Losing Control

 Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13 and Psalm 20  • Ezekiel 17:22-24 and Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15  • 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17  • Mark 4:26-34

The desire to control is something we have from toddlers to old age, although  I have less desire to control situations in retirement than I did providing and caring for my family.  It never leaves us entirely, though. 

This Sunday's gospel parables of the gardener who sows and then sleeps, and of the mustard seed look at the mysteries of life, especially when we have no control, or limited control. In "The Sleeping Gardner," Debie Thomas offers us astonishing insights and life lessons as she considers Jesus' parables. Astonishing? Isn't that what a wonderful life should be? It's not always easy to cease worrying, and cede control, but we miss a lot if we don't heed the lesson of these parables. 

Seen and Unseen, the Spirit Leads Us

 Scripture:1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20) and Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18  • Deuteronomy 5:12-15 and Psalm 81:1-10  • 2 Corinthians 4:5-12  • Mark 2:23-3:6

Our Scripture this week is full of hearing and responding to God's call. What do we hear and heed in our busy lives? Who does God call? How? How can we hear God''s call? As we read this week's Scripture, we are invited to consider the value of human life, of all life, especially when reading beautiful Psalm 135, and Jesus' teaching about feeding the hungry, and healing on the Sabbath, telling us that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is made for humankind. 

Both the passage from Paul's second  letter to the Corinthians and Mark's gospel invite us to see what cannot be seen. Read Susan Butterworth's "Human and Divine."

 The Rev. Danáe Ashley's "Bread, Law, and Spirit," considers questions we ask, such as "Why am I here? What is my purpose? What am I supposed to do with my life," discussing ways of discerning God's call to us, and what is life affirming, and what is not.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

139:2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

139:3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.

139:5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

139:13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

139:15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

139:16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

139:17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

139:18 I try to count them -- they are more than the sand; I come to the end -- I am still with you.

Experience the Triune God

  Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8 and Psalm 29  • Romans 8:12-17  • John 3:1-17

If St. Augustine confessed that he didn't understand the concept of the Trinity, I don't profess to understand it. But maybe that is the problem. Trying to understand it. Two articles this week have helped me appreciate it, though. Think love in relationship in which we are invited to participate.  See The Rev. David Lose's "Trinity:Three-in-One, Plus One!" and Dan Clendenin's "Trinity, Mystery, and Mercy." Particularly poignant in this article are the characterizations of God from the "The Shack" by Paul Young.  "What Young has written — and his critics are right about this point — is really a doctrine of God in story form. But it's no Athanasian Creed with technical abstractions. He pictures the trinitarian God who welcomes us back to the shack as El-ousia, "a large beaming African-American woman" (Father), a "small, distinctively Asian woman" named Sarayu who collects tears (the Spirit), and a Middle Eastern man dressed like a laborer (Jesus).The main character Mack discovers that God isn't like he thought. He's not the product of his projections, or the neat formulas of academic theology. He's perfectly good. He intends to heal and not humiliate us. Mack learns to trust him fully and believe that God is near. That's the good news on Trinity Sunday." 

A couple of interesting side notes. The term οὐσία is an Ancient Greek noun, formed on the feminine present participle of the verb εἰμί, eimí, i.e., "to be, I am." "I  am" is the name of God, and is one of the "I am" sayings of Jesus.  In the Nicene Creed, it is said "the Son is of one being with the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son." The Eastern church says the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, not the Father and the Son (the filioque clause - meaning "and the Son.") Both the Western and Eastern churches have homoousion, as opposed to homioousion, in their Creeds.

