Holy Trinity Sunday
Genesis 1:1-2:4
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
grace and peace to you from the community of God. Amen
 
Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, 
it’s an odd little festival
 that is crammed in between Pentecost 
and the long stretch of ordinary time 
that takes us to the end of the Church year
 
 it’s odd because it is the only festival 
that is dedicated to a doctrine or teaching of the church,
 you see, the doctrine of the trinity,
 the idea that God is one in three, three in one
 doesn’t appear explicitly in the Bible.
 
 We do hear the trinitarian formula
 at the end of the gospel of Matthew, 
we heard that just a moment ago, 
but as a description rather than a teaching. 
 
because while the math doesn’t work 
and the concept is confusing, 
how can God be one and three at the same time? 
In the end we have found that the trinity 
is the best description we can come up with
 for our experience of God. 
 
We have experienced and believe in God the creator, 
the one who, as we heard in our first reading 
created the heavens and the earth, 
 
and we have experienced Jesus 
who in the beginning was the Word
 and the Word was with God and the word was God.
 Jesus who told his disciples 
that in seeing him they had seen the one who sent him, 
who rose from the dead 
 
and we have experienced the Holy Spirit, 
the wind that swept over the waters at creation, 
who descended upon Jesus at his baptism in the form of a dove,
 the advocate who Jesus promised to send 
who with a rush of wind 
blew the disciples out into the streets
 with tongues of fire above their head
 and all the languages of the world 
coming from their mouths, 
 
We have experienced all three 
and yet we believe that to experience each of these members of the trinity
 is to fully experience one God, 
the God of Abraham and Jacob, 
the God of Moses who led the people out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land, the God who sent his son to once and for all redeem the world, 
who promises to be with us to the end of the age.
 
Our one God is a community within Godself. 
The various experiences of God 
working together to become the full expression of God.
 and yes how exactly that happens is a holy mystery, 
when we try to explain every single aspect 
we invariably get into trouble 
because our explanations fall short of reality
 but we know what we have experienced, 
our God is communal. 
 
Last week we talked about the beginning of the church
 and how it is like a body, one body many members, 
and the one body needs a diversity of parts to create the whole. 
This week we discover that in a way 
the same thing is true for God, 
that even God needs diversity within unity to be whole.
 
 So what does this mean?
(Remember our Pentecost question?) 
 
What the trinity means for us
 is that diversity is essential to existence, 
even the existence of God. 
 
The way God created the world 
means that we need a diversity of people
 to be whole as humanity. 
We need people that look different 
and think and move and communicate differently, 
variety is a strength 
and we will never be whole
while some differences are valued higher than others,
 while some differences hold more power than others. 
 
Until that is acknowledged
 there will always be something missing in the experience of humanity. 
That’s the march toward justice that we have seen break out, 
the acknowledgment of pain of division and the desire to be whole.
 
What the trinity means
 is that the lie of individuality is exposed, 
our wellbeing is inextricably linked to the wellbeing of all 
and when one person or group is hurting, we hurt too. 
 
The same applies to our faith, 
our faith is communal, 
it grows and flourishes when in relationship with God and others,
 and this is so because our God is a communal God.
 
What the trinity means
 is that we are to set aside our own advantages and privileges 
In our quest for the wellbeing of all
because we have a God who set aside the privileges of being God,
 but took on flesh, and in the words of the Christ hymn from Philippians:
6who, though he was in the form of God,
 did not regard equality with God
 as something to be exploited,
 7but emptied himself,
 taking the form of a slave,
 being born in human likeness.
 And being found in human form,
 8he humbled himself
 and became obedient to the point of death --
 even death on a cross.
 9Therefore God also highly exalted him
 and gave him the name
 that is above every name,
 10so that at the name of Jesus
 every knee should bend,
 in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 11and every tongue should confess
 that Jesus Christ is Lord,
 to the glory of God the Father.
 
What the trinity means
 is that we have a God who works in the world through us. 
We heard in our gospel Jesus’ last words to the disciples his last command:
 
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
 
God comes into our lives and claims us 
through the community of God, 
the parents that bring the child to the font, 
the sponsors and Sunday school teachers and classmates,
 the people who gather together linked by their own baptisms.
 
What the trinity means 
is that joined to God in baptism 
we are never done learning, 
the baptismal journey
 is one whose whole length 
is spent learning to obey the commands of God, 
all summed up in the greatest commandment,
 love the lord your god with all your heart and soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself. 
 
And yes because we are always learning and growing 
we will make mistakes along the way,
 and when we do, 
when we acknowledge our sins and repent,
 we are forgiven and freed to continue to learn and grow
 
What the trinity means 
is that in community with one another and God 
we are never alone, 
Jesus’ last words before he ascended were a promise: 
“And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.”  
 
God the creator is with us always 
in the diversity of creation that God made and called good. 
 
Jesus the Son is with us always
 in the Church, the body of Christ on earth, 
 
The Holy Spirit is with us always, 
blowing through our lives, 
calling, gathering, enlightening and sending us in the world. 
 
Three experiences, 
one God, 
with us forever. Amen.
 

Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:24-35b
1 Corinthians 12:3-13
John 20:19-23

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
grace and peace to you 
from the one who blows new life into our lives. Amen
 
It’s pentecost! The festival fifty days after Easter 
when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit 
and the start of the church. 
 
Each year I’m reminded of a song from my children’s choir days
- Mom you know exactly which one I’m talking about, 
and yes my mom watches the worship videos online- 
this pandemic has created avid youtubers out of moms of pastors all across the nation- 
anyway the song went a little something like this:
 
Pentecost is happy birthday
Happy birthday to the church
When every single doubting Thomas
Comes alive with Jesus’ promise
That he would not leave them
In the lurch.
 
Now with the exception of the fact
that the song continues to smear the disciple Thomas’ character 
for the sake of a rhyme 
it’s a pretty good basic interpretation of the day. 
 
We heard last week
 how Jesus promised the disciples 
the gift of the holy spirit 
and commanded them to take his message to the ends of the earth 
before ascending to the right hand of the father 
 
and we just heard in our reading from acts, 
how the spirit blew the disciples out into the streets, 
each speaking in a different language 
so that the people assembled from the ends of the earth
 could understand their message 
 
and later though it wasn’t part of our reading,
 we are told about 3,000 people are baptized and join the disciples 
and it is exciting and a great celebration 
but it’s one that comes as the culmination of a long time of waiting and uncertainty.

