Easter 5 B - John 15:1-8

John 15:1-8

I understand the point of the passage, “abide in me as I abide in you” but what choice does a branch really have? It doesn’t choose to grow and it can’t avoid being pruned. Which means the true vine and vine grower are in charge of whatever happens and branches just hang on like… branches. Maybe that is point of the passage. To abide means to let the vine define what the branch will be. The trouble is we do not want to be so defined and prefer to create the vine in our own image. Both right and left are driven by their own desires and definitions– not that the middle is without fault. None of us want to be branches cut off or pruned, even if it means to be fruitful, but there is way to be so connected to the vine as to transcend the analogy entirely. If the fruit borne by those connected to the true vine are hardly aware of the connection they do more grafting than pruning and abiding is not a verb but a noun.

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 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 to 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 but for all the hype around WWJD bracelets and bumper stickers there is only one answer to the question "What Would Jesus Do?" It is what Jesus did - Love.

Easter 5 B - Psalm 22:25-31

 Psalm 22:25-31

Psalm 22 begins not with praise, but 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, “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 5B - Acts 8:26-40

Acts 8:26-40

The Ethiopian eunuch was well respected in the court of Candice but in Jerusalem he would have been 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 worshipped the God whose holy word branded him unclean. It is 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. Truth is the eunuch already had all the faith he needed and indeed was the one who asked the question, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” Unfortunately the church has more often than not excluded those who in the church’s estimation are lacking, without allowing that God is more than able to compensate for whatever we are without.

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 when the lamb won’t leave you alone and even the wolf retreats from the constant bleating for treats. Then we tend to demand much from our Good Shepherd not the least of which is bleating for treats. But then 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 giving and or withholding. Unfortunately we, like Louie, are often tame to the way of faith so 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” and gives us a new lease on life that is a treat in and of itself. "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want."

Easter 4 B - 1 John 3:16-24

1 John 3:16-24

If my mind could convince my heart of the surpassing greatness of God’s goodness maybe it would stop condemning me. But then maybe the purpose of the condemning heart (aka conscience) is to get the mind to pay attention to what the hands are doing or the mouth is saying. Word and speech and truth and action are to work together for the common good which includes our own. That is because when we please God by helping others we are gifted with the Spirit of a quiet heart, a peaceful mind, a mouth full of praise and hands that help.  Martin Luther said it this way “A Christian is a child of the Holy Spirit, an heir of eternal life, a companion to the holy angels, a ruler of the world, and a partaker of God’s divine nature. A Christian is a wonder of the world, a terror to Satan, an ornament of the church, a desirable object of heaven with a heart full of fire, with eyes full of tears, with a mouth full of supplications and with hands full of good works.”

Easter 4 B - Psalm 23

Psalm 23
Souls are restored when guided along right pathways even if it takes a rod and staff to get us there. 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 same Peter who cowered in courtyard and wept bitterly because of it has become the rock who will not back down even when confronted by the powers that be who “crucified Christ”. But that is what resurrection can do to you that the cross cannot. I don’t mean that we neglect the mandate to preach Christ crucified. We wouldn’t pay attention to this Galilean prophet if after being as dead as you and I will one day be he hadn’t walked out of the tomb. The Romans crucified Jews all the time. But as a good friend and colleague pointed out to me the other day our focus on the cross can obscure the point of the resurrection. We are meant to be transformed into resurrection people even if the cross is the way we get there. The cross accuses and convicts and like Peter brings bitter tears – and rightly so. But on the third day those who cower in courtyards of their own design are to walk out of tombs of shame and guilt to live as people set free from sin and death once and for all. It doesn’t mean we stop sinning or falling short of all we will one day become. It does mean we recognize that confession is for the amendment of our sinful life and act accordingly.

Easter 3 B - Luke 24:36-48

 

Luke 24:36-48
“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 everyday 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. We all sin and are all guilty of lawlessness, even if in the love the Father has lavished upon us we are children of God now and when Jesus is revealed we will be like Him. That means even if we are children of God in the here and now we do not abide in God or know God or see God because we sin. 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 despite our lawlessness God apparently loves us even if we do not love in equal measure and only purify ourselves 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. Or as St. Augustine put it, "we are becoming what we already are; children of God.

Easter 3 B - Psalm 4

 Psalm 4

When we love illusions and seek after lies we lose sleep even if we pass out in the process. Like a good magic trick we ask to see it again and again, albeit more slowly this time. But we never quite catch the sleight of hand or see the trap door in action until it’s been sprung. That dishonors God’s glory because living the lie devalues our own being. God’s desire is to do wonders in and through and with us so that gladness of heart is our everyday experience even when we are in distress. I would hope the answer to “how long will you dishonor my glory” is not “as long as I have breath in my being” but even if it is I trust that the wonder God can do in and through and with us is no magic trick.