Homoousion (/ˌhɒmoʊˈuːsiən/; Greek: ὁμοούσιον, romanized: homooúsion, lit. 'same in being, same in essence', from ὁμός, homós, "same" and οὐσία, ousía, "being" or "essence")^[1][2] is a Christian theological term, most notably used in the Nicene Creed for describing Jesus (God the Son) as "same in being" or "same in essence" with God the Father (ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί). The same term was later also applied to the Holy Spirit in order to designate him as being "same in essence" with the Father and the Son. Those notions became cornerstones of theology in Nicene Christianity, and also represent one of the most important theological concepts within the Trinitarian doctrinal understanding of God. The extra "i," or "iota," in homioousion, means similar to, not the same, proposed by Arius, and was rejected by Athanasius and is not included in the Nicene Creed. 

Sarayu - The name is the feminine derivative of the Sanskrit root सर् sar "to flow"; as a masculine stem, saráyu- means "air, wind", i.e. "that which is streaming."

The Holy Spirit, Spirit of Truth

 Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14  • Psalm 104:24-34, 35b  • Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21  • John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, which is known as the birthday of the Church, fifty days after Easter. Jesus is leaving his disciples, but he 

asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit,  the Spirit of Truth to strengthen, to advocate for them, and us, his beloved. 

What does the Holy Spirit do for us today? What does the Spirit of Truth enable us to do? See The Rev. Kathleen Walker's "The Advocate," and Debie Thomas' "When You Send Forth Your Spirit."

Why, and for what, do we pray? And what did Jesus pray for?

 Scripture:  Acts 1:15-17, 21-26  • Psalm 1  • 1 John 5:9-13  • John 17:6-19

Today we have John's account of Jesus' prayer for us - not what we call "the Lord's Prayer." In "Pearls and Grit" The Rev. James Liggett tells us Jesus, the night before his arrest - his last evening with his disciples,  his friends, prays for them, for us, knowing how difficult things will be for his followers in the pain, suffering, crime, hate, and violence of the world, then, here, and now. He likens it to that of an oyster who must produce a pearl, or die, when a grit is ingested. 

Debie Thomas, in "A Lover's Prayer," asks why do we pray, and what do we pray for? If you find yourself praying more, or with more urgency these days as I do, or if you rarely, or never do, you owe it to yourself to read her article as she examines her journey in praying.

The Rev. Dr. James C. Howell tells us, "God doesn't sow cancer cells in people's bodies, God doesn't crash planes into buildings, God doesn't prescribe one child to live under a bridge while my children are in soft beds. God is not in control, or let's say, God does not choose to be in control--because God is love, and love just can't or won't control. Paul says, "Love does not insist on its own way." God could have made us like marionettes, so God could manipulate us and everything to suit God. But God yearns for our love, and cuts the strings, risking the wounds Jesus was about to incur when he prayed for us." 

Abide in Love, As I Have Loved You

 Scripture: Acts 10:44-48  • Psalm 98  • 1 John 5:1-6  • John 15:9-17

αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ἐμή ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

How do we love one another as Jesus has loved us? This is the passage in John which follows Jesus' teaching on the vine and the branches. In this passage he also called us friends. 

The Greek agape  (ᾰ̓γᾰ́πη) is the form of love Jesus uses in his commandment. Different than the brotherly, friendship kind of love.

So what does Jesus mean? How do we love as Jesus commanded us to love? Read Debie Thomas' "It's All About Love." See also Lucy Strandlum's "Abide in Love."

How and When Does a Church Grow?

 Scripture: Acts 8:26-40  • Psalm 22:25-31  • 1 John 4:7-21  • John 15:1-8

How and When does a church  grow? Both John's gospel account of Jesus and the vineyard and the branches, and the reading in Acts teach us about growth - personal and as a church.

Read Debie Thomas's "When All Are Welcome," and Melissa Earley's "The vine branch doesn’t put “make grapes” on its to-do list. It just makes them."

Who do you trust?

 Scripture: Acts 4:5-12  • Psalm 23  • 1 John 3:16-24  • John 10:11-18

This is Good Shepherd Sunday. Among our readings are the 23rd Psalm and Jesus telling uss he is the Good Shepherd. What does he mean? Debie Thomas takes a good look at the  context of Jesus' teaching. It is not the soft and fluffy image we have made, but, like the 23rd Psalm, we can take comfort as his rod and staff gently lead us through life's challenges and even through the shadows of death. He loves and cares for us. Read Debie Thomas's "A Shepherd Who is Good."

