Gospel text for Sunday 7 November 2021

John 11:32-44        When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Reflection        How can we not join Martha and Mary, the grieving Jews and Jesus weeping, weeping because we are “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved” by the deaths of so many of our loved ones, friends, neighbors and strangers throughout the world? We weep as we recount the deaths of much loved members of our community, family, luminaries in public life, neighbors  as well as the 482 children and adults murdered in mass shootings this year and the gruesome deaths caused by COVID-19 of more than five million folks worldwide. Today we feel compelled to join Martha and Mary chastising Jesus “Lord if you had been here these people would not have died!”  

And Jesus replies, “Take away the stone, the stone that covers your heart and darkens your eyes such that you fail to see your with God life is already right here. Resurrection life is now.”  Here is the thing. In the remarkable story of Lazarus walking out of a tomb Jesus shows us that we do not have to wait until after bodily death for resurrection because resurrection is for now. Resurrection affirms the value of life right now. Lazarus returns to life for now… even though as with all of us… ultimately his body will die. 

This story, God’s story, is about life right now, resurrection life. When we choose to follow the Way of Jesus we pick up the cross to which our particular life is nailed and affirm; dying we are restored to life because resurrection is the way to live freed of whatever binds us.

Consider the times you have died in your lifetime. While in the womb most of us experienced near perfect symbiosis until the muscles that cradled us contract so savagely that we nearly smother while being squeezed through a canal smaller than our tiny fist until we are expelled into an explosion of light and sound. Dying to our celestial womb-life we are resurrected in the roar of terrestrial life. Loosed from the womb that bound us we are let go into new life.  Death and resurrection, our story continues. 

Presuming our care givers are fairly competent and we learn to trust and depend on them, we fast forward to another series of deaths having to do with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Images of God and our selves. The strongly felt and unexamined beliefs to which our youthful selves cling must die as our minds take flight and we are resurrected as something more than the roles, relationships and statements of faith prescribed for us by authoritative family, friends and religious leaders who are quick to tell us, “You ask too many questions. This is what we believe. Who do you think you are? Where do you get your authority? How dare you rock the boat? You must be crazy.” 

Rolling the stone away from our hearts we unwind the conditional threads that bind us, which is to say, we die to claim our own convictions and values.  The cost is everything. No more Santa Claus. No more Easter Bunny. No more up there and out there all powerful God with a hand extended to specially chosen people just like me or you. With Mary, Martha, the Jews and Jesus we are “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved” as our naively innocent self dies (along with its sticky support staff clinging to “the way we do things here”) and we are resurrected in self-authenticating life. Here is an example of one of my many deaths and resurrections.

Having completed my dissertation, winning a fully funded NIH grant, working with colleagues at the top of our field and a baby on her way, I was ‘living the dream’ until the final in a series of three deceitful events shattered my images of myself  and academia. My fierce feelings of disappointment, anguish and grief refused to be restrained in a culturally endorsed container. I could no longer identify myself with colleague friends and an academy that tacitly condoned cheating, which meant I had to die as the rising star in the institution to be resurrected as a woman whose own convictions and values preside from the inside out. 

When I told my colleague friends that I could no longer continue in an environment that winked and looked away from breaches of integrity and that I intended to return my grant to NIH their response was heart breaking. “You must be crazy. You have it all. How could you possibly give this up?” From that moment on the people with whom I had so closely identified treated me as if I was dead.  

And I was dead. Dead to a life defined by authorities mostly outside my self. By the grace of God the stone was rolled away from my heart so I could see and be free of the grave dictates that bound me. Dying to my old way of life I was let go to find my with God life already right here, resurrection life.  Living from the inside out.

Weeping with Martha, Mary, the grieving Jews and Jesus we are “greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved” by the deaths of so many of our partners, friends, neighbors and strangers throughout the world whom we love and see no more. And  following the Way of Jesus we welcome the many deaths we endure, including our attachments to the ones we love and see no more. With fear and trembling and unswerving faith we pick up the cross to which our particular life is nailed and affirm; dying we are restored to life because resurrection is the way to live right now.

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Gospel Text as Written by the Mountain 10 July 2021

“It does not matter what you believe ‘about’ resurrection. What matters is that you ‘be’ resurrection.”

