Here is the thing that stands out to me in this week's readings: We are gonna have to put up with a lot of crap. In the gospel lesson, Jesus shares that weird little parable about the fig tree. The owner is fed up with it and wants it gone, but the gardener says, "Let's try one more year. Let's surround it with as much crap as we can and see if it will grow under those circumstances. If it doesn't, then we will cut it down."

Mom, if you are reading this, I am sorry for using the word crap so much. It seems better than the obvious alternative!

The question in my mind becomes about where the crap comes from. It is this question that keeps me from using the word fertilizer. To fertilize something sounds so lovely. It sounds so incredibly helpful and I do understand that when the NRSV uses the phrase "until I dig around it and put manure on it" that the manure is the fertilizer, but someone in a prayer group this morning mentioned "all the crap we must go through in order to grow" and it just sticks with me like a fly on, well, you know. The outcome may be growth. It may even mean extended life on this earth, but being dug around and piled under manure doesn't sound like a walk in the park to me.

So, is it a test? The writer of 1 Corinthians seems to think so. This is that passage often repeated to people when they are in the most dire of situations - "God will not test you beyond your strength." I generally can't stand it when folks say that to me. How is it helpful to think about a terrible situation in my life being orchestrated by God to show me how strong I am? I'm more likely to believe that bumper sticker phrase that I can't write here because then I'll really be in trouble with my mother! You know the one I mean. A word that means the same as crap or manure followed by the word "happens."

But that leads my mind down another rabbit hole - why does "it" happen? And, then I'm led back to the gospel where Jesus tells the people around him that they must repent or they will perish. I can't help but wonder from what this particular group of folks needed to repent. If we look at the context of the words, they seem to have been trying to play the blame game. "Well, those people were clearly the worst because that tower fell on them. They must have been really horrible!" Or maybe it wasn't the blame game at all. Maybe they were just trying to make some sense out of things they witnessed that didn't seem to make any sense at all. Like a fig tree that produces nothing or a prophet that tells us "Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."

This post is wandering around like I'm lost in the wilderness! Seems appropriate on this third Sunday of Lent to do so. Crap happens. Sometimes it happens to us. Sometimes it happens around us. Sometimes it happens in spite of us. Bottom line is that turning toward the Christ is the only way to survive the crap being piled on year after year after year. And, as we wander through these 40 days of Lent, we are called to repent, to grow, and to believe that we can do things that don't seem to make much sense at all in the eyes of the world. Thanks be to God for that!

There are probably lots of folks in the USA right now claiming that there are clear signs of the end of the world as we know it. Hurricanes hitting New York City followed almost immediately by a snow storm, not to mention the fact that Barack Obama was elected to serve a second term as president. I've seen some posts on Facebook that make it clear that some folks think that Armageddon is upon us. (I would like to point out that many of these same people would have claimed that God had ordained Romney for the job had he been elected, but when Obama is elected, then the morality of America is called in question. I would like to point out the hypocrisy of that, but I'll keep it to myself.)

Etna Volcano Paroxysmal Eruption January 12, 2011 by gnuckx

From the first disciples, folks have been expecting the end to come any day now. Over the centuries we have used all kinds of natural disasters or political situations as evidence that the day is just around the corner. I guess growing up in the south means that images of the apocalypse are ingrained in my psyche from early on. I remember quite vividly a dream I had when I was a teenager. I was riding in a car with someone and we came to the top of a big hill on the street on which I lived. My house was supposed to be on the other side at the bottom of the hill. Instead as we approached the peek of the hill, the car stopped and we looked out onto a world that had been destroyed. The road was gone. The houses were gone. Our church was gone. Our home was gone. Beyond that hill, there was nothing other than flames of deep red fire bubbling and burning like lava from a volcano. Sounds like many descriptions of the End Times that I heard growing up. I suppose if I were to analyze the dream, it would have had to do with the fear I felt as a teenager who was worried about screwing up so bad that God would leave me to burn.

You may be wondering what this has to do with the texts this week. Well, the Mark text is that one where Jesus speaks of the destruction of the temple, where he warns the disciples that the things of the dominant culture are coming to an end, "where nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines" Yep, must be right around the corner!

