Confident Providence in a Passion Gospel

Good Friday    April 14, 2017     
Gen 22:1-18        Ps 22
Heb.10:1-25        John 18:1-19:37
Lectionary Link
Since the Gospel of John was the last Gospel written, one can expect that the theological thinking and the mood of the Gospel will represent a much more "mature" Christian Movement.  By the time the Gospel of John was written, Christians were brimming with confidence in the success of their message.  Travelers could go from city to city in the Roman Empire and network and have almost immediate friendship, even intimate with those who shared their belief.  Christian home church gatherings became almost like free airbnb throughout the Roman Empire.   Christians were accessible to each other but still flying under the radar of the authorities.

Jesus died on the Cross but the Cross became to be presented as the providential and necessary act of God.  If one has come to believe that the Cross was a pre-ordained plan of God for the salvation of the world, then the cross became presented as confident irony.

The Passion accounts in John's Gospel shares some of the main features of John's Gospel.  It seems as though the writers of John had read the Platonic Dialogues wherein the famous Socrates is accused by the Athenian authorities of perverting the youth and he was accused of being impious or insulting the gods in the ways in which the Athenian authorities understood their gods and goddesses.  To pay for his impiety, Socrates drank hemlock and died.

Jesus in the Gospel of John Passion account has a long dialogue with his interrogator, Pontius Pilate.  They have a dialogue about the political meaning of kingship, about power, and about truth.  Pilate, cynically asked, "And what is the Truth."  But of course in the Gospel of John, we already know that Christ is both the eternal Word of God and the way, the truth and the life.

And part of the truth of the life of Jesus is his death.  He denies that Pilate has power to crucify or to save him.  And Jesus tells him, "It's not your call.  The higher decision has been made for my death and you have no power except what is permitted to you by God."   One can say that in the Gospel of John, Jesus could say, "I am the way, the truth, the life, and I am death, and I am after death, and I am the afterlife, after death."

It is almost uncomfortable to read John's Passion's account in that it seems to be too casual about the entire horrendous event. 

Jesus tells Pilate that he is a puppet and it's already been arranged for the larger plan of salvation.  And Jesus is shown to be in charge even in his severe state of suffering on the cross.  In the midst of his suffering on the Cross, Jesus takes care of the custody of his mother; he commits her to the care of the mysterious disciple in John's Gospel who is referred as the one who Jesus loved.

In John's Gospel, Jesus does not say, "My God, why have you forsaken me?"  Rather he cries, "It is finished."  He seems to be a confident actor declaring his final line in a life play scripted by God.

The Gospel of John is also about Word and the written word.  Christ is called the Word of God from the Beginning.  So Christ is God becoming fully bi-lingual with human experience.  And if God wants to fully learn how to speak human language, God has to experience human death too.

In the Gospel of John it is written that we can have valid belief through reading words about Jesus and have a faith that is even more blessed than the doubting Thomas who had to have the proof of seeing Jesus.  The writer of the Gospel said that the Gospel was written so people might believe.  And where does writing occur in the Passion account of John?  "Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews," is written above the head of Jesus on the cross in three languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin.  This means that message of the Cross of Christ can be translated and spread throughout the world into the languages available to almost anyone.  This was used by John with full irony intended.  It was written by Pilate in scorn, but for the enlightened reader it was proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah to the entire world.

How do you and I approach the death of Jesus today on Good Friday?   We accept the death of Jesus as God's full identity with the human experience of death and God's full identity with the real conditions of freedom which exist in this world.  God created with freedom and for freedom and God too, submits to freedom and does not over-ride freedom.  That is one of the awesome messages of the cross.  This also means that to prevent events caused by the bullies of wealth and power, human beings have to exercise their freedom of resistance against oppression in our world.  The cross of Christ is a reminder that freedom in the muscles of bullies can result in severe oppression.  It is a stark call to all who are given wealth, power and knowledge to use it for the common good.

What we can also learn from the Cross of Jesus is that it is a unique event in the life of a unique person; an unrepeatable person.  There won't be one exactly like him again.  This means we cannot just assume that all death and suffering in the world will have similar outcomes to the death of Jesus.  There are not immediate three day hence resurrections for most of the tyranny in the world.  Genocide, slavery, torture, the cruel subjugation of indigenous people and women will never be redeemed in this visible world.  The absolute horrendous deaths and terrible suffering of people in the past will never be redeemed in this life.  We cannot be confident about the evil events in this world ever becoming the confident providence that has happened to the Cross of Jesus.  This is why it is easy and necessary to defer to a reconstituted spiritual regeneration which will redeem and make a harmony of freedom in another level of existence.

