Third Sunday in Advent: The time to come?

12/12

at Good Shepherd Faith

trio

Ta'u Papua

On the third Sunday of Advent, I actually got to preach to a live congregation in person at Good Shepherd Faith church near Lincoln Center. It was a joint service of their English speaking and Korean congregations combined.  And we were blessed by special music, both by a trio and a wonderful solo by NFL player turned rising opera star Ta'u Papua.  Here are my reflections on the day...

It’ s so good to be here. Since the pandemic began I have preached only in four in person services…three  in Pittsburgh…and one here. Covid is not going away any time soon, and no, neither horse medicine or mouthwash is going to protect you. The best we can do is get vaccinated and continue to wear masks.  And be smart but not crazy.

Wow…there is so much going on in the gospel this morning. We’ve got John the Baptist with his unapologetic anger. Calling people vipers…that was considered really bad. The myth was that vipers ate their way out of their mothers. And he’s talking about  the wrath to come and winnowing forks and axes to the root and unquenchable fire….serious stuff…by the time you get to the end, you have to ask…so this is good news?

SO let me go to the heart of the matter…his words are harsh, they are urgent and they are concrete.

He’s calling people to repent, turn their lives around and celebrate newness with baptism, a riff on the Jewish practice of the spiritually cleansing waters of the  mikvah. And receive forgiveness of sins…

But here’s the thing…baptism is not enough.  And neither is being descended from Abraham. Or being white. Or American. Or belonging to the right church. None of that counts. 

What counts is living your life in a new way. Making sure people are clothed and fed. And I might add housed. Please note that John doesn’t do a Jesus “give all you have..” You still get one coat, still get sufficient food. The reality is with all those who live with food insecurity, with hunger….there are sufficient food resources in the world to sustain all…we still pay farmers not to produce food…we have a problem not of production but of distribution…there are more vacant houses than there are homeless…and we now have 110% more than we did 10 years ago according to the census..with 254 people claiming Central Park as their address…

And see how he talks to the tax collectors and soldiers. Both these are despised with the community because they are essentially collaborators with the occupying Romans. The soldiers probably refers to those who worked for Herod, the Roman installed ethnarc. In each case he doesn’t tell them to leave their jobs, only not to exploit others. 

(Ched Meyers has pointed out that the way the system worked, it almost required tax collectors and soldiers to exploit others just to get by…systems do that,..)

One of my guilty pleasures on tv is Succession , with Brian Cox. Loosely based on the Murdoch family. Last week, one of the sons who had tried and failed to bring his father to justice said to his father, “I can’t do what you do. The only way you can do what you do is to be corrupt…” The system almost requires it to win…

No receiving forgiveness is not enough…taking care of each other …and the most vulnerable…is. It’s that concrete.

As for the wrath to come…maybe it’s already here. What we face right now is more than enough to deal with. As for winnowing  forks, wheat and chaff, traditionally we like to use passages like this to make us feel better. Like someone else is going to get it. Historically, our Calvinist forebears were very clear theologically that we could never say for sure who was saved. That was entirely up to God in God’s freedom to choose. But it kind of morphed into but if you look real close you can pretty much tell..and it’s us..

It’s like sheep and goats, wheat and chaff…we all are both, have both inside of us.  And the reflective part of Advent calls us as we seek to come to the manger of baby Jesus to seek to “winnow out” that of us that is chaff. To clear away that which gets in our way, chokes out the goodness inside of us. That idea that we are all sinners is what informs our Presbyterian polity, our way of doing things, and if you think about it, democracy as well. None of us is perfect…and we need each other.

