Easter 1 2020

Sunday Offering: 

“A few years ago, I wrote, somewhat facetiously, that the Church should close all programs for a year and simply teach people to pray. It seems to me we may unintentionally have just such an opportunity right now, although I sincerely hope it won’t last a year!” Richard Rohr

And pray we do, for the millions sorely affected by the virus in any way. In this manner of prayer we are in oneness with the suffering. 

Abba, Father, you hear our sighs, our groans, the words that struggle to be spoken, asking you to meet the needs of all those suffering. Give our heath care workers strength, Comfort those who mourn, bring healing to the afflicted, give wisdom and courage to our leaders. Bless this land with your presence in us and through us. 

Amen.

Easter Sunday

Holy Saturday – Love covers a multitude of sins.

Holy Saturday – Love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:1-8
4:1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin),

4:2 so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God.

4:3 You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry.

4:4 They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme.

4:5 But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.

4:6 For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.

4:7 The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.

4:8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.

The scripture calls us to obedience, to no longer live by human desire.  Besides, we have already done enough of that, and it doesn’t satisfy the spirit.  During my year of internship at Grace Lutheran Church in Houston, I was captivated by the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was martyred for his faith on 9 April 1944.  I read his works in their entirety from his earliest to his last.  His writing changed overtime; he matured, but the message stayed the same; his call to discipleship spoke to my soul. 

Bonhoeffer writes extensively of the call to obedience in his most famous work, The Cost of Discipleship, first published in 1939.  Bonhoeffer's major issue is that of cheap grace. This is grace that has become so watered down that it no longer resembles the grace of the New Testament, the costly grace of the Gospels.

By the phrase cheap grace, Bonhoeffer means the grace which is the intellectual assent to a doctrine without a real transformation in the sinner's life. Bonhoeffer says of cheap grace: It is the preaching of forgiveness without the requisite repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross.  

Real grace, Bonhoeffer writes, will cost me my life - yes, me, Cynthia, my life.  Yes, I continue hear that call.  Here I am, Lord.  And Christ whispers words for my many failures:   I Peter, 4:8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.  Love of God and love of Christ satisfies the spirit; nothing else provides fulfillment.

Good Friday – It is finished.

Good Friday – It is finished.

“Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”

Luke 23:44-48 RSV

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵ while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. ⁴⁷ Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, and said, “Certainly this man was innocent!” ⁴⁸ And all the multitudes who assembled to see the sight, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. ⁴⁹ And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance and saw these things.

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34

This was the only expression of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Both Gospels related that it was in the ninth hour, after 3 hours of darkness, that he cried out this fourth word. The ninth hour was three o'clock in Judea. Jesus of Nazareth fulfills the Messianic prophecy of the Suffering Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 53:12, Mark 15:28, Luke 24:46). After the fourth Word, Mark related with a horrible sense of finality, "And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last" (Mark 15:37).

Meditate on the words of Jesus. Read the scripture several times. What cries out to you?  I am struck by his anguished tone.  He feels separated from his Father. This cry is from the painful heart of the human Jesus who must feel deserted by His Father and the Holy Spirit, not to mention his earthly companions the disciples, who "all left him and fled" (Matthew 26:56, Mark 14:50). Have you known such separation from God?  As if to emphasize his loneliness, Mark (15:40) even has his loved ones "looking on from afar." Jesus is now all alone, and he must face death by himself. Have you known what it is to be forsaken or abandoned by family and friends?  We now live in a secular nation many people have abandoned Jesus. For those who have ears to hear, let us pray for forgiveness for turning away, and for those who are suffering. 