St. Paul used the Cross of Jesus as a transformative way to get to another level of existence so that he could tolerate and continue to live in a world where the free conditions of life permitted the apparent victory of evil in significant horrendous events.  St. Paul, himself was involved in the stoning of St. Stephen and he had to deal with the wrong use of his freedom in persecuting and bringing to death people who followed Jesus.

Today, you and I are invited to use the Cross of Jesus as a way to get to another level of existence and receive forgiveness for all of the times that we have misused the power of our freedom.  We are invited to use the cross to tolerate and give ourselves orientation to the impairment of freedom when freedom has been expressed in oppression of others.  We use of the cross of Jesus to accept our powerlessness in face of the things over which we have not control except to protest loudly.

We come to the cross of Christ with the hope that we will be able to "finish" our lives in ways that please God with sacrifice for the benefit of the common good of love and justice for all.  Amen.

Hospitality and Service=Christlike Church

Maundy Thursday  March 24, 2016   
Ex. 12:1-14a       Ps. 78:14-20, 23-25
1 Cor 11:23-32      John 13:1-15
Lectionary Link

Tonight we read St. Paul's account of the Holy Eucharist.  He said he received this practice "from the Lord," even though St. Paul never did see Jesus in the flesh.  So the Pauline practice of the Eucharist came to him as a mystical experience.  The Eucharist was the practice of the Corinthian church and in fact St. Paul wrote the instructions for the Eucharist because the Corinthian Christians were conducting themselves at the Eucharist in an unworthy manner.  St. Paul warned them if they did not participate in the Eucharist in a worthy manner, they were guilty of the very body of Christ.  These are rather strong disciplinarian words.

So the first writing on the Eucharist came because people were actually disrespecting the Eucharist.  How could this be?  I suggest it could have happened because there were Christians who very prosperous and had plenty to eat.

Can we appreciate the importance of the Eucharist being the religious or devotional aspect of an actual meal?  The early Christians were often nomads within the Roman Empire.  They were part of the process of urbanization.  Wars and need for employment causes social change and the migrations of people.  People who arrive at a new place where they have no family need help.

The early Christian Eucharist functioned as a hospitality meal for the gathered community.  Those who had food were like the little boy in the Gospel who gave his bread and fish for the feeding of the multitude.  Gathered Christians had brought food for the hospitality meal.  By eating in a public gathering it could be verified that all present would have something to eat.

How did things get out of hand?  Apparently, there were some who had so much excess of food and drink, that some got a little tipsy and in a partying atmosphere, the religious and devotional aspect of the Agape meal or Eucharist was not regarded or respected.  And Paul wrote them:  "Cut it out; don't you realize that the offered bread and wine represent the very provision of the presence of Christ to us?"

Was Paul doing the Eucharist as a Passover meal?  Definitely not!  As a Jew, Paul would have done the Passover meal with Jews, once a year.   The Eucharist was not a Seder; what has come to be Seder did not really exist in the time of Jesus or Paul, because the Seder had its own further development in the various traditions of the synagogue.

Since the Gospels were written after St. Paul wrote and after the established liturgical practices of the early Christian communities, the Gospels were written to show how the subsequent practices derived and the Gospels are derivation stories of the mystical practices of the early church.  Jesus was called the Lamb of God because his life and his death became regarded as a sacrifice.  Jesus was called the living bread.  In the biology of the Hebrew Scriptures, blood was regarded to be the life of the body.  In the church as the body of Christ, Jesus was regarded to the inward blood/sap of the life of the church.  The church was called the new Israel and so Jesus ate a meal with the twelve patriarchs of the church as the new Israel.  The members of the church regarded themselves to be sons and daughters of God.  People in this new family were not necessarily biologically related as flesh and blood members like what was the practice of ethnic Judaism; members of the church had the common new DNA of the Holy Spirit.  A Passover meal was not a synagogue event; it was an event done in the family home.  Jesus did not have his Passover or meal during Passover week in his family home, he hosted a meal for his new family, his disciples and friends.

All of this later theology of the church was being taught in re-telling the story of Jesus in the Gospel.

So what is the theology of Maundy Thursday?  Hospitality and Service.

