Easter 6-A

May 29^th, 2011

The Rev. Marguerite Alley

Many of us were fortunate enough to grow up in families where we experienced first hand the meaning of “unconditional love”. Some of us did not. For some of us there were always conditions, and sometimes they were hidden conditions. When a person grows up in a family where the concept of love has strings attached to it, it damages us. Often for life. We grow up believing that we must earn love and that we often will fall far short. We grow up believing that when we don’t live up to other’s expectations, their love will be withdrawn and we will be left alone in the world. The result is that we grow to be fearful and insecure adults, often afraid to try new things, afraid to express our feelings and deathly afraid of disappointing our loved ones and being abandoned as a result.

In the collect this morning, we prayed “Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire”. In the Psalm we sang “Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, nor withheld his love from me”. A couple of weeks ago we heard the story of the encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus and then in the room where the disciples were hiding following the crucifixion. Nowhere in these  stories does Jesus admonish his friends for bailing on him or for being cowards. Nowhere does he suggest that there are any strings attached to his love and friendship. Clearly, Jesus loves his disciples with that unconditional love. Even when Thomas refuses to see Jesus for what he is and demands to see his wounds and touch them…..Jesus is nothing but patient and loving.

This started me thinking…..God created the universe for us. God created this world for us. God created us for each other. God created all that exists within our world for us.  We, in return have ignored the simplest of “rules” (if you can even call them rules). We have lusted after, wanted more and murdered each other. With each gift we have demanded more. Each time we have been let off the hook, we have gone on to even greater atrocities. Its kind of ridiculous to think that anyone or any entity could love US unconditionally. And yet…..

We have been taught that God is love. We have been taught that God loves us, just as we are, no strings attached. We have been taught that God knows no other than unconditional love. Each time we have wandered from the path, the shepherd has gently (not always subtly) guided us back. Each time we have ignored, or distorted what we know God is telling us we have been patiently reminded. Each time we have broken our promises or tried to willfully impose our own desires upon God or others, we have been quietly corrected. Never though have we ever been threatened with the loss of God’s love. Never have we been told that God has had it with us and our lack of faith. Until now. Today…..after everything, Jesus says “those who love me will be loved by my father”.

This is a pretty big departure from what we have been taught. We have consoled ourselves with the thought that really…not matter what we do, God will still love us. We have done a lot of pretty nasty stuff with that in the back of our minds. We have not loved God with our whole heart…….because well, it is good to be rich. It is good to be powerful. Society tells us that “he who dies with the most toys wins”.  We have not loved with our soul. We have hurt each other. We have alienated, ridiculed and crushed those who are different. We have not loved the Lord with our minds. We have closed them to new ideas, we have poisoned our children with fear and suspicion. And we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have let them fight their own battles, even when we knew they were horribly out numbered, were already so beaten down they didn’t stand a chance. We are, if truth be told, about the most ungrateful bunch of brats a parent could be stuck with. And yet…until now we have been taught and we have believed that God loves us..no matter what. So what has changed? Was the crucifixion some kind of test that we royally flunked? Was the fact that Jesus’ best friends (the ones who claimed to know and understand him the best) abandoned him in the final hours the last straw?

Those of you who ARE parents, understand this dilemma that Jesus is facing. Each time our children test us or disappoint us…..we tell them, “This is it. You better straighten up and fly right, or else….”but Jesus has never said anything like this. I don’t think any of us really believes that tornados, hurricanes  or earthquakes are God’s way of punishing us for our willfulness.  That being said, it certainly sounds here as though Jesus is saying “if you love me……” It sounds as though now there are some strings attached. But,  I think Jesus is going in a totally different direction with this statement.  When I was a teen, the thought of disappointing my parents was pretty unpleasant for me. It didn’t always keep me from doing bad stuff….because sometimes I didn’t even stop to think before I did the bad stuff. Later, when I had disappointed or hurt them…I often felt worse because I hadn’t stopped to think of anyone other than myself. I think this is what Jesus is really talking about. One time stands out particularly clearly. (Story) It wasn’t until weeks later that we knew that she “knew”. I overheard her saying to my older brother “I need you to stay here for the weekend. I thought I could trust them, but I can’t”.

