Friday Prayer

 

God of grace and God of glory, on Your people pour your power.  We need Your wisdom, because we don’t always seem to find You amid the Google results, our newsfeeds, and normal conversations of life today.  We long for all of life to be orderly; too often we cling to our way or no way; we don’t mind change ~ just want everyone else to go first!!  God help us notice and name where our way of being in the world is helpful and places where we cause harm.  God center us in moments of dizzying disorientation when our minds spin, hearts sprint with emotions, and gut swirls like a gymnast doing somersaults.  God, where there is a reorientation, cause us not to judge our former self, but be grateful that You are not finished with us yet.  In the name of the One who was open to You; grounded by You; evolved and expanded sharing Your love; and found ways to live fresh and new ~ which is our prayer this day and every day in the coming weeks.  Amen.    

Thursday Prayer

 

Breathe in God’s presence this morning, which is always as close as our next breath.

Breathe out the ways we cling to control and believe we have to be right all the time. 

Breathe in God’s presence this day, who was there in the beginning amid the chaos.

Breathe out the moments you are in that transition from orientation to disorientation and reorientation isn’t anywhere in sight today.

Breathe in the holy who is comfortable in the less-than-perfectness of life ~ God born in a barn.

Breathe out our human need to look competent and in charge.

I invite you to name orientations of your mind/heart/life ~ where does life make sense at the present moment?  This could be a relationship that causes your soul to soar or a conversation that fills your heart or a book you are reading where you underline every sentence.

I invite you to name the disorientations of your mind/heart/life ~ where does your life seem too broken for repair?  Where does the world look like a bicycle you took apart in the garage and have no idea how the parts/pieces are ever going to be put back together?

I invite you to name the reorientation of your mind/heart/life ~ where a new insight is just beginning to form or a new opportunity has emerged or a new friendship is taking root in the soil of your soul. 

Let the wisdom of this way of being ~ Saul/Paul’s story ~ be your story this day.  Amen.

Meeting Paul...AND Ananias Again

 

 

One of the truths I love about Saul/Paul’s story is that it isn’t just about him.  This wasn’t just about his individual self-actualization or isolated self-development.  In fact, as Saul/Paul is stuck/stymied somewhere in the messy midst of orientation (what he thought he knew) ~ disorientation (God disrupting his five-day carefully planned/plotted life of rounding up Christians) ~ reorientation (a new way of incorporating and including those people he excluded), God is at work in the life of a disciple named Ananias.  Read now these words from: Acts 9:10-18

 

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.”  The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul^[c] and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

 

I wonder if you have ever had an “Ananias” in your life?  This could be a mentor, teacher, someone who helped you recognize and realize a new way of being?  Notice, the narrative above isn’t all warm and fuzzy ~ I think this meeting between Ananias and Saul/Paul was awkward with some unresolved emotions.  I can imagine Ananias knocking softly on the door, secretly hoping Saul/Paul doesn’t answer so he can just walk away saying, “Welp, God, I tried.  Appears he isn’t home.”  I picture the door opening, Ananias head hanging down realizing he must go in and talk to the very person who was persecuting his follow followers of the Way of Jesus.  I wonder if Ananias at first kept his distance?  I wonder what led Ananias to lay his hands on Saul/Paul?  Sometimes having someone hold our hand is the most healing action we can do.  Who has been Ananias there in those moments of orientation to disorientation to reorientation?  Who is an Ananias in your life right now, today?  Let your responses to these questions sing and simmer in your soul this day.  Amen.

Meeting Paul Again

 

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One of the great threads and themes of life is orientation to disorientation to reorientation.  We move from learning/holding/knowing one thing then to questioning or even deconstructing then to a new way of being/living.  One way to see this thread woven in your life is with music.  Yesterday, I professed and confessed my love of 80s hairbands.  Bon Jovi telling me I was, “Livin’ on a prayer”; Poison preaching that, “Every rose has its thorns”; and Van Halen telling me to “Jump”. 

 

That music left a mark on my life ~ and maybe makes you shake your head disappointed that I wasn’t raised on the classics of the Beetles or Aretha Franklin or whatever music moved your soul in your teenage years.  The music I put on mixtapes gave me an orientation ~ a way of making sense of the world.  I think of Bruce Springsteen shining a light on lives of working class or the Temptations velvety smooth invitation that, “I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day.”  (You are going to be singing My Girl all day long now ~ you are welcome).  This is true with religion.  In Sunday School you were taught and caught a way of making sense of faith.  In high school you were given a perspective (a point of view ~ which is a view from a point) on history.  In college you paid an institution to learn the process of being a pharmacist or doctor or lawyer.  An orientation often creates a structure and system. 

