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Good News - Resurrection Sunday

3/31/2018

CHRIST IS RISEN! CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!

NOTES ON THE SCRIPTURES

Acts 10:34-43: Peter preaches about the way God does not show favoritism, but welcomes and saves all, reflecting on his witness to the resurrection of Jesus, and the forgiveness that is available to all who believe in Christ.

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24: A psalm of celebration and thanksgiving for God’s salvation, affirming that the psalmist will not die, but will live, and rejoicing that the rejected stone has become the main foundation stone.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11: The message that was preached by all of the apostles, and in which the believers believed was that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again, as witnessed by hundreds of disciples.

John 20:1-18: Mary Magdalene finds the tomb with stone rolled away and tells Peter and the other disciples. Then Peter and the disciple Jesus loved go and investigate and find the tomb empty. After they have left, Mary encounters Jesus and returns to the disciples to tell them what she has seen.

Reflections
In churches around the world the resurrection will be the focus of our worship, but for many of us, the celebration will simply be a remembrance of a miraculous event from the past, with perhaps a mention of our hope of a life beyond death. But, if this is all the resurrection is, it actually has little value for us now – or for anyone else. But, if our celebration can connect us with the living reality of resurrection life now, everything changes. In our homes and families, we can live knowing that there is always hope and life, even after times of grief or conflict. In our churches and communities we can gather knowing that God’s life is found together, and that we are able to bring life to one another through the grace, love, care and compassion we show one another. When we allow the resurrection to become a reality by which we live, and not just an idea that we remember, our mission changes from just trying to “get people into heaven” to bringing life to others in whatever way we can – big or small. When our lives become oriented around the resurrection we cannot help but move away from just telling people about Jesus, to seeking to embody the life, the grace and the all-inclusive compassion of Jesus in our own lives. The resurrection, then, is not just an evacuation plan for us as individuals. It’s the basic principle by which the entire cosmos is ordered, and in which we participate when we share Christ’s life in every way, and at every opportunity.

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Good News - March 25 - March 30, 2018

3/26/2018

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PRAYER OF THE WEEK
When my courage fails and my strength, grows weak, please help me, O God. Amen.

GOOD FRIDAY

Black and white picture of a cross against a cloudy sky.

NOTES ON THE SCRIPTURES

Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12: A song of the suffering servant, who is persecuted and dies for the sake of others (“us”).

Psalm 22: A Psalm of lament, grieving the suffering and abandonment of the writer, but celebrating the inevitable rescue that will come, and praising the God who brings this salvation.

Hebrews 10:16-25: We have confidence to approach God, because of Christ’s sacrifice for us, and can now live in hope, in intimacy with God, and in love-in-action.

John 18:1 – 19:42: Jesus is arrested, tried, crucified and buried – and through it all, reveals the brokenness and lack of integrity of those who face him, while revealing his own truth, integrity and divine character.

Reflections
Good Friday is a tough day to prepare for. The story is so familiar, that the shock and impact of it can easily be lost in a “same old, same old” ritualism. However, with a little creativity and thoughtfulness, some powerful themes emerge. First is the question of Jesus’ purpose – did he live to die, or did he die in order to live and bring life to all? This is more than semantics. It opens up our faith to the reality that what Jesus came to do was not about death so much as it is about life in all its forms and possibilities. Jesus died because he refused to allow a lesser life – evil, compromise, expediency – take him over. He died because he embraced a life of love fully and completely, and would not be moved from it. And in so doing, he lived fully, and gave an example for us to follow and a way for us to enter life. The second theme is that of our response. What Jesus did was not simply to give us a ticket to bliss in heaven. Rather he opened the door for us to be forgiven – which requires us to face our darkness and brokenness – and to live fully, as he did, if we will also die to everything that keeps us from real, abundant life, and embrace a life of love. Good Friday, then, confronts us with what life is really meant to be, and with the price we must pay to find it – which, in the end, turns out to be much smaller than it may at first appear.

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Good News - Week of 3/18/2018

3/20/2018

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PRAYER OF THE WEEK
Teach me to proclaim your Reign, O God, through living a life of Christ-like grace and love. Amen.

