May 8, 2022 4th Sunday of Easter

John 10:22-25  (The Message) 

22-24 They were celebrating Hanukkah just then in Jerusalem. It was winter. Jesus was strolling in the Temple across Solomon’s Porch. The Jews, circling him, said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you’re the Messiah, tell us straight out.”

25 Jesus answered, “I told you, but you don’t believe. Everything I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak louder than words. 

The request  “tell us straight out” sounds legitimate, fair, reasonable, even honest.  But it isn’t.  It is loaded, bias, suspicious, deceptive.  A trap to catch Jesus and prove his blasphemy.  They did not want to hear what Jesus was saying, in word and deed.  They wanted the “plain truth” which was less than the truth Jesus lived.  They wanted Jesus  truth to fit their truth and his was far different from theirs.

And what is this truth?  It is hidden in Jesus actions which speak louder than words

At it’s core it is that God loves you and me and everyone - “red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight.”  

And also that God includes those we exclude - and if God excludes anyone, it is not for me to say who that will be. It appears from Scripture that it will be those who reject the way of love which Jesus taught and choose to make God exclusive, judging who will make it and who won’t.  This I cannot do.  I am not God and I am not able to grasp how far God’s  love goes to be inclusive

"Jesus loves the different people,

of the world. 

Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew,

They are precious to him too.

Jesus loves the different people 

of the world."

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to accept what I cannot change - that your love is inclusive.  Then help me be inclusive in my thinking and acting, daring to leave judgement in your hands.”

 May 1, 2022  3rd Sunday of Easter 

John 21:1-19  (The Message) 

21 1-3 After this, Jesus appeared again to the disciples, this time at the Tiberias Sea (the Sea of Galilee). This is how he did it: Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed “Twin”), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the brothers Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. Simon Peter announced, “I’m going fishing.”

3-4 The rest of them replied, “We’re going with you.” They went out and got in the boat. They caught nothing that night. When the sun came up, Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn’t recognize him.

5 Jesus spoke to them: “Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?”

They answered, “No.”

6 He said, “Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens.”

They did what he said. All of a sudden there were so many fish in it, they weren’t strong enough to pull it in.

7-9 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Master!”

When Simon Peter realized that it was the Master, he threw on some clothes, for he was stripped for work, and dove into the sea. The other disciples came in by boat for they weren’t far from land, a hundred yards or so, pulling along the net full of fish. When they got out of the boat, they saw a fire laid, with fish and bread cooking on it.

10-11 Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.” Simon Peter joined them and pulled the net to shore—153 big fish! And even with all those fish, the net didn’t rip.

12 Jesus said, “Breakfast is ready.” Not one of the disciples dared ask, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Master.

13-14 Jesus then took the bread and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus had shown himself alive to the disciples since being raised from the dead.

There is a knowing which is too deep for words; a knowing within which defies logic.

Such knowing comes from living with and discovering in the experiences of life that which is too deep for words.   Of such is faith, hope, love.  We don’t create them.  They create us, as we experience them both on a human level and beyond, on a mystical level, in the richness of God’s grace and the depth of God’s love. 

“At its heart, I think, religion is mystical...Religions start, as Frost said poems do, with a lump in the throat, to put it mildly, or with the bush going up in flames, the rain of flowers, the dove coming down out of the sky.”  Frederick Buechner

We live as resurrection people not because we can understand the resurrection, but because the resurrection warms our heart and finds a home deep within our soul.  It rings true - there is “one more surprise” in store for us when our eyes close for the last  time.

“The mystic in us is the one   

moved to radical amazement 

by the awe of things.”

Matthew Fox

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me surprised at life’s mystery, even to the better end.”

April 24, 2022 2nd Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-31  (The Message)  

19-20 Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he showed them his hands and side.

20-21 The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”

22-23 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”

24-25 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.”

But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”

26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.”

