Today's Scripture Readings
Isaiah 49:1-7 (NRSV)
Psalm 71: 1-14 (BCP, p. 683)
1 Corinthians 1: 18-31 (NRSV)
John 12: 20-36 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
Is it possible for all of the injustice in the world to make sense? Why can't there be an end to violence, wars, poverty, prejudice and destitution? Why does evil have to win some times?
There are no simple answers to these and other questions we might ask. Terrible incidents such as the tornadoes hitting Dallas, Texas today, just don't have explanations. Diseases such as Alzheimer's, Breast Cancer, Leukemia and HIV/AIDS are products of many cells and infections. They are not the result of anything God could bring upon humankind. Yet, if God is so powerful and merciful, why doesn't God stop them all?
There is a thought that can bring us comfort, if we will allow our hearts and minds to go there. God in Jesus Christ experienced what it means for injustice to win, and still managed to be victorious. It is the message contained in St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians. "The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." None of this could make sense to and for Christians, if we did not have the example of what Holy Week means.
If we think about what Jesus is saying in our Gospel today, he is suggesting that even God lost over the powers of evil, if you will. After all, how can God die? Yet, the most vile of evil's in the struggle between the powers of hell and those of God, would be if God died after the most brutal of tortures. Having been rejected, scorned, mocked, spit upon, flogged, crowned with thorns and finally hung upon the Cross, Jesus wonders why God would have forsaken him. How could God have abandoned God's Self? Yet, in the humanity of Christ, God departed, and Jesus still trusted that God had the power to rescue him, even if he should die. Salvation and justice would not have known a better victory, than the Son of God giving up his life for our sins, out of his self-sacrificing love, only to rise again on Easter Day. Sin and death were rendered a failure.
Jesus in this Gospel reading from John, is prepared for this moment. He recognizes that only by his death, will the things he had spoken and done would make sense. In his resurrection, would the world know how much God loved us as John wrote in chapter 3 verse 16 and 17. The wisdom of the world that says when evil wins it is all over, was made powerless and false as God in Christ accepted death so that there may be new and unending life.
We can see in our own times, examples of how a tragedy in all of its horror and madness, still reveals the power of God in the world. Through the tragic killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin, individuals are rising up to call our attention to how real the evil of racism is in our Nation. People who might have given up on any hope of calling attention to how bad the Stand Your Ground laws really are, found a reason to raise our voices in concern for those threatened by violence that results from another person's prejudice.
The insane beating and killing of Matthew Shepard, called our attention to the horrible reality of hate crimes towards youth and other individuals who are LGBT. The grief of Dennis and Judy Shepard was turned into a movement to eventually enact the hate crimes bill signed into law by President Obama in October of 2009.
The courage of Sandra Fluke who was willing to testify this past February in a Congressional hearing about why access to contraception is so important for women, has helped many others become active in our concerns about male privilege deciding the reproductive health care for women. The injustice of any and all women being kept from testifying during that hearing, gave women their voice and opportunity to speak out and inspire others to exercise their voice for women's rights.
Yet, we dare not stop seeing what injustices still play out in our times. Individuals who could lose their health care should the Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act. Seniors and those who are disabled would see poverty in their regards increase dramatically should Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid become privatized. People in our own neighborhoods dying as a result of starvation and dehydration, as well as in third world countries all over the world. These and other injustices need our attention too.
As we look to Jesus' example during this Holy Week, we would do well to pray for that part within all of us that has yet to die to our self-centeredness, so that we may serve Christ in others. The Paschal Mystery that we celebrate this week, should propel us from being apathetic towards those in need, to being active in not only helping them with their basic needs, but changing the system that keeps injustice and oppression as something we can just ignore.
Prayers
Isaiah 49:1-7 (NRSV)
Listen to me, O coastlands,
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The LORD called me before I was born,
while I was in my mother's womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
But I said, "I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the LORD,
and my reward with my God."
