Sermon 2nd Sunday of Easter Nancy Meehan Yao April 11, 2010 Hector Pres Church
Psalm 150 p 508
1Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament!
2Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
3Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
4Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
5Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD
John 20:19-31 p 883
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear, Jesus came and stood among them and said: “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “unless I see the mark of nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”28Thomas answered him: “ my Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “have you believed, because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that, through believing , you may have life in his name.
Thomas has gotten a bad rap. Thomas, one of the Twelve, is known almost exclusively as “Doubting Thomas.” His name has become slang for anyone who exhibits lack of faith. Don’t think the team will make it to the Final Four? You’re a Doubting Thomas. Don’t think the car will make it to the gas station at the next exit? Doubting Thomas. Don’t think your brother-in-law will ever return the hedge clippers he borrowed three years ago? Well, then maybe you’re as realist- but still you would be called a doubting Thomas.
Thomas was one of the Twelve. Thomas was fully a disciple. In Matthew 10, he is listed by name as a disciple, one of the group who is given authority to heal, and cast out unclean spirits. But we know very little else about Thomas. When Jesus was talking about Lazarus being dead, Thomas, without knowing what he was really saying, said “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Later in John, when Jesus is talking about going away, Thomas blurts out what everybody else in the group is thinking: “But Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Thomas is the one who says what everybody else is thinking, but is too afraid to say. Thomas is the kid in class who isn’t afraid to look dumb, Thomas isn’t afraid of being “uncool”- He asks the one thing we all don’t know in order to solve the problem.
And here, it is Easter evening. Except the disciples don’t know its Easter. They don’t understand what God has done. Oh, they’ve heard some idle tale from Mary, and Peter, about the stone being rolled away, and the body being missing. Mary told them about the man who called her name, who turned out to be Jesus, but they still don’t understand. They are locked in a room, together, but terribly afraid, afraid that what happened to Jesus will happen to them next. At this point, they are the doubting ones. Jesus appears to them, wounds still visible, and tells them “peace”- Shalom.
Thomas is not there. We don’t know where he is- the text doesn’t tell us. Maybe he wasn’t as afraid as the others. Maybe he was more courageous. Or maybe he was just the one who drew the short straw and had to go out and buy them something to eat, while they hid away. We don’t know. But when Thomas comes back, they tell him that Jesus has appeared to them. And Thomas says his famous line: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
Thomas says what a lot of us would say, in the same situation. “What? No way. You’re crazy. I don’t believe it- I can’t believe it”
Thomas has heard now 2 experiences of the resurrection- one from the women and Peter, early that morning, and one from the group gathered in that upper room. But are those disciples, those witnesses acting any differently? NO- they are still huddled together, locked away from the world. Thomas doesn’t ask for much more than what the other apostles had already experienced- look back at the text- “Jesus came and stood among them and said “Peace be with you. After this, he showed them his hands and his side.”
A week passes. We don’t know what they did in that first week. We do see that they are still in the same place- locked in that house—they have SEEN Jesus, but they haven’t moved much at all. They haven’t gone anywhere. Jesus said to them: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” But they are still in that same room. But here’s the interesting part, I think—the important part. This time, Thomas is with them. And this time, Jesus comes again.
Jesus comes to them, and comes to Thomas, and says the same thing: “Peace be with you”. The disciples haven’t put Thomas out—they include him in their gathering. They don’t reject him for his doubts, or for his questions. And this time, when Jesus appears, Jesus doesn’t reprimand Thomas. There are no words of shame—Jesus comes to Thomas, and meets him exactly where he’s at—“Put your finger here, and see my hands. Reach out your hand, and put it in my side. Do not doubt, but believe.” Jesus knows what Thomas needs—and does it.
