On second thought, I think I’ll follow that other guy...

Luke 9:51-62

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James & John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven & consume them?" But he turned & rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, & birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go & bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go & proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow & looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

“His face was set to go to Jerusalem.”

That seems to be the problem, doesn’t it?

Not for the Samaritans.

For us.

Then and now, we have a problem with Jesus “because his face was set toward Jerusalem.”

I want to follow, but I want to follow on my terms.

I don’t think we’ll ever know what to do with that “let the dead bury their dead” part of the story - but maybe one thing one might do would be to point out that it is there, and it does seem to get in the way of enjoying this week’s text, and maybe that’s good. 

Or at least maybe that helps get to the heart of the matter. 

I just heard an interesting story from my . . . (She’s not a barber, and I don’t have enough hair to call her a stylist.) . . . hair cutter person.

I don’t know how we got there. But she talked about some priest she knew, or met, or heard speak, who served a community in Africa. Some people came to him, asking that he care for someone who was dying.

Though he was not in the mood to do so, he walked the ten miles to their village, said last rites and all, and the man died. He turned to someone there and asked, “Was this your father?”

The answer “No.” 

“Whose father was he?” 

Nobody knew. They had found him, and did not believe he should die alone. They then took up a collection in this impoverished community to be able to bury him properly.

Let the living care for those they don’t even know.

"I will follow you wherever you go."

“His face was set to go to Jerusalem.”

We’re off to the cross. May God grant us the grace to carry that burden.

Dead Man Talking

Luke 7:11-17                                                                                                       Soon afterwards [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.  Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.  

Not preaching on this text on Sunday - but I will have to work with it a bit this week. 

I like this line, which I probably stole from somebody - one of you? I used it to open a sermon on this text a few years ago. . . 

"Tell me, do you think that Jesus raised this young man from the dead so that he could go on with the same old life?"

A good question. 
I wonder at what the dead man talked about. . . certainly not being dead. Certainly not about how being dead wasn't that bad. . . 
I do wonder though.

I closed the sermon with another good question. . . 

"So, tell me what you think.  Did Christ raise you from the dead so that you could live the same old life?  No, that really isn't possible, is it?"

to that we might say “amen”

It's Way Over Your Head

John 16:12-15

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

I like Trinity Sunday. 

Maybe this is the most fitting time to read from the Gospel of John. A bit murky. Sorta hard to understand. 

Kinda like God.

Willimon - in some of his latest podcasts - has some lectures he must have given to some Methodist colleagues. They are titled: God Talk Preaching.

They include a number of stories he uses over and over. Good stories, worth hearing a number of times. He likes to refer to Robert Jenson, who says that the way you can tell that you are in the presence of a living God is that this God surprises. A dead god is totally predictable. Nice.

At a text study group the other day. A good bit of the conversation was looking at how awesome creation is. 

True, God is pretty awesome. Space is pretty big. We’re quite small. YET, that great God does love us, does condescend to reach out to us. 

I thought of the Monty Python bit, where the monk is praying: “O God, you are so huge. So incredibly large. We’re all right impressed down here.”

Talk of the magnitude of creation can be pretty interesting. (Ever see the videos “The Blue Planet”? AWESOME!) Yet, there will not be a lot of Gospel there. 

I thought of this quote while sitting at this text study:

God is in all things, in the stone, in the fire, in the water, and in the rope, but he wants us to seek him only in the Word, which is clear and plain. Luther Sermon on the Sacraments, paraphrased in Wingren, Luther on Vocation p 122

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...”

We might wonder at  how the Spirit might guide you into all the truth. Might this guiding be a bit like believing itself? Willimon makes the point that he has preached on Jesus’ call “follow me.” The fitting questions are: “what are you about?” “Why should I follow you?” But those questions aren’t asked. Faith seems to be lived in a backwards order. One learns who Jesus is by following. Perhaps the teaching the Holy Spirit will do will be lived out in a backwards order. You will learn about this one with whom you live, by living with this one in the community the Holy Spirit calls together.

I think of a quote the Norse Horse will often share with us; suggesting that for Luther:

the only dis-embodied spirit is the devil.

Indeed.

May our preaching of the Holy Trinity be embodied by the one in whom we live and move and have our being.

Quite "Gifted"

John 14:8-27

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Pentecost. 

John.

Talk about a double whammy. 

In the conversation on Sermon Brainwave, something was said that caused me to think a bit differently about the gift of the Spirit. 

