Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.

Today's Scripture Readings

Luke 19:28-40 (NRSV)

After telling a parable to the crowd at Jericho, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, "Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it.'" So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" They said, "The Lord needs it." Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

"Blessed is the king

who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven,

and glory in the highest heaven!"

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out."

 
Psalm 118 (BCP., p.760)

Liturgy of the Word

Isaiah 50: 4-9a (NRSV)

The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens--

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31 (BCP., p.623)

Philippians 2: 5-11 (NRSV)

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death--

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Luke 22:14-23:56

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

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."

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, "Certainly this man was innocent." And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. 

Blog Reflection

Every year that I write a blog post about Palm Sunday, I begin with the words: "Oh! The fickleness of the human heart."

The joyful reception of Jesus on this day.  The Hosanna's that ring out from them and us during the grand hymn: "All Glory, Laud and Honor."   The celebration of Christ as a King.  Hmm.   Where have we thought of that before?

Here we have another comparison between the Last Sunday after Pentecost, the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, and now the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.  A moment of triumph, before we go into a period of horror, death and mourning.  The difference here is, the triumphant mood lasts only up to we enter the Liturgy of the Word.  Then begins the Narrative of the Passion of Christ.  In it's own way, is this not very much like the two faced attitudes of most of us? 

The stories that will be heard this Holy Week leading up to Easter Day, are the stories of all humankind.  In one way, or another.

All of us know what it is to be received warmly by our friends, family and acquaintances.  When we begin a new job, the boss welcomes us.  The receptionist welcomes us. The office manager welcomes us. Our co-workers welcome us. Once the lunch break is over on the second day, suddenly we are everyone's new pest. There is nothing we can do right.  Most if not all who welcomed us are complaining behind our backs. Passing judgement on what kind of a person and/or worker we are. Based on their limited information.

In many ways, are the events of Passion, Palm Sunday not like a young man or woman growing up in a typical American home?  Their parents encourage them.  They push them to become the best they can be at whatever they do. They encourage them in all of their friendships and relationships. Teachers, Pastors, community leaders watch for the perfect person who gets all the best grades in school. Becomes the latest champion on the minor league baseball team. Wins the local spelling bee. Let that young man or woman break the news to those closest to him/her that he/she is attracted to members of the same-sex or thinks he/she may be a transgender person, all the fame and goodness in that guy/girl disappears in a moment.

Let a young girl announce to her father who attends "pro-life" rallies on Good Friday that she is pregnant and her boyfriend took off.  Suddenly, the father who opposes abortion, rather than helping his little girl through the fear and trauma of her situation, kicks her out.  With federal funding being taken from clinics that can help her, job training programs, day care centers, health care programs, not to mention the shame of family and friends, what choices will she have?   What if she was raped and has no recourse over her rapist?

People in our civilized society speak every day of "accepting people as they are."  Yet, there is always something about another person's race, religion, employment situation, health, etc that becomes a reason to push them to aside or treat them differently.  The person that loves others in a very different way, is the person that no one in town wants to know any further.

Holy Week, including today, is about our human relationships.  Much more importantly, about our relationship with God.  Not so much as our relationship with God just in our prayers, fasting and penances which we have engaged in this Lent.  It is our relationship with God as we encounter the Holy One in the person who is different from ourselves.  It is so easy to love God in the silence of our own personal prayers.  It is so difficult to love Jesus in another person.  It takes us so much effort to see others as Christ, Himself.

In The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 71: Mutual Obedience, he writes:

Obedience is a blessing to be shown by all, not only to the abbot but also to one another as brothers [and sisters], since we know that it is by this way of obedience that we go to God. (RB 1980, p.293).

In A Life-Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict Esther de Waal writes:

The importance of obedience to God, to authority, and to our brothers and sisters is something that has concerned Benedict throughout the Rule.  Obedience depends on listening so totally and openly to the other that through them we discern the face, the voice of Christ himself.   This is the root of what obedience that we show to one another. (p.229).

In the stories that we will read this Holy Week and the Liturgies we will participate in, we will again be brought face to face with the reality of our humanity.  We will again meet Jesus experiencing human suffering, resentment, bias, injustice, yet accepting God's will through it all, so that by the way of His death on the Cross, there might be the Resurrection. "By his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5 CEB). We will be given the opportunity to again realize what our Baptismal Covenant (see Book of Common Prayer, p.292-294) calls us to with regards to our relationship with God, our neighbor and ourselves.  We will also be confronted with the opportunity to decide if we too are open to obedience to God's will, no matter what it requires of us in the end, or are we just too good to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus? (See Mark 8:34).  Are we willing to wash the feet of Jesus in the person we despise the most?  If we find ourselves on either side of Christ on the Cross, will we mock Him with the thief on one side, or on the other, asking to be received into His kingdom, recognizing that we are sinners and that without the mercy of God in Christ Jesus we have no hope?