We celebrate tonight the Eucharist as a gift from Christ.  Paul said that he received the Eucharist from the Lord.  That's how we receive it tonight.  It is an event of hospitality.  God receives us into the family of God and Jesus is the host.  But Jesus also says, "I am bread, I am wine.  I am everything that I perceive because everything I perceive is my world and it is me."  Tonight, you and I live within the perception of Christ.   We are known and perceived by Christ.  And just as Jesus said the bread and the wine was his body and blood, Jesus has taken each of us and declared us as his own.  And Christ lives, moves, breathes, and sees through us.  And we can't get much closer to Jesus than that.  And the hospitality of God is expressed in the Eucharist of taking Jesus deep into our lives.  But the Eucharist is just the outward sign of the fact that Christ has already become one with us.

Maundy Thursday is about Service.  Jesus, the Rabbi, the professor notices that his students are very competitive.  They all want to have the best positions in the administration.  Peter, had strong notions; if you are really important then you get exempt from doing the little things, like doing the dishes, serving food or cleaning up.  Jesus, the leader, took the towel and the water and washed the feet of his disciples.  He probably did this because his friends had come to regard themselves as too good to do the menial tasks.  Any organization that can no longer get the little things done, dies.  Any organization that does not regard little things to be important things, dies.  The witness of Jesus was this: the church will succeed because of sacrifice and service.  This is true of every organization that survives.  Any family, church or organization that tries to exempt itself from service, dies.

St. John the Divine exists and will continue to exist because of the sum total of deeds of service by our membership.  I salute everyone at St. John's past and present who have offered the variety of service to comprise us and keep us going.  I offer this Eucharist tonight in thanksgiving to Christ for the gift of the Holy Eucharist, but also for service of all of you and those who are not present who have given for the life of St. John's.

Let us pledge tonight to keep the tradition of hospitality and service alive at St. John the Divine.  We owe it to Jesus, to ourselves and to the church of the future.  Amen.

Providence Is Not a Trivial or Easy Belief

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday Cycle A   April 9, 2017
Is.45:21-25     Ps. 22:1-11
Phil. 2:5-11    Matthew 26:36-27:66
Lectionary Link
"Were you there when they crucified my Lord?  O, sometimes, it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.  Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"

Well, we weren't there, neither was St. Paul, but that did not stop him from making the cross of Jesus a mystical event in his life.  St. Paul wrote, "I have been crucified with Christ, but I live, yet not I, for Christ lives within me."  How can such a horrible event of capital punishment become a providential event of mystical transformation?

How long does it take to get to Providence?  No, not Rhode Island.  Providence in religious vocabulary means the discovery or the revelation that God was active and present within an event in life.

We might say that for people, providence does not seem to happen in real time.  Providence only happens in 20/20 hindsight when subsequent events have re-defined the meaning and value of a previous event.

Let's use our imaginations for awhile and suspend the passing of a couple of thousand years and imagine that we were there with Jesus at the cross as his friend.

If we were there we would be fearful for our own lives.  If we were there we would be horrified by the loss of our best friend and mentor.  If we were there our lives would be up in the air.  If we were there we would not be beating our chest proudly about this horrendous event of Roman capital punishment being the glorious plan of God to save the human race.

In real time, we could not declare the Cross of Jesus as God's divine will.  We could only experience the oppression of the Roman authorities dealing with a religious and social movement which gained too much attention.

In real time when nice and wonderful things happen, we feel lucky and blessed and confident to say good things in real time are God's will for us.  In non-religious vocabulary providential just means good luck or good fortune.  When really bad things happen in real time, we are less likely to say, "Wow, this is God's will.  Thank you God!"   We would be really masochistic if we proclaimed events of our oppression as God's will.  If bad things happen to us, in real time we feel unlucky or ill-fated, even picked on even though in our logical minds we know that in the conditions of freedom, we cannot be exempted from what might happen.

So how did the Cross of Jesus become providence?  How did we get the point of singing songs about our sins being washed in the blood of Jesus, as though such a poetic image is somehow poetically pleasing?  How did we come to render in gold miniature versions of a cruel instrument of torture and wearing them as beautiful jewelry around our necks?  Can anyone imagine electric chairs or rope nooses rendered in golden charms being worn around our necks?  How did wearing a cross around our neck escape from being a very macabre practice?  The Christian theology and piety of the cross of Jesus illustrates the illogical alchemy of providence.  How can a terrible event become a glorified event of God's holy will?