 

But, we also know that life is evolving and expanding…things don’t stay the same.  80s hairbands turned into 90s gravely grunge music; hip hop ushered in a new way of telling the experience of African Americans.  It isn’t that the Temptations were wrong, but that wasn’t the only truth.  In your career chances are you had to go to continuing education classes to keep your certification or learn new insights or maybe went back for a doctorate.  For me, I sought my doctorate in ministry when I discovered what gives me life and fills my soul is preaching ~ and I wanted to learn more.  This can be a moment of disorientation, because how you have been being a pharmacist or doctor or lawyer or pastor starts to be questioned.  You discover a new piece of the puzzle you didn’t have before or are given some data that dismantles what you were previously taught.  This is a moment of decision making ~ do you try to incorporate and include this new piece or toss it aside?  Disorientation is not fun ~ remember the early days of COVID all the confusion and fear and frustration?  Disorientation makes us feel dizzy, our mind spins, heart sprints, gut squeezes with tension and we want resolution, and we want it now!! 

 

The path between disorientation to reorientation, incorporating and including new information and insights, can be rough and rocky.  I dare say this is where we are as a people in our country and as a church right now!  We are stuck somewhere in the messy midst of what was isn’t coming back and what will be isn’t clear yet. 

 

Saul/Paul found himself in this place.  He thought he knew who the enemy was ~ Christians ~ it was clear.  But then, God, who seems to delight in upsetting our apple carts goes and interrupts Paul’s perfectly planned ways of dealing with those people.  Saul/Paul must stew in his own un-knowing/blindness/less than perfectness/doesn’t have it all figured out yet for three days.  I often wish the path between disorientation and reorientation was only three days ~ because some days it feels like I have been living in that place for years now (perhaps my whole ministry!).  I wish I could shorten and smooth the distance between dizzying disorientation and revealing reorientation…but for me, often it takes more time than I would like.

 

Rewind and review the mixtape of your life ~ the past to the present ~ where have you gone through orientation to disorientation to reorientation?  I think in our church, we have done some of this work around our three covenants or right now we are engaging in this with our core values.  And the deeper truth is that this process is never one and done.  The story of faith is that we rinse and repeat this cycle like washing our hands.  Plus, we can be in orientation around one topic and disorientation around another topic and reorientation on a third topic ~ you can exist in all three spaces simultaneously just for frustrating/flummoxing funzies.  Good lord.  But the good news is that God can be found in all three.  You may even make a chart on a topic where you have gone through this or are in the messy midst of this right now.  Let the wisdom of this sing and simmer in your soul this day. Amen.

Meeting Paul Again

 

I grew up in the magical era of mixtapes.  In a time before you could easily make a digital playlist on your phone with a few touches of a screen, I would sit for hours by the radio listening for the moment when I could record a song, I liked onto a blank cassette tape.  God forbid I got called away by my mother to do a chore or use the restroom and risk missing the very song I was waiting for.  The struggle was real…and yes, my children think that I am a dinosaur when I talk about this.  Part of the power of making a mixtape was carefully curating songs to convey just the right message.  One of the ways to let someone know you like them was to give this as a gift ~ you would let the 80s hairbands of Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and Warrant serenade your crush with falsetto singing and guitar solos.  Ah, the good ole days. 

 

Inspired by those mixtapes of my youth, in the coming weeks we are going to lean in and listen to some of the Apostle Paul’s greatest hits.  Paul is one of the most prolific writers in scripture, over half of the New Testament are his letters.  He defined and distinguished the faith in many ways that have left lasting, lingering impact.  While not all his writings warm my heart (oh, Paul can frustrate and flummox me), he also has a vision for the church that inspires and infuses me with what might be for our community and world today. 

 

Before we dive and dwell in his letters, I first want center on one part of his story.  Here is the conversion story of Paul (who was first named Saul ~ grew up faithfully Jewish ~ thinking of Christians as, “Those people!”)

