Midweek Reflection for the Second Week of Easter 2020

You may need to click through to YouTube to view this...

Thoughts about Holy Saturday

                Christ in Limbo (1442) - Fra Angelico- Museo di San Marco, Florence Italy



He descended into hell.

This line from the Apostles Creed always puzzled me as a child. I could understand what came right before it – “Was crucified, dead, and buried” but, hell? What was that about?
Later I learned that some of our Christian tradition (mostly Orthodox, Roman Catholic and some Anglicans) holds that this refers to what is known as the Harrowing of Hell by Jesus Christ which occurred on this day in the calendar- Holy Saturday. The painting below, by Fra Angelico, depicts this event in a strong and wonderful way. It shows the triumphant Christ beating down the door with unstoppable force– notice especially the demon under the door and the cracks on the floor.
It’s helpful to understand that Hell -referred to in the Old Testament as Sheol - is not the same as Gehenna or Hades – the place of torment. Sheol is the place of the dead – a kind of holding place. In some times past, Sheol was also referred to as Limbo.
The teaching is that, in his victory over death, the Lord has utterly destroyed Sheol and freed the righteous (Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, Elijah and so many others) who dwelt there so that they could be eternally united with God who had called them into being. (1 Pet. 3:19-20; 1 Pet. 4.6, Eph. 4.9). I rejoice in this.
Today, though, what speaks to me most is that this is a most lovely example of the hidden work of God. In his death, Christ stepped outside of the bonds and burdens of chronological time, and was at work. Laid in the tomb, he had vanished from our sight and yet he was at work.
On occasion in this life, we are given glimpses of our God at work in and around us. More often, though, we are called to trust that, even unseen, God is present and at work . From time to time, we may be, in retrospect, blessed with understanding what that work has been. Most often, though, we may only understand on the other side of Eternity how God has been at work in and through us. The Harrowing of Hell seems to say to me today that even in the midst of pandemic, anguish and death, our God is at work. May we trust this more deeply and rest in its truth. And, on this Holy Saturday, may you and yours know the explosive joy and freedom of Resurrection power anew!

Palm-Passion A 2023- They all forsook him and fled.

 

The Arrest of Christ - Pavel Popov

Palm Passion Sunday –A  2023    “And they all forsook him and fled”

We belong to a God whose has an intense, passionate desire for relationship with us…  And, he has come a very long way to claim us.

The extent of God’s faithfulness, his chesed (his covenantal- loving kindness)  is beyond human comprehension.  But we can catch glimpses of it.. especially today and this week.

This morning we come to Palm Passion Sunday in which we participate in recognizing Jesus of Nazareth as the long awaited one –,the one who is our brother, and who has come to claim us as his beloved..his people…

Today, we step outside of time, and join with the people of Jerusalem of so long ago – indeed, people through all of the ages – and today, Christians around the world to shout Hosanna and proclaim him as the Messiah – the anointed one of God…and then, like them, just a short time later – for us – just moments, we have join with them in abandoning our brother and calling for his death.

In Matthew’s account of  the betrayal at Gethsemane, the arrest, trial, crucifixion and death of Jesus – the theme of abandonment looms large.

Jesus goes to wrestle with the his call for loving faithfulness unto death, and asks his three closest friends to pray for him while he is in great distress – and they go to sleep. If your best friend was weeping and wrestling with something  100 paces away and asked you to keep vigil; - to pray and watch – would you go to sleep?  How often we do go to sleep, though,  we go to sleep in our relationships with God and with each other …. Here is one of the hard questions of this particular Sunday:  Have we fallen asleep in our relationship with the One who would give everything for us and to us?

As Jesus prayed, the police came to arrest him – led by Judas who betrayed him with a kiss and the salute – “Rabbi” and  then gives him the kiss of peace and friendship.  

When I was preparing this sermon, I did a web search for the top ten traitors in history.  The group included:  Guy Fawkes; Brutus; and Benedict Arnold.  Who is still number one?  Judas Iscariot...

He seems to stand out...but let me ask you..have you ever betrayed a friend or someone dear to you?      

As the police move to arrest Jesus, Matthew tells us, v.56 – in some of the most poignant words  ever written in bible or elsewhere – “ and they all forsook him and fled.” 

