The Feast of Freedom

Christ the Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed!
Bread and Wine Reading: "The Feast of Freedom", Jurgen Moltmann

Scripture Reading: Mark 16: 1-8When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Christ the Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed!

Jurgen Moltmann characterizes the Christian faith as “the beginning of God’s rebellion.” What an incredible phrase! The “usuals” of life—injustice, pain, suffering, even death—God has defeated! It is not that they are bypassed, not that they are creatively avoided. (That’s what we are good at doing!) They have been defeated! They are no more. Moltmann says that “the Easter faith recognizes that the raising of the crucified Christ from the dead provides the great alternative to this world of death. This faith sees the raising of Christ as God’s protest against death; for the Easter faith recognizes God’s passion for the life of the person who is threatened by death and with death.”

And yet, as death is defeated, something must be put in its place. That something is life! On this morning, as the stone is rolled away, the dawn bursts forth and God breathes new life into each of us. Death is no more! Death has been swallowed up by life! The dance of life has begun and God is asking you to dance! Your eternity, your salvation, has already begun. You just have to listen to the music!

I’ve always loved the image of salvation that R. Paul Stevens depicts in The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective. He claims that salvation and our vocation as Christians are both a “rescue operation” (rescuing us from our inhumanness, from our sins) and a “completion project” (completing what God had started in us so long ago, completing that “image of God” in each of us!). In his view, “the last thing we do is the first thing we think about. If we want to have a party with a cake, we first think about the party, then the cake. Then we obtain the ingredients and turn the oven up. We do not first turn on the oven, go out to buy the ingredients, and then plan the party. God envisioned the final party and then “thought up” creation. The whole of our human existence makes sense in the light of the eschaton, the end.” The party is not in full swing yet, but we have the invitation and we hear the music wafting over our lives.

Christ the Lord is Risen! He is risen indeed!
We have risen, dying to self, we have risen! We have risen indeed!
What, then, are you going to do with your new life?

Final Thoughts:
As we come to the end of this “blog study”, I am in awe of the wonderful journey that we have experienced together. I’m curious, though. What did you think of it? Did it help you? Is it something that you would like to do again? Let me know! I would love to know who participated with me! I know it’s a pain to comment on the blog (Not sure what to do about that at this point!), but I hope that you will email me and, first of all, let me know that you participated and secondly, let me know your thoughts. If you don’t know my email, go through the St. Paul’s website at stpaulshouston.org and click on “About St. Paul’s” and then “Staff” and there’s a link through which you can email me. I’m also on Facebook (having finally bowed to the lesser gods of social networking!).
I do plan to do future studies like this. It’s a good outlet for me to write and it’s a good discipline for all of us. I’ll definitely do something for Advent and Lenten seasons (and hopefully I can also figure out how to “repost” daily posts from this one!) but I’d also like to do something this summer. If you let me know your email, I’ll let you know when I do that!

Thank you again for blessing me by allowing me to be part of your Lenten journey!

Happy Easter…go forth with new life!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

The End is Life

Bread and Wine Reading: "The End is Life", Frederick Buechner
Scripture Reading: Matthew 27: 57-66
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

In some ways this text is almost more menacing than yesterday’s. The act of sealing the tomb means that it really is the end. And, apparently, Pilate wanted that. After all, he couldn’t be made to look like a fool if Jesus proves true to his word. “Make is as secure as you can,” he commands. After all, we can’t have this Jesus character showing up again. He HAS to be dead. But he also fears that Jesus’ followers might do something sneaky by stealing the body and making it LOOK like what Jesus said had really come to be. They were apparently a little afraid.

What must the disciples have been thinking? They were, of course, still grieving deeply for the loss of their friend and teacher. But, think about it. On some level they were perhaps anxious about what might or might not happen. After all, if Jesus did not emerge from death, what was the whole about? But, on the other hand, if he DID, what would that mean for them? It would mean that they finally had to step up and be Christ in this world and that’s probably the scariest of all.

We do the same. As long as the whole birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ remains a 1st century phenomenon to us, we can relegate it to something from which we can learn. We can emulate who Christ was. As Frederick Buechner says, “We can say that the story of the resurrection means simply that the teachings of Jesus are immortal like the plays of Shakespeare or the music of Beethoven and that their wisdom and truth will live on forever…Or we can say that the language in which the Gospels describe the resurrection of Jesus is the language of poetry. Instead it is simply proclaimed as a fact. Christ is risen!”