Spending this week in an adult version tree house, eye to eye with the peaks of towering pine and rocky mountains, for the most part the outward and visible evidence of who I think I am is left behind, if not in Arizona then certainly in my car, a one hundred yard 75 degree climb from the cabin across slippery pine needles and wild flowers. Filthy fingernails, bedraggled hair, stained shirt and muddy boots belie the image of this woman primped in a pristine black suit crowned with a stiff clerical collar, nails, hair and shoes properly polished.

Warmed in a spot of sunlight I wonder,  what keeps me from being comfortable in my naked beingness? What makes me think that I want or need something more than I have or I am? Perhaps that is the wrinkle. I think I should want something more.

Yesterday while doing the James Finley walking meditation -  inhale “God breathing in,” exhale, “God breathing out,” repeat -  while hiking to 13 thousand feet in the Indian Peak Wilderness, this question rose from within. “Well God, if you are breathing me (this is what Richard Rohr refers to as mutual indwelling) perhaps you will ‘talk’ with me? Tell me, what am I supposed to believe about Jesus?” Strange as this sounds and bowing to the fact that I was hiking above 12 thousand feet and oxygen was in short supply, it was as if someone was walking with me, communicating directly without words. 

“It does not matter what you believe ‘about’ resurrection. What matters is that you ‘be’ resurrection.” Whoa. That snared my feet and stopped my breath. I did not see that coming! ““Be” resurrection? Me? What does that look like?” And I heard,  “Living prayer.” “What?”

“Right now you are praying while puffing your way to the top of this mountain. As you pray you are a living, breathing revelation of divine presence. Your prayer is the communion of humanity and divinity making whatever is happening sacred, a sacrament. This is how at every turn of the trail you see beauty, how every breath is laced with glittering perfume, how you experience deep peace even as you labor to climb this mountain. So, ‘be’  resurrection. Be the communion of humanity and divinity much as was Jesus by simply receiving each moment as it presents itself (breathing in) and responding precisely as needed in every circumstance (breathing out). There is no need for you to look for something more to do or deal with. Just ‘be’ resurrection.”

“Be” resurrection by dying to the idea that I should want or do or be something more. This is new and renewed life. Being now. With that I feel breath enter every cell and space of my being. The sun is warm on my feet. Silence is so thick it sings. All is well, I am well.

                   

                                             Mojo and Caribou Cabin Tree House

James Finley on Grounding in God      Listen to 6 minutes of James Finley describing prayer practices.

Hebrew Text for the Feast of Pentecost, 20 May 2018

Ezekiel 37:1-14        The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.

Reflection        What an extraordinary promise spoken to us, to all of God’s people, through the lips of the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel. Who is this prophet that pours words of prospect and promise into the hearts of the dislocated, despairing and depressed? Ezekiel, whose Hebrew name means, “God strengthens” is esteemed as prophet by Jews, Muslims and Christians alike and promises renewed life to all of us.

The Spirit of God does not exist as an abstract concept that we are meant to grasp with our minds. The Spirit of God is the breath that compels the words that spill from Ezekiel’s mouth, strengthening Ezekiel to speak with passion, passion born of the Spirit, the Spirit that gives life, that makes old bones dance. Of course this means the Spirit of God also breathes through each of us. It is God’s breath that anoints our being, the very source of our lives.

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the day we acknowledge the Spirit of God breathes life through each of us, every language, culture and nation; “I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” But, there remains a  question we must ask ourselves, “For what purpose does God strengthen us?”

I believe we are strengthened to worship and depend on God so that we can live righteous and ethical lives. We are accountable to God for how we live. We are liable if we fail to care for one another. Through our prayer and worship our minds are opened and our hearts transformed to receive the wisdom of the prophets and be strengthened to use every breath of our lives to live righteous and ethical lives.  How are we doing?

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Gospel Text for the Great Vigil of Easter 15 April 2017

Matthew 28:1-10        After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "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 has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you." So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Reflection       Sometimes things do not turn out the way we imagine. Early in the morning as the first day of the week was dawning, the two Marys go to the tomb.  But nothing is as they imagined. Instead of it being a still, dark, quiet morning there is a “great earthquake and an angel of the Lord appears like lightening with clothing white as snow.”