So often, I find myself doing one of two things with Holy Spirit “gift” talk. 

One: I try (in one of the many odd conversations in my head) to argue with the charismatics who see the gift of the Holy Spirit as an ability to speak in tongues - or some other such manifestation of a spiritual gift. 

Two: I try to construe the gifts of the Spirit that we are given in more everyday sorts of ways. The gift of faith, the gift of love borne to the lives of those in need, the gift of a community of forgiveness and hope. . .

The sermon brainwave comments (which, upon listening again I don’t see how or why) made me begin to look at the gift of the Spirit in a different light. 

They made me consider how this gift God has given - is not so much for me to have the gift - but for God to love the world.

It made me think of a sermon by Willimon, titled:  “One Day God Will Finally Get What God Wants.” Willimon, preaching on Revelation 5 says that 

“Heaven is that time - that place - that set of arrangements - where God gets what God wants.”

Might that offer a more “fruitful” path for Holy Spirit talk than the odd conversations in my head?

The Spirit is given.

Where do you go from here?

And who will accompany you, and how will that accompaniment be manifested?

Help!

Or, to be more Markan: “I believe; help my unbelief!”

One is the Loneliest Number

John 17:20-26

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Mary Hinkle Shore connects this prayer with the prayer at Gethsemane (in the synoptics) when  the disciples fell asleep. Reading this prayer, I find it hard to criticize the disciples so much.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It is interesting, that in some of the reading I’ve done on this text, folks have not really addressed the “oneness” thing. 

How do you not? 

What else could this text be about?

Granted, I don’t understand it. 

But that sure seems to be what it is about.

One who seems not to speak about oneness is Mary Hinkle Shore in Workingpreacher writes: 

How do you feel when someone prays out loud for you? When I asked a few friends this question, these words surfaced: comforted, vulnerable, grateful, honored, humbled, awkward but appreciative, like someone really cares. Maybe one of the reasons it is so easy to turn John 17 into a "to do" list for the church is that such a list is easier to manage than such an experience as intimate as being the subject of another's prayer. . .

Not bad, eh? 

That made me think about the people who won’t let the congregation pray for them, won’t let their weaknesses (or those of family members) be mentioned in the announcements. . . 

Still, I have his nagging feeling that the text is about oneness. 

What is it about the Gospel of John that sends one off, waxing poetic?

That is, people other than me. . . 

Some excerpts from some good comments by William Loader

It was not that Jesus came offering new information. Rather his life is to be seen as an offer of relationship, a hand stretched out from God. 17:23 ensures we do not miss the essential ingredient: the relationship is not any kind of relationship; it is one characterised by love.

. . . Unity is not an extra; it is the essence of what it means to be Christian. The key words like reconciliation, atonement, assume its centrality. Did John imagine uniformity? It is striking that the gospel depicts considerable diversity in responses to Jesus. 

. . . Oneness in sharing God’s life as love is a broad and inclusive platform upon which many can stand and which can tolerate great diversity. There is no place for hate, prejudice, writing people off. . .  John’s style of theology gives support to a generous theology.

Also not bad. But, I’m not sure what to do with it. 

In this prayer, Jesus asks the impossible. Could there be some insight in this very fact? Some insight for preaching? A sort “aim high” thing? I don’t mean that sardonically. I mean to ask whether there is something to the fact that Jesus asks for this which Jesus might well have known would not - could not - be realized this side of glory?

For all my whining about the Gospel of John, I suspect that there is some good stuff to be said from here. . . 

any ideas for good direction?

It Passes Understanding

John 14:23-29

Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

John again?

I thought we had a new lectionary.

And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

OK I’m not even going to try to understand that one. . . 

How about the rest of this pericope. . . 

We are, of course, among those who love Jesus.

And, we are loved by the Father. 

Does this passage say that our being loved by the Father is dependent upon our keeping Jesus’ word? 

Hmmm

Of course, we want to have Jesus and the Father make their home with us. . . 

And, we need the Advocate to teach us everything and to remind us of all that Jesus has said to us. . .

Now, help me here, what did he say?

Is that the question when dealing with this text?

Again. Thought we had a new lectionary.

Given that my New Church (Never Admit Limitations Church) has been so slow in this matter, I guess we’re dealing with John 14 this time around.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.“

When engaging this lesson from John 14, I always conclude that the most fruitful question here is to wonder how it is that the world gives, and how it is that Jesus gives differently.