What, then, does that mean for us? On this Holy Saturday, what does it mean if the stone is rolled away? It means, as Buechner put it, that “in the end, [God’s] will, not ours, is done. Love is the victor. Death is not the end. The end is life. His life and our lives through him, in him. Existence has greater depths of beauty, mystery, and benediction than the wildest visionary has ever dared to dream. Christ our Lord has risen.”

The stone is sealed. Fate’s path has been chosen. And now we wait. We stare at that stone hoping against hope that it is not a religious farce, that we have not been duped somewhere along the way. But, when the stone is rolled away, are you really ready for what is about to happen? Are you really ready for life?

Discussion Questions:
1.) What feelings do you have as the stone is sealed?
2.) What doubts do you have about the Resurrection? (Oh, come on…did you think you were the only one?)
3.) Are you ready for what is to come? Are you ready for life? What does that look like for you right now?

Just wait…wait for the tomb to be rolled away…wait for life!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

Jesus Gives All

Bread and Wine Reading: "Jesus Gives All", Henri Nouwen

Scripture Reading: John 13: 1-7, 31b-35
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”…“Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Henri Nouwen makes the claim that Jesus’ two acts of washing the feet of the disciples and offering his body and blood as food and drink belong together. Nouwen contends that together they make up of the fullness of God’s love. We’ve heard it before: Love God with your whole being, offering everything that you are and you’re your neighbor as yourself. They cannot be separated. Nouwen says that “Jesus calls us to continue his mission of revealing the perfect love of God in this world. He calls us to total self-giving. He does not want us to keep anything for ourselves. Rather, he wants our love to be as full, as radical, and as complete as his own.”

The loving God part is something that, intellectually, we understand. We’re supposed to love the one who created us. But what does that mean? If God loves us, why does God want us to surrender those things that are important to us? Why does God want us to give up everything that we have, everything that makes us who we are? The reason…is that God wants us to be who we were created to be. And part of who were created to be is a creature who gives of oneself radically, completely, just as Christ did.

But this washing feet thing…what is that about? Feet are personal; feet are intimate; touching someone’s feet is an act of love, isn’t it? Exactly. The first time that I participated in a symbolic footwashing on Maundy Thursday, I was reticent. Would this be uncomfortable? But kneeling down, taking someone’s feet in my hands, pouring water, and gently caressing them was nothing like I expected. I felt in those feet where they had been; I felt in those feet the lines of the paths they had walked; I felt in those feet the pain and the joys that they had experienced in their lives.

There is an alternative medicine form called reflexology that has been around for as long as 5,000 years. It’s claim is that the foot carries patterns of what the rest of the body feels, what the rest of the body experiences. I don’t really embrace it, although it’s interesting. I will tell you, though, that it may not be that far off. Our feet connect us to others. They touch the earth; they carry us; they lead us into new experiences. Our feet are the first to feel cold, the first to feel the warmth of the earth, the first to step into a hot bath, the first to brave the chill of cold water. They are the first off the step in the morning. And they are the first that carry us to our next point on our journey. Maybe this is what Jesus knew—that by washing the feet of those whom he served, he was cleansing the world that was connected to them and setting them on their path.

I guess after he finished washing their feet, they finished the meal. They ate the bread; they drank the wine. Essentially, Jesus cleansed the world and then gave of himself as sustenance. We are called to be self-giving, to give all that there is of us to God and to others. And when we are emptied of all that we think we are, Jesus says, “Take, eat…fill yourself…eat and drink all the sustenance that you need…in remembrance of me.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What does it mean for you to love God with your whole being?
2.) What are those things that you might have to surrender to become who God intends you to be?
3.) Look at your own feet. Where have they been? Where are they going? Imagine the Christ washing your feet. What does that mean?