Instead of finding Jesus’ tomb sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers, they find the stone rolled back from the tomb and the Guards struck dumb. Instead of finding Jesus’ decaying body they find an angel who speaks  to them. Where there had been nothing but loss, betrayal, decay and grief, now there is something, a message.

The angel of the Lord says “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified”.  Then the angel directs the women to look into empty space, see the place where he was laid, “he is not here….” In the very experience of God’s absence there is a message of hope, “he is risen…he is not here.”

Hope, the gift of Easter, is found in absence. Hope is in the mystery. Hope is the surprising light found in the midst of darkness. The other day I was talking with a seventy six year old woman who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was eighteen years old. Her hands and feet, shoulders and knees were torturously disfigured, which only made what she said to me even more astonishing. “It turns out I am grateful for my rheumatoid arthritis ( a terribly painful and debilitating disease). Without it I probably would never have left my dysfunctional family of origin in their tiny impoverished midwest town, met so many fabulous doctors and healers, and learned how to pray and put my faith in God rather than my body and choose to live my life to the fullest.” Tears took the place of the words I could not get out. Tears of awe and gladness exchanged places with tears of of sorrow. Sometimes things do not turn out the way we imagine, and so we proclaim, “Alleluia, Christ is risen!”

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Gospel text for Resurrection Sunday 27 March 2016

Luke 24.1-12         On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Reflection        In that moment when the women looked into Jesus’ tomb, when they looked into the place of death, they encountered Divine Presence and Wisdom awakened within them. You see these women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women “had walked in the way of God.”  They were touched and healed and led and taught by Jesus. So we should not be surprised that Wisdom awoke in the emptiness of their broken hearts. We should not be surprised that when they looked into the place of death they saw it was not empty. There they encountered the ineffable Divine Presence and knew that Jesus’ words were true. Jesus was not to be found among the dead. Jesus’ place is with the living. Jesus’ place is in the hearts and minds and lives of his friends.

You see Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women were expecting to participate in the burial rituals of preparation for resurrection. That’s what the preparing of Jesus’ body was all about. According to Jewish custom it was essential to properly prepare a person’s body so that it could begin its long journey toward a far distant resurrection. So yes, the women expected resurrection,  but it was not supposed to happen..... NOW! NOW is the moment of resurrection. NOW is the moment of new life.  Resurrection is not put off for some distant time.

In his book “Befriending Our Desires,” the Jesuit priest Philip Sheldrake, S.J. writes, “Ecstasy is a moment in which some otherwise distant reality is glimpsed as here and now and at one with oneself.” (p 85) Standing at Jesus’ tomb the women experienced an ecstatic moment as Wisdom lit up their darkness.

Wisdom is a kind of knowing that exceeds the rational faculties of the human mind. Wisdom is knowing rooted in encounters with the Divine. Some might even suggest that the Bible is actually a series of descriptions of mystical encounters or altered state experiences associated with the ongoing revelation of Wisdom.  

Throughout the 20th century in the US, though we were curious about altered states (both natural and induced), we were skeptical. In the great age of rationalism, we labeled such things as irrational and dismissed them. This attitude set us apart from 74% of the 488 societies the anthropologist Erika Bourguignon studied in 1960s. Her conclusion was, “Societies that do not use these (altered states of consciousness) clearly are historical exceptions which need to be explained, rather than the vast majority of societies that do use these states.” In other words, having and ascribing value to altered state experiences is the norm throughout the world.

The good news is that now, in the 21st century, there is a cultural shift as we acknowledge the limits of rationalism. Astrophysicists admit that their ever growing knowledge of the cosmos accounts for 4% of what is, meaning 96% is literally in the dark - dark matter. Increasingly we are inclined to claim and affirm the value of knowledge or wisdom that exceeds the bounds of rational analysis. Scientists as well as theologians are affirming the Mysterious dimensions of human experience. There is something more than we can measure with our minds.

This is the wisdom Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women at Jesus’ tomb experienced two thousand years ago. This is the wisdom we remember that we are the people of God because we walk the women in the way of God, and the wisdom of the light of Christ is born anew within us.  Alleluia Christ is risen! 

