What Now?

The Great Vigil of Easter, March 31       Luke 24:1-12

            When asked to write the Easter devotion since he is the pastor, Donovan replied with a short note: “The disciples went to the tomb and wondered if they had jobs.”  It was a funny retort, but also an engaging thought to consider—do we come to Easter services thinking about what the empty tomb means for our lives?  Does it mean security for what we are doing?  Does it cause anxiety as we realize that what was no longer is?  Does it conjure up feelings of hope and excitement or nerves of anxiety?  These are the questions we will consider as we gather to worship God this morning.  Join us as we ponder these questions.

Daily Challenge: Consider the empty tomb—how does that reality affect your faith?

Prayer: God of the empty tomb, grant us patience, grace and comfort as we ponder and pray what it means that you raised Jesus from the dead.

“Waiting for the Rest of the Story”

Saturday, March 30, 2013                  Job  19:21-27a, Psalm 43

Guy D. Griffith                                                                                    

            Many pundits hold that this year’s Super Bowl Commercial contest was won by Dodge Ram. Neither flashy nor filled with high-tech special effects, the two-minute add was filled with still shots and images of farmers at work. What made the ad so effective was hearing Paul Harvey’s distinctive voice reading, “So God Made a Farmer.” The commercial introduced the iconic Harvey to a new generation; since his voice was silenced by death at age 90 in 2009. But some of us old enough to remember his radio program can still hear him say, “Now, for the rest of the story….”

            On Holy Saturday we long to hear “the rest of the story” but we must wait.  We left the Good Friday sanctuary in silence, in darkness, having encountered the crucifixion in all its stark finality. Death has carried the day; sin has triumphed; the paschal candle is extinguished. We who have ‘gone to dark Gethsemane’ and have ‘trembled, trembled, trembled’ at the Lord’s crucifixion, have to wait in silence on this Saturday. What must it have been like for Jesus’ first followers, who did not know “the rest of the story”?

            In a former church we had a Saturday night service and it fell to me to preach on Holy Saturday. It was very helpful to read Alan E. Lewis’ Between Cross & Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday. This remarkable work written by Austin Seminary’s theologian as he was dying reminds us that, in fact, we do have words to speak. Scripture gives us words, elegant, defiant words uttered from the midst of grief and despair; Scripture gives us the words of Job: “I know that my Redeemer lives.” We wait in that knowledge and hope on this silent Saturday, waiting for “the rest of the story” that is coming.

Prayer: Let me live with patience, hope and expectation on this silent Saturday, O God, so that I will be startled anew and afresh by the miracle of Easter.

Daily Challenge: Imagine what it must have been like on that first Holy Saturday for the disciples.

The Loneliest Expression of Love

Friday, March 29              Psalm 22 and John 18:1-19:42

Benjamin Kane    

                 

                  John’s Gospel records that Jesus uttered the words, “It is finished,” and then breathed his last.  At that moment no one was left—Jesus is alone, hanging on the cross.  Prior to his death he commended his mother, Mary, and his beloved disciple to each other and sent them away along with Mary Magdalene.  The only people around were the soldiers who were too distracted by who was to receive his clothing to be aware of his presence; they were there to watch him die—not to interact with him.  After sending his mother and disciples away he cried to God only to hear silence.   Hanging on the cross utterly alone Christ embodied the guttural words of the Psalmist, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me.”

                  In that moment of utter isolation Christ died for all of us.  Paradoxically, by dying alone, Christ’s death became the loneliest expression of love. Because no one was around, no one can claim that Christ died only for him or her.  Christ died without a word from God—so it wasn’t for God’s sake that he died; Christ died without a believer in sight—so his death wasn’t only for those present; Christ didn’t die from wounds inflicted by the soldiers—so his death wasn’t the result of a particular person or group.

                  Over the course of this season of Lent we have focused on our mortality and need for God.  We’ve discussed the need to sacrifice—to give up or add on various things to accentuate the meaning of this season.    Undoubtedly we have failed at these endeavors.  Temptation or boredom or familial circumstances prevented us from accomplishing our goal for the season.  Despite this reality, Christ will still hang from the cross tonight and will breath his last and sadly will live out the loneliest expression of love.                