I feel like I have seen more efforts to reach out this year…more voluntary efforts…my local Venezuelan coffee shop conducted a coat drive (if you have two…) and is now doing a book drive. The restaurants in my neighborhood are conducting a new toy drive.  The opportunities are there…

So…the time to come? The time is now…if we take care of now, there’s nothing to worry about. Not hurricanes or firenados or social unrest or pandemics or…the greatest gift we can give this baby Jesus we come to celebrate is to  take care of each other…in love…

Amen

 Luke 3: 7-18

7John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

10And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" 11In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." 12Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" 13He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." 14Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

18So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

The Heart of the Matter

8/29

Good Shepherd Faith

my friend Chris Kim

For the first time since the pandemic began, I am back at Good Shepherd Faith to preach. They are meeting in their or basement, joint service English and Korean. Masks, no congregational singing. Covid protections in place. I am finally admitting we are still living in Coronavirusworld. (My friend Chris Kim translates for me...) 

Here is my reflection for the service, trying to get to the heart of the matter. 

Well here we are.  Last Saturday was supposed to be the big “Welcome back” celebration.  Covid-19 was supposed to be on the run and we well on the way to “normal life.” Well the weather cancelled the concert but we are nowhere near “back to normal.” The Delta variant has us all uncertain as we try and figure out what’s next. 

I did my annual Shakespeare in the park. But it’s all online lotteries and virtual stand by lines and IDs and proofs of vaccination and masks…"Broadway is back”…but I went the other night and same thing…IDs, vax cards, masks….we are a long ways from ‘back’…and the road uncertain…

Scenes from Afghanistan feel, like Yogi used to say, “deja vu all over again…”. People desperately hanging on to copters and planes as the country has fallen to the Taliban…20 years…and…and…

Here we are.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is talking to three audiences. There are “the scribes and pharisees” who “came from Jerusalem,” the ever-present crowd and Jesus’ disciples. 

What’s on the table is a question about ritual purity, following rules, or traditions, and ultimately authority. And it’s not necessarily an attempt to trick Jesus.  The Pharisees in particular have not yet made up their mind. They may well be seriously trying to find out where Jesus stands on these issues, since it appears that his disciples are inconsistent in these matters. 

While his answers are focused to each group, the message is the same, it’s not what we take in that matters so much as the content of our hearts. Not what we consume, but how. 

As annoying as kosher might seem to us from outside the Jewish tradition, as mysterious as some of these rules might seem, the basic purpose of kosher is as a guard against mindless consumption.  It is about being mindful, conscious and intentional about what and how we consume. An Orthodox Jewish person has a blessing for everything that is taken in, even a glass of water. (Though we are learning in our world that even a glass of water may indeed be precious…)

Just a a side note, always pay attention to Mark’s details. He is always intentional about what he includes. Note that our scribes and Pharisees come from Jerusalem. That is where he will go to fulfill his destiny, his crucifixion and death, the cross. These questioners come from that place to where he is already headed.

‘

And they won’t eat anything from the market without washing it. What comes from the market is unclean. Yet in the previous chapter, Mark has told us that  the market is where the sick are, the poor and needy. those in need of healing. It is not just unclean food that these authorities want to avoid, it is unclean people as well.  And for Jesus, no people are unclean,

And so he calls out their hypocrisy. They obey the rules and miss the heart of the matter. When Bill Clinton said he “did not have sex with that woman,” he was using a precise definition but sure did not go to the heart of the matter. (Like it depends on what the meaning of what is is...) When I coached kid’s soccer and was teaching the out of bounds rule, I always tried to teach them to go to the heart of the matter. The disciples, as always are slow to catch on.

When I hear Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, he could  just as well be talking to the Biblical literalists of today. 

Once in a church I worked at, a young man came out as gay. The church was very confused and of different minds until one elder said, “Friends, I know how we think we know how we understand the Bible. But this young man is one of ours. Sometimes you just have to set principle aside and do what’s right.”

By his going to the heart of what “defiles,” Jesus was making a radical new understanding.

His point is an important one…the source of evil does not come from outside ourselves.  It is not the devil or  satan or republicans or democrats socialism or capitalism or Qanon or….the source of evil comes from inside the human heart. Inside ourselves. And it is what comes out that defines who we are, not what goes in.

Take a look at that list again….

