Do Not Doubt But Believe

Do Not Doubt But Believe

Easter Day continues as the disciples, except for Thomas, gather again in the “Upper Room.” Perhaps they gather to hide out of fear that they may be next, or out of confusion, sadness or disbelief and doubt. (see John 20:19-29)

And then, the impossible happens: Jesus came and stood among them. Then He said,’ Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” Jesus gives them the Spirit of God: fear turns to courage, sadness turns to joy, and doubt and confusion become belief and confidence.

And with that gift of God’s Spirit, Jesus also sends them out to do what he has been doing: to heal, to teach, to forgive and to give new life to all of God’s.

This is exciting for the disciples, so exciting that when Thomas shows up they trip over themselves to share the good news with him, to announce to him that, "We have seen the Lord." Certainly they expected Thomas to be as excited as they were, but Thomas’ response is about what I believe mine would have been: “right, sure you have, what is wrong with all of you, you’ve got to be kidding.” Thomas then proclaims, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." Again, I don’t blame Thomas. I suspect many of us would have reacted the same way. As most of us are aware, the story doesn’t end here. The Gospel continues. . .

“A week later his disciples were again in the house and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’”

Reading closely, we see that Thomas did not put his fingers into the nail holes, nor did he put his fist into the wound in Jesus’ side. No, when given the same information, the same gift the others had received, he simply proclaimed what all proclaim when confronted with the living Christ, “My Lord and My God!” Jesus then blesses Thomas, and then through Thomas blesses us and sends us out to do what Jesus was doing: to heal, to teach, to forgive and to give new life to all of God’s people.

Almighty and everliving God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the Body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (A Sending Prayer after Holy Communion: Book of Common Prayer, p.366)

Three Days that Changed the World

The Sacred Triduum and a Pandemic

I sit at my desk in the middle of the Sacred Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter) as well as the beginning of Passover and in the middle of humanity’s fight against forces of nature (Covid-19 Virus) we have not been able to control. Recently I have spent a great deal of time reflecting about life, including death, about family, friends and even enemies and about what is truly important. A lot of this time has been spent outdoors, either “playing in the dirt” around my home or hiking and kayaking alone (or at least six feet away from my outdoor friends.)

Passover for the Jews, like the Easter Triduum for Christians, celebrates deliverance from death into life. At Passover, the angel of death passed over the homes of the Jewish slaves in Egypt saving the lives of the oldest children. Likewise, the betrayed and executed Jesus, whom Mary Magdalene thought was the gardener, was found alive on Easter Day, bringing light and life back into the world.

Truly this is a strange Holy Week, a strange Passover and a confusing time to be alive: a time of anxiety, frustration, anger, blame and fear.  This is a time of proclaiming, my side is better than your side, my leaders are better than your leaders, I’m right and you are wrong. We cannot control all that is happening, our feelings a raw and on the surface and it takes very little to push us, all of us, over the edge.

The good news of Passover, the good news of the Holy three days which climax with Easter is that they too were times when human beings had no control of the events which were changing their lives forever, and yet, and yet, good news came from bad, freedom came out of slavery and life came out of death. These changes did not happen at once, they did not happen when those involved wanted them to, but the people found that even in the midst of sorrow, loss and death, God was faithful. The found that God walked with them and that God’s people were there for each other. Sometimes God had to drag them kicking and screaming to be there and, no question, God is dragging us kicking and screaming to be there as well.

As we journey deeper into death during this Pandemic may the Passover life and the Easter light guide us to open our hearts, minds and spirits to one another and may the words Jesus borrowed from the Hebrew Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy change our lives:

“This is the first and Great Commandment, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. The second is like it; love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:29-31)

Soon and very soon, we will join together and proclaim, “Alleluia Christ is Risen, the Lord is Risen indeed!”