Easter 3 B - Acts 3:12-19

 Acts 3:12-19

The scene that precedes this speech to the people is the healing of the lame man. “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) I’m sure there were some in the crowd who had not called out “crucify” and so can hardly be held responsible for killing the “Author of life”. And even if Peter claims it as Gospel truth Pilate never intended on letting the peasant preacher go free. Jesus was far too disruptive to peace in Judea which made him far too dangerous to Pilate and hence to Rome. Furthermore Peter and all the disciples deserted Jesus in his most desperate hour. But maybe Peter has forgotten his curses in the courtyard? Then again being Holy Spirit anointed with fire and tongues and preaching on Pentecost and being God’s agent for “lame man walking” might mean you forget “I once was blind” because “now I see.” We all act in ignorance even though we claim to know the truth which we easily trade for the lie because we can’t tell the difference. The place of peace is a balancing act of absolute responsibility and perfect freedom which is often expressed as self-righteousness in the case of the former and the habits of hedonism in the case of the latter. It might sound as if we are between a rock and a hard place. But true peace is in recognizing our limitations. Some repent of trying to control everything. Others repent of being controlled by anything. No matter what side of the equation you find yourself the path to peace is to repent and turn to God who is more than able to overcome our lameness.

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 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 his and even when I fail to live the life in his name I trust Jesus’ life is somehow lived in mine.

Easter 2 B - 1 John 1:1-2:2

1 John 1:1-2:2
Sin by its very nature is deceptive so that even when we confess our sins we can walk in the darkness that masquerades as light. That is why posting the Ten Commandments on every street corner of the planet won’t get the job done. We tend to think of sin as behavior which means we can do something about it. It might be a carrot or a stick but in the end the cure for sin is not encouragement or enforcement. Sin is far more devious and demonic so that while behaviors might be modified the root cause is not. To use the old language - we are by nature sinful and unclean – which means our orientation is towards rebellion and resistance to the relationship God desires to have with us. So what can we do? We confess that we do not want to be all that we were meant to be and trust that God’s mercy is more than able to break through the darkness that clouds our vision - and not only ours, but the darkness that engulfs the whole world. When attitudes change, not by threat or reward but the compelling love of Christ the grip of sin will be loosened and we will walk more fully in the light of love which is a real relationship with God.

Easter 2 B - Psalm 133

Psalm 133

In three short verses Psalm 133 states the obvious and makes me wonder why the church doesn’t pursue unity with more purpose. Instead of pouring the precious oil of peace on each other we heap insults on each other's heads and draw theological lines in the sand staining the collar of our robes with division. You might expect this of the more strident traditions but even the Unitarians, or so I’m told, don’t always get along. Go figure. The fragrant extravagance of good and pleasant unity imaged by the psalmist is the blessing that falls from heaven and unity is bestowed from above whenever it is understood from below as the very essence of what it means to claim Christ as Lord.

Easter 2 B - Acts 4:32-35

 Acts 4:32-35

When believers are of one heart and mind there are no needy persons among them because believers are of one heart and mind. When hearts and minds go their own way members who withhold are struck down dead (Ananias and Sapphira) and widows who speak Greek are denied food for speaking Greek. (Acts 6) It should be of some comfort to us that those who witnessed the resurrected Christ are subject to the same folly as those of us who have no hope of seeing, let alone touching, nail scarred hands and spear pierced side. Or maybe it should be cause for concern for us that even those who witnessed the resurrected Christ continued to operate as if he were still dead.

The Resurrection of Our Lord Year B - Mark 16:1-8

Mark 16:1-8

It is a strange way to end a story when clearly the women who “said nothing to anyone” must have told something to someone. Then again all the Gospels agree that the reality of resurrection was beyond the ability of the witnesses to comprehend. In the Gospel of Mark being seized by amazement and terror is the tongue tying factor. “Do not be alarmed” wasn’t enough as walking away from the unbelievable they kept their mouths shut, but maybe in the conversations that followed – did you see what I saw? – tongues were loosened and they began to describe what could not be described. Are we any different? We accept as Gospel truth what we cannot describe or understand but at the intersection of the terror of death and the amazement of what waits for us in resurrection our tongues are still tied, not by fear but by an indescribable and glorious hope.

The Feast of the Resurrection Year B - 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

“I would remind you brothers and sisters of the good news…” is a recurring theme of the Corinthian correspondence. Divided loyalty (I follow Cephas, I follow Apollos, I follow Paul, I follow Christ) leads them to argue over minor matters, treat the body of Christ with contempt by making a mockery of the unifying meal and neglect the greater gift of love in favor of flashier outward signs. The good news reminder shouldn’t be lost on us who have received and now stand in Paul’s proclamation. The Christ who appeared to the long list of witnesses and lastly to Paul has appeared to us whenever in the face of death, our own or the death of those we love, we believe life will have the last word. And reminded that the last word belongs to the life of Christ means every word belongs to Christ, which clearly includes those we speak to each other.