This time, Thomas gets it. “My Lord, and My God” he says. Thomas gets it, and gets it all- that Jesus is both his Lord, his Master, and God. Thomas is the first theologian- he makes the first claim about just who this Jesus really is. He calls Jesus “my Lord and my God”
My Lord- a Lord who descends and condescends, who meets him right where he is. A Lord who became human, suffered, and died—a Lord who rose, and came back to give peace and the Holy Spirit to the early church. A Lord who comes to us, who claims us in baptism, before we can really know what is going on.
And then Jesus has a word for us, too—“Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.”
The Gospel of John was written to the early church, after it had been put out of the synagogue. The earliest Christians were first, Jews, and when they tried to tell their fellow Jews- friends and family-about Jesus, they were thrown out of the synagogue, threatened, cast out of society. So this text is a comfort to them- even the ones who were not there, the ones who were not part of the original Twelve, are blessed.
“Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.”
And this is God’s word for us, today.
Blessed are you when you believe, even though you have not seen. Blessed are you who doubt, because I will come to you, Jesus says. Blessed are you, church, when you include people who struggle with their faith, when you do not put out the ones who say out loud the questions that we all are thinking. Blessed are you, whose faith is flagging and weary, you who have seen things that take away faith, you who have questions, you who want to know “why?” Blessed are you when you are locked in a room made of fear and doubt. Blessed are you who don’t know where Jesus is going, even if you know Jesus is the Way. Blessed are we, people of God, for Christ has come to us, and has given us the Holy Spirit.
And Thomas? He got a bad rap. When Portuguese missionaries traveled to India in the 1600’s, they found a group of Christians already there. They were called the Mar Thoma church. Legend has it that Thomas, Doubting Thomas, traveled through Persia, to India, preaching and witnessing as he went, and was martyred for his faith in India, near the close of the first century.
So maybe we need to rename Thomas. Maybe we need to call him- Faithful Thomas. Or Passionate Thomas. Or Truth telling Thomas. Or maybe we just need to claim him as our own, as one of us. Maybe we need to see ourselves as Thomas.
Amen.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Eastertide
In the church's understanding, Easter is not just one day. The Good News of Christ's resurrection is far too large to be contained just in one morning or even in one day. That is why we celebrate the time in the church year called Eastertide. This time extends from the first "Alleluia" on early Easter morning to the fire and excitement of Pentecost Sunday. It is a time lasting 50 days, and is considered a single joyful feast, one "great Lord's day." After 40 days of Lent, we have 50 days to intentionally and joyfully celebrate Christ's overcoming sin and death for us. Alleluia!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Easter Sunday
Isaiah 65:17-25
17For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. 19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. 20No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 21They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD— and their descendants as well. 24Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD
John 20:1-18
20Early 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. 2So 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.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.
11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and 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. 13They 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.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus 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.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and sisters and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Rejoice and be glad! Christ is Risen!- but perhaps, in your journey, that is not quite where you are.
Perhaps this is what your life feels like now: an empty shell. Oh, things may be tidied up, there may be things neatly folded and put away, but still, it is empty and dark., and much too quiet.
Or perhaps your life is like Mary’s- sadness and and grief and confusion. Mary had seen her own brother, Lazarus, die—and be restored to life by Jesus. But Jesus, apparently, couldn’t, or wouldn’t, save himself, and so she is standing in a cemetery, crying, and people are asking her “woman, why are you weeping?” Well- her beloved teacher has just died, and with him, her future. The Romans had him put to death like a condemned criminal—and there’s a good chance they will be coming for the rest of the disciples as well. Even showing up at the garden is a risk- the Romans didn’t like it when people publicly grieved a condemned criminal—gave others the wrong idea. And we’ve seen what happens when the Roman authorities don’t like you.
Or perhaps you are like Simon Peter, or the other disciple, racing about through life. They even have a foot race to the tomb, a competition, to see who gets there first. The other disciple, not Simon Peter, looks in, and sees, and believes—altho we are left wondering just what it is he believes. That Jesus is risen? That the body has been stolen? That something new has happened? We don’t know- He and Simon Peter go back home. And maybe that is what you are like—you believe, but aren’t really sure what you believe.
