Palm Sunday: Relationships

 This Sunday is Palm Sunday when we remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem in triumph and then in the next reading hear of his betrayal and crucifixion. Life can feel like that sort of teeter totter sometimes. One minute on top of the world, and the next crashing to the ground when your fellow teeter-er jumps off as a joke. Ruth and Naomi knew that sort of life experience. Naomi left Bethlehem for Moab during a famine. Things go well at first, then her husband and sons die. She crashes down to the reality of destitution as a widow, as do her daughters-in-law. We may not face quite as extreme a problem, but a surprise diagnosis or an unexpected accident can send us crashing to the ground and wondering where God is.

At the beginning of the Palm Sunday services, we hear of Jesus entry into Jerusalem to the Hosannas of the crowds. The Gospel reading for Palm Sunday states, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven! Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” (Luke19:37-40)

Even when we are faced with the unexpected tragedies of life caused by health or disaster or weather or other exterior forces, we are assured that God is in control. It often feels like God is distant and that is when we may listen for the stones to shout and tell of God’s presence and action.

Ruth and Naomi make the difficult decision to return to Bethlehem. They didn’t know what was going to happen when they arrived. Naomi hoped that they might be able to gather enough grain to survive. The women were not greeted with Hosannas when they got back to Bethlehem. However, Naomi was welcomed back into her community with the question “Can this be Naomi?” Ruth, though an outsider, found a welcome and new life in Bethlehem. God is in their lives and we can be assured God is in any tragedy and in all outcomes in our lives.

In my book, Sacred Story: Yours, Mine, Ours, I note, “Few of us have been refugees like Ruth and Naomi. However, we may have had to leave a job or home in a way that makes us feel bereft and hopeless. In telling and hearing one another’s Sacred Stories we come to a deeper understanding of each Sacred Story and build bridges instead of burning them. Donna Schindler says we “must begin with telling the truth, with telling stories….No sorrow is too great to endure if a story can be told about it.” (Donna Schindler, Flying Horse: Stories of Healing the Soul Wound, 2020) Deeply listening to the truth telling found in Sacred Story is the start of healing of ourselves, for our relationships, and within our communities…Acknowledging the image of God is an important way to connect with the stranger and foreigner in our midst. Hearing their Sacred Story with an open heart is how relationships are built.”

It is helpful to remember that each one of us is dealing with some current or past trauma. Pausing to acknowledge everyone’s woundedness can make us more compassionate and empathetic. If we can enter their ‘sacred story’ by hearing it from them, we can relate even more fully.

 The collect for Palm Sunday reminds us that Jesus, in love and humility, became human. We are called to “walk in the way of his suffering.” We can do that by recognizing the pain, woundedness, loss, and fear all around, and (yes) within, us. Then we can hold that deep hurt in prayer, with love, to God. We can strive to be a voice and action of Love in the hurting world. Perhaps that’s by small acts where we are. Teresa of Lisieux and Mother Teresa both noted, “we can do small things with great love” to make a meaningful change in the world.

In my book I ask, “What is grieving your heart about the world today? Perhaps that is where God wants you to act.”

We end with this prayer for Palm Sunday.

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Palm Sunday

 We are almost at the end of Lent. We’ve traveled through the 40 days and through the promises of the Baptismal Covenant found in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. We’ve considered how the baptismal promises call us to live.

Just before the person or infant is baptized, the water is blessed. In the prayer, the holiness of water is recounted. Participants are reminded that we are ‘buried with Christ’ in the waters of baptism to be ‘reborn by the Holy Spirit.'

Often at the Easter Vigil, we hear lessons recounting all the saving acts of God through the ages. This Baptismal prayer gives a brief recounting of those same actions.

We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water. Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation.
Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise.
In it your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism.
In it we are buried with Christ in his death.
By it we share in his resurrection.
Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son,
we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith,
baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Now sanctify this water, we pray you, by the power of your Holy Spirit,
that those who here are cleansed from sin and born again
may continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Savior.

To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be all honor and
glory, now and for ever. Amen.

From Creation to the rescue of the people of Israel from Egyptian slaver, to the ultimate salvation through Jesus Christ birth, death, and resurrection, we are reminded that we are part of a holy fellowship—the Beloved Community of the Family of God.