Earthrise from NASAimages.org

Here is what sticks out to me, though. Jesus goes on to say that these things will be just the beginning of the birth pangs. Birth pangs. From Hannah praying for a son whom she would ultimately give over to Eli to raise as God's servant to the very earth upon which we live, this week is all that while there is pain in giving birth, the new life that comes is worth every minute of it. Though there are all kinds of questions about the end of the world as we know it, though keeping awake and ready is a good idea, though the dominant culture in which we live will come crashing to the ground, what Jesus is telling his disciples then and now is that we live as people of hope because these signs that often feel scary and confusing are really the birth of new life, of a new heaven, of a new earth. Just like Hannah dedicating her son's life to God, we dedicate our own lives to God's work in this world because in and through that new life is born again and again.

In Job's text this week, Job responds to God's smack-down. Remember last week's text? "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" Job is reminded of who is ultimately driving the car. In the passage for this Sunday, we are told that Job's fortunes are restored and that he went on to live a happy, healthy, and wealthy life. The restoration that seems more important, though, is that Job was brought to a place of saying, "Yep, that's right, God. I forgot for a minute, but I'm back on track now. I know that there is nothing that you can't do."

The Jeremiah text points us toward restoration as well with promises from God about gathering the Israelites together and restoring them to a home where water will flow and the paths will be straight. And, of course, the Psalms go hand in hand with their lectionary counterparts with praises sung to God for caring for God's children and songs of praise about Zion's restoration.

In Hebrews we are pointed toward a restored Christ, a high priest that will have no need of a replacement. And, Mark leads us to the story of Blind Bartamaeus who is literally restored from blindness to sight. Of course, we know that there was much more to this restoration than meets the eye (pun intended). Bartamaeus was told to shut up, to leave Jesus alone. They tried to push him to the sidelines, keep him an outcast on the margins. But, he didn't believe them. He had the audacity to believe something that no one was telling him. He had the audacity to believe that Jesus would listen to him too. He had the audacity to believe that Jesus could restore him. And though everyone around him tried to keep him quiet and along those margins, he called out. Not only did he call out, but Jesus stopped and called to him too. Bartamaeus threw off his cloak - rid himself of all that was old, all that was keeping him in the gutter - and ran to Jesus. Jesus restored his sight. But, Jesus also restored his life, his meaning in society, his value as a member of the community.

Bartamaeus, though the one who was physically blind, was able to see that things must change. Those following Jesus couldn't see it and tried to keep the status quo by telling him to be quiet. But, this blind beggar could see better that a reformation needed to happen in order to have restoration in his life. I haven't listed the texts for Reformation Sunday, but that is upon us once again. Certainly, Martin Luther had visions of restoration as he nailed those 95 theses to the door. Certainly, he saw a community in pain and a Church who was blind and he sought the power of Christ to restore her. Today it may be important to look at ways we need to continue to restore the Church Universal, to seek unity where there is none, so that we will truly be the One Body of Christ on earth. In other words, did we protestants protest too much? Can we restore the Church to unity?

Where do our congregations need to be reformed? Where do we need to be restored. May we call out to Jesus from wherever we find ourselves along the journey. What a glorious moment it will be when he stops and calls to us too.

Okay, I'm about to use the word awesome, but I don't want to do so until you understand that I'm not using it in the way that every Christian rock star used it in the early nineties. God is an awesome God. Yep, I said it. God is an awesome God in every sense that the word awe means "an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like."

Backseat Driver by John Magnus

This week's lectionary texts practically call out from the page, "God is an awesome God!" The Job passage is that amazing moment when God has had enough of Job's questions and complaints. I imagine myself with my children in a similar situation, let's say, driving down the street. And, these two beautiful angels speak up from the backseat, "This isn't the right way, is it?" or "Are you driving over the speed limit?" or "Why did you go through that yellow light?" A ten and seven year old who just now learned to ride their bikes suddenly become experts on driving! And, I have very mixed emotions about how to respond because on the one hand, I am incredibly frustrated and just want them to leave me alone and let me drive. But on the other hand, I also want them to understand that I am older, wiser, and know more than they do. I want them to understand that they can rest and relax and know that their mother will get them where they need to be as safely as possible. I want them to trust me.

So, Job has been asking all these questions. Everyone around him has told him he may as well just give up on God. Elihu, his friend, has been prattling along for a while and then "out of the storm, the Lord speaks." And, what does God say? Regardless of whether God is addressing Elihu or Job himself, the message is clear. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" In other words, sit back, relax, shut up, and know that you can trust me!

In God We Trust by Kevin Dooley

The Isaiah passage says the same thing with different words. Foreshadowing the torment and killing of the Christ, the prophet encourages us to trust that God is wiser, stronger, and has been driving a lot longer than we have in this world. Even the Christ in the midst of so much suffering will not "open his mouth."

