Fifth Sunday of Easter

Readings are here.

Thomas asks in the gospel of John, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Now days with GPS systems is more difficult to get lost and not know where we are going. But we can still be lost spiritually even though we know where we are physically. Thomas seems like a concrete thinker - in Chapter 11 he wants to know why Jesus wants to go back to the place where their lives were being threatened just because Lazurus is sick. After Jesus' death he wants to see the wounds for himself instead of taking the word of the others. So while he is thinking about an actual place - Jesus is talking about a way to journey with God.
We have lots of stones in these readings. The stones that were thrown at Stephen lodge in the mind and heart of the young man Saul who we later know at Paul the great evangelist of the church. The cornerstone that is rejected is Jesus upon whom our faith is built. Peter, the one called by Jesus as "rock" - asks us to become living stones, a holy priesthood, a piece of the spiritual house that God is building.
When one builds a wall or building of stones - the stones are of different sizes and shapes. They have to be fitted into one another, sometimes they have to have a few corners knocked off. So it is with us - the living stones - God is building us into a spiritual house not for some future time in another place but for here and now.
Today I am giving you a small stone as a reminder of your status as living stone, to ground you in a spiritual place when you feel lost and as the cornerstone to hold onto when you feel the slings and arrows of life battering you.

IV Easter

Readings for today are here

Not preaching but just thinking about the lessons this Sunday.

"Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture."

This is the phrase that catches my attention today--- salvation (i.e., health, wholeness, right relationship with God - as I think about it) comes when we know we know we are free to come and go and are fed by the Holy One. Speaks to me of free will, relationships of mutuality.

Jesus proclaims that he is the gate of the sheepfold. In his day shepherds built pens out of briers and brush to keep the sheep safe at night. They would sleep across the entryway so they would know if sheep were trying to get out or predators were trying to get in.

In the image he gives us in John - he tells of God who wants us to be safe but who allows freedom to come and go. It speaks of a true relationship - caring but giving each of us space to grow into the fullness of our creation.

Last week the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco was in the news. The Golden Gate is a very symbolic bridge - speaking of the expansive invitation of the Wild West and the promise of riches in the wilderness. The riches are not found, however, in material goods - like gold, but in the wildness and in the relationships. This past week protesters used the bridge as a backdrop to send a message about Tibet and the hope of freedom in that country.



Bridges and gates -- what do they say to you?

Seven scintillating things about me?

Lindy tagged me for this meme. Hmmm... thanks I think...

1. I do news on Tuesdays for Episcopal Cafe
2. and write a monthly essay for ECafe, too.
3. I co-mentor 2 EFM online groups - a new way to take EFM without a nearby group.
4. My husband and I have 5 grandchildren - whoa!
5. I drive 2 hours to do church and then 2 hours back home stopping in Eden to do another service.
6. My psychic home is the Oregon coast - some of my being lives there no matter where I am.
7. Our daughter and I are going to the UK this summer to visit my maternal grandmother's hometown.

Not sure how scintillating these are - but at least there are 7 things.

Walking to Emmaus

Sunday's gospel is another of my favorites. You might wonder if there are any stories in the Bible that are not my favorites - there are but that is another day's post. Sunday's readings are here.

I love this picture accompanying this blog for its bright colors and the depiction of the characters. The man - downcast and absorbed in his grief in his silence, the woman - dressed in red - eagerly engaging the stranger in conversation - processing her grief by talking about it. Jesus moving ahead of them - they can't really see the nail wounds in his hands and feet. The path ending with them stepping out into the white space - a new world that they have yet to recognize. This is the moment just before the offering hospitality in their home and the revealing of the resurrected Christ in the breaking of bread.

There are so many moments in this short story. It raises questions about how we might encounter the Risen Christ: on the road, in the midst of grief, meeting a stranger, sharing stories, opening our hearts to the unexpected, sharing a meal.

What do you think?


See more of this artist: Gisele Bauche.

Tigger

Your Score: Tigger

You scored 16 Ego, 8 Anxiety, and 15 Agency!

And as they went, Tigger told Roo (who wanted to know)
all about the things that Tiggers could do.

"Can they fly?" asked Roo.

"Yes," said Tigger, "they're very good flyers, Tiggers
are. Strornry good flyers."

