My God, My God, Why?

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday B, March 28, 2021
Is.45:21-25     Ps. 22:1-11
Phil. 2:5-11   St. Mark’s Passion Gospel

Lectionary Link

The following text in was found on a basement wall in Cologne, Germany.  It had been written by someone hiding from the Gestapo.

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.  I believe in love even when feeling it not. 

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.  I believe in love even when feeling it not.

I believe in God even when God is silent.  I believe in the silence.

  

 Since last year:  A pandemic, the severity of which was denied by our leaders, poorly responded to, leading to the deaths of more than half a million in our country and many more in our world..  My God, my God, why have you forsaken us?

The financial ruin of vast number of people because of the pandemic while a very few became exponentially more wealthy as our country and world have difficulty regarding the common good:  My God, my God why have you forsaken us?

Multiple killings of Black persons through bad policing and targeting of people of color, resulting in extensive social revolt to protest for the equal value of the lives of Black persons: My God, my God, why have you forsaken us.

Multiple mass shootings, including the targeting of Asian Americans,  coupled with the increase in the number of sales of military rifles for the civilian population and a government that can legislate on seat belts, baby crib safety, but cannot do anything about military weapons in the hands of the general populace:  My God, my God why have you forsaken us?

And in one year these are all in addition to our normal natural disasters of wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and winter extreme freezing.

My God, my God why have you forsaken us?

Jesus on the cross before he died, is believed to have used an expression from Psalm 22.  "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me."  News Flash: The Divine Son reports that his Heavenly Father Abandoned Him.  It is a rather serious accusation that a Son might make against one's Father, especially one's Heavenly Father.

This cry is the cry of Jesus showing complete identity with human suffering.  And it is the cry which happens even when we know why.  Jesus knew why and we also know why.  But knowing does not comfort us much in the moment of feeling the forsakenness so poignantly.

What do we know and what did Jesus know?  We know and Jesus knew that life is valuable because of genuine freedom.  From the sub-atomic particles through human beings, life is an expression of freedom.  And the free conditions result in the clash and conflict of systems because in timing, things collide.  Freedom is more valuable for human beings because we have higher conscious and deliberative freedom.  It also means that we are more culpable for what we choose to do.  We can't hold a tornado responsible for hitting our house, but you can hold a person responsible for burning your house down.  This is the common sense of how freedom works.  If freedom is the highest value of life, God must be pure Freedom, but God does not interfere with the lesser freedoms which people and things bearing the divine brand have.  And Jesus on the cross was subject to the freedom that the human authorities had to put him there.

The church believes that Jesus cried, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me," because we believe that Jesus was one who knew that he was in God's plan and timing and he knew that being God with us meant full identity with the human experience.

But for you and me, I would like for us to change the big "Why" question by asking, "O my fellow people, why have we forsaken each other?"  

The horrible Holocaust, the killing of millions by Stalin, Pol Pot and all of the current and past cruel dictators, and the wars of humanity.  "O my fellow people, why have we forsaken each other?"

The racial mistreatment of Black persons, Brown persons, Asian persons and Native American people.  "O my fellow people, why have we forsaken each other?"

The inequities in housing provision, sustainable wages, access to affordable health care, equal treatment of women.  "O my fellow people, why have we forsaken each other?"

You and I are not like Jesus; we cannot just state that people being inhumane to each other is part of God's grand plan.

What is God's grand plan?  The witness of the Jesus from the Cross is to say to us, "Please don't hurt each other anymore.  Please do no harm to each other.  Please celebrate your wonderful freedom by doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with your God, and with each other."  This is the way in which we honor the glorious value of freedom in our lives.  And I believe that this is what the cry of Jesus from the cross is trying to teach us today.  Amen.

Sunday School, March 28, 2021 Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

 Sunday School, March 28, 2021  Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

Themes:

This day is a day of contrast which pertain to the distinctly contradictory events which are marked in the life of Christ, the Palm procession with Jesus proclaimed as king by happy and joyful devotees and the Passion account where there is a different crowd presented who want to crucify Jesus and mock his "kingship."

You may want to censor by choosing the Palm Sunday themes for children.  Here is a Palm Sunday story about Christopher (Christ-bearer) the donkey.  This story puts together the event of the Palm Procession and the Passion Sunday event of the cross of Jesus.

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 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 loving and kind.  Amen.

Intergenerational family liturgy with Holy Eucharist

March 29, 2015: Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

Opening Song as continuation of Palm Procession: 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: 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!

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 John

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord-- the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

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.

