Being Rightly Related to Power, Knowledge and Wealth

4 Easter A        May 3, 2020
Acts 6:1-9, 7:2a 51-60   Ps. 23  
1 Peter 2:19-25    John 10:1-10                

Lectionary Link

In many ways, life is about our relationship to and with power, knowledge and wealth.  It is a desirable goal to have a right relationship with power, knowledge and wealth.  In our lives, we need good modeling to show us how to have the right relationship with power, knowledge and wealth.

We can come into our relationship with power, knowledge and wealth in at least three ways.  First, in being so dependent that we need all three of these expressed to us in care.  Second, by being presented with a negative relationship with power, knowledge and wealth to expose the wrong use of these human life expression, a kind of aversion therapy.   But finally, we need to experience the best possible modeling of how to express the power, knowledge and wealth of our lives.

I am not sure why we have it in the lectionary, but Good Shepherd Sunday occurs each year in the season of Easter.  It could be that it sometimes coincides with Mother's Day, and who is a better example of good shepherding than a good mother?  But this year, it does not coincide with Mother's Day.

It would be true to say that the desirable expression of the Risen Life of Christ is to live the life of a good shepherd.

The Good Shepherd discourse from John's Gospel models three facets of our relationship with power, knowledge and wealth.

The first being, "sheephood."  Yes, everyone is at times in the role of a sheep.  Why?  Because vulnerability and needing the ministry of power, knowledge and wealth on our behalf is often our life situation.  We can be the most powerful, knowledgable, and wealthy person in the world but still be in need.  Of a good meal, of surgery, of mechanical repairs on our car, a hair cut.  It is being in need of others which creates the balancing of reciprocity that is needed for all societies to function well.  As dependent sheep, we are often on the receiving end of need.  And when we are, we hope that power, knowledge and wealth will be exercise toward us for our care.  And because we all know the experience of human need, this should train us in empathy for others or we may so detest being in need that we may deny that we need help and we may fail to learn the lessons of empathy when we are in need.

Failure to learn empathy in our time of need, can lead to the abuse of power, knowledge and wealth.  In the Good Shepherd discourse, the words of Jesus refers to those who abuse power, knowledge and wealth as thieves and bandits.  Power, knowledge and wealth can be used to exploit the weak, the ignorant and naive and the poor.  People who do not learn empathy and honesty about their own need of other people, can become exploiters.  They are the leaders who are "bad shepherds" who exploit every situation for their own selfish ends.  And in the words of Jesus, he is saying, "Don't be bad shepherds.  Don't abuse your gifts of power, knowledge and wealth; put them at the service of people who are in need."

And that brings us to the metaphor for the proper use of power, knowledge and wealth.  It is the metaphor of the Good Shepherd.  Jesus is the metaphor for the Good Shepherd.  Who is more powerful, wealthier and more intelligent than God and his Son?  How do the Divine Persons of the Trinity use power, knowledge and wealth?  They use them as gifts to us.  And when these gifts are given to us, we in turn need to follow the example of the Good Shepherd in ministering to those who are needy sheep.

May God give us the grace of learning empathy from all of the times that we know personal need.  And may the power of the Risen Christ and the Holy Spirit help us to use our empathy to be good shepherds and minister to those in need.

In this way, you and I can be rightly related to the gifts of power, knowledge and wealth in our lives.  May God, raise us up from the empathy gained in our times of need, to be good shepherds to the people who need our help and care today.  Amen.

Process Your Surprises with the Risen Christ

3 Easter A    April 26, 2020 

Acts 2:14a,36-47   Ps. 116:10-17

1 Peter 1:17-23    Luke 24:13-35              

Lectionary Page
Do you like surprises?  You probably immediately are thinking, well it depends upon what it is.  The pandemic has been a surprise, probably the biggest surprise in our lifetimes and it is so dominating our lives and making us change our former routines for such a long time, we know that there will be a sea change and there cannot be a going back to the ways things were formerly.  It is a surprise which has permanently altered our lives.

What is the main ingredient in a surprise?  The main ingredient for the one or ones who experience it is that it is unplanned.  I am going to have a planned surprise happen to me.  That an oxymoron.

The disciples of Jesus on Easter Day were trying to cope with a very unfortunate surprise. Their friend and mentorJesus, who was a champion and a King, was taken by the Romans and crucified and he was buried.  What kind of Messiah who did all of those wonderful things ends up dying on a cross?  Surprise.  "Well, we have to pack up and go home.  The Movement is dead.  Let get back to our village of Emmaus, even though we've heard some rumors about body snatching in Jerusalem,  it is time to try to figure out what we're going to do next.

Let's just walk in silence and lick our wounds.  But then we're joined by another person walking the route and he joins us and inquires about us and we talk about the hubbub in the Jerusalem and how Jesus was not who we thought he was and he was not a triumphant king like we wanted and hoped for.  Messiahs and kings don't get put on a cross.