"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

If you come to think of it, each of those is a form of mindless, self obsessed consumption.  Consuming without regard for the other.

The question is…who are we in this story? Self satisfied scribes and pharisees? Curious crowd? Confused disciples? What is Jesus’ message for you today?

What come out is important. I know the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me..” Well yes, but not. It’s not that simple. Words do a lot of damage. 

It’s true on the personal level…that we say to each other can really hurt. 

On an institutional level, nothing is worse in a church than gossip, talking behind peoples’ backs. It corrodes us, eats away at is from the inside. Religious  Jews have a practice of lashan harah, that is not speaking ill of another on the sabbath. To do so breaks the spirit of sabbath. What of we had a rule of not speaking ill of each other once we enter the church doors, even if  only on Sundays?

And on a national level, words can inspire compassion and courage. And they can also destroy faith in our system, lead to invasions of the capital, distrust of science to the detriment of the greater good and public healthy and safety. 

Yes…what goes out is important…

It’s what’s in the heart that matters. And we may have gone too far here. I had dinner with two (progressive) college professors the other night both of whom are seriously concerned about the loss of free inquiry on campus. People parse every word carefully just ready to pounce if something's not precisely right. Careers are damaged. 

In Pittsburgh last week I read the story of a lifelong peace advocate, founder of the Thomas Merton Center, one of the Plowshares 8 who went to jail with Daniel Berrigan in the struggle against nuclear proliferation. She naively said something not quite right and the new generation of activists removed her from the board and removed any mention of her from the website. 

Go to the heart friends, go to the heart…and perhaps that’s our true sermon title today…the heart of the matter…

Who are we in this story? How do we move past culture and tradition to the heart of God’s law? Let those with ears to hear, hear…..

Amen

1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

21"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

You are called

1/19

Neil and Pam lead us with music

It's a cold but sunny day as I head to Good Shepherd Faith for worship. (But not as cold as yesterday!) As is their style, most prayers and readings are communal. There's always been a strong strain of horizontal at GSF.  And they do share their gifts. Neil always sees the church is decorated and today he and Pam lead us in music with Doug at the piano. After a communal reading of John1:29-42, it's time for my reflection, or "prompting" as they say here.....

Good morning. And since this is the first tine I’ve seen you this year, I’ll say “Happy New Year.”  Still time to be thinking about new beginnings. Although we’re still  dragging a lot of stuff with us into a new year. We’ve got tension with Iran and we're not sure how that’s all going to turn out. And we’ve got an impeachment trial opening up next week. Yesterday in the freezing cold and new snow women in New York City and around the world marched for the 3rd consecutive year. And it was a day no one wanted go out.

So where are we? As interested as I am in resolutions, and I actually think they’re good things, I’m more interested in something else. Have you ever thought about  the fact that the two words we use to describe our work, namely profession and vocation are both religious in nature? Now I know we use the word professional to describe getting paid to do something. I was really excited the first time I got paid for playing music. I thought, “Hey, now I’m a professional!”  But at the root of professional is profession, as in what is your profession? As Christians, we use the word in the context of profession of faith, saying what you believe. So the implication here is that your profession, what it is you do, is in some significant degree a statement of what it is it believe. Take that home and think about it awhile. 

The other word we use is vocation, as in what is your vocation? And at its root, the word vocation means calling. As if our vocation is in response to an inner voice speaking you, calling to you, leading you on. And that’s what I’m interested in today. One my mentors, and my predecessor at West Park as its interim minister, was Philip Newell. The title of his memoir was “What is Your Calling?”  and the beauty of his book was that it was his argument that this this is the central question for all Christians, not just those of us who serve as ordained professional ministers of word and sacrament. That’s what I’d like to reflect on this morning. 