Psalm 104 fits nicely (like a group of people planned it or something) with the Job text as it reminds us that God "stretched out the heavens" driving home that God is awesome and we can only begin to understand a tiny bit of how awesome God really is. And, Psalm 91 echoes the images of the Christ suffering but ultimately knowing that "angels will bear you."

The Hebrews passage points us back to the Christ, Jesus as our High Priest, but a High Priest that does not seek to be God's equal. Once again, the Holy Narrative is reminding us - through the actions of Jesus - that God is the one driving this car and we should trust that we will get where we are supposed to be going. If Jesus didn't seek to be God's equal, how could we ever even think to give God driving advice from the backseat?

Angelic by K. Williams

And that, of course, brings us down to the gospel lesson in which James and John act like two spoiled kids in the back of the car. I can't help but wonder if they had to work up to this. The text makes it seem that they just jump right in with the question. And, this is immediately following Jesus trying to be as clear as possible about his coming death, not to mention all the stories leading up to this one where he seems to be practically beating them over the head to change the preconceived ideas they had of what the Messiah is. "Hey, hey Jesus, dude, we got a question for ya. Yeah, yeah, we know we are tight with ya, see, and we don't ever want to be too far from you. So, could we ride shot-gun for all of eternity, man?"

Backseat Driver by Seth Stoll

You know the rest. I get tired on behalf of Jesus just reading about this idiocy. I know they didn't know any better. I know they were only living out of their own cultural and theological contexts, but man, if that had been me they were asking, it would have been a whole, "I WILL PULL THIS VAN OVER RIGHT HERE!" moments.

God is an awesome God. So awesome, in fact, that God simply reminds us of who is driving, of who has been driving longer than we have been alive, and of who loves us so much that we will get where we are going and we'll get there on time. God is so awesome that God makes us sit in our booster seats with our seat belts fastened even though we think we could do a pretty decent job of driving ourselves.

I read the gospel lesson aloud for a prayer group on Monday. I haven't wanted to deal with it since. Why in the world would Jesus say to people, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you"? Doesn't he know how much trouble we have explaining ourselves in the first place? We do not need any reference to vampirism being made to make the Church look worse than it already does. Of course, in these days of teens' love affairs with vampires, we may have find a new marketing point!

I would much rather focus on Solomon's desire for wisdom and how that could help our congregations or how the writer of Ephesians lifts up the idea of being wise as important and seems to point us to worship as the most important and wise thing we can do. The Psalms even point us in this direction.

So, what is a preacher (or teacher, or student) to do with this passage from John? I'll tell you what I want to do with it, but I don't think you will like it. It is far easier for me to think of these words as being created by the writer of John in reference to the early Christians ritual of The Lord's Supper. This in no way reduces the power for me and I believe should it have been the case that the Holy Spirit provided the words. That is an easy way to explain it - that Jesus would not have stood up thinking that it made a lick of sense to say, "Hey, here I am, come and eat my body and drink my blood," but instead, there was a creative writer inspired by the Holy Spirit to write in such a way to help us connect Jesus to the Eucharist.

Let's, for a moment, though decide that these words were actually said by the Christ. (And, let me make sure you understand that I believe they are the Word of God whether they were said by Jesus in his lifetime or not.) What, then, are we do make of it? It is so weird. How would we explain this to a person who has watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and read every word of the Twilight Series, but never stepped foot in a church or even know what the Bible is? It would be great if you could really answer that question for me. 

Bread of Life by Kenndy Paizs

Because here is all I have:

I don't understand it. It is hard for me to put myself in the time period in which Jesus lived, to know the metaphors that would have been common use during that time, and Jesus seems to speak in riddles most of the time anyway! Here is what I do understand. Jesus is the son of God and he was willing to come to this earth, live this crazy, mixed up life that we live, and be tortured and killed. Somehow, miraculously, that was for us, all of us! And, because he was resurrected, we are assured of eternal life when we take him in with all that we are. In other words, you are what you eat. And, if we can consume all that we can of Jesus the Christ, then we begin to nourish this world. It is clearly the wisest way to go.

One of the first things I read this morning was a quote in an email from my sister. A pastor herself, she sends disciple-building quotes every day along with a list of prayer concerns. Today's was from Anthony Robinson from http://www.inwardoutward.org.

"We have imagined that Christianity itself is a religion of virtue. But no, Desmond Tutu reminded us, 'Christianity is not a religion of virtue; it is a religion of grace.' And there's a difference. A religion of virtue says, 'If you are good, then God will love you.' A religion of grace says, 'God loves you.' God loves you despite your foibles and failures, not because you're so good but as a sinner in need of mercy. God loves you; live then as one who is beloved, who has been forgiven."