As we come to church to worship on this ominous day, when our chancels are stripped bare of any adornments and black clothes with crowns of thorns cover our crosses may we remember what the preacher Tony Campolo said: “It might be Friday, but Sunday is coming.”  The loneliest expression of love takes place on Friday, but it isn’t fully realized until Sunday, to which we respond, “Thanks be to God.”

Prayer: Because you died alone you died for all of us.  In that moment your gracious love for all of humanity was expressed.  May we live in that reality on this Good Friday.  Through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Daily Challenge: How does Christ’s expression of love manifest itself in your life?

Washing Feet?

Thursday, March 28 2013                 John 13:1-17

Andy Kramer

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to help chaperone the youth mission trip to Denver, CO.  My group of 7 high school students and I worked together, served together, ate together, navigated public transportation together and worshiped together.  The final night Ben invited us to participate together in a foot washing ritual.  We were all (chaperones included) a bit uncomfortable with this proposition.  All the time we spent together that week made us close, but washing each other’s feet?  That was a little more than what we signed up for.  I didn’t really want to wash someone else’s feet, and I definitely didn’t want someone else touching my feet.  As we began this act, it quickly turned from an awkward moment to a very intimate moment.  We realized that it takes a great deal of humility to wash someone else’s feet and to allow someone to wash our feet.

That experience by itself was powerful, but it takes on more meaning as I study the text from John’s gospel.  Jesus sets an example of how we should live our lives and serve others.  In verse 14, Jesus tells the disciples that they should follow the example that he set for them.  So does this mean I need to go out and wash people’s feet?  Or are we called to serve others in different ways?

If I look at my experience in Denver as the culmination of a week of ministry to others, it would be a powerful experience, but there is more to it than just washing feet.  My foot washing experience, along with this text, forces me to ask the question what sacrifices am I willing to make to serve others?  And when I look at the sacrifices Christ was willing to make, it leads to a question that I really don’t want to ask myself: what sacrifices am I not willing to make?  As we look at Christ’s example of serving others, it pulls us out of our comfort zones and pushes us to go beyond what we perceive to be our limits. We realize that it takes a great deal of humility to put others’ needs ahead of our self interests. 

Prayer:  Dear God, Thank you for sending your Son to us.  Help us to follow his example and serve others.  Amen.

Daily Challenge:  Look for opportunities to serve others who are in need.

Straying from God

Wednesday, March 27                        John 13:21-32

Carole Bucy

         One the best-selling books in 2012 was From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,  by Cheryl Strayed.  With no physical or mental preparation for such a journey, Ms. Strayed embarked on an arduous hike alone up a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans the length of the United States from Mexico to the Canadian border.  She decided to take this drastic action in large part because two years after the death of her mother, she had not been able to come to terms with her loss.  She had indeed strayed and because of that, felt lost.   During her long days of solitude and physical pain while hiking, over and over, she recounted portions of her life to herself.  She remembered her mother asking her as a small child, “Do you know how much I love you?”  It was a childhood game that Cheryl never tired of playing.  “This much?”  the small girl asked as she stretched out her arms.  “No, more than that.”    “This much? “No even more.”  On and on the game went.  When her mother died, Cheryl strayed so far that it seemed as if she could not ever return to the person she had been before her mother’s death.

Our reading for today recounts another story of one who is straying.   We know nothing of other things that Judas did or said as a disciple, but we know that he strayed from his anchor in Jesus Christ.  “Betrayal” is forever linked to Judas's name.  As a child, I learned a song in which the names of the 12 disciples had been set to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me.”  In the verse, there was nothing about any of the other disciples—only Judas.  It mentioned Judas at the end of the list with the line, “Jesus was by him betrayed.”   

What Judas could not understand was that the love of God was even greater than the magnitude of his betrayal.  Judas must have thought that his actions would end his relationship with Jesus.   He may have imagined the consequences of his actions – possibly the imprisonment of Jesus, possibly even execution, but Judas could not imagine the magnitude of God’s love that would stretch beyond his betrayal. Neither Cheryl nor Judas quite knew what they had until it was gone.  Sometimes, neither do we.  For both them and us, the Good News of the risen Christ is that no matter how far we may stray, God’s love is there for us.  And nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Prayer:  Whether we approach the abyss and the mountaintop, merciful God, help us to always remember that the good news of the Gospel is that “Nothing can separate us from the love of God” and that we have been “marked as Christ’s own forever”.   Thanks be to God.