easter-2-our-saviour-4-28.md

Easter 2: April 28, 2019 Our Saviour

It took a week to tell the story and it culminated with the proclamation of last Sunday. The Church understands plainly that last week’s “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” is the most important proclamation we know as Christians.
It alots a week of telling the story, this Easter week, it has been a part of the daily readings each day. We conclude “Easter Week” with the passage that begins, “A week later …” Well, I guess that’s appropriate.
Thomas. The story focuses on Thomas today. But we will continue to tell the story throughout 50 days until the day of Pentecost.
I want to read to you a short excerpt from an Easter sermon, written some 1700 years ago. I have never done this before. But I do it because of the power and significance of the words for us today. And because it helps to teach us that this is a story, a proclamation, that has been repeated over and over again from that first Easter day.
St. Gregory Nazianzus “On Holy Pasch”
The Most Precious and Becoming of Gifts
Yesterday I was crucified with Christ; today I am glorified with Him. Yesterday I died with Him; today I am given life with Him. Yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise again with Him. Today let us offer Him Who has suffered and Who has risen for us—you think perhaps I was about to say, gold, or silver, or precious things, or shining stones of rare price, the frail material of this earth, which will remain here. . . . [R]ather, let us offer Him ourselves, which to God is the most precious and becoming of gifts. Let us offer to His Image what is made in the image and likeness of this Image. And let us make recognition of our own dignity. Let us give honour to Him in Whose Likeness we were made. Let us dwell upon the wonder of this mystery, that we may understand for what Christ has died.
Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. Let us become Gods because of Him, since He for us became man. He took upon Himself a low degree that He might give us a higher one. He became poor, that through His poverty we might become rich (2 Cor 8:9). He took upon Himself the form of a servant (Phil 2:7) that we might be delivered from slavery (Rom 8:21). He came down that we might rise up. He was tempted that we might learn to overcome. He was despised that we might be given honour. He died that He might save us from death. He ascended to heaven that we who lie prone in sin may be lifted up to Him. ^{1 2}
Easter is the key proclamation for Christians, it has been repeated over and over again to make that possible. On the one hand I think that every generation has to make the truth their own. At the same time I think that I am only here because of the countless saints who have gone before – many of them having done a better job of it than I.
We live in the echo of Easter. It’s a week echoing the Easter message. The Christian year is like a repeated echo – each week concludes with the “Day of the Lord” in which Easter is the underlying message. We are here only because of the empty tomb discovered by those women all those years ago. If they had been able to anoint and bury their teacher as they intended, they would have been impacted the rest of their lives with the sadness and disappointment of that. But instead they found the Lord Risen again and the rest of their life was one of joy.
The whole of history since that day is a repetition, an echo, of that event.

Never tired of telling the story

Tell me the old, old story … ³ A famous old hymn goes.
I was trying to come up with examples of sacred stories like our Easter proclamation for my class earlier in the semester. I asked them to think of books they’d have known as children. Books they would have heard over and over again.
When I said, Good night Moon someone in the class spontaneously began the first words of the book:

In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of
The cow jumping over the moon …

When I said the word “Madeline”, another voice began that series.

In an old house in Paris
That was covered in vines
Lived twelve little girls
In two straight lines
In two straight lines they broke their bread …

The Easter story is so much bigger than Madeline or Good night moon. It’s been told and re-told for seasons beyond counting.
This is our story. This is the story. This is the only story there is. Everything else is a variation, a commentary.

It’s in the nature of this story that there’s “nothing there.”

It’s a curious kind of story in that in a way at the end we’re left with an empty tomb

• It’s an empty tomb
• Only an old gardener …
• An angelic figure telling them to go ahead … he’s not here
• Thomas and his “show me.”

I think of an ancient illustration that expresses the purpose of a bowl to be – what? – nothing. The purpose of a bowl, or a basket, is the emptiness it contains. But that’s the whole thing.
Thomas appeared a week later and – like the state of Missouri (Called the “Show-Me” State?) Thomas said, well, “show me.” ⁴
He is Risen, is the answer. But “show me?” The best we can say is, “Look around. What do you see and hear?” What comes after the empty tomb is the answer.
We live in the latter times. The end times – really. We live in the answer to the question. And the earliest Christians were very conscious of that. John explicitly wrote is gospel for “those who will come after.” It has been fulfilled – though we may not be able to see it clearly. The empty tomb is – well, – empty. And we look around – and well, – what we see is us.
And that it seems is our answer to Thomas question. “Show you?” Here it is. Alleluia.