Why is the cross of Jesus Christ regarded to be providential for us?  It is because a subsequent event in the life of Jesus brought about the re-writing of the meaning of the Cross of Jesus.  Why has the Cross of Jesus been rehabilitated and declared to be in the providential plan of the salvation history of humanity?  Because we revisit and re-view the Cross of Jesus through the event of the post-resurrection appearances of Christ.  Not only did the Risen Christ, re-appear but his reappearances founded a movement among people.  The movement did not die and finish.  The movement continued to grow and snowball to massive proportions and it did so against all logic.  The political reality within the Roman Empire meant that no great social or religious movement could arise.  And a social or religious movement that was not sponsored by the Caesar for the benefit of the Caesar could not come into being. 

But the Jesus Movement, came into being and resistance from the synagogue and suppression by the Roman political forces did not keep the Jesus Movement from becoming a guerilla force taking over in the private house churches in the cities of the Roman Empire.

In the first writings of the New Testament, Paul the Apostle, who did not see Jesus die on the Cross, took the event of the Cross and made it into a personal milestone of identification.  Paul wrote that he was crucified with Christ.  But Paul, you weren't there.  Paul said, "No I wasn't there but the strong trace left-over from the dying of Christ is the power to subvert my ego into a submission which allows for another sublime personality to be experienced as the higher power and the higher personality of my life."  "I have been crucified with Christ, and I live, yet not I, for Christ lives within me."  This expresses the mysticism of the Cross for St. Paul and the early church.  After the mysticism of the Cross, the early church was able to return to telling the story of death of Jesus as a milestone within God's plan for saving humanity from selfishness and the extreme effects of selfishness.

But when the mysticism of the cross as an event of personal transformation brings about a confession of the providence of the actual Cross, how does one tell the story of the cross?

It certainly was told with irony.  If the cross of Jesus was a necessary event in human salvation, how could it still retain the fact that it was really a very evil and cruel event?

We have at least four different accounts of the cross of Jesus in the four Gospels.  Matthew's account almost borrows verbatim, the account of Mark's.  If the Cross is divine will, how can we assign guilt and blame for those who were the perpetrators of this event?  The Romans were the one with the power to execute the crucifixion.  The Jewish religious leaders are presented as those who conspired to convict him in the eyes of the Roman.  Judas is the one who betrayed him and perhaps told the secret of the disciples that Jesus was a King in a world where only Caesar could be king.  The disciples of Jesus, in their fright, were not all that loyal when Jesus was arrested; they scattered.  Even the crowds of the Palm parade were accomplices since a crowd that proclaimed Jesus to be a King would make him an immediate target of the Roman authorities.  In the irony of ironies, the Roman centurion at the cross confesses Jesus to be God's Son.  The Gospel writers were trying to import the Gentile confession of Jesus back into the crucifixion event itself.  The one carrying out the execution declares the victim to be God's Son.

In the Passion accounts, the providential mysticism of the cross does not over-ride how really bad the past event was.  Providence does not mean the denial of pain, cruelty, injustice and oppression.

Genocide and slavery and human cruelty cannot be minimized simply because time passes and people forget or people come to view past events differently.

The providence of the Cross is really about our confession about God, being able to do what no one else can do.  What only God can do is what was confessed in the words of Jesus from the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

We are not great enough to forgive all of the cruel events in humanity.  We are horrified by what freedom permits to happen in our world.  Maybe in our best moments we can confess that God is forgiving of all, even when we don't think God should be forgiving.

How can the cross be providential in our understanding today?  We can embrace the mysticism of death being a power to end selfishness in our lives in order to make room for new life.

The cross of Christ can be providential in that we can proclaim that in all human suffering in the conditions of freedom in our world, God in Christ suffers with everyone.  God became fully human in Christ when Christ died on the cross.  God becomes fully human in suffering with all who suffer.

The cross of Christ can be providential if we can hope to believe that the power of God's forgiveness can someday be the power to remake everything because of hopeful outcomes within the freedom of everything that can happen.

This seems too inaccessible to believe; there has been too much horrendous evil in this world to imagine a God capable of remedial forgiveness for the whole world.  So today,  we still seek to believe in a big God of redemption today.  I must confess that I'm not there yet to believe God can forgive everything, but I am still hoping to be convinced.  What I am convinced about is that the freedom which allowed the cross to happen, means God freely chooses to suffer in the suffering of the world.  Knowing this, we should arise in freedom to work to prevent and heal as much suffering in the world as we can.  What we can learn from the Cross of Jesus is to work to prevent suffering and cruelty in our world because through the witness of Christ, we are inspired to assert the freedom to overcome evil with good.  Amen.