Breath and Life in Difficult Times

We are certainly living in uncertain times, times unlike any most of us of seen in our lifetimes. The Covid-19 Virus, now a Pandemic has literally encircled the world. People have gotten physically sick, people have died and many people around the Globe live in fear for their health and even their lives. Additionally, most of us feel anxious; we are confined to our homes, only leaving for essentials, such as food, medicine and toilet paper. Nursing Homes are on lockdown, schools are closed for the remainder of the school year, businesses are shuttered or running as shadows of their former selves and medical professionals are overworked and under supplied.

Additionally, millions of people have lost their jobs or been furloughed without pay and today is April first and rents are due and mortgages need to be paid. What do we do and where do we go for help. Psalm 121:1-2 encourages us with a similar question, and an answer: “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Yes, we who trust in the Lord will always go to God for help, comfort and Guidance. We will also use the abilities, knowledge and wisdom given to us by God: we will look to physicians, scientists, our elected officials at all levels of government and the civil servants who work for them. We will also love and care for one another in every way possible.

Over the centuries human beings have faced many crises: plague, famine, war, invasion  terrorism and exile. In the sixth century BC, between 597 and 586 Jerusalem was besieged by the Babylonians, the city and the Temple destroyed, the leaders and educated people taken to Babylon and most of the poor left in Jerusalem with little resources to live on. As God often does, God called a prophet to encourage, comfort, strengthen and assure the people, both in Babylon and Jerusalem that God had not forgotten them, that God would see them through, give them hope and bring them back to health and life. That Prophet was Ezekiel and he wrote out God’s charge to him and God’s hope for Judea.

“The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord. . . .” Ezekiel 37:1-14

I believe this is a message we need to hear today and I believe there are many prophets proclaiming this message, in “thought, word and deed.” Churches and individuals, schools and community organizations are providing food and temporary shelter for those out of school and work. Landlords are helping as much as they are able to give people rent relief. Federal, state and local governments are working to provide stimulus packages, increased unemployment income and much needed supplies and equipment for hospitals and medical personal.

All is not running smoothly, we don’t agree with every decision made by our leaders, but we are all in this together, not just in the United States, but we are truly a global society, a global economy and we will only solve this problem working together. Neither was life running smoothly in Ezekiel’s day: Jerusalem was dead; the bones were lifeless and useless. God promised that the bones would be covered with muscle and skin, and just as at the creation, the ‘breath of God’ would enter them and they would live, the nation would live. Remember that the Hebrew word for breath is also the world for spirit, so God put God’s breath, God’s Spirit into the Nation and it ‘lived and knew that God was and is the Lord.’

I believe that is what is happening today, that God is breathing the Holy Spirit into our world, into each nation and its people. I believe this is true for all of us, of people, from every nation, every race and religion and no religion. God is the God of all, and God sent the Son into the world so that the whole world might be saved.

This is the time to believe that these bones will live, and that they will live because we will do our part to protect ourselves and our loved ones and those in the community. We will stay away from people until we are sure that it is safe to resume normal, whatever that will mean, activities. If there is any good we can do to help others to live we will do it with love.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found. Amen.  

The Breath of God

Source of Grace, Love, Forgiveness and Life

Our lives are gifts from God and are filled with many things: family and friends, jobs and professions, successes and failures, heart songs and heartache, sin and forgiveness, life and death. During the season of Lent leading up to Easter we have to opportunity, perhaps even the necessity to reflect on these many emotions and experiences. The following prayer helps me and many others put all things into perspective.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer p. 219)

As we examine our lives with the help of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, we see that God cares about our joys and our sorrows, our sins and successes, our life, death and new life (resurrection).  I share a portion of Ezekiel 37:1-14, the Valley of the Dry Bones, and of John 11:1-45, the Raising of Lazarus, to shine a light on God’s care and love for us as we journey from life to death to resurrection with all that entails for us and for our families.

“The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. . . Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord. . . and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. . .” (Ezekiel 37:1-14) The Holy Spirit, the Breath of God surrounds God’s people through life and death and back to life again. We now go with Jesus to Bethany.