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/neil-degrasse-tysons-new-show-cosmos-and-why-faith-and-reason-are-irreconcilable accessed 21 march 2016.

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Gospel text for the Feast of Mary Magdalene observed 19 July 2015

John 20:11-18       Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Reflection    Instead of running away from the the horrors of the tomb as did the other eleven apostles, instead of burying her head in the sand and denying her love and her excruciating loss, instead of getting busy, going fishing and getting over her post traumatic stress, Mary Magdalene remained at the tomb, she consented to the present moment and allowed herself to experience the depths of her desire and the fullness of her grief.  And in so doing in some mysterious way that our human mentality cannot begin to comprehend, the eyes of Mary’s heart we broken open to see beyond the shadow of death and to experience the ineffable teacher she already had, within. 

When we allow ourselves to truly feel the height and width and depth of our experience, no matter what it is, we are nailed to the present moment and that is precisely where we encounter kindness, beauty and truth, the teacher within, our divine true nature.  We are not separate from God. We are not other than God. Although we are not God, we are not not God either.

When we, like Mary Magdalene, consent to the present moment and allow ourselves to stay at the tomb and experience the fullness of our feelings, regardless of what they are, there is every chance we too will be broken open, turn around, encounter the teacher within, and return to our divine true nature. During the early stages of our spiritual journeys we look for the teacher, we look for God, up there or out there as something or someone to master with our minds and grasp with our senses. This is as it should be until, we, like Mary Magdalene, we allow our hearts to be broken open, until we turn around and realize “What we are seeking we already have.” (Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Power )

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Gospel text for Sunday, 27 April 2014

John 20:19-31        When it was evening on the day of Resurrection, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Reflection       Don't you want to ‘see’ Jesus as did Mary Magdalene in the garden? Don’t you want Jesus to find you when you are locked into your own fear (as were the disciples in the upper room)? Don’t you want to feel Jesus breathe on you and receive his peace? Don’t you want to have your own experience of the risen Christ? Like Peter, don’t you want to put your fingers in Jesus’ wounds but wonder if perhaps you have shown up too late? 

For most of us, seeing is believing. So the question is, what are we looking for? If we insist on ‘seeing’ the physical body of Jesus and demand to put our fingers into his bloody wounds there is every chance we will be disappointed. But if we open the eyes of our hearts to see beyond the veil of flesh we will confess resurrection life abounds around us. 

You see, Easter services are not mere memorials of a singular resurrection event that happened two thousand years ago. Easter celebrates our whole new reality; we are Easter people. We live resurrection life now.   What does it mean to live out of this new reality? I believe Thomas puts his finger on it when he responds to the risen Jesus saying, “My Lord and my God!” The pivotal word  in that sentence is “my.”  Thomas is claiming his relationship, his very personal relationship with the risen Jesus. He takes possession of Jesus. Jesus is his Lord, his God. It is all about relationship and relationship is here and now, embodied in the life of people who claim God as their own. 

Every time we experience healing or forgiveness, peace in the midst of fear or uncertainty, hope in the face of grave news, restored relationships, revived churches, a glimmer of light in the midst of a dark, dark night, we experience resurrection life. Resurrection life is now. Every time we reach out and put our fingers into our own wounds, our loved ones wounds, the wounds of our communities and our world and offer peace, comfort or hope we are embodying resurrection life. Alleluia, Christ is risen, in every generation. Resurrection life is eternally now.

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Gospel text for Sunday 6 April 2014

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John 11:1-45   Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."

When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Reflection 
                                                                                                                                                                                   
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
   as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong as death,
   passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
   a raging flame.
 Many waters cannot quench love,
   neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for love
   all the wealth of one’s house,
   it would be utterly scorned.   Song of Solomon 8.6-7

Those are the words that sang through my soul as I read the Jesus’ response to seeing Mary and the Jews weeping over the death of Lazarus; “Jesus began to weep.” Love expressed as joy among the living is expressed with tears when the one we love dies. This gives me hope and this gives me comfort.