Because we are part of that family, we can live as the Palm Sunday Epistle (Philippians 2:5-11) counsels. We are urged to 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.” We are to serve, not for our glory, but to point to God.

In the first part of the Gospel, we hear of the ‘Woman with an Alabaster Jar’ who anointed Jesus. (Mark 14:3-9) When the disciples are appalled, Jesus responds, She has performed a good service for me…She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

Without thought for herself or her reputation or for any consequences, this woman poured costly perfume on Jesus. Her action of self-giving was acknowledged and blessed by Jesus. In the same way, our small acts of love are seen and blessed by God.

At the end of the Baptism service the newly baptized are anointed as well with the oil of chrism—the same oil used when a person is ordained. We are each anointed and ordained as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. As we enter Holy Week, consider the idea that you are part of the priesthood of all believers, and God’s special possession!

What precious treasure of yourself can you offer this Holy Week and Easter?

Palm Sunday: ReCreate

We are nearing the climax of the season of Lent. This Sunday is Palm Sunday. We celebrate, and often RECREATE, Jesus entry into Jerusalem. This Sunday and this week is a time when we can let God work to RECREATE us into those who can greet with joy Easter’s message. 
This year, many of us may not have the comfort of the familiar in-person experience of processions and palms and lovely music. We may still be in isolation to protect ourselves and our neighbors from the spread of COVID19. 
We can still walk the Way of the Cross with Jesus. Perhaps it will be an even more intentional Way this year as we find new avenues to share and experience the Holy Events. 
Next week, I'll be posting a study Walk with Jesus: Holy Week 2020. Along with reading scripture relating to Jesus life and ministry, there are questions and activities to help us consider Holy Week in light of social distancing and self-isolation.  You can download the entire study, or just visit this page every day next week.  (If you download the pdf, you should be able to print it 2 pages to a sheet (8.5 x 11) if you set it to landscape.)

The Book of Common Prayer collect for Palm Sunday reminds us of the stretch of Christ’s life from incarnation to the cross. As we pray, we ask that we may “walk in the way of his suffering [to] share in his resurrection.”

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I am always struck by the whiplash of events during the Palm Sunday service. We open with the triumphal waving of palms and shouts of ‘Hosanna!’ Then, we hear the Passion Gospel and respond with our own cries of ‘Crucify’. Just like the people in Jerusalem during that first Holy Week, we are confronted by our own humanity and our regrettable tendency to go along with the crowd. Whether they shout Hosanna or Crucify, we don’t stop to think about what’s happening.

As we pray the collect today, might we think about how God might work to RECREATE our hearts so that we pause and think and listen before echoing the crowd. It may be the voices on social media, or on the nightly news, or on Twitter, or in our neighborhoods that need to be checked before responding. It may be that we need to let God RECREATE our hearts to respond with love and peace rather than with words that inflame and exacerbate some situation (which may or may not even be true).

That response may very well cause us to ‘walk in the way of his suffering’ as we are laughed at or even reviled. Yet, we may also become instruments to RECREATE and restore and reconcile our corner of the world. Our response may be to Walk the Way of the Cross in prayer and intentional time with God this week.  



LENT BOX

Our Lent box (a small box, plastic bag or storage container) is almost done. This week, add a cross as a symbol of Good Friday and Christ’s sacrifice.

Hold the cross and pray during Holy Week that your heart can be RECREATED on Easter.

Living Lent

Use the cross to meditate on the sacrifice of Jesus that gives us new life.

Meditate on the new creation Christ’s death brings

Throughout the week, use this prayer, the daily prayers for Holy Week, or others to help you focus on the day by day progression from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday to Good Friday to Holy Saturday.

Palm Sunday: Prayer is Risky

We have worked our way through Lent looking at the Way ofLove disciplines, the Book of Ruth, and the Sunday lessons. We have sought Rest and stepped out in faith. We have seen that we need to Learn to follow God and that usually means we have to Turn back to God over and over. Our actions can Bless those around us in unexpected ways.

All of this is grounded in how we Pray. When we pray we risk opening ourselves up to God. We allow God to know our inmost thoughts. (Of course, God already know, but God waits for us to share.) Prayer might require change on our part. We may be called to forgive, or change our life’s direction. God could heal our deepest wounds and give us our greatest desires. Prayer connects us to God’s love.

