Easter 7 B - 1 John 5:9-13

1 John 5:9-13

The trouble I have with texts like this is that they sound a lot like human testimony. There are those who are in and those who are out (eternally no less) based on what they believe. I wouldn't have so much trouble with that if God hadn't given the password to paradise to a human institution that can be bound to human testimony so far removed from what God is about as to be demonic. Can we say the Spanish Inquisition? Don’t get me wrong. I've bet my life on the testimony into which I was baptized. But if the testimony of God does not come to us except through the filter of the human institution we have to find ways to filter the human institution out of the testimony of God. That is why “we preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23) for if for the sake of love God gave up life I hope and pray that God won’t give up any life for the sake of love.

Easter 7 B - Psalm 1

Psalm 1

We know the counsel of the wicked is nothing but trouble and lingering in the way of sinners is a dead end street and the seat of the scornful is uncomfortable at best but we still listen and linger and pull up a chair. Even those who delight in the perfect law of the Lord - the counsel of love, the way of righteousness, and the mercy seat of peace - can find themselves listening and lingering and longing for that which in the end withers the soul and saps the spirit. But then the tree doesn't plant itself by streams of water and so we, too, depend on the One who creates and cultivates a right spirit within us – sometimes with refreshment and sometimes with reprimand - always intending to bring new life to dead limbs as the prosperity of hope enriches impoverished faith to meditate on “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, whatever is excellent or praiseworthy…” (Philippians 4:8) 

Easter 7 B - Acts 1:15-17; 21-26

Acts 1:15-17; 21-26

I wonder if the church today would be okay with calling pastors, electing or appointing bishops, or even choosing the next pope in the same way that the eleven (or about 120 persons) choose the thirteenth disciple? The first thing the disciples did was to set some parameters. Whoever the next disciple was going to be had to have seen the same things the eleven remaining disciples saw. Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus stilling the storm, Jesus walking on water, Jesus giving sight to the blind, mobility to the lame, hearing to the deaf and life to the dead. But just as important was that they had witnessed Jesus’ way of being with the outcast and the excluded and the condemned. The woman weeping at his feet, the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman about to be stoned. The final qualification was that whoever was chosen had witnessed the inevitable and the unbelievable. You don’t do what Jesus did without getting crucified but then the Romans never saw the resurrection coming. The beauty of this disciple election is that even though the disciples rarely understood the things Jesus said and did they did understand that whoever God would choose to replace Judas needed to have seen and heard the same things that they had. So they vetted the candidates according to what made sense to them but then they let God do the choosing. I’m sure Joseph wondered why God preferred Matthias but then if he was truly qualified he wouldn't question the outcome. Since both were equally qualified it took the politics out of the process. Casting lots is not casting votes. It’s drawing straws. Or flipping a coin. Or rolling the dice. No matter because it takes us - or in this case the 120 persons - out of the process.

Easter 6 B - John 15:9-17

John 15:9-17

It is significant that this “status update” from servant to friend occurs in the Gospel of John. After all Jesus’ status was updated from mostly “Messiah” in the synoptic Gospels to “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) So the God of Sinai (fire and smoke on the mountain don’t come near lest ye die) is now revealed as the Word made friend. Since true friendship does not operate as a hierarchy Jesus’ statement is as radical as anything uttered in the scriptures. We are on a first name basis with the God whose name could not be spoken - lest ye die! The flip side of this new arrangement is that our continuing in the ways of our first parent’s garden rebellion is that much more damaging to ourselves and the God come near who is our friend. Friendship can only endure so much before the one whose heart is open to the other is hurt in such a way that the real benefit of friendship, “that my joy may be in you that your joy may be complete” is exhausted. Not that God abandons us but “I've got friends in low places” (Garth Brooks) is not nearly as friendly as it sounds and Jesus desires a relationship that blesses Jesus as much as it blesses us. Nothing blesses Jesus more than when you and I, and everybody else for that matter, friend each other in ways that go beyond “likes” on a page. Jesus’ joy can only be complete when our joy is. Which means my joy can only be complete when your joy is complete and your joy can only be complete when my joy is complete and that joy begins and ends with acting more friendly towards the One who chose to call us friends.