Will we as Christians be drowned in antisemitism as Christians read and hear Gospel stories of the Passion that suggest that the Jews are responsible for the death of Christ?  Or will we admit that it was the sins of all of us, including our sins against other religions, including, but not limited to Jews, Muslims and many others by which God loved us so much, that God did not spare God's own Son? (See Romans 8:32 NRSV).

This Holy Week, let us all agree that even though we disagree, that we can look for Jesus not only in our worship and prayers, but also in our relationships with each other.   May we realize that Jesus is working in and through our lives through communities as well as within our individual selves.  May we respond to Him with "not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). 

Prayers

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the
human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to
take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross,
giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant
that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share
in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen. (Collect for Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, Book of Common Prayer, p. 219).


Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our
salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation
of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and
immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (From the Service of Palm Sunday, Book of Common Prayer, p.270).


Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Collect for Fridays, Book of Common Prayer, p.99).


Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on
the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit
that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for
the honor of your Name. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, p.101).

Easter Day: Christ is Risen! Christians, Live As Easter People!

Today's Scripture Readings

Acts 10:34-43 (NRSV)

Peter began to speak to the gentiles: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Psalm 118 (BCP., p.760)


1 Corinthians 15:1-18 (NRSV)

I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you--unless you have come to believe in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them--though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

John 20:1-18 (NRSV)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Blog Reflection

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Beloved Christians, today we sing Jesus Christ Is Risen Today and Hail Thee Festival Day!  We gather in large numbers to celebrate what the Scriptures, Tradition and faith have celebrated throughout the Centuries.  The choirs are singing hymns and anthems while the organ and other instruments are being played with brilliance and jubilation.  Easter dinners and parties with family and friends celebrate the arrival of Easter and the long awaited ending of Lent and Holy Week.  What a beautiful and wonderful day.

That first Easter morning must not have been a happy one in the beginning for Mary and the other women.  They came to the tomb to bring spices and fresh linens.  They must not have known that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had already done those things at Jesus' burial.  Imagine the horrified look on their faces when they found the tomb empty.   Imagine the look on their faces when they were met by the angels as is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke who told them, "He is not here.  He is risen!"

What about those disciples?  They were told on any number of occasions that Jesus would be crucified and on three days rise again.  The mighty Peter who said that he would follow Jesus wherever He went, denied Him three times.  Now, Peter is looking into an empty tomb, turned away and went home "for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead." 

As Christians who claim to believe in the Resurrection, where do we find the evidence of such around us?  We celebrated Lent and Holy Week.  Here we are on Easter Day.  It is hard to find evidence of the Resurrection in our politics and news.  Gun violence still runs rapid with no additional legal protections.  Racism is a wild animal that preys upon teenagers, women and men in our police departments, schools, colleges and churches.  Bills are written, debated and fast tracked to give a license to discriminate on the basis of "religious liberty" to deny basic human services to LGBTQ people, Muslims, Jews and others who do not fit the criteria of Christianists.  "Religious Liberty" is worth defending if one agrees with their version.  If one does not, then Christianists and Dominionists are being persecuted by making martyrs of themselves only.   Is it any wonder that Christians are viewed as standing at the empty tomb with the disciples and wondering what really happened?  Is it any wonder that many just cannot believe in the awesome Christian Faith that many of us embrace and love?

Thankfully, the Easter story did not end with the disbelieving disciples.  It took a woman of faith to weep in the garden, symbolizing the cries of Eve.   A woman who still believed in the hope of the Resurrection, finds her faith rewarded in her helplessness and despair as the Risen Christ comes and calls her by name.  The Risen Christ identifies Mary who is given the greatest of contemplative visions.  The Risen Christ didn't blame the woman for not believing, as Adam did.  The Risen Christ affirms the faith of Mary and ends all sexism and doubt that God restored humankind to it's Divine origins with our brokenness exposed, in a perpetual embrace in radical hospitality and reconciliation.  "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1).  As an Episcopalian and a Christian, I believe there is also no condemnation for those who are not in Christ Jesus as we Christians understand it to be so.  The Jesus that I believe in who rose bodily from the grave, embraces every person with dignity and unconditional love.