We’re intimately familiar with those dual feelings aren’t we?
 uncertainty coupled with waiting
 and even if we are trusting in the promise of God to bring new life 
 it can be really hard to wait,
 we get impatient,
 
 or we imagine what the future will look like 
which invariably ends up being unrealistic, 
because we always imagine ourselves in the role of the hero,
 we anticipate and hope that when our wait is over 
and the spirit is on the move 
that we will be like the disciples stepping forward to face the crowds
 but the reality is that often when the Holy Spirit blows in new life,
 it looks nothing like what we imagined 
and in turn we are act more like the crowds than the disciples
 
Act tells us that the crowds
 gathered by the commotion the disciples are making
 are first astonished to hear the disciples 
whose accents betray them as Galileans, 
speaking in their own languages 
and then they have one of two reactions
 
some in the crowd react with curiosity,
 asking “What does this mean? But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine." Their response is to immediately dismiss what is happening 
using the least generous possibility as an explanation,
 
 and while it is amusing to hear Peter protest 
that the disciples are not drunk because it is only 9am
 think about how the disciples felt, 
here they are receiving the long awaited gift from God, 
and some immediately dismiss them because they are disturbed.
 
That’s the thing about the Holy Spirit, 
as new and exciting as it is, the new life it brings
 is coupled with the potential for destruction,
the potential exists even in the way the arrival of the spirit is described, 
with a sound like the rush of a violent wind,
 and as tongues of fire, 
out here we know the power of wind 
and what it can do to trees and structures that seem strong in one moment 
and in the next are torn apart. 
Fire, used for cooking and heating,
 is always only one spark away from destruction.
We also know that giving birth
Even in the best of circumstances,
 is painful and dangerous and full of uncertainty
Until the first breath is taken and even after.
 
When we are faced with the arrival of the Holy Spirit,
 New life and all the comes with it to bring it into the world
we are faced with two options:
 to dismiss the strange things before us 
with pat explanations that demean those through whom the spirit is working, 
 
or we can approach with curiosity,
 to ask the question: What does this mean? 
To take the time to listen to the ones who like Peter 
stand up and offer an explanation,
 to explore what others have experienced leading up to this moment 
That makes new life necessary
 to seek out those who have visions and dreams for the future, 
those who can help us imagine ourselves in that future, 
those whose faith remains unshaken even as we are unsure.
 
In short, faced with the work of the holy spirit 
we need the help of the gifts of the spirit
 that Paul describes in our reading from 1 Corinthians, 
gifts that the spirit has distributed as she sees fit 
and never all in one person, 
 
when we need the gifts of the spirit
 we need the community. 
We need the people who are wise,
 and the ones that are knowledgeable, 
we need the ones that get things done, 
and the ones who are good at figuring out what we need to do,
 
 we need those who prophesy 
and those who translate that prophesy into a vision for the future. 
“All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and we were all made to drink of one spirit.”
 
We are united in the spirit 
but Unity in the spirit doesn’t erase our individual identities,
 in fact we need people to be different 
so that we all can be whole
 
 Paul continuing with his body analogy later says “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body.” 
and what keeps a whole body alive?
 Breath, the spirit.
 
The common theme running through the major upheavals in our world right now 
is lack of breath, 
COVID19 is a sickness of the lungs,
 the people who die are those whose lungs are so compromised 
that they are no longer able to breathe. 
 
George Floyd could not breathe,
 his airway cut off by another person
 and he is not the first to have uttered those words 
in a similar circumstance. 
 
Those seeking new life for other
Have their breath taken from them
By those who want things to stay the same.
 
Our world needs breath, 
needs the spirit,
 even as we are made aware
 that we are members of a community,
 that our health and wellbeing 
are tied up in the health and well being of our neighbors, 
the ones next door, 
across the country, 
and around the world.
 
The world needs the spirit, 
and I believe that the spirit is at work, 
bringing new life, 
even, especially if it is life like we haven’t imagined,
 
 and the work of the spirit, 
like a strong wind,
 will be unsettling, 
even for those of us who long for the new life that the spirit brings. 
And when faced with the work of the Holy Spirit, 
we have two options: curiosity or dismissiveness.
 
We can dismiss the need 
for finding new ways for common life 
that enable the health of all, 
we can dismiss the protests 
using whatever pat explanation comes to mind.
 
Or we can ask:
 What does this mean? 
And listen with an open heart and an open mind
 to those, who like Peter, 
have the gifts of the spirit 
that allow them to explain the long history leading up to this point, 
who show us why this is a moment 
that should not be dismissed but paid attention to. 
 
And it may be hard to hear
 what the Peters in our midst have to say, 
and at each point when we feel discomfort, 
a sign that the spirit is working by the way, 
we once again have two options: 
we can dismiss it 
or we can ask what does this mean? 
And move further down the path toward new life 
 
and as we go down this path,
 we will never be alone 
 
because we have been given the gift of the spirit 
who is as close to us as the breath in our lungs, 
who is there to unsettle us when we need to be unsettled 
and to comfort us when we need to be comforted 
 who activates in each of us gifts, 
who works in our lives through the gifts others share 
who gathers us together in community to wonder together: what does this mean? 
If you are feeling the moving of the spirit, 
If you ever want someone to wonder with 
and ask the hard questions,
 know that I am available to wonder and question with you, 
because this is something that we don’t do alone 
and if we can’t ask the hard questions in the church, 
where can we ask them?
 
Pentecost is happy birthday
Happy birthday to the church.
 
What does this mean?
 It means the start of something new, 
something unsettling and comforting at the same time, 
it means God is with us 
and God is sending us. 
It means Jesus keeps his promises. Amen
 

Seventh Sunday in Easter
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm47
Ephesians 1:15-23
Luke 24:44-53

Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Christ is risen indeed Alleluia!
 
Well, here we are, at the end of the Easter season, 
our celebration of the resurrection 
was a bit quieter than what we’re traditionally used to 
but perhaps more poignant 
for the much needed message of hope, 
the proclamation of Jesus’ ultimate victory over death. 
 
We’ve heard how Jesus appeared to the disciples
 giving them what they needed to believe 
and reminding them of all that he had taught them,
 
 and we’ve heard once again, 
of Jesus’ promise
 that he will not leave us orphaned 
but send an advocate,
 the holy spirit to show us the way,
 
 and now here on our last sunday in Easter
 we hear of Jesus’ ascension, 
his return to heaven and the right hand of the Father
 as we confess in the words of the Apostle’s Creed, 
 
we confess this
but I don’t think the ascension is one of the parts of Jesus’ life
 that we think about all that often,
 in fact, why mention it at all?
 
As it turns out,
 the Ascension, 
which some smart alec online defined as 
“when Jesus started working from home” 
is crucial for the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ. 
 
While it seems counter intuitive, 
Jesus has to leave 
so that the work of the church can begin.
 