Holy Week

Sunday School, April 9, 2017 Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday A

Sunday School, April 9, 2017     Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday A

Theme:

Peer pressure.  Sometimes we do and say things just because of the people that we are with.  We want to fit in and so we do and say things to fit in.

Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday is a day when we look at two crowds of people.  One crowd of people took branches from the tree and formed a parade behind Jesus riding on a donkey.  They marched into Jerusalem and shouted, “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  They treated Jesus as though he was their king.

But another crowd gathered in Jerusalem at night when Jesus was being put on trial.  Since some people were treating him as a king, this angered the officers who served the Caesar who was the king of the Roman world and Jerusalem.  Jesus was accused of being a rival to the Caesar of Rome who controlled most of the world with his armies.  There was a different crowd at the trial of Jesus.  They yelled, “Crucify him. We have no king but Caesar.”

Remember we must choose the crowd of people that we want to hang around with.  And it is important to choose people as our friends who will help us to do and say the very best things.

Story Sermon for Palm Sunday.

Once upon a time in a village near the city of Jerusalem, the village of Bethphage; a little donkey was born in the pasture.  And that donkey was called by his owner, Shorty, because he was so tiny when he was born.

  But the donkey’s mom, called him Christopher.  When Christopher became old enough to talk to his mom, he asked her, "Why does my owner call me Shorty, even now when I've grown to be a tall and strong donkey?"  Christopher's mom said, "Well once you get a name, it sometimes just sticks and people won't let you be anything else."

  Christopher asked his mom, "Then why do you call me Christopher?"  His mom said, "Well, I'm not sure but I just had this feeling that it was the right name for you."

  Christopher looked in the other pasture and he saw a beautiful big stallion prancing around.  He saw important Roman Generals ride this beautiful horse.  And Christopher thought, "I wish that someone important would ride on my back some day.  And Christopher was a little jealous of the stallion.

  But one day something exciting happened to Christopher.  Two visitors came to the farm where Christopher was kept.  They called themselves disciples of Jesus, and they said there was going to be a parade into the great city of Jerusalem.  They also said that they needed a donkey to carry their king.  Christopher's owner Farmer Jacob, said, "I've got two donkeys, that jennet over there and her colt that I call "Shorty."  If Jesus needs the donkeys, take them.  Jesus is my friend, he healed my son, and I owe him everything I have."

  So the two disciples took Christopher and his mom with them and they went to a place just in front of the sheep gate in Jerusalem.  There was a large crowd gathered who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Holiday.  After waiting for about an hour, the crowd soon got excited.  Jesus arrived and it was time for the parade to start.  The people put some robes on Christopher to make a saddle for Jesus.  Christopher had never been ridden before, and he was nervous.  But Christopher's mom said, "Calm down, Jesus is the nicest man in the world.  You don't need to buck him off."

  Jesus Climbed up on the back of Christopher and the parade started.  The people took some branches from some palm trees and they began to wave and shout and scream, because their superstar was there.  They followed Jesus as he was riding Christopher into the city of Jerusalem and Christopher trotted proudly through the streets.  This was the happiest day of his life.  At night, he and his mom were tied up at the house of one of the disciples in Jerusalem.  Christopher's mom was proud of him and she said, "Well now I know why I named you Christopher.  "Christopher" means, "the one who carries Christ."  And today you have carried Christ on your back, so today you have lived up to your name."  Christopher was so happy he wanted hee haw with joy.  But his happiness didn't last too long.

  He looked out on the street and he saw another parade.  In the darkness he saw a tired and naked Jesus walking with soldiers.  And the soldiers were forcing him to carry this large wooden cross on his back.  He was bleeding and he was too weak to carry the cross, so at one place they forced a man named Simon to carry the cross for Jesus.  The people who were following the soldiers were laughing and making fun of Jesus.  They were saying, "you're going to die Jesus.  You were just pretending to be a king, but you don't have any power, you're going to die Jesus."

  Christopher ran to his mom and said, "If I had known that this would happen to Jesus, I would not have brought him to Jerusalem."

  Christopher's mom said, "It is a terrible, terrible thing, but we must trust God.  Jesus is the best and nicest person who ever lived and God will take care of him.

