Luke 24: 13-35. Cleopas and a buddy are getting out of Dodge. This God-intoxicated Jesus had been so charismatic with his torqued-up Torah, his revised understanding of Messiahship, his great passion for the marginalized and hurting, and his strong commitment to the Kingdom -- a world where God's will is done on earth as in heaven. Now it seems all for naught. Jesus has been arrested for treason against the Roman Empire and executed. Those who have been his associates must now flee for their lives. Imagine how these two felt: just as we do when we suffer disappointment and despair. Just as we do when we experience abandonment, or a sense of having been conned and betrayed.
Now, suddenly, Jesus is there with them on the road to Emmaus, as the Risen Christ . He is no longer subject to the limitations of physical existence. He can now suddenly appear and disappear. He is in a different dimension than the one in which we travel and yet in contact with our own. What will the Master demand of these men? Actually, nothing. He does not direct that they accept him as their personal Lord and Saviour, or sign some faith statement. Rather, he simply reveals himself. And he does so in a way that scholars often call the supra-literal (beyond a literal understanding) or trans-historical (beyond historical reckoning.)
First, he reflects what will be the activity of the early Church, in studying the only Bible they had -- what we call "Old Testament" -- to find passages there to apply to their faith experience and their understanding of Jesus. Second, he presages the future ritual action of the early Church by mimicking eucharistic liturgy, as he takes bread, blesses,breaks it, gives it out and then vanishes into thin air. hus our story tells readers that the Christ was revealed, and will always continue to reveal himself, in Word and Sacrament, within his Holy Catholic Church.
He also teaches us that when we experience disillusionment it is because we have not understood God's sacred promises, God never promised us a rose garden. Like him, we shall suffer before entering into glory. But through our story he assures us that he will be with us in Word and Sacrament to enable us to deal with everything life can throw our way.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Low Sunday: Forgive and Move On
Jesus has been executed by Roman authorities for treason. He is a traitor because he has allowed himself to be called Messiah (Moshiach, Anointed) meaning a king competing with Caesar, which is not allowed. According to the earlier gospels, every one of the Master's followers has bailed out at the time of his arrest. No one to be a support at trial, no one to walk the Via Crucis with him, no one offering comfort at his execution. No one. They all go into hiding to avoid prosecution.
Now in our reading [John 20: 19-31], the Resurrected Christ, obviously no longer bound by the limitations of physical existence, appears out of thin air to an assembly of apostles behind locked doors.. What will he do? Well, if I were he, I would fire the lot, beginning with Peter, the CEO who denied Jesus three times. Instead, the Christ begins the conversation with "Peace!" He offers radical reconciliation, unconditional forgiveness. How amazing is that! And, he bestows Holy Spirit so that they can accomplish their work. The very first element of that is when he here passes on to his Church authority to continue his earthly ministry of pronouncing forgiveness of sins to penitent people. Have you ever known, or ever been, someone who was stuck in the past and overcome with guilt? Jesus knows that reconciliation with God and others is the first step in getting unstuck and moving forward in life. Confession is the beginning of the healing.
Then Jesus commissions and empowers them, "As the Father sent me, I am sending you." We receive that same apostolic commission when we enter the Church family through Holy Baptism and then are commissioned, receiving adult "marching orders" for service through the sacrament of Confirmation. This might be analogized as your "lay ordination" to the work God has in mind for you. Then you are empowered through proclamation of the Word and administration of the seven Sacraments. And you are strengthened by prayer, study, and service.
Our second vignette is a spoof. The Johannine community which produced the Gospel of John, is Catholic, agreeing with Mark, Matthew, and Luke that Jesus experienced physical resurrection. The community bearing Thomas's name did not believe in physical resurrection, only spiritual. Here the Johannine community, as it always does, portrays Thomas as a fool. Here Thomas, facing the Risen Christ, refuses to admit he is there until Thomas can actually touch the glorified corpse and only then acquiesces to the Johannine understanding. Then the Christ accepts Thomas;s obeisance and honours those who have not seen him but still believe. That would include us who step out in faith and, like those first apostles, experience reconciliation, commission, and empowerment, in order to be Christ to the world.