Acts 9:1-9  ~~  Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”  The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.  Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

 

I read this story and think, “the more things change, the more they stay the same!”  People today still breathe threats against each other.  Advertisers and politicians know that the quickest way to rile up a crowd is to give them a common enemy and then offer him/herself as the only solution.  You see this on television ~ people who have dry, lifeless hair until the purchased Head & Shoulders shampoo.  Or in stump speeches that if the rival politician gets elected, might as well cue the four horsemen of the apocalypse.  Saul/Paul knew who the enemy was…it was those pesky Christians.  They were the problem, and he was the self-appointed sheriff to bring God’s justice.  Hold that last sentence because those words are still embraced and embodied in our world today.  Saul/Paul thinks he has it all figured out.  Until God knocked Saul/Paul flat on his backside, blinded him physically because Saul/Paul was already blind spiritually and emotionally. 

 

When you look back at your former self…the self of 10 years ago…what did you know then that now (in 2023) seems foolish?  What once was certain and now seems less so?  When you rewind and review the mixtape of your life, what song did you once dance to that now makes you question your taste in music?  As you hold these questions, don’t do this with guilt but with grace ~ God doesn’t smite Saul/Paul!!  As you hold these questions, don’t feel ashamed, but awaken to your unfolding nature of life.  How were you, “once blind but now you see…once lost but now am found”?  May these questions stir and simmer in your soul this day.  Amen.

Easter truth ~ With

 

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20b

 

Breathe in the presence of Christ with you right now, and exhale the voice that says it is all up to you…and you alone. 

Breath in the presence of Christ who embraces your faith and foolishness ~ certainty and doubt, and exhale all the definitions of faith that says you’ve got to be confident and in control.

Breathe in the unknown-ness of life…breathe out our deep desire to have a playbook.

 

God of Easter-ing faith, what are humans that You are mindful of us?  Why in the world does Jesus call us to be partners, did You see what I did/say/thought on Wednesday this week?  I am not sure I can disciple in the world today, with the news and drama and dysfunction…where do I start?  Yet, I know the first disciples didn’t have it all figured out.  They had faith and doubt.  They had moments of brilliance and bone-headedness.  They got it right and bumbled/stumbled/ fell flat/splat/on their face.  And if, You, O God can work with them, maybe You could work through me.  Help me.  Be with me.  Remind me that I am not alone.  The gift of the church, community, is a place to practice discipling with each other.  The gift of the church is a safe place to celebrate and say, “What was I thinking?!?”  The gift of the church is human size people, featherless bipeds, just like me.  Open me to how You still show up in the less-than-perfectness of this group art project called, “Life”.  And may I remember today you are with me wherever I am.  Amen.  

Easter-ing Faith ~ Re-Formed Again...and Again...And Again

 

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  Matthew 28:19-20

This week, we have celebrated our human-size-ness.  That we don’t have it all figured out.  That life cannot be solved like a math equation.  And yet, Jesus still calls us as partners.  Jesus still invites us, with our faith and doubts, to the mountain and empowers us to go out to be embodiments of God’s love. Gulp!  Not so sure I am up for this. 

Yet, I trust this is not an individual project, but a group one.  I don’t go alone but with God ~ Christ before me (remember on Monday we spent time practicing that Jesus is already there before you show up) and the Spirit surrounding us.  We go together, just as the eleven did centuries ago. 

To be clear, you don’t “make” disciples the way I once molded a bowl in art class.  To “make” implies that I have control of someone else.  A better translation here is, “Go forth, discipling.”  Go forth showing and sharing how God’s love makes a difference and makes you different.  Go forth embodying or living God’s love as present in your life.  This is at the heart of an Easter-ing faith to show up and share God’s presence.  We let God have the first, middle, and last word, rather than our own good intentions and agendas.  We disciple (yes, it is a verb) not by fixing or saving or advising someone else ~ after all you really cannot control another person.  We disciple by prayerfully being/living the way of Jesus.  It is a day-to-day; hour-to-hour; minute-by-minute intentional decision.  That the words I speak/share; the ways I walk into the room; the actions I take would be inspired/infused by God.  Or to return to the definition of Spiritual Formation from Tuesday, we are “being formed” ~ that God is not finished with us.  We are both teacher/student.  We are both helper/needing help.  We are both light/in need of light.  When we live the both/and parts we start to get a sense of the already/not yet.  We live in the light of Easter, but realize God’s realm isn’t fully here yet.  Good Friday defeated evil, but didn’t put it out of business.  We continue to listen and show up and be formed and reformed and reformed again by a grace that will never let us go.  When we seek this prayer posture, we begin to sense/live/embody an Easter-ing faith.  Amen.