On this Easter Day, we renew our Baptismal Vows in communion with other Christians around the world.  To the questions, "Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?", and "Will you strive for justice and peace among all persons, and respect the dignity of every human being?" we collectively and individually answer, "I will, with God's help."

Today, as Christians we celebrate our Lord Jesus Christ risen from the dead.  Now, let us celebrate by living as Easter People.  May we be an Easter People calling for an end to violence, prejudice, oppression and become ambassadors for the Risen Christ by doing all we can to make it so.

Amen.

Alleluia!  Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

Prayers

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus
Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of
everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the
day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death
of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen.  (Collect for Easter Day.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.222).

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.823).

Maundy Thursday: Who Would Jesus Refuse to Serve?

Today's Scripture Readings

Exodus 12:1-14 (NRSV)

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Psalm 116:1, 10-17  (BCP., p.759)



1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NRSV)

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

John 13:1-17, 31b-35 (NRSV)

Before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." 

Blog Reflection

There has been a lot of news these days about "religious liberty" and who business owners should be able to serve or refuse to serve.  Legislative bills are being introduced, fast tracked, passed and signed into law to give individuals the "right of their religious beliefs" to service those whom they believe most conform to their ideology.  While we can speculate about what is and what is not the best approach to these bills, they do give Christians a lot to think about.

The words Maundy Thursday get their meaning from the Latin word mandatum, which contains the English root word, mandate or commandment.  The focus of Maundy Thursday in addition to the institution of the Holy Eucharist is the new commandment of Jesus to love others as He has loved all of us.  Jesus, in His Paschal Mystery loved all of us without distinction or exception.  As John records for us, Jesus took the form of a servant and washed the feet of His Disciples.  Jesus gave us an example of what it means to love and serve others in total self sacrifice.  Jesus held nothing back.   Jesus gave Himself to us in His Body and Blood, and stooped down in humility to wash our feet and commanded us to love one another in His Name.

What Jesus did seems to be a stark contrast to what those license to discriminate on the basis of "religious liberty" bills are about.  I have a hard time believing that Jesus would put up a sign to the window of the upper room that says "We do not serve gays" or "Muslims" or "Jews"  or "Athiests" or "only Baptized Christians".  While the sexism given to us in the Scriptures suggests that the only Disciples of Jesus were men, I tend to believe that women must have been present in that upper room moment, and that Jesus washed their feet too.  In the very act of serving by the washing of feet, Jesus assumes a very feminine role.  Jesus really does lay down His life, by giving over even the appearance of what His gender stereotypes would be, to serve the least among us with the greatest of humility.

In The Rule of St. Benedict Chapter 53 On the Reception of Guests, he instructs the community to wash the feet of His guests.  St. Benedict wanted his monks to remember what he wrote in Chapter 7 On Humility.  Humility means "being earthed".  St. Benedict wanted those who observe his Rule to live into the Christian life with authenticity and transparency.

On this Maundy Thursday, Jesus commands us to love one another as we are loved by Him.  Jesus gave us this commandment while living into what it means.  As Jesus lived into the greatest acts of love, humility and service of everyone without distinction, so He commands each of us to do for others.  Including and especially those who are different from us.   Lord, have mercy on us all.

Who would Jesus refuse to serve?

Who will we serve or refuse to serve in the Name of Jesus today?


Prayers

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he
suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood:
Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in
remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy
mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Collect for Maundy Thursday.  The Book of Common Prayer, p. 221).

God our Father, whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a
wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of his passion:
Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his Body and
Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit
of his redemption; who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (Collect on the Holy Eucharist.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.252).

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.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.815).

Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday: Holy Week Means Everyone Counts

Today's Scripture Readings

Mark 11:1-11 (NRSV)

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, `Why are you doing this?' just say this, `The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.'" They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

"Hosanna!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!

Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. 

Isaiah 50:4-9a (NRSV)

The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens--

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31:9-16 (BCP., p.623)


Philippians 2:5-11 (NRSV)

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death--

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

The Passion of Jesus Christ According to Mark 14:1-15:47 (NRSV)


Blog Reflection

Holy Week should be the week during which Christians are able to just sit back and take in the events we celebrate.  We should just take part in all of the Holy Week Liturgies the Church offers and just go back to what we were doing before.  Sadly, we Christians already celebrate Holy Week in that way.  As long as I can remember, Christians observe the Holy Week rituals as if Christians are the only ones that matter.  Anyone who doesn't celebrate what we remember this week is doing something wrong.  No wonder so many look at Christians on this week and respond with, "So what!!  It is just business as usual."

