May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Easter 3
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 26,1998
TEXT: John 21:1-14, (15-19 added) - Jesus appears to his Disciples, who are fishing, and reclaims Peter. Peter is no longer a "hireling," but a true shepherd.
Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish." . . . . Then he added, "Follow me."
ISSUE: The story today is another appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples. They have returned to carrying on with their lives the best they could. It's back to fishing again. But Jesus appears and re-claims and recalls his men to be faithful to their ministry and discipleship. It is an event very similar to Luke 5:1-11 when the disciples are mending nets and then put out to sea for the great catch of fish; they are called to be fishers of men. Here again they are called and Peter is forgiven, restored, and transformed from fisherman to a shepherd. It is easy for all of us to return after Easter to old ways, but Christ calls us to be raised with him, restored, and transformed into shepherds in a world of wolves.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
What a beautiful and magnificent passage of scripture this is from John's Gospel this morning. My good people when you read and study the Bible, I do urge you not to take it too literally. When we do that we miss the poetry and the magnificnet metaphors of the Scriptures that are all so very rich in their meaning an inuendo. When we are too literal we begin to question the logic and how certain things could have happened. We miss the deeper meanings, as we wrestle with mere surface factual material. It sounded last week when we read the 20th Chapter of John that the Gospel concluded, but then there comes another story added on which is Chapter 21, which we read today. Another tradition is attached full of meaning in terms of what the resurrection of Jesus meant for the early Christian community, and what beautiful addition it is.
John's Gospel account goes on to tell us of another tradition when Jesus appeared to his disciples. Peter, who is the greatly dishonored disciples decides in his despair to go fishing. He is dishonored, of course, for having betrayed Jesus, his teacher and master. This betrayal was a very serious action in that time, and he must have felt terribly guilty. But, life goes on, and Peter returns to his old ways. He was a fisherman, and he returns that work to continue making a living and carrying on with life, after the crucifixion of Jesus. According to the story, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John (sons of Zebedee), and two others all join Peter returning to their work on the sea as fishermen. Peter who betrayed, and six others who have been part of the abandonment of Jesus return to their work on the sea as fishermen.
The story indicates that it is in the darkness of the night that they set out to fish, and they catch nothing. As the morning light begins to dawn, a man calls to them and asks them if they have caught anything. They reply, "No." The figure on the beach directs them to cast the nets on the right side of the boat, which they do, and suddenly haul up an enormous catch of fish. It is an experience of "deja vous." They have been here before. In the gospel of Luke (5:1-11), you will perhaps recall, that the disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Jesus directed them to set out again, and put down the net, and they made a great catch of fish. So great was the catch that the boat nearly sank and they had to call for assistance. Peter falls to his knees and confesses that he is a sinful man. Jesus reassures them not to be afraid and to follow him, and he will make them fishers of men. It was their call to discipleship. "They pulled the boats upon the beach, left everything, and followed Jesus."
In this resurrection story, the disciple are being recalled, even in their sinfulness, even in their dishonorable state. Christ Jesus comes for them again to raise them up, to call and to restore them. Peter is naked. To us it doeen't make a lot of sense that Peter who is fishing naked puts on his clothes to jump in the water to head for shore. But you see, nakedness is this period was dishonorable. Nakedness was sort of obscene in this culture. Peter's nakedness in the story heightens his dishonorable and sinful status. He dresses as an act of his restoration in recognizing Christ's renewing call to him. Jesus calls to his disciples again. There is that dawning in the nlight of the new day, that Jesus lives and their mission as fishers of men is to continue. They are re-affirmed in their ministry and discipleship.
Someone took and count and found out that there were 153 fish. . . . 153 exactly! what does that mean. We can't be positive, but it probably meant all nations, or all species of folk were to be embraced for Christ. They were once again called to be fishers of men, and to haul in for God all peoples and all nations, regardless of their status. It re-inforces againt their ministry. What's more the net will not break. God can manage such a great cloud of witnesses.
As the dawning of who Jesus is continues, the Lord invites them to breakfast. Great detail is given. There is a charcoal fire. You can smell it. There is home baked bread which you can taste and smell. There are fishing frying to be be consumed. It is a very real, a very vivid picture and special moment. Jesus, the Risen Lord, is there and recognized. It's so very real. They gather to partake of the abundance of the bread and the fish, and you have another recollection of the feeding of the multitudes. Jesus Christ is their direction, in that he tells them where to drop the nets, and he is their food, their sustenance, their nourishment, and their nurturing. The disciples are beginning a new day of belief and trust that Christ is with them.
In addition, you have the very intimate restoration and recalling of Peter. We have the picture of Jesus and Peter alone, apart momentarily from the others. Peter is the one who betrayed Jesus, not once but three times. So Jesus says to him: "Do you love me more than all else." "Then feed my lambs," Jesus replies. He asks Jesus again: "Do you love me?" Peter assures him that he does. "Tend my sheep," Jesus replies. A third time, once for each of the denials, "Do you love me" "Lord," Peter replies, "you know everything; you know I love you." Jesus answers in restoration and forgiveness, "Feed my sheep." The passage concludes again with the "deja vous" statement, "Follow me."
What's happening here is again truly fascinating. In Chapter 10 of John's Gospel (10:11f), Jesus teaches that he himself is The Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd is willing to die for the sheep. when the hired man, who is not a shepherd and doews not own the sheep, sees a wolf coming, he leave the sheep and runs away; so the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. The hired man runs away becasue he is only a hired man, and does not care about the sheep. Peter, you see, who has fled Jesus, who dishonorably betrayed him, and failed miserably at his discipleship was little more than a disobedient and mediocre hireling. But now . . . . Jesus calls and ordains Peter to be A Shepherd! Peter is truly transformed by the resurrected Christ. In the Christmas story of Luke, the shepherds proclaim the birth of Jesus. Now in the Easter story, Peter, a simple and not very competent nor efficient fisherman is transformed into a Good Shepherd to tend and feed and proclaim the resurrection and love and hope of God for the world. Peter is raised up with Christ; he too is risen. He too who was dishonorably naked and who immerses himself in the water (water of baptism) comes to the shore to feed on and with Christ and transformed into a Good Shepherd. What a fantastic and powerful story.
In the story are great insights for us today. Many of us go through some of the rigors of Lent, which begins in ashes. We try to learn new things and develop our spiritual lives. We experience the Last Supper, the Footwashing of servanthood. We become envoloped in the tragic passion and death of Jesus on the cross on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Then comes the joy of the Resurrection at Easter. But where do we go from there? Like Peter, finoishing up the chocolate bunnies, we are inclined to return to our same old ways. Life has to go on. We return to some of the same old ways. It's like a person who gives up smoking for Lent, and then on Easter Sunday can't wait to light up again. I had an uncle, poor dear soul, was so addicted to alcohol. There were family stories about how in Lent old Uncle Joe would give up booze, and then on Easter go on one hellacious binge. It was just the same old thing all over again.
To be alive with Christ is to remember that we are not always efficient or good. We are sinners. We are not worthy. Yet Christ called his disciples into ministry inspite of themselves. Things do not always work out well. Yet God in Christ is raised up to have us begin again, to be renewed again, and restored again. He comes to us in those subtle incarnationsal ways. He reminds the fishermen what they were really supposed to be doing. He reminds them how he feeds and nourishes. He raises them up again restoring and transforming them.
It is important, I think, for us to ask at this season, Risen Lord, in all of our shortcomings, what are you raising us us to be? What is the renewed and transformed calling for our lives? We might wonder about this in terms of our personal lives. God, what are you raising me up to be and to do? How can I respond in deeper faithfulness assuring you that I love you, and more importantly asking how do I more fully acknowlege that you love and forgive me? We may want to look at our relationships with others. We may want to think about what it means to be a good father, a good mother, a good employee, a person who is touch and transformed by God.