 When we really love someone, we think of them before we think of ourselves….especially in things that effect both. I think what Jesus is saying when he says “If you love me you will keep my commandments”, is not a statement that suggests the withdrawal of that unconditional love we have come to depend on. I think he is not saying “if you love me you will obey me”  but rather, “when you love me, you are obeying me”. That is a pretty big difference in my mind. The “spirit of truth” is what helps us to see when we are not loving as we are called to, and shows us how we can better be the children of a loving God.  At this point in the whole story, we are still digesting all the meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection….yet Jesus is already reminding us that there is more to come by introducing the Holy Spirit. By pointing out for us the steady presence of God in our lives through the gift of the Advocate, Jesus is also reminding us that in fact God’s unconditional love and forgiveness are still offered to us with absolutely no strings attached. And when we choose to love God with our whole selves in return, we are indeed obeying and keeping his commandment.

Mission Sunday: Mission to Haiti and the Holy Trinity Cathedral

The Rev. J.W. Messer
Mission Sunday
5.15.2011

About a year ago, I graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) in Alexandria, Virginia.  During my time at seminary, we were expected to daily attend one of the three services held in the chapel.  For the most part over those three years, I met daily with a 129 year old prayer friend, Immanuel Chapel, on the VTS campus. The VTS chapel was one of my favorite places on campus, and when stressing, it was very peaceful and restorative to go into the chapel when no one else was there and kneel at the altar rail under a great stained glass window that was above the altar. The window depicted THE GREAT COMMISSION, with Jesus preaching with his disciples gathered around him at his feet, and the words inscribed above the window read “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.”

On the night before graduation, family, friends, seminarians, faculty and church leaders all gathered in the chapel for what is known as A Service For The Mission Of The Church.  This service celebrates the conclusion of the mission of the seminary which was to prepare us for the new state of our ministries in the Episcopal Church.  My class was the last graduating class to gather for this service in Immanuel Chapel.

On October 22, 2010, I lost my prayer friend, and VTS lost the central and the spiritual focus for the soul of campus, in a fire.  Luckily no lives were lost.  The accidental fire demolished the historic Immanuel Chapel, with flames so intense that firefighters could not even enter the building to try to save the historical and sacred objects.  In just 40 minutes or so, our chapel with the iconic window, “Go ye into all the world” was destroyed and lost to us forever.

Current and past students, faculty, staff and friends all grieved together over this irreplaceable loss. Immediately, however, fundraising began in order to build a chapel, one that would be a new chapel for a new century. Money instantly started to pour in; without hesitation VTS is going to replace the building that was, and will be, central to VTS gathering. 

This leads me to today’s Gospel reading where Jesus, in conversation with Thomas and Philip, tells them that God sent Him to prepare a place for them in God’s Kingdom.  Jesus said that if you know Him, then you know the Father.  And since you know Jesus and the works He has done, then we are all to do the works that Jesus has done. Jesus was sent by God into the world to call people to go forward in his name. This is mission, and it is central to the Christian faith. Mission is the act of sending and being sent across significant boundaries of human experience to bear witness in word and deed to God’s action in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.[i] Mission means sending and being sent.  But it is also has a counter, that is, it is important to have a place to return to – a physical place to gather and a place in which to be rooted.  This is why it is vital for VTS to rebuild the chapel. Even a spiritual body of future priests and leaders of the church still need a physical location to gather in, a structure that serves as a beacon to all being formed for ministry and the local community to gather.

However after a disaster strikes, not everyone is as blessed as VTS has been. Ten months before the VTS chapel burned, Haiti was decimated by an earthquake.  This earthquake killed more than 250,000 people and made millions more homeless. Many of the services we expect from the government—healthcare, education, culture—were provided by The Episcopal Church in Haiti. In the wake of this devastating earthquake, about 85% of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti’s institutions were destroyed or severely damaged.  In Port-au-Prince, Holy Trinity Cathedral was in ruin and rubble.  This Cathedral was more than an historical church of the Episcopal Church’s largest diocese of 100,000 members.  It was also the center for so many, particularly in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, with a population nearing 3/4ths of a million.  The Cathedral was more than a church building; it housed and trained a touring choir and the nation’s only symphony orchestra, providing both cultural development and income in a country where the annual per capita income is less that $400. Holy Trinity also helped to educate the next generation.  It housed a primary, a secondary school, and a Professional School offering education and spiritual guidance to hundreds.  Clearly, many people of the city looked to the cathedral for help as it has served as a focus for so many for so long.