27 Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”

28 Thomas said, “My Master! My God!”

29 Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”

30-31 Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

We don’t get very far into the Easter season before we run into Thomas - doubting Thomas.

He is the one who grounds the resurrection in the physical appearance of Jesus.  

He is, as one person put it, “...a pioneer of the faith through whose persistency we are given a message of grace and joy.”

He is also the one who reminds us that doubt is a part of faith.  It is often on the growing edge of faith. 

 

As Paul  Tillich said, “Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith, it is an element of faith”.

And Alan Jones said, “In a world where there is no room for doubt, ambiguity, or questioning, there is no room for genuine faith.”

What we say we doubt may well be what we most want to believe.

When we continue to believe, even when we have our doubts,  we are open to believing more than we can believe.

It is no sin to doubt.  Our doubts not only keep us honest and humble, they also are openings for God’s spirit to touch our lives.  For through our doubts we are let to believe in mysteries far beyond human logic or comprehension. 

Despite being a major figure in faith today, 

even Mother Teresa of Calcutta was not 

immune to struggles with doubt.

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief.  Help me see more then can be seen and believe more then can be grasped with the human mind.”

April 17, 2021 Easter Sunday

Luke 24:1-12   (The Message) 

1-3 At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.

4-8 They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.

9-11 They left the tomb and broke the news of all this to the Eleven and the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them kept telling these things to the apostles, but the apostles didn’t believe a word of it, thought they were making it all up.

12 But Peter jumped to his feet and ran to the tomb. He stooped to look in and saw a few grave clothes, that’s all. He walked away puzzled, shaking his head.

Easter is hope.

What oxygen is for the lungs, hope is for the spirit.

Without it suffocation takes place; despair takes over; paralysis sets in.  Without it, as Jean Paul Sartre put it, “man is a useless passion”.

Without hope there is no meaning to living.

Easter  is hope!  Hope born of an event and a promise which touch the very core of human yearning.  The event is a resurrection; the promise is eternal life.  Both so incredible they are difficult to believe yet so powerful that nothing can overcome them.  

We are living in times which cry out for hope for those caught up in hopelessness and despair.  And we see it appear in places of great pain and destruction as the people of Ukraine struggle to be free and most of the world struggles with them, doing what can be done to keep hope alive in the midst of that which sometimes must seem hopeless.

It doesn’t sound like much yet it is vital to their survival that hope not be extinguished and they know they are not alone.  This must be at the heart of all we do to walk with them for it is the gift of Easter born of a Resurrection!

Yes, Easter is hope!  The hope which adds to the love of living and will never disappoint.  The resurrection says there are no closed doors, the future is open, anything is possible.   For Jesus lives and we live in God’s eternal love!

 

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to live in hope with love,

born of your resurrection .  And keep hope alive in the hearts of all who walk this day in despair and hopelessness.  Especially the people of Ukraine who face the evil of the senseless destruction of their homes and communities.”   Amen  

 

April 14,, 2019 Passion Sunday

Luke 22:14-23:56  (The full Passion story- read it this week>)

Luke 23:33-47(The Message )  

33 When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

34-35 Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, “He saved others. Let’s see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!”

36-37 The soldiers also came up and poked fun at him, making a game of it. They toasted him with sour wine: “So you’re King of the Jews! Save yourself!”

38 Printed over him was a sign: this is the king of the jews.

39 One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: “Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!”

40-41 But the other one made him shut up: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”

43 He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.”

44-46 By now it was noon. The whole earth became dark, the darkness lasting three hours—a total blackout. The Temple curtain split right down the middle. Jesus called loudly, “Father, I place my life in your hands!” Then he breathed his last.

47 When the captain there saw what happened, he honored God: “This man was innocent! A good man, and innocent!”

The road to Easter goes through Good Friday.  

The joy of celebration has its roots deep within the agony of defeat.

There is no resurrection without a cross.

This is the beginning of the most horrible and the most glorious week in human history.