How about as a Parish of church people, What is God calling us to be and to do? Is it in merely repeating and doing the same old things that never seem to change? Is it possible that God in Christ is trying to raise us up, to lift us, to new callings and new responses to be his living transformed body in the community. Do we allow God in the Risen Christ to transform us from mere hirelings who run away from needs and challenges or to be truly Good Shepherds? Many issue confront us in terms of how we reach out to people and convey our message and make ourselves visible as the body of Christ. There are people starving for a spirituality based on love and forgiveness. There are the needs of the sick and the poor, the handicapped. The needs of young people to be immersed in the message of God's acceptance, forgiveness, and love.
The gospel messages conclude with the fact that the disciples recognize that inspite of themselves, God in Christ is renewing and transforming them into people with a message of hope, and a calling to be fishers of men and what's more, Good Shepherds for God's flock of all nations and people. The message concludes with the bestowing of authority: Forgive Sins. You are not a hireling, but A Shepherd. Baptize and teach. Be the living body of Christ that raises up, that lifts us, that resurrects all that is fallen and broken. Do we do this alone? Of course not. We are but human, but God in Christ is our continuing direction. Listen to him, for him, and discern our ministries in the community and world.
Sunday, April 26, 1998
Sunday, April 19, 1998
Easter 2
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Easter 2
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 19, 1998
An Address to the Congregation
TEXT: John 20:19-31 . . . he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." . . . "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
ISSUE: The passage is the call to the disciples to become the apostles, those who are sent, and who become the risen body of the Lord. To believe and trust in the calling of Lord is so very honorable, and it is our calling as Christians in the world today. Through our association with our parish church, as a vital comitted and lively congregation we are the living body of Christ in the world, calling folk to the forgiveness, the hope, and the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Grace to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ:
On the first Easter, the Gospel account of St. John reports that the resurrected Lord appeared mysteriously behind locked doors to breathe the Holy Spirit of God upon his disciples thereby commissioning them to be his apostles and giving them an authority to proclaim a message a forgiveness and reconciliation to a broken world. Since that time through various liturgies and commissionings the church, having become the living body of Christ in the world today, has continued to call people into being the living spiritual presence of Christ in the world. Ordinations of bishops, priests, and deacons has been one way in which the Holy Spirit has been given to selected men and women to be the church's authority figures as they perform specific functions in the body of Christ. But be reminded that the commissioning and bestowing of the Holy Spirit has never been solely limited to the ordained ministry. Each of us share in the apostolic ministry by virtue of our Holy Baptism when we were commissioned and "received into the household of God to confess the faith of Christ crucified, to proclaim his resurrection, and to share in his royal priesthood."
Later this morning we will all be gathering as the body of Christ in the Parish Hall for our annual Congregational Meeting. At that meeting we will be giving attention to how we are doing as the body of Christ in the world and to select several people and commission them in the special work of serving on our Parish Vestry. We are fortunate to have five people who have accepted nominations to serve. To serve on the Vestry of this Congregation is a significant undertaking. Our church is a several hundred thousand dollar corporation. Vestry members and officers have an important management role to fulfill along with providing spiritual leadership, promulgating the faith and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To be on the vestry is no mere honorary position. It requires regular attendance and involvement in monthly meetings, and leadership on committees. It requires assisting with the collecting and accounting of funds received on Sundays. It requires a personal commitment to stewardship and a developing maturing spiritual life through their regular attendance at worship. It is also essential that vestry members develop friendships with both older and new members of the congregation.
The congregation of this church needs to be well aware that those who are serving on the Vestry are giving significant time and energy. The congregation needs to be supportive of the Vestry, assisting with various church projects and by yourselves being good stewards and faithful contributors to the church. Step forward to ask how you can be involved and participate more fully. Encourage your vestry members and let them know how much you appreciate what they do to make St. John's a well administered and maintained church community. Your vestry are not merely volunteers, they are committed people who believe our Lord's church is vital in the world. Please support them in their efforts with your own expression of regular worship and faithfulness.
All of us working together with the Vestry need to commit ourselves to a better and more concentrated stewardship effort. Sometime ago the Vestry had hopes that by the year 2,000 we could stop using our endowments funds for supporting the regular church budget. In all the years of my ministry we have taken a monthly check from the Endowment Fund to subsidize the Budget. Instead of moving ahead to changing this practice, in the summer of 1997, the Vestry took an additional lump sum of money to keep the church afloat during the summer months, and to keep us from having to pay late charges on various bills. This action was taken in the best interest of the church at the time. It helped, but it was still a backward step. When Bishop Ihloff was with us in March he mentioned that one of the serious overall problems the church is experiencing is poor stewardship. While the National Church has set the tithe as the goal for giving, Bishop Ihloff indicated that if Episcopalians gave just 1% - 2% of their incomes, the church would see a significant change in what we were able to do and accomplish so far as our churches and their missions were concerned. We must continue to work toward being faithful Christians so far as our giving is concerned, and this needs the efforts of the Vestry, as well as the overall support of the congregation. We must all remember that the Vestry's efforts to encourage our people to pledge to the church is out of their concern for God's work and his church. It is not as if the Vestry themselves are getting a salary!
Stewardship also involves the time and and efforts that we can give to the church. Many work hours have been given to the church over the years by people who have helped with raking leaves and other maintenance items. The giving of ourselves in varieties of ways has been enormously helpful and appreciated.
For the most part, I believe we have a church with a fellowship of people who enjoy one another and are usually a friendly and welcoming community. At the same time we can not help but get caught up in the our culture which is very consumer oriented, individualistic, and quite secular. People today expect to be able to buy everything they need. People "shop" for a church that will provide them what they need spiritually for themselves and their children. They will look for and select the church with the best Sunday School. What makes a good Sunday School, a good youth program, a spiritual church is the people who make up that church. We have to put ourselves into the things we want to have in our church, and not merely believe that it will somehow be miraculously provided, and we can somehow buy it and then consume it.
People today are very individualistic. They like to do their own thing, at their own time, and think and believe their own thoughts. It's the good old American way. But, rank individualism leads to isolation, splintered meagre efforts, loss of developing deeper friendships, and thinking that is narrow and sometimes downright self-righteous. While the church values the indiviual gifts and talents of its people, it is still a community, a body of people, the body of Christ, which can do far more in corporate involvement than through isolated individualism. It works at staying open to and hearing varieties of points of view, and to new understandings to old problems and new possibilities. Staying in community with one another, knowing one another, and welcoming the strangers that come our way is so important to the church, to its very definition of what the church is, and to church growth as well. They body of Christ is a living organism capable of love and caring, forgiving, reaching out and listening to the needs and pain of others. To simply do things individually for the organization, to be mere volunteers, is to function as if the church were merely a museum to be maintained. We can also be satisfied to be club-like and turned in on ourselves. But when newcomers see a full church gathered for worship, followed by a community of people sharing their lives and concerns with one another over the coffee hour in the parish hall, a significant witness is made about this place; it is perceived as being a warm, cordial, and welcoming place where God is present. Our regular participation is a significant witness to the Gospel.
Here in the parish there are some additional specific things that we could be doing as the living community and body of Christ. We have shut-ins that could be visited on a more regular basis by people in our congregation. Our shut-ins are people who themselves served our parish well in the past. They deserve our attention. But once they become aged and infirm, sometimes institutionalized, they become forgotten. To have some of us visit these folks and others as well on some kind of a regular basis would be a wonderful ministry.
It would be a great thing too, if our choir, and other parishoners as well, could occasionally visit nursing homes to perform some of the music they work on for us in the pews on a Sunday morning. Such performances would be a significant outreach ministry. Being creative in our attempts at outreach and concern for others beyond our parish boundaries is important to our being active in God's mission.
It would be great too if we could have some folks work regularly with our Acolytes, to be present regularly on Sundays assisting them to vest, to see that their vestments are clean, to provide for some mending of the vestments, to provide some training, to encourage them in their ministry, and to show some interest in what they do as the young people in our church. We need to be continually imaginative and creative in our efforts to work with our young people so that they always feel and important and integrated part of our church community.
We need to continue thinking about and exploring ways to make our church building more accessible to and for the handicapped. A significant part of the ministry of Our Lord Jesus was his concern for the handicapped who were excluded from the Temple by virtue of their handicap or illness. We do not have the luxury of writing off this issue as something that can't be done. If we can send a man to walk on the moon, and explore the sunken Titanic three miles below the surface of the sea, it seems highly likely that we ought to be able to get a wheel chair in St. John's. It does make a difference in the lives of people and families when they attend their children's graduations or other religious ceremonies (such as weddings and funerals) when handicapped grandparents or friends are left to wait outside the church in a van. This issue is still very much with us to be considered.