But the traveler seems to know his Hebrew Scriptures.  We use the Hebrew Scripture as a template for understanding what greatness means for us and our people.  But this traveler tells us that we've missed something in the Hebrew Scriptures, the part about the Person of God's anointing and choosing, being a Suffering Servant.  He leads us to a different view of the Messiah and what greatness means for God's Messiah.  The Messiah is Emmanuel or God with us, and where is God with us?  Everywhere including in death and after death."

The two disciples of Jesus in their grief were engaged by this unrecognized traveler and they were challenged to change their model for what the Messiah would look like.  They were presented with Suffering Servant model from the prophet Isaiah.

They were so engaged, they invited the traveler to their home for some food.  And as they sat to break bread together, "Poof,"  the incognito Risen Christ suddenly became known to these forlorn disciples.  And they were surprised, this time in a completely differently way.  They had been surprised negatively in the death of Jesus on the Cross; but now they were surprised by this unique ability of the Risen Christ to be with them incognito and then suddenly be recognized and then suddenly spirited away.

St. Paul wrote that the resurrection involves our spiritual body which reconstitutes a fuller incorruptible self.  And the appearances of the Risen Christ indicates that he was in his resurrected spiritual body which could be reconstituted as actual and apparent physical appearance to some, and then be gone.  One could even believe that the love for Jesus and the loss of Jesus caused such a profound grief that it was a grief which invited Jesus to re-appear and encounter those who deeply mourned his loss.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus had a "peek a boo, I see you" encounter with the Risen Christ.  And they were surprised.  They did not control the surprise.  They did not control how the Risen Christ became known to them.  But they, in joy, received the surprise and responded with hope.  "Let's get back to Jerusalem and see if the gang is still together.  If someone can reappear after death, that would qualify as being a candidate for being the Messiah."

The Emmaus Road story encodes the two ways in which we believe that the church is given to known the presence of Christ.  In Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread.  But these two means of knowing the presence of Christ do not exhaust the many other ways that Christ can be known.

One of the narratives of Hope is the narrative of surprise.  Our lives have been given content, timeline, and identity by the surprises in our lives.  Each person has had Christ incognito surprises  in life and maybe without even acknowledging it or knowing it.  Hope also is the creative force that gives us some anticipation about some more surprises of the Risen Christ variety.

One of the first games we teach our babies is the game of Peek a boo, I see you.  Unwittingly, we in this simple game are trying to wean our baby from our visual presence and then surprise them suddenly.  We are trying to teach our babies that even when we are not with them by sight, sound, or touch, we still are with them with profound loving presence.

And that is what God is playing with us in our lives today.  Seemingly absent or incognito and suddenly, "Peek a boo, I see you, I am alway seeing, I love you, I care for you."

I hope that you have known God to be a loving parent playing with you, "Peek a boo, I see you."  God respects the world enough that God created such that even under every stone unturned there can be a surprise, "Peek a boo, I see you, I love you, I care for you."  Amen

Is Your Experience of the Risen Lord Blessed?

2 Easter Sunday        April 19, 2020
Acts 2:14a,22-32          Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3-9          John 20:19-31 

Lectionary Link 

I love the Doubting Thomas Story which we always read on Low Sunday, the Sunday after Easter.  It is full of too much to preach on in one occasion.

I find it interesting that the writer is shamelessly promotional about the author's own writing and, in fact, uses the Doubting Thomas story to validate Gospel writing as a significant means of making Christ present.  "These things are written so that you may believe...."  

Writing is a Word product.  It is a technology of memory.  If Jesus is gone and if all of the eyewitnesses to Jesus have passed away.  And if there is a broken line of community transmission of oral traditions about Jesus, how does Jesus remain in the world?  Through his appearance in written text.  But can written text really be a valid stand-in for Christ, an alter Christus, as another valid presence of Christ?

This pandemic has required that we practice social distancing and not be present to each other. If we don't see each other, do we still exist?  Do we still believe in each other?  Are we still persuaded about the validity and viability of our parish community?

Word has morphed and created many products beyond text.  Human being speak, but then wrote "picture words," which became writing.  We have artistic representations in pictures.   Then came photography, and  telegraphs, and telephones, and  video,  and now we have the mass promulgation of "live" and recorded video on television.  And on the the internet, we have all of the Word products that give us proof to believe in each other and be validly present to each other.  We might say that all of these alternative ways of connection are not substitute for actually being together, but they suffice during this time of pandemic.  We should not minimize these connection; they may actually intensify and appreciate each other better than if we were gathering.

One can remember the proverbial letters from home to the soldier who in the written letter experiences an intense intense sense of his loved one being with him.  But then on the return to the home of his loved one, he soon takes being present so much for granted that his loved one seems to be absent.

The Doubting Thomas, highlights the differences in the how the presence of the Risen Christ was experienced in the early churches.

The eyewitnesses of Jesus and his post-resurrection appearance may be placed on such a pedestal that their experience of Christ might be regarded to be superior to anyone who did not walk and talk with Jesus.  As eyewitnesses were dying out, how could the experience of Christ be regarded to be authentic?