A National effort is being led by The National Episcopal Church in an effort to focus its mission towards our Diocese in Haiti.  While many government agencies from all over the world have been working over the past year to help those left in the aftermath, there is one thing no one else can rebuild, the Holy Trinity Cathedral.[ii] The national church is asking us to help to rebuild, one brick at a time. Brick by brick, we can have a hand in helping our brothers and sisters in Christ to rebuild their beacon of hope to their nation -- all with two simple acts.  First, we can donate our money.  The national church suggests that $10 buys a brick, but by donating even a few dollars, we help our sister Diocese of Haiti as they begin their resurrection projects to rebuild a broken nation, a broken cathedral.  At Emmanuel, we are the recipients of a challenge grant from one of our parish families. Every gift of $25 or more will be matched, up to a total of $1000. And the second act we can offer to them is our prayers. These two acts are simple but have transformative powers.

        We are all called as Christians to go out into the world and make disciples, to help and love our neighbor as ourselves.  We are called to be God’s hands on Earth!  Shouldn’t we use those hands to make a place, a home on Earth for our neighbors? Even if all we can offer is one brick at a time, one prayer at a time, we, as a Christian body, can help resurrect from the rubble the Holy Trinity Cathedral, the beacon of hope for so many Haitians.

        VTS needs and will get its’ chapel rebuilt; there will be a physical location for a community to gather in.  The people of Haiti deserve the same.  The question is not are we able to help, but WILL we help?

Let us at least begin this journey with a pray.

Let us pray:
Almighty and loving God, all of creation is yours.   We are joined together with our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, so that when one hurts, we all hurt, and when one rejoices, we all rejoice together. Today we pray especially for the Diocese of Haiti, for we know what it means to have something we hold dear, something that seems bigger than us, destroyed in a moment. The loss is painful which can shake us to our core, but it is does not end there.  We also face the struggle to rise out of the rubble and to restore our lives to what is now the ‘new normal.’ In all of this, we turn to you for strength and grace.  We turn to our neighbors for a helping hand. You call all of your children to go forth and to be your hands in the world. Help us as we discern how best to use the gifts and talents you have given us to aid our brothers and sisters in Haiti, as they work to rebuild your Church. All this we pray through your name. Amen.[iii]

+And in God’s name we pray. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. +

---

[i] Horizons of Mission pg 18

[ii] Diocese of Haiti website in their plea for help

[iii] Prayer written by JWM

The Fourth Sunday of Easter

May 15, 2011

The Rev. John A. Baldwin

Acts 2:42-47 ,1 Peter 2:19-25 , John 10:1-10 Psalm 23 , 

One of the distinguishing features of the Gospel of John is Jesus' description of himself in "I am" statements: "I am the Vine", "I am the way, the truth & the life", "I am Living Water", "I am the Good Shepherd", "I am the Bread of Life", and from this morning's Gospel, "I am the door of the sheep...if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture."

Jesus liked to use sheep as illustrations in his stories and parables. He spoke about the importance of seeking out the lost lamb. As the disciples were setting out on a missionary journey, Jesus said to them, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves." When challenged by the Pharisees about healing on the Sabbath, Jesus replied, "Suppose you had a sheep which fell in a ditch on the Sabbath; is there not one of you who would not catch hold of it and lift it out?"

Having spent nearly 5 months on 3 separate occasions in rural Dorset, England where sheep outnumber residents by a considerable number, I have seen a lot of sheep up close. There is hardly a more peaceable creature. Who has ever been hurt or threatened by a sheep? Yet I've also been told that sheep are not highly intelligent or discerning. If allowed to, they will wander aimlessly seeking pasture. That's why you will never find sheep in England without a fence to keep them in. They are also defenseless against predators. A wolf can find mighty easy pickings in a sheep pasture.

Using sheep as an image or metaphor for human beings is not particularly flattering, but it does point towards some characteristics of human nature that were evident to Jesus: our need for a shepherd to guide and protect us; our tendencies to wander aimlessly through life, without greater purpose at times than keeping our bellies full; and our vulnerabilities to getting lost or being devoured by wolves.