Wherever you are, whoever you are, this story is full of good news- if only we have eyes to see it.
The tomb is empty—and the grave clothes are neatly folded. This is a sign to us that this time, it will be different, that it is different. Lazarus was brought back to life, but he was still wrapped up in the cloths. Jesus had to say to the onlookers “Unbind him”. Here, the cloths are neatly folded, each in its own place. Because they will not be needed anymore.
The empty tomb is suddenly full—of people. There are two men there, speaking to Mary. Now, ordinarily, women did not speak to strange men—but Mary answers them. And then, suddenly, a third man is there. And when he speaks Mary’s name, she immediately knows who it is- Jesus, her beloved teacher, her Lord.
God tells us in the book of Isaiah- “No more shall the sound of weeping be heard, or the cry of distress…”
Mary stops weeping, and runs and tells the followers what she has seen and heard. She is the first preacher, and what she tells is this “I have seen the Lord”
I have seen the Lord…..
Where in your life have you seen the Lord? Where in your life has there been newness of life, growth instead of death, peace where there was no peace, a way when there was no way? Where do we, as the community of faith, the church gathered here, see the Lord?
One of the places is right here. At the Table. Jesus was famous, or infamous, for eating—and always, it seemed, eating with the wrong people—tax collectors, sinners, women, unemployed riff raff that traveled around with him. This Table may be familiar to you. Or it might be strange and new. But it is the Risen Lord who calls us here, who feeds us here. It is at this table, that we see a glimpse of God’s future. We say that this feast, this Lord’s Supper, is a foretaste of what life in the Kingdom of God will be like.
Chuck Campbell, a minister and professor, volunteered in a ministry with homeless people in Atlanta. Chuck talks about the heartbreak of having to be the guy who stood at the door, giving out lunch tickets, and of having to tell hungry men and women, who had stood for hours, waiting, that there was no more food, no more tickets, that they would not be fed there that day. He also tells this story, about what the Kingdom of God looks like.
“Shortly after Labor Day, I was standing on a platform waiting for a subway train in Atlanta. As I was waiting, a homeless man whom I had met hailed me from across the platform and came to stand with me. He reminded me of his name, Michael (like the angel), and we struck up a conversation. Michael told me about his ongoing search for a job and gave thanks for the many ways God was caring for him. When the train arrived, we boarded, sat down together, and continued our conversation.
At one point I asked Michael where he had eaten lunch on Labor Day—a difficult day for homeless people in Atlanta because many services are closed. He told me he had eaten lunch at "910" (shorthand for the Open Door Community, a Christian community that serves food to about 400 people each Labor Day). Michael's eyes widened as he described the large helpings of "real pinto beans" and the generous portions of corn bread—"this thick," he showed me, holding his thumb and forefinger about two inches apart. When he paused, I asked him how many people were at the meal. He stared at me for a moment, and then announced in a loud voice for everyone to hear: "Thousands! There were thousands! They came from the north and the south and the east and the west. There were thousands!"
Michael proclaimed the Word, [and] exposed the authority of Christ over death”
And as he spoke in that crowded subway car, the powers were put in their place, and we were set free, even if only for a moment, from the bondage of Death. God has already begun doing something new!
Like Mary, who ran and said “I have seen the Lord”. Michael the homeless man, tells of a whole new world, a new creation. It is here, even if we don’t always see it. God has done a new thing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are unbound, we are set free from death and sin. The Kingdom of God is at hand! Alleluia! Amen!
17For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. 19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. 20No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 21They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD— and their descendants as well. 24Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD
John 20:1-18
20Early 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. 2So 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.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.
11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and 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. 13They 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.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus 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.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and sisters and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Rejoice and be glad! Christ is Risen!- but perhaps, in your journey, that is not quite where you are.