I have found myself asking over the weeks since Easter what in the world the creators of the lectionary were thinking. I mean we had forty L O N G days of Lent gearing up for the big day to celebrate Resurrection and then almost immediately after Easter, we are back to reading images of the lamb being brought to slaughter. I guess it is true that there aren't many resurrection appearance stories to choose from, so what are you gonna do?

So I read that quote this morning and then I read the lectionary texts with all the craziness of Philip telling the story only to be transported, it would seem, in a manner not unlike being beamed up by Scotty and the gospel throwing a whole new metaphor at us with Jesus providing a Gardening for Dummies lesson. It is that 1 John text that is resonating with me most right now.

Why do we have to continue to go back to an image of Jesus as the lamb laying down his life even as we sing the Hallelujahs on Sunday? Because it is such a powerful image of love. And, God is love. We find ourselves returning to these images again and again because through them we are reminded that our virtue gets us nowhere, but the grace of Jesus Christ frees us for living the resurrected life.

The phrase from the gospel lesson for this week that stands out to me is "While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering . . ." I just love this idea of being full of joy even in the midst of disbelieving and wondering. I mean, come on, Jesus was dead and now he is appearing to his friends in all kinds of places. Who wouldn't still be filled with wonder and some feelings of disbelief that it is all just too good to be true? 

I think about the first few days after we brought my son home from the hospital. He was our first born and ended up staying in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a week. It was the absolute worst week of my life and when we finally had our new baby home, while I should have been overjoyed and at peace, I found myself scared to death something was going to go horribly wrong. I was filled with joy. There is no doubt about that. And, at the same time, it seemed too good to be true and I found it difficult to believe that it would be smooth sailing from then on. I wondered if everything would be okay or if we would find ourselves back at the hospital - or worse.

This third week of Easter leads us through this kind of feeling. We are experiencing the resurrected Christ, but it feels too good to be true. We are reminded through Acts and 1 John that forgiveness and life that is really life can be ours, but we hold our breath waiting for something to go wrong. I like to think that this is a natural reaction. Like the disciples who were able to be filled with joy while struggling through their disbelief and wonder, we journey with Jesus as we struggle through our own disbelief. 

The really wonderful thing is that Jesus honors this, moves forward by asking for something to eat, and sits with us as we arrive at the truth that is sitting in front of us. I love that he honors my disbelief and gives me permission to be filled with joy even before I have all the answers. In fact, he lovingly opens our minds to the scriptures and guides us gently along. Too good to be true? Yes, yes it is. And, it is true nonetheless.

I get frustrated with the Twelve sometimes because they seem like such idiots. I mean from my perspective Jesus tells them over and over again who he is and what must happen and they continue to remain clueless. But, when I read verses like the one in the gospel lesson for this week that says, "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life," I think it may be a miracle that anyone ever understood Jesus at all! He is like The Riddler from the old Batman series, speaking in a sort of code language that is hard to decipher.

The Prophet Jeremiah. 1508-1512. Fresco. Sistine Chapel, Vatican

Having over 2000 years of interpretation added on top of the words of the Christ makes us think we understand. I think for most of us, we sit in church (or stand preaching in the pulpit) and think we grasp pretty well what the words mean. But, if we were to tell the truth, we may grasp pretty well what some commentator had to say about the words, but the words themselves would be pretty shocking and confusing to us if we only took them for what they are.

I can't help but wonder if Jeremiah wept a lot because of what God had him preaching in the streets. How would we respond to some guy claiming to be a prophet telling us that all hell is about to break loose and it is all our fault? I'd want to throw him into a well too! But, in this pericope, God is sharing the hope we find in the new covenant. Sins will be remembered no longer, the law is not only available to everyone, but actually written on our hearts, and all will have the opportunity to know God up close and in person. Of course, the prophet doesn't get to say it quite that clearly.

So, to participate in this new covenant, we can't rely on ourselves, we can't depend on the worldly ways of life to carry us through. We must listen to the Rabbi's riddle and give up our life so that we can have life abundantly. We are being prepared during this season of Lent to accept the truth of life as a disciple of Jesus the Christ - we are ignorant and we desperately need a Savior. We are being prepared to fully accept our part of the covenant and follow the Resurrected Lord into eternal life turning our backs on all the sins of this world that keep us separated from God. We are being prepared to follow our high priest who learned obedience through what he suffered.