We hear the words “Crucify him, crucify him!” before we hear “Alleluia, He lives!”

“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 than 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 humanity.”

Douglas John Hall 

“God is not more divine  

than he is in his humanity.”

Douglas John Hall 

   

Prayer thought for the week:  Read the full passion story and walk with it all week.

 

 April 3, 2022 Lent 5

John 12:1-8  (The Message)

Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.

Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.

Jesus said, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don’t always have me.”

Extravagant Love

The prayer of the Day gives us a clear hint what this text is all about: “Open our hearts to be transformed by the new thing you are doing, that our lives may proclaim the extravagance of your love given to all through your Son...”

There are times and places for extravagance - even when there are plenty of poor who also need our attention, and our help.

Jesus words - “you always have the poor with you” were not spoken as a reason not to care. It was a reminder that we can celebrate the gifts of life - as he was celebrating the gift of Lazarus’s life - even as we ache for those who have life violently disrupted and taken from them.  Even as his life was soon to be violently taken from him.

There will always be the “poor” who need our help.  We certainly see this in what is happening in our world right now!  And they do need our help!

But not at the expense of extravagance in celebrating the love we feel, both human and  divine for the gift of our lives.  

We can do both!  Be extravagant 

in our celebration of life and be 

equally extravagant in our care 

of the “poor”!  

Prayer thought for the week::  “Lord, it sometimes feels selfish to be happy when so many are in great distress.  Help me to celebrate the love which sustains me even as I seek to sustain those who have lost all reason to rejoice.”  Amen

March 27, 2022 Fourth Sunday in Lent

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32  (The Message)

15 1-3 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

11-12 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’

12-16 “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

17-20 “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.

20-21 “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’

22-24 “But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.

25-27 “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’

28-30 “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’

Luke 15 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible.  It contains three parables which tell us all we need to know about God’s awesome love.  The parable of the Prodigal Son - or better titled, the Waiting Father,  is the most well known and profound.

The setting is the Pharisee’s and teachers of the Law - the prominent religious citizens of the day.  They have been unhappy with Jesus for not being as ‘religiously correct’ as they are, for “he receives sinners and eats with them.”  So Jesus tells this story to open their eyes to how it really is with God.

The rebellion of the youngest son is reason for the Father to disown him.  Cast him out!

Forget that he ever existed!  This the Father cannot do.  

There is no way God will disown any of his children!  That just isn’t in the books!  Not since Jesus!   God doesn’t close his heart to anyone - ever!

Upon his return, hoping to be a hired hand in his fathers house the younger son discovers the second great truth about God hidden in this story - he can’t be a hired son;  he can only be a son!  Love demands it!  Grace fulfills it!  He is a son again for love will have it no other way!    Indeed, ‘love so amazing, so divine, demands our life, our soul, our all.”

The elder son stayed home. As Bailey says in “The Cross And The Prodigal”,  “His heart is full of envy, pride, bitterness, sarcasm, anger, resentment, self-centeredness, hate, stinginess, self-satisfaction and self-deception.  And he probably sees his own actions as a righteous search for honor.”

It was his job to serve as ‘head waiter’ at the banquet.  This he could not do.  So the Father must go out a second time to try show his elder son that he is love too - just as much as the younger.  This time it ends up with his love being rejected.

Lesson:  Whenever we, like the elder son, get arrogant and think we know how, who and when God should love, we become lost in our own arrogance and way off base in our lack of compassion.

When ever we find ourselves begrudging God’s generosity - God’s grace at work in the lives of sinners - we part company with God and dwell in our own religiosity.

How great indeed is our God and his great loved for all - ALL - his children.  

“Grace isn’t a gift for getting it right  

but for getting it wrong!”  

Richard Rohr

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, if I stray help me to dare believe that you will welcome me home, again, and again, and again.  And when I think you love me because I never stray - at least not much - help me to see how far astray I really am.”