I didn't post last week, but if I had it would have been more about John's gospel and all the references Jesus makes to eating his flesh and drinking his blood. This week, we move into Mark's gospel where in Chapter 7, Jesus tells the Pharisees that it is NOT what we ingest, but what we exude from our bodies that really and truly matters.

Okay, this is the problem when we try to read things as absolute and literal. On one Sunday we preachers are to stand up and proclaim to our congregations that "You are what you eat," then the next Sunday we are compelled by the texts to stand up and proclaim "Don't concentrate on what goes into your body!" If we are not very careful, our churches will quietly and politely send us to the psychiatric hospital or, worse, just stop listening.

Luckily, Jesus turns to scripture himself to explain what he means, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

In other words - I think - we can say from this focus of Jesus that we aren't really talking about food here or washing hands. What we are really talking about (and should be preaching on) are the ways in which we humans have of taking traditions created to protect God's children and turning them into anchors around the necks of all those we don't like. It feels like Jesus may be at his wits end. Exasperated, he says, "Could we please focus on what is really important here?" I'm sure there are none of us who have ever felt that way in a church meeting!

Maybe, just maybe, the lectionary texts this week are calling us to a more healthy approach to living the life God has given us. At the same time that Jesus says it isn't about what food we eat or how we wash our hands, James speaks of looking into a mirror, then walking away and forgetting what we saw there. The Song of Solomon certainly focuses more on the body than mind while Deuteronomy tells us to make sure we follow the rules!

I think it all comes down to James' proclamation to be "doers of the word." Or is it "doers of the Word"? If we have some kind of understanding that what is happening in every aspect of our lives effects our relationship with God and with others, then we will seek to follow Jesus in every way possible. Focusing on washing hands instead of feeding the hungry, preaching the gospel without actually living it day in and day out are ways in which we get out of whack. And, that is the medical term for it. Our bodies are not in agreement with our minds. Our minds are not in agreement with our spirits, and so on. In order to truly be disciples of Jesus, we should be seeking to be whole, to be the children that God created us to be.

I recently read a book called "How to be a Woman" by Caitlan Moran (if harsh language offends, do not read this book!) and in a chapter in which she was describing herself as an obese teenager, she says she thought of herself as "a brain sitting in a jar." In essence, Moran says that she considered feeding her brain a healthy diet much more important than feeding her body the same. She goes on to discuss the ways in which she was liberated once she became attuned to understanding her body better and treating it as well as she did her mind.

Balance. I guess that is what I am getting from these scriptures today. We can carry our traditions and rituals so far that they become detrimental to us. On the other hand, we could also use these words of Jesus to make ourselves feel better about eating an entire cake in one sitting or drinking ourselves into a black out. "Well, Jesus said that it isn't what goes into the body!" Mind. Body. Spirit. With all that comes with those three - intimate love, feasting with friends, studying the word, keeping the rules that are for our own good, and serving our neighbors because we want to put into action our faith. Mind. Body. Spirit. I can't help but wonder if reaching equality of effect among these would be heaven on earth.

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.

If you are a pastor, maybe you can relate to this. I attend more funerals than one person should and I often hear family members say things like, "Well, it was God's will." Because I am a pastor with a at least a tiny sense of good pastoral care, I usually smile knowingly, hug their necks, and say something like, "May the peace that passes all understanding be with you." It occurs to me that I may lean on this phrase "passes all understanding" because I do not understand it at all. God's will? Really? This is God's will? That we should grow to love others only to have them ripped from this world by death? I can't understand it and I certainly don't want to blame God for it!

So, the passage from the deuterocanonical Wisdom of Solomon which reads, "God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living" brings me great comfort and makes more sense to me than "It was God's will."

Uncle Pete died this last week. He wasn't really my uncle and in adulthood I must admit that I didn't see him often, but as a child I spent more time with he and his family than with most of my other "real" uncles. Uncle Pete was my dad's best friend and he had been since they were teenagers. At his funeral, his son told me that he had a picture of my father next to the TV so that he could look at Daddy throughout the day. When my father died, Uncle Pete was more distraught than any of us. At Pete's funeral on Friday, my husband mentioned to me David and Jonathan. Not surprising to find that the reading from 2 Samuel for this upcoming Sunday is David's lamenting Jonathan's death. "How the mighty have fallen." No passages about God needing Jonathan in heaven or God's will being fulfilled. Just good and honest grief over his best friend's death.

I still grieve my father's death. I want him here laughing with us again. There is comfort in knowing that he is alive, made whole again in eternity, and that he and Uncle Pete are reunited. That is what I give God credit for - resurrection, life, light in the midst of darkness.

Jairus had a 12 year old daughter who was very sick (from the Mark text for this week) and marched up to Jesus and asked for help. On the other hand, a woman whose name we do not know, sneaked up through the crowd to simply touch Jesus' clothes. She had been bleeding for the entire time that Jairus' daughter had been living. She was at her wits end and felt she had only one last shot at being made whole again. And, she was right. The Giver of Life provided her with healing, with health and wholeness. In other words, he brought her back to life - because she was an outcast unable to live the life she had dreamed for herself, being shunned because she was unclean - lonely and lonesome, broken and abused. This healing, this stoppage of bleeding, made her whole again, brought her back to life. In the meantime, the wealthy man's daughter died and all seemed lost, but not so with Jesus. He walks up to her and tells her to get up . . . and . . . she did! Life from death, wholeness from brokenness, light from dark.