"Oo!" said Roo. "Can they fly as well as Owl?"

"Yes," said Tigger. "Only they don't want to."

"Why don't they want to?" well, they just don't like it
somehow."

Roo couldn't understand this, because he thought it
would be lovely to be able to fly, but Tigger said it was
difficult to explain to anybody who wasn't a Tigger himself.

You scored as Tigger!

ABOUT TIGGER: Tigger is the newest addition to the Hundred Acre Wood, and he lives with Kanga and Roo, because Roo's strengthening medicine turned out to be the thing that Tiggers like best. Tigger is bouncy and confident -some of his friends think he is a little TOO bouncy and confident, but attempts to unbounce him tend to be fruitless.

WHAT THIS SAYS ABOUT YOU: You are a positive and confident person. You feel capable of dealing with anything and everything, and funnily enough, you usually ARE. You don't worry about much, and you love to go out and find new adventures.

Your friends and family might sometimes be a little exasperated by your boundless enthusiasm. You don't like to admit your mistakes, and when you find yourself in over you head, you tend to bluff your way out of things. You would be surprised, however, at how happy the people around you would be if you would actually admit to a mistake. It would make you seem more human, somehow.

Link: The Deep and Meaningful Winnie-The-Pooh Character Test

4000 and 90,0000

God have mercy
Christ have mercy
God have mercy

Resurrection

Not preaching this week as we are in Seattle having fun with grandchildren. New grandson arrived on the 19th. Wrote a reflection on Holy Saturday for Episcopal Cafe. Here is some poetry for reflection on Easter:



I WANT TO SAY YOUR NAME

a love poem

I want to say your name
the way Jesus said, "Mary"
at the unstopped tomb, when he was
halfway resurrected, unwrapped
but not ascended, spirit and body
in that fragile, persistent mix.

"Mary;" he said, and she knew him.
“Mary," and she must have moved toward him
for he said, do not touch me now
I am between things.

"Mary," he said, and she changed, as if
an hour earlier she had been a child. Her name
held all of her and it was his gift.
He said it once, which was forever.

I would say yours once, to seal
who you are, why I've stayed.
"Mary," he said (I would say your name)

and the wind blew between the letters.
Stars hung low over the peaks of the M
and in the a, a world orbited.

Veronica Patterson Swan What Shores? New York University Press. p. 23 ISBN 0814766846

Painting by Laurie Gudim at Everyday Mysteries.

A little levity in Lent

Grandmere Mimi has posted a "Middle Name" meme at her blog. Here are my answers - if you want to play go to Wounded Bird for directions:

K= Kisses to all my friends
R= Rash and Risk - jumping into things before thinking them through
I= I --as in it's all about me
S= Silliness is fun sometimes
T= Tau - as in cross as I am a Jesus groupie
I= I again!! of course
N= Never is not in my vocabulary any more - as soon as I say never - it happens - as in my children will "never" ....

Click HERE for more info.

Jesus Loves You

Thanks to Elizaphanian.

IV Lent

Readings are here.

I am not preaching this weekend but wanted to share this from John Shea, who writes of Storytelling Theology:

Another time
Jesus smeared God like mud
on the eyes of a man born blind
and pushed him toward the pool of Siloam.
The blind man splashed his eyes
and stared into the rippling reflection
of the face he had only felt.
First he did a handstand, then a cartwheel,
and rounded off his joy
with a series of summersaults.
He ran to his neighbors,
singing the news.
They said,
"You look like the blind beggar
but we cannot be sure."
The problem was never
that he was blind
and could not work out
but that they could see
and did not look in.
"I am the one, the seeing blind!"
They seized him in mid cartwheel
and dragged him to the authorities.
"What do you think
of the man who made the mud?"
But the man born blind
was staring at a green vase.
His mouth was open slightly
as if he was being fed by its color.
"He is a sinner," said the priest
who knew what pleased God's eyes.
"Can one who lights candles in the eyes of the night
not have the fire of God in his hands?"
said the man fondling the green vase.
The priests murmured
and sent for his parents
who looked their son
straight in his new eyes
and said,
"Looks like our son.
But he is old enough
to speak for himself."
Off the hook they hurried home.
"All I know," said the man
with the green vase tucked under his robe,
"is that I was blind
and now I see."
But with his new eyes
came a turbulence in his sould
as if the man who calmed one sea
turned another to storm.