Contrary to what many may see and think, Holy Week is so much greater than our own little world.  There is more at stake during Holy Week than our creeds or the Bible being correctly understood and believed.  Holy Week is about every person's journey in the face of human suffering, betrayal and the fickleness of the human heart as prominent as they can be.  We see it every year on Palm Sunday.  Jesus is welcomed by the same people into Jerusalem who will be later portrayed as crying "Crucify Him!! Crucify Him!!"  Yet, if we pay more attention to how the Passion reading happens during the Liturgy, it is the worship congregation that often reads and recites those words.  The meaning is so very important.  It is not the Jews who crucified Jesus and are therefore irrelevant to the rest of the World (all of which is as incorrect as possible), it is our sins, and God's love for all of us.  Our sins were not strong enough for God who is so madly in love with all of us, that God gave Jesus to suffer the agonizing death He endured.  God's love for all of us without exception is so great, so powerful that God identified with all of us in Jesus to the point of the complete abandonment of Self to redeem all of us from the worst of ourselves.

The events of Holy Week, along with all of the ritualistic celebrations are an opportunity for all of us to find God at work in Jesus exactly where we think God is just not interested.  Just when it appears as if all hope is lost, not even death is strong enough to keep Jesus dead in the grave.  Before we can effectively celebrate and grow in our faith life as Christians in the Easter event, we first must face our own brokenness, our humility and humanness in the passion and death of Jesus.  It does not stop there.  Jesus shows us how God can do more than we can hope for or imagine at the very worst of human tragedies, and find new hope and life by surrendering everything we are and have into God's hands with faith and trust.   

This past week we the Christian Faith used as a weapon of mass destruction.  When Indiana passed their law to allow discrimination of LGBT people on the basis of "religious liberty," they effectively made it possible for Christians to excuse themselves from any means of living the message of the Gospel by simply saying that it "goes against our religion."   If you want to talk about an act of sacrilege just before Holy Week, I believe we have the worst kind of example.  Jesus Christ who loved even Judas who betrayed him, is inaccurately portrayed in such laws as loving others with exceptions based on preconceived notions and religious arrogance.  Anyone who does not "measure up" to a particular Christians ideal of what another person should be, becomes justification for spiritual malpractice and doctrinal abuse.

As we wander into Holy Week with Jesus, we may want to ponder on what the events and rituals really mean to us.  Are we serious about our Baptismal Vows that we will renew together this week?   Or are we just saying such things to get through another Holy Week to eat the ham on Easter Day?  Will celebrating the Paschal Mystery this week really change us to the point in which we trust in God to love others as Christ has loved us?  Or, will we join Judas in selling Jesus for thirty pieces of silver to get that trouble maker who loves others better than we do out of the way?

Holy Week means that everyone counts.  Including us.  Including others around us who are different than us, and with whom we share this earth with.  Whether we succeed or fail, God loves and redeems us all.

As we journey together this Holy Week, may Christians grow and evolve into the Easter People Christ came to save us to be.

Amen.


Prayers

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the
human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to
take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross,
giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant
that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share
in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Collect for Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday. The Book of Common Prayer, p.219).

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on
the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within
the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit
that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for
the honor of your Name. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.101).

Fifth Sunday in Lent: Christ Lifted Up for All

Today's Scripture Readings

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NRSV)

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Psalm 51:1-13 (BCP., p.656)


Hebrews 5:5-10 (NRSV)

Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,

"You are my Son,

today I have begotten you";

as he says also in another place,

"You are a priest forever,

according to the order of Melchizedek."

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

John 12:20-33 (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.

Blog Reflection

This past Thursday I was in the supermarket check out lane.  I was a bit late that day, and had finished my grocery shopping for the week.  I was really looking forward to checking out quickly and getting home.  Things seemed to be moving quite a bit slower than usual.  As I looked more closely at the cashier, I realized that things were moving a lot slower because she was moving very slowly.  It seemed to take her a longer time to count the change from the register, tear off a receipt and fold it.  I saw her eyes and they did look a bit dreary.  Perhaps she was not feeling particularly well that day.  It was difficult for me not to become a bit irritated by the slow pace of things, until I meditated just a bit on St. Benedict's admonition to regard the earth and all it's goods, including all people as the "sacred vessels of the altar." (RB 1980: Chapter 33). Once I began to remember that, I found myself admiring how carefully she was doing her job, irregardless of the attitudes of others around her.  I also found it a bit easier to be aware of the presence of God in the situation.  Whatever the reason the cashier was moving so slowly was really not important.  What is important is that whether it is easy or difficult, God's presence really is every where.  God's law of love is always being rewritten in our hearts as God makes God's presence known to us in those situations, people and places where it just seems that things just are not quite what we think they should be.  All God asks of us, is to take the time to seek union with God, with the God who has already found us.