It is in our DNA to suspect that the difference might best be discerned by looking to the cross. 

. . . 

Speaking of peace, David Lose had some nice comments in his - now seemingly weekly - column “Dear Working Preacher”

. . . [Jesus] promises peace – not merely the cessation of disturbance but instead a confident expectation and hope about the future.

With that, I wish you peace.

What’s New?

JOHN 13:31-35

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. 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."

I’m starting a new church

NALC

Never Allow Losers Church.

This church won’t be like those others. 

We won’t have ANY of those folks who are so disagreeable.
Just uniformity here. 

We’ll find unity in the Bible. 

Yup

Now, one great advantage about starting your own church (I know you're in with me here)
-- in addition to being unburdened by that terrible difficulty, diversity --
would be that you could start your own lectionary.

No more RCL for us, no sir. 

The NALC will use the official NALC lectionary, which will have a few basic rules. 

Rule #1 - If it is from the Gospel of John - we use it once every three years.
EXCEPTION: We’ll use John for the Passion Reading on Good Friday, and the Christmas Day reading. 

That’s plenty of John. In fact more than enough.
Rule #2 - If it is read for the Passion Reading in ANY of the three years, you won't have to read it in Easter.

From there it is pretty dang easy to make a lectionary. Must be.
We’ll take the RCL, and when there’s a text from John, replace it with something else.

And, I guess, we'll keep John 3:16 when it shows up in Lent Year A, OR when it shows up 4 Lent Year C Or Holy Trinity Year B.  We’ll decide on that.
AND we’ll have complete agreement. No dissension. That will be easy.

Done.

You know, as annoying as I find John to be, the one good thing about having this text for Sunday, not much can get me to preach from Revelation. It’s something I wouldn’t do, without John’s . . . .  encouragement.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

Interesting, isn’t it, that I don’t really feel like preaching on that.
Sorta seems like what we’re supposed to be about.

I got yelled at the other day. Seems the folks who run the preschool at our building opted to upgrade the sand box in the play area. Poured concrete around it. Didn’t ask for permission.

They should have. That’s true.

They didn’t.

Hmmmmmmmmm

Yell at the pastor.

Makes sense in someone’s world.

Don’t feel like preaching love to him though.

Revelation's "Behold I make all things new" proclamation seems fitting.
Need to be made new.

Its sorta cynical to say that. 

Sorta cynical of you to agree with me.

Heckity.

Love one another.

What’s new about that?

That’s the question, isn't’ it?

I Hear Voices

John 10:22-30

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one."

Good Shepherd Sunday Does anybody really care about such designations? 

I do. 

But does anyone who is normal?

Will any people walk in to worship on Sunday morning having thought to themselves on the way; “I wonder what the preacher will say about the Good Shepherd”?

No.

Which, I guess, is fine. 

I don’t know why I started this way.

Let me say this. . . 

I like Good Shepherd Sunday. 

I think it is a chance to proclaim the abiding promise of God’s presence in our world and in our lives. 

I have found this exchange to be compelling 

"If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." 

Jesus answered, "I have told you . . . My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me."

What is compelling is that while the question of Jesus is essentially about terms and titles, a theological question; Jesus’ answer is about relationship.

His sheep hear his voice and he knows them.

A lot of the claims that we will make about Jesus are that WE know HIM. 

Yet Jesus proclaims that what matters is the he knows us. 

Interesting.

I ran across this;  by Duane Olson in a Word & World piece. “Our security is found not in what we have or who we are but in whose we are. It is located in the faithfulness of the shepherd.”

That’s pretty dang basic, but maybe that is what Good Shepherd Sunday is about. Basics.

While the Girardians can get pretty dang earnest - and they may border on a sort of gnosticism - I liked this from Preaching Peace:

Today we must ask: Is God like Jesus? This is what our text does and in so doing asks us to reconsider who we think God is and what God is like.

This was after complaining about GW Bush leading us to war. I think that the conclusion is that Jesus would vote Democrat.  (actually, it might not have concluded that)

I saw this:  

The word for 'one' is the neuter hen not the masculine heis: Jesus and his Father are not one person, as the masculine would suggest, ...Rather, Jesus and his Father are perfectly one in action, in what they do: what Jesus does the Father does and vice versa. D.A. Carson The Gospel According to John

This might visit with the Girardian rumination on what God is like.  Does God use power? Is omnipotence the primary attribute of God? Or does Jesus show forth different attributes that might be more definitive of who God is?