What strikes me about this image of Jesus as the door of the sheep is that it's a two-way door. The sheep have the freedom to go in and out.....to graze peacefully within the protecting walls of the sheepfold, or to stay without, but at the risk of vulnerability to thieves, robbers and strangers. We might well ask: If God entertained such an unflattering view of human nature, why would he allow us to go in and out of the sheepfold, instead of keeping that door firmly shut, and protecting us from ourselves? The answer, I believe, lies in the wonderful, yet terrible gift of freedom that God has given us.

A short film called The Parable was produced for the 1964 World's Fair. In it, a clown in whiteface becomes a Christ figure. He wanders through a circus grounds acting as a servant, carrying pails of water for an overworked elephant tender, taking the place of another in a dunking tank, and dusting the shoes of spectators in the bigtop. Later in the film he straps himself into a harness, taking the place of a "living puppet" in the top of the circus tent. He becomes an actor in a Punch and Judy type show, his arms and legs manipulated with strings by a master puppeteer down below.

In his servanthood, the clown not only stirs up gratitude from those whose roles he assumes, but also enmity in the hearts of those who resent his interference, the bosses and trainers. When the clown straps himself into the harness, they see it as an opportunity to attack him with baseballs, swords and canes. In effect, they crucify him. The master puppeteer, with a lifeless clown now in harness, conducts a macabre dance, moving his limbs in a mockery of life.

This image of the master puppeteer lies close to the heart of what many conceptualize when they think about God. Isn't this what is implicitly meant when people attribute close calls to God's will and plan? For example...the telephone rang as I was going out the door and as a result, I missed by a minute being involved in a fatal accident on I-64. God pulled the string. My friend, my parent, my neighbor has cancer, broke a leg, lost their job (fill in the blanks). It's all part of the plan of the master puppeteer, isn't it? Wars, floods, tornadoes and tsunamis? All part of God's plan. Don't you wonder why some unfortunate people become victims, and others are spared? If God is pulling all the strings, his ways are mysterious and impossible to fathom for sure, but everything happens for a reason, right?

The great theological problem if we ascribe to a view of God as a puppeteer, rescuing some and ignoring others, is that it poses a universe where there is no freedom to choose. We are not free to decide whether to go in or out of the door of the sheepfold. In fact, our decisions really don't matter at all. God will do what God wants to do. We really are like those living puppets, and the dead clown.....helpless participants in a macabre dance of life and death. This seems to me an image more appropriate to Hell rather than to the Kingdom of God.

Basic Christian theology asserts something quite different. God in the self-emptying act of Creation bestowed upon human beings the wonderful yet terrible gift of freedom. We are free to choose between responding to our own needs, wants and desires, or to minister to those of others; to be self-centered, or God-centered; to embrace abundant living, or to nurture those temptations that draw us away from the love of God. Precisely because God values his creation so much, he allows us the freedom to make choices that are foolish even as God fervently hopes we will choose what is loving and good.

In that freedom of choice there is room for error and accident. I can choose to buy a house on an earthquake fault line; to take into my body substances that are harmful to my health; to choose friends whose morals are questionable; to value the outward and material over the inward and spiritual. That's the terrible side of freedom, leading us perhaps to long for a God who pulls strings and saves us from ourselves.

The wonderful side of freedom, however, is that God desires a relationship with us which is truly respectful, allowing us the capability to blunder and then seek reconciliation; to grow in wisdom and strength; to become a new creation; to seek God so as to find Him.

This freedom to choose lies at the heart of our baptismal covenant. Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers? Will you persevere in resisting evil and whenever you sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?

God forces no one to do any of this, but when we do embrace the baptismal covenant, the door to abundant living in this life and the next is open to all who choose to enter.

The Stewardship of Creation Sunday

John A. Baldwin

The Second Sunday after Easter

May 1, 2011   

I came into the office this past week to find our parish administrator in some distress. The mother eagle in the Norfolk Botanical Garden had been hit by a jet and killed. Donna had been following the birth of the baby eaglets and their mother's nurturing of them for several weeks, thanks to a video link to the internet. What had once been the purview of only avid birdwatchers with binoculars had been brought into the living rooms of Tidewater Virginia, and fascination and compassion had ensued. Not only Donna, but many others who'd been engaged with this extraordinary glimpse of nature, found that they cared about a bird, and the drama of her raising her young.