Here we are on the fifth Sunday and Week of Lent.  Next weekend we start Holy Week and the journey towards Easter Day.  How has Lent been for you?   How have you drawn closer to God through prayer, alms-giving and self-denial?   Well, we still have at least two more weeks to go.  Make the best of it.

The overriding message of the readings for this Weekend's Eucharist is that God wants to enter our hearts renewed by Christ's redemption.  The renewal is ongoing and ever working.  Our biggest obstacle is ourselves.  Our Christian Faith teaches us that not only is it okay to step out of the way and let God help and guide us, it is necessary if we are to search for that union with God in the here and now to find our way forward.

As Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ was lifted up on the Cross to draw all people to himself.   Once again, our Gospel Reading presents us with a bit of a "Jesus only" picture.  As a Christian believer myself, I agree that Jesus is my only Savior and Lord.  I can sing those great evangelical Gospel like hymns that "Jesus saves" and believe it in my heart all I like.  However, the moment that I make it my business to judge the journeys of others by my own beliefs (and I know I have done plenty of this), I am as guilty of making Jesus into a business proposition to benefit my own ego as anyone else.  This is not evangelism.  This is religious zeal by coercion and self concern only.  Instead of keeping me sensitive to others, it makes me blind to the presence of God in the other.  Oh, Lord, have mercy on me.

As has become the tradition of this blog that I have been writing for the past six years, I must at this point in Lent condemn all forms of antisemitism.  There is so much prejudice and violence going on these days over religion.  Christianity by itself does not hold the monopoly on all religious and/or spiritual truth.  The awesomeness of our Faith is that we are one of many great Faiths around us, which includes our Jewish Sisters and Brothers.  No amount of justification for condemning Judaism and those who continue to worship Yahweh on the part of Christians is appropriate or to be condoned.  The Jews are not responsible for the death of Jesus.  Please, let's not continue with this insult to God and to other religions by promoting disrespect or violence towards other religious faiths, including those who chose to practice no religion at all.

Jesus in our Gospel today, welcomes those who came to Him, because He was about to do God's will in what must have been a very frightening time for Him.  Yet, He also knew that if He was going to over throw the powers of sin and death, and be the source of God's love in the world for those who believed in Him, that preparing for the reality of the Cross was going to be God's way of doing it.  Jesus would be lifted up to draw all people to Himself.  No amount of exclusion on any basis including but not limited to sexual orientation and/or gender expression/identity comes close to honoring what Jesus did for all of us.  Jesus who is the fulfillment for Christians of what it means to live with the law of God written in the heart with a renewed faith, was about to be the visible reality of the love of God that has no end.

As Christians who profess a Baptismal Covenant, we Episcopalians along with others are committed to recognizing and loving Christ in our neighbor, seeking justice and peace, and upholding their dignity.  It is a work we must recommit ourselves to not only at the Great Vigil of Easter now less than two weeks away, but every day of our lives.  Each encounter with that person that drives us crazy is the presence of God made as real as the Eucharist, and is to be cared for as such.

May we continue through our Lenten Journey to pray and work together to be the living example of Jesus being lifted up and drawing all people to Him through those of us who love Him so much.

Amen.


Prayers

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly
wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to
love what you command and desire what you promise; that,
among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts
may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.219).

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.  The Book of Common Prayer, p.826).

Wednesday in Holy Week: What Do We Make of Judas?

Today's Scripture Readings

Isaiah 50:4-9a (NRSV)

The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens--

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 70 (BCP., p.682)


Hebrews 12:1-3 (NRSV)

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

John 13:21-32 (NRSV)

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once."

Blog Reflection

Earlier this week, my husband Jason and I had a conversation together about Judas.  In this discussion, Jason and I asked the following question.   "Should we really assume that God condemned Judas?"

I have several problems with the idea that Judas might be condemned.  One of which, if it was Jesus' purpose to give His life on the Cross to redeem us all from our sins, then didn't Judas do God's will when he handed Him over for the 30 pieces of silver?   The very idea that Judas would betray Jesus fulfills a prophesy in Isaiah.  Secondly, given that we believe that God forgives all our sins through the Paschal Mystery in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, why wouldn't the soul of Judas also be saved?   The last problem with this whole thing with Judas that I have, is that I am not a believer in the Calvinist theology of predestination.   I do not personally believe that Judas was predestined to betray Jesus and his soul go to hell for it.

