On the first Sunday of Lent in time of war...

3/6

Time for peace

On the first Sunday of Lent, I am with friends from Beverley Church.  One member has just returned on one of the last flights out of Russia to the US.  Another has a spouse, inlaws and other family in the besieged town of Maniupol.  She has not been able to sleep or work all week.. Here is what I had to say...

Good morning.  The world has changed since last we were together. The war we worried about last month has become real as Russia has invaded Ukraine and continues to brutally assault its cities. The circumstances touched directly at least two members of our community,  One of my close friends in Pittsburgh grew up in the Ukrainian Church, just across the street from the Russian church. A million people have left the country in the largest out migration  of people since World War II. People across the world are showing their concern, We are moved by images of Ukrainians with a captured Russia soldier bringing him hot tea and food and helping him to face time his mother back home. Zelensky, the former actor and now President, has won us over with his “ I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition” quote. 

As they always do, wars reveal all kinds of realities. Our sympathies are with Ukraine but black and brown students hav been kept off the evacuation buses. Countries  like Poland welcome the refugees because they are a different kind of refugee, like us…in other words white…we put Ukrainian flag filters on our Facebook profiles and identify ourselves with them], like we did win France, remember? But not Syria. How many Americans can name three African countries or even know about the brutal civil war in Nigeria, bombing Somalia or the plight of refugees from the Western Sahara? The ongoing torment of Yemen.  Our compassion is very selective ….and Eurocentric. 

Nevertheless, I tell my boys there are three truths about this war:

First, in history, things are always more complicated than we would like them to be.

Second, there are no clean hands here, especially our own. 

Third but in the end, WRONG is WRONG and we need the courage to say it.

And here we are, on the First Sunday of Lent, entering into the wilderness with Jesus for a 40 day stay in the desert. So what’s going on there?

There’s a number of things I’d like to point out to  you about in  this story.  It happens to Jesus right after his baptism.  The same spirt that hovered over him like a dove drives him into the wilderness. For forty days…

Forty…..like the days of rain for Noah’s flood. Like the years the Hebrew children wandered in the desert. Like the days Moses spent on the mountain.  Or Elijah.  

It’s something Jesus must do before beginning of his ministry. He starts with a fast.  And when  he’s really hungry, that’s  when the devil comes.  But read closely..it’s almost like the Devil is working with God to get Jesus ready. He is called diabolos in Greek. It really means accuser, like the prosecuting attorney. Remember God and Satan in the story of Job?

Look very carefully at the temptations…they are sex, drugs and rick n roll or even wine, women and song. All the temptations are good things…

First, turning stones  to bread..he’s hungry. There are a lot of hungry people. According to Hunger Action there are over 1.5 million of our neighbor New Yorkers who are food insecure. Why not turn stones into bread? By the way, it has always annoyed me in that wonderful We are the World song, how wrong they got it in the verse that says :

As God has shown us by turning stones to bread.  And so we all must lend a helping hand

No no no..that’s what the devil offered not what God did..

Then the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Notice that no one argues that they are not his to give. I mean wouldn’t that be great if Jesus were in charge of all the governments? Isn’t that what Christian  nationalists are trying  to achieve? This temptation and Jesus’ reaction to it is about as total a rejection of Christian nationalism as you can get. 

Finally, the devil tells Jesus he should  jump off the tower of the temple and let the angels save him. Surely then everyone would believe in him..isn’t that what Jesus wants? Isn’t that good? 

Jesu knows that he is not supposed to be a magic man. He’s not supposed to be David Blaine and do tricks. That’s why Jesus’ miracles  are not done to prove he is the messiah…his healings, exorcisms, are for reasons of compassion, responding to human need not to lead people to follow him. That's why so often they are done in private or why he says tell no one. Jesus is asking people to follow him in a ministry of  compassion, reconciliation  and new community, not magic. 

Note this as well..the devil quotes scripture in his conversation with Jesus,  Remember this when people go throwing Bible versus at you….even the devil quotes scripture. 

So when he has resisted the temptations, when he has passed the test, when he  is good to go.. the devil departs from Jesus to wait for an opportune time…notice throughout the Bible whenever Jesus says get behind me Satan…there is something good in the temptation, usually from a friend like Peter. 