So go forth toward the Cross…Do this in remembrance of me!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

Waiting for Judas

Bread and Wine Reading: "Waiting for Judas", Madeleine L’Engle

Scripture Reading: John 13: 21-32
After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

Madeleine L’Engle contends that “if we are brave enough to accept our monsters, to love them, to kiss them, we will find that we are touching not the terrible dragon that we feared, but the loving Lord of all Creation.” And yet, for centuries, Christians have been deeply bothered by Judas and the account of his betrayal of Jesus. We have let the other disciples grow up to be heroes and saints but Judas, the quintessential “bad seed,” is relegated to the hell pile. It was just a kiss. But it was the kiss of betrayal. And so, poor Judas is forever the monster of monsters, the dragon of dragons. But did we ever stop to ask Judas why he did that? Perhaps he really was bad. But maybe…just maybe…maybe Judas thought he knew best, thought that he could prove that he was on the “winning side” when Jesus, hero though he was, saved himself from death. Maybe Judas just got a little overzealous in trying to prove himself right. We don’t want to consider that because then we might see ourselves in the dragon.

Madeleine L’Engle relates an old legend that many of us have heard before: After his death Judas found himself at the bottom of a slimy pit. After a thousand years of weeping his repentance, he looked up and saw a tiny glimmer of light. After contemplating it for yet another thousand years, he began to climb. He slid and climbed and slid and climbed and slid back again. Years later, he finally made it. At the top, he dragged himself into an upper room with twelve people seated around a table. “We’ve been waiting for you, Judas,” Jesus said. “We couldn’t begin till you came.”

Judas…even Judas…is forgiven and the table waits, his chair in place. We are so quick to send him to our image of hell, as if that somehow validates our own discretions. But Christ raises him up and seats him at the table. Perhaps we should not be too hasty to remove the empty chairs or close the doors of our spaces. Who are we to say who the Christ has invited to the party? The truth is that Christ invites all who have come to an ending, all who have left their lives behind, all who want to start again. We are all betrayers and we are all beloved. And then we are back where we started. “In the beginning, God created….and it was very, very good.”

Discussion Questions:
1.) Who are you labeling the betrayer?
2.) What is your image of that table to which Christ invites us?
3.) What is it that you need to let go so that you can be created again?

So go forth toward the Cross…Christ is waiting with Judas, inviting you to come!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli

Thirsting

Bread and Wine Reading: "Thirsting", Alexander Stuart Baillie

Scripture Reading: John 12: 24-33
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Thirsting is a normal part of our human experience. It describes a profound human need. But when we become convinced that our desires are our needs, perhaps we are then thirsting for the wrong things. It is no less destructive than drinking saltwater. No matter how much you drink, your thirst will not be quenched. Alexander Baillie says that “there are those who thirst for everything save righteousness. Their lives are so engrossed and encompassed within the limits of their world of time-space that they forget that there might be some other relations to life. Such crass limitations make life little and cramped. But shutting out the Eternal, they lose all that is truly worthwhile. They forget that life abundant is not to be found within their little cosmos of human desires.”

We are all guilty of this—of narrowing that for which we thirst to things that we ourselves can obtain. Baillie cites the human thirst for wealth, for pleasure, or for a certain level in life, a certain rank or station. But in the depth of our souls, in that deepest God-image place that resides in us all, is an incredible thirst for the Divine. As St. Augustine said, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and we cannot find rest until we find it in Thee.” Only God can quench our thirst for the Divine.

In the Scripture passage, Jesus promised that as he was lifted up, as he was carried away from the hopelessness and despair of this world, he would draw all people to himself. All would have their thirst quenched by the Divine. But in order to be lifted up, the self that one has created must die away. No longer can there be an attachment to this world—to wealth, to pleasure, to the place that one has obtained for oneself in life. Those are meaningless. But God through Christ offers a life that will always quench our thirst—a life with the Divine forever walking with us, a life for which our true self thirsts.

Baillie says that “one needs to keep on thirsting because life grows and enlarges. It has no end; it goes on and on; it becomes more beautiful…[One] cannot be satisfied until [one] attains unto the stature of Jesus, unto a perfect [human], and ever thirsts for God.” We all thirst for God in our deepest being. But it is only when we become fully human, the image in which we were made, with the mind of the Christ, that we will know that God created us to thirst for nothing but God. It is that thirst for the Divine that glorifies God’s name.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What image of thirst is present in your own life?
2.) To what worldly things are there attachments in your life?
3.) How would you describe that deep thirst for God?

So go forth toward the Cross with a thirst for God!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli