Saturday, April 3, 2021

Gospel for the Great Vigil of Easter Saturday 3 April 2021

Mark 16:1-8        When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.


Reflection        It is done. Our friend, our teacher, our Jesus is dead. Now the silence, the empty arms, the excruciating waiting,  waiting for the Sabbath to end, waiting for the, “first day of the week, when the sun has risen,” when at last, along with Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James and Salome there is something for us to do. The Sabbath is over. Finally we can go to the tomb and anoint Jesus’ body with our fragrant spices. But nothing is as it should be.


The stone protecting the entrance to Jesus’ tomb is rolled back. Instead of finding Jesus’ body inside we see a young man dressed in white, sitting there and saying strange things. “Do not be alarmed, you are for looking Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has been raised.”  And along with Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James and Salome we ask, “Now what are we supposed to do?”


There ends the gospel according to Mark. It ends as abruptly as it begins. Remember how is begins? “This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.” This is the beginning, this is good news.  From the very beginning we know Jesus’ true identity, the Son of God. Nevertheless, all the way through the story, along with the disciples, we forget,  we forget the good news, we forget who Jesus is, and then we remember and begin the story again. We forget, then remember and begin the story again. 


That is the way it is, right down to the wire. We remember who Jesus is at our Thursday evening Passover Supper and then when things get chaotic on Friday we fear for our lives, forget, run away and hide or stand at a safe distance watching Jesus take his last breath. Is it not ironic? The person who in the end “remembers” and announces who Jesus is, is a Roman soldier, one of those who nailed him to the cross?  who boldly proclaims, “Truly this man was God’s Son.” And there we are, beginning again, the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Son of God, who dies on a cross. 


In this very moment we discover the answer to the question, the question that mystified us and the three women just moments ago at Jesus’ vacated cave, “Now what are we supposed to do?” The answer is this. When the Sabbath is over and  “the sun has risen on the first day of the week,” it is time to begin again, to see the new light that has pierced the darkness. It is time for us to go and tell the good news of Jesus the Son of God, the message that has reverberated throughout Mark’s gospel because always, always, always, no matter how dark the darkness, always we begin again.


The incredibly abrupt ending of Mark’s gospel leaves us standing at the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. But here is the thing.  The empty tomb is actually not empty. In the new light on the first day of the week we and the three women meet a young man in the tomb who tells us precisely what to do. Go, tell and see. Go into the world. Tell the good news of Jesus the Son of God. See how the risen light of Christ will be there with and for you and everyone else in all the world.


Dear people of God, It is up to each one of us to step into the dark and empty places, walk through our fears and tell the tale of our faith so  to continue this story. If we want the world to know and experience the all-inclusive love of God, it is up to us to live it. If we want food for the hungry, freedom for the oppressed and dignity for all people, it is up to us to find our voices and demand it. If we want peace and reconciliation in our lives and our world, it is up to us to embody it in the words we use and the actions we choose. Of course this means being the light of Christ to people who look and think, act, dress, vote and believe differently than us. It means stepping into uncomfortable places, like empty tombs and borderlands, and seeing the light of Christ right there.


We began our worship this evening lighting the new fire, a fire that each one of us carries into the darkness of the sanctuary that was stripped of all that is holy on Maundy Thursday. Now the outward signs of the Christ light, the candles have been extinguished because the Light of Christ lives in the sanctuary of each one of our hearts. We are the candles meant to bring Christ light into the world, a world that is being brutally stripped of all that is holy. If not us, then who will help creation to begin again?


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You may wish to skip the first 5 minutes of introduction to the Golijov Passion - the music is beyond amazing. Worth a listen! 

 

Friday, April 2, 2021

Psalm for Good Friday 2 April 2021



Psalm 22           My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *

and are so far from my cry

and from the words of my distress?

2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; *

by night as well, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are the Holy One, *

enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

4 Our forefathers put their trust in you; *

they trusted, and you delivered them.

5 They cried out to you and were delivered; *

they trusted in you and were not put to shame.

6 But as for me, I am a worm and no man, *

scorned by all and despised by the people.

7 All who see me laugh me to scorn; *

they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,

8 "He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him; *

let him rescue him, if he delights in him."

9 Yet you are he who took me out of the womb, *

and kept me safe upon my mother's breast.

10 I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; *

you were my God when I was still in my mother's womb.

11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, *

and there is none to help.

12 Many young bulls encircle me; *

strong bulls of Bashan surround me.

13 They open wide their jaws at me, *

like a ravening and a roaring lion.

14 I am poured out like water;

all my bones are out of joint; *

my heart within my breast is melting wax.

15 My mouth is dried out like a pot-sherd;

my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; *

and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.

16 Packs of dogs close me in,

and gangs of evildoers circle around me; *

they pierce my hands and my feet;

I can count all my bones.