Easter-ing Faith ~ Don't and Won't

 

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been give to me. Matthew 28:18

Yesterday, we heard how the disciples, standing right in the very presence of the resurrected Jesus, still had questions.  They still were not quite sure.  Contrast that with Jesus today saying that “all authority.”  There is a completeness to Christ.  In Matthew, Jesus is called, “Emmanuel” meaning, “God with us.”  In the flesh of Jesus, we encounter and experience the Eternal and the human blended wholly (fully/holy) together. 

Yet, like the first disciples, our faith has the ants in the pants of doubt.  This is okay.  But the deeper truth is for us to be clear that Jesus is the Christ…not you or me.  That, yes, we are partners in Christ’s service, but we also don’t, and won’t, have it all figured out. 

Richard Rohr says it this way, “The author of The Cloud of Unknowing is always saying you’ve got to balance your knowing with a willingness not to know. The… brain in itself, is incapable of wisdom (fully knowing). We can’t prove (everything beyond a shadow of a doubt). We can’t measure everything (especially the most important things like love). We can’t convince anyone else that we’re right. What the author says is that first we have to enter the Cloud of Forgetting—to forget all our certitudes, all our labels, all our explanations, just forget them! They are all a waste of time. They are nothing but our ego projecting itself and announcing itself. It has nothing to do with objective reality. If the world doesn’t learn this kind of humility, what we’re calling beginner’s mind, I think we’re in trouble.”

To be sure, this is not exactly the script of the world.  We love certainty and confidence and conviction.  Brian McLaren says, “We prefer a confident lie to an uncertain truth.”  We don’t like ambiguity or cloudiness…we want decisive action…and we want it now.  Never mind those needling doubts in the back of your mind.  Never mind how often as humans we have yell, “Charge”…running right off the cliff like Wiley E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner.  This time, we say pounding the pulpit, we are so much more enlightened than our ancestors and the former versions of ourselves.  After all, we reason, we Googled it and watched a YouTube video and attended that Zoom class last week. 

This verse reminds me that I don’t have it all figured out.  My point of view is a view from a point ~ with all my idiosyncrasies and idolatry ~ my faith and doubts.   When I come to the mountain of an Easter-ing faith remembering this, I stop clinging and start opening my hands to receive what Christ can offer.  May you and I find this prayer posture today as we seek to live our Easter-ing faith.  Amen. 

An Easter-ing Faith ~ Worship AND Doubt

 

¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. Matthew 28:17

 

Yesterday, we noted that our spiritual formation involves both intentionally showing up, but that God can work even when we are not paying attention.  There is a beautiful tension in this reality.  My growth lives in the messy middle of both being active and sometimes happens regardless of what I am plotting and planning.  How might this be true for you?

 

Speaking of beautiful tensions, an Easter-ing faith can apparently hold both worship and doubt.  Best line of scripture ever!!  Here are the disciples standing right before Jesus, back in the flesh, before their very eyes, hearing his voice.  And some are singing, “Christ the Lord is risen today…alleluia!!”  And others are like, “I am just not sure that is really Jesus…maybe I should ask to see his driver’s license just to be sure.” 

 

Wait, what?

 

We like to think, “Oh I totally know when I am in God’s presence.”  This verse allows us to bring our doubts out of the shadows where we secretly hide them.  Not only does Jesus seem to invite back the very people who just deserted him in his darkest hour, now these people are doubting that it is really him!  With friends like this who need enemies!

 

So often we make faith sound so certain.  Isn’t faith supposed to move mountains?  Isn’t faith supposed to keep us, “safe and secure from all alarms”?  Isn’t faith supposed to give us peace like a river to attendth our souls?  Or can faith and doubt live peacefully side-by-side.  As Frederick Buechner said, “Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.  They keep you awake and moving. There are two principal kinds of doubts ~ one of the head and the other of the stomach.”

 

I encourage you today to ponder prayerfully the doubts in your head ~ the question that roam free around your mind.  What questions sit unresolved withing you?   For me, I question how to live an Easter-ing faith when the world seems so broken?  Can I really make a difference?  I doubt how effective I can be because (as we named yesterday), I can’t change others.  Plus, I am wonderfully creative in my mistake making ~ finding all new ways to bumble and stumble and fall flat splat on my face.