How many times have we thought, well, I can be excused for my faith, because I did not have the privilege of walking and talking with Jesus.  And I haven't had the same kind of experience that St. Paul had; I was not knocked off my horse on a trip to San Diego and blinded by a bright light from heaven; so there is no reason to think that my experience of Christ is as valid and as authentic as St. Thomas' or St. Paul's.

Can we appreciate how the Doubting Thomas Story is the oracle of Christ in the early church invoked to deal with the inferiority complex of second generation Christians who were not eyewitness of Jesus and who did not even know an eyewitness of Jesus?

Can we see this Doubting Thomas Story as witness to the fact that Risen Christ is confirming blessing and validity upon your experience and my experience of the Risen Christ?

The Doubting Thomas was a good scientist.  "Jesus still lives, if and only if, I can verify his existence according to the standards of science which is empirical verification.  If Jesus is alive, show me.  Demonstrate it to me.  Let me see you Jesus so that you can prove your Risen Life to me."

If Thomas's empirical method was the standard for faith, then there would have been only a few valid Christians.  And not even St. Paul would have qualified as a Christian, if he had demanded the type of Risen Christ experience which Thomas did.  St. Paul had a visionary experience of the Risen Christ.

If Thomas's standard for valid faith is the norm, there would be no Christian faith.  There would be no-transhistorical transmission of the Gospel.

The early church included people who were having many different kinds of experiences giving them proof that Christ was still alive, and such experiences were not eyewitness experiences.  So how could the experiences of all of the people who were not eyewitnesses to Jesus or his post-resurrection appearances be valid and trusted experiences?   How could the early church leader convince the followers of Jesus that they had valid experiences of the Risen Christ.

If we understand this dilemma, then we can understand the writing purpose of the Doubting Thomas event.  This Gospel story is the oracle of the Risen Christ conferring blessing upon the experiences of those who were not eyewitnesses to Jesus of Nazareth.

But the Gospel writer gives us clues about how we can know the presence of the Risen Christ in our lives.  First there is peace.  Jesus said, "Peace be with you."  This is part of our weekly liturgy.  We pass the peace to bear witness to the presence of the Risen Christ.  Another sign is God's Spirit.  Jesus breathed on the disciples and said," Receive the Spirit." Jesus also said that His word were Spirit and that they were life.  We have the Spirit and Words of Jesus with us to validate the Risen Christ in our midst.  Jesus said told his disciple to forgive sins, even though they could retain them if they so chose.  The presence of Risen Christ is known and validated in a community which does not retain sins, but practices forgiveness.

In direct contrast to Thomas' demand for empirical evidence of the Risen Christ, Jesus said, "Thomas, I'm glad that you see and believe, you are blessed.  But what about all of the people who do not see and touch and yet still believe.  Truly they are blessed."  Here we see Jesus conferring blessing and validity upon your experiences of the Risen Christ and my experiences of the Risen Christ.  We do not have to have inferiority complexes about our experiences of the Risen Christ.  Accept your versions of the Risen Christ that have come to you this day as valid, especially if they include peace, forgiveness and the Holy Spirit.

And don't forget about Words.  Words of all sorts.  The writer of the Gospel of John said that you could know the Risen Christ by reading his Gospel words.  And he wrote this directly, "Readers, I wrote this Gospel so that you might believe in Jesus as Son of God and Messiah and that in believing you might have life in his name."  In other words, just by having these Gospel words rearrange your inner lives toward Spirit, Peace and forgiveness, your experience of the Risen Christ is just as valid and blessed as the Doubting Thomas.

Friends, you and I are invited to accept the blessing and the validity of our experiences of the Risen Christ today.  Let us not doubt the confirming blessing of Jesus Christ upon our experiences of the Risen Christ today.  Amen.ca

Easter Co-exists with Every Situation

Easter Sunday     A   April 12, 2020     

Acts 10:34-43  Psalm118:1-2,14-24

Colossians 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10

Lectionary Link

We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our Song.  We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our Song.

Easter is our chief identity as Christians and Alleluia is one of our favorite words.  We were an Easter people during the season of Lent, but we fasted from the word, Alleluia.  We did that voluntarily, but in these past weeks the growing threat of coronavirus pandemic has forced upon all sorts of involuntary fasting.

We have had to fast from many, many things that we have been taking for granted.  Imagine, giving up attending church during Lent.  What kind of discipline is that?  We’ve had to fast from each other; we have had to maintain social distance.  We’ve had to fast from going to work,  and for some, fast from receiving paychecks.

Just as we are Easter people when we fast during Lent, so too we are still Easter people in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic.  And how are we proving that we are Easter people during this pandemic?

By caring for one another.  By restructuring our economic infrastructures for the survival of people.  By redirecting our resources so that all can have enough. By redirecting our modes of production so that our medical professional can have enough of the protective supplies and ventilators for their patients.  We are an Easter people in the midst of the pandemic.