  Well, Jesus went on to die on the cross.  And he was buried in a grave.  But does the story does not end here.  Come back next week and we will tell you the end of the story.  What happened to Jesus after he died and was put in the grave?

  What was the donkey's name?  Christopher.  What does Christopher mean?  It means "The one who carries Christ."  In a way, every Christian could be called Christopher.  Because you and I are asked to carry the presence of Christ into this world by being nice and kind.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Holy Eucharist

April 9, 2017: Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

Gathering Songs:

Hosanna! Hosanna!; Hosanna! Hosanna!;  The King of Glory

Palm Procession Entrance: Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest! (Renew!, # 71)

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God! Hosanna in the highest!

Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Lord we lift up you name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted oh Lord my God! Glory to the King of kings!

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.

People: His mercy endures forever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Assist us with your mercy and help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy as we think about your mighty acts which have given us life and an everlasting future; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Hosanna

O God, you are Great!  Hosanna

O God, you have made us! Hosanna

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Hosanna

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Hosanna

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Hosanna

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Hosanna

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Hosanna

A Reading from the letter of Paul to the Philippians

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 118

On this day the LORD has acted; *we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Hosanna, LORD, Hosanna! *LORD, send us now success.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; *we bless you from the house of the LORD.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."  The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!" When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee." 

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory Song: Hosanna! Hosanna!  (# 102, The Christian Children’s Songbook)

 Hosanna, Hosanna, the little children sing.  Hosanna, Hosanna for Christ our Lord is King.  Prepare the way, the children sing, Hosanna to our Lord and King!  Hosanna, Hosanna, the little children sing.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

All are born into the family of God by Baptism.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion:   Fairest Lord Jesus,    arr. By Sandra Eithun

                                                 Divine Jubilation Handbell Choir

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: The King of Glory, (Renew # 267)

Refrain: The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices. 

            Open the gates before him, lift up your voices.

Who is the king of glory; how shall we call him?  He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages. Refrain

In all of Galilee, in city or village, he goes among his people curing their illness. Refrain

Sing then of David’s son, our Savior and brother; in all of Galilee was never another. Refrain

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.

People: Thanks be to God! 

Babushka Dolls and Layers of Gospel Tradition

5 Lent  A       April 2, 2017
Ez. 37:1-14     Ps. 130 
Rom. 6:16-23    John 11:1-44     
Lectionary Link

Just so you don't think that this sermon is pointless, here are four points.  Babushka dolls, death and resuscitation, and resurrection.

Why Bubushka?  Not because Russia is in the news but because they provide concentric layers to illustrate the layers of history.  History is a story and the last story develops from all of the stories told before the latest story and includes traces of the past while being the next outer layer.  The Bubushka doll or matryoshka doll like the layers of an onion provides a model for looking at the development of traditions and today we are looking at some specific Gospel traditions.

First,let's look at the Gospel tradition of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  These three do not appear in the Gospels Matthew and Mark.  They do in the Gospels of Luke and John.  Some scholar think that may mean that the writers of John's Gospel read Luke since John was the latest Gospel to come to writing.  The story of the restoration of Lazarus back to life appears to be a story to prove the assertion found in the parable about Lazarus in the Gospel of Luke.  In the Gospel of Luke we do not know about Lazarus having two sisters because the Lazarus in Luke is a figure in one of the parables of Jesus: Lazarus and the rich man.  Lazarus was the leprous beggar who begged at the gate of the rich man who ignored him and didn't know that he was there.  Both Lazarus and the rich man die; in the afterlife Lazarus dwells in paradise with Abraham and the rich man dwells in agony across an impassible canyon.  His agony is intensified because he can see Lazarus and Abraham but cannot be with them.  He implores father Abraham to send someone back from the dead to warn his brothers and family to amend their lives so that they don't have to arrive in Hades too.  Abraham denies his request and said that if they did not follow Moses and the prophet, then neither would they believe even someone who came back from the dead.

Fast forward to the Gospel of John.  Jesus arrives late to Bethany and Mary and Martha are in distress because their brother Lazarus has died and has been put in the tomb.  Jesus has arrived late to show that he has power over death and he calls Lazarus from the tomb back to life.  But what is the outcome of this marvelous event?  This Lazarus returns from the dead and yet many of Jewish religious leaders still do not believe and they prophesy the necessity of the death of Jesus to save Israel.  For the members of the community of John's Gospel, Lazarus had returned from dead and still many did not believe and many who knew about the Risen Christ still did not believe.  So the Lazarus story was a commentary on the disbelief of many regarding the resurrection.