Imagine that, feeling grief about the death of a raptor (a bird of prey) ! But eagles too have little babies whom they nurture and protect. They, like us, are marvels of creation....different from us, but in their own way perfect specimens of nature's creative force at work. When we feel and experience that connection, we begin to care across-species, and I believe we move closer to the heart of God. Last Tuesday night, at our monthly meeting of BUBBLES (theological discussion over a glass of beer at Salvatore's) we considered the question "Do Dogs Go to Heaven?" Sentimentally, of course, everyone affirmed that Spot, Fido and Rover, would definitely go on into life hereafter. After all, dogs display unconditional love in ways that humans often envy. Why wouldn't God draw them closer to his nearer presence? The discussion at our table moved on into reflection upon whether animals have souls, as we believe humans do, and just what is the reality of heaven? Speculative theology, utilizing the imagination to reflect on matters of faith and religion, always enlivens and fascinates me.

What passages in the Bible say about many things is open to speculative theology because scripture utilizes rich imagery, story, human insight, and historical experience to address issues of ultimate importance. It speaks in new and different ways to every generation, and to every sort and condition of human beings. We look at scripture from different vantage points, and in every reading of it we see and hear it through the filters of our personal experience. Consider for example, what is perhaps the most quoted passage in scripture (John 3:16). "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him will have eternal life." We get so focused on the latter part of this quote, that we glide right over the first 5 words. "God so loved "the world" ......It's not God so loved "humanity", but God so loved "the world"....all of it. Humans come dangerously close to sheer pride and arrogance when we forget to recognize that God created all things, and in the first chapter of Genesis, God blessed all of it as "good"....dogs, cats, and eaglets; earth, winds and waters; mountains, rivers and seas, and maybe even mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers (though some have asserted, tongue in cheek, that those had to be the works of the devil!)

The two stories of creation in Genesis One (the creation of the world in 7 days) and Genesis Two (the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden), have important things to say to us this morning as we celebrate the 41st annual Earth Day (albeit a few days late, since this year it fell on Good Friday). Genesis One speaks to our role as participants, allies and co-creators with God in the ongoing work of creation. But it also has those interesting and challenging words within it: "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it". We have been inclined to use the word "subdue" in the modern era primarily as license to conquer, control, own, deplete and use up. But it has a softer side as well, namely to bring into cultivation, reduce the intensity of, tone down. In other words, "to bring into balance." And that is precisely what we see in the beginning of Genesis Two, the Garden of Eden - humans living in harmony with flora and fauna. Trouble sets in, however, as Adam and Eve (who represent all of humanity) decide to seek divinity, to squeeze God out of the picture in the ongoing drama of creation, and go it alone. Adam and Eve fall from grace, not because they are inherently wicked, but because they succumb to pride and hubris. They disrupt the balance within the garden.

Earth Day has evolved over the past 40 years from dire predictions of doom in 1970 to involving citizens from all walks of life into pursuing the goal of a Billion Acts of Green. Back in 1970, dramatic events such as the Cuyahoga River bursting into flame in 1969, the blowout of an oil well off Santa Barbara, and the "death" of Lake Erie due to pollution all fed Americans' concerns. Earth Day 1970 provoked a torrent of apocalyptic predictions. "We have about five more years at the outside to do something," ecologist Kenneth Watt declared to a Swarthmore College audience. Harvard biologist George Wald estimated that "civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." "We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation," wrote Washington University biologist Barry Commoner.

Imminent global famine caused by the explosion of the "population bomb" was the big issue on Earth Day 1970. "Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make," Paul Ehrlich confidently declared in an interview. "The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next 10 years." Pollution was another big issue on Earth Day 1970. Smog choked many American cities and sludge coated the banks of many rivers. People were also worried that we were poisoning the biosphere and ourselves with dangerous pesticides. The Great Lakes were in bad shape and Lake Erie was officially "dead," its fish killed because oxygen supplies had been depleted by rotting algae blooms fed by organic pollutants from factories and municipal sewage. Beyond anxiety over population, pollution, and pesticides, even more long-term concerns were on display at the first Earth Day, including the depletion of nonrenewable resources, disappearing biodiversity, and global climate change due to human activity--all of which have come to figure prominently in our current environmental debates.