On the first Easter morning when the women and men disciples and friends of Jesus were in mourning over his death, they were confronted with his reappearances.  They were shocked by his re-appearances.  They were baffled by his re-appearances.  They could not believe that someone actually beat death.  How is that possible that someone beat death?  Outlived death?

How is it possible that someone proved that there is a kind of personal continuity of one’s life after he or she has died.  Unbelievable.  Baffling.

But slowly and with confidence those early friends of Jesus began to accept the hopeful promise which the re-appearances of Jesus gave them.

And what happened to them?  They took on their new identity.  They became Easter people.  And they invited many, many more people to become Easter people.  And God’s Holy Spirit had this way of confirming in new and more people this Easter identity, this experience of the eternality of one’s soul.

And the Easter people spread throughout the cities of the Roman Empire because the hope was unstoppable for all kinds of people, Jews, and every sort of resident in the cities of the Roman Empire.

But just because the friends of Jesus became Easter people, did their troubles stop?  Not at all.  They had to live and move under the radar for many years to avoid persecution and martyrdom.  Those early Easter people did not rise to the top of the Empire with immediate social status.

One can still be Easter people and live in hardships.  The first Easter did not make the hardships of the world go away.  In a world of freedom, the freedom of the resurrection appearance of Jesus to occur, changed the world.  These post-resurrection appearances gave witness, an anecdotal testimony, to what everyone wants to believe.

Everyone wants to believe that there is no end to one’s personal identity after one dies, especially since we know that most people will be forgotten within a few generations after one dies.

The first Easter did not so much change the conditions of the world, as it changed the hearts of people who began to act with hope.  And people who
act with hope, change their world with optimism, even when everything is not going well, even when there is a worldwide pandemic.

Easter will co-exist with the rest of human history.  Easter co-exists with the experience of the coronavirus and all its devastating effects.

Good and ills are going to come and go, and Easter is going to be with us, no matter what.

We celebrate Easter today to be renewed in our primary identity in life, which is to be Easter people.  In creation, God planted eternity as an image upon us, we have spent lots of time in our times living in alienation from the eternal image of God upon our lives.

And Easter, helps us to find and express our true nature even in the middle of nature which throws at us lots of diverse experiences, including a global pandemic.   Alleluia.  Christ is Risen.  And Christ says to us.  You are an Easter people and alleluia is your song, and especially now in the middle of this global pandemic.

Let us go forth today as renewed Easter people and let us teach our alleluia song to as many people as we can.  Amen
 

Easter Vigil Liturgy of the Word with Comments

The Great Vigil of Easter



Following the blessing of the new fire, the lighting of the Paschal Candle and the chanting of the Exsultet, members are invited to a reading of Salvation History with responses from Canticles and Psalms followed by the corresponding Collect.

The Liturgy of the Word


The Celebrant may introduce the Scripture readings in these or similar words

Let us hear the record of God's saving deeds in history, how he saved his people in ages past; and let us pray that our God will bring each of us to the fullness of redemption.

I will read two of the lessons including the requisite lesson from Exodus.  On the others, I will provide, a “CliffsNote” abstract of the lesson and the response.  I would like for us through Easter to focus on “Receiving an identity,” which culminates in “We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song.”



Link for all the Vigil Readings:



The story of Creation


Genesis 1:1-2:2

The creation story establishes human identity.  We are made in the “image” of God and therefore made to live up to that image.  Image=icon.  We are God’s icons.  In the world of freedom we are “tricked” by our underdeveloped state into knowing good and evil in the wrong way.  We discover that as people alienated from our “image” we can only live as imperfect beings in an imperfect world, but still a very, very God-created good world.  Evicted from Eden and alienated from our true identity as God’s children, we look for “salvation,” or a path to return to the original blessing of God’s image upon us.



Psalm 33:1-11, or Psalm 36:5-10

Psalm 33 is a Psalm which expresses rejoicing in God as the creator of the world

Psalm 36, is about God’s love, righteousness and faithfulness.  And since Light was first act of creation, the Psalmist says about God, ”In your light, we see light.”



In the Collect, we asked to be restored in our intended image and dignity.


Let us pray. (Silence)

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.





The Flood

Genesis 7:1-5,11-18; 8:8-18; 9:8-13


The Story of Noah’s Ark presents the sense of God personally acting in the events of nature.  Nature is treated as being in symbiotic relationship with God, except God’s can’t get humanity to comply because of the willful freedom of humanity to forsake the sacred image upon their lives.  The results are disastrous and so God is presented as One who does not give up, but rather, who starts over with a remnant on the Ark.  Noah, his family and pairs of animals, are destined to survive a worldwide flood.  It ends with a rainbow as a promise that God will not destroy the world with such events. (This can be understood as the wisdom of the writer discerning not to accept the freedom of events of nature as direct "acts of God.")  In Christian symbols, the waters of the flood are presented as dying with Christ in being immersed in the waters of baptism.  The rainbow is the promise that the waters of death are not God intended and will not destroy us.


Psalm 46

Psalm 46 is about how God is our refuge (like the Ark) in the storms and tumults of life. 