“When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. . .and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world. . . then Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go! (John 11:1-45)

“Lazarus, come out!” “Unbind him and let him go!” Jesus’ words to Lazarus, Jesus’ words to Lazarus’ friends and family are Jesus’ words to us as well. He calls us out from death: from death to our fears, our sins, our disappointments and our failures as well as our physical deaths. We are surrounded by and filled with the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, our chains are broken and we are set free to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves.” (Book of Common Prayer p.305)

Jesus’ Temptations, The Coronavirus and What’s Important

Jesus’ Temptations, The Coronavirus and What’s Important

Possessions, Power, Praise

Or

Family, Friends, Creator, Community

Most of us have known for a long time how fragile life can be, not only for individuals, but for our community, the nation, the nations of the World and the Planet itself. Natural disasters like hurricanes, fires and floods have shut down economies, and destroyed lives and property around the world. Wars and terrorism have done the same in parts of our world. Many of us are also concerned about Climate Change and its effect on the global food supply and the continued and sufficient supply of clean water. We think about these events and possibilities and pray for those affected and for the wisdom to help each other recover from these disasters, make necessary changes to our life style and for the grace to love one another so that wars may cease.

But, I have to admit that I naively never considered that a virus originating on a continent thousands of miles away would infect and kill people around the world, stretch our health care system and food supply chain to the breaking points, shut down the global economy putting people out of work around the world, cause financial markets to tumble and increase the political divisions within our own country.

Having said all this, I want to look at Jesus’ Temptations in the wilderness as a window through which we may find the strength to weather the crisis, remember what is important to us and all the peoples of the earth, all of God’s Children, and find the silver lining behind this very, very dark cloud.

The story begins in Luke 3:21-22 when Jesus is baptized by John and the Holy Spirit descends upon him and a voice from heaven declares, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus is then “lead by the Spirit in the wilderness where he is tempted by the devil.” I believe Jesus’ time in the wilderness was used by the Holy Spirit to allow Jesus to focus, meditate and pray about why God had sent him into the world, what was important in life, what his mission was to be and whether he would accept it (remember he was fully human as well as fully God). The three temptations were his “final exam” before “graduation” and beginning his new job, his mission and ministry.

The story continues in Luke 4:1-13 with these temptations: turn the stones to bread; receive the glory and authority and the possession of all kingdoms simply by worshiping the world the flesh and the devil; jump from the pinnacle of the temple, proving God’s power in him: temptations to possessions, power and praise. These are not unlike the temptations we face as we search, struggle and strive to find what is important in our lives. We too are tempted by “the world, the flesh and the devil.”

I see in this time of Pandemic, a wilderness, not unlike the wilderness Jesus found himself in. I see a physical wilderness and a spiritual wilderness. I see anxiety and fear, disappointment, frustration and physical loss including loss of life. I see the loss of jobs, incomes, loss of investment value for some and worries of not being able to pay the mortgage or rent or feed one’s family for others. I also see partisan politics and anger toward those who have more than we do and fear of those who have less. I believe we are all asking the questions: will we make it through this? How long will it last? How long will it take to recover? What will the world be like when this is over?

Let’s begin as Jesus did, by reflecting, mediating, praying and asking ourselves: what is important to me now?  Are possessions, power, praise my focus and goal, or are family, friends, Creator and community more important. As the Caterpillar Tractor Company advertised years ago, “There are no simple solutions, just difficult decisions.” This was true for Jesus and it is true for us as well. We all, obviously, need a place to live and food to eat and a decent job to pay for this things. We also need a health care system that is prepared, provisioned and well supplied to care for all of us. Like Jesus we also need a vision of who God created us to be, how God created us to live, and a vision of the interconnectedness of the World.  As we said in the 1960’s, “we are all passengers on Space Ship Earth.” Yes there is the International Space Station, but for most of the Seven Billion of us there is no place else to go.