An expressionist painting of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey. Jesus is dressed in a bright red cloak.

Emil Nolde - Entry into Jerusalem (1915)

NOTES ON THE SCRIPTURES

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29: An exhortation to give thanks to God for God’s eternal mercy. Also a cry for God to save God’s people, and an invitation for God’s people to join a procession of thanksgiving, marching to the altar with palms, blessing the one who comes in the Lord’s name.

Mark 11:1-11: Jesus instructs his disciples to fetch a young donkey for him to ride. Then he rides it into Jerusalem and a procession forms with people laying their coats and leafy branches on the road, while shouting out “Hosanna, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”. Then Jesus goes into the temple, looks around and leaves because it is late.

Reflection
There are two ways that the Palm Sunday theme can be applied to the current world situation. The first relates to our unwillingness to be, or appear to be, foolish. When mistakes are made by those in positions of power and leadership, it is uncommon to hear a simple, clear apology. Rather, the usual strategy is blame, denial, or misdirection. And even when no mistakes have been made, but massive challenges confront us, it is often difficult to get clear, straight answers especially when the issues have not yet been fully understood. This same avoidance of looking foolish applies to corporate CEOs, school teachers, church ministers and even parents. Yet, in our quest to avoid looking foolish, we often end up in arrogance, denial, avoidance, and hubris – all of which can lead to unwise and destructive responses or actions. However, when we are willing to admit our mistakes or ignorance and run the risk of looking a little foolish, we almost always end up wiser and more able to address our issues effectively, because we have the humility and openness to listen and learn and collaborate to work things out.

The second possible application of today’s theme is to explore the difference between the seeming foolishness of God’s Reign, which is actually the wisest way to live and which offers real strategies for addressing our world’s crises, and the seeming wisdom of the world’s systems which are, in fact, fostering inequality, injustice, climate change, ethnic and religious violence, and fragmentation of our world and societies. When the simplicity, humility, generosity, compassion, justice, and grace of Christ are fully embraced – as foolish as these qualities may seem in today’s competitive world – the impact on our world is life-giving, healing and peace-making. The question we need to face is whether we are willing to become fools for the sake of the Gospel – and for the healing of our world.

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Good News - Week of 3/11/2018

3/12/2018

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PRAYER OF THE WEEK
Thank you, God, for your promise of grace and your commitment to me. Amen.

Resurrection

NOTES ON THE SCRIPTURES

Jeremiah 31:31-34: God promises a new covenant in which God’s law is written on people’s hearts, and in which no one needs to instruct another, because all people will know God, will be forgiven by God and will automatically follow God’s ways.

Psalm 51:1-12: A psalm asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness, and for God to wash the psalmist clean, restoring to him the joy of God’s salvation and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 5:5-10: Jesus has been appointed by God as a priest like Melchizedek. He suffered for God’s people, crying out to God in his anguish, and God heard him because of his devotion and obedience. Now he is the source of salvation for all.

John 12:20-33: Jesus teaches that a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die in order to produce fruit, and that those who try to save their lives will lose them, but those who give up their lives will guard them for eternal life. Then he asks whether he should pray to be delivered from his hour of suffering, but recognizes that this is what he came for, and that when he is lifted up he will draw all people to himself.

Reflection
No relationship can be sustained without fairly regular “dying” experiences. The single person must die to become united in a relationship or marriage. The couple must die to give birth to a family. The family must die to release the children to their own journey into love and growth. The same is true for community. The small group must die to become a community. The community must die to become an organisation. Every season of growth, creativity, change or re-orientation, requires a losing of life in order to save life. In ministry, this call to die is, perhaps, most keenly felt. The church cannot hold on to its own life if it is to be Christ’s instrument of healing and justice in the world. Rather, the church must die to its own needs, to its own agenda, and to its own self-preservation, giving itself for the sake of those around it, or it loses its life and becomes an irrelevant “club”. But, if we embrace our deaths, following Christ to the cross, we discover true, abundant life as we serve others. On a personal, individual level, the same principle applies as well. When we seek to save our lives – refusing to become vulnerable to others, refusing to release our own desires, agendas and perspectives – we lose our lives, and end up alone and bitter. But, when we willingly let go of our own life – giving ourselves for the sake of connection, family, friendship and intimacy – we find ourselves rich and alive with connections, love and support. It is, perhaps, one of the greatest challenges in our increasingly individualist and self-centered world to learn to die to the false life of an idolized self in order to find the true, lasting life of intimacy and community.