Let's look back at the Babushka doll.  The earliest figure represents the events of Christ themselves, and we don't actually have full and actual video or audio recordings of these event.  There was a range of stories that were passed in oral traditions about Jesus.    We may think that the Gospels represent the next layers, but in fact in Christian writings, the writings of St. Paul were the first writings about Jesus that we have.  The Gospel present the chronological logic of being the first writings about Jesus, but the writings of St. Paul pre-date the Gospel writings.  The mysticism of Paul and the early disciples then determined how the narrative of the life of Jesus was to be presented in the Gospels.

Paul did not see Jesus.  He did not witness his teachings.  He wasn't a disciple who followed him from Galilee.  He was not at the crucifixion and he was not privileged with the early post-resurrection appearances.  He was a persecutor of those who said that Christ had risen.  Paul was converted in a mystical experience in an encounter with the Risen Christ.  Paul developed the theology of the death and resurrection of Christ which then became presented in the Gospel narratives.

Paul spiritualized everything.  He believed that every thing needed to be interpreted from having an inner conversion.  For Paul, death had two meanings; there was the death of the body and there was spiritual death.  Sin was the condition of being in a deathly state.   By taking a personal mystical identity with the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul believed that one could pass from a state of death into a state of receiving new life, the life of knowing God's Holy Spirit.  When this spiritual program of Paul was presented in the Gospel, the death of Lazarus represented the natural deathly state of living in alienation from God.  Jesus came to weep over our alienation from God and call us forth to live lives unbound from the bands of the fear of death.  We, like Lazarus, live until we die our natural physical death.  We live as it were, spiritual resuscitated lives, until our bodies die.  But when we die, then our resurrection bodies will take off like the butterfly from the lifeless cocoon.  So, here we can see the distinction in the mysticism of the early church between resuscitation and  resurrection.  Like Lazarus, we can sense the freedom of living again, even though we know that our bodies will die.  But in identity with Jesus as the resurrection and the life, we can live with the hope of a life that will be preserved in the greatness of God's memory.

So here are the layers of the tradition.  The event of Jesus.  The memorial traces based upon the experience of St. Paul and his mysticism of the death and resurrection of Christ as an invitation for each of us to embark upon personal transformation.  Then the mysticism of Paul written into the narratives of Jesus in the form of the Gospel writings.  In the Lazarus tradition, we are taught that we can have our spirits resuscitated by God's Holy Spirit, not to deny the eventual deaths of our body, but to partake of the eternal aspect of our nature that will live on because of belief in God as the ultimate preserving agent of greatness.

We can live in fear, ignorance and greedy, grabbing feverishly all in life right now in fear that we cannot have all that we desire because we don't have enough time to collect and take all that we desire.  This is represented by the rich man who neglected the poor beggar Lazarus.  It was represented by those who denied the future of the afterlife.  The Gospel of Christ is coming to a faithful wisdom guided by hope in a continuous future.  Hope is the baptism and cleansing of our desire.  In hope we know that if we don't finish all that we wished and dreamed about, we believe that the fullness of God still awaits us after we die.

Jesus came to deal with the alienation of the spiritual death represented by the sense of alienation from God in this life and the afterlife.  St. Paul took the experience of the Risen Christ as a mystical identity with the death and resurrection of Jesus.  He taught this identity as a method of spiritual transformation.  The Gospel writers then reweaved the spiritual theology of Paul and the early disciples back into the stories of Jesus in the Gospel to preserve the teaching in accessible forms to as many people as possible.  Today many people stay at the story level of the Gospels; they don't perceive the mystical theology hidden therein.

And you and I today are another babushka doll layer of the tradition of Jesus Christ.  We have received and borrowed and studied and prayed and been converted by all of the remnants of this wonderful traditions that have come to us.  We have attempted in our own personal ways to enter into this mystical experience of the Risen Christ being within us as our hope for a future beyond the bookend of our deaths.

Let us do all that we can to be a transitional layer of the traditions of the Risen Christ to those who are with us now and who will live after us.  If we seek to identify with the Risen Christ and teach this mystical spiritual tradition well, we may be faithful conduits of God's grace to the next generation, the next layer of the Jesus tradition.

Remember we always live in the later days, because now is always the latest day.  Let us take care to present the mystical tradition of the Risen Christ to everyone in the very best possible way.  Amen.