(Intercessions may be added here)

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 Choir Anthem: Praise Him, All Ye Little Children  (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 184)

1          Praise him, praise him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Praise him, praise him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

2          Love him, love him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Love him, love him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

3          Serve him, serve him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Love him love him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

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 heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is the celebration of our birth into the family of God.

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)

The Celebrant now praises God for the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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.  Sanctify us your Holy Spirit so that 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,

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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 Anthem:  

                                 

Communion Song: Were You There? (blue hymnal)

1. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

2. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? …

3. Were you there when they pierced him in the side? …

4. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? …

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:  Hosanna, Hosana, (The Christian Children’s Songbook, # 102)

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.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Forty Prayers for Lent

Forty Prayers for Lent

 

1-God of mercy, we can’t help but feel that we have been tricked within the free conditions of this world to lose the best path of our life.  We thank you that you provided us with a guide to find our way by subjecting Jesus to a forty day fast when he was made completely vulnerable to an accusing foe.   Thank you that hero Jesus, did it once and for all and that he gave us the example to resist the Diablo.  Amen.

 

2-God of ideal timing, help us who are so often tempted to mistime what we do and say in our lives.  Thank you for making all things good, but giving them ideal release occasions which make them good, right and appropriate in their use for the good of our lives in community.  God, as one who can get us to the right place at the right time, help us to be in-sync with the Holy Spirit as our Global Positioning System.  Amen.

 

3-Gracious Heavenly Parent, you gave us a sibling, Jesus, who was like us in his needs, his esteem, and in having a human death date, but was obedient to the heavenly timing of his needs, his fame and glory esteem, and the purposeful way in which he was to die. Grant to us the ability to discern and obey God’s will for our lives as we seek to be ever appropriate to the times, places and people of our lives.  Amen.

 

4-God of discernment, you gave us the example of Jesus to expose the accuser, Satan.  Give us the power of resisting the accuser’s lies even as we discern the accuser attaining a personality when riding upon all the accusing voices of the imperfect diminishers of our lives who in our memories leave their echoing loud voices.  Give us strength to say, “get behind me Satan, in the name of my hero Jesus,” when the accuser rides as a parasite upon the memories of all our lives’ worst moments.  Amen.

 

5-Loving God, help us not to despair of perpetually missing the mark toward the target of perfection.  Help us to know that if we are aiming in the right direction with our life activity, then your angels will carry our falling short efforts to the mark on the wings of God’s grace as we can only be complete in you.  Amen.

 

6-O Divine Just one, how can we know where to aim the words and deeds of our lives unless you give us a model?  Yes, you did in Jesus give us a model, to inspire us to apply love and justice to all the activities of our lives.  Amen.

 

7-O God, if I could see you, touch you, and hear you, I’m sure that I would make idols out of such sensorial contacts and pretend to capture mystery in a bottle to add to my museum of mystical experiences.  Let me accept the traces of your mysterious touches in the guise of the ordinary and know that I cannot limit or contain you as I accept that I and everything else are contained in you.  Amen.

 

 

8-Eternal Word as God, through you, I know you even as I am a linguistic cipher within the total lexicon of the Divine Eternal Word. Let the words of my life and body language deeds articulate the fact that through Word as Communication, the Eternal Word is always communicating.  Amen.

 

9-Divine Christ, you are All and in All, and when you took bread and said, “This is my body,” you showed us that your presence did not end at your skin so that you are bread and the entire world which enters your purview.  Help us not to limit your presence to bread and wine and Bible, since these cannot exhaust You who are All and in All.  Amen.

 

10-O God, we love your showings in familiar places but we also like the surprise, “Peek a boo,” occasions when you appear without our knowing or even practicing to be prepared to greet you.  And when we smile without knowing why we smile, we thank you the uncaused one for the delightful touch.  Amen.

 

11-God, deliver us from perfectionism, especially when we judge others who are not gifted in the areas where we are gifted.  And deliver us when we are attempted to bemoan the fact that we are not perfect and falsely presume that we should be in the place of the perfect one.  Help us not to take on the role of omni-competence in self-reliant presumption so that we don’t hold ourselves responsible for something we can never be, because that role has been ever held by Thee.  Amen.

 

12-O great God, help us to know that you contain us, more than we contain you, because we live and move and have our being in you.  Give us grace to make love and justice the practice in our lesser environments located in your great Home of all that is.  Amen.

 

 

13-God beyond all, help me to accept my limited capacity and the provisional insights which come to me on the path to receive perhaps, more surpassing insights tomorrow.  Amen.

 

 

14-God of involvement with all, let me not demand of you final answers about anything, but adequate answers to the moment of need. Amen.

