Blind spots on the journey

Scripture: Acts 2:14a, 36-41  • Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19  • 1 Peter 1:17-23  • Luke 24:13-35

As we read Luke's account of Cleopas and his friend on the Road to Emmaus, let us consider how we, like them, miss seeing the risen Christ. What blind spots do we have along the journeys of our lives which cause us to miss the fullness of the joy he brings, and the opportunity to welcome him into our lives. How often do we miss the opportunity to feed his sheep, and welcome the stranger.

See "In Our Midst, " by The Rev. David F. Sellery; "Joy for the Journey: Reflections on the Walk to Emmaus," by Alyce M. McKenzie; and "Consorting with Aliens," by Edgardo Antonio Colón Emeric; and "Road Trip," by Amy B. Hunter.

I believe the author of 1 Peter gives us the best way to avoid missing the presence of the Lord when he says "...love one another deeply from the heart."

The Scars of Christ

Scripture: Acts 2:14a, 22-32  • Psalm 16  • 1 Peter 1:3-9  • John 20:19-31

This second Sunday of the Easter season we read about witnesses to the Resurrected Jesus - Peter, the disciples, and finally "doubting" Thomas. In fairness to Thomas, he, like us, wants to see the evidence in order to believe. He said he would not believe until he could put his fingers in the mark of the nails, and his hand in Jesus' side, which was pierced. When it came right down to it, Thomas did not have to do that when he experienced the presence of the Lord.

Two of our articles this week concern the scars of Christ. See Deacon Sil Galvan's "The Wounded Healer," and Katherine K. Whitley's "Jesus of the Scars." What is the significance of the scars Jesus bore?

We have spent a lot of time during Lent reading, listening and discussing the presence of Christ. In the context of this week's gospel, enjoy the delightful imagined story of the disciple Thomas answering his grandson's questions about his encounter with the resurrected Christ in The Rev. Dr. Laura Mendenhall's "Dealing with Mystery."

Jesus said "Blessed are those who have not seen, but yet have come to believe." What does it take for us to believe in the risen and present Christ?

 



He is risen, and among us...

Scripture: Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6  • Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24  • Colossians 3:1-4 or Acts 10:34-43  

• John 20:1-18 or Matthew 28:1-10

Because of Easter, we are able to ask "Where will Jesus meet us?" Just as Jesus told Mary to tell the disciples that he was going ahead to Galilee, and he would meet them there, we are also invited to meet Jesus. Where, and what are the Galilees of our lives? Think about what happened in Galilee during Jesus' ministry. Will we recognize him? See Sister Kym Harris' "This Sunday's Exposition."  

This is a time to reflect on how we are blessed. Consider Jesus' sermon on the mount (or plain, depending on which gospel account you read), and Sister Harris' Reflection. Notice who carries Jesus' message to the disciples.

Barbara Brown Taylor has some thoughts on where Jesus turns up. See her " Escape from the Tomb." The living one's business is with the living. He is among the living. Taylor reminds us not to be so focused on the tomb that we forget to speak with the gardener.

May you have a blessed Easter, and a blessed life. He lives!

Debie Thomas gives us a profound article on the Risen Christ even, in these times when she , like us is bewildered, afraid, and struggling in her "Risen."

Palm/Passion Sunday - Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Scripture: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29  • Matthew 21:1-11   • Philippians 2:5-11

We  are invited this week to see things as God sees them. Jesus' triumphant entry into David's City riding on a donkey and young colt over coats and cut palm branches contrast with the martial display of occupying Caesar's troops. A contrast in power.

More importantly , we see love as we have never seen it before. The very nature and essence of God is made manifest for all to see through the sacrifice, passion and death of his beloved Son. Sister Kym Harris, in her Exposition, contrasts the delights we see and experience in romantic love with the love of God through the sacrifice and death of Jesus, an unselfish gift of love, seeing us, and despite all of our weakness, flaws and sin.

The Rev. Kate Huey cites several authors, in her Passion Amidst Palms, who say that Jesus' death changed everything, especially how we see and experience God's love. Barbara Brown Taylor says that God brought divine love to life in the gift of God's Son, the one thing God had to give more precious to God than God himself. God said we no longer had to come to him - to the temple any more. God loves us so much that he now comes to us, wherever we are and whatever we are experiencing in our lives. In the passion of Christ we see that God loves us even in acts of betrayal, fear, weakness, denial and desertion.

In "Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday," Sara Miles tells us that Jesus willingly faced and absorbed all the hard truths of human violence, pride and weakness, and to love and stay with us anyway so that sin and death will have no more power over us. With her, let us pray that we may see how much we have in common with all of Jesus' beloved people. May we face the beauty and sadness of humanity, and not turn away. And that we may love and forgive in face of every hurt, betrayal, pain, sickness, mistake and failure. May we be Christ, be his love, to the world.

What is Resurrected Life?

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14  • Psalm 130  • Romans 8:6-11  • John 11:1-45

From Ezekiel's valley of "dry bones," to St. Paul's testimony of the life giving Spirit which raised Christ, to this week's gospel account in John of the raising of Lazarus, and as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem and the cross, we learn something of resurrected life. Jesus tells us that he, who is the bread of life and whose blood is the cup of salvation from which all who drink will never thirst again, is "the resurrection and the life, and that all who believe in [him], even though they die, will live."

What is the resurrected life? See "Resurrected Hopes," by Craig Barnes.  Dee also "This Sunday's Reflection" by Sister Kym Harris.

I was blind, but now I see

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13  • Psalm 23  • Ephesians 5:8-14  • John 9:1-41


What is it to see, really see? Thomas Hardy once said “There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn't there.”

This week's lesson from the gospel of John is the story of Jesus giving sight to the man who was blind from birth. There is a lot about judgment in this lesson as the Pharisees judge Jesus of healing on the Sabbath, and Jesus’s disciples asking who sinned, the blind man, or his parents in reference to the man’s blind condition. What does Jesus mean when he says, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.?" Why does he tell the Pharisees who said "they see," that they sin, and those who are blind are without sin ? What do we see when we judge? How can we make better judgments? How can we see as God sees?

Compare your thoughts with The Rev. Kate Huey's "Learning to See - Reflections."

Slaking our thirst with Living Water

Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7  • Psalm 95  • Romans 5:1-11  • John 4:5-42

This week we learn how God chooses to connect with us, as Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, and what He offers. In the middle of the day a Jewish Rabbi converses with  a Samaritan, considered by Jews to be unclean and apostate, and not just a Samaritan, but a woman who had been married five times, and living with another man. Look at the exchange. The woman does not disengage, and she understands more about Jesus than the Pharisee teacher and esteemed Nicodemus, whom we met last week. Jesus deems her worthy enough to reveal to her that he is the Messiah, and she is transformed. Her neighbors recognize this, and trust in her testimony. And look at the intermingling and hospitality which ensues. Something we could certainly use today.

What does Jesus offer? Consider this as you read Sister Kym Harris' Commentary, Exposition, and Reflection.