Even God who loves  weeps at the loss of physical earthbound relationship. God as revealed through Jesus weeps and this loving response reaches across the abyss of death. Tears of joy turned to tears of sorrow slide the stone away from death’s separating tomb to connect us in Spirit and in Truth with the ones we love and see no more. 

We grieve because we love. The very love at the root of our grief is what comforts and consoles us because “love is strong as death, passion strong as the grave.”Although our bodies are fragile temples of the Spirit love is our eternal sanctuary. That is why Jesus, the one who weeps at the death of the friend he loves, says, "I am the resurrection and the life." Divine tears touch beyond death's separating tomb.

**9/11 Grieving Dad Robert Peraza

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Hebrew Testament reading for Sunday 9 March 2014

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7        The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Reflection        Here is the biggest, boldest, most outrageous lie ever told to humanity. “You will not die…” That’s what the serpent said to the woman in the garden when tempting her to eat the forbidden fruit. It is a lie that set humanity on the course of denying, resisting and refusing death. It has not served us well.

Slightly more than half of Medicare dollars are spent on patients who die within two months. 22 million ‘hits’ came up in 35 seconds when I typed anti-aging into my computer’s browser. At the bottom of the recession in 2009, Americans spent $10 billion on cosmetic procedures.  Models’ careers end at “28 if they are lucky, 21 if they don’t age well.”  Every form of media markets youth, vitality, agility and would have us deny the inevitable degeneration of our bodies and our minds. Culture would have us buy the serpent’s lie… “You will not die if you buy my stuff.”

But, for at least one day each year we Christians refuse to be bamboozled. Across the globe on Ash Wednesday priests dip their thumbs in ashes, smear crosses on our foreheads while saying, “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.” In other words, you are going to die. It doesn’t matter what fruit you juice, what supplements you take, what extreme medical procedures you undergo, you are going to die.

Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a time for calling our the serpent and admitting the lies we tell ourselves. “I cannot help if when I lose my temper, when I judge and speak ill of others, when I take the extra drink, eat when I am not hungry or shop compulsively. I am not good enough to deserve your love, to deserve God’s love. I don’t need help. I can handle this myself. I am not going to change. I am not going to allow things to change around me. I am in control.” These are lies that we tell ourselves. Lies that we tell ourselves to boost our sense of safety and security, to enhance our self image and self esteem, to amplify our feelings of power and control. 

But instead of saving our lives, the lies cause us to fall out of relationship with God, but only until we expose the serpent and purge our lies. This is the hard work of Lent; admitting the lies we tell ourselves and dying a thousand humiliations as we walk through Lent in the hope of the resurrection life of Easter. 

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Gospel text for Sunday 31 March 2013

John 20:1-18     Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Reflection     Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ devoted friend and disciple. She followed him to Jerusalem, was there for his triumphal entry and humiliating departure. She stood at the foot of his cross and was the first to discover Jesus’ empty tomb. When Peter and the other disciple came and confirmed that Jesus’ body was gone, they “returned to their homes.” But Mary, alone, waited outside the empty tomb - weeping.

For Mary everything was lost, still she did not turn away. She allowed herself to stand in the depth and breadth of emptiness. Mary consented to her desolation and succumbed to the anguish of her loss of connection with her beloved teacher and friend. She looked into the emptiness and she wept. I’m afraid I would be more like Peter and the other disciple. “This is too disturbing. I don’t understand and have no idea what to do. I can’t bear this. I just want to get out of here, go home, have a glass of wine and bury my head under a pillow.”

But Mary did not run away from the desolation of the empty tomb. I believe Mary has something to teach us about navigating the inevitable moments of desolation in our lives. Stay with them. Stand in them. Weep and wait and wonder. Look into the emptiness. And wait. Wait and weep and wonder until from the midst of darkness a glimpse of consolation dawns and we encounter the ineffable Presence of God. 

Mary remained at the empty tomb. She did not turn away from the place of desolation. She did not return home, to the way things used to be. Mary waited at the gapping hole of the empty tomb. She waited and wept and wondered until a glance of consolation arose in her emptiness. This I believe; at the heart of desolation is the seed of consolation if only we stay present and alert to recognize it’s Presence. This is what Easter is about, light rising our of the unspeakable darkness.