Another concern for us here at St. John's is to prevent keeping our lamp under the bushel basket, instead of on the lampstand where all can see the good things we do. We are slow to toot our horn about some the good things we do and have to offer. We need to work on presenting ourselves and this church to the community around us. We have often allowed ourselves to be invisible when we sit on one of the most visible and prized pieces of real estate in all of Greater Kingsville. We often do too little too late in terms of advertising our offerings and our best efforts. We need a new up to date highly visible well lighted modern sign that tells the thousands of people who travel up and down the Belair Road corridor that we are here. What's more, in big easy to change welcoming letters we should be succinctly telling people when we worship, when Day School Registration will be held, when and what time the Passion Play will be performed, who our next guest preacher is. We should be able from time to time to present some catchy aphorisms that make our church more clearly visible to the community.
The former Christian Seedlings gave to the Memorial Fund a gift in excess of $2,000. in memory of the late Phil Curley. The Vestry voted to use this seed money toward the purchase of a new sign, and it is likely we will need additional funding. The details are yet to be worked out. I hope we can move quickly with this project. We must be urgent about doing what we can to make our church grow, and to make ourselves known, if we are to continue to be true to our apostolic calling.
Secularism is taking its toll in our time. People are caught up in materialism and an inordinate busyness. Once we heard that we would be entering a time of great leisure. That came to be something of a false prophecy. People today often work harder and longer than ever. Family life is thought to be severely suffering, as is people's time for reflection, meditation, and for spiritual things. I ask that all of our various committees and organizations begin their meetings and time together with prayer and scripture reading. I ask all of you to re-commit yourselves to regular prayer, Scripture reading, and to regular attendance at worship on Sunday's and major holidays of the church year. These things are at the very heart of our being evangelistic. We cannot proclaim what we don't know and haven't felt. Thomas had a hard time getting into this resurrection thing. "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe," he said. But Jesus came again and said, "Peace be with you . . . . Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand it put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."
Once again at this season, God calls us to new life receiving the Holy Spirit , to trust, to believe, to accept our apostolic ministry, to act decisively and faithfaithfully, to be the living body of the risen Christ in the world today.
SEASON: Easter 2
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 19, 1998
An Address to the Congregation
TEXT: John 20:19-31 . . . he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." . . . "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
ISSUE: The passage is the call to the disciples to become the apostles, those who are sent, and who become the risen body of the Lord. To believe and trust in the calling of Lord is so very honorable, and it is our calling as Christians in the world today. Through our association with our parish church, as a vital comitted and lively congregation we are the living body of Christ in the world, calling folk to the forgiveness, the hope, and the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Grace to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ:
On the first Easter, the Gospel account of St. John reports that the resurrected Lord appeared mysteriously behind locked doors to breathe the Holy Spirit of God upon his disciples thereby commissioning them to be his apostles and giving them an authority to proclaim a message a forgiveness and reconciliation to a broken world. Since that time through various liturgies and commissionings the church, having become the living body of Christ in the world today, has continued to call people into being the living spiritual presence of Christ in the world. Ordinations of bishops, priests, and deacons has been one way in which the Holy Spirit has been given to selected men and women to be the church's authority figures as they perform specific functions in the body of Christ. But be reminded that the commissioning and bestowing of the Holy Spirit has never been solely limited to the ordained ministry. Each of us share in the apostolic ministry by virtue of our Holy Baptism when we were commissioned and "received into the household of God to confess the faith of Christ crucified, to proclaim his resurrection, and to share in his royal priesthood."
Later this morning we will all be gathering as the body of Christ in the Parish Hall for our annual Congregational Meeting. At that meeting we will be giving attention to how we are doing as the body of Christ in the world and to select several people and commission them in the special work of serving on our Parish Vestry. We are fortunate to have five people who have accepted nominations to serve. To serve on the Vestry of this Congregation is a significant undertaking. Our church is a several hundred thousand dollar corporation. Vestry members and officers have an important management role to fulfill along with providing spiritual leadership, promulgating the faith and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To be on the vestry is no mere honorary position. It requires regular attendance and involvement in monthly meetings, and leadership on committees. It requires assisting with the collecting and accounting of funds received on Sundays. It requires a personal commitment to stewardship and a developing maturing spiritual life through their regular attendance at worship. It is also essential that vestry members develop friendships with both older and new members of the congregation.
The congregation of this church needs to be well aware that those who are serving on the Vestry are giving significant time and energy. The congregation needs to be supportive of the Vestry, assisting with various church projects and by yourselves being good stewards and faithful contributors to the church. Step forward to ask how you can be involved and participate more fully. Encourage your vestry members and let them know how much you appreciate what they do to make St. John's a well administered and maintained church community. Your vestry are not merely volunteers, they are committed people who believe our Lord's church is vital in the world. Please support them in their efforts with your own expression of regular worship and faithfulness.
All of us working together with the Vestry need to commit ourselves to a better and more concentrated stewardship effort. Sometime ago the Vestry had hopes that by the year 2,000 we could stop using our endowments funds for supporting the regular church budget. In all the years of my ministry we have taken a monthly check from the Endowment Fund to subsidize the Budget. Instead of moving ahead to changing this practice, in the summer of 1997, the Vestry took an additional lump sum of money to keep the church afloat during the summer months, and to keep us from having to pay late charges on various bills. This action was taken in the best interest of the church at the time. It helped, but it was still a backward step. When Bishop Ihloff was with us in March he mentioned that one of the serious overall problems the church is experiencing is poor stewardship. While the National Church has set the tithe as the goal for giving, Bishop Ihloff indicated that if Episcopalians gave just 1% - 2% of their incomes, the church would see a significant change in what we were able to do and accomplish so far as our churches and their missions were concerned. We must continue to work toward being faithful Christians so far as our giving is concerned, and this needs the efforts of the Vestry, as well as the overall support of the congregation. We must all remember that the Vestry's efforts to encourage our people to pledge to the church is out of their concern for God's work and his church. It is not as if the Vestry themselves are getting a salary!
Stewardship also involves the time and and efforts that we can give to the church. Many work hours have been given to the church over the years by people who have helped with raking leaves and other maintenance items. The giving of ourselves in varieties of ways has been enormously helpful and appreciated.
For the most part, I believe we have a church with a fellowship of people who enjoy one another and are usually a friendly and welcoming community. At the same time we can not help but get caught up in the our culture which is very consumer oriented, individualistic, and quite secular. People today expect to be able to buy everything they need. People "shop" for a church that will provide them what they need spiritually for themselves and their children. They will look for and select the church with the best Sunday School. What makes a good Sunday School, a good youth program, a spiritual church is the people who make up that church. We have to put ourselves into the things we want to have in our church, and not merely believe that it will somehow be miraculously provided, and we can somehow buy it and then consume it.
People today are very individualistic. They like to do their own thing, at their own time, and think and believe their own thoughts. It's the good old American way. But, rank individualism leads to isolation, splintered meagre efforts, loss of developing deeper friendships, and thinking that is narrow and sometimes downright self-righteous. While the church values the indiviual gifts and talents of its people, it is still a community, a body of people, the body of Christ, which can do far more in corporate involvement than through isolated individualism. It works at staying open to and hearing varieties of points of view, and to new understandings to old problems and new possibilities. Staying in community with one another, knowing one another, and welcoming the strangers that come our way is so important to the church, to its very definition of what the church is, and to church growth as well. They body of Christ is a living organism capable of love and caring, forgiving, reaching out and listening to the needs and pain of others. To simply do things individually for the organization, to be mere volunteers, is to function as if the church were merely a museum to be maintained. We can also be satisfied to be club-like and turned in on ourselves. But when newcomers see a full church gathered for worship, followed by a community of people sharing their lives and concerns with one another over the coffee hour in the parish hall, a significant witness is made about this place; it is perceived as being a warm, cordial, and welcoming place where God is present. Our regular participation is a significant witness to the Gospel.