What are we to take from this? If there’s any common theme in these temptations and rejections, it is you can’t take the easy way out.  You have to work your way through,.You can’t get to the resurrection joy of Easter without the tragic journey of Holy Week.   And the purpose of this is to get us ready for that.

It’s kind of like our spiritual spring training….now there’s another sore subject…I should be in Florida right now..with everything else gong on…no baseball!…

So what do we do? Because Jesus fasted, we have the traditions of giving up something for Lent. When I was growing up and all my friends were doing that, my folks were like we don’t do that, we’re Presbyterians…..Back home in Pittsburgh, this is the season of fish fries, every Friday...night the Catholic churches have fish fries to raise money…

First, I like to think not of giving something up but taking something on, a spiritual discipline…what might you take on?

Second, practice resisting the devil. At one level, that means Don’t take the easy way out….you have to walk through all the way with Jesus.

But there’s a deeper meaning,,,the Devil is the accuser…that voice that keeps you from believing in yourself, from forgiving yourself, that voice that says you will never succeed, you are not  good enough…we have to learn to hear Jesus’ word of forgiveness, acceptance, we have to remind each other, help each other experience that…

And to that end, try this as a spiritual practice…seek to heal one broken relationship during this season…that would truly be resurrection…

I know it can continue to feel like a wilderness as we continue to worship virtually…outside our church home…in the lingering world of covid…i a time of war..but there’s still a journey to take …with Jesus …and each other…Easter awaits at the end…let those with ears  to hear, hear…

Amen

 Gospel Luke 4:1-13

1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." 4Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

5Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." 8Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"

9Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' 11and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" 12Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Living in Coronavirusworld 250: Lent begins

 2/15

"....with the wild animals...."

Yesterday was the day of the Covid Valentine. Met a friend indoors as the city has opened up indoor dining again. It’s hard to get over a feeling that you are doing something wrong by being inside. Adjusting to what used to be normal is not going to be easy.

Today, I visit Central Park to see my friend’s polar bear snow sculptures before they melt then meet someone for lunch at the Israeli coffee shop. (A portrait of Reb Schneerson hangs in the office….) It is good to be inside.

Tonight in our Bible Study, we are preparing for the first Sunday in Lent. The gospel is Mark 1: 9-15.  In three succinct periscopes, we find the Baptism (again), the time of temptation in the wilderness and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

We notice that it is the same Spirit that proclaimed Jesus beloved that drives him out to the wilderness…drives…He will spend 40 days there like Moses on Sinai  receiving the law or Elijah on Horeb. ( A reminder of the Transfiguration story from last week…)

His three companions are Satan, wild animals and angels. As for Satan, the Biblical Satan is more ambiguous and complex than the one we have in popular culture. (See Job 2:1-8) God and Satan seem to be in relationship, as it were. Almost like Satan is testing Jesus on behalf of God.  We can however, find portrayals of that ambiguity in Jose Saramago’s The Gospel According to Jesus Christ and the Amazon Prime series “Good Omens.” Satan’s like a Lou Gossett drill sergeant getting Jesus ready. 

It is significant that Jesus is with the wild animals. Note that word. A scene of peace like Isaiah 11’s Peaceable Kingdom. Like in those wonderful paintings by Edward Hicks. No more predators and prey. Natural enemies have become friends. It also implies that the “kingdom” Jesus proclaims is not just about people, but all creatures, all creation. Which has profound implications for our behavior and sense of responsibility.  Satan, wild animals, angels, all together. The “neighbor” we love includes all living things. And since we are made of earth, the very earth is our neighbor. 

Immediately upon leaving the wilderness, we learn that John has been arrested.  So Jesus picks up John’s mantle, goes to Galilee and begins to preach the Good News of the arrival of the Kingdom of God and the call to repent, to turn around, to begin living a new way. 

The construction is so clean. The wilderness experience lies the middle part of a sandwich with John on either side. Almost as if the wilderness experience was especially intended to prepare Jesus for picking up John’s mantle.