Fortunately, the apocalyptic gloom and doom of Earth Day 1970, while waking a lot of people up, didn't prove as prophetic as we might have feared at the time. While, it's absolutely true that far too many people remain poor and hungry in the world--800 million people are still malnourished--we have not seen mass starvation around the world in the past four decades. Where there have been famines, such as in Somalia and Ethiopia, they have been primarily the result of war and political instability. Far from turning brown, the Green Revolution has made a huge difference in food production outpacing population growth. According to the World Bank's World Development Report 2000, food production increased by 60 percent between 1980 and 1997. What about the fears expressed about the world's population? In 2000 there were 6 billion - 30% fewer than predicted on Earth Day 1970, because total fertility dropped nearly everywhere on the planet from around 6 children per woman in the 1960s to around 2.8 in 2000. In the U.S., air quality has improved significantly over the past 40 years, and similar trends can be found when it comes to water pollution. Lake Erie once "dead" again supports a $600 million fishing industry. 

Earth Day 2011 is much less apocalyptic in nature, much less filled with gloom and doom, yet none the less deeply serious in encouraging each of us to become involved in restoring the balance in nature. In an effort dubbed "A Billion Acts of Green," organizers are encouraging people to pledge online at actearthday.com. to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve the planet's health — from switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals. "Millions of people doing small, individual acts can add up to real change," said a spokesman for the group coordinating efforts. There were hundreds of rallies, workshops and other events around the United States and hundreds more overseas where it is now celebrated in 192 countries. In the years since the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 the environmentalist movement has made great strides with passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, the Endangered Species Act and other groundbreaking laws. Sadly, the bipartisanship that marked the birth of Earth Day — it was sponsored in Congress by Wisconsin Democrat Gaylord Nelson and California Republican Pete McCloskey — is too often missing in discussions about environmental policy today.

My own theological perspective is marked more by optimism than pessimism. I am a firm believer that God is actively involved in all that is going on in the cosmos, and that God earnestly desires for us to be in partnership with Him in the ongoing work of Creation. I believe that the Earth Day movement is moving in a positive direction in evolving from apocalyptic gloom and doom to encouraging each one of us to do our small part in personal initiatives. We have been very fortunate at Emmanuel to have a small but very dedicated Green Team looking faithfully at how we here in Virginia Beach can make a contribution. I invite you to join them in this effort as faithful members of Christ's family, the Church.

~~~

In the name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.

Easter 2011 Sermon

John A. Baldwin

Easter 2011

Journalist and author Hunter Thompson once said,  "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!"

I love this quote, because I believe it is a brave, bold and audacious affirmation of love for life, and faith in what lies beyond it. Those who hesitate, equivocate, hold back, or live cautiously and timidly will miss much of life's zest and adventure. Those who live their lives in fear and trembling, will likewise approach their death with dread and terror. Do we not envy at some level those who die pursuing their passion, be it on the golf course, on the rock face of a mountain, or on the journey of a lifetime, while we inwardly feel so very sad for those who never follow their hearts.

One thing that may be said about Jesus of Nazareth is that on the cross Jesus died, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming, "It is finished!" He expended every ounce of his being, loved lavishly, gave with abandon, and never looked back with regret on anything he said or did in pursuing the Kingdom of Heaven. The portrait the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John paint of Jesus, is that of a man who experienced the heights and depths of human living to their very fullest extent.

When Jesus' body was taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb, it was not a pretty sight. It was beaten and bruised all over, covered with blood, a pitiful sight from which all but the hard-hearted would avert their eyes. It should come as no surprise that Mary Magdalene, in the early morning hours near the tomb, did not recognize Jesus. She still had vividly in her mind's eye the broken body of Jesus on the cross, depleted, spent, totally used up. But now, here before her is a strong, robust, and vital human being. Had to be the gardener! Who else would be skulking about in the garden so early in the day. 

In that brief interval between night time on top of Golgotha and dawn on the first day of the week, something mysterious, powerful, awesome had happened to the body of Jesus. It has been infused with Resurrection power, revitalized and restored. Mary's eyes are jolted open by the sound of his voice. She recognizes instantly the man she, and all the other disciples, had come to love and cherish.

In the days that followed, Jesus made numerous appearances to the other disciples, startling them, lifting their spirits to new heights of awe and wonder, and empowering them to devote the rest of their lives to spreading the Good News of Jesus' Resurrection. What made it "Good News" for these men and women was not simply that one man had somehow cheated the Grim Reaper, but that they had experienced up close the renewing power of Resurrection energy. Nothing convinces me more thoroughly of the reality of the Resurrection than the transformation that occurred in the lives of the disciples. They changed from pitiable, terrified, defeated people into bold proclaimers of the Gospel, ultimately traveling to the ends of the earth to share their experiences, many of them dying martyrs' deaths along the way. Their fear of death miraculously seems to have vanished, replaced by a deep and firm faith that in Jesus of Nazareth, the divine has come to dwell among us, and life will forever be very, very different.

I see at work in Peter, Paul, and many others of faith down through the centuries, very little interest in arriving safely at death in a pretty and well preserved body. Rather they are engaged in skidding in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" Is this not faith at work? ........emboldened by a deep-seated belief in the reality and power of the Resurrection......not just for one man, way back when, but for all who love God with passion.

What does this suggest to us across the centuries? How should we be expending our energy in our journey from birth to the grave, and beyond? If we only have one life to live, what a shame to live it in fear and timidity! What a waste not to fully use our gifts and talents to create things of beauty! What sadness not to share generously with others the spark of the divine within our hearts and souls! How tragic, if as we end our days, we look back over our life and say, I wish I hadn't spent the majority of it on things that really don't matter to me at all.

Let's look again Jesus Christ who, I believe, displays for us what living a vital, authentic human life is all about. In Jesus, we see no self-centered, narcissistic, selfishness at all. He lavishly poured out his love on others from little children.....to sinners, prostitutes and tax-collectors... to lepers, epileptics, and the demon-possessed......even to his enemies from the cross. Even his criticism of the scribes and Pharisees, which may sound harsh to us from a long distance removed in time, was intended I believe to redirect their zealous piety away from rules and regulations to matters of the heart, and therefore did not come out of anger or malice, but out of a deep concern for their lives and souls.

Jesus didn't waste his time on things that were trivial and unimportant. He expended his energy on waking people up to what is essential in living life to its fullest. His Sermon on the Mount is filled with this wisdom: "Blessed are the merciful"; "Blessed are the peacemakers"; "You are the salt of the earth"; "Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven"; "You cannot serve God and money"; "Do not be anxious about your life"; "Judge not that you be not judged"; "Ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find". The Sermon on the Mount gathers the nuggets of Jesus' teaching together and we see revealed within it the wisdom of a man closely in synch with the heart of God.

There is no better way of judging, I believe, whether how we are expending our time, talent and energy is fruitful, authentic and life-giving than to ask ourselves, what would Jesus do? Would he be harboring resentment and anger towards others? Would he be giving himself negative messages about his gifts and abilities? Would he be allowing fear and anxiety to get the upper hand?