 

Ah, the joys of being human-sized.  The joy of being human-sized reminds me that an Easter-ing faith has room doubt, the two can hold hands (just as fear and joy did on Easter)…and apparently that didn’t bother Jesus one bit.  So maybe it shouldn’t bother you…me…others…and especially the church as much either.  May you and I experience the good news of that truth in our lives this day.  Amen. 

An Easter-ing Faith part Two

 

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.  Matthew 28:16

 

Last week, we let the Easter story linger and leave an impression on our minds, hearts, souls, and lives.  We let the words of God’s emphatic “Yes” to life sink, simmer, and sing to us ~ infuse and inspire us.  The good news is that Easter is not just one day or week, it is actually a season that lasts fifty days (note this is longer than the 40 days of Lent).  Fifty days to let God roll away stones that define and confine us. This week, we turn to the very end of Matthew’s gospel which is often called, “The Great Commission”.  Or the blessing and sending.  Or, what in the name of all that is holy is Jesus thinking trusting the good news of God’s love to a bunch of people who just a few days ago deserted, denied, and betrayed him!!  Um, Jesus, perhaps you could re-consider if this is really the best move?? 

 

An Easter-ing faith affirms that just as we have faith in God…God has faith in us.  Gulp.  Faith is a two-way street.  Faith isn’t just some gift that we possess as we think, “Mine, all mine” like some James Bond villain ~ insert stroking a cat and evil laughter here.  Faith means God moves toward us as we move toward God (we saw this in the Prodigal Sons narrative of Luke 15, where the father runs out to meet both sons). 

 

An Easter-ing faith begins by showing up.  That is exactly what the disciples do.  One aside here, there is heartbreak and soul ache in that word, “eleven”.  It points to the truth that one of the gang, Judas, didn’t make it to the reunion.  One member of the tribe is no longer present.  We know this to be true from our own stories where there are people who left fingerprints on our hearts, and then did/said something that shattered our souls like a glass hitting the ground scattering into a thousand sharp shards.  We all have relationships that are broken as part of our story.  Who is a person you cared for…and cared about you…then for some unexplainable reason left and even hurt you on the way out the door?  We all know Judas.  This is a reminder that we cannot control/change others.  People have agency and free will.  Others make choices.  We make choices too!  Humans are not just robots.  Or machines in need of an operating system upgrade.  Human brokenness has always been part of the story.

 

The disciples show up.  Which invites/invokes the question, where are you showing up right now?

 

Two thoughts on this ~ first notice that Jesus is already there when the disciples climb the mountain that day.  As you move about your life today, what would it mean to remind yourself that Jesus is already there.  When you walk into the doctor’s waiting room ~ Jesus is there.  When you open to the door for that meeting ~ Jesus is there.  When you sit down for dinner ~ Jesus is there.  Like most of life, we need to be intentional and even say this in our minds.  Or if you are bold and brave say this out loud, “Jesus is here”.  Jesus invites us to notice his presence is already wherever we find ourselves.

 

Second, I am taken by a definition of spiritual growth (which I believe is at the heart of an Easter-ing faith) by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr, “Spiritual formation is a process of being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of other.”  Note, the phrase, “being formed” implies an intentional, on-going, never-ending process and openness.   God is the One who does the forming ~ sometimes whether we show up or are too busy to pay attention.  I invite you to hold these words, let them stew and simmer and sing to your soul in these Easter-ing days.  Amen.

An Easter-ing Faith

 

Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  Matthew 28:10

 

When you rewind and review the videotape called, “Your life,” what are some of the first meaningful moments that formed your faith?  When you look at the photo album of your faith, what snapshots of the sacred do you recall?  Maybe it was a camping experience or a Sunday School teacher or a relative teaching you hymns or a mission trip that rewrote the story you tell yourself about your life. 

 

Jesus wants the disciples (and I love that Matthew says “brothers and sisters!”) to go to Galilee.  Galilee was where Jesus’ ministry all began.  Galilee was where the band of faith was formed and forged in the early days.  Galilee was like going back in time to a reunion. 