 

15-O God of beauty, let me be but a shard within your grand kaleidoscope, turning in time and being perpetually rearranged with all other shards, to give you a pleasing view.  Amen.

 

 

16-O God, remind me how natural it should be to be humble, with an infinite number of things all being in infinite number of relationships and with each person having a vantage point on a very limited number of things.  So, why God, am I tempted to over-value my very partial view when the realization of this should make me unavoidably humble?   Let me have the grace to be but a member of your orchestra blending to the glory of the One God.  Amen.

 

17-O Spirit of God, are you the literal breath within?  Are you the invisible wind blowing the trees?  Or are you behind the metaphor we must use to refer to the mystery of the animation of life itself?  Amen.

 

18-God, we endeavor to be awe struck fans seeking the divine autographs to be written on things as a proof like a tag on a product stating, “Made in and By God.” Amen.

 

19-God of greatness, while we want your signature to stand out in particular things, you perhaps are saying to us that all things are your signature. And with our prayers we acknowledge that we are signed, sealed and delivered by you.  Amen.

 

20-O God of discerning rebuke; teach us not to use intercession for others as a guise for us confessing for them, the sins which we think that they have.  Amen.

 

21-God of wisdom, please forgive my worry based upon the assumption that I can know and invent the problems of the future before they happen.  Please transform my anxiety energy into calm wise planning for probable outcomes and not worst-case scenarios.  Amen.

 

22-O God, with the arising of Jesus within a human family, you made it natural for human words and knowing to be valid ways of knowing you.  And you gave us hope for empathy by showing us that our experience is relevant to understanding all beings.  Amen.

 

23-Creator Genius God, like each unique snowflake you have made each of us unique in personal constitution and experience, and such uniqueness can also be experienced as being quite alone.  But who is more unique than you?  And through you we can experience the choir of other unique beings and proclaim that we are mutually unique with each other.  Amen.

 

24-God of creativity, thank you for stamping each person with singular uniqueness so that from the mist of personal aloneness creativity can arise to bless the community.  Amen.

 

25-God of comfort, when I feel that nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, let me be reminded that nobody has known the joys, the smiles, and the love that I have known in precisely the unique ways in which I have known them.  Help me to balance the uniqueness of my troubles with the uniqueness of my joys.  Amen.

 

26-God, forgive me of the arrogance of thinking that I have thought of things which you haven’t which result in the events of worry.  When my worry is but thoughts without any empirical verification, please teach me to value myself so that I don’t choose disaster for my mental entertainment.  Please transform the thoughts about future probabilities into intercession for others and wise planning toward beneficial outcomes.  Amen.

 

 

 

27-O God, you are synchronous with all becoming, you have subjected us to the binary of time, events of either before or after.  And with each “after” event we mark our age and note the differences between who we were before and how we are after and we can fall into regret of what we were not before, or nostalgia of what we are not now.  Give us grace to accept the continual flow of the before and after and to embrace transformation as the God given action of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

28-Forgive us God, when we have been fickle within the crowd, and when it has been safe to shout “Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in God’s name.”  But in another crowd, we have been crying, “Crucify him,” when we have been involved in the victimization of those who are already suffering.  Give us discernment when we see those who have been made victims, and give us the courage to support and stand up for the wrongly ostracized.  Amen.

 

29-Lord Jesus Christ, how often we would like to keep you as an “external” icon to gaze upon or as a story in the Gospels.  Let us accept our identity with you and let your Christ nature see through us, pray through us and act through us.  Amen.

 

30-Bless Holy Trinity, who is unavoidable as a Father Plenitude from whom we came, live and will return to.  Who is Jesus the Christ, to assume human life so that we might assume knowledge of divine life in a valid way.  Who is Holy Spirit as the omnipresence allowing us to conduct mutual experience and know that we are not alone.  We bless you, O unavoidable Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

31-Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for giving us the Eucharist as a meal to promote the future gathering of your expanding family.  Keep us loyal to the family meal, and let us not forget that this meal is connected with the needs of the hungry people of our world.  Amen.

 

32-God of all people, you have made us feel so welcome, we can in our privilege think that our religious experience is more valid than those who equally claim the dignity of Christ.  Give us grace to open our hearts to all who want the equal dignity of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

33-God, you have funneled knowledge of you to comply with our human smallness, but with that wonderful knowledge you have given us the ability to surpass what we ever thought that we could be.  Thank you for being Word made flesh in Jesus; please dear Word of God, be made flesh again and again in us.  Amen.