Almighty ever-living God,

refuge of those who suffer,
look with compassion upon the afflictions of your children
who suffer due to this pandemic;
alleviate the suffering of the sick,
give strength to those who care for them,
and welcome into your peace those who have died,
and while this tribulation lasts,
grant that we may find consolation in your mercy
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy Thursday – This is My Body This is My Blood For YOU

Holy Thursday – This is My Body This is My Blood For YOU

Lutherans believe in the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, that the body and blood of Christ are "truly and substantially present in, with and under the forms" of the consecrated bread and wine (the elements), so that communicants actually eat and drink the holy body and blood of Christ.  We treat the consecrated bread and wine with reverence.  We meditate on this scripture:

Matthew 26:26-28 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

²⁶ Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; ²⁸ for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 

If we eat and drink the holy body and blood of Jesus Christ, does this not mean that our bodies are living temples? Should we not treat our bodies then with the reverence due a temple of Christ?  This is a critical question for today because people with compromised immune systems are dying from Coronavirus, whereas those with healthy bodies are much less likely to die.  Are our bodies compromised or consecrated?  Again, meditate on this scripture:

Mark 14:22-26 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

²² And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” ²³ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. ²⁴ And he said to them, “This is my blood of the^[a]covenant, which is poured out for many. ²⁵ Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Here is short a list of things we can eliminate to treat our bodies as consecrated:

Smoking cigarettes and pot (which compromise lungs), 

Metabolic syndrome (a fatty liver cannot keep you healthy),

White sugar and white flour (neither are healthy choices),

High blood pressure (primarily caused by salt in processed foods),

And the list goes on and on, and we all have been told the entire list many times.

And there is a different list of healthy choices which we have also heard:

Fresh fruits and vegetables,

Whole grain products and oatmeal,

Beans, legumes, brown rice,

Fish, chicken, turkey,

And, of course, there is another scripture to meditate upon:

Luke 22:19-20 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

¹⁹ And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰ And likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 

So, we can elect to hear the admonitions and make changes to treat our bodies with the reverence they deserve,

Or we can continue as usual and hope that our badly compromised immune systems will survive when we get the coronavirus.

This scripture was so important that it is repeated yet again:

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

The final meditation is a bit different:

Coronavirus IS a pandemic; it will return again and again until everyone has survived or died, or we treat our bodies with holy reverence.  

Holy Monday, Surrender

The projected worst week of the coronavirus pandemic is coincidental during Holy Week. Panic, hysteria, blame, and anger fills the news and social media.  “This will be our Pearl Harbor,” said the Surgeon General. “Our lives will be changed forever,” said Henry Kissinger and others.  Exactly what can we do? 

What can I do?  

Think about that for a minute. Turn off the news: Words, words, words!  

Instead, find a quiet place, take time to reflect on Jesus’ surrender to a woman anointing his head with costly perfume, an act of extravagant love.   Scripture is transforming, and you can transform your experience into something more worthwhile than panic, hysteria, blame, and anger.

The Anointing at Bethany

³ And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. ⁴ But there were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment thus wasted? ⁵ For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,^[a] and given to the poor.” And they reproached her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you will, you can do good to them; but you will not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burying. ⁹ And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Mark 14:3-9 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Footnotes:

a.    Mark 14:5 The denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer

Holy Wednesday, Are you troubled in Spirit?

Holy Wednesday – Are you troubled in spirit?  

Yes, who isn’t troubled during these days of increasing death?  Peace of mind comes when Ron and I are hiking and not sitting.  When I am focused on the trail and watching my steps, I don’t do much thinking.  Because the forest service closed the trailheads, the hiking trails are empty and eerily silent.  We were almost at the end of an eight-mile hike when a bicycle approached, and the rider looked official and mighty important.  Were we going to be chastised for hiking when the trailhead was closed?  The fine is $5000 for violators, so, yes, I was troubled in spirit.  He said his name was Marty, and he is the president of the Mountain Bicycle Patrol.  I said I liked the white cross on his shirt.  He laughed and said he tells his wife it attracts chicks.  My mood lightened.  He noticed Ron’s MIT cap and said his son-in-law got his MBA from MIT.  Marty got his Ph.D. from Cornell.  Good.  We are talking like friends and exchanging niceties.  Suddenly he remembered the time and said he had to get home for an online Seder with family.  Aha!  He is Jewish.  I told him of my experience as a Lutheran Pastor holding a Seder meal on Maundy Thursday and feeling tipsy after the mandatory four cups of wine.  We laughed.  I raised my hands in blessing on his Seder, and he responded with a beautiful, warm smile.  After this encounter, my spirit was no longer troubled, and God had given me peace despite the hardships that had previously troubled me so greatly.  God comes to us in surprising ways and often at unexpected times.  Thanks be to God.