Seems to me that our gospel this morning  is about calling. For John. And Jesus. Andrew and Simon Peter. The setting  appears to be Jesus’s baptism. Like the first verses of John1 are John’s unique take on the Christmas story, these verses are John’s take on the Baptism story. Last week’s gospel was the baptism story in Matthew. Baptism of Jesus Sunday in the Roman Catholic tradition is the final end of Christmastide. (OK, you can take the trees down now.). Just before this in John, the leaders in Jerusalem have sent people out to find out who this wild man in the wilderness is. The Messiah? Elijah? A prophet? John tells them he is the one who was sent to be, called to be “the voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord…” John understands his calling to be that of the one who prepares the way. And he does so by baptizing, a version of the Jewish mikve, or cleansing used to become ritually clean again, or for new converts. And he baptizes Jesus. 

One small note about the gospels…they’re all different. Here John says “he didn’t know him”….but in Luke, they are cousins…their mothers quite close. So why doesn't he know him? Well, maybe it's been few years…

Remember…Jesus was not baptized as a  baby but as an adult. As a child he had a bris, a circumcision ceremony. As an adult, he goes to John to be baptized. Why? To show complete and total identification with and solidarity with us human beings of which, even if he is John’s cosmic Christ, he is one. 

And from John, Jesus receives his calling. And he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and from that baptism will flow more calling.  Andrew and Simon Peter start “following” Jesus just because John calls him the lamb of God. Jesus calls them, he says “Come and see…”. I think we worry way too much about what we believe or don't believe. I feel vocation is more important than profession. I ‘ll be blunt…to follow Jesus is more important than to believe in Jesus. Or to put it another way, if you start by following, believing will take care of itself. They say with him and know, just by being with him, that he is the anointed one. They’re ready to roll with no idea of what that might mean. What follows in John is more stories of calling and following. And brings us to us. John, Andrew, Peter….each had their own unique role to play. 

Likewise  each of you here today has your unique role to play, you own unique calling. It is part of our calling as Christians is to help each other discover our own unique callings, not just elders and deacons but each and every one of us, a calling received not with ordination but with our baptism. And beyond that, to discover our calling as a community.

Tomorrow is the day we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. day. One who heard and answered his calling. No matter where it led. We came and saw. And we became a better people because of him.

Let me be clear. I am not saying w need to be more like Martin Luther King,Jr. There’s a great story about a man who came to see his rabbi worried  that when he came to die and meet God, God would say, Why couldn’t you have been more like Moses?  The rabbi shook his head and said, No the question is, why couldn’t you have been more like you?

So as we leave here this morning, your take home question is, what is your calling? And what is your calling as Good Shepherd Faith church I this year of our Lord 2020? 

Let those with ears to hear, hear…..

My prompting seems to inspire some conversation. Doug wonders what it's like to hear a calling. If God has a distinctive voice or it can be just a thought. And how he had asked for guidance and came up with a thought that seemed crazy but was just the right thing. Pam's been wondering about the difference between a call and temptation. Something we all struggle with. But also gets into the importance of community in helping us with discernment. 

Our worship time is over. I am off to do a winter wedding in the park, thankful it's today and not yesterday......

Gospel John 1:29-42

29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

35The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Thanksgiving Sunday

11/24/19

Thanksgiving service

Nestled in the shadows of 66th Street, Good Shepherd-Faith Church is the last non-Lincoln Center or Juilliard building on the block. On land originally bought from the Park Presbyterian Church for $1, the church is a center of faith and culture. And for decades has carried on a spirited adventure in multicultural faith practice by conducting worship services in English at 10 AM and Korean at noon. Communion is celebrated in a joint bilingual service on the first Sunday of every month at 11. Through ups and downs over the years, a  stalwart community has kept the adventure going and today holds another annual tradition, a joint service of Thanksgiving followed by a meal that will find everything from turkey to kimchi on the table. 

The service will include long term black, white and Korean members ...and me as guest preacher. Internationally touring operatic tenor- and former NFL defensive end- Tao Papua will sing with the joint choir

Joint choir

and solo on a stirring Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Tao’s solo

Some prayers and readings will be in both languages simultaneously and some translated sequentially. My friend Chris Kim will translate my prayers and sermon into Korean- a first for me!