What was that bumper sticker?

“My Jesus thinks your Jesus isa greedy war monger” 

In many, many, contexts, I believe that there are important issues around the voices we are listening to.

I will ask people who are beating up on themselves for some perceived inadequacy: “Is God the author of that thought?” 

I think that can be a fitting way to unmask (sound Girardian?) some of the destructive voices that are out there. 

Well. This may be a start. 

May we listen to the Shepherd’s voice. 

Might we find that shepherd to be the slaughtered lamb, who loves us to the end.

Can We Talk About Something Else Now?

John 21:1-19

After [he appeared to his followers in Jerusalem,] Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 

A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me." 

Imagine how uncomfortable Peter must have been.

Maybe some of you have heard this story. 

One night I was reading to my son, and our dog, Bingo was lying there.
He reached out to pet the dog, and the dog growled.
I scolded him, (NOT THE DOG!) and said “What have you done to cause Bingo to growl like that?”
“Nothing!”
“Oh yes, you did something, Bingo never growls.”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Well, I have to say, I’m disappointed in this.”
We read for a few minutes, then he said, “Dad, let’s not tell mom that this happened.”

Makes sense. 

Peter probably would have concurred. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

There is so very much in this story.

It seems to me to really brings us up against the fact that sometimes forgiveness is a difficult thing. 

Willimon tells a great story. (As with many of his stories, one wonders if it actually happened that way.) (and, as with many things I write or say, this is how I remember it. . . ) 

One Sunday, after preaching on the forgive 70 times 70 text, a woman walked out of Church and accosted him. She said; “Are you telling me that I am supposed to forgive my ex-husband who abused me for years until I was able to leave him? Are you telling me I am supposed to forgive HIM?”

Willimon then stutters that, having only fifteen minutes, it is hard to cover every possibility, but in the end, the answer is “Yes, it seems that Jesus is saying you are to forgive him.” 

Then, Willimon says, the woman hiked herself up to her full height, looked him in the eye and said; “Thanks, just checking.”

Willimon’s point, in part, is that we should not protect people from Jesus, that where he saw a victim, Jesus saw someone with whom he is going to change the world.

Some questions. 

In what ways does this speak to the fact that love hurts? 

That to live in community is to be in need of forgiveness? (I think of Bonhoeffer in Life Together, saying that the key to Christian community is disappointment.)

In what ways does forgiveness give rise to mission?

In what ways might forgiveness be about more than relieving my own sense of guilt and shame?

Does the encounter with the risen Jesus go hand in hand with a sending to share and tell, to live and love?

Idle Tales, Errant Searching

Luke 24:1–12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

This telling of the Easter story is quite stark.

Take a look. No exclamation points.

Not one!

Save those for the liturgy and the hymns, I guess. 

I note two rich things in this telling of the story. . . 

"These words seemed to them an idle tale."

Lest you forget, the idea of resurrection is a bit out of the ordinary. A tad unexpected. . . 

And then this: "Why do you look for the living among the dead?"

Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Seeking the Gospel in the Law.

Seeking peace in violence. 

Seeking justice in vengeance.

Why do you look for the living among the dead?
I hadn't thought of any other possibility!
Why indeed!

Palm Sunday - A Little Bit of Glory - Before. . .

With the Palm Sunday observance being sort of crowded out by "Passion Sunday" I wonder.

It seems that the liturgical folks betray a great lack of confidence. A lack of confidence in the Church, and in preachers.
It is as if they asked; "How can we steer these theologians of glory to attend to the cross?"
And their answer was "PASSION SUNDAY"
"No more fun!"
"No Palms! Heck, only John has Palms anyway"

I am having new member Sunday this Palm Sunday Passion Sunday.
I'm thinking of talking about how this could be experienced as a huge "bait and switch."
Join when we're having parades and Palms, then the moving service on Thursday evening, only to be shocked by Friday's tragic turn.

There was a fascinating story on NPR - I guess yesterday.
Brian McLaren has thrown some folks off their game by suggesting that the satisfaction theory of the atonement might not be the way to see the work of the cross.
The response is . . . how do I say this? ? ?
Strong. . .
At least, as communicated in the NPR story I read. . .
The book is
A New Kind of Christianity by Brian D. McLaren

Recently, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., convened a school-wide event to talk about a new book by a popular evangelical Christian. It wasn't pretty.
"It is a new kind of Christianity that is no Christianity at all," says Southern Baptist theologian Jim Hamilton.
Evangelical author Bruce Ware adds, "I've thought of Brian McLaren for years as a wolf in sheep's clothing, but I think in this book, he took the sheep's clothing off."