 
Luke tells us 
how after appearing to the disciples in several ways,
 Jesus finally gathers the disciples together, 
reminds them of all that he taught them
 while he was with them, 
opens their minds to understand
 that he is the fulfillment of the scriptures, 
“that because he rose on the third day, repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in [Jesus’] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”  
and that they are the ones who will be making those proclamations
 
Jesus reminds the disciples 
“You are witnesses of these things.” 
the life, death, resurrection and now ascension of Jesus. 
Witnesses who now have the responsibility
 to share what they have seen and heard with all nations, 
 
of course Jesus will give them the gift of the Holy Spirit to help,
 though that comes next week, 
first though Jesus has to leave, 
and with a final blessing he is carried into heaven,
 
 the disciples return to the temple blessing God 
and soon, next week, 
the holy spirit will blow them out into the street, 
to share what they have seen with all the nations,
 
 and this wouldn’t be possible without Jesus leaving, 
as long as Jesus is around, 
he will be the center of attention, 
 
ascending to the Father, fulfills the scriptures 
and gives the disciples space
 to live out the mission he has given them. 
 
Because let’s be honest, 
as humans we tend to get distracted by the physical, 
by what is before us, 
what we can hold on to, 
 
in Acts the disciples stare heavenward as Jesus ascends 
and two men in white 
(indicating that they are messengers of God)
 come alongside them
 and ask why they keep staring up to heaven
 when what is important is before them on earth, 
 
Jesus will come back 
they remind the disciples
 but until then you’ve got work to do,
 the work of becoming the Church, 
the people of God on earth who,
 in relationship with God and partnership of the holy spirit, 
grow in their own faith even as they share the hope of Jesus.
 
This is what Paul reminds the Ephesians of in his letter to them, 
a new community in Christ 
who heard of Jesus through Paul 
who is now encouraging them from afar, 
giving thanks to God for them in their growing relationship with God 
and reminding them that while Jesus is the head of the church, 
they are the hands and feet of the body of Christ 
 their presence in the world is how Christ works now. 
 
In sharing the good news and loving the neighbor 
the Ephesians bring Christ into the midst of their community. 
How they do it will be different than the Philippians, 
or the Corinthians or the believers in Jerusalem 
because of the differences in community, 
and that is okay because different communities have different needs 
and ways of doing things 
but they are all valuable members of the body of Christ.
 
Wherever there are people whose hope is in Christ,
 who look to God for wisdom and understanding, 
who listen to the holy spirit that calls us to love and serve our neighbor,
 that is where the church is, 
that is Jesus present in the world.
 
And Jesus needed to ascend to the father for this to happen, 
it’s like giving kids progressively more independence as they grow up, 
as care givers we still direct and encourage 
but they need the space to  learn to do things on their own.
 
Jesus being physically separate
 creates the space the disciples need 
to do the work set out for them, 
and with the help of the promised holy spirit 
they will take Jesus’ message to the ends of the earth.
 
And sure, sometimes our attention gets stuck in one direction for awhile
 but that is when Jesus sends messengers to redirect our focus, 
To see once again
 all the people who need to hear of the hope of Christ,
 who need a living community 
one that adapts to the times and challenges 
while proclaiming the timeless message of Christ, 
 
and with the eyes our our hearts enlightened 
our hope is renewed 
and we work to become a community 
that reaches out to the forgotten that need to be remembered 
and the hungry that need to be fed, 
the lonely that need a friend,
 
 in these acts great and small 
whether it is one person or a whole multitude 
the church is present 
and that means Christ is present.
 
Today as we reflect on the ascension of Jesus to his father, 
we are reminded that distance, 
whether it is physical like what we’ve been practicing 
or Jesus ascending to his father
 is sometimes what is needed for growth, 
for new life 
 
and that often the new life that emerges
 is even more powerful than what existed before, 
because it means that more are empowered. 
 
You are witnesses to these things,
 you have heard repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name, 
you have the gift of the holy spirit. 
YOU are the church. Amen
 

Sixth Sunday in Easter
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:8-20
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21

Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen Indeed Alleluia!
 
We are still in the season of Easter,
 celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,
 but even as we celebrate
our texts are starting to turn us toward the ascension
 when Jesus returns to his Father
and the bodily resurrection appearances stop,
leaving the disciples wondering,
 where is God?
 
Where is God?
 I think this is a question that we’ve all asked
 at some point in our lives,
 whether in the depths of sorrow
or simply musing about the meaning of life,
 in fact, how we answer the question
is impacted by who we say God is.
 
In our reading from Acts,
 Paul is traveling,
telling all he meets of Jesus,
 
when he comes to Athens
 he encounters multiple ideas of gods,
each with their own places of worship,
images, and spheres of influence
and though he considers them all idols
 he recognizes that the Athenians are very religious
 
so religious
that they have covered all their bases
by even erecting an alter “to an unknown God”
 a God without image or idol,
 
and Paul grasps on to this imageless God,
I know who this God is
Paul tells the people,
 this God that you consider unknown,
possibly in part
 because you have not been able to come up with an image,
is the God who made the world and everything in it,
 
 God who rules the heavens and the earth
and who created all people
 doesn’t live in a shrine
 or need the sacrifices of humans,
 
God cannot be contained in precious metals
or even in the imagination of mortals
because God is so much bigger than all that,
 
 and though this makes it seem like God is far away
 and that we humans have to search for God
 in reality
God is never far from us
 “for in him we live and move and have our being”
 
we are offspring of God,
 Paul tells the crowds,
which means we are in relationship with God,
God the creator of heaven and earth is a relational God,
found in relationships rather than places.
 
Which is good news
 because it means that we are not tied to any particular place
 for the worship of God
 
 but it does mean that we need to maintain relationships,
 with God,
 with other people whom God works through,
 and maintaining these relationships
 leads to regular places of gathering.
 
God is not tied to these buildings and locations
 and yet it is undeniable
 that there are particular places
where we feel closer to God,
 sacred spaces
where the veil seems thinner somehow
 and we seem to more easily slip into the presence of the divine,
 
 and separation from these places is not to be taken lightly
because they play such a role
in maintaining our relationship with God.
 
I found one of those places in college,
 at Gustavus there is an arboretum attached to campus,
 with a variety of walking paths,
 
sometimes it seemed like the only place
 for an introvert to go
 to get away from all the people on a residential campus.
 
There was a particular stone I’d go to and sit on
 and talk to God,
 pour out the anxieties and troubles of my late teens and early twenties
and there I felt the presence of God.
 
 When I graduated and moved away,
 I was surprised by the ache I felt deep within
at being separated from that sacred space.
It made me think of the Native Americans,
whose spirituality is so closely tied to the land
and who were forcibly removed from their sacred spaces
 and the ache that they still feel generations later.
 
Even if we acknowledge that God is greater than a single space or image,
we humans still search for more solid connections to God,
 whether it is a place, a building, a community,
or something else,
and when we find one of these connections
 we hold on for dear life.
 