Here in the parish there are some additional specific things that we could be doing as the living community and body of Christ. We have shut-ins that could be visited on a more regular basis by people in our congregation. Our shut-ins are people who themselves served our parish well in the past. They deserve our attention. But once they become aged and infirm, sometimes institutionalized, they become forgotten. To have some of us visit these folks and others as well on some kind of a regular basis would be a wonderful ministry.
It would be a great thing too, if our choir, and other parishoners as well, could occasionally visit nursing homes to perform some of the music they work on for us in the pews on a Sunday morning. Such performances would be a significant outreach ministry. Being creative in our attempts at outreach and concern for others beyond our parish boundaries is important to our being active in God's mission.
It would be great too if we could have some folks work regularly with our Acolytes, to be present regularly on Sundays assisting them to vest, to see that their vestments are clean, to provide for some mending of the vestments, to provide some training, to encourage them in their ministry, and to show some interest in what they do as the young people in our church. We need to be continually imaginative and creative in our efforts to work with our young people so that they always feel and important and integrated part of our church community.
We need to continue thinking about and exploring ways to make our church building more accessible to and for the handicapped. A significant part of the ministry of Our Lord Jesus was his concern for the handicapped who were excluded from the Temple by virtue of their handicap or illness. We do not have the luxury of writing off this issue as something that can't be done. If we can send a man to walk on the moon, and explore the sunken Titanic three miles below the surface of the sea, it seems highly likely that we ought to be able to get a wheel chair in St. John's. It does make a difference in the lives of people and families when they attend their children's graduations or other religious ceremonies (such as weddings and funerals) when handicapped grandparents or friends are left to wait outside the church in a van. This issue is still very much with us to be considered.
Another concern for us here at St. John's is to prevent keeping our lamp under the bushel basket, instead of on the lampstand where all can see the good things we do. We are slow to toot our horn about some the good things we do and have to offer. We need to work on presenting ourselves and this church to the community around us. We have often allowed ourselves to be invisible when we sit on one of the most visible and prized pieces of real estate in all of Greater Kingsville. We often do too little too late in terms of advertising our offerings and our best efforts. We need a new up to date highly visible well lighted modern sign that tells the thousands of people who travel up and down the Belair Road corridor that we are here. What's more, in big easy to change welcoming letters we should be succinctly telling people when we worship, when Day School Registration will be held, when and what time the Passion Play will be performed, who our next guest preacher is. We should be able from time to time to present some catchy aphorisms that make our church more clearly visible to the community.
The former Christian Seedlings gave to the Memorial Fund a gift in excess of $2,000. in memory of the late Phil Curley. The Vestry voted to use this seed money toward the purchase of a new sign, and it is likely we will need additional funding. The details are yet to be worked out. I hope we can move quickly with this project. We must be urgent about doing what we can to make our church grow, and to make ourselves known, if we are to continue to be true to our apostolic calling.
Secularism is taking its toll in our time. People are caught up in materialism and an inordinate busyness. Once we heard that we would be entering a time of great leisure. That came to be something of a false prophecy. People today often work harder and longer than ever. Family life is thought to be severely suffering, as is people's time for reflection, meditation, and for spiritual things. I ask that all of our various committees and organizations begin their meetings and time together with prayer and scripture reading. I ask all of you to re-commit yourselves to regular prayer, Scripture reading, and to regular attendance at worship on Sunday's and major holidays of the church year. These things are at the very heart of our being evangelistic. We cannot proclaim what we don't know and haven't felt. Thomas had a hard time getting into this resurrection thing. "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe," he said. But Jesus came again and said, "Peace be with you . . . . Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand it put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."
Once again at this season, God calls us to new life receiving the Holy Spirit , to trust, to believe, to accept our apostolic ministry, to act decisively and faithfaithfully, to be the living body of the risen Christ in the world today.
Sunday, April 12, 1998
Easter Day
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Easter Day
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 12, 1998
TEXT: Luke 24:1-10 - They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here, but has risen."
ISSUE: The first experiences of Easter are perplexing ones for the women and disciples. It is not particularly joyful, but amazement and wonder as to what has really happened. It is not about a resuscitated body. The Easter experience does not become fully firmed up until Pentecost. The reality of Easter comes from faith born out of the full appreciation of Jesus' teachings and ministry, which was matter of raising up that which was lost, last, least, and fallen. The resurrection is about a renewing, forgiving compassionate love, and hope that raises humanity.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Welcome Happy Morning" and "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" are but several of the happy and joyful hymns that we sing today, looking back with great joy on the resurrection experience of Jesus. Knowing the fulness of the story, Christians experience Easter as a time of great joy. However, the first experience of Easter for the women and the disciples, and for those close to the early church was not a particularly happy event at all. Quite frankly, they did not understand it at all. All they knew at first was that the tomb was empty. For all they knew they body had been stolen, and possibly desecrated by some enemies. The women in today's story are reported to have been downright perplexed about the whole situation. There are two men, according to Luke's story, in dazzling clothes, presumably angels, who give the women a hint at what may have happened. "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Peter and other disciples find this news hard to believe, and at first nonsense.
If you examine other accounts of the Easter story in Mark, Matthew, and John, you will find that all of the accounts are perplexing and details are quite different in the varying accounts. It is indeed mysterious. In other instances there is only one angel, not two. In many instances Jesus is not recognizable to those who experience him, at least at first. In all these varying accounts there are those who like the disciples may feel that the resurrection is not believable, but is nonsense especially in our very scientific and technological world today.
If we attempt to approach the resurrection of Jesus from a purely prove it to me that a dead body got resuscitated, from a crass literal interpretation, you won't get very far. That approach is not proveable. In fact we are not celebrating today the resuscitation of Jesus, we are celebrating the resurrection, the lifting up and the raising up of the Son of Man. The issue for us is not proving the resurrection; the issue is what does it mean. What is its impact on us? What does the event have to say to all people of all ages?
The scriptures do reveal to us that the understanding of the resurrection was not immediately understood. The recognition of the Risen Lord Christ did not always come easy. It took time and ultimately was a matter of faith and trust in God's power to do this remarkable thing. You really do not have a full appreciation of the Resurrection in the Scriptures until the Pentecost when the full body of Christ comes into being as the church, the continuation of the suffering servanthood of Christ. The full impact of the Spirit of God coming upon the followers and disciples takes time for them to grasp the meaning of these resurrection experiences and what they mean.
In the passage today, the angels tell the women to "remember" what Jesus had said. They were to remember his life, what it was, and the meaning of it. What he said and did may well meet with crucifixion, but what is of God will prevail. Jesus lifted up the lame giving them new power, gave new insight blind, and new ways of earing and thinking to the deaf. The people who were the cursed and alienated received in the teaching and the affection of Jesus new restoration, love, and hope as children of God. All along in the ministry of Jesus you have him offering to lift up the cursed and fallen. He feeds and gives strength to the hungry, and assures all people of the enormous uplifting extention of God's love.
The very life, ministry, teaching, words of Jesus are about resurrection, about lifting up. You can beat him, mock, curse, spit, and crucify but the very love of God will rise again and come back to haunt you!
Remember in the Christmas story how the first people to hear the Goodnews are a bunch of bawdy forlorn discounted shepherds. They were among the least in the society, near the bottom of the social scale. Fascinating that the resurrection of Jesus is first revealed to women, in about every account of the scriptures. The women git the message first. Woman were another part of the least in the society of the time. Women had no legal rights and were to be kept secluded. Yet Jesus repeatedly honored them. They are are also the life givers, the bearers of new life. Again in the resurrection story they are honored again to proclaim the Goodnews, that the Word of God in Christ Jesus lives on. To the world it was and is nonsense. To the people who knew Jesus and studied him, who trusted and placed their faith in him he continued to lived beyond the cross.
Some of you may have seen a movie that was popular a few years ago called "Ground Hog Day." No great shakes of a movie, but it was quite clever. The movie was a fantasy movie. It was a clever story. It was about a very cantankerous TV news man who went to Pennsylvania to cover the Ground Hog Day celebration there in February. His first day there on the job was just an awful day where everything went wrong.. But the next day when the alarm clock goes off, he gets up and it's still Ground Hog Day; He gets a second chance to do the day over again, and remembering the previous experience the next go around is a little better. This sequence keeps repeating itself each morning when the alarm goes off and each day gets better and better.