It is interesting to see such reaction.
These folks are sometimes a bit a-historical.
There is wisdom in the fact that the Church has never determined that a single understanding of the atonement be set as doctrine for every time and every place
The article says that McLaren is

rethinking Jesus' mission on Earth, and even the purpose of the crucifixion.
"The view of the cross that I was given growing up, in a sense, has a God who needs blood in order to be appeased," McLaren says. "If this God doesn't see blood, God can't forgive."
McLaren believes that version of God is a misreading of the Bible.
"God revealed in Christ crucified shows us a vision of God that identifies with the victim rather than the perpetrator, identifies with the one suffering rather than the one inflicting suffering," he says.
McLaren says modern evangelicalism underplays that Jesus — who spent most of his time with the poor, the sick and the sinners — saved his wrath primarily for hard-core religious leaders.
Others, such as Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, say McLaren's view of Jesus and the crucifixion is like a shot to the heart of Christian beliefs.
"Did Jesus go to the cross as a mere victim? If so, then we have no Gospel, we have no hope of everlasting life," Mohler says. "Did Jesus go merely as a political prisoner, executed because he had offended the regime? Well, if so, that's a very interesting chapter of human history, but I'm not going to stake my life on it, much less my hope for eternity."

Mohler.
Settle down.
No hope?
None at all?
No hope if your reasoning is not followed by all of us, if the crucifixion did not accomplish that which YOU have decided it accomplished?
We are all theologians of glory - some just more glorious than others, I guess.

The thing I like about Passion Sunday - the thing I like about reading the WHOLE PASSION READING, which we do at the close of the service - is that we are confronted by the story. We are included and incorporated into the telling, once again, and God does God's saving work there. Right in the cross and the resurrection. Not in some theory or idea or any sort of neat transaction.
The Work of Christ is - once again - made real and made present.
This ain't history follks, this is life.

May you proclaim life in the days ahead.
Life won for you in this one who suffered and died and who (yes, folks, we won't rush there too fast, we'll visit the betrayal, the denial, the sham trial, the cross, the suffering, the dieing, for this makes us to see the wonder more clearly) rose triumphantly that wonderful Easter day.

Lazarus Saturday

This is from some whacky orthodox / used-to-be-Episcopal - Priest
it was linked on workingpreacher's facebook page
Kinda nice

Lazarus Saturday
March 25, 2010 by fatherstephen
Largely ignored by much of Christendom, the Orthodox mark the day before Palm Sunday as “Lazarus Saturday” in something of a prequel to the following weekend’s Pascha. It is, indeed a little Pascha just before the greater one. And this, of course, was arranged by Christ Himself, who raised His friend Lazarus from the dead as something of a last action before entering Jerusalem and beginning His slow ascent to Golgotha through the days of Holy week.

One of the hymns of the Vigil of Lazarus Saturday says that Christ “stole him from among the dead.” I rather like the phrase. Next weekend there will be no stealing, but a blasting of the gates of hell itself. What he does for Lazarus he will do for all.

Lazarus, of course, is different from those previously raised from the dead by Christ (such as the daughter of Jairus). Lazarus had been four days dead and corruption of the body had already set in. “My Lord, he stinks!” one of his sisters explained when Christ requested to be shown to the tomb.

I sat in that tomb in September 2008. It is not particularly notable as a shrine. It is today, in the possession of a private, Muslim family. You pay to get in. Several of our pilgrims did not want to pay to go in. I could not stop myself.

Lazarus is an important character in 19th century Russian literature. Raskolnikov, in Crime and Punishment, finds the beginning of his repentance of the crime of murder, by listening to a reading of the story of Lazarus. It is, for many, and properly so, a reminder of the universal resurrection. What Christ has done for Lazarus He will do for all.

For me, he is also a sign of the universal entombment: that even before we die, we have frequently begun to inhabit our tombs. We live our life with the doors closed (and we stink). Our hearts are often places of corruption and not the habitation of the good God. Or, at best, we ask Him to visit us as He visited Lazarus. That visit brought tears to the eyes of Christ. The state of our corruption makes Him weep. It is such a contradiction to the will of God. We were not created for the tomb.