The disciples in our gospel
have found one of those connections in Jesus,
in fact Jesus has told the disciples
that in seeing him they have seen the father,
to see Jesus is to see God.
 
and yet now Jesus is telling them
 that he must go away,
that they will no longer see him.
  
And the disciples are understandably feeling some trepidation,
 if they can no longer see Jesus,
 they will no longer be able to see God
and then where will God be?
It’s hard not to feel like they’re being abandoned.
 
And Jesus knows this
and promises the disciples “I will not leave you orphaned”
 he’s using the language of relationship,
 
 Jesus’ going away is necessary
but he reassures the disciples
that  it doesn’t mean the end of a relationship with God
 it will just take another form:
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth.... You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”
 
The gift of the spirit,
 received at our baptisms
 means that God is always with us,
 is as close to us as the breath we take,
even when we feel separated from God,
 God is there residing in us,
advocating for us.
 
I don’t think we often think of God this way,
 even as we acknowledge the gift of the spirit
we still think of God as separate
 and far off
 
and it takes a moment where the spirit makes herself very clear
 before we feel the intimacy of God,
for the disciples this happened at Pentecost,
for the rest of us it happens at different times,
perhaps in a special place, through prayer
or in the course of everyday life,
 often it happens at times when life has changed in some way
and we are feeling separate from God
that’s when God, through the spirit,
reminds us that God is with us.
 
We are in a time of change right now,
whether it be anticipated
like the graduation from high school or other life events,
 or because of what is going on in the world around us,
 
we may be feeling separated from God,
 but Jesus is with us
sending the gift of the holy spirit,
keeping the promise that he made to the disciples
 “because I live, you also will live.”
 
Christ is alive, Alleluia
Where is God?
Right here with us. Amen
 

Fifth Sunday in Easter
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14

Easter 5
5/10/20
 
Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen indeed, alleluia.
 
This week our psalm really caught me,
the image of the psalmist
who has taken refuge in God
seemed to speak to our time
when “shelter in place” and “stay at home”
 have become everyday phrases,
 
the psalmists’ crying out to God
“deliver me” in one breath
and “my times are in your hand” in the next
capturing the multiple emotions that envelope us.
 
As I mulled over the images,
 I wondered what images we might use today
and so as an exercise I paraphrased our psalm for today,
 seeking to use the images and emotions of 2020,
and here is what I came up with:
 
In you God I take refuge
Keep me from acting out of selfishness.
 
Listen to me!
Come quickly!
 
Be my home
That I may shelter in place in you.
For you are where I retreat to safety.
You hold me like the cushions of my couch.
 
Take me out of the net of fear
That has been woven around us,
For you are my truth.
 
Into your care I comment by body and spirit
That you created, called good, and redeemed.
 
 Time is in your hands
Save me from fear, anxiety,
Inadequacy, lethargy, numbness
And from the ones who want me to feel this way.
 
Shine on me like the springtime sun
That each year 
Coaxes bare branches back to life. 
 
Part of the power of the psalms
 and why we turn to them for comfort
is that they hold so true to life,
 
contained within many psalms
are both cries of lament
 where the psalmist feels abandoned by God,
 and in the next breath
 proclamations of trust in that same God,
 
in these seemingly contradictory emotions
 we see our own experience reflected,
the times in our lives
where many things are true
 even things that seem to be in opposition,
 
 and we see this in psalm 31 today,
the first part a cry of the heart
 and the second part reliance on God
 in the midst of the unknown,
 and both are true at the same time,
 
And that’s one thing that I think
will help us get through this time of laments and unknowns
 the realization that we don’t have to be on one end of the spectrum
 or the other,
we can both and, 
 
We can both want to see the whole way before us
and trust that God will guide us,
 
we can be concerned about the health of our community
and concerned about the health of the economy,
 
 we can both understand why it is important
that large gatherings not take place
 and grieve the loss of connection and communal observations,
 
high school seniors can be both excited to be graduating
 and sad that it won’t take place in the traditional way.
 
In times of turmoil,
we so desperately want to know what’s coming next
 that we often grab onto one image of the future
and that is all that we can see,
even though there may be many different options.
 
That’s the place that the disciples are in
in our gospel for today,
Jesus is on the way to the cross
 and is trying to prepare his disciples,
he has told them what is going to happen,
that he will be crucified, die and on the third day rise again
 
but they are holding on to their own image
 of what the messiah will do,
come in as a military leader and wipe out the Romans,
 
 Jesus knows that they will be sorely disappointed
and tries to give them another idea of what is to come..
 
 “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” he tells them
“believe in God, believe also in me”
 belief in God is the antidote to the troubled heart,
 
and he knows that their hearts are troubled
and they are wondering where do we go from here?
 And so he paints a picture for them,
of his father’s house,
a place with many rooms,
enough rooms for everyone,
 
and Jesus is going to prepare a place for all of them,
 he’ll go and come back
and go again
 but where ever he is,
the disciples know that there is a place for them.
And Thomas,
ever the practical one
says this all sounds great Jesus
but we don’t know the way,
 how will we get there?
 
 and Jesus responds,
“I am the way and the truth and the life”
which is not really what Thomas was looking for,
he wanted something along the lines of
 go north for five miles until you reach a tree, then turn left,
that kind of thing.
 
 But Jesus doesn’t give directions like that,
his answers to questions are not easy
but they are backed up by the promise of abundant life.
 
 In his I Am statements,
Jesus is proclaiming that he is one with the father,
 when the disciples see Jesus, they see God.
 
So where do we go from here?
 In this time where many things are true
and many things are unknown
 we cling to Jesus, the way,
who promises us abundant life
 
 and since, unlike the disciples,
we are hearing this teaching after the resurrection,
we know that Jesus keeps his promises,
 that he has been through our ultimate fear, death,
and come out the other side
and promises that we will do the same,
 guided by him, the way. 
 
This is not an easy answer,
it doesn’t lay out every single step that we will take,
 like we might wish,
but it does give us something to hold on to,
 Jesus the way, the truth and the life,
 
who promises to be with us
and guide us all along the way,
who holds us when we are afraid
and comforts us in the face of the unknown,
who brings us to life everlasting. Amen

Fourth Sunday in Easter
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!
 
Today, the fourth Sunday in Easter,
has the unofficial title of Good Shepherd Sunday
as there are sheep and shepherds
 all over our readings for today.
 
God, Jesus,
as the Good Shepherd
is one of the most common images all throughout the scriptures
and has caught the imagination of many
particularly those who love Psalm 23.
 
 But what does it mean to call Jesus a good shepherd?
 Well, what does a shepherd do?
They take care of the sheep.
 