Among the problems we have with the traditional understanding of Judas, is that for centuries people equated mental illness and suicide with some kind of spiritual crisis.  Therefore, if Judas did in fact betray Jesus, Judas would have been condemned because he did betray Jesus and he committed suicide rather than asked forgiveness as Peter did after Peter denied Jesus three times.  

We now think and believe that mental illness does not mean that one is demon possessed.  We also now believe that someone who commits suicide, while very tragic, that their soul is most likely in the hands of our very merciful God.   Another thing we know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that when Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, Jesus most certainly still loved him.

I think we have to be very careful about making an individual like Judas into a scapegoat, while we ignore the very presence of bias and hypocrisy in our own hearts.   All of us at some point of time do something that betrays Jesus in some way, shape or form.  Yet, God forgives us through God's mercy in Christ. 

At the same time, Judas is a reminder of some very deep realities. 

All of us, including Jesus understands the tragedy of being betrayed by our best friend.  Every time I pray Psalm 41, I think that the words of verse 9 are something Jesus identified with.   "Even my best friend, whom I trusted, who broke bread with me, has lifted up his heel and turned against me."

Also, in any of the plans we make, if we are not careful we can easily be betraying our best friend, rather than helping her/him.

Before we eat at the Lord's Table tomorrow night on Maundy Thursday, we might want to reflect on how we perceive those who are different from ourselves.  Whom are we looking at, and thinking they must not belong there with us?   What responsibility are we taking for what we do, and how it affects others beyond ourselves?   What kinds of deals are we making that betray Jesus in our neighbors?

We need to reflect on the fact that the Holy Eucharist is about whom we include, not whom we justify ourselves for excluding.  It is not about us indulging in our stereotypes of others.   The Holy Eucharist is the Presence of Christ in the Bread and Wine, which represents His presence in one another.

Amen.


Prayer

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be
whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept
joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the
glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.220).

Tuesday in Holy Week: The Wheat and Message of the Cross

Today's Scripture Readings


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)

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."

After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.

Blog Reflection

Over these past few months, I have begun baking bread.   I make a honey wheat bread.  Each time I make it, I am amazed at how all of the ingredients come together to make a dough.   After the dough rises in a bowl, it gets put into bread pans to rise some more.  Then, it finally gets baked.   The aroma in the house is just wonderful.

The words of Jesus in today's Gospel about the grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying so that it bears fruit make a lot of sense to me.   I cannot make the wheat flour and all the ingredients in to a dough for baking bread, unless the grain of wheat falls and dies.  A single grain of wheat falls to give life far beyond what it was before.

Jesus is telling us that God will be glorified in what Jesus is about to do in giving His life.   If Jesus is to bring new life to those for whom God sent Him; He must in obedience to the Father, surrender Himself to the service of humankind to the point of His death.  When Jesus tells us about those saving their lives and losing them, and those who give them for the sake of the Gospel, He is telling us to do as He did.   What Jesus does on the Cross, is what He has done throughout His entire earthly ministry.   St. Paul tells us as much when he wrote: "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" (1 Corinthians 1:18).

What does it mean for Christians to be an example of Christ's obedience this week?

One matter we might do well to meditate on is our response to the horrific shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas.   Bishop Dean Wolfe of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas made an outstanding statement about the incident found here.  

The news of an armed man shooting and killing a teenager and his grandfather at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, and a woman at the Village Shalom assisted living facility, is another shocking reminder of the culture of violence that continues to flourish within our larger culture. We are particularly saddened to learn these murders appear to have been motivated by anti-Semitic feelings expressed by the man now in custody for these crimes.

On Sunday, the violence came to us. These are our neighbors. These are our friends. This is not somewhere strange and far away for us. These violent incidents happened in our diocese. My son played several basketball games at the Jewish Community Center when he was a student at Bishop Seabury Academy. We have friends who regularly participate in programs there.

On Sunday afternoon the Jewish Community Center was filled with young people from a myriad of faith traditions rehearsing plays and auditioning for musical competitions. It says something about the way in which people of different faith traditions live and work so closely together in our community that a man intent on killing members of the Jewish faith went to a Jewish Community Center and a Jewish assisted care facility and took the lives of two Methodists and a Roman Catholic. Hatred makes everyone look like the enemy.