Now in our reading [John 20: 19-31], the Resurrected Christ, obviously no longer bound by the limitations of physical existence, appears out of thin air to an assembly of apostles behind locked doors.. What will he do? Well, if I were he, I would fire the lot, beginning with Peter, the CEO who denied Jesus three times. Instead, the Christ begins the conversation with "Peace!" He offers radical reconciliation, unconditional forgiveness. How amazing is that! And, he bestows Holy Spirit so that they can accomplish their work. The very first element of that is when he here passes on to his Church authority to continue his earthly ministry of pronouncing forgiveness of sins to penitent people. Have you ever known, or ever been, someone who was stuck in the past and overcome with guilt? Jesus knows that reconciliation with God and others is the first step in getting unstuck and moving forward in life. Confession is the beginning of the healing.
Then Jesus commissions and empowers them, "As the Father sent me, I am sending you." We receive that same apostolic commission when we enter the Church family through Holy Baptism and then are commissioned, receiving adult "marching orders" for service through the sacrament of Confirmation. This might be analogized as your "lay ordination" to the work God has in mind for you. Then you are empowered through proclamation of the Word and administration of the seven Sacraments. And you are strengthened by prayer, study, and service.
Our second vignette is a spoof. The Johannine community which produced the Gospel of John, is Catholic, agreeing with Mark, Matthew, and Luke that Jesus experienced physical resurrection. The community bearing Thomas's name did not believe in physical resurrection, only spiritual. Here the Johannine community, as it always does, portrays Thomas as a fool. Here Thomas, facing the Risen Christ, refuses to admit he is there until Thomas can actually touch the glorified corpse and only then acquiesces to the Johannine understanding. Then the Christ accepts Thomas;s obeisance and honours those who have not seen him but still believe. That would include us who step out in faith and, like those first apostles, experience reconciliation, commission, and empowerment, in order to be Christ to the world.
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Easter Sunday: Resurrection for a Reason
What would it have been like to be there, among the chosen few, that Easter morning? Exciting and inspiring, confusing and scary, or all of the above? The details are at best fuzzy: When we examine the four gospels, none of the stories about the resurrection appearances agree with any other stories, and those traditions seem to have all been late additions to the manuscripts. They don't agree as to who, when, where, why or how. But there is a common thread, a bottom line -- that Jesus overcame death, so that death no more has dominion over us. We have "passed over" from death to life, and Jesus continues to guide his Church, albeit now by the Holy Spirit..
Do we get that? Maybe not. Indeed, in our gospel reading today [John chapter 20], two key future apostles didn't get it. Mary Magdalene pines that someone has stolen Jesus' body and she can't find it. And Peter, racing John to the tomb, sees the funereal wrappings and is, as usual, clueless. Even the Prince of the Apostles doesn't get it! Soon those two and others will fearlessly go out to share the Good News of a radically different kind of life in God through Christ -- eternal life beginning in the here and now and going on forever, a life lived for the sake of others!
Being plugged into eternal life means many things, but especially that we can trust God with what follows this life, that we don't need to worry or obsess about afterlife, we don't need to waste time speculating about afterlife. For us,the question should be, not whether there is life after death, but whether there is life before death.
Experts tell us that it would be economically, physically and strategically possible to create a world in which every human being is housed, fed, educated, and given good health care. We have the resources and capabilites but we do not have the heart or the will to make it happen. Moreover, it would require the renunciation of economic tenets that send almost all new economic wealth to a tiny but growing cadre of elites, and a world economic order in which we and a few other Western nations absorb the lion's share of the world's goods at the expense of everyone else. The kind of world in which God's work is done on earth as in heaven, the world Jesus called the Kingdom of God, is possible, for with God nothing is impossible. We are called to be God's partners in the healing and renewal of creation.
Ask yourself, how have I experienced resurrection and for what have I been resurrected? We all have experienced our Good Fridays of disappointment and fear, obsession, addiction, and failure. God has been present to bring us up from those lows. God has saved us for new life in his grand project. We might ask: what was I raised for? What is my special calling? Am I presently a part of God's solution or part of God's problem? Am I enabling or hindering God's dream for a new world?
Jesus was raised for a reason, and so are you and I. Happy Easter!