So before those who locked knowledge in a small room
and kept the key on a string around the their neck
he launched into a theology of sin and salvation.
It was then
that the full horror of the miracle
visited the priests.
"You, steeped in sin, lecture us!"
They tore him from the podium
and threw him into the street
where a man was rubbing much from his hands.
"How did it go?"
"I talked back."
The man with the new eyes
took in every laughing line
on the face of the Son
who was as happy as a free man
dancing on the far side of the Red Sea.

John Shea The Son Who Must Die Stories of Faith

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday readings are here.

Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. Isaiah 58

Remember you are stardust
and to stardust you will return

Last Epiphany

A somewhat finalized version of my sermon thoughts:

Mountains are a key theme in our readings today – throughout the world going to the mountains is symbolic of seeking a closer relationship with God and experiencing transformation of life. Those of us who live in the shadow of the Rockies know the holiness we find there: the wildness, the dangers, the adventure, the silence, the apart-ness. Often in the mountains we find out who we really are, our strengths and weaknesses. Revelation of the reality that we can do things that we never thought possible occurs when we go to the wilderness. When we reach the mountaintop we can see farther than when down in the valleys in the midst of the every day.

One weekend in my much younger days when I was a camp counselor – several of us decided we should climb Mount Hood, the highest peak in Oregon. We consulted with a guide and rented equipment. We camped near where we would begin. Early, long before dawn we began our climb. Halfway up the sun rose casting the shadow of the mountain across to the west. Making our way up the icy slopes, and gravely scree, we took a break near a place warmed by both the sun and the magma beneath us. Instantly we all fell asleep – a mix of lack of sleep the night before, the exertion of climbing and the grandeur of the mountain. With a brief lunch refueling our bodies – we made our way to the top. To see the world spread out below us – to have made it to the top – we could only stand in silence. I tucked a small stone into my pack – a sign to myself of something I had accomplished.

The Bible has many stories of the revelation of God on the mountains. The lesson from Exodus tells how Moses met God on the mountain to receive the commandments by which the community was to live. On the mountain with the glory of God all around him he could see more clearly the things that were needed to make their life together as a community better.

The psalm is written in a time of war – when a clear God-view of life and relationships is more needed than ever and we find ourselves in an uproar of chaos, actions and reactions seem to lead nowhere. The psalmist thinks the solution is in the hands of God – and believes only a violent intervention will help. The writer of the psalm cannot see beyond the violence – he needs a mountain top God’s eye view.

The Epistle is a reflection of the story in the gospel – how Peter remembers that glorious day of the Transfiguration when they experienced the revelation of Christ’s true being. He tells us to allow the star that is Christ to rise in our hearts so that we too can experience the fullness of the Christ light in our lives.

In the Gospel Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him --- climbing the mountain, experiencing the fullness of the revelation of who Jesus is. Until then they knew Jesus – the man who taught and healed. – now they see him in the fullness of his eternal self. This self of Jesus is always present but not seen. Like our trek up Mt Hood they learned things about the holiness of all life that they never knew before. They wanted to stay and worship the experience. Like me carrying my little stone – it was so amazing they wanted to hold on to it.

Our readings from the Gospel have moved in these short weeks from infant in a manger, to the escape to Egypt, to Jesus baptism by John and the calling of those who would follow him. The trajectory of these stories move Jesus like a small star appearing in Bethlehem to a super nova at the Mount of Transfiguration - enflaming the hearts of all who encounter him – now bursting in pure light --- as we enter into our Lenten journey with Christ can we feel him pulling us into his orbit? First let us take Peter’s advice and allow that small star to be born in our hearts and give ourselves over to Lent as a time of discovery of who Jesus can be in our lives. Take time to pray, take time to wonder, take time to love.

Tiny star of morning
born in the smallest of stables
spreading from manger to shepherd
to magi to beloved to teacher.
Expanding out into the universe,
calling everyone and everything home to the heart of Love.
Transfiguration reveals what was always there:
a supernova exploding into our hearts and minds.
Now we feel the black hole of gravity that remains
tugging pulling dragging us into the heart of the universe
as we journey through Lent to the fullness of Easter.

Star of morning be born in us this day.