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Good News - Week of 3/4/2018

3/6/2018

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PRAYER OF THE WEEK
Lead me out of darkness, O God, and into your marvelous light. Show me the ways of life, O God, and help me to follow them. Amen

Serpentine Cross - Dennis Jarvis

NOTES ON THE SCRIPTURES

Numbers 21:4-9: The people of Israel complain about being in the desert because there is no food or water and they don’t like the food God has provided. Then a plague of snakes attacks them and they ask for forgiveness and salvation. God instructs Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole so that anyone who is bitten by a snake can look at the bronze snake and be healed.

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22: A song of praise for God who punished those who, in their foolishness disobeyed and rebelled, but who forgave and saved them when they called out to God.

Ephesians 2:1-10: Though we once followed the ways of the world and were dead in our sins, deserving judgement like anyone else, God saved us through Christ, as an act of grace that we did not earn. But God has created us to do good works in Christ.

John 3:14-21: As the snake was lifted up on a pole in the desert, so Christ is to be lifted up so that all who seek to be saved may look to him. God sent him into the world to save, not condemn, but those who love darkness rather than light are already condemned, because they want to keep their actions hidden and not have them exposed.

Reflection
Denial is a destructive thing. When we fail to acknowledge our brokenness and apologise for hurting others, relationships break down. When we refuse to take responsibility for our own health, our own habits of eating and exercise, our bodies break down. When we refuse to look at our finances honestly, and admit our tendency to spend what we don’t have, our peace of mind and our economic wellbeing breaks down. When we refuse to look at our beliefs and recognise when they fall into self-righteousness, exclusivity, legalism, and judgmentalism our witness to Christ breaks down. In every family and community the pain of denial can be easily recognised. But, so can the healing and freedom that comes from honest repentance, true taking of responsibility, and committed work to change and do “good works”. Every follower of Christ has a daily choice to live in the darkness of denial or the light of repentance. We can choose to know the salvation of God’s healing and restoration, or stay in the poisoned wilderness of our own fear, pride, and selfishness. This may sound harsh, but, it is only those who acknowledge their sickness who can find healing – as even Jesus taught. In this way, the call to repentance is not a “hellfire and damnation” message, but is an invitation to grace, to discover that there is nothing that can keep us from God’s restoring mercy, or from God’s liberating forgiveness. If we will just open ourselves to this truth, we will find the abundant life we seek by turning from our darkness, and moving into the light of truth and of God’s love. Once again, the choice is ours.

IMAGE NOTES by DENNIS JARVIS

Serpentine Cross. The figure represents the bronze serpent taken up by Moses in the desert, and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Mount Nebo, Jordan.

Mount Nebo, known as Pisgah in the Bible. It is where the Bible says Moses lived out his remaining days and viewed the Promised Land which he would never enter (Deuteronomy 34: 1-8). Mt. Nebo offers a fantastic view westward, with a vista that includes the Dead Sea, the West Bank, the Jordan River, and, on a clear day, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

There are actually two peaks on Mt. Nebo, Siyagha and al-Mukhayyat. During the sixth century AD, a Byzantine monastery was constructed at Siyagha. It was built on the foundations of an even earlier chapel, which was erected by monks from Egypt during the third or fourth century AD. Although little remains of the buildings that housed them, the mosaics of this period can be seen today inside the modern-day shrine atop Siyagha. The main mosaic, which measures three by nine meters, depicts the monastic pastime of wine-making, as well as hunters and an assortment of animals.

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Good News - Resurrection Sunday

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