 

Perhaps part of an “Easter-ing” faith is what Richard Rohr calls, “transcend and include” or evolve and embrace.  It is so easy for us to be a harsh, hard critic with our previous (read ‘younger’) self.  We can think, “I can’t believe I wore that, thought that, did that…what was I thinking?!?” Yet, that moment, for all it’s brokenness, led you to where you are now.

 

Remember, Jesus is inviting the very people who deserted and denied him to this “happy” reunion.  Jesus is calling the band back together, even though the last time they saw each other didn’t exactly go so swell.  Maybe our past doesn’t need to define or confine us like a tomb.  Maybe we can hold yesterday a bit lighter.  Rob Bell has a great phrase when someone asks him about his past, he will say, “Oh that was 8 Robs ago.”  We continue to grow and evolve.  And in our growth we can judge our past self or we can embrace who we were that guides us to who we are.  When we are kinder to our past self, we can be kinder to those we encounter in the present moment. 

 

An “Easter-ing” faith can embrace the past.  And an “Easter-ing” faith celebrates God isn’t finished with us yet.  We continue to explore, experience, evolve, and embrace not just who we are becoming as well as who we have been.  May God’s inclusive love ~ a love that loves the YOU.  The “you” who wore bell bottom jeans, danced disco, said some things you wish you had not, let your job define your self-worthy, constantly wanted to be busy or…fill in the blank now for all the ways you wish you knew then what you know now ~ God’s love embraces all of you.  This is the Easter-ing truth and good news for our whole lives.  Amen.

An Easter-ing Faith

 

So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.  Matthew 28:8-9

 

Fear and joy holding hands.   Where is that true for you today?

 

Easter-ing faith has room for both fear and joy.  Name your fears, frustrations, irritations, irrational thoughts, and negative emotions that led to cynicism and constant criticism. 

 

There is truth here.

 

Now name your joys…the moments of laughter, goodness, quiet, hopefulness, small changes that mean everything to you, and love that feeds and fuels your life.

 

There is truth here too.

 

Fear and joy…not one or the other…but both and.  Remember the “homework” from Sunday was to get a rock ~ an actual rock ~ and write down what is confining and defining your life in less than life-giving ways.  If you didn’t do that, you can now.  Or you could just get a piece of paper, write down what feels sealed and stored up in you, and crumble the paper to look like a rock.  Then, you set that down.  You let God pick that rock up.  Remember, God can't roll away stones we keep clinging to and trying to control.  The women didn’t roll away the stone, neither do you need to push your rock all the way up the hill alone.  Let God enter.  Find a friend ~ holding the truth that the two Mary went together.  May this invitation open you to Easter continuing to unfold in your life this week.  Amen.   

An Easter-ing Faith

 

For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”  Matthew 28:4-7

 

The guards became like dead men…what a delicious irony.  The guards were placed and put there by Pilot to guard the dead body of Jesus.  Not exactly a high-profile assignment.  I wonder if the guards grumbled and mumbled to themselves as they stood there?  Hold the Bible verse close and you can hear them saying, “Welp, this should make my mom proud!  ‘What did you do today, son?’ she will ask. “Oh, stood outside a tomb making sure nothing happened to a dead body!’  Just living the dream!”  Or maybe the guards were excited to get such an easy assignment.  Maybe they fell asleep during the night, after all there was a stone in front of the tomb, and if someone came for the body they would hear that noise.

 

Resurrection happens when the powers that be think they have the status quo protected/ contained and confined.

 

Easter-ing faith happens while no one is looking or giving you a ‘like’ on social.  Maybe even when you are not looking!

 

New life, gospel, happens in the stone-cold darkness that suddenly surprises everyone.

 

There are moments I wake up and realize something has changed right before my eyes, but I didn’t notice it!  This could be from the mundane (gray hairs that now congregate having an unwelcome party in my hair) to moments around the church that far exceed my planning and preparation and expectations.  Resurrection, new life, and Easter-ing faith will always surprise us.

 

How can you be surprised each day?  This is meant to be an odd question.  To be sure this isn’t about preparation, but perception.  You cannot “plan” to be surprised, rather the very definition says we won’t expect the moment, but will receive it.  Yet, the cultural script is just keep on keeping on…nothing new to see here…just keep your head down because things aren’t getting better.  Despair tells you that you already know the ending of the story ~ and it isn’t great.  Easter-ing faith disrupts that narrative. 