Easter 6 B - 1 John 5:1-6

1 John 5:1-6

The way faith conquers the world is not the way the world conquers. Despite the apparent militancy of “Onward Christian Soldiers” the way of faith “is not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord.” (Zechariah 4:6) That is why the victory of faith often appears first as defeat. “We preach Christ crucified.” (1 Corinthians 1:23) But it is a “magnificent defeat” (Friederich Buechner) that the world cannot see or understand and which the world cannot ultimately overcome. “Were they to take our house, goods, fame, child or spouse; though life be wrenched away; they cannot win the day; the kingdom ours forever.” (Martin Luther) That faith conquers the world is not a panacea for the pain and suffering experienced when one is on the losing end of Luther’s list of things to be taken away. No. Faith is often pushed to the limit and indeed beyond. But though the blood lust of the wicked may hold the field today the final outcome has been predetermined and the faith that is tried in the here and now will triumph in the forever tomorrow. 

Easter 6 B - Acts 10:44-48

Acts 10:44-48

Acts chapter ten begins with God telling Peter that shellfish is now in season and he is free to eat whatever he wants. To which Peter replies, “Heaven forbid!” which is the proper response when one is tempted by all manner of culinary delights denied to law abiding Jews. But God insists that Peter sit down and dine and before you know it Peter is acting like Jesus and eating and drinking with tax collectors (aka Romans) and sinners (aka Gentiles). “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” is true for all manner of animals as well as people so that Peter, who often appears dumb as rock, suddenly perceives that God shows no favoritism which is shocking given the restricted relationship God demanded from the children of Israel. That is not to say the early church welcomed the new neighbors with open arms. Even Peter had to defend his Acts chapter 10 actions to James and John and the Jerusalem council. And if you believe Paul’s account in Galatians chapter 2 Peter went back to a kosher diet and “began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of the circumcision group”. When we make what is binding arbitrary (the law of love) and what is arbitrary binding (the love of law) we miss the point of this passage. I wonder what acts of God might astound us in this day and age so that we ask the question, “What is to prevent us from suspending the rules we have come to rely on and welcome the new thing God is doing?” Heaven knows.

Easter 6 B - Psalm 98

Psalm 98
A new song about marvelous things the Lord has done means before there was this song there were times that were less praiseworthy. Singing the rejoicing refrain is preceded by times of lament and righteousness revealed means there was a time when it was hidden. “You turned my wailing into dancing” is how Psalm 30 describes the reversal of fortune. At the dawn of that new day the long night is forgotten so that even the sound of the crashing sea and rushing rivers are in harmony with harps and trumpets and human voices. The good news for those still waiting for steadfast love and faithfulness to be revealed is that God gives us each other so that my new song can be heard in your time of silence and when life conspires to still the song in my heart perhaps you will be in a place to sing me into a marvelous new day. In that way the song never ends and at the same time is always new.

Easter 5 B - John 15:1-8

John 15:1-8

What choice does a branch attached a vine really have? It doesn't choose to grow and it can’t control what nutrients come to it. It just is. Which means all the branch can do is be attached to the vine. Maybe that is real point of the passage. To abide is more about the vine then the branch. so what if we were to think of abiding in Jesus like breathing? We do it every moment of our lives and hardly notice it until we can’t catch our breath which makes us very aware of how essential it is. When abiding in Jesus is a noun – a state of being instead of a state of doing – it describes who we are instead of what we do. Of course who we are determines what we do which is to say apart for Jesus we can do nothing.

Easter 5 B - 1 John 4:7-21

1 John 4:7-21

“Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” You would think the church could get this right since the command to love God and one another is the foundation of our faith. Some say the reason the church is in decline today is because those on the outside have finally figured out that the petty jealousies and judgmental attitudes that have come to characterize so many Christian communions are a direct contradiction of the teaching of Jesus. Individual Christians and whole communities elevate their particular doctrines or preferences to the denial of the one law that is in fact binding. Even Unitarians fight over doctrine for God’s sake!  But “the commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” So what can we do that we have not done already? Maybe we should stop doing what we've been doing and learn the lesson of love so that “as he is, so we (will be) in this world. I know it is passé now but for all the hype around WWJD bracelets and bumper stickers but there was only one answer to the question What Would Jesus Do? LOVE.