Death. That seems to be the theme in this week's lectionary texts. Is it time to talk about how the Church seems to be on life support and needs a miracle? Is it time to address a congregation's brokenness? Is it a day to ask for healing? Is it time to stop just talking about resurrection and actually experience it? (See 2 Corinthians passage.) Whatever we choose to focus upon, may we not simply smile and nod and give pat answers. May we call out death for the evil that it is. May we seek healing from the only one who can give it. May we celebrate resurrection. May we proclaim The Giver of Life! And, may we live into that life with everything that we are.

I read a lot and over a year ago I made the leap to using an e-reader which I won't name for trademark reasons, but it rhymes with spindle. One thing I have found that I miss in using such a device - beyond the sheer joy of turning pages - is the book cover. I love the covers of books! The old adage is absolutely true that you can't (necessarily) judge a book by its cover, but I do anyway. Back in the days of yore when I would actually shop for books in a bookstore, I was overwhelmed with joy in simply walking the aisles and looking at the covers. (Boys and girls, a "book store" is like Amazon's book section, but with actual physical books that you could browse, touch, smell, feel, and determine whether or not you would buy it and take it home.)

When I read the lectionary passages for this week, one of the things that crossed my mind was that phrase, "You can't judge a book by its cover." In the 1 Samuel text, Samuel is sent out by God to name the new king after Saul had gotten on God's last nerve. So, he calls everyone together including Jesse and his sons. I get the impression that Jesse knew why they were there. Or, maybe there were rituals surrounding the sacrifice that I don't understand. Either way, Jesse presents his sons to Samuel one by one starting with the oldest and the one who seemed most "king-like." Whatever Jesse thought was going on that day, he didn't even bother to bring David with him. Someone had to look after the sheep and he was the most logical choice being the youngest, smallest, and least likely to be chosen for much of anything.

Isn't it hilarious how God almost always turns things upside down? Of course, anyone who attended Sunday school even a handful of times knows that David was the choice for king and that his outward appearance had very little to do with his ability to do so when God called him to such a task.

Paul is just as clear in his writing to the folks in Corinth. In the same way that God told Samuel to not judge by what was on the outside, Paul very plainly states that as Christians, our primary focus is what is on the inside - our spiritual nature - rather than what is on the outside - our physical nature. This includes our bodies, but also other outward appearances like our cars, houses, clothes, etc.

Finally, Jesus himself brings the point home with that strange little tale about the smallest of small seeds. In other words, "You can't judge a shrub by its seed."

I've come to realize that the whole idea of celebrating the Ascension of the Christ has left me wanting. I haven't truly understood why there had to be such a moment for the followers of Jesus or, if he needed to ascend, why he walked around on earth for a while first. Part of me would like to cry out to God, "Couldn't he just stay here to help us?" Yes, yes, I know that we have the Helper for that and I couldn't be more thankful for the Holy Spirit and I truly feel Spirit's presence with me every day. In addition, though, I'm a physical being and would like to have a physical Christ to rely upon in the here and now.

The lectionary texts for the Ascension won't really help answer any of these desires of mine. They simply remind us that Jesus lived, Jesus chose to die on our behalf, Jesus lived again, and then Jesus flew off into the sunset - or something like that anyway.

A friend of mine recently told me a bit about some very serious struggles her 10 year old daughter is going through. I feel deeply connected to this young girl. I baptized her when she was just months old and I promised to teach her the faith. She is suffering a great deal due to bullying and this suffering has led her to ask very difficult questions about God. For instance, she said to her mother, "Jesus should really come back to earth because whatever he did the first time clearly wasn't enough." In her pain, confusion, and anger, she speaks words that most of us have felt at one time or another. Where is God when we most need God?

So, this whole ascension thing has been confusing for me. I could really use a physical Christ with me now, guiding me, showing the world how to be good. That leads me to hearing Spirit remind me why we celebrate Ascension in the Church.

I don't know why it all works the way it does, but I've come to believe that what these verses point us toward is a faith that is active, present, and physical in the here and now. Jesus ascended, but not without leaving us instructions to follow, commands to carry out, and help for the journey. We throw around those phrases all the time - "We are Christ's hands and feet" or "We are the body of Christ" - but have these phrases become hollow words to us so that a 10 year old is unable to see the physical presence of the Christ in the faith community around her?

I hate to go from such an important and heavy matter as bullying alongside the Ascension of Jesus to a mostly trivial matter, but such is how my mind works! I'm horrible about equipping my children to clean their own rooms. I mean horrible! Each of them can barely walk from their doors to their beds right now and each has been warned to clean the room before birthday parties happening this weekend or they will not get to go. But, we have been through this before. We will get down to the last second and there will be tears and shouts of how difficult it is to do on their own. There will be begging for help and in the moment it will make perfect sense to me to offer them the help that they feel they so desperately need. And, once again, they will not have learned that picking up one thing at a time eventually leads to a neat living space.

The good news of the Ascension is that we aren't left all alone to clean up the messes of the world. We do have help. But, I've come to believe that the essential message of an ascending Christ is that we have to take those metaphors seriously and do the work of the Christ on this earth, to be Christ for the 10 year olds who are bullied and for the 50 year olds who are living on the streets. I don't know why Christ had to ascend. God's ways are mysterious to me, but I know that he left clear instructions to do his work once he had. I think that is why we have to remember at least once a year that this moment occurred in the life of Jesus and his followers - so that we will remember that we are called to be the answer to everyone asking, "Where is God when we most need God?"

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.