 At text study this week
 (done over zoom of course)
we were discussing sheep,
and how well
 they aren’t very bright
 
and if Jesus is the shepherd
that means we are the sheep,
 
 one colleague suggested
 that people might be offended
 by being associated with such dim creatures,
 
 while another pointed out
that when she looked at her life
 she identified with the sheep,
always getting into scrapes
 and needing to be rescued by the shepherd,
 
and her point is hard to deny,
 even at our smartest and best intentioned
 we humans have a way of getting into situations
where we at least need a little help to get out of,
 even if we insist that we don’t at the beginning,
 by the end we realize that we have need of a shepherd.
 
That same colleague mentioned the story of Shrek the Sheep
as an example of this.
 It’s been a few years since Shrek was in the news
 but Shrek was a sheep in New Zealand
who decided that he didn’t want to be sheared,
and so he escaped,
and hid from his shearers for six years,
 by hiding in caves,
which I think is one of the funnier parts of the story.
 
Now Shrek was a kind of sheep
 that was bred for the production of wool,
without a shave his wool kept growing and growing,
when they finally caught him
he looked like a giant cotton ball with a nose and feet.
 
 I’ll post a picture and a link to his story
along with the video of worship
and when they sheared him,
his fleece weighed 60 pounds
 and contained enough material to make suits for 20 large men. 
 
Now Shrek may have thought he was free
 and hiding would ensure that,
 but the longer he hid from the shepherds
 the more weight he had to carry around.
 Imagine the freedom he felt
when he finally had a haircut after six years!
 
We humans are often like Shrek the sheep,
 there are times when despite the good care our shepherd is taking of us
that we feel like we could be freeer on our own,
 and off we go,
 we don’t need a shepherd we insist,
hey look a nice comfy cave we can hide out in,
 
and at first it may seem like fun and freedom,
but as time goes on
 we find that there are things we can’t do for ourselves
and these things begin to weigh us down
 gradually accumulating
 until we are hauling around a fleece of monumental proportions,
our sins and worries,
mistakes and vulnerabilities
all tangled around us
obstructing our movement
and only the shepherd can set us free.
 
And the whole time
 the good shepherd has been looking for us.
 God is not willing to remain at a distance from us
 and so is continually calling to us and searching us out. 
 
That’s what we see in our gospel for today,
the story actually starts a chapter back,
with Jesus healing the man born blind,
we read that together about a month and a half ago,
 
 Jesus sees a man blind from birth,
 heals him, and when the man goes to the Pharisees
they don’t believe his testimony about Jesus
and kick him out of the temple,
 
 hearing this
 Jesus goes and finds the man,
he seeks him out
and what we have today
is Jesus teaching the man born blind who he sought out
 and the pharisees that kicked him out. 
 
Be careful he tells the gathered crowd,
 it is perilous to follow the wrong shepherd,
 the implication being
that the pharisees are the wrong shepherds.
 But they don’t get it.
 
So Jesus tries another image
saying “I am the gate for the sheep”
 the gate open in the evening
 allows the sheep into the sheepfold
and closed keeps them safe from anyone not supposed to be there.
Open in the morning it allows the sheep to access food and water.
 
 And Jesus must have received more blank stares from his audience
because he summarizes it for them
whether he’s the shepherd or the gate
or any other number of images he says look
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”
 
This is Jesus’ mission statement in the gospel of John.
The Word present at creation in the beginning
becomes flesh and lives among the people
 so that they may have abundant life.
 
Jesus is the way to life
because he himself is life.
 
And as all of Jesus’ varied imagery shows us,
what abundant life looks like
 depends on the time and place,
 
 at night abundant life for the sheep is being gathered together
behind a closed gate that keeps out all the things that go bump in the night
 that like to eat sheep.
 
During the day
abundant life looks like the ability to roam,
to find the tastiest bit of grass
 or most refreshing drink of water,
 but all the while the shepherd is there watching,
 calling to the sheep
keeping them close
 so that the shepherd can point them to abundant life
whatever that happens to look like in the moment,
 
 and if one sheep wanders off,
the shepherd goes looking for it,
brings it back to the fold
 and the care of the community.
 
We are like sheep,
to have full abundant life
we need the care of our good shepherd, Jesus,
who knows each of our names,
who calls and gathers us
 and leads us to abundant life
 
and yes, sometimes that may actually feel restrictive
we long to leave the fold
 and so we make a bid for freedom,
we strike out on our own
 
 and Jesus notices,
 calls out for us,
 goes out in search of us
 for as long as it takes
 and when he finds us,
only he will be able to set us free
 from the heavy load we are carrying,
the load that we created.
 
If you are a sheep who has wandered far and long
and now in this time of uncertainty
would like to return to the fold
 but fear that the load you are carrying is too heavy
 too much for even the good Shepherd,
know this,
it is not,
 
Jesus knows your name
and is calling you back
and there is no load so great
that Jesus can not set you free.
 
And if you are a sheep
who has remained close to the shepherd
 but is starting to chaff at staying within the pen at night,
remember the shepherd guides us to abundant life,
even if it’s not quite like we imagine
the good shepherd has our best interests at heart.
 
 Whatever kind of sheep we are
 Jesus knows us,
 and calls to us,
guiding us along
offering comfort and life abundant,
 he truly is the good shepherd. Amen
 

Third Sunday in Easter
 Acts 2:14a, 36-44
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35

Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen Indeed Alleluia!
 
This third Sunday in the Easter season
 finds us on the road,
the road to Emmaus.
 
Luke’s story of the two disciples
 traveling away from Jerusalem
that first Easter evening
who are joined by a stranger on the road
who they tell of the events of the last three days,
 their hopes and disappointment and confusion,
who then opens to them the scriptures
and when they arrive at their destination,
they invite the stranger to stay for the night and share a meal with them,
in the breaking of the bread it is revealed that Jesus
was the stranger with them all along
and so the disciples rush out into the night
back to Jerusalem and the community of disciples
 who are sharing resurrection stories. 
 
The Journey to Emmaus
is a story beloved of the church.
It seems like it has everything,
disciples coming from disbelief to belief,
a resurrection appearance of Jesus,
 sacramental theology,
modeling accompaniment as a way of evangelism,
community.
 
All these great things that we love to talk about,
 for awhile it seemed like every assembly and conference I went to
 used the story of the Walk to Emmaus
 as the scriptural basis for their theme
 and none of the themes were the same
but all fell under the heading of this is how we do church! 
 
There are so many good things in the story,
but this year it seems to me
that the bits that we usually focus on
and rejoice in during the Easter season,
 hospitality leading to the revelation of Jesus in the breaking of the bread,
 the rush to return to community,
serve more to highlight that which we are missing right now
hitting the tender spots created by the grief caused by the pandemic. 
 
Now don’t get me wrong,
as much as I long to be gathered together once again,
 to break the bread,
to not just see but feel the presence of the body of Christ before me
in the gathered congregation,
 I want to ensure that everyone will be here
to partake in that joyous occasion,
and that means staying separate for awhile longer.
 