---

Notes

Lectionary: http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Easter/CEaster2_RCL.html
The Second Sunday of Easter Color: White Assigned Readings Lesson 1: Acts 5:27-32 Psalm: 118:14-29 or 150 Lesson 2: Revelation 1:4-8 Gospel: John 20:19-31

---

1. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Homily on the Holy Pasch Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 330–ca. 389) was one of the three great Cappadocian Fathers, along with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. He was Archbishop of Constantinople and is perhaps best known for his defense of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity against the heresy of Arianism. ↩︎
   
2. a part of Easter Day Morning Prayer in Give us this day our daily bread. ↩︎
   
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_me_the_old,_old_story ↩︎
   
4. Missouri History: https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/slogan.asp There are a number of stories and legends behind Missouri’s sobriquet “Show-Me” state. The slogan is not official, but is common throughout the state and is used on Missouri license plates. … ↩︎
   

palm-sunday-epiphany.md

Palm Sunday

04/15/2019: Epiphany
Spartanburg 9:00 am

Homily

Death required to complete the story of a life

It has surprised me in the past that there is only one Sunday reserved for proclaiming this central event for what it means to be a Christian.

My father died 34 years ago. Very often when I tell people, when I have occasion to tell something about my father, I talk about his death. I say, for example, that he died doing the things that he loved. His life was defined by being a Doctor and he loved the game of golf. Golf was one of those things that I’m grateful he taught me. When he died he was already at retirement age but had no sense, I think, that he would ever retire. His father had died with his boots on – as it were – a physician in a small rural town in Illinois. My father died with his boots on of a sudden heart attack while he was volunteering as a medic for the PGA Senior Open being played that year at a golf course in Castlerock, Colorado.

From a very early age I was intent on finding my own genuine way in the world. I wanted to be about the work that I was intended to do, and fairly early I understood that as -– what God had made me to be. But there’s a strong sense in which we won’t really know what that is until the whole of our life story can be told.

The rest of the story.

There was a famous radio personality from some years ago. If you are of a certain age you will remember Radio. In today’s world of course Radio is just one small piece in a rambling world of broadcast.

But a long time ago, a man named Paul Harvey was a famous radio personality. He broadcast a news show on ABC from 1952 until 2008. He always ended his broadcast with the words “Paul Harvey …… good day.”

He included in his daily show a segment called the Rest of the Story. It consisted of stories presented as little-known or forgotten facts on a variety of subjects with some key element of the story (usually the name of some well-known person, or some important detail) held back until the end. The broadcasts always concluded with a variation on the tag line “And now you know the rest of the story.”

Paul Harvey was a master story-teller. He knew how to get a hook in on his audience, to reel them in like a fly fisherman, and then before he let them go, back into the river, he jolted his audience with the thing that made the story significant -– the zinger. I know he was good at telling stories and hooking folks because -– while I found his politics to be distasteful, he hooked me a number of times on the stories he told.

I suspect you know that the very word “gospel” means story -– a good story. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were outstanding story-tellers. I know that Paul Harvey would be embarrassed, but probably a little bit proud, to be used in such a comparison.

You may be aware that there are not very many elements of our 4 gospels that are in common amongst all 4. It may be obvious, but ought to be said, that one of those elements that is common to all 4 is the crucifixion. All 4 gospel writers could not tell the story of Jesus in such a way as to hook new disciples to follow him -– without telling the story of the end of his life’s story.

Let me illustrate this from a story that I learned in seminary when I met another fellow seminarian from Colorado. He was retiring soon as a professor of veterinary medicine at Colorado State University and he wanted to spend his last years usefully in service of the Lord. He felt called to ministry. And I learned several important skills for my life and ministry from him not the least of which was a little bit about Greek dancing. I was able to channel Zorba the Greek enough that it gave me energy and vision for my life at a certain point.