Perhaps this is what your life feels like now: an empty shell. Oh, things may be tidied up, there may be things neatly folded and put away, but still, it is empty and dark., and much too quiet.
Or perhaps your life is like Mary’s- sadness and and grief and confusion. Mary had seen her own brother, Lazarus, die—and be restored to life by Jesus. But Jesus, apparently, couldn’t, or wouldn’t, save himself, and so she is standing in a cemetery, crying, and people are asking her “woman, why are you weeping?” Well- her beloved teacher has just died, and with him, her future. The Romans had him put to death like a condemned criminal—and there’s a good chance they will be coming for the rest of the disciples as well. Even showing up at the garden is a risk- the Romans didn’t like it when people publicly grieved a condemned criminal—gave others the wrong idea. And we’ve seen what happens when the Roman authorities don’t like you.
Or perhaps you are like Simon Peter, or the other disciple, racing about through life. They even have a foot race to the tomb, a competition, to see who gets there first. The other disciple, not Simon Peter, looks in, and sees, and believes—altho we are left wondering just what it is he believes. That Jesus is risen? That the body has been stolen? That something new has happened? We don’t know- He and Simon Peter go back home. And maybe that is what you are like—you believe, but aren’t really sure what you believe.
Wherever you are, whoever you are, this story is full of good news- if only we have eyes to see it.
The tomb is empty—and the grave clothes are neatly folded. This is a sign to us that this time, it will be different, that it is different. Lazarus was brought back to life, but he was still wrapped up in the cloths. Jesus had to say to the onlookers “Unbind him”. Here, the cloths are neatly folded, each in its own place. Because they will not be needed anymore.
The empty tomb is suddenly full—of people. There are two men there, speaking to Mary. Now, ordinarily, women did not speak to strange men—but Mary answers them. And then, suddenly, a third man is there. And when he speaks Mary’s name, she immediately knows who it is- Jesus, her beloved teacher, her Lord.
God tells us in the book of Isaiah- “No more shall the sound of weeping be heard, or the cry of distress…”
Mary stops weeping, and runs and tells the followers what she has seen and heard. She is the first preacher, and what she tells is this “I have seen the Lord”
I have seen the Lord…..
Where in your life have you seen the Lord? Where in your life has there been newness of life, growth instead of death, peace where there was no peace, a way when there was no way? Where do we, as the community of faith, the church gathered here, see the Lord?
One of the places is right here. At the Table. Jesus was famous, or infamous, for eating—and always, it seemed, eating with the wrong people—tax collectors, sinners, women, unemployed riff raff that traveled around with him. This Table may be familiar to you. Or it might be strange and new. But it is the Risen Lord who calls us here, who feeds us here. It is at this table, that we see a glimpse of God’s future. We say that this feast, this Lord’s Supper, is a foretaste of what life in the Kingdom of God will be like.
Chuck Campbell, a minister and professor, volunteered in a ministry with homeless people in Atlanta. Chuck talks about the heartbreak of having to be the guy who stood at the door, giving out lunch tickets, and of having to tell hungry men and women, who had stood for hours, waiting, that there was no more food, no more tickets, that they would not be fed there that day. He also tells this story, about what the Kingdom of God looks like.
“Shortly after Labor Day, I was standing on a platform waiting for a subway train in Atlanta. As I was waiting, a homeless man whom I had met hailed me from across the platform and came to stand with me. He reminded me of his name, Michael (like the angel), and we struck up a conversation. Michael told me about his ongoing search for a job and gave thanks for the many ways God was caring for him. When the train arrived, we boarded, sat down together, and continued our conversation.
At one point I asked Michael where he had eaten lunch on Labor Day—a difficult day for homeless people in Atlanta because many services are closed. He told me he had eaten lunch at "910" (shorthand for the Open Door Community, a Christian community that serves food to about 400 people each Labor Day). Michael's eyes widened as he described the large helpings of "real pinto beans" and the generous portions of corn bread—"this thick," he showed me, holding his thumb and forefinger about two inches apart. When he paused, I asked him how many people were at the meal. He stared at me for a moment, and then announced in a loud voice for everyone to hear: "Thousands! There were thousands! They came from the north and the south and the east and the west. There were thousands!"
