For the first time in several years, I have allowed myself to really be present to the season of Lent and be prepared for today and Holy Week. It’s easy to be distracted by the everyday things of school, grocery shopping, house cleaning, insurance claims, budgets, and office tasks. It’s easy to allow our attention to be diverted because if we are really present to Jesus’s call to us, then it might be too hard to say “yes”. To be really present means to see not only those who are broken around us--the homeless, the addicted, the unemployed and under-employed--but it also means we have to come face to face with our own brokenness. It means going to the garden with Jesus and finding ourselves unable to stay awake.
All of Lent for me has been framed by the phrase “Wondrous Love”. Those of us who gathered for the Lenten study this year explored the wondrous love of Jesus through the raising of Lazarus, the entry into Jerusalem, the washing of feet, the last supper, the betrayal of Judas, and the crucifixion. In art and scripture, we explored the tenderness and love that Jesus had for his friends and followers, the broken in body and spirit, and his journey to the cross. Even our final gathering--Gabriella’s sharing of her trip to the Working Boys Center in Ecuador--was an example of the wondrous love of Jesus. Gabriella’s ability to witness the transformative power of love in the lives of the poor will forever guide her in her service to others in the world. It is this same wondrous love that makes today such a paradox. As Jay Cooper Rochelle explains, “This day is like a door. As it opens outward, there is joy and singing and loud exultation. Jesus comes in, amidst cheering and applause….When the door closes, we see that Jesus must now remain locked inside the room of his final week, where the singing will turn to silence and the cheers to shouts of ‘Crucify him’”. What does it mean--in the pits of our stomachs-- when we stand up and say “Crucify him”? Can you feel it? What does it mean that Cody--a teenager--read the part of Jesus? Can you hear the voices of the broken-hearted and forgotten? If we truly believe that we are called to seek and serve Christ in others, then how do we treat Jesus? Would we wash his feet? Would we deny him and stand in the shadows? Would we criticize, taunt and rebuke him? Would we have the courage and strength to stand at the foot of the cross and wait for his broken body to be let down for burial? When we gathered today, we entered into kairos time--God’s time. You can’t mark God’s time on a clock; it’s fluid. God’s time is an opportunity to reflect on the wondrous love we’ve been given, to acknowledge our brokenness, and to be open to transformation. We will remain in kairos time this whole week, journeying to the cross and finally celebrating the resurrection with Jesus. It is our opportunity to confess, be healed and celebrate. This is our Christian life together. When we recognize the wondrous love of Holy Week, then saying “yes” to following Jesus--while still scary--can be liberating. Jesus is patient and kind. He calls us to reflect and confess--not give in to the anxiety of the world, or be distracted by the everyday. He calls us to break bread, to share a holy feast, and experience his most wondrous love. Let us pray. Jesus, your love is broken open among cheering crowds and traitor’s coins, deserting friends and hands washed clean, the mockery of power and the baying mob: as we follow your way of passion, give us the faith to bring our weak and divided hearts to the foot of the cross and the door of the guarded tomb that they might be opened, astonished and healed; through Jesus Christ, the giver of most wondrous love. Amen. (adapted from: Prayers for an inclusive church)
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AuthorI don't know what the future of the church is, but I know that we will continue to be a place of sanctuary and hope, working towards healing in the world. Archives
October 2017
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