I think for Christians, we must learn and relearn to think of those who worship in other faiths including Judaism and Islam as our Sisters and Brothers just like anyone else.   Whether our neighbors worship God through Jesus or not, we demonstrate the meaning of the Cross when we chose to love others, even those different from ourselves without distinction.   Jesus never suggested that we all have to agree with each other.  Jesus did tell us to love one another.   To those who celebrate life through hate and violence, the message of the Cross is foolishness.   But to those of us being saved, it is the power of God in our lives to love beyond our comfort zones, and without prejudice.

Perhaps this Easter Day, we can all celebrate a Church and society with a little less violence, injustice and oppression.  And show forth the evidence of the Resurrection, because we decided to do something about it.

Amen.


Prayer

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.  (Book of Common Prayer, p.220).

Monday in Holy Week: The Self-Giving Love of the Cross

Today's Scripture

Isaiah 42:1-9 (NRSV)

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

He will not grow faint or be crushed

until he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people upon it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,

I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as a covenant to the people,

a light to the nations,

to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

I am the LORD, that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to idols.

See, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth,

I tell you of them.

Psalm 32:5-11 (BCP., p.632)


Hebrews 9:11-15 (NRSV)

When Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

John 12:1-11(NRSV)

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

Blog Reflection

In my blog post for the Fifth Sunday in Lent Year C I wrote the following about this Gospel reading.

All of us need to learn to see Christ in our neighbor. Each person is a sacred vessel containing the presence of Christ. We can and should serve one another with gladness and joy. To serve another, is to serve Christ. 

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is costly.  It will demand our best and our all.   We will be challenged to let go. Turn over ourselves over and over again for the use of God's will.  At times, it will cost us that which is most precious to us. It might be that special date or time we had planned to entertain ourselves or become an entertainer.  It may cost us our popularity. It may cost us those possessions that we are hoarding all for ourselves, when others could use our excess.  It may be our intellectual pride by which we think we are smarter than others.  It may be our desire to fit in with the most powerful, wealthy and the best looking.

Mary is preparing Jesus for His final journey into Jerusalem and ultimately to the Cross.  This anointing of Jesus' feet also has another meaning.   As Thomas Keating writes in his book The Mystery of Christ: The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience:

In this remarkable incident, Mary manifests her intuition into what Jesus is about to do.  Moreover, she identifies with Him to such an intimate degree that she manifests the same disposition of total self-giving that He is about to manifest on the cross.  She had learned from Jesus how to throw herself away and become like God.  That is why this story must be proclaimed wherever the Gospel is preached. "To perpetuate Mary's memory" is to fill the whole world with the perfume of God's love, the love that is totally self-giving.  In the concrete, it is to anoint the poor and the afflicted, the favored members of Christ's Body, with this love (Page55).

We begin Holy Week with this Gospel, because this is it.  Here we are asked to make the decision to follow Jesus in real discipleship in His self-giving love, or let Him go to the Cross without following Him in our daily life.   The costly part is that we will have to live into our Baptismal Covenant in upholding the dignity of every human being even if society and the Church continue to make distinctions that are contrary to the Gospel.

That is what the Cross is all about.

Amen.


Prayer

Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but
first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he
was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way
of the cross, may find it none other that the way of life and
peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, p.220).

Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday: With Whom Are You Entering Holy Week?

Today's Scripture Readings

Liturgy of the Palms

Matthew 21:1-11 (NRSV)

When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, 

"Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, 

"Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

Psalm 118 (BCP., p.760)


Liturgy of the Word

Isaiah 50:4-9a (NRSV)

The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of a teacher,

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens--

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious,

I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 31 (BCP., p.623)


Philippians 2:5-11 (NRSV)

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death--
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Passion Reading: Matthew 26:14-27:66 (NRSV) 


Blog Reflection

Marcus Borg in a blog post about Holy Week: Palm Sunday writes the following...

What most Christians know about Holy Week centers on Good Friday and Easter, Jesus’s death and resurrection. The former is commonly understood as payment for our sins. The latter is most often understood as the proclamation of life beyond death – that God not only raised Jesus from the dead, but will someday also raise us, or at least those who believe.

But there is so much more to the story of Holy Week. Not only is there more, but the more challenges and indeed negates the common understanding of Good Friday and Easter.