It means continuing the lenten fast
beyond an arbitrary date on the calendar
 journeying to a day both expected and unknown,
 and in the meantime looking at old stories with new eyes.
 
Which is why, this year,
 I take comfort in the first part of the story of the Road to Emmaus,
 the journey part.
 
It’s Easter afternoon,
the resurrection has been announced to the women
 who have shared it with the disciples
who don’t quite know what to do with the news.
 
 For two of the disciples,
 it marks the time to go home.
They followed Jesus,
 heard him preach, saw him heal,
and were present for his arrest, conviction and crucifixion
 the dashing of their hopes
 that Jesus might be the messiah,
 
 because of travel restrictions on the sabbath
they stayed in Jerusalem
but now it’s time to go back home,
to return to life before their hopes were raised
 
  and so they leave,
 even with the women and the other disciples finding the tomb empty,
it’s confusing but there will be some explanation,
dead is dead, no one comes back from that.
 
They are mulling all this over as they travel home
 and a stranger,
who is Jesus but they don’t know that yet,
comes near to them and asks
 “what are you discussing with each other while you walk along?”
 
 and this question
 brings them to a stand still,
“They stood still, looking sad.”
Their grief is such that this ordinary question:
 what are you talking about?
Stops them in their tracks.
 
 That’s the way it is with grief sometimes,
 it surfaces in the midst of the ordinary
 causing us to stand still and be sad for a moment
 because we’ve forgotten that life goes on around us
even in the midst of our grief.
 
 Cleopas asks “are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place in these days?”
 showing just how consumed his world has been in Jesus,
Jerusalem is a large place,
there would have been many people who didn’t know about the execution of Jesus,
 
 but it is inconceivable to Cleopas
that anyone should not know about it.
 
 And here Jesus responds
not by revealing who he is
 but by asking a simple question: What things?
 
And allows the disciples to tell the story
 of their experience of Jesus,
 their hopes raised and dashed,
 their confusion of the morning.
 
 
Walking along,
Jesus listens to their lament,
the voicing of their grief
and when they finish,
 Jesus turns them back to the scriptures,
reminds them of the words of the prophets,
reframes their experience in light of the promises of God,
helps them look at the scriptures with new eyes
 as he is present with them on their journey.
 
We might wonder why Jesus didn’t reveal himself right away,
 wouldn’t have that answered the disciples questions?
But perhaps Jesus knew that they were not yet ready
for a resurrection appearance,
 they needed time to grieve first.
 
In his article on WorkingPreacher.org this week professor Matt Skinner, reflecting on this says:
“I’m so glad that Jesus doesn’t reveal himself to Cleopas and his companion right away but waits. Why does he wait? Jesus is neither testing, scolding, nor humiliating the shell-shocked couple. He is, literally, journeying with them. There he is, present, as they narrate their disappointment and confusion. He does not cut them off. He knows that explanations will not cure their foolishness and slowness to believe.
The time will come to redirect his friends, but first he lets them proceed one heavy step after another.”
 
Humans in tough situations need to lament before anything else
and lament takes time,
 
 lament is the manure laid on the field
 in preparation for planting the seeds of new life,
it doesn’t smell so great
 but it is a necessary step to ensure
 that the new life grows healthy and strong
past the initial sprout. 
 
I think this is where we are at right now.
 
 Even as we sing Alleluia
and proclaim the risen Christ,
we are also still on the road to Emmaus,
narrating our disappointment and confusion,
 laying the ground work for new life together,
life that will last.
And whether we realize it or not,
Jesus is walking alongside us,
 asking us questions that stop us in our tracks,
showing us new ways to look at the promises of God
and preparing us to receive the revelation of the risen Lord
 in a way that sustains new life in Christ. 
 
That day is coming,
the resurrected Christ sustains our hope,
and the resurrected Christ walks with us on the way. Amen
 

Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31

Alleluia Christ is Risen, Christ is Risen Indeed Alleluia!
 
Christ is risen
 and today we hear about the disciples
 starting to come to terms
with the news of Easter morning
 
 the news brought to them of course
by Mary Magdalene
whose early morning trip to the tomb
 was full of the unexpected,
 the tomb was empty
 and the gardener was the risen Jesus,
who sent her to tell the other disciples
which she did, announcing
 “ I have seen the Lord” 
 
Now John doesn’t tell us about the immediate reactions of the disciples,
whether they scoffed at Mary’s tale
or rejoiced with her,
 
by the time we see the disciples,
 in our gospel for today,
 the news that something has happened
 is starting to sink in
and the disciples are afraid.
 
 They have gathered together
and locked the doors out of fear,
they are wondering, what comes next?
 
And Jesus comes and stands in the midst of them
 and says “Peace be with you”
 
Jesus comes into the midst of their fear and uncertainty,
 despite the measures they’d taken
to keep everyone else out
 and offers them peace.
 
Then just so they know that it’s him
 (although who else could it have been?)
he shows them the marks on his hands
from the nails that fixed him to the cross
and his side where the soldier’s sword had pierced him,
 
 and the disciples rejoice.
Then “Jesus said to them again,
‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’” 
 
And with the gift of the Holy Spirit,
 the disciples are sent out to spread the good news.
 
And they make it as far as Thomas.
 One of their own
who was not with them
and they excitedly tell him “we have seen the Lord”
 
 and Thomas says
‘no’ I don’t believe you,
I need the same experience you had,
to see Jesus and the marks in his hand and side. 
 
Now I think this must have taken the wind out of the disciples’ sails,
 they were all excited to share the news just as Jesus had instructed
 and when they do,
with someone who knew Jesus,
who heard his passion predictions,
who has the best chance of anyone at believing them
 and Thomas says no,
 
they realize that this is a harder job than they thought,
and as the reality sets it
we find them once again,
 a week later,
gathered together in fear
behind locked doors
 
 only this time Thomas is with them.
 
And once again
Jesus comes into the midst of them saying
 “Peace be with you”
 and offers Thomas what he needs,
 showing him his hands and side
and Thomas not only believes that Jesus is risen
but he goes a step further and confesses
 “My Lord and my God”
understanding and proclaiming the full truth of who Jesus is.
 
Then with the truth proclaimed
 Jesus turns to the rest of us
those who have read the story of Thomas throughout the ages
 and looking right at us says
 “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
 
And yes We may not have seen Jesus
 in the same way as the disciples
 
but Jesus has come to us,
 in water and word, bread and wine,
the community of believers,
 in other ways that we only realize well after the fact.
 