Michael proclaimed the Word, [and] exposed the authority of Christ over death”
And as he spoke in that crowded subway car, the powers were put in their place, and we were set free, even if only for a moment, from the bondage of Death. God has already begun doing something new!
Like Mary, who ran and said “I have seen the Lord”. Michael the homeless man, tells of a whole new world, a new creation. It is here, even if we don’t always see it. God has done a new thing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are unbound, we are set free from death and sin. The Kingdom of God is at hand! Alleluia! Amen!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Holy Week
"Jesus walked that lonesome valley, He had to walk it by Himself..." and yet every year we journey through Lent and Holy Week, following the texts that tell us about Jesus' life and movement through Galilee, to Jerusalem, through the city, to the Cross, and, finally, to the newness of life at Easter. We remember his saving life, death, and resurrection, and we proclaim his Resurrection on Easter morning.
During this Holy Week may you find grace, and peace, and newness of life in and through Easter.
Anne LaMott writes that "we are Easter people in a Good Friday world". No matter what life is handing you right now, no matter what you are going through, Christ has brought newness of life and hope-- to you. And to the world. Amen.
During this Holy Week may you find grace, and peace, and newness of life in and through Easter.
Anne LaMott writes that "we are Easter people in a Good Friday world". No matter what life is handing you right now, no matter what you are going through, Christ has brought newness of life and hope-- to you. And to the world. Amen.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Palm Sunday
Today is Palm Sunday- the day the crowds greeted Jesus with cheers and shouts, with spreading their cloaks on the ground, with waving branches and smiling faces. Jesus entered the city on a donkey--meanwhile, on the other side of the city, the Roman rulers entered the city on white horses-symbols of power and authority. What kind of a leader enters a Jerusalem, the city of kings, on a work animal, on a steed owned by peasants--and a borrowed one at that?
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors- that the King of Glory may come in!
Who is this King of Glory?"
These words from Psalm 24 force us to ask- who is this king of glory? What kind of king? and where's the glory?--because shortly after the triumphal entry, things go downhill fast-- Jesus is arrested, betrayed, put to death in a public and shameful way by the Roman authorities--
and yet--in his weakness, Christ shows what kind of King he is, what kind of God He is--a God of power and might, but not the power of oppression or violence. A power that knows what it is to suffer, a power that knows sorrow and grief.
A power that overcomes all that in death. A power that brings life and light where there is only, seemingly, death and darkness.
"Who is the King of Glory?
The Lord of Hosts. He is the King of Glory"
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors- that the King of Glory may come in!
Who is this King of Glory?"
These words from Psalm 24 force us to ask- who is this king of glory? What kind of king? and where's the glory?--because shortly after the triumphal entry, things go downhill fast-- Jesus is arrested, betrayed, put to death in a public and shameful way by the Roman authorities--
and yet--in his weakness, Christ shows what kind of King he is, what kind of God He is--a God of power and might, but not the power of oppression or violence. A power that knows what it is to suffer, a power that knows sorrow and grief.
A power that overcomes all that in death. A power that brings life and light where there is only, seemingly, death and darkness.
"Who is the King of Glory?
The Lord of Hosts. He is the King of Glory"
Monday, March 8, 2010
Midway thru Lent
We are nearly halfway through our Lenten journey. Yesterday the Scriptures in Luke told us to "repent". In the original langauge, "repent" has teh meaning of "turning"- turning our ways back to God, get reoriented when we are lost, finding our way back home. How has your lenten journey helped you do this? Where has your journey taken you? Some people use a labyrinth as a spiritual discipline, either walking it, or using a small, hand sized one, and tracing their fingers through the paths. A labyrinth is not the same as a maze. In a labyrinth, we travel in and out to the center, with times for pause, reflection, and prayer. The idea is not about getting somewhere, or getting out- rather, it is an intentional journey of reflection. Where in your journey have you seen God? In reflecting back, are you aware of where God has moved in your life, unseen at the time? How are you different now, after coming this far along your Lenten journey?