That is just not something that I can fully understand. My comprehension skills are not that good. The good news for us and for our congregations is that it doesn't matter if we understand it or not. Jesus was obedient to God and because of that, we are awarded eternal life. Riddle me this - what could be better than that?

This Week's Lectionary Texts

Numbers 21:4-9

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Ephesians 2:1-10

John 3:14-21

 

This Week's Reflection

A while back I read the gospel lesson for this week which made me look back at the reference it made to Moses and the serpent. I've been extremely fascinated by this story ever since. There are a couple of specific reasons why. I'm not even going to try to touch the whole issue of God sending serpents to kill the Israelites. I can't make sense of that part of the scripture. I mean I can think of ways to interpret it that make me feel better, but truly making sense of it is beyond my capabilities. 

However, here is what stands out. When the people ask for help. They are given help. In fact, when they ask for help - "Please Moses, get God to do something about our loved ones dying of snake bites!" - Moses is told to create a sculpture of a serpent. 

If you are a regular reader of this blog, I hope by now you realize that I believe art is a gift from God. I believe to be created in the image of God is, in fact, to be made to be creative people. So, God speaks through art in ways that is not likely in other ways. This is true for all sorts of artwork - music, visual arts, theatre, poetry, etc.

So, back to this snake on a stick - God tells Moses to sculpt a piece of art which is the image of the serpent. Those who have been bitten are to look at it, to view the piece of art, and they will be saved. In other words, art saves lives.

There is one other thing that is most fascinating to me about this passage. The work of art which is created in order to save lives is created in the very image of the thing that the people feared the most. This is incredible to me. The snakes are biting the folks, they are terrified, people are dying, and the thing that is going to save them is to face that very thing in the form of a sculpture. 

How often do we use works of art to face our fears? In what way is the Christ at work here? What kinds of art can we introduce to congregations in order to help them see Christ's light more clearly?

The story of Elisha following Elijah around even though Elijah keeps trying to get rid of him is one of those scriptures that always make me chuckle. In my imagination, I can see it so clearly. Elijah is old and tired and probably just wants some peace and quiet for a change. I have a nine year old, intelligent, and extremely articulate son. Every day feels like this to me! He literally follows his father and I through the house, or a parking lot going into a store, or through the aisles of a store, or wherever we happen to be. And, he talks. He talks and he talks and he talks. And, sometimes what he is saying is truly brilliant, but honestly, it gets lost in the fact that my ears feel so very tired from listening.

I'm imagining a lot, I know. All I know is that in the scripture, Elijah tries three different times to get Elisha to stay behind. I'm sure I should be writing about Elisha's dedication, but all I can think is that Elijah must have been worn out by this guy who would not leave him alone!

But, we also know that he was privy to important information. Everywhere they went, a group of people would pull Elisha aside to say, "Hey, are you sure you want to be with this guy. He ain't long for this world." And, Elisha would say, "Yes, I know what I'm doing, now be quiet."

We know that in the end, Elisha asked for a double portion of the abilities that Elijah had and that it is clear that this is not Elijah's to give, but only God's. So, Elijah says that if God wills it, then Elisha will witness something amazing and know it is so.

Was Elijah a reluctant mentor to the young man? It makes me wonder how many people have come and gone in my life that God was calling me to mentor and instead, I just said, "Hey, I'm going on now. You just stay here okay. I really need my quiet time." And, what does any of that have to do with the transfiguration of Jesus which is the gospel lesson this week?

Of course, we tie the connection between the other-worldly exit of Elijah with what happened on that mountain with Peter, James, and John. Jesus, their mentor, appears changed, not to mention the presence of Moses and Elijah. Understanding what occurred on that mountain is difficult. Peter didn't get it and I'll be honest, I don't get it either. I've never really known what to preach on Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday. Not only is the whole thing pretty weird, but then Jesus tells his boys to keep it a secret.

In the letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes about "seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" while reminding those reading his letter that it is hard for "those who are perishing" to see this.

Elisha was given an opportunity to see something truly amazing which gave him strength to carry out the mission that his mentor had begun. Peter, James, and John had a similar experience in witnessing their own mentor in a new light, so to speak. And, Paul reminds us that if we are truly disciples of Christ, then we will be given this opportunity as well. Furthermore, I believe that we will also be given the opportunity to provide that experience to those with whom we minister. 

Who are you mentoring these days? Are you reluctant about it or do you invite them to the mountaintop with you? May God give each of us strength to shine the light of Christ with young disciples every chance we get.