Jesus is arrested, is tried, and is fully rejected by those, who among all of the peoples of the earth,  he desired the most.  He is, as you heard, tried, condemned,  tortured, crucified, mocked in his death  - still very much alone – dies with the words of  the first verse of Psalm 22 on his lips –  “Why have you abandoned me? 

And where are the friends? Where is the support system – the text tells us, the women watched from a distance ---And where is Peter, who said “no matter what, even if it comes to the point of death I will not abandon you – as did the rest of the disciples – Where is Peter during Jesus’ trial – In the courtyard , denying to anyone who asks that he even knows Jesus – and in this case, it is a serving girl who asks – since she is referred to as a girl – she could be 8 or 10 yrs old. 

Let’s compare Jesus and Peter – Jesus has determined that he will remain faithful to the Father’s plan for the reconciliation of the world at the cost – if need be – the most precious thing he has to give – his life – and he chooses to lay it down.  Making this choice is not an exercise in serenity – he prays, he weeps, he asks “Is there another way?”  And, yet , in the end he says, “Thy will be done”

Peter, on the other hand, is trying everything he can  to save his own skin– he will not let himself be revealed as Jesus’ disciple – as Jesus’ friend – and is willing to betray everyone and everything dear to himself.  His response is “My will be done”.

 Here is another hard question for this day: Are our lives, “My will be done” or Thy will be done?  

How do we abandon Jesus?  By going to sleep, not paying attention, by betraying him with a show of commitment that is only a kiss deep, by denying that we even know him when the heat is on, and by turning away and forgetting that He is there at all.

In the  gospel,  we see a dark picture of abandonment.  Yet, it is unfolded against the backdrop of God’s faithfulness – which does not waver, and does not depend on us…yes, our God has come a very long way to claim us … 

A story that show us this comes from the 5th century  - from the Desert Fathers and Mothers traditions…One of the fathers was named Abba Abraham. For nearly 50 years, Abraham ate neither bread nor meat, because of a vow he took before God. His life was simple, quiet and devoted. One day his only brother died, leaving a daughter Mary as an orphan. Abraham adopted Mary and housed her in the outer room of his cell in the monastery. Through the small window between the two rooms, Abraham taught Mary the Psalms and other passages of Scripture. She eagerly prayed and sang with her uncle and even abstained from eating meat and rich food as he did. For 20 years Mary lived with Abraham in full devotion to God. 

One day a man came to visit Abraham in order to learn from him. He was overcome with desire for Mary and seduced her.  When the would be disciple was gone, she was weighed down with regret and self-condemnation and felt as if she had shamed her uncle, herself, and her God. Silently, without speaking to anyone, she traveled to a distant city, taking refuge in a brothel. Abraham was greatly grieved at her departure. In prayer, the life she was living  was revealed to him. After two years of seeking, he discovered where she was and exactly what she did.  Abraham developed a plan.

He disguised himself as an army officer, complete with a large hat and coat. The normally quiet monk swaggered into the main room of the inn and bellowed, "I hear you have a fine young girl here named Mary. Let me have a look at her." When they were introduced, the blessed Abraham nearly dissolved in grief to see her. But, disguising his grief, he said in a loud voice, "I've come a long way for the love of Mary!" Abraham invited the woman to join him for a large meal. Though his stomach had not tasted meat or most of the other rich foods for nearly 50 years, he ate and drank with gusto. When the meal was over, the young girl invited him to come up to her room.

Once upstairs, Mary knelt to untie his shoes. Taking off his hat, the old man looked at her and softly said, "I've come a long way for the love of Mary." Immediately she recognized her dear uncle. At first she resisted the old man's invitation to return to their home. "I cannot even look at you," she cried. "I am so full of shame." Then Abraham told Mary stories of Christ forgiving and freeing a woman who later repaid him by washing his feet with her hair and her tears. He told other powerful stories of men and women healed and restored and, through them, Mary remembered the great redeeming love of the Savior. But of even more importance to her was the action of her uncle. She realized what a great sacrifice he had made to break his vow for her. She knew how much he loved her, and through that love she could imagine God's love for her.