 

34-O God, our heavenly parent, you have given us your Son Jesus to help us be formed into a family with a new identity.  Give us a love of our identity with the life of Christ who lives in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

35-Gracious God, we look forward with hope for the return of the excessive use of the praise word of the Easter celebration.  As we have fasted from the unique Easter praise word, let our lungs be ready to return to the Easter excess of holy noise in praise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

36-God of all praise, prepare us for the intensity of Holy Week, when we will recount the final week of the life of Jesus in his earthy body.  Let the remembrance of these events be dynamic so that their power can be made manifest again in us in new events of remembrance.  Amen.

 

37-Christ, to be in you, is to erase the ego of lesser identities, like ethnic, gender, and social and economic differences.  But to be in you is to uplift to equality people in their differences to know that you delight to dwell in each person in giving everyone a sense of an original experience of you.  Amen.

 

38-Lord Jesus Christ, in your death on the Cross, you showed us that God suffers with us in our lives even to the suffering of death.  We thank you that you preserved genuine freedom, by allowing the worst of all to happen, even to your Son.  We ask that we might be shocked by the worst that happens to be inspired to overcome evil with good through your blessed example.  Amen.

 

39-God of all Patience, we wonder why you tolerate so much in life, even as we know life would be all programmed outcomes without genuine freedom.  Help us to respect freedom so much that we would in the democracy of freedom, cast our votes for goodness, so the goodness will finally win the day.  Amen.

 

40-God of our Easter destiny, you call us during Lent to our Easter of hope.  We thank you that hope, itself, received a wonderful story in the resurrection of Jesus.  We thank you that Easter hope always gives us a future, in this life and the next.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

Is Gardening about Burying Seeds?

5 Lent B March 21, 2021

Jer. 31:31-34 Ps. 51:11-16
Heb. 5:1-10 John 12:20-33

Lectionary Page

When you begin your garden, are you in the habit of saying.  Time for a funeral; time for a seed memorial event in my garden.  I am going to lay to rest in burial, these fine seeds and hope that they die from their seedy state and sprouts some roots and stems out their seed casing until that seed is no longer recognizable as a seed.  But I am hoping for the resurrection of that seed into some marvelous plants with leaves and blossoms and fruit.  And the leaves, blossoms and fruit will not look like that seed at all.  The seed will have died to become something more glorious.

This is the metaphor of the cycle of a plant life which Jesus used to speak about his own life in our appointed Gospel.  The speaking of Jesus in John's Gospel is surely the oracle of the Risen Christ in the community of the Gospel of John.  This community was teaching new members the significance of the life of Jesus and what he had become as the Risen Christ in the church family which was living five to six decades after Jesus.

Let us compare the seed of the life of Jesus of Nazareth with the life of the Risen Christ in the Johannine church six to seven decades later.  Quite a difference between the actual physical life of Jesus and the glorious fruit of what the Risen Christ had become in the many, many lives of those who knew the presence of God's Holy Spirit.

The one seed of the physical life of Jesus of Nazareth had become the known personal image of God in the lives of many thousands, and now 2000 years later, the fruit of the personal image of God as the Risen Christ has been known by countless number of people.  This is what one could call the entering of Jesus into his glory.  This is what one could say is the glorification of the name of God.

Can see and appreciate how the Gospel story encapsulates the process of the seed of the life of Jesus of Nazareth attaining continuing glory in being the Risen Christ inwardly present in the lives of countless people.  The Greek at the feast represents the glory of the Risen Christ coming to the Gentile peoples.

The entire result of the success of the Risen Christ in the church was the heavenly voice crying:  I have glorified and will glorify the name of God.

Let us have faith to believe in the great cycle of life today.  The cycle of life includes phases of existence and each phase of existence includes within it all of the other phases.

When we think about a seed or a baby, we think young, and in appearance it is young, but in its lineage it represents the complete indeterminate connection with the fullness of the past from which it came.  And the seed and the baby is but a bridge in being connected to an endless indeterminate future.

So today, as we believe in the validity of the cycle of life, let us also believe in the validity of spiritual cycle of life that has become known in Jesus Christ.  Jesus, being in the appearance of merely a person, lost that appearance in his death.  But what did he become in his afterlife?  What is he becoming in his afterlife within you and me and many others who are claiming the image of God on their lives?

Believe in the cycle of the life of Jesus Christ.  And believe that his spiritual life cycle is interwoven with ours.  And we will know many states of appearances in this cycle and some may not be pleasant, like loss and death, but let us continue to believe in the cycle, just as we are hopeful gardeners who bury seeds in the garden bed graves in order that they might surpass their seedy state and become the glorious fruit of the future.

Let us get into the rhythm of the spiritual cycle of the life of Christ today.  The cycle happens whether we want it to or not; so why not become intentional participants in this spiritual cycle of continuous transformation?  Amen.