Easter Day is the alarm going off for. We remember that we didn't always get things right. There was a message from God in Christ, and we didn't always get it right. There were those terrible dark times bleak times, like the crucifixion, and those tragic times in our lives when we felt like the least, the lost, the lonely, the alienated, the greiving forlorned. But God, the giver of live says to us, let's do it again. Stay close to me, you remember, you know the way, you know of my love and compassion, my grace for you, and how I long to have you step and stay into the Kingdom. Let's do it again, Let's go it again. It's the third day and Christ Rises Again!
Is the resurrection real? Of course it is. It is as real as a mother and father's love for their children. You can't see it; you can't touch it; but you can cut it with a knife. As sure as God created the world, as sure as Moses led his people to the Promised Land, as sure as the winter turns to spring, God is raising up new life in and through Jesus Christ. All we do is to believe and trust that God in Christ is there for us as we embrace him as The Risen Lord.
SEASON: Easter Day
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 12, 1998
TEXT: Luke 24:1-10 - They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead. He is not here, but has risen."
ISSUE: The first experiences of Easter are perplexing ones for the women and disciples. It is not particularly joyful, but amazement and wonder as to what has really happened. It is not about a resuscitated body. The Easter experience does not become fully firmed up until Pentecost. The reality of Easter comes from faith born out of the full appreciation of Jesus' teachings and ministry, which was matter of raising up that which was lost, last, least, and fallen. The resurrection is about a renewing, forgiving compassionate love, and hope that raises humanity.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Welcome Happy Morning" and "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" are but several of the happy and joyful hymns that we sing today, looking back with great joy on the resurrection experience of Jesus. Knowing the fulness of the story, Christians experience Easter as a time of great joy. However, the first experience of Easter for the women and the disciples, and for those close to the early church was not a particularly happy event at all. Quite frankly, they did not understand it at all. All they knew at first was that the tomb was empty. For all they knew they body had been stolen, and possibly desecrated by some enemies. The women in today's story are reported to have been downright perplexed about the whole situation. There are two men, according to Luke's story, in dazzling clothes, presumably angels, who give the women a hint at what may have happened. "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Peter and other disciples find this news hard to believe, and at first nonsense.
If you examine other accounts of the Easter story in Mark, Matthew, and John, you will find that all of the accounts are perplexing and details are quite different in the varying accounts. It is indeed mysterious. In other instances there is only one angel, not two. In many instances Jesus is not recognizable to those who experience him, at least at first. In all these varying accounts there are those who like the disciples may feel that the resurrection is not believable, but is nonsense especially in our very scientific and technological world today.
If we attempt to approach the resurrection of Jesus from a purely prove it to me that a dead body got resuscitated, from a crass literal interpretation, you won't get very far. That approach is not proveable. In fact we are not celebrating today the resuscitation of Jesus, we are celebrating the resurrection, the lifting up and the raising up of the Son of Man. The issue for us is not proving the resurrection; the issue is what does it mean. What is its impact on us? What does the event have to say to all people of all ages?
The scriptures do reveal to us that the understanding of the resurrection was not immediately understood. The recognition of the Risen Lord Christ did not always come easy. It took time and ultimately was a matter of faith and trust in God's power to do this remarkable thing. You really do not have a full appreciation of the Resurrection in the Scriptures until the Pentecost when the full body of Christ comes into being as the church, the continuation of the suffering servanthood of Christ. The full impact of the Spirit of God coming upon the followers and disciples takes time for them to grasp the meaning of these resurrection experiences and what they mean.
In the passage today, the angels tell the women to "remember" what Jesus had said. They were to remember his life, what it was, and the meaning of it. What he said and did may well meet with crucifixion, but what is of God will prevail. Jesus lifted up the lame giving them new power, gave new insight blind, and new ways of earing and thinking to the deaf. The people who were the cursed and alienated received in the teaching and the affection of Jesus new restoration, love, and hope as children of God. All along in the ministry of Jesus you have him offering to lift up the cursed and fallen. He feeds and gives strength to the hungry, and assures all people of the enormous uplifting extention of God's love.
The very life, ministry, teaching, words of Jesus are about resurrection, about lifting up. You can beat him, mock, curse, spit, and crucify but the very love of God will rise again and come back to haunt you!
Remember in the Christmas story how the first people to hear the Goodnews are a bunch of bawdy forlorn discounted shepherds. They were among the least in the society, near the bottom of the social scale. Fascinating that the resurrection of Jesus is first revealed to women, in about every account of the scriptures. The women git the message first. Woman were another part of the least in the society of the time. Women had no legal rights and were to be kept secluded. Yet Jesus repeatedly honored them. They are are also the life givers, the bearers of new life. Again in the resurrection story they are honored again to proclaim the Goodnews, that the Word of God in Christ Jesus lives on. To the world it was and is nonsense. To the people who knew Jesus and studied him, who trusted and placed their faith in him he continued to lived beyond the cross.
Some of you may have seen a movie that was popular a few years ago called "Ground Hog Day." No great shakes of a movie, but it was quite clever. The movie was a fantasy movie. It was a clever story. It was about a very cantankerous TV news man who went to Pennsylvania to cover the Ground Hog Day celebration there in February. His first day there on the job was just an awful day where everything went wrong.. But the next day when the alarm clock goes off, he gets up and it's still Ground Hog Day; He gets a second chance to do the day over again, and remembering the previous experience the next go around is a little better. This sequence keeps repeating itself each morning when the alarm goes off and each day gets better and better.
Easter Day is the alarm going off for. We remember that we didn't always get things right. There was a message from God in Christ, and we didn't always get it right. There were those terrible dark times bleak times, like the crucifixion, and those tragic times in our lives when we felt like the least, the lost, the lonely, the alienated, the greiving forlorned. But God, the giver of live says to us, let's do it again. Stay close to me, you remember, you know the way, you know of my love and compassion, my grace for you, and how I long to have you step and stay into the Kingdom. Let's do it again, Let's go it again. It's the third day and Christ Rises Again!
Is the resurrection real? Of course it is. It is as real as a mother and father's love for their children. You can't see it; you can't touch it; but you can cut it with a knife. As sure as God created the world, as sure as Moses led his people to the Promised Land, as sure as the winter turns to spring, God is raising up new life in and through Jesus Christ. All we do is to believe and trust that God in Christ is there for us as we embrace him as The Risen Lord.
Sunday, April 5, 1998
Palm/Passion Sunday
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Palm/Passion Sunday
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 5, 1998
TEXT: Luke 22:39 - 23:56 - The Passion Narrative
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
ISSUE: Jesus accepts the suffering and the pain of life. He is truly the suffering servant. His faithfulness to the Father reveals his genuine sonship. In the midst of rejection, hostility, denial, cruel accusations and mockery he calmly and non-anxiously faces the inevitable crucifixion. Yet even here in his suffering he tells the bandit on the cross that to be close to God is Paradise. Life may well have its terrible moments, but we are still God's and we belong to God's redeeming forgiveness and love. The faithful step into Paradise.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Passion Narrative of Jesus' crucifixion is indeed a very powerful and wonderful story. The story reveals a great deal about human nature in contrast to the nature of God as it is revealed in the suffering servanthood of Jesus. The ministry of Jesus is one of healing, a restoration of folk, and teaching a deeper and profound understanding of the compassion and mercy of God. Jesus attempted to restore to the poor, the sick, and the outcasts a renewed sense of their self-worth as the children of God. He rejected the concept that they were the outcasts of the God's world. Jesus associated apparently on a regular basis with the poor, the taxcollectors, and prostitutes. He had a real affection for children and women. In the face of the culture he embraced people of all kinds and saw them as the children of God. Jesus had a very broad concept of family and neighbor. Your family wasn't just your own kin, but all people who were the beloved of God. The neighbor was not merely you own race, but all races belonged to God. Jesus had contacts with Gentiles, Jews, and Samaritans.