I also note that in the story of Lazarus – even in his being raised from the dead – he rises in weakness. He remains bound by his graveclothes. Someone must “unbind” him. We ourselves, having been plunged into the waters of Baptism and robed with the righteousness of Christ, too often exchange those glorious robes for graveclothes. Christ has made us alive, be we remain bound like dead men.

I sat in the tomb of Lazarus because it seemed so familiar. But there is voice that calls us all.

http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/lazarus-saturday/
A blog by a Fr. Stephen Freeman,  an Orthodox Priest who lives and serves in East Tennessee.

Missed By One Week

Here's a little bit on the 5th Sunday in Lent. . . 

(for posterity donchaknow)

I fully intended to post something each week of Lent
Heck. . .
Good intentions and all that. . .
Which is what Judas would contend he had. . .
I found this a difficult text. (of course, they ALL are) with not much help from commentators
This was good
From a sermon by Kathryn Huey, who writes at the UCC web site. . .

she begins. . . 

Remember way back at the beginning of Lent, weeks ago, when we began our Lenten journey by reflecting on the story of Abraham & Sarah, sort of a "remembering who we are" by remembering "whom we came from"? Today, we turn full attention to who Jesus is, & our teacher in today's text from the Gospel of John is Mary of Bethany, a woman, which happens so often in the Bible, especially the Gospels, where the women – the last & the least – seem to hit just the right note, to get it, while the Apparently Chosen –the Apostles & other disciples – stumble & blunder their way along, trying to figure everything out.

and this was nice from BBT

Whatever Mary thought about what she did, and whatever anyone else in the room thought about it, Jesus took it as a message from God - not the hysteric ministrations of an old maid gone sweetly mad but the carefully performed act of a prophet. Everything around Mary smacked of significance - Judas, the betrayer, challenging her act; the flask of nard - wasn't it left over from Lazarus' funeral? - and out in the yard, a freshly vacated tomb that still smelled of burial spices, waiting for a new occupant. The air was dense with death, and while there may at first have been some doubt about whose death it was, Mary's prophetic act revealed the truth.

She was anointing Jesus for his burial, and while her behavior may have seemed strange to those standing around, it was no more strange than that of the prophets who went before her - Ezekiel eating the scroll of the Lord as a sign that he carried the word of God around inside of him (Ezekiel 2), or Jeremiah smashing the clay jar to show God's judgment on Judah and Jerusalem (Jeremiah 19), or Isaiah walking around naked and barefoot as an oracle against the nations (Isaiah 20). Prophets do things like that. They act out. They act out the truth that no one else can see, and those standing around either write them off as nuts or fall silent before the disturbing news they bring from God.

Broken and Bound

LUKE 15:1-3, 11B-32

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable:
"There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe-- the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

If you are diligent, you might look at the entry by P-basement from aught 7... and the ensuing discussion. . .

The discussion of PB and PNT is rich and gets me thinking...
Surely the focus on the younger son skews our read of this parable. (Or should I say “our hearing of the this parable”?)
For me, Helmut Thielicke first turned my eyes in a new direction with the title “The Waiting Father” - (I’ve preached whole sermons on a parable simply walking through the many different titles given it - and the ways a different title might re-direct our hearing, so that God’s Word works on us afresh.)
PNT - speaking of both sons says that

“each in their own way . . . break [the Father's] heart. If this father is revealing God to us, it is a pretty startling image.”

Startling indeed. . .
PB speaks of this story revealing

“The broken-hearted God. Part of the heart-break results from the freedom he allows each son. In their bondage to sin they misuse it. And in the father's bondage to love he can't give up on either of them.”

Broken and Bound.

Perhaps there are times when we take a text and hold it in higher regard than it might deserve. . . Perhaps I should not say so, but it comes to mind to suggest that the whole nativity stuff seems a bit overdone at times. (Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it just comes to mind.) I might add, I'm not talking about Christmas shopping.
Yet this greatest - and most well known of parables seems to me to deserve to be held in high regard, and to merit our delving as deeply as we can into its riches. It is a story that bears power.
Power to open my eyes to the wonder of our broken hearted God.


I should stop writing at this point. . . but I won't

Family Values
Listening to sermon brainwave, I had the notion to title a sermon on this: “It’s the Economy Stupid” and focus on the ways people imagine God to be, and the deeply different economy by which God works in the world. . .
Mindful of the fact that to allude to Clinton in any way positively might well bring on a coronary or two. . . I won't do that.
Not only that, it is sort of overly “girardian” I suspect. . . borderline gnostic.
But an interesting tack.
I saw a title for an article in JBL. "The Indentured Labor of the Prodigal Son”
And I thought, not of the younger son, who had hired himself out to indentured servitude, but of the older son, and his sad, sad comment - “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you”
It is so striking when the older son portrays his residing in his father’s house in such a way.
Servitude. Without pay
Heart breaking indeed. . .