In the story of Ruth and Naomi, we know that Naomi is concerned about her daughter-in-law. She says, “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you.” Probably she has said more than one Prayer to the Holy One of Israel. In Boaz’s apparent interest in Ruth, she sees an answer to that Prayer. She tells Ruth to “go down to the threshing-floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do.”

In this risky move Naomi is hoping for a good result. If Boaz rejects Ruth, then both women would be worse off than ever. Luckily for her plans, it goes well. Boaz discovers Ruth and tells her, “do not be afraid; I will do for you all that you ask…as the Lord lives, I will act as next-of-kin for you.”

The Palm Sunday readings demonstrate at least two other ways to Pray. As Jesus enters Jerusalem, (Luke 19:28-40) the crowds take up a Prayer of praise. They start declaring “all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" In our Palm Sunday liturgies, many of us will repeat these same words as we recall ride into Jerusalem.

The Isaiah reading (Isaiah 50:4-9a) expounds a different way to Pray. In teaching, there is also Prayer. “The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.”

Our response to God is obedience, even through suffering, when we Pray. Isaiah goes on to state “The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward…It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty? As we Pray we offer “our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee...” (1928 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, Communion)

When we Pray, we come into God’s presence. We speak our deepest desires. We offer praise or thanksgiving. We cry out in pain or fear. We beg God to help someone or some situation. We open our souls to God. Sometimes we use words from a book or the Bible. Sometimes we sit wordlessly and cry. Sometimes we make up our own words, song, or dance. 

When we Pray, God will act and respond; and we will be changed. When we Pray we risk being totally open to God's will. God hears our Prayer no matter how we Pray. God responds when we Pray.

If you repeat the Gospel words “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” this Sunday, try to put yourself in the crowd on that first Palm Sunday.

How is your favorite way to pray?

This week, consider taking advantage of some of the Holy Week services offered at your church or in your community. 

We'll look at the final tenet of the Way of Love after Easter. 

Burning Bush Moment: Palm Sunday

Since the First Sunday in Lent we have been looking at ‘burning bush moments’ when Jesus’ encounter with someone or some situation dramatically changed the story. Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week when in Christian churches around the world, the final events of Jesus life will be remembered in various way. There will be worship services, music, enactments, videos, sunrise services, vigils, prayers, and other activities.

Probably some participants at these activities will find themselves confronted with a ‘burning bush moment’-a time when God comes close and lives are changed. Maybe it will be you.

What about the men and women who were present during the events of that first Holy Week?

It started out normally enough with Jesus and his followers on the way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. One of the disciples goes to the city to find a room for them to hold the special meal, just like hundreds of others in the city and across Israel. Another disciple borrows a donkey for Jesus to ride. Then the dynamic of the day changes. Other pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem recognize Jesus and start shouting ‘Hosanna’.

Some of us are old enough to remember the song “Hosanna” from Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), which sets the stage for the conflict between Jesus and the Temple authorities. And it seems a revival of the show will be on TV on Easter Sunday. 

As the events of the day and week continue, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and institutes what we now celebrate as Eucharist (Communion, Mass, Last Supper). This is remembered on Thursday of Holy Week during Maundy Thursday services. There will be foot washing ceremonies, rites honoring the sacrament, and probably other remembrances. Many churches will take time to revisit the time in the Garden of Gethsemane when the disciples cannot stay awake with Jesus before he is arrested. The Gospels tell us that ‘the disciples deserted him and fled’. We modern disciples are invited to ‘watch and pray’.

Then we come to the tragedy of Good Friday when Jesus is condemned and crucified. Only the women and John the Apostle are known to be at the cross. After his death, Jesus in buried by Joseph of Arimathea and the women in Joseph’s tomb. Imagine the despair.

Where in those events can we relate to any ‘burning bush moments’?

In the dramatic entrance into Jerusalem, maybe some in the crowd had a glimpse of someone greater than a ‘superstar’. Perhaps in the washing of their feet, some of the disciples felt a nudge of the institution of a new order where the teacher serves the students, where the leader is slave to those who should serve. Could it be that Pilate wanted to believe that more than a man stood before him as he asked, ‘what is Truth’? The Centurion in charge of the crucifixion recognized the ‘burning bush’. He states, ‘truly this is the son of God’. Joseph of Arimathea honors the man he had hoped was more than a man by offering his own grave. Did he have an inkling of the events to come?