Our God loves you this much…and is willing to come a very long way for you..

It is this same God, made known to us in Jesus Christ, who pleads for us to stay awake, to hold fast to him, to not turn away..but to stay by his side..as he surely stays by ours…

 So, Let’s keep watch today and all of this week. So that, we can hear the question our God asks us  in a new way –– “are you here…are you with me….?”   So that  through the everlasting mercy and grace of God,  we might be able to answer – Yes, Lord.  I am with you.  AMEN.

Let us pray, Pour out on us, O God, a new desire to hold fast to you…to stay by your side, to stay awake, to not abandon you..and when we turn away, give to us the grace to turn back to you…for sake of your love made known to us for all eternity - Through Jesus Christ our Lord..  Amen.

Midweek Reflection for Lent 5

Here is the link to a midweek reflection for this week.  This will take you to YouTube.

Lent 4C - Stuck in a Ditch - 2022

 Lent 4C – 2022 – Stuck in a Ditch with the Prodigal  - JC Olbrych  - St. Mark’s Charleston

Some years back I was making a retreat at Holy Savior Priory near Pineville  - it was a house and retreat center for the Order of the Holy Cross – an Episcopal Men’s religious order (did you know there are Episcopal monks and nuns?) .. I had gone for a day of quiet sometime in Lent.. the house was set back from the highway and the access was by an unpaved road several miles long, leading through woods, soybean fields, and cow pastures.  The day passed quickly, and I felt anxious to get home and back to town for a meeting later that night.

As I traveled in my car down the length of that red dirt road, I came around a curve – moving just a little too fast and ran right into a big mud slick.  After a few moments of being sickeningly out of control, the car slid into a ditch on the side of the road. What a nuisance! I was unhurt.  The car was unhurt, and I thought, alright, let’s get out of here.  I tried to maneuver gently out of the ditch... nothing happened.  I tried changing gears and rocking the car back and forth.  Still, nothing happened.  Growing angry (now, remember I had just spent all day praying), I got out of the car and walked around to see what the problem was. Then I saw it.. two wheels suspended in the air and not a snowball’s chance of getting myself out of that ditch. No recourse but to walk all the way down that long road back to the main house and get help.

I stomped down the road.  I said to myself, “What’s the matter with these monks.. why don’t they pave this blank road.  They must have known that mud was there, why didn’t they at least put some gravel down?”  and many other words to that effect.  At some point, I began to notice that something was happening in the pasture along the right side of the road.  Every single cow, or so it appeared and there were thirty or so, had come over to the fence and seemed to be watching me as I came stomping by.  I had the strangest feeling.. it was as if each one commented as I went by.. “the problem is the road?” the first one seemed to say wordlessly with deep brown eyes. “Poor Jennie” from the next one. “It’s the monk’s fault? “ from another and so on,,, 

By the time I had made it back up the road to the house, I felt like I had been tried, found guilty, and sentenced by those cows, but I was still angry and frustrated.  Tom got the tractor and a rope, and we had  ridden down almost to the very end of the road where the car was when he turned to me and said, “Just how fast were you going?”  He pulled me out the ditch, gave me a hug and sent me on my way... I did not have much to say to myself on the way home.. Some retreat , I thought.  Some retreat indeed.

The topic of the sermon on this fourth Sunday of Lent is repentance and honestly it’s a little challenging to think about how to talk about our need for this, but if we can grasp this image- of being stuck in a ditch that we can’t get ourselves out of,  it will be easier to understand.  Because, in our life in God, the only thing that gets us out of the ditch is repentance.

I want to take a moment to remind you of the meaning of the word repentance. The Greek word behind this one is metanoia  which literally means a turn or change (meta) of mind (noia).  So, repentance is a 180 degree turn  or a transformation of one’s thinking.

Being stuck metaphorically in a ditch was something the younger son had to grapple with in today’s parable from Jesus.  He had, in the most ungracious way, demanded his inheritance, had blown it all, and found himself working for a farmer taking care of – and living with - the pigs. That was about as low as you could get as a Jew. He got so hungry that the slop the pigs were eating started to look good to him.  That was moment of reckoning.   I love how Jesus puts it... and when he came to himself.  That was the moment when the reality of how stuck he was finally hit home.  It’s the moment when we finally can ask – where am I, what am I doing?  - and to look with open and honest eyes and hearts at what our situation truthfully is.  Not what we would like it to be.. not what we fantasize it might be ..but what it actually is...seen clearly and honestly.