Elder Chris Kim

  And afterwards my friend Elder John Gingrich will present me with a farewell photo of Mariano Rivera which looks up to our seats...as we share a satisfying fellowship meal..

..Here is my sermon, or “prompting”...as they say here....

So here we are. It's the Sunday before Thanksgiving. And as always, there is turmoil around us. We've got the daily drama of the impeachment hearings. The big Democrat debate Wednesday night. There's exciting things happening all over the world...there's been uprisings in Chile, China, (Hong Kong), Bolivia, Baghdad and Beirut....and yesterday our friends at South Side Presbyterian Church in Tucson celebrated the fact that Scott Warren was found innocent on all charges after being arrested for giving water to people in the desert. The jury ruled that humanitarian aid is never illegal. 

And here we are at the weekend right before Thanksgiving. At our Presbytery Council meeting last week, the question was asked, what's your favorite part of the holiday season? A substantial number of our members answered "Thanksgiving."  I know that's true for me. For reasons too many to go into, Christmas always brought a degree of anxiety for me. (Maybe I was just worried about where I wound up on Santa's list..) But Thanksgiving...the warmth of gathered family, just to be together with no other agenda...and my favorite menu of the year. Something about turkey and stuffing and gravy just makes me happy...

(One year when I knew I was going to a vegetarian Thanksgiving, I seriously considered getting in line at First Corinthian Baptist next door...just for the turkey...)

I was in Central America again recently and recalled the year nuns in El Salvador made us an "American" thanksgiving....and in Salvador I met with a group of returned deportees ...many who had lived in the US for 20 years or more...the ministry working with them decided what they needed, wanted most was an 'American Thanksgiving"...

My prayer is that most of us can avoid political discussions at our tables...

Which brings me to..it's Christ the King Sunday...(or Reign of Christ)..it's the crowning moment of the church year, one of those passage Sundays that lead us from one liturgical season to the next, from the long green season of "Ordinary time" to the penitential purple of Advent. One of the rare "holy days" that celebrate an idea, or a theological affirmation, not a moment in Jesus or the church's life...

In fact, it's not that old a holy day.  Less than a century. In a time not unlike ours, Pope Pius XI, concerned with the rise of fascism and secularism, sent out an encyclical that said:

"When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony."

I'm going to repeat that last part..".real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony."  Sounds nice, doesn't it?

Our gospel lesson is actually Zechariah's blessing of his son John, the one we know as John the Baptist.  Announcing the already accomplished victory of a savior not yet born!

That's so fitting for where we are today...we are beginning to prepare for the journey to the celebration of the coming of a savior who is already here...

That's the thing about this Christian journey...there's always this "...already and not yet..." thing going on. We await Christ's final coming, final "triumph,"  while celebrating the fact that the victory has already been won. 

I always remember the radiant smile of archbishop Desmond Tutu, even in the darkest days of apartheid. He would smile and say, "We have already won...the other side just hasn't realized it yet.."

Likewise, in the midst of our own context, in the midst of however you want to define our day, whatever issues you want to lift up, in the midst of everything, we are called upon to proclaim the victory already won..

This raises for me two questions I'd like to leave you with (thanks to Jill Duffield of the Presbyterian Outlook..)

First, How do we in the church capitulate to worldly power(s) rather than to God's?  I learned in Chile that in 1973, part of the Presbyterian Church believed that the church leadership was actually cooperating with the dictator..so they left the Presbyterian Church of Chile and created the Presbyterian Church in Chile...one word can mean a lot..like in the world, not of the world..

(Like our own church split over slavery...)

Second...If you honestly assess your life, what has power over you? How might your life look different if Christ was truly in charge?

I will leave you to ponder that.

There is much to be thankful for. May your day be one of gratitude, peace and joy. May this church be place of respite during the busyness of the season to come. 

Jesus reigns.

Amen

Ready for worship...