At the same time Jesus seemed to sort out the laws and the regulations that hindered or stifled people's abilities to be close to God. He seemed to reject some of the dietary laws, and the sabbath regulations forbidding healing on the sabbath day. So many of his parables and stories were party parables in which people were called in faith to rejoice in the available forgivenss, grace, and love of God. He preached a way of being sincere and genuine in one's devoted love for God and respect of one another. But Jesus' way and teaching was difficult for many people to accept.
From the picture we have of Jesus in the gospel accounts, he was often quite radical for his time. As a result the authorities saw Jesus as a threat to the established way of life. Their method of handling him was to seek his death. In the story we see the human condition and human nature nakedly revealed. Jesus own disciples try to prevent his arrest by the use of force. His closest disciple, Peter, in the story does the unconscionable thing by denying Jesus. To deny a friend or family in these times was considered unforgiveable and was quite dishonorable. People caught up in mob violence tortured him with insults. Even a bandit being crucified with him challenges him. Pilate places a mocking and an insulting inscription over the cross: "This is the King of the Jews." Even Luke writes the story years after the event as if Jesus' crucifixion was the fault of the Jews, making the Romans and Pilate appear blameless. They were not. Make no mistake about it. Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate and the Romans who rarely thought twice about crucifying people. At the same time the innocent suffer, the guilty Barabbas is set free. We hate that to happen, except for when it satisfies our own need. What is just and fair gets all mixed up in the world to our way of thinking. We hate what seems like terrible injustices, when the innocent suffer. We hate God for letting that happen. Human nature has its way of challenging the ways of God that are at odds with our own limited ways of thinking.
We know only too well from our own experiences what our own human nature is like. Change and renewal is often quite difficult, if not downright painful. Racism dies hard. Looking down on people who are different from us, or who are a part of another class is hard to put away and change. Being people who trust in God is also hard for us, especially Americans. We cherish our individuality and the concept of being self-made people. Our busyness and our business, if not our hobbies and sports as well often take precedence over our relationship with God. Human beings like being in charge and have an affection for power and control. Letting go of power for the good of others and for the sake of a community does not come easy. It is often very hard to forgive and be welcoming to the sinner, the outsider, the outcast.
Human violence is now an epedemic in our society. Violence and hatred is no stranger to us. We remember the horrors of the Nazi holocaust and the nuclear bombing of Japan. Terrorism remains alive and well. Violence is a plague in our streets and in our schools among even our youngest children. The recent shooting violence in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is but another example of the terrible plague on our land and in our world. Inspite of and in the face of all that is holy, people cling to and embrace for dear life their ancient feuds, prejudices, and their violent ways of coping with them. A sorry human nature often abounds seemingly nailing hope and goodness to a cross to be eventually gobbled up by dogs, which was what happened to crucified corpses.
What is remarkable about the Passion Narrative is that inspite of human nature, Jesus remains the suffering servant of God, sweating blood in his prayers to remain so. He meets the early stage of violence by his disciples with healing. He does not respond with violence, accusations, or blame. He condemns no one. He accepts the inevitable. He dies. He really does. He dies on a cross like a criminal in the midst of this terrible scene of denial, violence, racism, and dishonor. Humbly he breaks the cycle of violence and cruelty accepting his servanthood and fulfilling his mission of humility and peace. He does not snatch at being God, but remains humbly obedient to his death on the cross.
Out of Jesus' suffering servanthood comes some new awarenesses. One in particular strikes me. To see in Jesus the redeeming hope for humanity is to step this very day into paradise. It is to step now, today, into God's Domain, into the Garden of God. One of the bandits who is also suffering, but who recognizes it as a result of his own cause, sees in Jesus the new way of entering the Kingdom of God.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, Book of Genesis, there is that old story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are tempted and eat of the fruit that leads them out of the Garden. They step out of Paradise into a harsh and violent world. Today we learn of a new tree upon which Jesus is crucified. Turning to this tree and to this Jesus in faithfulness and trust, we find the way to step back into the Garden of God, into Paradise, into God's Domain.
The world we live in and the lives we create for ourselves can be violent, harsh, foolish. There are many things we cannot comprehend nor understand. Our hope, our healing, our salavation is the faithful acceptance of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is in turning to him and abandoning our own ways, and joining him in his suffering servanthood that we live with him in Paradise. Remember Jesus's parable about the Kingdom of God. (Matt.13:25f) A man planted good seed, but weeds somehow got mixed in. The servants wanted to pull up the weeds, but the landowner would not permit it For a while they'll grow together, and when the harvest time comes they will be separated. I suppose the world is like that. It has its violence, its cruelty, its sinfulness. But those of faith who reside with Christ also live in the Paradise of God's Domain. They know and feel the presence of his love and forgiveness, and his continuing hope that all shall be made new.
Remember that there are those who step into the Paradise of God through Christ. One bandit, the woman who stand off at a distance, a Roman Centurion, Joseph of Arimathea. All around are men and womn of faith who stand in God's Domain through their faith in Jesus Christ.
SEASON: Palm/Passion Sunday
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 5, 1998
TEXT: Luke 22:39 - 23:56 - The Passion Narrative
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
ISSUE: Jesus accepts the suffering and the pain of life. He is truly the suffering servant. His faithfulness to the Father reveals his genuine sonship. In the midst of rejection, hostility, denial, cruel accusations and mockery he calmly and non-anxiously faces the inevitable crucifixion. Yet even here in his suffering he tells the bandit on the cross that to be close to God is Paradise. Life may well have its terrible moments, but we are still God's and we belong to God's redeeming forgiveness and love. The faithful step into Paradise.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Passion Narrative of Jesus' crucifixion is indeed a very powerful and wonderful story. The story reveals a great deal about human nature in contrast to the nature of God as it is revealed in the suffering servanthood of Jesus. The ministry of Jesus is one of healing, a restoration of folk, and teaching a deeper and profound understanding of the compassion and mercy of God. Jesus attempted to restore to the poor, the sick, and the outcasts a renewed sense of their self-worth as the children of God. He rejected the concept that they were the outcasts of the God's world. Jesus associated apparently on a regular basis with the poor, the taxcollectors, and prostitutes. He had a real affection for children and women. In the face of the culture he embraced people of all kinds and saw them as the children of God. Jesus had a very broad concept of family and neighbor. Your family wasn't just your own kin, but all people who were the beloved of God. The neighbor was not merely you own race, but all races belonged to God. Jesus had contacts with Gentiles, Jews, and Samaritans.
At the same time Jesus seemed to sort out the laws and the regulations that hindered or stifled people's abilities to be close to God. He seemed to reject some of the dietary laws, and the sabbath regulations forbidding healing on the sabbath day. So many of his parables and stories were party parables in which people were called in faith to rejoice in the available forgivenss, grace, and love of God. He preached a way of being sincere and genuine in one's devoted love for God and respect of one another. But Jesus' way and teaching was difficult for many people to accept.
From the picture we have of Jesus in the gospel accounts, he was often quite radical for his time. As a result the authorities saw Jesus as a threat to the established way of life. Their method of handling him was to seek his death. In the story we see the human condition and human nature nakedly revealed. Jesus own disciples try to prevent his arrest by the use of force. His closest disciple, Peter, in the story does the unconscionable thing by denying Jesus. To deny a friend or family in these times was considered unforgiveable and was quite dishonorable. People caught up in mob violence tortured him with insults. Even a bandit being crucified with him challenges him. Pilate places a mocking and an insulting inscription over the cross: "This is the King of the Jews." Even Luke writes the story years after the event as if Jesus' crucifixion was the fault of the Jews, making the Romans and Pilate appear blameless. They were not. Make no mistake about it. Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate and the Romans who rarely thought twice about crucifying people. At the same time the innocent suffer, the guilty Barabbas is set free. We hate that to happen, except for when it satisfies our own need. What is just and fair gets all mixed up in the world to our way of thinking. We hate what seems like terrible injustices, when the innocent suffer. We hate God for letting that happen. Human nature has its way of challenging the ways of God that are at odds with our own limited ways of thinking.