And now the LORD says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
and my God has become my strength--
he says,
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
"Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
Psalm 71: 1-14 (BCP, p. 683)
1 Corinthians 1: 18-31 (NRSV)
The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
John 12: 20-36 (NRSV)
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say-- `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light."
Blog Reflection
Is it possible for all of the injustice in the world to make sense? Why can't there be an end to violence, wars, poverty, prejudice and destitution? Why does evil have to win some times?
There are no simple answers to these and other questions we might ask. Terrible incidents such as the tornadoes hitting Dallas, Texas today, just don't have explanations. Diseases such as Alzheimer's, Breast Cancer, Leukemia and HIV/AIDS are products of many cells and infections. They are not the result of anything God could bring upon humankind. Yet, if God is so powerful and merciful, why doesn't God stop them all?
There is a thought that can bring us comfort, if we will allow our hearts and minds to go there. God in Jesus Christ experienced what it means for injustice to win, and still managed to be victorious. It is the message contained in St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians. "The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." None of this could make sense to and for Christians, if we did not have the example of what Holy Week means.
If we think about what Jesus is saying in our Gospel today, he is suggesting that even God lost over the powers of evil, if you will. After all, how can God die? Yet, the most vile of evil's in the struggle between the powers of hell and those of God, would be if God died after the most brutal of tortures. Having been rejected, scorned, mocked, spit upon, flogged, crowned with thorns and finally hung upon the Cross, Jesus wonders why God would have forsaken him. How could God have abandoned God's Self? Yet, in the humanity of Christ, God departed, and Jesus still trusted that God had the power to rescue him, even if he should die. Salvation and justice would not have known a better victory, than the Son of God giving up his life for our sins, out of his self-sacrificing love, only to rise again on Easter Day. Sin and death were rendered a failure.
Jesus in this Gospel reading from John, is prepared for this moment. He recognizes that only by his death, will the things he had spoken and done would make sense. In his resurrection, would the world know how much God loved us as John wrote in chapter 3 verse 16 and 17. The wisdom of the world that says when evil wins it is all over, was made powerless and false as God in Christ accepted death so that there may be new and unending life.
We can see in our own times, examples of how a tragedy in all of its horror and madness, still reveals the power of God in the world. Through the tragic killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin, individuals are rising up to call our attention to how real the evil of racism is in our Nation. People who might have given up on any hope of calling attention to how bad the Stand Your Ground laws really are, found a reason to raise our voices in concern for those threatened by violence that results from another person's prejudice.
The insane beating and killing of Matthew Shepard, called our attention to the horrible reality of hate crimes towards youth and other individuals who are LGBT. The grief of Dennis and Judy Shepard was turned into a movement to eventually enact the hate crimes bill signed into law by President Obama in October of 2009.
The courage of Sandra Fluke who was willing to testify this past February in a Congressional hearing about why access to contraception is so important for women, has helped many others become active in our concerns about male privilege deciding the reproductive health care for women. The injustice of any and all women being kept from testifying during that hearing, gave women their voice and opportunity to speak out and inspire others to exercise their voice for women's rights.
Yet, we dare not stop seeing what injustices still play out in our times. Individuals who could lose their health care should the Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act. Seniors and those who are disabled would see poverty in their regards increase dramatically should Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid become privatized. People in our own neighborhoods dying as a result of starvation and dehydration, as well as in third world countries all over the world. These and other injustices need our attention too.
As we look to Jesus' example during this Holy Week, we would do well to pray for that part within all of us that has yet to die to our self-centeredness, so that we may serve Christ in others. The Paschal Mystery that we celebrate this week, should propel us from being apathetic towards those in need, to being active in not only helping them with their basic needs, but changing the system that keeps injustice and oppression as something we can just ignore.
Prayers
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an
instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life:
Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly
suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior
Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Tuesday in Holy Week, Book of Common Prayer, p. 220).
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, p. 815).
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this
land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as
their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to
eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those
who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law
and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of
us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, p. 826).
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