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Second Sunday in Lent
Second Sunday in Lent Feb 28, 2010 Nancy Meehan Yao
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 p10
15After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4But the word of the LORD came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7Then he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” 8But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. 17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.
Luke 13:31-35 p849
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.’”
This is the word of the Lord:
Thanks be to God
Here we are, in the second week of Lent. We started with ashes on our forehead, and we have heard the story of Jesus in the desert, and his temptations. David Lose, a professor at Luther Seminary, says that Lent “reminds us of whose we are. The practices, the spiritual discipline, are not intended as good works offered by us to God; rather, they are God's gifts to us to remind us who we are, God's adopted daughters and sons, God's treasure, so priceless that God was willing to go to any length - or, more appropriately, to any depth - to tell us that we are loved, that we have value, that we have purpose.
Let us keep that in mind when we come to the story of Abram and God. God and Abram have been talking. God has called Abram out of Ur to go to a land that God will show him, and God will make a great nation out of Abram. Abram endures travel, and famine, land disputes and war, and some time has passed since God has spoken to him. Some Old Testament experts think it is about 13 years since God has last spoken to Abram, which means that Abram is by now in his mid-eighties. He has listened to the Lord, he has moved, followed the Lord’s instructions, has believed in God’s promises: but he still has no children.
And God comes to Abram, and gives Abram another promise: your reward will be very great. But Abram is not content with this. He argues with God, questions God. Even though we are told that Abram believed the Lord, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. That is, Abram is declared righteous. In the Old Testament, righteous acts are God approved acts, in which a human demonstrates that he or she intends to stand in a relationship of dependence on God.
So Abram, declared righteous, STILL continues questioning God—How am I to know that I am to possess the land you are giving me? And God then does something that seems strange to us- God gives Abram what sounds like a grocery list for a feast: and tells Abram to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtle dove and a pigeon. This is not to be a feast—Abram cuts the animals in half, and lines them up on the ground. God is making a covenant with Abram. And this is how it goes: the animals are cut in two, and lined up so that a path or walkway is made. And the people making the covenant are to walk through this grisly path to seal the deal. It is, literally, cutting a deal. We did much the same as children, when we would make a deal or a promise with a friend, and say “cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye…”. But Abram, we are told, falls into a deep sleep—it is God, in the form of a smoking fire pot and a blazing torch, that goes through the midst of this carnage.
Because what God is doing is this: By passing through the slaughtered animals, God was ritually calling upon himself the same fate the animals suffered should God be unfaithful to the covenant promise. The animals stand as both witness and warning: this is what will happen to the one who breaks this covenant.
Now, in the covenant between God and Abram, we would expect it to be Abram walking down that line of bodies. But it is GOD who takes on that burden and pledge.
Which brings us to Jesus. Jesus is outside of Jerusalem. He has been warned by the Pharisees that Herod is after him. Jesus is not swayed by that news. Jesus does not run and hide, or change his mind, or tone down his life giving message. Rather, Jesus says this: “I am casting out demons and performing cures….and I must be on my way….” Jesus knows that Herod is after him, threatening to kill him, but at the risk of his own life, Jesus will keep doing what he is doing: healing people, preaching good news, giving people life instead of death. In the same way that God takes on risk to himself, walking through the covenant, Jesus takes on risk, going deliberately to Jerusalem to continue his salvation work—even when he knows how great and how certain the risk is.