The Collect picks up the baptismal theme.  Please note how the Vigil indicates how we have Christianized the Hebrew Scriptures, which have a different presentation in synagogues today.



The “Rainbow” Collect is about it being a sign of God’s covenant not to destroy humanity and how we live under the covenant of water baptism.



Let us pray. (Silence)

Almighty God, you have placed in the skies the sign of your covenant with all living things: Grant that we, who are saved through water and the Spirit, may worthily offer to you our sacrifice of thanksgiving; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac


Genesis 22:1-18

Abraham and Sarah had a marvelous birth of an only son, Isaac, the promised heir to continue the line of Abrahamic people.  But God told Abraham in secret to sacrifice his only son away from home in the land of Moriah. (Probably if he had told Sarah, she would have prevented him and thought him crazy).  Kierkegaard called the time of the call to Abraham to sacrifice his son, the “teleological suspension of the ethical.”  Abraham had to abandon the ethical “thou shalt not kill,” and trust God for another kind of “telos” or end.  Kierkegaard called this suspension, a “leap of faith,” and in that obedient leap he discovered that God provided the ram to sacrifice in place of Isaac.  In terms of human anthropology, one could look at this event as wisdom writers understanding that God did not require human sacrifice.  The age of human sacrifice was replaced with an age of animal sacrifices, which is diagnostic of how people regarded what God required.


Certainly, Christians, borrowed the sacrifice of only son Isaac, in understanding how God the Father was seen as being in the  role of Abraham in offering his only Son to death.  And in the case of Jesus, there was no substitute for him being the Perfect Offering.  It should be an evolution in human understanding that the God does not require bloody sacrifices because to assume God needed such would be to diminish divine perfection.



Psalm 33:12-22, or Psalm 16

Psalms 33 including waiting on God for his loving kindness to be known.  Abraham waited on the Lord even as he obeyed.



Psalm 16: “For you will not abandon me to the grave,  nor let your holy one see the Pit. You will show me the path of life;”  This turned out to be true in Isaac’s rescue from death.





Abrahamic Collect

The Paschal Sacrament can be baptism and Eucharist coming to the newly baptized and to all people of the world who are invited to partake.



Let us pray. (Silence)

God and Father of all believers, for the glory of your Name multiply, by the grace of the Paschal sacrament, the number of your children; that your Church may rejoice to see fulfilled your promise to our father Abraham; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea
The Hebrew Scriptures present the selection of the Abrahamic line as being chosen as exemplars in the world to show the rest of the world how God’s image on humanity was supposed to be lived out.  Israel was to exemplify God’s grace of selection.  How was this shown?  By giving them examples of his power acting on their behalf in very threatening times.  God’s exemplifying deeds were to give Israel a reason to believe, and the rest the peoples of the world, a reason to respect the God of Israel.



The escape from the Pharaoh of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea is a Root Story event in the identity of the people of Israel.  In the regular recounting of this event of deliverance, especially at Passover time, the people are renewed in their identity as God’s people and renewed in the dynamic remembering of the power of God's deliverance.  If God did it then, then we too can access that power as we remember it afresh in our time.  The followers of Jesus Christianized the waters of the Red Sea as the baptismal path through probable death, but surviving.





Exodus 14:10-15:1

As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, 'Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." But Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers."

The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers." So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them:

"Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."



Interesting that the ecstatic song of Miriam gets entitled the “Song of Moses.”


Canticle 8, The Song of Moses

 Cantemus Domino

Exodus 15:1-6, 11-13, 17-18



Especially suitable for use in Easter Season

I will sing to the Lord, for he is lofty and uplifted; * the horse and its rider has he hurled into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my refuge; *

 the Lord has become my Savior.

This is my God and I will praise him, *

 the God of my people and I will exalt him.

The Lord is a mighty warrior; * Yahweh is his Name.

The chariots of Pharaoh and his army has he hurled into the sea; * the finest of those who bear armor have been drowned in the Red Sea.

The fathomless deep has overwhelmed them; *

 they sank into the depths like a stone.

Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in might; *

 your right hand, O Lord, has overthrown the enemy.

Who can be compared with you, O Lord, among the gods? * who is like you, glorious in holiness, awesome in renown, and worker of wonders?

You stretched forth your right hand; * the earth swallowed them up.

With your constant love you led the people you redeemed; * with your might you brought them in safety to  your holy dwelling.

You will bring them in and plant them *

 on the mount of your possession,

The resting-place you have made for yourself, O Lord, * the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hand has established.

The Lord shall reign * for ever and for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: * as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.  Amen.



The Red Sea Collect, Christianizes the Red Sea Waters as a Sign of Baptism.  Remember one of the key event of the Vigil is Baptism, so the baptismal theme is pronounced in all of the lessons and teaching.