We know only too well from our own experiences what our own human nature is like. Change and renewal is often quite difficult, if not downright painful. Racism dies hard. Looking down on people who are different from us, or who are a part of another class is hard to put away and change. Being people who trust in God is also hard for us, especially Americans. We cherish our individuality and the concept of being self-made people. Our busyness and our business, if not our hobbies and sports as well often take precedence over our relationship with God. Human beings like being in charge and have an affection for power and control. Letting go of power for the good of others and for the sake of a community does not come easy. It is often very hard to forgive and be welcoming to the sinner, the outsider, the outcast.
Human violence is now an epedemic in our society. Violence and hatred is no stranger to us. We remember the horrors of the Nazi holocaust and the nuclear bombing of Japan. Terrorism remains alive and well. Violence is a plague in our streets and in our schools among even our youngest children. The recent shooting violence in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is but another example of the terrible plague on our land and in our world. Inspite of and in the face of all that is holy, people cling to and embrace for dear life their ancient feuds, prejudices, and their violent ways of coping with them. A sorry human nature often abounds seemingly nailing hope and goodness to a cross to be eventually gobbled up by dogs, which was what happened to crucified corpses.
What is remarkable about the Passion Narrative is that inspite of human nature, Jesus remains the suffering servant of God, sweating blood in his prayers to remain so. He meets the early stage of violence by his disciples with healing. He does not respond with violence, accusations, or blame. He condemns no one. He accepts the inevitable. He dies. He really does. He dies on a cross like a criminal in the midst of this terrible scene of denial, violence, racism, and dishonor. Humbly he breaks the cycle of violence and cruelty accepting his servanthood and fulfilling his mission of humility and peace. He does not snatch at being God, but remains humbly obedient to his death on the cross.
Out of Jesus' suffering servanthood comes some new awarenesses. One in particular strikes me. To see in Jesus the redeeming hope for humanity is to step this very day into paradise. It is to step now, today, into God's Domain, into the Garden of God. One of the bandits who is also suffering, but who recognizes it as a result of his own cause, sees in Jesus the new way of entering the Kingdom of God.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, Book of Genesis, there is that old story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are tempted and eat of the fruit that leads them out of the Garden. They step out of Paradise into a harsh and violent world. Today we learn of a new tree upon which Jesus is crucified. Turning to this tree and to this Jesus in faithfulness and trust, we find the way to step back into the Garden of God, into Paradise, into God's Domain.
The world we live in and the lives we create for ourselves can be violent, harsh, foolish. There are many things we cannot comprehend nor understand. Our hope, our healing, our salavation is the faithful acceptance of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is in turning to him and abandoning our own ways, and joining him in his suffering servanthood that we live with him in Paradise. Remember Jesus's parable about the Kingdom of God. (Matt.13:25f) A man planted good seed, but weeds somehow got mixed in. The servants wanted to pull up the weeds, but the landowner would not permit it For a while they'll grow together, and when the harvest time comes they will be separated. I suppose the world is like that. It has its violence, its cruelty, its sinfulness. But those of faith who reside with Christ also live in the Paradise of God's Domain. They know and feel the presence of his love and forgiveness, and his continuing hope that all shall be made new.
Remember that there are those who step into the Paradise of God through Christ. One bandit, the woman who stand off at a distance, a Roman Centurion, Joseph of Arimathea. All around are men and womn of faith who stand in God's Domain through their faith in Jesus Christ.
Palm/Passion Sunday
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Palm/Passion Sunday
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 5, 1998
TEXT: Luke 22:39 - 23:56 - The Passion Narrative
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
ISSUE: Jesus accepts the suffering and the pain of life. He is truly the suffering servant. His faithfulness to the Father reveals his genuine sonship. In the midst of rejection, hostility, denial, cruel accusations and mockery he calmly and non-anxiously faces the inevitable crucifixion. Yet even here in his suffering he tells the bandit on the cross that to be close to God is Paradise. Life may well have its terrible moments, but we are still God's and we belong to God's redeeming forgiveness and love. The faithful step into Paradise.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Passion Narrative of Jesus' crucifixion is indeed a very powerful and wonderful story. The story reveals a great deal about human nature in contrast to the nature of God as it is revealed in the suffering servanthood of Jesus. The ministry of Jesus is one of healing, a restoration of folk, and teaching a deeper and profound understanding of the compassion and mercy of God. Jesus attempted to restore to the poor, the sick, and the outcasts a renewed sense of their self-worth as the children of God. He rejected the concept that they were the outcasts of the God's world. Jesus associated apparently on a regular basis with the poor, the taxcollectors, and prostitutes. He had a real affection for children and women. In the face of the culture he embraced people of all kinds and saw them as the children of God. Jesus had a very broad concept of family and neighbor. Your family wasn't just your own kin, but all people who were the beloved of God. The neighbor was not merely you own race, but all races belonged to God. Jesus had contacts with Gentiles, Jews, and Samaritans.
At the same time Jesus seemed to sort out the laws and the regulations that hindered or stifled people's abilities to be close to God. He seemed to reject some of the dietary laws, and the sabbath regulations forbidding healing on the sabbath day. So many of his parables and stories were party parables in which people were called in faith to rejoice in the available forgivenss, grace, and love of God. He preached a way of being sincere and genuine in one's devoted love for God and respect of one another. But Jesus' way and teaching was difficult for many people to accept.
From the picture we have of Jesus in the gospel accounts, he was often quite radical for his time. As a result the authorities saw Jesus as a threat to the established way of life. Their method of handling him was to seek his death. In the story we see the human condition and human nature nakedly revealed. Jesus own disciples try to prevent his arrest by the use of force. His closest disciple, Peter, in the story does the unconscionable thing by denying Jesus. To deny a friend or family in these times was considered unforgiveable and was quite dishonorable. People caught up in mob violence tortured him with insults. Even a bandit being crucified with him challenges him. Pilate places a mocking and an insulting inscription over the cross: "This is the King of the Jews." Even Luke writes the story years after the event as if Jesus' crucifixion was the fault of the Jews, making the Romans and Pilate appear blameless. They were not. Make no mistake about it. Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate and the Romans who rarely thought twice about crucifying people. At the same time the innocent suffer, the guilty Barabbas is set free. We hate that to happen, except for when it satisfies our own need. What is just and fair gets all mixed up in the world to our way of thinking. We hate what seems like terrible injustices, when the innocent suffer. We hate God for letting that happen. Human nature has its way of challenging the ways of God that are at odds with our own limited ways of thinking.
We know only too well from our own experiences what our own human nature is like. Change and renewal is often quite difficult, if not downright painful. Racism dies hard. Looking down on people who are different from us, or who are a part of another class is hard to put away and change. Being people who trust in God is also hard for us, especially Americans. We cherish our individuality and the concept of being self-made people. Our busyness and our business, if not our hobbies and sports as well often take precedence over our relationship with God. Human beings like being in charge and have an affection for power and control. Letting go of power for the good of others and for the sake of a community does not come easy. It is often very hard to forgive and be welcoming to the sinner, the outsider, the outcast.
Human violence is now an epedemic in our society. Violence and hatred is no stranger to us. We remember the horrors of the Nazi holocaust and the nuclear bombing of Japan. Terrorism remains alive and well. Violence is a plague in our streets and in our schools among even our youngest children. The recent shooting violence in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is but another example of the terrible plague on our land and in our world. Inspite of and in the face of all that is holy, people cling to and embrace for dear life their ancient feuds, prejudices, and their violent ways of coping with them. A sorry human nature often abounds seemingly nailing hope and goodness to a cross to be eventually gobbled up by dogs, which was what happened to crucified corpses.
What is remarkable about the Passion Narrative is that inspite of human nature, Jesus remains the suffering servant of God, sweating blood in his prayers to remain so. He meets the early stage of violence by his disciples with healing. He does not respond with violence, accusations, or blame. He condemns no one. He accepts the inevitable. He dies. He really does. He dies on a cross like a criminal in the midst of this terrible scene of denial, violence, racism, and dishonor. Humbly he breaks the cycle of violence and cruelty accepting his servanthood and fulfilling his mission of humility and peace. He does not snatch at being God, but remains humbly obedient to his death on the cross.