Where will you meet Jesus in a burning bush moment this week? Try to take time to notice the “Earth [that is] is crammed with heaven,/And every bush is aflame with God”. Let yourself “see, [and] take off [your] shoes." (Elizabeth Barrett Browning. If you are aware you will see beyond the blackberries in the bush! 

Palm Sunday and the Cross

After our 40 days of preparation, we come to the end of the Road to the Cross. Palm Sunday is always a dichotomy of images. We start the service with shouts of Hosanna and palm waving; then abruptly we crash into the Passion narrative. This should bring us up short with the reminder and realization that we, just as much as those present 2000 years ago, are daily shouting ‘Crucify! Crucify!’ in things ‘done and left undone’ as one prayer of confession says.

The old hymn asks ‘were you there when they crucified my Lord?’ And indeed we are present on Palm Sunday as the words of the Gospel are read. The same people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with glad shouts and palm branches, stand by and cry for His death at Roman hands. 

This betrayal, not just by Judas, but by all was for each of us. In the Letter to the Philippians (2:7-9) we hear that [Jesus] “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” In our place, Christ on the Cross, brings us back into relationship with the God of Love. Our actions tear the community and communion with each other. The crossbeams on Golgotha re-knit heaven and earth.

The Cross, an instrument of torture and death is transformed into the symbol of Life...for those who accept that truth. From the earliest Christian letters, we learn that not everyone is able to believe. St. Paul tells the Corinthians, “we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (I Corinthians 1:23-24)

The paradox of Palms and Passion on one Sunday brings us up short because it is the way of our life to have joy and pain, acceptance and betrayal, good and evil. At a retreat last weekend Bishop Vono of the Diocese of the Rio Grande noted that Lent (and especially Holy Week) is a time to ‘look evil square in the eye and see it as a part of life’. It can also be where we find Holy Ground.

During this Holy Week, there may be special services to attend, or you may be able to find some quiet time to sit with God and contemplate the Love that refuses to let us go, no matter how many times we turn our backs.

This week

• Meditate on the Passion Gospel. How do your actions sometimes cry ‘crucify’ or deny our Lord? OR
• Sit with a cross, either in a church or in your home. Consider what the Cross means to your faith OR
• Think about being at the foot of the Cross on Golgotha with Mary and John. What would you have heard, felt, smelled, tasted, seen?

I close with 2 prayers from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer that you might use in your devotions this week.

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, we pray you to set your passion, cross, and death between your judgment and our souls, now and in the hour of our death. Give mercy and grace to the living; pardon and rest to the dead; to your holy Church peace and concord; and to us sinners everlasting life and glory; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (from the Liturgy for Good Friday)

Next week we’ll come to the Grave with the women and find it empty! For now, though, we sit at the foot of the Cross.

Psalm 34: Palm Sunday

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
   but the Lord rescues them from them all.
 He keeps all their bones;
   not one of them will be broken.
Evil brings death to the wicked,
   and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
   none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34: 19-22)

On this Palm Sunday and Holy Week it is fitting to conclude our study of Psalm 34 with a look at the last 4 verses. We can read these words in light of Good Friday and the Cross. David says that ‘the Lord rescues [the righteous from their afflictions]’. He says ‘[God] keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken’. This reminds me of Psalm 22:17: “I can count all my bones…” Jesus quotes verse 1 on the Cross-“ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The psalm in its entirety is often read as a reference to (and description of) the Crucifixion. Read it through and see how it parallels the Gospel accounts.

David ends Psalm 34 with exultation: “The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.” As we tread the Way of the Cross this Holy Week, we know the ‘rest of the story’. We know that Easter waits just around the bend and that indeed ‘the Lord redeems the life of his Servant.’

We enter Holy Week on Palm Sunday with songs of praise and cries of “Blessed is the One who comes in the Name of the Lord!” With our Lord we will journey through the despair of betrayal and abandonment. We will walk with Him to judgment and then to the Cross. On Easter we will again rejoice with Alleluias.