Because Jerusalem doesn’t have a good reputation with prophets. Instead of being the town so nice they named it twice, like New York New York, or the city to busy to hate, like Atlanta GA, Jerusalem is the City of peace, which is what Jerusalem means in Hebrew. But Jerusalem, we are told is “ the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to it!” And yet Jesus sets his face to go on towards that city!
But before he goes, Jesus laments.
A lament is a form of prayer or song, in which the speaker is pouring out his deepest pain—to God. A lament is a frank, honest telling of one’s life and circumstances before God—we heard Job’s honest pain earlier this fall. There are more psalms of lament than any other kind in the bible. Jesus cries out in the lament of Psalm 22 from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” A lament is always predicated on 2 things: the first is that God hears us—Abram’s questions to God can be seen as a lament—he is honestly telling God his fears and worries. This is considered part of the life of faith and the faithful: remember, Abram was reckoned as righteous.
The 2nd thing is that there is hope……in lament forms, there is almost always a turn at the end….a statement, a song of praise, an recitation of the good that God has done, how God has rescued the person from death to life. In Jesus’ lament over the city of Jerusalem, there is that same hope—hope that things will change, that the people will change, and be rescued from death to life…note that it is Jesus who laments over the people and their waywardness, their stubbornness.
Barbara Brown Taylor writes about it this way: "If you have ever loved someone you could not protect, then you understand the depth of Jesus' lament. All you can do is open your arms. You cannot make anyone walk into them. Meanwhile, this is the most vulnerable posture in the world --wings spread, breast exposed.”
Judgment and mercy are inextricably bound up in Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem. In Jesus we have both compassion and judgment. We don’t talk about judgment, much. We like to forget about that part of it. Yet in Jesus’ lament we have both.
Jesus, seeing the people’s sin and pain, takes it on himself. He walks, not through lines of killed animals, but into Jerusalem. There, at least for a day, people will say “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord…” The hopeful end of his lament is this: that the people, that we people, will recognize Jesus as the Blessed One, the One who is the Power of God, the One who opens His arms to deliver and protect us. The grace and mercy is that we, who have resisted Jesus, who have not been willing to let ourselves be gathered, will still be able, by the grace of God, to say “Blessed is He…” Today, and tomorrow, Jesus is at work, bringing life. On the third day, at the close of time, we will say “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. Amen.
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 p10
15After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4But the word of the LORD came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7Then he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” 8But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. 17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.
Luke 13:31-35 p849
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.’”
This is the word of the Lord:
Thanks be to God
Here we are, in the second week of Lent. We started with ashes on our forehead, and we have heard the story of Jesus in the desert, and his temptations. David Lose, a professor at Luther Seminary, says that Lent “reminds us of whose we are. The practices, the spiritual discipline, are not intended as good works offered by us to God; rather, they are God's gifts to us to remind us who we are, God's adopted daughters and sons, God's treasure, so priceless that God was willing to go to any length - or, more appropriately, to any depth - to tell us that we are loved, that we have value, that we have purpose.
Let us keep that in mind when we come to the story of Abram and God. God and Abram have been talking. God has called Abram out of Ur to go to a land that God will show him, and God will make a great nation out of Abram. Abram endures travel, and famine, land disputes and war, and some time has passed since God has spoken to him. Some Old Testament experts think it is about 13 years since God has last spoken to Abram, which means that Abram is by now in his mid-eighties. He has listened to the Lord, he has moved, followed the Lord’s instructions, has believed in God’s promises: but he still has no children.
And God comes to Abram, and gives Abram another promise: your reward will be very great. But Abram is not content with this. He argues with God, questions God. Even though we are told that Abram believed the Lord, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. That is, Abram is declared righteous. In the Old Testament, righteous acts are God approved acts, in which a human demonstrates that he or she intends to stand in a relationship of dependence on God.