Out of Jesus' suffering servanthood comes some new awarenesses. One in particular strikes me. To see in Jesus the redeeming hope for humanity is to step this very day into paradise. It is to step now, today, into God's Domain, into the Garden of God. One of the bandits who is also suffering, but who recognizes it as a result of his own cause, sees in Jesus the new way of entering the Kingdom of God.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, Book of Genesis, there is that old story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are tempted and eat of the fruit that leads them out of the Garden. They step out of Paradise into a harsh and violent world. Today we learn of a new tree upon which Jesus is crucified. Turning to this tree and to this Jesus in faithfulness and trust, we find the way to step back into the Garden of God, into Paradise, into God's Domain.
The world we live in and the lives we create for ourselves can be violent, harsh, foolish. There are many things we cannot comprehend nor understand. Our hope, our healing, our salavation is the faithful acceptance of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is in turning to him and abandoning our own ways, and joining him in his suffering servanthood that we live with him in Paradise. Remember Jesus's parable about the Kingdom of God. (Matt.13:25f) A man planted good seed, but weeds somehow got mixed in. The servants wanted to pull up the weeds, but the landowner would not permit it For a while they'll grow together, and when the harvest time comes they will be separated. I suppose the world is like that. It has its violence, its cruelty, its sinfulness. But those of faith who reside with Christ also live in the Paradise of God's Domain. They know and feel the presence of his love and forgiveness, and his continuing hope that all shall be made new.
Remember that there are those who step into the Paradise of God through Christ. One bandit, the woman who stand off at a distance, a Roman Centurion, Joseph of Arimathea. All around are men and womn of faith who stand in God's Domain through their faith in Jesus Christ.
SEASON: Palm/Passion Sunday
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: April 5, 1998
TEXT: Luke 22:39 - 23:56 - The Passion Narrative
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
ISSUE: Jesus accepts the suffering and the pain of life. He is truly the suffering servant. His faithfulness to the Father reveals his genuine sonship. In the midst of rejection, hostility, denial, cruel accusations and mockery he calmly and non-anxiously faces the inevitable crucifixion. Yet even here in his suffering he tells the bandit on the cross that to be close to God is Paradise. Life may well have its terrible moments, but we are still God's and we belong to God's redeeming forgiveness and love. The faithful step into Paradise.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Passion Narrative of Jesus' crucifixion is indeed a very powerful and wonderful story. The story reveals a great deal about human nature in contrast to the nature of God as it is revealed in the suffering servanthood of Jesus. The ministry of Jesus is one of healing, a restoration of folk, and teaching a deeper and profound understanding of the compassion and mercy of God. Jesus attempted to restore to the poor, the sick, and the outcasts a renewed sense of their self-worth as the children of God. He rejected the concept that they were the outcasts of the God's world. Jesus associated apparently on a regular basis with the poor, the taxcollectors, and prostitutes. He had a real affection for children and women. In the face of the culture he embraced people of all kinds and saw them as the children of God. Jesus had a very broad concept of family and neighbor. Your family wasn't just your own kin, but all people who were the beloved of God. The neighbor was not merely you own race, but all races belonged to God. Jesus had contacts with Gentiles, Jews, and Samaritans.
At the same time Jesus seemed to sort out the laws and the regulations that hindered or stifled people's abilities to be close to God. He seemed to reject some of the dietary laws, and the sabbath regulations forbidding healing on the sabbath day. So many of his parables and stories were party parables in which people were called in faith to rejoice in the available forgivenss, grace, and love of God. He preached a way of being sincere and genuine in one's devoted love for God and respect of one another. But Jesus' way and teaching was difficult for many people to accept.
From the picture we have of Jesus in the gospel accounts, he was often quite radical for his time. As a result the authorities saw Jesus as a threat to the established way of life. Their method of handling him was to seek his death. In the story we see the human condition and human nature nakedly revealed. Jesus own disciples try to prevent his arrest by the use of force. His closest disciple, Peter, in the story does the unconscionable thing by denying Jesus. To deny a friend or family in these times was considered unforgiveable and was quite dishonorable. People caught up in mob violence tortured him with insults. Even a bandit being crucified with him challenges him. Pilate places a mocking and an insulting inscription over the cross: "This is the King of the Jews." Even Luke writes the story years after the event as if Jesus' crucifixion was the fault of the Jews, making the Romans and Pilate appear blameless. They were not. Make no mistake about it. Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate and the Romans who rarely thought twice about crucifying people. At the same time the innocent suffer, the guilty Barabbas is set free. We hate that to happen, except for when it satisfies our own need. What is just and fair gets all mixed up in the world to our way of thinking. We hate what seems like terrible injustices, when the innocent suffer. We hate God for letting that happen. Human nature has its way of challenging the ways of God that are at odds with our own limited ways of thinking.
We know only too well from our own experiences what our own human nature is like. Change and renewal is often quite difficult, if not downright painful. Racism dies hard. Looking down on people who are different from us, or who are a part of another class is hard to put away and change. Being people who trust in God is also hard for us, especially Americans. We cherish our individuality and the concept of being self-made people. Our busyness and our business, if not our hobbies and sports as well often take precedence over our relationship with God. Human beings like being in charge and have an affection for power and control. Letting go of power for the good of others and for the sake of a community does not come easy. It is often very hard to forgive and be welcoming to the sinner, the outsider, the outcast.
Human violence is now an epedemic in our society. Violence and hatred is no stranger to us. We remember the horrors of the Nazi holocaust and the nuclear bombing of Japan. Terrorism remains alive and well. Violence is a plague in our streets and in our schools among even our youngest children. The recent shooting violence in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is but another example of the terrible plague on our land and in our world. Inspite of and in the face of all that is holy, people cling to and embrace for dear life their ancient feuds, prejudices, and their violent ways of coping with them. A sorry human nature often abounds seemingly nailing hope and goodness to a cross to be eventually gobbled up by dogs, which was what happened to crucified corpses.
What is remarkable about the Passion Narrative is that inspite of human nature, Jesus remains the suffering servant of God, sweating blood in his prayers to remain so. He meets the early stage of violence by his disciples with healing. He does not respond with violence, accusations, or blame. He condemns no one. He accepts the inevitable. He dies. He really does. He dies on a cross like a criminal in the midst of this terrible scene of denial, violence, racism, and dishonor. Humbly he breaks the cycle of violence and cruelty accepting his servanthood and fulfilling his mission of humility and peace. He does not snatch at being God, but remains humbly obedient to his death on the cross.
Out of Jesus' suffering servanthood comes some new awarenesses. One in particular strikes me. To see in Jesus the redeeming hope for humanity is to step this very day into paradise. It is to step now, today, into God's Domain, into the Garden of God. One of the bandits who is also suffering, but who recognizes it as a result of his own cause, sees in Jesus the new way of entering the Kingdom of God.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, Book of Genesis, there is that old story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are tempted and eat of the fruit that leads them out of the Garden. They step out of Paradise into a harsh and violent world. Today we learn of a new tree upon which Jesus is crucified. Turning to this tree and to this Jesus in faithfulness and trust, we find the way to step back into the Garden of God, into Paradise, into God's Domain.
The world we live in and the lives we create for ourselves can be violent, harsh, foolish. There are many things we cannot comprehend nor understand. Our hope, our healing, our salavation is the faithful acceptance of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is in turning to him and abandoning our own ways, and joining him in his suffering servanthood that we live with him in Paradise. Remember Jesus's parable about the Kingdom of God. (Matt.13:25f) A man planted good seed, but weeds somehow got mixed in. The servants wanted to pull up the weeds, but the landowner would not permit it For a while they'll grow together, and when the harvest time comes they will be separated. I suppose the world is like that. It has its violence, its cruelty, its sinfulness. But those of faith who reside with Christ also live in the Paradise of God's Domain. They know and feel the presence of his love and forgiveness, and his continuing hope that all shall be made new.
Remember that there are those who step into the Paradise of God through Christ. One bandit, the woman who stand off at a distance, a Roman Centurion, Joseph of Arimathea. All around are men and womn of faith who stand in God's Domain through their faith in Jesus Christ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