Easter 7 B - Psalm 22:25-31

Psalm 22:25-31

Psalm 22 begins with a lament. “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” In the verses that follow human suffering is spelled out in detail. “My heart melts like wax within me… all my bones are out of joint… a band of dogs surround me… they pierce my hands and feet!“ Insults and mocking and spitting accompany the abuse heaped upon the one who cries out by day with no answer, at night with no rest. Yet this “man of constant sorrow” trusts that the God far off will come near and even if going down to the dust is his destiny praise will spring forth from the grave. Some might call that fool’s hope and be more inclined to go with Job’s wife’s advice to her long suffering (and constantly complaining) husband, “Curse God and die.” But then the people yet unborn would not know the sacred story of the God who came so near to humanity as to wear our flesh and die our death so that we might live God’s life.  And so we proclaim and so you believe, “The Lord has acted.” Thanks be to God.  

Easter 5 B - Acts 8:26-40

Acts 8:26-40

The Ethiopian eunuch was well respected in the court of Candice but in Jerusalem he was denied access to the temple of the faith he was so anxious to understand. Cut off from the people of God by race and circumstance he none-the-less worshiped the God whose holy word branded him unclean. (Deuteronomy 23:1) It’s no surprise then that one so excluded would be drawn to the suffering servant described by Isaiah and wonder if the word about “the prophet or someone else” might also be a word for him. So God sends Philip the Greek to evangelize the African official into the faith of Jesus the suffering Jew. Irony is not lost on the Lord. 

Easter 4 B - John 10:11-18

John 10:11-18

We had a Rambouillet lamb named Louie who grew up to be a sheep so tame as to be a nuisance. I’m not sure the Good Shepherd analogy works as well when the lamb won’t leave you alone and the hired hand is worn out by the constant bleating for treats. Then we tend to demand much from our Good Shepherd not the least of which is bleating for all manner of treats when we might be better without. But this text is about the Shepherd and not the sheep and whatever it is we do or say or need doesn't much matter as the Good Shepherd cares for us by both giving and withholding. Unfortunately we, like Louie, are often so tame to the way of faith as to be a nuisance to ourselves and everyone else for that matter. The good news is the Shepherd’s life laid down and picked up breaks through our “tameness” so that we come to know the Shepherd as intimately as the Shepherd know us.

Easter 4 B - 1 John 3:16-24

1 John 3:16-24

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.” (The Dalai Lama) Christians don’t have exclusive rights to acts of mercy and kindness but it is clearly in our religious DNA to perform them. So I’m not saying other faiths or traditions do any better just that Christians, perhaps more than others, should get this right since it is the defining character of the Christ. Far too often the church’s adherence to dogma has allowed it to justify the worst sort of practices. But then Jesus was “despised and rejected” (Isaiah 53) for a reason and while it was certainly for our sin it was as much for his – by that I mean he sinned against the powers that be by daring to be what God had always intended them to be. “I desire mercy not sacrifice.” (Hosea 6:6) That doesn't mean we are not to resist the things of the world that pollute our lives but rather that care for the widow and the orphan (James 1:27) precedes and (perhaps) defines the way one remains pure.

Easter 4 B - Psalm 23

Psalm 23

Our souls are restored when we are guided along right pathways even if it takes a rod and staff to keep us on the path to greener pastures and still waters. That’s because we can get lost in the shadow valleys of this world where the lines between right and wrong are obscured by selfish desire and sinful pride. Truth is our sight can adjust to low light and we grow accustomed to being less than we were meant to be and before you know it we can’t tell the difference between a green pasture and a desert. But the Lord like a shepherd does not abandon us to our wandering ways but prods us with the rod of the Law even as the staff of the Gospel frees us to live into peaceful places of soul refreshing rest.