Gospel text Sunday 28 October 2012

Mark 10:46-52      Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again." Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Reflection                                                                                              Have you ever felt restless or apprehensive, that things were just not right? A bit off center, uneasy, unclear making it hard to stand up and move on? I certainly have and I experience it as a kind of spiritual blindness. Although I have eyes to see the world around me, somehow I do not understand what is going on. I am spiritualy blind. In my blindness the best I can do is sit at the side of the road not sure which way to go. In the absence of self understanding where can I possibly go? When I do try to move I falter and stumble because, though I have eyes, I do not see. What is this unsettling mystery that is so difficult for me and the disciples in Mark’s gospel to see?

I believe this may have something to do with why the writer of Mark’s gospel tells the stories of  the blind man in Bethsaida and blind Bartimaeus and places them like bookends before the first and following the third time Jesus predicts his suffering, death and resurrection. The thing is, who can understand the mystery of Jesus, fully human and fully divine? Who can understand the mystery of a messiah whose glory is born in his consent to drink the cup of suffering and death? Who can understand the message that the last shall be first and the least shall be greatest? How can I follow Jesus if I am blind and do not understand? 

The best I can muster is joining blind Bartimaeus shouting, “Lord have mercy on me! I don’t understand and I don’t know which way to go. I am sitting on the curb watching life pass by because if I stand in my own power I will stumble and fall. Teacher, have mercy on me. Please call me and show me which way to go.”

Maybe it is all in that one word, teacher. When I call out asking for  the teacher’s mercy I am admitting that I do not know. I am making myself least in the relationship. From the position of open, empty receptivity I am ready and waiting for the teacher to pass by and call me. I am not so full of my self or my plans that I cannot see or hear the teacher call. That’s where I am today. Sitting on the curb with blind Bartimaeus. Though I am still uneasy I sit in faith with hope that the teacher will call, restore my sight and  show me the way.

Gospel text for Sunday, 1 July 2012

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." He went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, `Who touched me?'" He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Reflection

I love the story of the hemorrhaging woman. For me she is a paragon of bold faith expressed in action. Think about it. She had been bleeding for twelve years so physically she must have been extremely weak. Because she was bleeding she was considered unclean and the temple officials believed that anyone whom she touched would be defiled. Nonetheless, when the bleeding woman heard that Jesus had returned by boat she pulled herself together, joined the excited crowd that gathered around him, and in a gesture forbidden by all propriety, she touched Jesus’ garment. What a woman.  Her story is like the sweet white icing of a chocolate cookie sandwiched between the darker crusts of the two-step story about a Jewish religious official begging Jesus to save his young daughter’s life.

All I can say is, I wonder what Jairus (and the other religious officials who later heard the story) thought when the defiled Jesus touched Jairus’ daughter with his unclean hand? I wonder if that made the little girls’ resurrection invalid? Actually I believe it is no mistake these two stories appear knitted together. Jesus keeps sailing between opposites, between cookies and cream, Jewish and Gentile territories, between the ritually pure and the unclean, between rules and the breaking of rules. Jesus refuses to be hemmed in by dialectical categories. For Jesus life cannot be sorted into neat categories of black and white, good and ill, clean and unclean, not even dead and alive. For Jesus you just cannot seperate the chocolate cookies from the vanilla cream.

Jesus said to the unclean woman, “Your faith has made you well…” Just moments later he said to the Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe.” Here again Jesus defied conventional categories. The woman was the exemplar of faith in action,  but the religious official was afraid.

Would that we should all beware of the categories and groups into which we place ourselves and others and remember that even those incomprehensible categories of life and death dissolve in the hands of bold faith expressed in action. So let us boldly go forward and bite into the whole cookie!

Gospel for Sunday 22 April 2012

Luke 24:36b-48
While the disciples were telling how they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Gospel for Resurrection Sunday April 8, 2012

John 20:1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, `I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Gospel for Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, 1 April 2012

Mark 15. 25-39 It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!" In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah." And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was God's Son!"

Gospel Text for Sunday, May 8, 2011

Luke 24:13-35

That very day, the first day of the week, two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Gospel Text for Sunday, April 10, 2011

John 11:38-45

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb (of his friend Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary). It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.