Let us pray. (Silence) 


O God, whose wonderful deeds of old shine forth even to our own day, you once delivered by the power of your mighty arm your chosen people from slavery under Pharaoh, to be a sign for us of the salvation of all nations by the water of Baptism: Grant that all the peoples of the earth may be numbered among the offspring of Abraham, and rejoice in the inheritance of Israel; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



God's Presence in a renewed Israel 


The prophet Isaiah is a Utopian, envisioning ideal worlds, especially for the people of Israel who have known continuously bad times with the division into two kingdoms and threats from invading conquerors.  The vision of renewal was obviously an analgesic to people in suffering and pain.  The utopian vision, “though it means “no such place,” gives the ideal direction in a world of freedom where good and evil happening co-exist.  The image of God upon our lives include hope, not to taunt us, but to witness to the direction of perfection.  Don’t mock utopian vision or hope.  Hope provides the positive direction of our lives.



Isaiah 4:2-6



Psalm 122

Psalm 122 presents Jerusalem as the ideal city of peace where unity resides.  We are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, not because God doesn’t love the other cities on the earth, but Jerusalem stands as the ideal city of humanity all living in peace.  This Psalm is coupled with the utopian vision of the prophet Isaiah.



Cloud and Pillar Collect


The cloud and pillar were “markers” of God’s apparent presence to God’s people.  We live toward moments when God’s Presence is apparent and the utopian visions are visions of that hope for the totally Apparency of God, when indeed tears will be wiped away.



Let us pray. (Silence)


O God, you led your ancient people by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night: Grant that we, who serve you now on earth, may come to the joy of that heavenly Jerusalem, where all tears are wiped away and where your saints for ever sing your praise; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



Salvation offered freely to all


Christian faith was born from understanding of universal or catholic salvation offered to everyone.  This means beyond those who were adherents of Judaism and inhabitants of Israel.  Israel as God’s people were to be the “leavening agent” of salvation for all of the people of the world, but in the reality of conflict and the fear of assimilating into the practices of their neighbor of being assimilated by them, it was difficult for Israel or any people to fulfill that role of being the leavening agent of salvation offered to everyone.  Early Christian readers of the Hebrew Scriptures jumped on the themes of “universal” salvation that they found in the prophets.



Isaiah 55:1-11



Canticle 9, The First Song of Isaiah, or

In this Canticle from Isaiah the universal theme is expressed directly:  Make his deeds known among the peoples;  see that they remember that his Name is exalted. (peoples would mean more than Israel).


Psalm 42:1-7

In this Psalm: The image of God on each person means that the soul is athirst for the living God.  "As the deer pants for the water, my soul longs after Thee."



Collect of Renewal


In this Collect both water and Spirit are used in a way that is explicit in the discourse of Jesus with woman at the well, in John 4.



Let us pray. (Silence)


O God, you have created all things by the power of your Word, and you renew the earth by your Spirit: Give now the water of life to those who thirst for you, that they may bring forth abundant fruit in your glorious kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


A new heart and a new spirit



In Ezekiel, the prophet sees a time when God become accessible to everyone.  Obviously with the destruction of the Temple and people carried into exile, how could “God identity” and “Torah identity” be maintained when not in one’s land or having a Temple to go to?  God was to be portable into the human temple.  I will give you a new heart and a new spirit.

Certainly, the post-Pentecostal church relied upon this understand of what was happening in the experience of the Holy Spirit.


Ezekiel 36:24-28


Psalm 42:1-7, or Canticle 9, The First Song of Isaiah (see above)

Let us pray. (Silence)



Reconciliation Collect


In this collect, there is a petition for us to live lives congruent with the faith we confess, because we have been given access to this new covenant which provided us with a new heart and new spirit.

Let us pray. (Silence)

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who are reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



The valley of dry bones


This is the portion about “dem dry bones” of Ezekiel.  A question during the time of Jesus among religious parties was about the resurrection from the dead.  The Pharisees believed in it; the Sadducees did not because they did not think they could find reference to such in the Torah.  The Pharisees and others believed that beliefs could be established with reference to the other Hebrew Scripture writings and not just limited to the Torah.  The dry bones passage of Ezekiel is one such “resurrection” passage from the Hebrew Scriptures.  Obviously hope dwells in people who experience great disappointment and great injustice.  How can a just God be believed in when the hope of justice is not realized?  Well, God has a way of putting flesh back on the bones, a sort of reverse aging, but you get to keep all the wisdom gained from aging.  The Spirit is able to breathe new life and reconstitute a person and a people so that they can know their own continuity into the future in some way.  St. Paul referred to the Holy Spirit as the assurance or down payment of the resurrection.



Ezekiel 37:1-14


The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord God, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord."


So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act," says the Lord.



Psalm 30, or Psalm 143


In Psalm 30, the Psalmist says, “You brought me up, O LORD, from the dead;  you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.”  One can see how these words were appropriated by Christian resurrectionists.


Psalm 143 includes a request for personal revival: "Revive me, O LORD, for your Name's sake;  for your righteousness' sake, bring me out of trouble."



Sealed by Spirit Collect


This collect refers to the “Passover” of Jesus from death to life, and in the waters of baptism we ritually go into the water of death and are raised from the water by resurrection in identity with the “Passover” of Christ.  And we received our Christian Brand on our forehead:  “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.”