17 They stare and gloat over me; *

they divide my garments among them;

they cast lots for my clothing.

18 Be not far away, O Lord; *

you are my strength; hasten to help me.

19 Save me from the sword, *

my life from the power of the dog.

20 Save me from the lion's mouth, *

my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.

21 I will declare your Name to my brethren; *

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

22 Praise the Lord, you that fear him; *

stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel;

all you of Jacob's line, give glory.

23 For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;

neither does he hide his face from them; *

but when they cry to him he hears them.

24 My praise is of him in the great assembly; *

I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied,

and those who seek the Lord shall praise him: *

"May your heart live for ever!"

26 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, *

and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

27 For kingship belongs to the Lord; *

he rules over the nations.

28 To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; *

all who go down to the dust fall before him.

29 My soul shall live for him;

my descendants shall serve him; *

they shall be known as the Lord's for ever.

30 They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *

the saving deeds that he has done.



Reflection       “ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Do these words not cut to your core and echo in your heart? Have there not been times in your life when they have tumbled off your tongue? There certainly have been times in mine when I cried out, “Where are you God? How could you let this happen to me? Why can I not feel your presence? I cannot take this any more. Why have you abandoned me?“


For a long time I believed that my complaints and anger at God were evidence of my weakness and lack of faith. So I would beat myself up, “How could you even think that way Debra? You say you are faithful; well, this is evidence of your faithlessness.” Feeling even worse I moan on. “No wonder God abandons me, I am nothing but a wretched, faithless “‘worm and not human!’”(Ps 22.6)


And then one day I really heard the words of Psalm 22. (You know how it is, you can hear something one hundred times and then, the one hundred and first time your ears open and you really hear it?) That is what happened for me with Psalm 22, which is sometimes called a “Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility.” 


It was during one of those dark times of my life that I could so relate to the words, “My God…Why are you so far from helping me, …I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. “ Yes, that was exactly how I felt. The thing is, also like the Psalmist, I never stopped calling out and complaining to God, which today I understand as evidence of my faith, not my faithlessness.


You see, as I read Psalm 22 I asked myself, “Why would the Psalmist keep calling out to God even when God seems not to answer? Why bother?” Then it occurred to me that even Jesus utters those excruciating words. He had been hanging on the cross for hours. His hands and feet pierced and stinging, his muscles gripped in spasms as his lungs were filling with fluid as he was slowly suffocating. In that dark hour surely Jesus could not feel God’s presence. Yet, from the depths of his agony Jesus calls out,  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


Can you imagine what must  have been going through Jesus’ mind? ”Why have you forgotten me?  I have answered your call on my life. Every day and every night I come to you in prayer and follow your direction. I turn to you in every situation and rely on you in all that I  say and do. This is too much.  I cannot bear this agony. Where are you now? Why have you abandoned me?”


I believe this agonizing scene exposes the true nature of Jesus’ relationship with God just as he describes it to the disciples the gospel according to John when he prays, “The Father and I are one.” (John 10.30) And again, “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may (the disciples) also be in us.” (John 17.21) We are one in the Father. Even when nailed to a cross, nothing separates Jesus (or us) from God, which, by the way is a basic tenant of our faith.


Christianity has evolved over time. Some would say for the better, others would argue, not so much. Either way, the root of our faith is the inseparable relationship between God and humanity. But the root has been wrapped in the clothes of creeds and the tunics of tradition, outer garments that bury rather than lay bare our intimate relationship with God.


But when our “bones are out of joint… our mouth dried up… and we can count all our bones,” our creedal clothes are stripped from us, and also tradition’s tunics. Then in our naked vulnerability we return to the root of our faith and cry, “My God, my God, why have your forsaken me,” because we remember the Psalmist’s words,   “Commit your cause to God; let God deliver—
let God rescue the one in whom God delights!” (Ps 22.8) 

                                                                  

And here lies the stunning transition. From the depths of agony comes the recognition of God present. The psalmist continues, 

”From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.”                                                       God is in the midst of our suffering.
“For God did not despise or abhor
   the affliction of the afflicted;
God did not hide God’s face from me,
   but heard when I cried (out).” (Ps 22.23-24)

This is the good news of Good Friday. When we are in so much pain and fear that we cannot see beyond it, when our finances are shattered and our family is in crisis, when a global pandemic has made us afraid of everyone and everything,  when  a deadly disease is decaying our defenseless body, when our nation is shaken and we are not even sure it is safe to go to church, this is the moment we must return to the root of our faith and in our naked vulnerability cry out to God. 

With nothing left except our naked vulnerability, in every cell and every space of our being we must know that Jesus' words are true for us, ”the Father and I are one." This is the good news of Good Friday. 

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