Gus Cholas was the man’s name. His parents had been immigrants to this country from Greece. They were Greek shepherds and raised their sheep in the mountains of Colorado. Gus told us about that part of his life as if he were Paul Harvey. He told us about the somewhat exotic life they lived in the 30’s, moving their sheep about the 2 mountain valleys that they owned. Then he told us the rest of the story.

His parents sold their property in central Colorado to the people who turned around and sold it again -– to the developers of Vail, Colorado. For those of you who don’t ski, that’s a very prominent ski resort that opened in the 1960’s, now attracting Hollywood stars and wealthy politicians.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John knew how to tell stories like that -– only better.

Gospels told similar way

They were able to hook the one who was listening to this person, Jesus. Perhaps it was the miracles he worked. Perhaps it was the stories he told. Perhaps it was the way he seemed to reveal the true nature of God. They would draw their listeners into the narrative.

Then, at the penultimate moment [I used to love that word, “penultimate”, meaning the next to last]. It was that point where we would say, “Wait, there’s more?” After telling us that the life Jesus lived -– as powerful and meaningful as it was -– ended with a terrible death in Jerusalem.

They would point to the ongoing significance of such a life, even though it ended in such a way. They would have highlighted the way in which Jesus’ suffering showed us the way to live through the suffering of our lives. They would underscore that it is only in seeing how a person dies that you can really measure and know the depths of the life they lived.

But even then, there would be more. There would be the rest of the story. It’s the added piece that makes all the difference in the world.

Holy Week

We tell the “rest of the story” over the course of the next week. Today only sets the stage for what we say and do over the next week. It will culminate, of course, in the proclamation at the Easter vigil, continuing through Easter morning that “Jesus Christ is Risen today.” That is why we are here today. But today we leave off before we proclaim the rest of the story.

It is the response that:

…… although darkness stalks light, the light will always reassert itself. No matter what is happening, the universe is invested in healing. Night is followed by morning. Crucifixion is followed by Resurrection. God always has the final say. -– Marianne Williamson

---

lectionary

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday Color: Red
Liturgy of the Palms Psalm: 118:1-2,19-29 Lesson 1: Luke 19:28-40

Liturgy of the Word
Lesson 1: Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm: 31:9-16 Lesson 2: Philippians 2:5-11 Gospel:
Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49

Lent-5-Our-Saviour

Sun, Apr 7, 2019 Our Saviour

Lent 5 04/08/2019

The Fifth Sunday in Lent Color: Purple Assigned Readings Lesson 1: Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm: 126 Lesson 2: Philippians 3:4b-14 Gospel: John 12:1-8

what is Mary doing here?

She is annointing Jesus’ feet, 6 days before the Passover.

Look at the setting as we encounter Mary and Martha. It says plainly six days before the Passover Jesus was in Bethany, the home of Lazarus.

Now, the great turning point in John’s Gospel is the raising of Lazarus.

It is helpful to recognize the basic form of the story that structures the Gospels. Matthew Mark and Luke tell a story that basically hinges on the point where Jesus turns his face to Jerusalem. He moves his base of ministry from the north of Israel to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem of course is where he must go to meet his death. His death which is a saving death. A death which he is destined to overcome. A death where the full story ends with resurrection not with death.

John’s Gospel is structured around a different kind of journey. We know why John writes his gospel because he tells us plainly why he’s writing it, twice he tells it, in the last two chapters. John relates his gospel so that we who come after may come to believe and know that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth. The turning point of his gospel is the final and greatest sign intended to convince us that Jesus is Lord. Namely the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. That’s the halfway point of the story.

Here we are in chapter 12, just one chapter after the raising of Lazarus. We now have heard that there is a plot to kill Jesus. Jesus had gone to the town of Ephraim and was laying low with his disciples. Passover was approaching. It was time to move. So he returned to Bethany.

Mary, using oil that had been intended for his burial, anoints Jesus’s feet with perfumed oil. She recognizes the terrible events that are about to take place. And she blesses them, what is about to take place, she makes it clear that these events are God’s doing even as they seem as terrible as they could possibly be.

So here we are. Next Sunday is the Sunday of the Passion. The Sunday of the Palms. The beginning of what we call Holy Week.

How do we mark this time? I suggest to you that a reconsecrating – an anointing, is in order.