Let us pray. (Silence)


Almighty God, by the Passover of your Son you have brought us out of sin into righteousness and out of death into life: Grant to those who are sealed by your Holy Spirit the will and the power to proclaim you to all the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



The gathering of God's people



The prophet Zephaniah is like Isaiah, a utopian, and envisions a rescue and a return of all the people of God to their homes.  When the people of Israel could not have their own freedom in their own land, they still had the identity of hope.  And the prophet Zephaniah feeds the reality of hope with a narrative utopian vision.  Obvious, everyone wants to be “home;” home as the very best place to be, a place of familiarity, safety and comfort.  St. Paul, was not sure about comfort in earthly places or home, and he as a utopian said that we were citizens of heaven.  This is true even as we ask that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.


Zephaniah 3:12-20


Psalm 98, or Psalm 126

In Psalm 98, the poet anthropomorphizes nature and has nature shouting and praising God for what he has done for his people.


Psalm 126 is about restoring the fortunes of Zion and seems to be written in the captivity of exile away from home.  But in exile, the identity with the home place of Zion formed the identity of many people who never did see Jerusalem.  Zion and the Hope of Zion seem to be the same for the Psalmist poet.



The Plan of Salvation Collect


In this prayer we understand the church as God’s providence in furthering a plan of salvation for the whole world to see.  It is a collect of admitting that we are not yet finished in the quest of perfection.


Let us pray. (Silence)


O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation: let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



The Vigil ends here.  We will begin our Easter liturgy with the Renewal of our Baptismal Vows and complete our Vigil with our Easter Eucharistic liturgy. 

Seven Last Words of Jesus from the Cross

Good Friday   A   April10, 2020       

Gen 22:1-18        Ps 22

Heb.10:1-25        John 18:1-19:37

Lectionary Link It is a tradition on Good Friday to use the Last 7 Words of Christ from the Cross as the theme for mediation on this day.  I think as we look at these words that are gleaned from the various Passion Accounts in the Four Gospel, we can find that these words represent some of the central Christian values.  These words can be transferred from the Passion Narratives into the actual events of our lives and world today. The First Words of Jesus from the Cross:  Jesus said, "Father Forgive them, for they know not what they do."  In our haste we would probably say that they knew darn well what they were doing.  And we would say, that ignorance is no excuse.  To err and to be ignorant is very human but to forgive is divine.  One of the greatest errors of being human is the sin of revenge. Human society at its worst  is caught in a web of paybacks.  Revenge creates a domino effect  that

continues to magnify revenge and the damage, UNTIL one person does not return evil for evil but stops and says, "I forgive you. I will stop the cycle of revenge."  For humanity to rise above the law of the claw, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, forgiveness must happen.  Jesus forgave, he stopped the domino effect of violence, and he asks us to do the very same difficult thing.  

The Second Word Christ from the Cross: "Jesus said to the second thief who repented: Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in  Paradise."  Many people put off repentance and conversion because they think that they are too far gone.  They think their habits are too deep to over come.  There is no hope.  But Jesus honors every turn toward the good no matter how young or old we are.  At anytime that we turn towards God's mercy; in that moment we have taken a step toward Paradise.  Paradise is to turn toward what is good and right.  And lest we minimize our own willful acts of lawlessness, we need to remember that God is the only one big enough to give someone a clean slate at any moment of life.    God has the power of clemency and pardon. 

The Third Word of Jesus from the Cross: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Women, behold your Son?  And he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!"   The fifth commandment is Honor your father and your mother.  Jesus, in his darkest hour fulfilled this commandment.  He obeyed his father in heaven and he fulfilled his destiny.  And he entrusted the care of his mother to one of his disciples.  Caring for our aging parents is a big task in our society and it is something that we must always work at to improve the care of elderly parents.  The disciple friend of Jesus was willing to step in to take care of Mary.  We as a society need to be willing to step forward to care for needy parents and those who are made vulnerable by the aging process. 

The Fourth Word of Jesus from the Cross: And about the ninth hour, Jesus Cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachthani."  which means, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"  Have you or I ever found ourselves questioning the fate of our lives, saying, why me God? Why me? Where are you God?  Pain, evil, suffering, misfortune,

ridicule, sense of failure, loss, and grief  all of these occasions can leave us feeling forsaken.  God’s Power, God’s Love do not seem to fit the capriciousness of human affliction.  Jesus in his Passion came to doubt and uncertainty about God's plan.  Jesus understood but understanding didn't take the pain and isolation away.  Evil is unnatural, and that is why we must always cry out against evil.  When we cry out in pain, it does not mean that we lack faith, it means that we have faith in the normalcy of freedom from pain.  We must in faith protest the conditions of this world that deviate from the wonderful normalcy of health, freedom from pain and having enough to eat. 