Do we get that? Maybe not. Indeed, in our gospel reading today [John chapter 20], two key future apostles didn't get it. Mary Magdalene pines that someone has stolen Jesus' body and she can't find it. And Peter, racing John to the tomb, sees the funereal wrappings and is, as usual, clueless. Even the Prince of the Apostles doesn't get it! Soon those two and others will fearlessly go out to share the Good News of a radically different kind of life in God through Christ -- eternal life beginning in the here and now and going on forever, a life lived for the sake of others!
Being plugged into eternal life means many things, but especially that we can trust God with what follows this life, that we don't need to worry or obsess about afterlife, we don't need to waste time speculating about afterlife. For us,the question should be, not whether there is life after death, but whether there is life before death.
Experts tell us that it would be economically, physically and strategically possible to create a world in which every human being is housed, fed, educated, and given good health care. We have the resources and capabilites but we do not have the heart or the will to make it happen. Moreover, it would require the renunciation of economic tenets that send almost all new economic wealth to a tiny but growing cadre of elites, and a world economic order in which we and a few other Western nations absorb the lion's share of the world's goods at the expense of everyone else. The kind of world in which God's work is done on earth as in heaven, the world Jesus called the Kingdom of God, is possible, for with God nothing is impossible. We are called to be God's partners in the healing and renewal of creation.
Ask yourself, how have I experienced resurrection and for what have I been resurrected? We all have experienced our Good Fridays of disappointment and fear, obsession, addiction, and failure. God has been present to bring us up from those lows. God has saved us for new life in his grand project. We might ask: what was I raised for? What is my special calling? Am I presently a part of God's solution or part of God's problem? Am I enabling or hindering God's dream for a new world?
Jesus was raised for a reason, and so are you and I. Happy Easter!
Friday, April 14, 2017
Good Friday: Our Story
Today Jesus encounters the worst that the world can do to a human. He has confronted the forces of the Dark Side. And he has died because of human sin, manifested in the domination systems of his own time. As the renowned Episcopal priest and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor has written, "Jesus was not brought down by atheism and anarchy. He was brought down by law and order allied with religion which is always a deadly mix." It is important to remember that we all participate in human sin and, so, as the old hymn states, "'Twas I who denied him. I crucified him!"
We see the events of this day through the lenses of the several evangelists, each with his different traditions about Good Friday, and today we read the late reflective Johannine gospel, recognizing that John is largely ahistorical and anti-Semitic, the product of a latter Christian community angry with mainstream Jews and eager to cosy with the Empire. Thus, in Matthew's early gospel we encounter a Pilate who is depicted as the monster he was, and Judas as a pathetic, repentant figure. By John's gospel, Pilate has become a vacillating, almost pious character, and Judas is an unrepentant embezzler and traitor, a quintessential dark villain. Indeed some scholars question his very existence; his name conveniently means "the Jew." According to John's text, after all disciples had already abandoned Jesus, someone records a "Jewish trial," the details of which don't stand up to scrutiny. But that's another discussion.
Because the Son of God experienced pain, our own pain is blessed and redeemed. Because he experienced loss, we can find his presence in the midst of our own loss. And, in communion wit him, we can offer our suffering up to God. Christ will live again, because God will not permit evil to prevail and therefore we, with Jesus, receive the new life of Easter.
But for today, we subject ourselves again to a terrifying story and we enter it as both witnesses and participants. For this is not just a tale from two thousand long years ago. In ways we cannot fully understand this side of the veil, it is the power of God for eternity, redemptive death. On the day we open our hearts to be broken, we can recklessly dare to hope in the face of Darkness. Jesus' story becomes our own.
And, so, our suffering is not removed. (God never promised us a rose garden.) No, our suffering is redeemed and our lives are transformed as we experience new life in Christ. Christ will live, and so shall we. Thank God, this Good Friday was not the end of story. For us Good Fridays are never the end of the story.
We see the events of this day through the lenses of the several evangelists, each with his different traditions about Good Friday, and today we read the late reflective Johannine gospel, recognizing that John is largely ahistorical and anti-Semitic, the product of a latter Christian community angry with mainstream Jews and eager to cosy with the Empire. Thus, in Matthew's early gospel we encounter a Pilate who is depicted as the monster he was, and Judas as a pathetic, repentant figure. By John's gospel, Pilate has become a vacillating, almost pious character, and Judas is an unrepentant embezzler and traitor, a quintessential dark villain. Indeed some scholars question his very existence; his name conveniently means "the Jew." According to John's text, after all disciples had already abandoned Jesus, someone records a "Jewish trial," the details of which don't stand up to scrutiny. But that's another discussion.
Because the Son of God experienced pain, our own pain is blessed and redeemed. Because he experienced loss, we can find his presence in the midst of our own loss. And, in communion wit him, we can offer our suffering up to God. Christ will live again, because God will not permit evil to prevail and therefore we, with Jesus, receive the new life of Easter.
But for today, we subject ourselves again to a terrifying story and we enter it as both witnesses and participants. For this is not just a tale from two thousand long years ago. In ways we cannot fully understand this side of the veil, it is the power of God for eternity, redemptive death. On the day we open our hearts to be broken, we can recklessly dare to hope in the face of Darkness. Jesus' story becomes our own.
And, so, our suffering is not removed. (God never promised us a rose garden.) No, our suffering is redeemed and our lives are transformed as we experience new life in Christ. Christ will live, and so shall we. Thank God, this Good Friday was not the end of story. For us Good Fridays are never the end of the story.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Maundy Thursday: The Last Night
Today, at the Mass of the Lord's Supper, we revisit the night before Jesus died, when he celebrated a final meal with his colleagues According to the Synoptics, it was a Passover meal; the Johannine tradition makes it a friendship meal. Either way, though details vary, the core common witness in the early gospels is that Jesus at table took bread, broke it, declared it his Body, and gave it, then took a cup filled with wine, declared it his Blood and gave it. Then he authorized, we might say ordained, those with him to continue the ritual. From the apostolic age, the authority to say Mass passed to the first bishops and on to bishops and priests right up until today. The ordained minister "stands in" for the Saviour as host at the holy table.
By the time John's very late gospel was in circulation -- early second century -- Mass was old-hat, so the narrative of institution is left out of John. What we have instead is a long sermon by Jesus about His Real Presence in the Eucharist (chapter 6) and then the footwashing narrative (chapter 13). That is the gospel portion we read tonight. The essence of its message is that we, like Jesus, are called to be servants of others in acts of selfless generosity and kindness. Not being biblical literalists, we don't necessarily effect a ceremony of footwashing but rather re-commit to whatever servant ministry will look like in our culture today.
The most important point is that the Eucharist, as sacrament, is the ordinary way in which we as followers of Jesus are fuelled, our batteries charged so that we can go forth into our day and time, being servants of others, friends of the marginalized and persecuted. Thus the Christ who was incarnated in Jesus takes flesh and blood in us who now minister in his stead, strengthened by the Body and Blood of the Lord.
By the time John's very late gospel was in circulation -- early second century -- Mass was old-hat, so the narrative of institution is left out of John. What we have instead is a long sermon by Jesus about His Real Presence in the Eucharist (chapter 6) and then the footwashing narrative (chapter 13). That is the gospel portion we read tonight. The essence of its message is that we, like Jesus, are called to be servants of others in acts of selfless generosity and kindness. Not being biblical literalists, we don't necessarily effect a ceremony of footwashing but rather re-commit to whatever servant ministry will look like in our culture today.
The most important point is that the Eucharist, as sacrament, is the ordinary way in which we as followers of Jesus are fuelled, our batteries charged so that we can go forth into our day and time, being servants of others, friends of the marginalized and persecuted. Thus the Christ who was incarnated in Jesus takes flesh and blood in us who now minister in his stead, strengthened by the Body and Blood of the Lord.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Palm Sunday with Dietrich and Martin
Today the purple of Lenten penitence gives way to the red of martyrdom in Holy Week, as we walk the final days of Jesus' journey to the Cross and Resurrection. We begin with the story of triumphal entry, continuing with the final days ending in arrest and execution by Rome for treason. On Good Friday we hear John's very late and stylized gospel. On Palm Sundays, we rotate amongst the three synoptic gospels, this year's being Matthew's text.
As we listen to Holy Week readings, it is important to remember that the four gospels are recruiting manuals, not history books, and that their tales must be read in context, for they reflect not only the good things in the communities that spawned them -- love, compassion, sacrifice and hope -- but also bitterness, disappointment and anger among those in the early Jesus Movement.. We must discern the Scriptures, looking to appropriate the right messages for our lives as Christians today.
The biblical stories must be relevant to us today if they are to have true meaning for us. Let me set forth two Saints in the Episcopal Calendar, neither of whom was Anglican, using them as examples, relating them to today's readings. First. Saint Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who chose to leave personal safety in New York to return to his native Germany to fight the Nazi menace. There he fought to raise the consciousness of pastors not to go along to get along with manifest evil. Jesus, too, could have remained in safety, remaining in the Galilee, but instead heeded his Father's call to Jerusalem to confront the powers there and to be crushed by them. Sometimes God sends us in a direction we don't want to go. That is part of the risk of taking up one's cross: your life is not your own.
The other figure is Saint Martin Luther King. King could have gained a lot of wealth and fame as a premier preacher, perhaps a televangelist. He could have touted inexpensive Christianity. Instead, after a vision, he chose to fight for justice and an end to racial segregation. He was in Memphis, Tennessee fighting for underpaid sanitation workers when he caught the fatal bullet. In an interview not long ago, a biographer of King was asked why King didn't start a vanguard party to overthrow the government. The scholar answered "the influence of Jesus." King chose the career God had in mind over being simply another big player in the big business of protestant religion. We too are called to put the interests of the Gospel ahead of our own, following Jesus' peaceful model, as we work for the Kingdom in our world. We must be ready to risk all for Christ, as he gave his all for us.
As we listen to Holy Week readings, it is important to remember that the four gospels are recruiting manuals, not history books, and that their tales must be read in context, for they reflect not only the good things in the communities that spawned them -- love, compassion, sacrifice and hope -- but also bitterness, disappointment and anger among those in the early Jesus Movement.. We must discern the Scriptures, looking to appropriate the right messages for our lives as Christians today.
The biblical stories must be relevant to us today if they are to have true meaning for us. Let me set forth two Saints in the Episcopal Calendar, neither of whom was Anglican, using them as examples, relating them to today's readings. First. Saint Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who chose to leave personal safety in New York to return to his native Germany to fight the Nazi menace. There he fought to raise the consciousness of pastors not to go along to get along with manifest evil. Jesus, too, could have remained in safety, remaining in the Galilee, but instead heeded his Father's call to Jerusalem to confront the powers there and to be crushed by them. Sometimes God sends us in a direction we don't want to go. That is part of the risk of taking up one's cross: your life is not your own.
The other figure is Saint Martin Luther King. King could have gained a lot of wealth and fame as a premier preacher, perhaps a televangelist. He could have touted inexpensive Christianity. Instead, after a vision, he chose to fight for justice and an end to racial segregation. He was in Memphis, Tennessee fighting for underpaid sanitation workers when he caught the fatal bullet. In an interview not long ago, a biographer of King was asked why King didn't start a vanguard party to overthrow the government. The scholar answered "the influence of Jesus." King chose the career God had in mind over being simply another big player in the big business of protestant religion. We too are called to put the interests of the Gospel ahead of our own, following Jesus' peaceful model, as we work for the Kingdom in our world. We must be ready to risk all for Christ, as he gave his all for us.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Lent V: Death
Early yesterday, I stopped into a Quick Trip for coffee and breakfast to go, enroute a Commission on Ministry meeting in Oklahoma City. A gent in a farm cap spied my blacks, sidled up to me quietly, and said, "Sir, why is there so much evil in the world?" That is not a theological question I was keen to dig into at 7 a.m. before coffee. But I couldn't ignore the question, so I talked about a free universe in which bad things can happen and noted that our task is to fight evil. He said he does that every day, and with that our encounter ended.
Often when we think of evil, we think of death. And while it is true that death can be seemingly unjust and untimely, even tragic, depending on the timing and circumstances, and while it can be accompanied by horrible pain and suffering, death is natural, part of the endless cycle of summer, autumn, winter and spring -- of birth, life, death and rebirth. Most of us would agree with the great philosopher Woody Allen who said, "I don't mind dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens." But, sorry, we don't have the option of absence.
Often we hear the old saw about the inevitably of death and taxes, but in our modern day we know that if one has the best tax lawyers and accountants money can buy, it is possible to avoid paying taxes at all. Death, however, is the one inevitable eventuation. Two of today's pericopes [Ezekiel 37: 1-14, John 11: 1-45], the story of the dry bones and the story of the raising of Lazarus, symbolize for us the themes of death and rebirth.
As Catholic Christians, we acknowledge the biblical and theological reality that eternal life, which is the free gift of God, begins when we surrender our hearts and lives to God in Christ. Eternal life is a present gift that goes on giving forever. New and unending life begins, not when we check out of this world, but when we check in.
That Catholic vision also owns that we are a Resurrection People. The Church is the "womb of salvation," in which we are born and fed with Word and Sacrament to live into God's eternal life. We journey together to God. Contrast that with the popular protestant notion that each of us is a lone ranger who must possess certain opinions in order for God to love us and to save us at the end of life by rapturing us onto another planet; whereas, if we don't have those opinions, we are sentenced to torture forever. For us the question must not be, 'is there life after death?', but 'is there life before death?' Years ago a rabbi friend was asked what Reform Jews believe about the afterlife and he said there is too much work to be done to heal the world (i.e. build the Kingdom of God) for us to waste time obsessing about afterlife, because if we live right, we can trust God with whatever comes after. Now that's a God we can believe in.
In our Ezekiel passage, the boneyard comes to life when God's breath blows over the bones and Israel comes back to life. As the New Israel, we too have been in exile to sin in a terrain of false religion. When God breathes over us, we revive to be his people again. And we resist the power of death even in this life: the spiritual death that comes from greed, self-promotion, addiction -- all the things that sap life out of us. When God breathes over us, we revive to be his reborn People here and now in this life, trusting God with the encore.
Often when we think of evil, we think of death. And while it is true that death can be seemingly unjust and untimely, even tragic, depending on the timing and circumstances, and while it can be accompanied by horrible pain and suffering, death is natural, part of the endless cycle of summer, autumn, winter and spring -- of birth, life, death and rebirth. Most of us would agree with the great philosopher Woody Allen who said, "I don't mind dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens." But, sorry, we don't have the option of absence.
Often we hear the old saw about the inevitably of death and taxes, but in our modern day we know that if one has the best tax lawyers and accountants money can buy, it is possible to avoid paying taxes at all. Death, however, is the one inevitable eventuation. Two of today's pericopes [Ezekiel 37: 1-14, John 11: 1-45], the story of the dry bones and the story of the raising of Lazarus, symbolize for us the themes of death and rebirth.
As Catholic Christians, we acknowledge the biblical and theological reality that eternal life, which is the free gift of God, begins when we surrender our hearts and lives to God in Christ. Eternal life is a present gift that goes on giving forever. New and unending life begins, not when we check out of this world, but when we check in.
That Catholic vision also owns that we are a Resurrection People. The Church is the "womb of salvation," in which we are born and fed with Word and Sacrament to live into God's eternal life. We journey together to God. Contrast that with the popular protestant notion that each of us is a lone ranger who must possess certain opinions in order for God to love us and to save us at the end of life by rapturing us onto another planet; whereas, if we don't have those opinions, we are sentenced to torture forever. For us the question must not be, 'is there life after death?', but 'is there life before death?' Years ago a rabbi friend was asked what Reform Jews believe about the afterlife and he said there is too much work to be done to heal the world (i.e. build the Kingdom of God) for us to waste time obsessing about afterlife, because if we live right, we can trust God with whatever comes after. Now that's a God we can believe in.
In our Ezekiel passage, the boneyard comes to life when God's breath blows over the bones and Israel comes back to life. As the New Israel, we too have been in exile to sin in a terrain of false religion. When God breathes over us, we revive to be his people again. And we resist the power of death even in this life: the spiritual death that comes from greed, self-promotion, addiction -- all the things that sap life out of us. When God breathes over us, we revive to be his reborn People here and now in this life, trusting God with the encore.
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