 

Are you willing to be open and curious and practice a way of life that not only notes/names the Easters happening today…but might be willing to participate in some as well?  May that question move in your hearts and cause you to live differently today.  Amen.

An Easter-ing Faith

 

Art by Brenda Robinson

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow.  Matthew 28:2-3

 

Welp, didn’t see that coming!  Talk about a Hollywood flair for the dramatic.  Matthew goes all Steven Spielberg here with an earthquake (that is, Creation as God’s first testament of life and good news reveals the truth) and an angel (that is, a messenger of God) wearing dazzling clothing comes and pushes the rock away. 

 

Easter-ing faith doesn’t play by the rules of the world.  Easter-ing faith will perplex us ~ baffle us and cause bewilderment to stir within us.  Easter-ing faith opens us to God’s presence.  And I love that it is the two Marys who are the first disciples to become apostles ~ or said another way ~ they are the first students to become teachers/embody-er/practitioners of good news. 

 

Ask yourself, who is going to believe them?  If someone came up to you with the above words or story today, you would probably politely nod and look for the nearest exit/escape.  This Hollywood inspired scene stretches us to what we think can really happen in the world today.  Perhaps that is part of the Easter-ing faith.  There is a faithful objection within Easter to any report of any human to understand God.  That if I think I know God, that may not be God.  That as humans we create God in our image, rather than let the mystery of God continually recreate us in God’s image.   

 

Easter-ing faith will push the boundaries of what others/world/even people in church might think of as acceptable.  But nevertheless, God’s work in this world isn’t finished.  Pay particular attention to the setting ~ a graveyard.  I wonder if too often we are looking for signs, not amid/among the tombs of life, but in posh/polished places where events like the first Easter might break the fine China plates. 

 

Easter-ing faith will disrupt and interrupt the orderliness and carefully curated-ness we all strive for in the world today. 

 

As we continue to play with what it means to embody/life an Easter faith, what is one bold way you today might step out/step toward what another may call “foolish”?  May that question provoke you to a place or a person that might be unexpected…and may that moment create change…even if there is no accompanying earthquake or angel visit.  May you know an Easter-ing love of God that feeds and fuels your actions and words in the world today.  Amen. 

An Easter-ing Faith

Art by Brenda Robinson

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.  Matthew 28:1

 

So, here we are on the day after Easter.  The jellybeans are picked over; the ears of the chocolate bunny are gone; the Easter lily sitting on your counter filling your house with fragrance; the leftovers of dinner last night sit next to the eggs you colored/dyed in the refrigerator. 

 

What do you do today?

 

That question was the Mary Magdalene and the other Mary’s question who went to the tomb.  What do you do after you have cried all the tears you can amid the Good Fridays of life?  What do you do after you have tried your best to worship and utter the printed prayers?  What do you do after Easter that promises to change our life, but today looks suspiciously like last Monday?

 

We don’t know why the two Marys went to the tomb.  In other gospels, the women carry spices to anoint/prepare Jesus’ body in death.  They have a purpose and plan, which we all love so much.  But here we are told Mary and Mary wanted to see the tomb.

 

Maybe wanted to see if Jesus’ death was real, or just some nightmare.  Maybe wanted to see if the sermons Jesus preached about resurrection might possibly be true.  Maybe they didn’t even have a great reason or rational, but the anxiety and sorrow and pain in their bodies created energy that had to escape somehow, somewhere so they went to the tomb. 

 

Why do we do what we do today?

 

For me, Easter is not just a day or a season, Easter is a way of life.  Easter is not some churchy celebration that we can now get past, Easter is a verb ~ a way to be ~ that is open and curious and wants to see what God is up to in the world today. 

 

Perhaps Easter should not be a noun and more Easter-ing as a verb ~ which I totally realize is NEVER going to trend on social media or be included in the dictionary.  An Easter-ing faith will cause us not just to celebrate but be willing to go to the tombs that are still part of life today.  Tomb where we won’t immediately make a difference or impact, where maybe we have no influence whatsoever ~ because the two Marys certainly didn’t have power or position ~ but they went anyway.  Easter-ing faith asks us to go…go to the places and spaces and people who are outside the safe walls of life…venture into the places where the powers that be keep guard…and we show up ~ because God is already there. 

 

Play with that word, “Easter-ing” with me this week.  Take time today to describe and define how Easter can actively be part of who you are and what you do.  Embrace and embody this way of being in the world today.  And come back tomorrow to keep finding ways to Easter your faith this year.  Amen.