The LORD Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.^a
3He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness^b
for his name’s sake.

4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,^c
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6Surely^d goodness and mercy^e shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell^f in the house of the LORD
forever.^g

Soul Food - Embodied

 Scripture: Acts 3:12-19  • Psalm 4  • 1 John 3:1-7  • Luke 24:36b-48

In Luke's gospel account, the resurrected Jesus appears once again to his disciples who are described as being "startled, terrified, and "while in their joy, disbelieving and wondering." Jesus offers them Peace, and asks them to share a meal of broiled fish with him before commissioning them to spread the good news. Why? What is it about sharing a meal which brings people with many differences, doubts, fears and feelings together? How can sharing a meal help us see and experience the presence of Christ? See The Rev. Sharron Riessinger Blezard's "Potlucks, Comfort Food and Faith." What a joy to celebrate and receive the Holy Eucharist each week in communion with God's children where all are welcome!

How can we experience the earth moving sensation of resurrection as the disciples did? See Sister Kym Harris' "Exposition," and "Reflection "

See why The Rev. Rick Morley loves preaching about the resurrected Christ, who can be anywhere, and is still present as our brother in body and spirit in "not as outcasts - a reflection on Luke 24:36b-48."

Food for the soul? You bet! As Sharron Riessinger Blezard says "Come to Christ’s table. Come as you are. Come hungry, come helpless, come hopeful. Eat and live to go and tell. We are the witnesses. Whether bold or fearful, let us be full and faithful in our going and telling and inviting. There is room for all and plenty of comfort food to share."

And then, commenting on "You are witnesses," and why she believes in the physical Resurrection, read Debie Thomas' "Embodied."

Witness

  Scripture: Acts 4:32-35  • Psalm 133  • 1 John 1:1-2:2  • John 20:19-31

This second Sunday of the Easter season we find the disciples huddled behind closed doors, afraid, Thomas comes late to the Resurrection story. He says he will only believe what the others tell him if he can see, touch the risen Lord.  Empiricists need to verify everything by the five senses in order to recognize it. 

This begs the question. Jesus says "You are witnesses" to the disciples, and to us, thanks to witnesses documenting their experience of the risen Christ. What does it mean to witness? We see and hear a lot about it in high profile and everyday trials these days. See The Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay's "Touch and See." The Greek  word for witness is μάρτυρ, martyr. What does Jesus tell us about witnessing? 

In,"That You May Come To Believe," Debie Thomas says Jesus makes room for the wary and skeptics in a journey, a process of becoming, a dynamic becoming Jesus promises us, and makes way for all of us on the journey toward a fulfilling and purpose filled life, everlasting. 

Take it slow. Look again this Easter.

 

Scripture: Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 25:6-9  • Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24  • 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 or Acts 10:34-43  • John 20:1-18 or Mark 16:1-8

I don't know about you, but this Easter, honestly, I need to  take it slow. After all we have been through the last year, I need to let the hope and promise of new life to sink in. I won't be worshipping in person, sharing the cup and the bread with our dear friends, or experiencing the joyful exhilaration of  triumphant exuberance, or even exchanging hugs in the exchange of the Peace. Sure, I will appreciate the online service and music, but it's not the same.

Debie Thomas poignantly shares much of what I feel, and more, in her honest take of Mark's sparce account of the Resurrection in "Slow Easter."  Especially, in these times, we need the hope and resilience Easter brings, and as she says, it always shows up. It always bursts forth with life, despite all the obstacles we throw at it, or are thrown at us.

One of my favorite takes on Mark's gospel account of the Resurrection is The Rev. Frank Logue's Look Again. It's worth a read.