First Reading Jeremiah 23:1-6

1Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. 2Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. 3Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.

5The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."

Gospel Luke 1:68-79

68"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. 69He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, 70as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. 72Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, 73the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us 74that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. 78By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, 79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Second Reading Colossians 1:11-20

11May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers-all things have been created through him and for him. 17He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Palm Sunday: the Lord has need of it...

 4/14

Ready for Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday morning...I go to Good Shepherd Faith Church near Lincoln Center....

We all love a parade. This neighborhood is mad crazy every night before the Thanksgiving parade when they have ballon blow up night. Next week will be that unique New York event known as the Easter Parade. El barrio has its annual Three King’s parade. (Although the real sign of having made it as a religion in or city is to get a no alternate aid parking day.) and all the ethnic groups get their parades- Columbus Day, St.Patricks Day, Puerto Rican Day, West Indian day—-. Today Jesus gets his parade...Palm Sunday.

I have great memories of Palm Sunday as a kid, although I can’t say I ever fully understood what all those palm branches

Palm branches

were about and there was always that ominous sense that the long depressing stretch of Holy Week about to begin. The most days in church of any week of the year ending with the endless Good Friday service.

Maybe the wasn’t so bad. As a pastor, I really didn’t like it when the liturgical powers to be in the church decided to make this Palm and Passion  Sunday ...out of anxiety that modern Christians would want to jump straight from the celebration of Palm Sunday...ending our Lenten journey- to the joy of Easter...skipping right through the liturgical journey of Holy Week....with Maundy Thursday and the darkness of Good Friday. ( May I say I have very good memories of the intimacy of Holy Thursday at Good Shepherd and the annual 7 last words service at Rutgers...I have to say I miss that...but glad I had to have had to opportunity to complete the whole Seven-Word cycle...)

So what’s going on with Jesus today? Luke’s telling of the story is especially vivid... it’s got that “unridden colt” detail...what’s up with that? Maybe it's similarity to an unblemished sacred sacrifice? Maybe a reference to Zechariah 9:9 where the king comes riding on.. a colt, the foal of a donkey? And that wonderful line the disciple use to secure the loan of the donkey, “ the Lord has need of it...”.....

Of course, that raises the question what do we have that the Lord might have need of? Anyways, it seems to work...

What’s important is that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is an evocation of, or mimicry of or even subversion of the triumphant entry of a victorious military leader into a conquered city. It excites the people. Maybe even they believe that Jesus is about to launch the revolution.... completely missing the point that Jesus’ victory has already begun in what is now his inevitable journey to the cross. This victory is beyond what military victory could ever be imagined....it is an entirely new way of living in world.

And there is at least the the implication that Jesus’ failure to live up to their expectations would ultimately contribute to his crucifixion...like in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Which of course leads to the question what expectations do we have of Jesus this are not appropriate to who he is?

My favorite line of course is that you can silence the disciples but the very stones will cry out...there are some things that are so wrong, creation it self moans with agony and cries out.

The poor stones could be crying out all the time these days. I have had a hard time dealing with the fact that we were separating parents from their children. That we put children into cages. The smallness and pettiness of seizing rosary beads from detainees. Or how naval ships in the Mediterranean refuse to rescue imperiled refugees. When do you hear the stones cry out?

The beauty of the palms makes for a glorious Sunday....but what happens when the parade is over?

There is one week before Easter..,what unfinished Lenten work do you have to do to make your Easter truly a celebration of resurrection?

So..,

1. What do we have that the Lord might have need of?
2. What expectations do we have of Jesus that might miss who he is?
3. What makes the very stones cry out?
4. What’s on your Holy Week to do list?

So...what do you say?

Hosanna....blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord?

Amen.

We are blessed today to have sharing their music with us Ta'u Pupu'a, former NFL football player and rising opera star, and Pamela Thomas.

Ta'u Pupu'a and Pamela Thomas

By the time Ta'u finishes Ride On King Jesus, the walls are ringing in Palm  Sunday glory.....