April 13, 2014 Palm/Passion Sunday

Matthew 27:26-31  (The Message)

26 Then he pardoned Barabbas. But he had Jesus whipped, and then handed over for crucifixion. 27 The soldiers assigned to the governor took Jesus into the governor's palace and got the entire brigade together for some fun. 28 They stripped him and dressed him in a red toga. 29 They plaited a crown from branches of a thorn bush and set it on his head. They put a stick in his right hand for a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mocking reverence: "Bravo, King of the Jews!" they said. "Bravo!" 30 Then they spit on him and hit him on the head with the stick. 31 When they had had their fun, they took off the toga and put his own clothes back on him. Then they proceeded out to the crucifixion.

This is a story about a love which will not let us go - ever!

“When the crucified Jesus is called ‘the image of the invisible God’. the meaning is that THIS is God and God is like THIS.  God is not greater than he is in this humiliation.  God is not more glorious then he is in this self-surrender.  God is not more powerful than he is in this helplessness.  God is not more divine than he is in this humility.”  Douglas John Hall

The irony is we would avoid this week if we could for we would rather have light without darkness, vision without trust and risk; hope without despair, Easter without Good Friday.

“To be human is to suffer, and God knows that.  That’s why God suffers too...suffering is where God and human beings meet.  It is the one place where all persons - kings, priests, paupers and prostitutes - recognize themselves as frail and transient human beings in need of God’s saving love.  Suffering brings us closer to God and God closer to us.  Suffering despite all its inhumanity and cruelty, paradoxically enables humans to long for humanity, find it, treasure it, and defend it with all their might.”  “This is the essence of God, this is the heart of God.” Hall

"Suffering is where God and human beings meet."
Douglas John Hall

April 6, 2014 Fifth Sunday in Lent

John 11:1-44 (edited) (The Message)

  1 A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2  It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Master, the one you love so very much is sick." 4 When Jesus got the message, he said, "This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God's glory by glorifying God's Son." 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days. 7 After the two days, he said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea.
17 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead. 20 Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house. 21 Martha said, "Master, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died. 22 Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you." 23 Jesus said, "Your brother will be raised up." 24 Martha replied, "I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time." 25 "You don't have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live.  28 After this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, "The Teacher is here and is asking for you." 29 The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him.  32 Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, "Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him. 34 He said, "Where did you put him?" 35 Jesus wept. 36 The Jews said, "Look how deeply he loved him." 38 Then Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose."

The miracle of the raising of Lazarus is beyond our grasp.

 A piece of it we can grasp is that it means that God can take the very thing which is causing us to say , “Life is a dirty trick.” and turn it into a revelation of God’s glory, and experience of God’s closeness.  Yes, a blessing!

Another piece of it we can feel is that, no matter what, "joy (laughter)  comes in the morning."
Ps. 30:5

April Fools day.was 5 days ago.  It is a day to look at life through laughter.  Perhaps that is also a good way to look at death.  And this text. Think what must have taken place at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus that night he was set free from death.  Do you suppose there was some laughter?  The glory, power and love of God had been revealed and they knew it deep within their being.  That is reason to rejoice, celebrate and laugh!

It is good to laugh and cry together.  To laugh even in the face of death.
Laughter can be a statement of faith and of the “sure and certain hope” which is ours.

“If we walk with Jesus and weep with him, I think he also wants us to laugh with him.”
Cal Samra “The Joyful Christ"


March 30, 2014 Fourth Sunday in Lent

John 9:1-3, 6-7The Message)
 
1 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?" 3 Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. 6 He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man's eyes, 7 and said, "Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam" (Siloam means "Sent"). The man went and washed - and saw. “

The man born blind was healed.  It was a miracle.  No one could take that away from him.  His eyes were opened not only to the beauty of the world around him but also to the beauty of the world within him.  He saw not only a sunset;  he also saw the Son of Man, and he worshipped him.  He saw life anew through the eyes of faith and he was indeed born anew in the Kingdom of Heaven.

To stand with him is to dare believe in miracles and to dare confess that we are often blind and cannot see...that we need “light in the darkness of our hearts” .

Is this not our challenge not once but over and over again in our lives.
To see beyond the moment to that which is eternal and to see in the moment that which is truly joyful and joy giving?

The movie “The Bucket List” portrays this truth in what was for me a powerful way.

It is the story of two men - Carter, played by Morgan Freeman
and  Edward, played by Jack Nicholson,  who meet in a hospital room where both of them find themselves with terminal cancer.
Carter , an intellectual who was forced by family obligations to become an auto mechanic is making out a list of what he wants to do before he" kicks the bucket".
It contains such noble things as “witness something truly majestic, help a complete stranger for good, laugh until he cries, and even drive a Shelby Mustang.”

Edward sees the list and wants to join the fun.  He adds skydiving, seeing the Taj Mahal, getting a tattoo, sitting on top of the Egyptian pyramids, and kissing the prettiest girl in the world.

So they start out together with Edward’s money, and it is wild ride.  Especially for Carter who hasn’t done anything this wild in his life.  And as they go about all the exciting things Carter shares with Edward some of his inner self.  Like, on seeing the brilliant stars in the black night he says, “This is one of God’s most amazing wonders.”  Edward sneers at it and they enter in a discussion which ends up with Carter asking, “What do you believe?  To which Edward replies, “We live, we die and the wheels on the bus go round and round...unless you think you know something I don’t know?”  And Carter responds. “No, I just have faith.”

