We’re not really clear why Abraham, a decedent of Noah, is chosen, but perhaps there’s a lesson in that.  God seems to be less interested in Abraham’s past story and more concerned about the strength of his faith and the trust that both he and his wife have in God’s intentions… and what that will mean for the future generations that they shall parent.

God calls Abraham and Sarah to leave behind the comforts of the life they have known – to uproot their identity in the current context;  to sacrifice their senses of safety, security, protection, and prosperity - and to venture forth into something new – a new place that will be blessed and greater than where they’ve been.  Initially, despite their faithful sacrifices and trusting follow, they endure many hardships (e.g., famine and war).  Furthermore, try as they might to fulfill what God has said they shall do (fruitfully procreate), they can’t beget a child of their own (Sarah is barren). 

Abraham and Sarah weren’t perfect (as Paul’s rendering might suggest) and this couple had their moments of doubt (e.g., Abraham initially falls on his face laughing at the notion that they’ll be parents in the old age) and sometimes acted according to their own will first (e.g., perhaps weary of waiting on God to act, they take it upon themselves to create a child by Abraham impregnating Sarah’s slave, Hagar)… but more often than not they were faithful and trusting in God’s comforting promise, despite their circumstantial challenges.  Because of this, God appears again to refresh the promise to bring forth a multitude of nations from this faithful and trusting couple, blessing them with their own child and new names to seal the deal.  

"Abraham Sarah and Yitzhak" by Yorah Raanan

To the end, they remain faithful and trusting in God, even though their circumstances seem more challenging than comforting most of the time. E.g., Abraham is even shows God that he’s willing to sacrifice their beloved son Isaac if it be God’s will.

Today, three of our great religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) consider themselves ‘Abrahamic’, considering themselves ancestors of this faithful couple through whom God’s comforting promise was fulfilled.

In the story and legacy of Abraham and Sarah we can find deep comfort in the enduring nature of God’s commitment to us that is based on faith and trust.  And, we can also see/hear that God hadn’t promised that we’ll never endure hardship and suffering.  What we’re to trust in is that God remains committed to our well-being every step of the way and will redeem even the seemingly most barren of circumstances if we will just remain faithful to seeking God’s will more than our own. 

The story of Abraham and Sarah is compelling… and, I’m even more drawn to the character of Peter and how his story embodies these elements of promise, comfort and challenge.

Peter

Don’t cha just love Simon Peter?  Here’s a regular ole fisherman who gets pulled into this whole story by his brother and then eventually ends up on a mountaintop witnessing the Transfiguration of our Lord and becoming one of the primary leaders of the early church. 

Peter is both the disciple of little faith (when he calls out to Jesus for help while trying to walk on water, Matt 14:28-31) and then later he’s the sturdy rock (petros) upon which Jesus says the church will be established (Matt 16:13-20). 

Peter is first to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah (Mark 8:29 - just prior to what we’re hearing this morning) as well as later the first to publicly deny (three times, no less!) knowing Jesus after the going gets tough (when Jesus is taken into custody before his trail and execution).

This morning we’re hearing what happened right after Peter’s proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah.  Following Peter’s bold proclamation that Jesus is the messiah, Jesus reveals more about the suffering that he must endure in this role.  In another bold move, albeit misguided, Peter then pulls Jesus aside and “rebukes” him (that’s right – rebukes, like what Jesus has been doing to demons). Faithful Peter is also fearful Peter when confronted with the implications of what following a suffering servant messiah will mean.   

We might imagine Peter saying something like “hey J.C., that’s not the type of messiah we’ve been hoping for… suffering as the Son of Man isn’t what we want… there’s another way to do this…”  Or, as one commentator imagined Peter saying, “Suffering, rejection, and death are not on the agenda.  Prestige, power, and dominion are the agenda.  It’s David’s throne we’re after, ruling the nations with power and might.  We signed on for a crown, not a cross!” (W. Hulitt Gloer, PhD - Professor of Preaching, Truett Seminary at Baylor University)

Peter’s instinct is to avoid this way if possible and find another way to enjoy all the benefits of the kingdom without having to endure the Passion.  I can relate to that… can’t you?  And while I might not dare to boldly rebuke Jesus as Peter did, I’m sometimes pretty good at passive aggressively avoiding Christ.  What about you?

Rather than comforting Peter and alleviate his fears and concerns, Jesus challenges this trusted disciple and promises all listeners that there will be more challenges ahead in their walk with this messiah.  

Get Thee Behind Me, Satan.  James Tissot,  1886-96 (Brooklyn Museum)

First, Jesus rebukes Peter publicly , “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things by on human things.”  Jesus wants it made very clear that this mission will be inhibited if mortal pride or fear overshadows divine will and eternal hope.

Then, turning to the others who have now gathered around them, Jesus goes on to challenge everyone by saying that order to inherit all that the messiah promises and become heirs to God’s kingdom, they too must surrender, sacrifice, and suffer for the sake of the ultimate good news. 

Here are two other renderings of what Jesus says to them (to us):

(from The Message) Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels."

(from a sermon by The Rev. Rickey Del Edwards, March 19, 2000) "If anyone would come after me, let them sacrifice themselves and take up their choices and follow me. For whoever would hide their choices will be lost, and who ever would witness to their choices for my sake and the sake of others will live. For what does it gain to hide behind idols of prosperity, health, leisure and comfort and loose one’s life. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, I will be ashamed of them when I come with the holy angels."

After the great hopes and joys that people have built up following this miracle-working messiah, now they’re hearing him say that he will be rejected, will suffer, and will be killed… and that they, too, must carry the cross to be his true follower. 

As Brother David Vryhof of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist says, “It’s no wonder that Jesus’ family [and followers] was concerned about him. By his actions he was showing that principles which most people value above everything else – security, safety, and a good reputation in the eyes of others – meant nothing to him. How countercultural is that?”

Concluding thoughts / questions:

This Lenten season reminds us that if we’re honest with ourselves, we find ourselves living somewhere between the comforting glory of the resurrection promise of eternal life and the challenging realities of what we must surrender and endure in order to follow God’s incarnate Word in this life.

We spend so much of our contemporary lives trying to avoid and dull our own discomfort that we too often neglect the visceral memory that God’s passionate love for us through Christ involved sacrifice and suffering to relieve the deeper pains of this world.

Good news…

No matter how off-track we can find ourselves, we are already forgiven and beloved (that is comforting).  And, this penitent season of Lent offers 40 days of grace-filled opportunity to live up to the love and into the expectations of God’s Word.

We’re invited in these forty days of Lent to re-consider both the comforting promises of our covenant with God, as well as the challenging propositions of what it means to truly follow Christ – what it will require of us body, mind, and heart.

Before yearning to celebrate the comforts of Easter, we are invited for these forty days to embrace the challenges of self-sacrifice and what needs to be put to death on the cross.

How are you challenging yourself during this Lent? 

What are we each willing to sacrifice for the promise of new life together?

What do you need to surrender in order to walk the way of the cross with Christ? 

AMEN.