Easter 4 B - Acts 4:5-12

Acts 4:5-12

The rooster can crow till the cows come home but the days of denying Jesus are over for Peter. When one is filled with the Holy Spirit there is no room for fear and so the Peter who formerly wept bitter tears is now the Peter who publicly stands on Christ the Cornerstone and declares what he previously denied. Of course Peter is seeing things in light of the resurrection which gives him a confidence he didn't have in the courtyard. We are not nearly as hard pressed as Peter to publicly declare something that in the end led to his imprisonment and crucifixion but we are called none-the-less to be public about our faith in the name by which we are saved. That doesn't mean we are called to stand on street corners with signs. But if we truly believe in the one name by which we are saved and if we honestly care about those we encounter we will seek ways to “do a good deed” that gives glory to the crucified and risen Lord. We love others so that others will love Christ. Bottom line - your mission field is the piece of the planet you inhabit. Time to get busy.

Easter 3 B - Luke 24:13-49

Luke 24:13-49

“Peace be with you” doesn't do the trick. “Look at my hands and feet” doesn't dispel disbelief. Even touch me and see doesn't get a “My Lord and my God!” But eat a piece of broiled fish and maybe the impossible will seem more plausible to doubting disciples. In the every day necessity of nourishment the crucified, dead and buried Messiah is accepted as really resurrected. It is the final and most intimate act of the incarnation that the One who rose beyond the boundaries of death and life entered this realm again to share a morsel with those still bound by mortality so that seeing would be believing. In that sense “have you anything here to eat?” might be the most grace filled words ever spoken by Jesus. 

Easter 3 B - 1 John 3:1-7

1 John 3:1-7

There is no way around it. Since we all sin we are all guilty of lawlessness even though in the love the Father has given us we are children of God now and when Jesus is revealed we will be like Him. That means even as children of God we do not abide in God or know God or see God by virtue of our rebellious nature. But then John will go on to say, “This is love: not that we loved God but that God loved us…” (1 John 4:10) So the ultimate consequence of our lawlessness is that God loves those who do not love in equal measure but who purify themselves with the hope that when we do see Him as He is Jesus will not see us as we are but what we were always meant to be. 

Easter 3 B - Psalm 4

Psalm 4

It is only when one stops loving illusions and living lies that one can see the wonders God desires to do for the faithful – and everyone else for that matter. Easier said than done. The trouble with illusions and lies is that they cleverly hide the truth so that even when we know the lie of the illusion is a sleight of hand we ask to see it again albeit more slowly this time. We are fascinated by a good trick and nothing is as tricky as a lie we live with so long that it feels so familiar it no longer appears to be an illusion. But one of the wonders God does for the faithful is to shatter the comfortable illusion with distress so that sooner or later one cries out for mercy. That is good news even if it feels less than that for while the truth is not as seductive as the illusion it gives one something living a lie cannot – a peaceful night’s rest where the truth of God’s love promises rest that is secure.

Easter 3 B - Acts 3:12-19

Acts 3:12-19

The scene that precedes Peter’s speech to “You Israelites” is the healing of the lame beggar at the temple gate. “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3:6) Now I’m sure there were some Israelites in the crowd who had not called out “crucify” and so they can hardly be held responsible for killing the “Author of life”. And even if Peter claims it as Gospel truth Pilate never intended to let the peasant preacher go free. Furthermore Peter and all the disciples deserted Jesus in his most desperate hour. But maybe Peter has forgotten his rejection of the Holy One in the courtyard. “I tell you I do not know the man!” Then again maybe being Holy Spirit anointed and preaching on Pentecost and becoming God’s agent for “lame man walking” means you forget the ways you acted in ignorance. No matter. The truth of the speech is that God will wipe the slate clean for deniers and betrayers and those who cry crucify because that is the nature of the God who desires “all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”. (1 Timothy 2:4) So turn to the One who is continually turning towards you that your ways of denying and betraying and crying crucify might be wiped clean.

Easter 2 B - John 20:19-31

John 20:19-31

In the Gospel of John believing is seeing. We can speculate as to Thomas’s whereabouts that first day of the week but his absence is for our benefit as we who have no hope of seeing, let alone touching. nail scarred hands or spear pierced side are blessed by believing none-the-less. I don’t know if my “not seeing” believing is due to childhood indoctrination – my guess is I’ll be a cradle to grave Christian – or because the story continues to capture my imagination and stir my soul, but for whatever reason I have attached my life to Jesus and even when I fail to live the life in his name I trust Jesus’ life is somehow lived in mine.