We enter into this Lent with a pandemic still raging but potentially in retreat. A state like  Texas unable to meet its people’s basic needs while also exemplifying attitudes that define our current radical division. This Is our context in which we must proclaim the Good News of the arrival of the Kindom of God. Let these 40 days of Lent be days of preparation. Let us use them for reflection, contemplation, repentance, renewal. They say this Easter could truly be a time of return, Let’s be ready….

Mark 1:9-15

New Revised Standard Version

The Baptism of Jesus

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved;[a] with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news[b] of God,[c] 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;[d] repent, and believe in the good news.”[e]

First Sunday in Lent: Spring training

2/18

Ready for chirch...

On the first Sunday of Lent, I come to Good Shepherd Faith Church in the shadows of Lincoln Center. Here is my reflection:

I was going to start today with some words about one of my favorite  things:  spring training.  But I can't do that. i have to start by saying  something about the shooting at  Parkland in south Florida. My first reaction was muted...like, oh this again. Sadly showing how common this has become...but I don't know...those Parkland students are amazing...they're calling us out...and we're hearing from teachers...they're talking about a national walkout on April 20th....it's way past time for us to confront this reality....way past....and it is  truly shameful....there is simply no excuse to allow the power of guns in our society to continue...this  is that classic moment...Reinhold Niebuhr always said we needed to preach with the Bible in one hand and the New York Times in the other...

OK....last week it was that first sign of spring: "Pitchers and catchers report..." And tomorrow the position players report...spring training....Last year I got to go for the first time...one of those bucket list experiences...my own personal retirement gift to myself...I hope to get down again next week...it's kind of a magical time...snow up here...down there?  Palm trees, sun and baseball....it's a time when anything seems possible...maybe a first look at Giancarlo Stanton...maybe Russell Wilson gets in the game..it's all about getting into shape...getting ready....

So what does that have to do with Lent and Jesus and...?
Yes..it's the first Sunday in Lent...when I was growing up, as a Presbyterian in a majority Catholic culture, we always looked at Lent with suspicion. The whole idea of " giving something up for Lent"  was especially suspect..creeping papism..it started on Ash Wednesday, which always left me feeling very lonely as all my classmates wold disappear,  and then return with Ash crosses on their foreheads..(later at West Park, I came to appreciate the cultural significance of Ash Wednesday..I loved the day a bus driver raced in from the nearby bus stop to receive ashes and then  raced back out again to his bus...) This year we all began at West End...it was at Yale I enjoyed the blessed Henri Nouwen ( who taught us about the Wounded Healer) distributing ashes....

So let's take a look at Jesus...

In Mark,look how fast it goes from baptism to temptation....and also note that this " the Spirit immediately drove him out to the desert..."  It is the same spirit that just descended on him in baptism, that just declared him "...the Son, the Beloved..." that Spirit drives him to the desert....and you have to read everything else from that..

It makes you question who is Satan in all this? ( Matthew 4: 1-11 is  so much more detailed in his story of temptation in the desert..) it's almost like he's working for God....there no Manichean heresy here two powers struggling against one another....it's almost like Satan is a drill sergeant..Jose Saramago, that great Portuguese novelist, in his the Gospel according to Jesus Christ, places this story in the middle of Genesseret..pages of the suffering that will follow after Jesus..and Satan is  willing to give up come back if there could only be another way..and God responds there is no other way....it's like Satan is getting Jesus ready....spring training...if you're gonna get baptized,  embark on a mission, you've got to be ready...you can almost hear Satan at the end of this story in Matthew saying, "He's good to go...." So done right, Lent is our Spring Training (and this year the regular baseball season season begins  Easter weekend...)

And so we have questions:

What is your calling?
What does it mean to wrestle with demons?  What are your demons?
What is wrestling with Satan?
For Jesus  this wrestling follows baptism. In our tradition, Lent was a time of  preparation for baptism. it precedes.... 
What is Satan for us?
In the Jewish tradition, Satan is like the prosecuting attorney, that accusing voice, the voice that says we'll never make it , we're no good, that power that won't allow  us to forgive ourselves, to believe it is real...Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber says the church's most important task is preaching the forgiveness of sins because so few of us believe it...