In this blog, I focus on what Christians call “Palm Sunday.” The story is familiar: as the week of Passover begins, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and people cheer him, shouting “Hosanna – blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Less well-known is the historical fact that a Roman imperial procession was also entering Jerusalem for Passover from the other side of the city. It happened every year: the Roman governor of Judea, whose residence was in Caesarea on the coast, rode up to Jerusalem in order to be present in the city in case there were riots at Passover, the most politically volatile of the annual Jewish festivals. With him came soldiers and cavalry to reinforce the imperial garrison in Jerusalem.

It is clear what Pilate’s procession was about. By proclaiming the pomp and power of empire, its purpose was to intimidate. But what about Jesus’s procession, his entry into the city?

Thus for Passover that year, two very different processions entered Jerusalem. They proclaimed two very different and contrasting visions of how this world can and should be: the kingdom of God versus the kingdoms, the powers, of this world
The former is about justice and the end of violence. The latter are about domination and exploitation.

On Friday, the rulers of this world kill Jesus. On Easter, God says “yes” to Jesus and “no” to the powers that executed him.

Thus Palm Sunday announces the central conflict of Holy Week. The conflict persists. In words from St. Paul, the rulers of this world crucified the Lord of glory. That conflict continues wherever injustice and violence abound. Holy Week is not about less than that. 

Are we beginning Holy Week by entering Jerusalem with Pilate in a search for domination, power and exploitation?

Christians would like to believe that all of our yearly rituals of getting our Palms today, kneeling at the words that Jesus breathed His last during the reading of the Passion and shaking our heads at how fickle the human heart is.  Yet, if that is all we do, then Holy Week is a fable.  In so doing, we do not give God the opportunity to bestow on us the wonderful graces during Holy Week that make a difference in our lives.  The story of Holy Week might as well be put on the library shelves with the other religious based myths, to fade away with the coming of the electronic/digital age and quick fix self-help programs.

As long as Christians remain silent and apathetic about how much wealth and power have taken over not only the world's politics, but also in the Church, Holy Week looks like a fiction still in someone's imagination.

When Christians turn our heads and pretend that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth are not being bullied in our schools, neighborhoods, homes and churches; and pour money into campaigns to stop anti-bullying measures; we are entering Holy Week with Pilate, not Jesus. 

If we continue to use the events of this week to promote antisemitism saying that the Jews killed Jesus, and/or support prejudice towards Muslims and other religions; we might as well be judging Jesus with Pilate.  Or we probably do not realize that we too are among those shouting "Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!"

If we enter Holy Week with Pilate, we might be tempted to think of ourselves as our own god.  It is our way or the highway.  All the world and it's many resources are ours for the plundering.  We excuse the polluting of the waters of the world with oil, or cause earth quakes because of the Keystone Pipeline all with the dishonest thinking that it is creating jobs.   

On the other hand, if we enter Holy Week with Jesus, we will discover that the path to holiness comes through humility.  The same humility that Paul writes about in the ancient hymn in Philippians 2:5-11.   The humility that is prepared to set aside all thoughts of being God, to become a servant of others even to the point of the death of self.   God's love in Jesus Christ is not about seeking self-honor or indulging in the self that is false.  Full of the "what I think...." and refuses to "walk according to the judgement and commands of another...." (Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 5:12).

Jesus enters Jerusalem today knowing full well what is coming later in the week.  Yet, He will face immense hate, injustice and the losing of His life on the Cross.  He is willing to go through it all out of loving obedience to His Father and for all of us.  He will not stop loving those who falsely accuse and refuse to believe in Him.   He will chose to love even Judas who will betray Him with a kiss.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus will become the sin that God cannot look at, and take it all unto Himself and go so far as the Cross to redeem us all.   He will love the outcast, the woman, the LGBT person, the immigrant, the mother who weeps for her son lost to gun violence.  Jesus will love and redeem the one who chose no religion at all, because organized religion just hurts that person(s) so much.  There will be an outpouring of God's mercy that none of us can understand, explain or put into words that make sense.   One thing we will definitely know, is that God's love for us is unstoppable.   To make scapegoats of anyone for any reason, would be to look at what Jesus did for all of us and our Baptismal Covenant and would be the equivalent of Peter denying Jesus three times, or Judas selling Him for thirty pieces of silver.

In Christ, God tells all of us during this Holy Week, that God is with us, hurts with us, and is there to help us know that there is Easter Day after Good Friday.   That is why Jesus enters Jerusalem today.

Hosanna!  Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the Name of the Lord.

With whom are you entering Holy Week?


Prayers

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the
human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to
take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross,
giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant
that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share
in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, p.219).

Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony
and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to
take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p.252).

Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us
grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace
with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom,
help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our
communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (Book of Common Prayer, p.260).