So Abram, declared righteous, STILL continues questioning God—How am I to know that I am to possess the land you are giving me? And God then does something that seems strange to us- God gives Abram what sounds like a grocery list for a feast: and tells Abram to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtle dove and a pigeon. This is not to be a feast—Abram cuts the animals in half, and lines them up on the ground. God is making a covenant with Abram. And this is how it goes: the animals are cut in two, and lined up so that a path or walkway is made. And the people making the covenant are to walk through this grisly path to seal the deal. It is, literally, cutting a deal. We did much the same as children, when we would make a deal or a promise with a friend, and say “cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye…”. But Abram, we are told, falls into a deep sleep—it is God, in the form of a smoking fire pot and a blazing torch, that goes through the midst of this carnage.
Because what God is doing is this: By passing through the slaughtered animals, God was ritually calling upon himself the same fate the animals suffered should God be unfaithful to the covenant promise. The animals stand as both witness and warning: this is what will happen to the one who breaks this covenant.
Now, in the covenant between God and Abram, we would expect it to be Abram walking down that line of bodies. But it is GOD who takes on that burden and pledge.
Which brings us to Jesus. Jesus is outside of Jerusalem. He has been warned by the Pharisees that Herod is after him. Jesus is not swayed by that news. Jesus does not run and hide, or change his mind, or tone down his life giving message. Rather, Jesus says this: “I am casting out demons and performing cures….and I must be on my way….” Jesus knows that Herod is after him, threatening to kill him, but at the risk of his own life, Jesus will keep doing what he is doing: healing people, preaching good news, giving people life instead of death. In the same way that God takes on risk to himself, walking through the covenant, Jesus takes on risk, going deliberately to Jerusalem to continue his salvation work—even when he knows how great and how certain the risk is.
Because Jerusalem doesn’t have a good reputation with prophets. Instead of being the town so nice they named it twice, like New York New York, or the city to busy to hate, like Atlanta GA, Jerusalem is the City of peace, which is what Jerusalem means in Hebrew. But Jerusalem, we are told is “ the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to it!” And yet Jesus sets his face to go on towards that city!
But before he goes, Jesus laments.
A lament is a form of prayer or song, in which the speaker is pouring out his deepest pain—to God. A lament is a frank, honest telling of one’s life and circumstances before God—we heard Job’s honest pain earlier this fall. There are more psalms of lament than any other kind in the bible. Jesus cries out in the lament of Psalm 22 from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” A lament is always predicated on 2 things: the first is that God hears us—Abram’s questions to God can be seen as a lament—he is honestly telling God his fears and worries. This is considered part of the life of faith and the faithful: remember, Abram was reckoned as righteous.
The 2nd thing is that there is hope……in lament forms, there is almost always a turn at the end….a statement, a song of praise, an recitation of the good that God has done, how God has rescued the person from death to life. In Jesus’ lament over the city of Jerusalem, there is that same hope—hope that things will change, that the people will change, and be rescued from death to life…note that it is Jesus who laments over the people and their waywardness, their stubbornness.
Barbara Brown Taylor writes about it this way: "If you have ever loved someone you could not protect, then you understand the depth of Jesus' lament. All you can do is open your arms. You cannot make anyone walk into them. Meanwhile, this is the most vulnerable posture in the world --wings spread, breast exposed.”
Judgment and mercy are inextricably bound up in Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem. In Jesus we have both compassion and judgment. We don’t talk about judgment, much. We like to forget about that part of it. Yet in Jesus’ lament we have both.
Jesus, seeing the people’s sin and pain, takes it on himself. He walks, not through lines of killed animals, but into Jerusalem. There, at least for a day, people will say “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord…” The hopeful end of his lament is this: that the people, that we people, will recognize Jesus as the Blessed One, the One who is the Power of God, the One who opens His arms to deliver and protect us. The grace and mercy is that we, who have resisted Jesus, who have not been willing to let ourselves be gathered, will still be able, by the grace of God, to say “Blessed is He…” Today, and tomorrow, Jesus is at work, bringing life. On the third day, at the close of time, we will say “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. Amen.
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