The Fifth Word of Christ from the Cross: Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, "I thirst."  Hunger, thirst, sickness and pain, all the bodily needs of humanity cry out with Christ on the Cross, and Christ cries out with all human need and want.  We have the opportunity to help quench the need and thirst of Christ in our world, everytime that we see someone in need and reach out to help.  Remember that the presence of Christ is found in the lives of people who are in need.   

The Sixth Word of Christ from the Cross: When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished."  Ultimately, pain and suffering have a friend in death.  Death is a friend to those who suffer terminally.  Let us remember the terminally ill tonight, that they might have the grace to say with Christ, "It is finished."  Let us live our lives in a state of preparation so that we might be ready to be finished with life when our day comes.  

The Seventh Word of Christ from the Cross: Then Jesus crying with a loud voice, said, "Father unto thy hands, I commit my spirit." Jesus jumps into the abyss of death, but in faith he knows that his father will catch him and preserve him in an unspeakable way.  May we too, have faith to jump into the hands of a loving God at the hour of our departure, trusting in God’s ability to preserve of a way that no one else can.   

The Eighth Word is not the Word of Christ, but your word and mine as we stand today at the Cross.  As we kneel in silence, let our prayers be expression of faith that the worst of the world and of our life will be redeemed to us.  And let us offer prayers of thanksgiving for what Christ has done for us.  Amen.

Pillars of the Church: Eucharist and Service

Maundy Thursday   April 9, 2020

Ex. 12:1-14a       Ps. 78:14-20, 23-25

1 Cor 11:23-32      John 13:1-15

 Lectionary Link

Tonight we highlight two pillars of the Christian Church.  Eucharist and service.  Eucharist was a practice very early in the church.  St. Paul said that he received instruction about the Eucharist from the Lord.  He never met Jesus.  He was not at the Last Supper.  Certainly as a Jew, he would have participated in many Passover meals.  The Eucharist includes practices which show derivation from elements of the Passover Meal, but it is distinctively different.  Passover is once a year; Eucharist is on every Sunday.  Passover is an "in the home" family meal; Eucharist is meal that unites people from many families.  As Christians we understand Eucharist to be a command of Jesus for us to do when we meet.  Since Christianity became so prolific, Eucharist lost connection with being an actual meal.  The early Christian gathered to share Eucharist as a way to be present to each other and to care for those who did not have enough to eat.  By eating together, it was a way of making sure that everyone who gathered was getting enough to eat.  The Eucharist had a very practical purpose of care for the early churches and this aspect is lost except when the Eucharist results in also feeding those who do not have enough.  Can we appreciate the genius of the command of Jesus to eat when they gathered in remembrance of him?  In our cultures of excess, we've lost some of the practical sign value of the urgency of the Eucharist for those early communities.  Most every Episcopalian has more than enough food, so we don't have to attend Eucharist to "get" food.  We should not forget the connection of the Eucharist with real food for hungry people.  Sometimes people who need to gather for their well-being are more likely to gather.  We hope that the pandemic will work some reverse psychology upon us; when we're told that we can't gather, we perhaps will appreciate the privilege to gather when permission returns.

The second pillar of this night is the mandatum novum, the new commandment.  Love one another as I have loved you.  How did Jesus exemplify that love?  By washing his disciples' feet.  Hence, foot washing has become a Maundy Thursday ritual.  And suddenly people don't go to the Maundy Thursday service because they are shy about exposing their feet.  Many will spend money for pedicures but suddenly are very modest about their feet at church.  What is symbolic about the foot washing?  Jesus, the main boss, was a servant.  Jesus was training a motley crew that sometimes makes one think about sleepy, dopey, and the other of the seven dwarves.  John and James asked to be the greatest and sit next to Jesus in his administration.  Judas was the treasurer and an embezzler and a betrayer.  Peter was a proud braggart who at crunch time denied knowing Jesus.  Thomas was a doubter.  Andrew was a skeptic about Jesus' ability to feed the crowd.  Nathanael who may have also been Bartholomew, said about Jesus, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" 

These are the guys that Jesus called his friends.  He knew they could be petty and egotistical.  Jesus washed their feet.  And by this he was saying them and to everyone, "Guys, friends, people the only way you can survive as a community is to check your egos at the door.  I'm not too good to wash your feet.  You are not too good to do anything that serves your brother or sister.  And if you are going to survive, the secret is service.

We live in the Maundy Thursday reality today.  St. Mary's was born and survives because we gather for Eucharist (even if we are hindered in the moment).  The mathematic equation for St. Mary's in the Valley is this:  St. Mary's=the sum total of all of the acts of service offered by those who have called St. Mary's their home.  It's as simple as that.  We are the sum total of our service.

Tonight, I would like to thank everyone for their service which has created the reality of St. Mary's.  You and many others have done much more than just wash feet; you have offered all of the kinds of service which comprises our existence as a parish.  We remember all who have served in the past and all who serve now to help us continue to meet and gather.

May God help us continue to be Maundy Thursday Christians by gathering to obey the Lord's command to offer Eucharist and to serve each other in the love of Christ.  Amen.