I suggest you take some time for lexio divino this week (the form of meditative reflection the takes you into the story). Read the crucifixion narrative in one of the Gospels. Then take time to ‘be’ one of the people in that story. Feel the way they felt, hear what they heard, react as they did…

Will you stand in the crowd crying ‘crucify him’? Can you sit in Pilate’s chair and ponder the ways you might bend to peer pressure and judge others? Are you able to stand with Mary at the foot of the Cross and bear the pain of her loss? Do you find yourself running away with the disciples and hiding for fear when things turn difficult? What is your response to the angel’s message, ‘He is risen’?

May you walk this Holy Week with intention and be blessed along the way to Easter.

Lively Lent-Awareness

We begin our journey to the Cross today by hearing about the triumphant entry into Jerusalem in church. We wave palm branches or carry palm fronds home to remind us of that brief moment of worldly glory. Before the service is over, we will also hear the Passion narrative read-a sobering image of the cost of our salvation. 
 
As we conclude our Lent meditations here, based on the baptismal service, we come to the  prayer over the water. The words of that prayer link us to all of salvation history including Christ’s death and resurrection.

Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory; who lives and reigns now and forever. Amen.

We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water. Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation. Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.

We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit. Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we bring into his fellowship those who come to him in faith, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

This prayer can be awe inspiring if we really stop and think about the words as if we were hearing them the first time.

Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory. First we are reminded that we come to fullness of LIFE through Christ’s DEATH, which we know is not the end, but the BEGINNING. Our life is to be a reminder,as Paul says in Philippians 1:20-21 that "Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death..For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." 

Next, the prayer of blessing over the water of baptism takes us on an abbreviated sprint through the saving acts of God in scripture. From Creation, to Freedom from bondage…then to Jesus’ own baptism so that we might be freed from our sin to LIFE. Finally we re-member and become one in the burial of Christ, so that we can be REBORN into a holy fellowship! In that fellowship we come full circle and learn to live the promises affirmed:

To “persevere in resisting evil, repent and return to the Lord.”
To “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.”
To “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself.”
And to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

As baptized members of the Body of Christ, the Family of God, we can enter the Holy Week journey in awed expectation. We know the end of the journey is Easter, but every year we participate and re-live the steps on the Via Dolorosa. If we really take time to pause, think about, and experience the Way of the Cross which starts in triumph with crowds clamoring and ends in agony on a Roman cross. All because our Father, who is God, the Holy One of Israel, loves us and desires reconciliation. 

I invite you (and myself) to a Holy Week of contemplation of the journey to the Cross, whether you attend some or all of the various church services offered or if you just spend time each day considering the events leading up to Good Friday so that your Easter Day will be full of new joy and awe as you find the empty tomb!

New Beginnings

Today is Palm Sunday. In many churches we’ll hear 2 Gospel readings. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem will be read at the beginning and then the story of Good Friday later in the service. In the short space of an hour we will walk with Jesus from the height of acclamation to the depths of rejection and death.
Throughout this coming week, many of us will attend special services so that we can enter more deeply into the mystery of Jesus’ final week. With the disciples, we will share in the celebration of the institution of Communion on Maundy Thursday with the commemoration of the Last Supper and on Good Friday they may be Stations of the Cross or a time of meditation and quiet to draw near the Cross and marvel at the lengths God’s love takes. Then on Sunday we will all celebrate the New Beginning of the Resurrection.
For Jesus’ disciples the first Holy Week must have been very emotional and confusing. Jesus enters Jerusalem to the shouts of ‘Hosanna’ and all looks wonderful. But then…He gathers them for a Passover meal, which he transforms with new words. “This is my body…This is my blood of the new covenant” He tells them. They must have been confused. Even more shocking to them is his arrest. They are afraid and flee into hiding.  Even though Peter bravely follows the crowd to the courtyard, he cannot acknowledge that he knows Jesus. Instead he denies the relationship and “goes out and weeps bitterly”. We’ve seen that when Naomi returned to Bethlehem she was convinced that she was useless and that God hates her. “Call me Mara,” she says, thinking she has come back home to die.