They also talk about their families and it becomes apparent that Edward is divorced numerous times and estranged from his only daughter.  Somehow, in the subtleties of the time spent together - and there only hints of this in the movie, like when Carter asks Edward as they sit on the top of the Egyptian pyramid, two questions:  “Have you found joy?” and “Has your life brought joy to others?” -
somehow Edward begins to see his blindness - his failure in spite of his great financial success and he ends up going to his daughter to seek reconciliation and it is there that the miracle of the story happens. He discovers he has a granddaughter and she, perhaps 2 years old, gives him a hug and he kisses her cheek.

The next scene shows him scratching off the bucket list the item - “to kiss the most beautiful girl in the world.”

The miracle has happened again.  The blind see!  Life is given joy!  Salvation has come to his house!


“Have you found joy?”
 “Has your life brought joy to others?”





Picture by Sarah Pearson

March 23, 2014 Third Sunday in Lent

John 4: 5-11, 13-18, 27-29 (The Message )

5 He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon. 7 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" 8 (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) 9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water." 11 The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'?
13 Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. 14 Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst - not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life." 15 The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!" 16 He said, "Go call your husband and then come back." 17 "I have no husband," she said. 18 You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."
. 28 The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, 29 "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside  and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?"

The Samaritan woman did not expect Jesus to speak to her.  And especially about something as intimate as her life with men.  Yet in this exchange something changed deep within her and she became openly honest with herself and others.  It was a very human and deeply spiritual moment; she became a new person.  For us too, to be truly human (honest and open) is to be deeply spiritual.  It is a fresh drink of water - living water!

“Too be human is to be spiritual; to be spiritual is to be human.”  Ron Henrichs

March 16, 2014 Second Sunday in Lent

John 3:1-3, 14-17 (The Message)

1 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. 2 Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it." 3 Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to - to God's kingdom." 14 In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up - 15 and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life. 16 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17 God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

Nicodemus wanted to believe Jesus,
but his head got in the way of his heart.

His heart said, “Go for it!”
“Follow Him!”
“This is the One!”
but his head asked, “How can these things be?”

He tried his best but he couldn't figure Jesus out.
Not yet anyway.  He did become a secret believer and he was with Joseph of Arimathea when Jesus body was buried.  But today he is wondering what it is all about, and asking “How can these things be?”

How can it be that we have to be born again...and again...and again...and again, again, again?  Born from above;  of the Spirit;  of the one God sent?

It can be because we never get it all the first time, or the second, or third, or more.
We have to be born many times, over and over again as it slowly sinks in that God’s “love never ends and dazzling grace always is’.  And it is for all!  All!

 
“God’s love never ends and dazzling grace always is.William Sloane Coffin

March 9, 2014 First Sunday in Lent

Matthew 4:1-11 The Message

 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. 2 Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, 3 which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since you are God's Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread." 4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth." 5 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, 6 "Since you are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone." 7 Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God." 8 For the third test, the Devil took him on the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. 9 Then he said, "They're yours - lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours." 10 Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness." 11 The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs.
.

Jesus had limits; his limits were that he was not to use his divine sonship as a way to get out of being human when the going got tough.  Not turn stones to bread - jump off the temple, do what best serves himself even it it means worshipping the devil!  Give up on good and give in to evil - take the easy way out.

We would like to live without limits, thinking this would be paradise. But would it?

“Imagine a life without the experience of limits.  You could have wild strawberries whenever you wanted them!  Nothing would be inaccessible, nothing forbidden, nothing out of reach, no unfulfilled dreams or wishes, no ‘thus far and no farther!’.  But how could human beings under such conditions ever experience wonder, surprise, or gratitude?”    
(Douglas John Hall, “God and Human Suffering, p. 58)

“And where would life be without wonder, surprise or gratitude?”

March 2, 2014 Transfiguration of Our Lord

Matthew 17:1-9  (The Promise)

1 Six days later, three of them saw that glory. Jesus took Peter and the brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain. 2 His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light. 3 Then they realized that Moses and Elijah were also there in deep conversation with him. 4 Peter broke in, "Master, this is a great moment! What would you think if I built three memorials here on the mountain - one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah?" 5 While he was going on like this, babbling, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and sounding from deep in the cloud a voice: "This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight. Listen to him." 6 When the disciples heard it, they fell flat on their faces, scared to death. 7 But Jesus came over and touched them. "Don't be afraid." 8 When they opened their eyes and looked around all they saw was Jesus, only Jesus. 9 Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. "Don't breathe a word of what you've seen. After the Son of Man is raised from the dead, you are free to talk."

This was a ‘stop the clock’ experience.  An experience to be savored and consumed;
an experience to be lived in and not go on.  But the truth is, this cannot be.  We cannot stay on the mountain.  We have to come down into the real world, the valley.  (Jesus couldn’t either!  He came down to the cross!)

On the Mountain top we see what cannot be seen in the valley;  it is a high point of faith.
The temptation is to want to stay there - escape from life.
The challenge is to take it with us into the rest of life and let it make a difference in who we are.

We are to leave the mountain top with its experience hidden in our hearts and  live, listening to Jesus, letting our lives show that we have been transformed.



“We are to leave the mountain top with its experience hidden in our hearts and live,  letting our lives show what we have seen.”


Picture: Sarah Pearson