The car is stuck in the ditch, the young man  has blown it badly,  we find ourselves stuck - seemingly locked into a situation with no way out.

As you all know, there are many ways and reasons we get stuck and we keep ourselves from that key moment of repentance – that moment of coming to ourselves...Sometimes it’s because guilt about the past is too heavy or we continue carrying  painful unhealed memories which  keep us shackled to the past.. things done and left undone which brought injury to others and ourselves...or we realize how far we have wandered away from God  and ourselves– perhaps in anger, perhaps in indifference ... but wander, we have...

I once knew a woman, a very active church member, who as a result of a horribly traumatic death of a family member said, “I realized I stopped speaking to God for years.. I kept going to church and kept going through the motions, but I was not speaking to God because, I blamed God for what had happened. What I did not realize”, she continued, “was that God was as grieved as I was and, that, by turning away, I robbed myself of the comfort and the peace that only Jesus can give.”  That was also repentance – perhaps not in the way we would normally think of it.

Repentance brings resolution in which we can at last hand over the burden to God who heals, forgives and gently turns our faces to the present and to the future and in doing so restores hope.  We still have to deal with the consequences of our actions (or inaction) but the air is clear and we get pulled out of the ditch.

Can you see this movement toward the future and the restoration of hope in the parable?

The young man  had the grace to realize that  he could not return home in the same capacity as the beloved younger son.   He had burnt his bridges pretty well.  So, as we heard.. he said even the hired hands at my father’s house have enough food, I will go back and ask my father  to hire me as one of his field hands.   He took honest stock of his situation, he remembered the generosity of his father, and he turned toward the future -  all of these part of the process of repentance.  And, what a response he received, what a welcome from the father who had never given up and who kept looking for him on the road - looking for him long before the young man came to himself.

So three parts to repentance:   three R’s

1.Recognizing what our actual situation is- what is the ditch in which I am stuck? Recognizing how badly we have stumbled...And that we need help  and that my, your, our life needs to change and we need to be willing to turn it around.

2.  Remembering who God is as revealed to us in Jesus Christ  ... the God of grace, mercy,  healing, forgiveness and new life.

3.  Reaching out to  that same Jesus Christ – and holding on to his cross – for he is the one who through his reconciling death on the cross has pulled all of creation out of the ditch.

So, recognize our need, remember the great love and mercy of God in Christ, and then reach out to that same Jesus Christ and hold fast to the Cross.

And – here is something else to hold onto .. at the very moment when we are able to finally turn around – to repent- when we come to the crossroad times...we can trust that God is standing right beside us....God always gets to our crossroads, to our ditch before we do and meets us threre.  Just ponder that for a minute.

There’s something I’d like to show you in the prayerbook –

Please turn with me to p. 42.. its the declaration of forgiveness that follows the Rite I, Morning Prayer confession....

Here is what I want you to notice and remember. Look at the order..

1.  The almighty and merciful Lord grants us absolution and remission of all our sins... that’s the very first thing happens...this is the father keeping an eye out for his lost son or daughter...this is the ground and fact of forgiveness....

2. Which leads us to true repentance...and look what follows next...

3.  Amendment of life – when we trust that God has forgiven us, and we have truly repented... then our lives change...

4. and that change is sustained by the fourth element –the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit – that is, a deepening awareness of Christ living in us and with us in a companionship that can sustain us forever.

So, the question for us this Fourth Sunday in Lent – Where are you stuck?  Where are we stuck as a church?  As a nation? Where do we need to get honest and repent so we can get out of the ditch?

I want to invite us into a moment of silence – and suggest that you ask God, in trust and faith in his mercy and abundant forgiveness,  to show you where you need repentance... 

Silence...

Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you do not desire the death of sinners but rather that we might turn away from all that separates us from you... and that, turning toward you, we might live in newness of life through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.