HAVING IT BOTH WAYS

Luke 13: 1-9
"At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them — do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did." Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

This is an intriguing text.
Judgment and grace. Both.
An under-performing fig tree in a bull market. The threat of removal.
Another year asked for and granted.

'Sir, let it alone for one more year. . . If it bears fruit next year, well and good..."

Grace.

"...but if not, you can cut it down.'"

doh!

I have learned to say that the questions we ask are quite important. If you ask bad questions, it is hard to come up with good answers.
“How is your life different since you decided to put God first in your life?”
Well. . . . . . I did? Its supposed to be different? Different than what?
It seems an interesting dance, this suggestion that those who suffered from the earthquakes in Chile or Haiti were not any different than us. And seeing their plight, you should repent.
I would not go there.
Yet, Jesus did.
Charged right off that cliff.
The Vicar of Vice had a good entry for this text three years ago.
He quoted from The Parables of Grace by Robert Capon

“The world lives, as the fig tree lives, under the rubric of forgiveness. The world, of course, thinks otherwise. In it’s blind wisdom, it thinks it lives by merit and reward.” (pg. 97)

Inspired by PayNoToll’s comments, (again- 3 years ago) I note that we live under God’s word of grace. I might well note that I am currently living in that “one more year” that the gardener had negotiated for me. Honesty will force me to further note that I’ve had that year extended nigh unto 50 times.
Yikes!
What time is it?
Time to repent, to turn to this one who does not keep score, but simply loves.
Look with his eyes to those who suffered in Galilee, in Haiti, in. . . in. . . in. . . and there see brothers and sisters, fellow forgiven ones, called to life with God and with me.
Time is short.
Very short.
Let’s reach out in love.

Cross Purposes indeed

Luke 13:31–35
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Last time with this text, I was inclined to title the blog entry “Nobody Here But Us Chickens” I still find BBT’s sermon a powerful meditation on the mother hen, who has no defense but to offer up her life. . .
There is a lot going on metaphorically here. A fox, a hen and a bunch of defenseless chicks. . .
In a comment, Pay No Toll weighed in with a look at the determination of Jesus to go to Jerusalem and the determination of the fox to stop him. The determination of Jesus to love Jerusalem, and the corresponding determination of Jerusalem to have none of it.
Quite a determined crew.

Akin to these athletes who have dedicated their lives to skating or skiing or curling.

These characters in the Gospel of Luke are on a crash course of conflicting determinations. Seems sort of Olympic in its scope.

Pay No Toll’s actual quote

Aside from the fox and the hen, what impresses me about this text is the various determinations, i.e. that Jesus is determined to go to Jerusalem, that the fox is determined to stop him, that Jesus is determined to love Jerusalem, that Jerusalem is determined to have none of it. Some collision course is unfolding, some crashing of cross purposes. It seems inevitable. Jerusalem always does this. They were not willing to be gathered in. Yet the "hen" stretches out "his" arms in love even so. He is determined to love them. They are determined to have none of it. What is the resolution of this impasse? Just how stubborn is God?

It’s tempting. . . but not THAT tempting

Luke 4:1–13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written,

'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,

'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and

'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

When addressing this text for the First Sunday in Lent, I oten think about preaching on temptation, but then, I’m tempted not to. I mean, I wonder what the heck to say on temptation and how that might serve the proclamation of the Gospel.

As I’ve said before, I find the temptations of the devil not all that tempting.

Is there some profit in connecting with how these temptations are tempting to Jesus?

Or is the preaching task on the First Sunday of Lent to encourage people to avoid temptation by turning to their favorite Bible verse?

Or, is the task to remind people where to turn for forgiveness when they’ve failed to resist?

Once again, I’m tempted to begin a series on Christian financial management or something. . .

or not

I wonder at this. . . it would be in danger of descending into homiletical meanderings to no purpose - but . . .

I wonder at suggesting that the primary temptation for us all, is not a temptation to concupiscence, but to idolatry. Of course, the primary idol is the self, or a god constructed to serve the self. . .

Ash Wednesday

Any insights for Ash Wednesday?

Matthew 6

Seems I've preached on this before too!