Again and again,
 Jesus appears among us
 offering peace in the midst of fear and uncertainty,
 knowing that our moments of joy
 will be tempered by the reality of rejection
and the fear of the unknown future,
 
 again and again
Jesus appears among us offering peace
because unbelief in one moment
doesn’t prevent faith in another,
 
 indeed Jesus comes again and again
because faith is a gift from God,
 a gift that Jesus keeps offering
 even though we’re sometimes reluctant to accept the gift,
 even though at times we misplace it,
buried at the back of a closet
or lock it behind closed doors out of fear
 
 and then Jesus comes once again
 and stands in the midst of our fear
 and says ‘peace be with you’
 
We are in a time of fear and uncertainty,
and like the disciples
 the novelty of the situation is starting to wear off
and we’re left wondering,
what comes next?
 
 How will we continue to live out Jesus’ call to us
when we are physically separate?
And even when we try new things
 the reaction might take the wind out of our sails
and then what will we do? 
 
I don’t know the detailed answers to all of these questions,
we will uncover them as we go,
 what I do know,
is that God will be with us,
renewing our faith as we figure it out,
 
 because that’s what God does in these situations,
we are not the first Christians
to have our faith and way of being challenged
nor will we be the last
and all along the way
Jesus will come to us,
 offering peace and faith. 
 
We hear that promise
in our second reading for today,
the author of 1 Peter writing to communities
wondering what is next?
Hear those words again:
 
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith-being more precious than gold, that though perishable, is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
 
God’s mercy has already been acted out for us
through Jesus’ resurrection.
 
God has already given us salvation
and is keeping it safe for us.
And the difference that makes in our lives?
 
It gives us a living hope,
 hope that is able to adapt to the changing circumstances around us,
 hope that takes disappointment in stride,
hope that continues on even as our faith is refined.
 
It's a romantic image,
the process of purifying gold,
 we tend to focus on the end result
 but what we forget in the romanticism
is that on the way to pure gold
 things are lost,
the unnecessary parts burned away.
 
And that’s the moment we are in right now,
the uncomfortable part of the process
where we are finding out what is gold
and what is just pretending,
what is faith and what is just pretending
 
and like the disciples on that first Easter evening,
 we will first gather around what is familiar,
 we will lock the doors against the outside world,
 
 and Jesus will appear among us
in the midst of our fear
and offer us peace
 
and with Thomas
once we have realized who is among us,
what is true
we will proclaim “My Lord and my God”
our hope as alive as the risen Christ. Amen
 

Easter Sunday
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Colossians 3:1-4
Matthew 28:1-10

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the risen one. Amen
 
Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!
 
Today we celebrate the empty tomb,
God’s victory over death
that changed the world forever.
 
We usually celebrate with fanfares and lilies
and lots of singing,
we celebrate at the table
with two thousand years of saints
whose lives were changed by the good news of Jesus Christ
and who changed the world as they lived out that good news.
 We celebrate with signs of new life
 adopted from other cultural celebrations of spring,
 
 and we will do some of this today
but not all of it,
some of the celebration will have to wait
until we are physically present together
when our voices can once again mingle together
and we can gather around the table as a community
 and then oh what a celebration it will be.
 
But not yet,
 and we’re not sure when
 
and because of this,
 I think this Easter feels more like the first Easter morning,
the Marys going to mourn at Jesus’ tomb
as soon as they possibly can at daybreak after the Sabbath,
where they are met with an angel,
who moves the stone away
and shows them an empty tomb,
who tells them not to be afraid
 even as the earth shakes under their feet
then sends them on their way with a message for the disciples,
into a future they could not predict or imagine
but one which was full of hope.
 
Matthew in his telling of the story of Jesus
 wants to convey just how tremendous and unsettling
 Jesus is to the world
and he does that in the story with earthquakes,
the ground literally shaking under the characters’ feet.
 
 I grew up in earthquake country out in Oregon,
 instead of tornado drills in school we had earthquake drills
and learned to duck and cover under our desks
 then quickly leave the building lest it collapse around us.
 
At home we learned to never hang anything heavy over our bed
that could be shaken off a wall and fall on top of us,
 by code the water heaters are secured to walls
and the thing is, as much as you can drill and prepare with common sense measures
 you are never truly ready for that moment
when the earth moves under your feet.
 
You go along with your life
 and even though you know earthquakes can happen
it is still startling and unsettling
when what is supposed to be solid starts moving.
 
As he journeyed toward Jerusalem
Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for what would happen,
 that he would be crucified die
and on the third day rise from the dead.
 But as many time as Jesus told them that this would happen
 they were still unprepared,
 
unprepared for the city in turmoil
 as Jesus entered on Palm Sunday,
 
 unprepared for the earthquake
 at the moment of Jesus’ death
that tore the curtain in the temple in two,
 
and the Marys going to mourn the one thing that cannot be changed,
 death,
were not prepared to feel the earth shake under their feet
 as an angel of the Lord descended from heaven,
 rolled away the stone and showed them that the tomb was empty.
Matthew tells us that the guards that had been placed at the tomb
were so afraid that they shook and became like dead men.
 But not the women,
they manage to stay standing and the angel greets them
“do not be afraid”
 a phrase used in response to visible fear.
 
“Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He had been raised from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee, there you will see him.”
 
And having seen,
and been given a task,
 Matthew tells us that the Marys
“left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”
 
They left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy.
 
The earth has shaken under their feet,
the only thing they know about the future
 is the next immediate step,
to go and tell the disciples,
after that it remains a mystery.
 
The women are still afraid,
and added to that fear they are filled with great joy.
 These two emotions are not contradictory,
both are true for the women.
 
This Easter, we like the Marys
 are filled with multiple emotions
 as we come to the tomb to find it empty.
 
 We are filled with great joy at the news announced to us,
but there is also perhaps some fear for the uncertainty of the future
 and sadness that we cannot be together
 at the place that Jesus has promised to meet us.
 
But we rest secure in the fact
that Jesus keeps the promises he makes,
even the ones that seem impossible to us.
 
The Marys go to tell the disciples the message of the angel,
 that Jesus has been raised from the dead
and promises to meet them in Galilee,
to gather them around him again like a shepherd gathers their sheep,
to forgive them and renew their sense of mission
 in a shaken and changed world.
 And Jesus will keep that promise
 
 but as the women are running
 suddenly Jesus meets them,
 greetings he says,
now in the Greek, the word used for greeting is literally “rejoice!”
and the women do
they take hold of Jesus and worship him,
 
and after a brief interval
Jesus sends them on their way
 “do not be afraid” he repeats,
 “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
 
I like this moment,
because it seems like Jesus just couldn’t wait to see some of his disciples.
He has promised to meet them,
 the angel has delivered his message
and the women are on their way
 but he just couldn’t help himself,
 he had to go see the Marys
so he shows up suddenly
 
and
 he will also be in Galilee just like he promised.
 
Jesus promises to be in the midst of us
as we worship as a community,
and present in the bread and wine, his body and blood,
and Jesus keeps those promises
 which is why we long to gather as a community
 to be with Jesus and one another.
 