What are our temptations? My friend Steven Phelps says we are all criminals....
Remember...all Jesus' temptations are good things...but they are short cuts...and one thing I experienced in ministry...short cuts never work, they're just not possible....

So we've got Lent....remember those New year's resolutions? How many broken already? Well Lent is another chance...
Lent is not a giving up but a taking on...a spiritual discipline
Our Lent
Our spring training 
Time to get ready.....

As is the custom at Good Shepherd Faith, a lively discussion followed...and beautiful music by the former football player, now opera singer tenor Ta'u Papua (http://www.taupupua.com/)

Lent has begun.

First Sunday in Lent: What tempts you?

2/14 

For this First Sunday in Lent, I sing the old standard, Farther Along… 

And after reading Luke 9: 28-43, we begin our reflection.

So it’s Valentine’s Day…and the first Sunday of Lent..and I’m not sure how to bring those two together…except to say a few things about Valentine’s Day…it’s got that Hallmark kind of romance around it…but what if you're not in a relationship? Well, it’s kind of painful. I think we need to move beyond sweethearts and those candy hearts with those clever sayings on them to think about the importance for friends. A very wise person once said Friends will get you through times of no lovers better than lovers will let you through times of no friends…Maybe that’s all I need to say…

Lent …we have 40 days of self –reflection, self-criticism. Self-assessment . 40 days to get us ready for the celebration of the Resurrection and new life.

A second shot at those New Year’s resolutions…

It’s about the length of spring training. (Pitchers and catchers start next week…) This is Jesus’ training session for what’s to come.

Notice…it's the same spirit that blessed him at his baptism that drives him into the wilderness…

And we’ve got this whole wrestling match with the devil… but I’ve  got to tell you, it’s hard for me to get a hold of.  This devil seems to be more like the Satan we met in Job. The prosecuting attorney. The accuser. Almost like he’s in league with God. Like Rocky training Apollo Creed’s son for the big fight.

And we even have to wonder, is he hearing these voices in his head? What are the accusing  we hear in our heads?

Let’s look at the temptations…

The first…stones to bread..to feed the hungry…was misquoted in we are the world

As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

..in fact God didn’t change stones to bread, that was a tempting offer by the devil…as a a Jehovah’s witness, MJ should have known that…

Then there’s the offer of kingdoms. The devil says, …for it has been given over to me…well, ok…by whom? For what purpose? What’s going on here?

And the devil keeps calling him son of god…which Jesus, check this out, never calls himself…

Finally the Evil Knievel challenge…the Nick Wallenda’s walk across Niagara Falls…Philipe Petite’s Twin towers  walk..the David Blane stand on a tower in union park or buried alive routine…and Jesus says NO to all…just to get people to believe in him…and the devil eve quotes scripture..

Finally…the devil departs until an opportune time…so what does that mean? When Jesus is most vulnerable….like maybe in the Garden?

It’s not like dancing girls, cocaine and lavish goods the devil is offering here…everything he offers is GOOD…it's the offer of accomplishing what Jesus was sent here to do…

Jesus’ temptation is to take the easy way out..what a thing to ponder in this primary season…we face those choices  daily…

I love the Hilary Clinton perspective:   Don’t let the (achievable) good be the enemy  of the perfect……

What I come down to is that God is God. It's no dualistic , binary world we live in. Like Stephen Mitchell has God say in his translation of Job ….your problem is you think someone else is in here… there’s only me…

Jesus is like Jacob, godwrestling….at the fork of the Jabbok

Jesus in training for the ultimate fight , the fight with  death…

Does the devils turn to God and  say, OK, he’s good to go?

We’ve got 40 days to get in shape…

so please, let us  help each other….

GOSPEL LUKE 9:28-36 (37-43)

^So.

²⁸Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and So it’swent up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³⁰Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. ³¹They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³²Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. ³³Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" — not knowing what he said. ³⁴While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. ³⁵Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" ³⁶When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

³⁷On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. ³⁸Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. ³⁹Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. ⁴⁰I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." ⁴¹Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." ⁴²While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. ⁴³And all were astounded at the greatness of God.