I'm thinking about something I saw that scolded us for not giving things up for Lent. Something to be said for that. Not necessarily the scolding. But the encouragement to consider self denial. I think of the title to Nicholas Kristof's 1/23 column about the girl who - taking note of the inequities in our world - convinced her family to sell their house and give half of the proceeds from that sale to charity. "What Could You Live Without?"

I like her line. . . "Everyone has too much of something, whether it's time, talent or treasure. Everyone does have their own half, you just have to find it."

This is culled from an entry for Lent almost 3 years ago. . .

I’ve told a few people this great story. After worship on Wednesday, I was home, and my 5 year old was curious about the cross on my forehead. He asked me about why it was there.
A few minutes later he said, “Dad, that cross makes you look smart!”
Yup.
As Dr. No Toll said in response to this insight, we are smart when we admit that we do not know.
I wonder at the metaphors we use, the images we live by.
Just saw a bumper sticker. US Flag, with big letters STANDING TALL.
What if standing tall simply puts you in the line of fire?
You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross of Christ forever.

How Do I Get There?

What to do, what to do. . .

I’ve been ruminating on this Transfiguration thing. . .

One of the problems I have, is you have to get to the mountaintop to come down from the mountain, don’t you?

And so, what of this non-mountaintop existence I seem to have.

Have I somehow sought to tame God, so that I do not have to experience the terror of the encounter?

The question begs the answer, does it not?

I liked one sermon I read, (Altitude Adjustment by Heidi Neumark pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan) where she suggested that although she usually hasn’t been all that interested in staying on the mountaintop - that she has pretty much been fine with the call to get back down off the mountain - that maybe this time she’d like to hang out on the mountaintop for a bit and listen to Jesus. . . . She has a number of good lines - one about how the link between the Transfiguration and Gethsemane (I'd add - the cross which I suspect is referenced in Moses and Elijah and Jesus speaking of his "exodus") are

“. . . unlikely twin sites of glory's face and backside.”

Glory's face and backside.

Nice.

I think about a comment I heard at Luther Lectures this year - alas - not by the lecturer who had too little to offer. But by Pay No Toll, who said something to the effect of "what is hidden in the deus absconditus is the glory of God." What then, when the glory shines forth? Oddly, it seems still hidden in suffering and the cross. . .

Finally, more from Neumark

“Unlike Peter, I have found the mountaintop of this text an uncomfortable place, perhaps because, unlike Peter, I have not been there. Each year when this story comes up, I am eager to move off the mountaintop and down to more familiar terrain. I feel more at home when they're back down with the needy crowd.

. . . This year, I'm less eager to rush down to the bottom of the hill. I'd like to linger on the mountain. I'd like to listen to the voice that interrupts Peter and brings balm: "Listen to him," we are told. Listen for dear life. Listen to words of forgiveness and mercy, promises of paradise, words from the cross. Listen without ceasing, on the edge of glory and on the brink of death.”

Well - what to do, what to do...

I may have an idea. . .

here’s a nice piece by William Loader

A Prayer for Transfiguration Sunday

Call to Prayer

Let’s go up the mountain.

Let’s go up to the place where the land meets the sky

where the earth touches the heavens,

to the place of meeting,

to the place of mists,

to the place of voices and conversations,

to the place of listening.

Prayer

O God,

We open our eyes and we see Jesus,

the months of ministry transfigured to a beam of light,

the light of the world,

your light.

May your light shine upon us.

We open our eyes and we see Moses and Elijah,

your word restoring us, showing us the way,

telling a story,

your story, his story, our story.

May your word speak to us.

We open our eyes and we see mist,

the cloud of your presence

which assures us of all we do not know

and that we do not need to fear that.

Teach us to trust.

We open our eyes and we see Peter’s constructions,

his best plans, our best plans,

our missing the point,

our missing the way.

Forgive our foolishness and sin

We open our eyes and we see Jesus,

not casting us off,

but leading us down, leading us out -

to ministry, to people.

Your love endures forever.

We open our ears and we hear your voice,

‘This is my beloved Son, listen to him!’

And we give you thanks.

Amen

prepared by William Loader 2/2001

http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/TransfigurationPrayer.htm

I'm Thinkin'

I'm thinkin' that I'd like to post some dolessharm pieces during the season of Lent. . .

I'll take the 1st Sunday - any takers for any of the others?

The Underminer

btw: anyone got any ideas for Transfiguration?

Seems like I've preached on this story before