 

The Silence of Saturday

 

Today, just be in silence.  Today, sit outside in stillness.  Today, give your inner critic the day off; tell the giants on your shoulders go to Starbucks for a coffee break; the people who want to “fix” you that they can take a vacation; the dishes in the sink to wait; the laundry to stay unfolded; Netflix to stay unwatched; the book unread; let your life speak.  Let God speak, sing, or simply sit with you in silence ~ for silence is God’s first/native language.  May God meet you, as God met Elijah in the wilderness and Jesus on the mountain, in the sound of sheer silence that moves our souls to be awake now and always. Amen. 

The "Good" of Good Friday

 

How can today be “Good”?

When the pain of the cross looms large.

When God’s love incarnate cries out forsaken and breaths his last.

When we hang our heads in despair because it seems like once again the powers-that-be have killed hope, peace, love, and joy.

What exactly is good about today?

Perhaps not “good”, but this is God’s Friday.

God’s Friday where suffering and pain and death are not evidence against God but God’s address of self-emptying.

God’s Friday where sighs and cries and anger and injustice are not void of the Holy, but held closer to the Divine than we will ever know.

God’s Friday not with easy, bummer sticker phrases about things happening for a reason or all will be alright in the end, but God’s Friday where the Holy fiercely faces most painful parts of life.

God’s love on a cross is good news for those of us holding crosses right now.  Crosses of discrimination due to race, who you love, and who God created you to be.  Crosses of cancer and medical issues that harshly reveal our human-size-ness.  Crosses of broken relationships, redemptive violence, shattered dreams, and just trying to get by.  Crosses of polarization and politicalization and people threating to leave the tribe unless you conform to their way of thinking.  Crosses of litmus tests.  Crosses of control.  Crosses of bullying and bulldozing and treating others like a punching bag.

What cross do you carry today?  How can you name that, invite God into that, and let God be part of that?  Because in this way, we might not discover, “goodness” but maybe we will sense grace and love we need now more than ever.  Amen.

The "Maundy" of Maundy Thursday

 

Service tonight at 7 pm ~ in the sanctuary and online

The word “Maundy” means commandment.

Not like one of Caesar’s demands or decrees, but a Divine way of being.

This commandment isn’t about taxes or money.

This commandment isn’t about allegiance or where you align politically.

This commandment isn’t about the balance of your bank account or your car or even your membership cards in your wallet.

 

Jesus’ commandment is one word, “Love”.

Wait, what?

 

At the Last Supper, Jesus talked about “love” to the very ones who would deny, desert, and betray him.

At the Last Supper, Jesus preached about “love” even as his soul ached with anxiety of the looming cross.

At the Last Supper, Jesus summarized the good news, Gospel of God, was in one word, “Love”.

 

Perhaps as the church, as the ones who claim to follow Jesus, we have been all too good at setting up other commandments rather than exploring and embodying this one.

 

We have written By-laws and organized committee meetings and preached sermons and gathered small groups.

We have midweek messages, morning mediations, emails, and spreadsheets.

We have processes and buildings and structures.

We have cultures to tend and stands to take.

 

But how is “Love” getting the first, middle, and last word in our lives?  In your life?

But how is “Love” at the center of who we are, because it is at the core of Whose we are?

God is love.

Jesus is love incarnate, in the flesh, breath and bone.

The Holy Spirit is the movement of love.

 

Yet, we are not quite convinced that such a way will really work in a world, will love really trend on Twitter?  Will “love” get likes on social media?  Isn’t it quicker to make a quip about that new policy or news story with criticism or cynicism or trying to show how smart we are?

 

Perhaps that this the most difficult (even demanding) part of love…it’s patience and willingness and openness to our/each other’s humanness.  Love asks that we turn away from chasing success in all its shiny forms to realize what we deeply desire.

 

So tonight, bring your brokenness to worship…for that is where Christ meets us.

So tonight, bring your worn out and weariness for that is where Christ is discovered.

So tonight, bring your prayers to the Garden of Gethsemane.

So tonight, bring those Peter-like moments you stayed on the sidelines and shadows afraid.

So tonight, bring those moments you ran away because of you couldn’t face the pain.

So tonight, bring the pain and the ache and the despair to a table…

And tonight, may you encounter and experience love that will never let you go.