For Dorothy and her friends there is a similar journey of rejoicing and let down. They return to the Emerald City after obtaining the witch’s broomstick as demanded by the “Great and Powerful Oz” only to discover that he is just a country fair huckster whose balloon was blown off course to Oz. Then he sneaks away in the balloon, leaving Dorothy behind. Dorothy’s despair is overwhelming. After Glinda appoints the Scarecrow to rule the Emerald City, the Tin Woodman as king of the Winkies and the Lion to the Forest as King of the Beasts, Dorothy asks, “How will I get home to Kansas?”
None of these people knew that just around the corner was a new beginning. The disciples in hiding with their Master arrested, Dorothy left behind by a charlatan, and Naomi welcomed by her old friends all thought that their dream was over. They all thought that they were stuck forever in the nightmare of betrayal, lies, and death that they saw in front of them.
However, God never ceases to act. In Isaiah 57:14, he commands, “Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people." A new beginning was actually just around the corner for each of these characters.

For the disciples the Resurrection was only 3 days away. “Didn’t you know your Silver Shoes* have magic power? They will take you anywhere,” Glinda tells Dorothy. “Just knock the heels together three times and say where you wish to go.” Naomi did not know that she would be the great-great grandmother of the King of Israel, even as she rejoiced in the birth of a grandson. “They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.” (Ruth 4:17-18)

A new beginning is also just around the corner for you and me, even when we feel like we’ve reached the end of our rope or find ourselves at a dead end. Has this Lent been a time of discovering bumps in your journey? Then there is probably a new beginning in the future-a resurrection coming. There is a sort of joke about the man walking along the edge of a cliff. He slips and falls, but manages to catch hold of a branch anchored in the side of the hill. He starts calling for help and finally hears a voice saying. “Let go, I’ll catch you.” “Who are you?” “God,” comes the answer. After thinking about it, he calls out, “Is anyone else out there.” Often we’d rather not let go and fall into the arms of God, but like for Naomi, Dorothy and the disciples, a new beginning can come when we reach the end of the rope and then let go.
I hope you will have the chance to take advantage of some time with God this Holy Week so that you’ll find a new beginning in the Easter season. We'll start a new adventure together after Easter.
(This cake picture was too great not to share-it shows the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and each layer represents a character! Besides, it shows that everything can have a sweet ending.)
*Frank L. Baum's actual book has  Dorothy wearing Silver Shoes. Hollywood changed them to Ruby Slippers.

Triumph of Christ

Palm Sunday seemed to be the ultimate triumph of Jesus of Nazareth. He entered the city of Jerusalem to shouts of acclaim. “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord,” the crowds shouted. Jesus was welcomed as a conquering King. Many churches will re-enact the Palm Sunday procession today. Some with palms in church, others with an actual donkey and costumed actors. It is a vivid reminder of the way the people of Jerusalem welcomed Jesus. The event has been replayed since at least the 4th century and depicted in art in many ways, including this Russian icon from the 15th century.

The crowds expect God to act in a mighty way. God is victorious and will overcome the Romans, like the Egyptians generations before. But, wait, his triumphal entry is on a donkey, not a warrior’s horse. Thus Jesus fulfills the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jesusalem! Lo, your king comes to you: triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass.”

Jerusalem, capital and religious center of Israel welcomes Jesus as conqueror and Messiah. Within the city walls, and above the city homes stood the Temple. This was not Solomon’s Temple, destroyed by the Assyrians. This was the Temple of limestone built by Herod the Great. He doubled the size of the edifice and according to John 2:20 “took 46 years to build [it].” The Jewish priests were forced to live with the Fortress of Antonia on the north side of the Temple. This housed the Roman cohert and overlooked the holy precincts. They worked hard to maintain a working relationship with the Roman authorities, in order to preserve the status quo and safety of the nation.

Just as there is a Palm Sunday procession on Palm Sunday, many churches also read one of the Passion Gospel accounts during the service. This reminds us that there is but a short step from the triumphal entry to betrayal, conviction, and the Cross.
Jesus threatened the balance of power. As Caiphas prophecied “it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” (John 11:49-50) He was articulating the concerns of the Sanhedrin. The leaders found a traitor in Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus for “thirty pieces of silver.”

Jesus is arrested, tried by the Sanhedrin, Herod, and finally sent to Pilate for judgement. Trumped up charges are presented: “They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribut to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king.’” (Luke 23:2. Pilate bows to the political necessity and orders Jesus put to death when the crowds cry out to “crucify him.”