Since we are bound together, whether we wish to be are not, perhaps this Crisis will give us that wilderness experience that will help us learn to “love our neighbor as ourselves,” even those neighbors with whom we disagree about history and politics, economic systems or anything else under the sun. Can we use this time to help those in need, to maintain connections with family, friends, our communities, even if we have to do it for awhile by phone, or Skype or Zoom or standing six feet apart at the Grocery Store. Can we use this time to see the world as a community, a very small community in which one can travel from the United States to Europe to Asia in a matter of hours? Can we use this time as an opportunity to learn that those with whom we disagree about global politics love their country and the world just as much as we do?

I leave you with a poem by Wendell Berry shared on Facebook this morning by my friend Lisa Hodgens.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

May we all be free and may we all be connected. “May the peace of God that passes all understanding be with you now and forever. Amen.

Come and See

Come and See

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John we hear the powerful “Christmas Story” of the presence of Christ with God the Creator in the beginning as all things were created. We hear that this Christ came as the Light into a world of darkness and that the darkness did not overcome it because the Light was stronger than any darkness. “and that Light, that “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:18)

This is a wonderful story of assurance of God’s presence in the world, of God’s presence with us: but, now what? As John’s Gospel continues, we see and hear the beginning of the answer to our question:

“John saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! . . .’ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. . . . One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ He brought Simon to Jesus. . .” (John 1:29-42)

The story does not stop with the Messiah’s presence in our world. It continues as human beings began to experience this presence as John the Baptist and his disciples experience the Light, the Lamb of God, in the fully human and fully divine Jesus, the anointed: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The answer to Now What? Continues as John’s disciples leave him and follow Jesus. The two become Jesus’ first disciples as they ask the bumbling question, ‘where are you staying?’ After all, what does one ask the Messiah when we meet him on the Road? Jesus’ answer to them is the key to life and the key to our calling and our place in God’s kingdom.

Jesus answers them, “Come and see.” Come and see where I am staying, come and see what God sent me to do in the world, come and see what God through me calls you to do.’ As we read, “one of the two was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, who immediately finds Peter and proclaims, ‘We have found the Messiah,’” and brings him to Jesus. My guess is Peter had questions of his own: are you sure? Where is he staying, what must I do? My bet is that Andrew answered, “Come and see!”

And that, I believe, is our calling, our mission from God: to go as Andrew did to our brothers and sisters, family and friends, and those whom God puts into our paths and proclaim “we have found the Messiah, the Anointed,” and take them to him, proclaiming to them not only by our words but by our actions, “Come and See!”

The Word became Flesh and Lived among Us

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. . . And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-18)

“In the beginning. . .the Word was God!” What a great Message for Christmas, God in Jesus present for the creation, a part of all that was, is and is to come. Also a wonderful message for the beginning of a new year, that God became one of us and lives among us, that God moved into our neighborhood and is with us always, even to the “end of the age.”

Our world and our lives are filled with light and darkness, and in times of darkness it is easy to forget that there once was light. Jesus Christ brings that light into the world and reminds us that even in the darkest hours, that light can never be extinguished, that it is always with us.

Times of endings and beginnings allow, perhaps even force, us to reflect on the past, to learn from our experiences both positive and negative; to remember those we have loved and lost and to give thanks for them and their lives as gifts of God to us. These times allow and encourage us to look forward, to realize that “graduation” is also “commencement,” a new beginning, a time to nurture old relationships and to build new ones, a time to discard those things that way us down, and to open ourselves to the possibilities that the Light of Christ brings to us as we begin our next journey around the sun, including living abundantly and fully in the present moment.

In the year just ended, I retired (for the second time), nursed my wife back to health after major Thoracic surgery, was blessed to spend time with my 96 year old mother, including being with her when she died and passed on into the nearer presence of our Lord. I had good times with family and friends and hiked and paddled a lot, enjoying the beauty of God’s Creation. I ended the year with a long hike and the 100^th birthday party for one of my mother’s friends from the nursing home. Throughout the year, through good times and tough times, I lived in the light of Christ which has overcome the darkness.

As we begin a New Year, I invite you all to join me in remembering and celebrating the past year, grateful for God’s presence and Grace, and in looking forward to a New Year, open to God’s Spirit and surrounded by God’s Grace and Truth.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth. (John 1:18)