Notre Dame Story

When I was in graduate school at Notre Dame in the 1980s, there was a group of nuns living in South Bend who had made it a part of their ministry to consecrate the passage of death. They sought to recover an ancient approach to death that has been lost in our current society’s unholy pact with the burial industry.

When someone in the community died they would go to sit with the body. In prayer. They would wash it and rub perfumed oil. They would consecrate the event. As a sign that what in appearance looks like an end and a catastrophe is in reality a culmination and a victory for our God.

They would that wrap the body in a clean white cloth.

At that point the State would be required to be brought in.

Re-consecrating my trail up KoKo crater.

I had an experience of reconsecrating what had appeared to be desecrated when I was in Hawai’i. It was a sacred time for me.

I had developed a habit over the course of several years. It all started when my son Julian came to visit me and one of the things he wanted to do was to climb a volcano that was near by where we lived at the time. KoKo crater.

Cutting out some of the comedic elements of his adventures in climbing it, after he left I decided that if he could do it I could do it. Now that was a little rash. There were some 12 or 13 hundred steps up the crater, a rise of about 1,200 feet elevation rise. But after several attempts I made it to the top of koko crater. After doing it once I said to myself well, I think I could do it again. So the next week I went and made it to the top. After a while I decided that I would try to do it twice a week. Eventually it moved to between three and four times a week.

But by then it was no longer a physical exercise. Over time it became an extended meditation, really a prayer time. It was a contemplative 40 minutes or so that I exercised three or four times a week.

One day I arrived at the bottom of the mountain and there were police vehicles everywhere. There was not just one helicopter but two flying around the crater. No I wasn’t immediately overly alarmed because I myself have been involved in at least two modest rescue efforts, people who fell, didn’t have the stamina, and what not.

I just decided that I wasn’t going to climb that day and went home. In the news I learned that what was going on was that a young man who was in a crazed state, probably due to methamphetamine, had stabbed people towards the top of the crater. None of them died amazingly, but as of the evening news, the perpetrator had not been found. He was found the next day, naked and hiding in a tree in somebody’s backyard.

I was determined that I wasn’t going to let the evil get the last word. Early the next morning when the dew was still wet on the leaves of the scrubby bushes along the trail up KoKo crater, I prayed my way up to the top. It was my way of re-consecrating the holy mountain. I guess it was a form of making lemonade from my lemons.

But I am convinced it was more than that. It was my part in helping God to win the day. What had the appearance of desecration would become the means of a greater blessing.

Mary I believe is doing something similar to that here in Bethany, six days before Passover. She has a part to play in ushering in the new era of life – the Resurrection of the Lord – that could only be brought forth through catastrophe. God is at work, but we have our part to play.

A Rumi poem

I read in my evening prayer 2 weeks ago. It made me thing of Mary and her part in ushering in, announcing, preparing the way, for the Resurrection to come.

[Joseph has come,
the handsome one of this age,
a victory banner floating over spring flowers.]

Those of you whose work it is to wake the dead,
get up.

The poet says.

This is a work day.
The lion that hunts lions charges into the meadow.
Yesterday and the day before are gone.
The beautiful coin of now slaps down in your hand.
Start the drumbeat.

Everything we have said about the Friend is true.
The beauty of that peacefulness makes the whole world restless.
Spread your love-robe out to catch
what sifts down from the ninth level.

You heart closed up in a chest,
open, for the Friend is entering you.
You feet, it is time to dance.
Don’t talk about the old man.
He is young again.
And don’t mention the past.
Do you understand?
The beloved is here.

There are those who argued then about Mary that it was inappropriate to “celebrate” at such a serious and dark time. Mary knew that that was exactly the time. It was time because the beloved is here.

We have our part to play in bringing about this great event which is God’s show. It’s something Desmond Tutu’s line: “God has made us responsible for his reputation.”

What are we doing here?

Our time of preparation for Passover and Easter is near an end. If God is with us, we have uncovered this Lent empty places where we have lost our way. If God is with us, we will have discovered ways in which we have betrayed what God has entrusted us with. If God is with us, we may have experienced loss.

We are Mary. We are here to anoint those places, to reconsecrate those times, to make sure that all the world knows that Jesus is Lord!

Appendix:

lectionary