 And
Jesus can’t wait to see us,
as we go through our lives with fear and great joy
on the way to where Jesus has promised to be
Jesus also appears for us
suddenly along the way,
saying greetings, rejoice,
and offering times for worship in unexpected places,
the middle of the road,
 a worship service done online,
a funny picture or story that makes us laugh
 and aware that Jesus is right in front of us
 reassuring us,
 do not be afraid,
and sending us on the way with our appointed mission.
 
 Jesus is with us
because nothing stands in Jesus’ way,
not even death.
 
The tomb is empty.
Alleluia, Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen Indeed, Alleluia.
 
 
 
 
 

Palm Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 21:1-11

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you from the one who saves us. Amen
 
Welcome to Holy Week,
the high point of the Christian calendar
where we remember Jesus’ last days
 and his saving acts.
 
 Usually this is a time where we gather together more frequently
Sunday and Thursday, and Friday
and then a big celebration Easter morning.
 
 But not this year,
 this year we are practicing our own acts of sacrificial love,
 we are sacrificing gathering together
 out of love for our neighbor,
 
and as we walk this most familiar week
in an unfamiliar way
 we will get to see things through new eyes,
our experience apart
will deepen our experience of Holy week   
 
This year I have noticed with new eyes, two things,
 the cry of the crowd
and the state of the city as Jesus enters Jerusalem.
 
We are coming to the end of Jesus’ ministry,
much of which has taken place in and around Galilee
 with a few side trips to visit the gentiles and Jerusalem.
 
Jesus has been ministering to the crowds of people
 who have come to him,
longing for meaning, healing, food,
 
most of them are living day to day
 under the oppression of the Roman Empire
 and now they are all traveling to Jerusalem,
 the holy city with the temple where God lives,
 
  to celebrate the Passover,
the remembrance and celebration
 of when God freed the people of Israel
 from slavery in Egypt.
 
I’m sure they can’t help but notice
the juxtaposition, the celebration of freedom
 in a city that isn’t free.
 
The Romans have noticed it,
 that’s why Pilate and more soldiers than normal are in residence,
in case these Judeans take the idea of freedom to heart,
they are on the watch for any disturbance that might break the peace.
 
This is the city Jesus enters into with the crowds
and he doesn’t keep a low profile,
he enters in the ancient equivalent of the ticker tape parade,
 fulfilling the scripture by riding on a donkey
 that his disciples have “borrowed” for him,
 
 a humble steed in comparison to the war horses
 the Romans ride into the city on.
And the people praise Jesus,
 they cry out Hosanna!
 
Now Hosanna is a cry of praise,
but it literally means “Save us”
 
The crowds are crying ‘save us’,
 not to the power of Rome,
 but to an itinerant preacher riding a donkey.
 
 And what’s more they name him Son of David,
 the one who comes in the name of the Lord,
 the long awaited messiah,
the one who will once again free the people.
 
Save us,
 Hosanna in the highest heaven.
 
Sometimes our song of praise
 Is also a cry for help,
the two mingling interchangeably together.
 
We will do well to remember that this week,
especially as we look to Easter
and the celebration that it’s supposed to be
when all we want to do is cry ‘save us Lord’
 
these two impulses are not as contradictory
as they might initially appear.
 
So Jesus enters Jerusalem,
on a donkey, surrounded by crowds shouting Hosanna to the Son of David,
and Matthew tells us that
“when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil”
 
The whole city was in turmoil,
the Greek word used for turmoil
 is a cognate of earthquake,
 the city is shaken,
what once seemed solid has moved
and people are unsure of how to proceed.
 
We’re intimately familiar with turmoil,
the country is in turmoil,
 the world is in turmoil,
 what once seemed solid has moved beneath our feet
 and we are unsure of how to proceed,
 in fact, the one thing we know for sure
 is that we don’t really know what is coming.
 
Jesus enters the city,
 the city is in turmoil,
the people are asking, ‘who is this?’” 
 
Who is this
that is powerful enough to create such a disturbance?
and the answer they receive
 uncovers a truth that not all are comfortable with,
 This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth.
 The people believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
 
 But what does it mean for the Messiah to come?
 There are as many different expectations
 as there are people,
for some the Messiah is supposed to be a military figure
who will drive out the Romans,
for others a King in the tradition of David.
 
For some it doesn’t matter who Jesus is,
 he’s causing a scene,
 the religious leaders who are also the political leaders,
the ones the Romans look to to control the masses
see Jesus as a threat, to their own power
and to the safety of the people
 because they know that the Romans impose peace at the tip of a sword,
 the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome
is less peace than a suppression of violence
by the threat of greater violence.
 
Jesus entering the city causes turmoil
 because it reveals truths,
 truths about who people are,
 what they expect,
their real priorities.
 
The leaders of Israel will defer to Rome,
the crowds will disappointedly move on to the next glimmer of hope,
the disciples will stick around longer than most
but eventually flee,
 Peter the most ardent of disciples
will in one moment promise to die for Jesus
and in the next breath deny him.
 
 These truths once known
can never be unknown
 the question then becomes now what?
What will be done with the truth?
Some are excited for the change these revelations can bring,
others will work to prevent it
 in their longing for things to return to normal.
 
The world, our country is in turmoil
and truths are being revealed.
Truths about how much we expect of our schools,
the truth of how crucial those who work in grocery stores are,
 truths about the priorities of leaders.
 
 These truths once known
can never be unknown
the question then becomes now what?
What will be done with the truth?
 
Some are excited for the change these revelations can bring,
 others will work to prevent it
in their longing for things to return to normal.
 These are questions that we will have to ask ourselves in the coming months and years.
 
The whole city was in turmoil.
 And what is Jesus doing?
 Jesus is being the messiah as God defines it,
 living as a humble servant,
bringing about the kingdom of God,
 a kingdom marked by compassion and self-giving acts of generosity,
 
 all that create peace,
 true peace
which rather than an absence of violence
 is marked by the healing of relationships,
 the healing of the world. 
 
And nothing that anyone did,
the crowds, the leaders, the disciples, the Romans,
none of their actions could stop Jesus from doing the work of God.
 
Arrested, tried, denied, abandoned, crucified,
none of these human actions prevented
Jesus from doing what he came to do.
 Save the world.
 
God’s saving action is just that.
 God’s.
 
Whether we cry hosanna, save us,
Or are silent
Whatever choices we make in the face of revealed truths,
whatever we do to face the uncertainty of the future,
whatever expectations we have,
whatever mistakes we make
 
 God will continue to work for good,
God will save us.
In the midst of the turmoil of the world,
God comes to us,
 
 we cry out Hosanna,
 and our cry of praise
 also a petition.
 Save us Lord. Amen