When I die, I too want to be able to say "Wow, what a ride" ......But not because I've plumbed the ocean depths in scuba gear, bungi-jumped off a tall bridge, made a hole in one, or been to the uttermost parts of the Earth...thrilling as all that might be. Rather I'd like to be able to say "What a Ride" because I've loved deeply; because I've been fully present and involved in significant moments in the lives of those I care about; because I've courageously expressed wisdom I've received through the years; because I've not held back from making a difference in the world around me.

How about you? What do you need to do, or be, in order to be able to shout out with joy, "Wow, what a ride" when God calls you home?

Good Friday

The Rev. Julia W. Messer
4/22/2011
Good Friday-- Year A-RCLJohn 18:1-19:42

GOOD FRIDAY

            Condemned by the crowd, with sneers and taunts being thrown at him, Jesus picked up his cross, made his way through the crowd, and headed to Golgotha. Crowds had surrounded Jesus throughout his ministry.  At one time, those crowds had reached out to touch him so that they might be healed. Crowds had gathered because they wanted to hear his words. Crowds who, just a few days earlier, had shouted “Hosanna in the highest” were now shouting “Crucify him!” 

            How quickly the tide turned. It started just hours earlier, with betrayals from those closest to Jesus.  First it was Judas, one of the disciples, one of his own, who turned against him and abandoned Jesus to the anger and fear of those who sought to silence this man called Jesus of Nazareth. Then before the cock crowed to signal the dawn of the day that Jesus would be crucified on, another disciple, Peter, forsook Jesus and denied him three times.

            Jesus, condemned by those closest to him, seemed abandoned and alone, standing there in a crowd. When he looked closer he did see those who had not betrayed him, but they couldn’t step forward on his behalf because they were either powerless or too afraid of the powers “that be”.  Betrayed and in pain, Jesus lifted the heavy and cold wood of the cross onto his back and took his first steps to Calvary. 

            It was in these moments, that Jesus, God’s only son, showed the world what it meant to be human, and to be obedient to God, no matter what the cost. Bleeding and betrayed, Jesus walked through the crowds on the road to Golgotha but his human body had trouble sustaining the weight of the burden he had been asked to bear.           

There are times in our lives that the cross we bear is our own frailty. We too can be borne down by pains. When cancer or sickness attacks the body, or when the body starts to age and is unable to do what it used to do, we may have trouble sustaining the weight. Financially, even psychologically, the weight of our sorrows and the loss of control start to weigh down not only our bodies, but also our souls.  But as Christ taught us here on this road, that despite the weight of this cross, he kept going as best as he could.

It is here as Christians that we are shown what it means to have true reverence for what we have. For true reverence begins as a deep understanding of our human limitations; from this grows the capacity to be in awe of whatever we believe lies outside our control—God, truth, justice, nature, and even death. The capacity for awe, as it grows, brings with it the capacity for respecting fellow human beings, flaws and all. In this, we are offered a chance to see and to learn to accept the weakness in others, just as we must learn to accept them in ourselves. We too must continue on our path, just as Jesus did.

             Jesus continued on the way, surrounded by crowds who had turned against him, whose hatred was thrown in the face of the weakening Jesus, yet interspersed in the crowd, Jesus caught glimpses of those who loved him, yet were powerless to help him.  In times of deep darkness, to catch a glimpse of grace, or to see a loved one who has not abandoned us can be uplifting, but it can also be bitter sweet. They are moments of grace and joy because of the joy in knowing that we are not forsaken in times of despair. Yet they are also heart-wrenching when we realize that the road we are on or a loved one is on is causing such deep pain and mourning for loved ones.  To see it reflected back in their eyes can be hard to bear.  To know that we are the ones causing the pain to those who unconditionally love us is a cross to bear.

            We can’t deny the intensity of human pain. The intensity can be made to feel even worse when we are isolated from our friends and family.  When we are in our pain, we may not feel that God is not listening to us. But with every fiber of our being, we are God’s, and therefore we are NEVER abandoned; we are NEVER without his presence, even if we question it at times.  Jesus was not alone when he suffered and neither are we.  As we bear our crosses, God is always with us, yoked beside us every step of the way. Never abandoned, never alone, we are called to walk every day of our lives with Christ.  And when we die, we die with Christ and are raised into eternal life with him, through this costly grace.  

            Since the dawn of time, people have suffered. God’s people do suffer at the hands of evil, and even do cause evil themselves-- however intentional or not. We suffer pain, we suffer defeat. However we are called by Jesus, who suffered more than we can ever imagine, to learn true obedience to God. We learn to keep going, no matter what the outcome-- just as Jesus did, along his way through the winding paths that lead him to Golgotha.  He never turned back; he kept going so that he could do the will of God.          

We are called to find moments of grace in the suffering, knowing that we never suffer alone.  On some roads, the journey seems to end in moments of utter despair, where the darkest hours stretch on indefinitely, but yet still, we are never alone. God’s promises are like the stars in heaven that shine the brightest against the darkness of night, the brightest light is the Son of Man. And with all my heart and soul, I know that, that even “though my soul may sit in darkness, it will rise in perfect light, [because] I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” (paraphrased quote from Sarah Williams) 

We each go through our own Good Friday, sometimes multiples of them. We each bear our own crosses in each of our darkest hours, yet we do not bear them alone.  God is with us.  Sometimes it takes being in that place for us to realize this and know it in our souls.

            Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian leader in Germany during the time that Hitler’s Third Reich was committing atrocities, was willing to stand out from the crowd and to follow Christ. He said, as he was being held captive in a concentration camp, “When Christ calls as man, he bids him—come and die.”

            When God called His Son, our Savior, he called Jesus to do what Jesus now calls us to do. That is, in full obedience to God, to pick up our crosses, and follow him.

~~~

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.