The Roman government used crucificion as a punishment for notorious crimes and deterent to criminals. Outside of most large cities were places for crucificion. North of Jerusalem, on a small hill called Golgotha the uprights for this punishment stood. Criminals were forced to carry their own cross bar to their place of execution. Jesus, too, after he was whipped and beaten and mocked (Matthew 27:27-31), had to shoulder the cross and carry it to Golgotha (Calvary). Crucificion is a slow and painful process as death gradually comes from suffocation when the victim is unable to lift himself up to breathe. In order to hasten death, the legs were sometimes broken. Those crucified with Jesus had their legs broken, but his were not. (John 19:31-37)

After he died, Joseph of Arimathea “took courage” went to Pilate and asked for the body. He and Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin, buried Jesus in his tomb in a Garden. (John 19:38-42). It is probable that as a wealthy trader, as well as member of the Jewish council, Joseph was known to Pilate. In class we discussed whether it took more courage for Joseph to go to Pilate or to take a stand against the Sanhedrin. What do you think?

It would seem that the triumph of Jesus of Nazareth was short lived and that he was doomed to be forgotten as were the other would-be Messiahs of the era. Think about these questions from the class.

Jesus fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament. In what ways are we blind to the prophets among us?
The priests hand Jesus over to the Roman authorities. Pilate tries to pass the blame back to the people who respond ‘Crucify him’. Would you have shouted with the crowd or not?

We know the rest of the story, but his disciples did not. They were devastated. Next Sunday we celebrate the real Triumph of Jesus, the Christ of God. However, before we get to Easter, we have to walk the events of Holy Week. If your church has services during the week commemorating Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, you may want to take advantage of the opportunity to walk with Jesus the last few days of his life. Or maybe you can find time yourself to read through the Passion in each of the four Gospels. Meditate on the mighty acts of God who turned the world upside down.

Palm Sunday-Expectations

Last week we touched on expectations and how God often changes our expectations—for something much better. Miriam found her life dramatically changed when Moses returned, claiming to be the Deliverer. It changed even more during the Exodus wanderings and when she was struck with leprosy. In the end, she and all the Children of Israel found that they were blessed beyond their wildest dreams, but not in the way they expected. Some of the areas of NM are much like the terrain of the Exodus--rocky, desert with scrubby vegetation. However, in the midst of that seeming desolation, God provided food (manna and quail) and water (even from a rock)! God definitely exceeded expectations!

The disciples and crowd were filled with expectation on the first Palm Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem to the cheers of the people. This was Messiah, the Deliverer who would cleanse the Temple and city and country of the hated Romans. Everyone was sure that Messiah would return Israel to her proper place in the world and all would be well.

God’s plan was quite different. When their expectations weren’t met, the people turned against Jesus, shouting ‘crucify him.’ Too often we box in God by trying to impose our plans for this event or that dream. Maybe we need to rethink our desire to control the outcome and let God have a little more chance to work!

A couple of weeks ago I attended a retreat where Bishop Frey talked a bit about our expectations of God. He reminded us that our God is a God of action. Throughout the Bible, we hear God say “I am the God who led you out of bondage,” I am the God who fed you in the wilderness,” “I am the God who redeemed you,” “I am the God who called you by name,” etc., etc. Despite that, we often have limits on our expectations of what God will do.

The Bishop reminded us that Jesus tells us not to limit our expectations just because it appears that God isn’t listening. In the parable of the widow and the judge, Jesus reminds us that it is important to continually bring our needs and desires to God in prayer.

“Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” ’And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’” (Luke 18:1-8)

Unlike the judge, who gives in because the widow nags, God gives us what we need out of love. When we give our dreams and desires and needs to God, amazing things happen. What God does with them, will be greater than anything we can imagine! I confess that I do try to outline for God the way things should go. When I remember and step back, then amazing ‘coincidences’ happen. Has that ever happened to you?

Bishop Frey used a favorite quote during his talk. (He admits he doesn’t remember where he got the quote and a quick online search finds several clergy claiming or using it in sermons and meditations.)

“Hope is the ability to hear the melody of the future.

Faith is the courage to dance to it today.”

Living out this quote is one way to move beyond our narrow expectations and embrace joyfully the promises and expectations of our loving God. We may need to let go of some of our plans and plots.

What expectations bind you? Are they expectations of yourself, your life, or even of God?

May your Palm Sunday be a blessing and greeted with the joy of these children and adults at a Wings party. As you enter Holy Week and follow Christ on his journey to the Cross and Easter, may you find renewed joy in your expectations.

See you next week-Easter Sunday!