Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:27-30

April 21, 2013

A sociologist was researching a new book in which he planned to show the burden, misery and cost to society resulting from large families.

He interviewed the mother of 13 children.

After taking down information about their ages, family income, and other data, he asked, "Do you think all children deserve the full, impartial love and attention of a mother?"

"Of course," the woman replied.

Hoping to catch her in a contradiction, the interviewer continued,

"Well, which of your children do you love the most?"

The mother answered, "The one who is sick, until he gets well; and the one who is away, until he gets home."

A parent's love for his/her children mirrors the love of the Good Shepherd for us:

to love fully and totally,

 to love regardless of the cost,

to love without limit or condition,

to love even though such love may not be deserved or appreciated.

Christ calls each one of us to the vocation of being "good shepherds,"

 imitating his image of loving servanthood:

to bring compassion and healing to the sick, the troubled and abused;

to bring back the lost, the scattered and the forgotten;

to enable others to move beyond their fears and doubts to become fully human;

to pay willingly the price for justice and mercy for all members of the "one fold."

Easter Sunday of the Ressurection of the Lord

Luke 24:1-12

March 31, 2013

There's a fascinating detail in John's account of Jesus' resurrection regarding the burial cloths of Jesus.

The evangelist makes a point of where Peter and the other disciple find the wrappings.

The shroud and cloths in which Jesus' body was wrapped and bound are found on the ground;

the cloth that covered Jesus' face was rolled up separately.

It seems very deliberate, planned.

Whatever Mary and Peter and the disciples saw Jesus wearing in his appearances on Easter morning and evening gave no indication of his excruciating passion;

his Easter garb was not the shroud of the dead.

Jesus left the bindings of death behind.

Forever.

On this Easter morning, many of us are wearing new Easter clothes, as well -

new shoes, new dresses, new suits, new ties, new sweaters, new slacks.

After a long winter, we are finally able to leave the old dark colors of winter behind and put on the colors of the long awaited spring.

The custom of wearing new outfits at Easter originated with the early Church.

When the newly-baptized emerged from the pool of water at the Easter Vigil,

they were dressed in new white robes as a sign of their "putting on Christ."

They left behind their old lives in the baptismal waters,

emerging from the pool re-born into the life of the Risen Christ.

Even the Christians who had been baptized in previous years dressed in new clothes at Easter to indicate that they, too, were reborn through the penance and prayer of Lent.

So the new outfit you are wearing today is part of a custom dating back to that first Easter morning:

your new clothes are nothing less than a profession of the faith in the resurrection of Christ.

Our new Easter finery notwithstanding, we do live our lives as if wrapped and bound in burial cloths -

shrouds that we spin for ourselves out of our fears, our doubts, our prejudices, our narrow-mindedness.

We cling to the safe wrappings and things of the "dead,"

afraid or intimidated to "live" the life of God;

we can't seem to put aside the things of the "dead" to take up, instead, the things of God.

Easter, however, calls us to newness:

a newness of attitude, of perspective, of spirit.

The grace and hope of the Risen Jesus enables us to put aside the shrouds of fear and distrust that cover us,

to walk out of the tombs of vengeance and anger that imprison us.

The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

Luke 24:1-12

March 30, 2013

It is night, the dusk of the 20th century.

And every age gets the heroes it deserves.

Or rather, our artists look into our collective soul and give us tales that echo what they see there.

In these days, we no longer tell stories to each other.

Instead, we watch them together.

What models of virtue have our creative types dredged up from the communal yearning?

Who are the heroes that engage our attention these days.

These days and nights that are the dusk of the 20th century?

It's easy to find the answer.

I remember once picking up the Virginia Pilot and checking out the list of the top 20 video rentals in Tidewater.

There's the manic Mel Gibson of the Lethal Weapon series;

the brooding Steven Siegal who is Hard To Kill;

the dark knight of Gotham known as Batman;

and, best of all, a hero who is literally-- while not out of his body-- at least out of his skin.

The appropriately named Darkman, perhaps the most representative icon of the desires that drive us.

Notice: all of these "heroes" are flawed.

What drives them is vengeance.

They are out to right a wrong that has been done to them.

But we cannot approve that entirely because it seems, well, a bit selfish.

We side with their quest for justice even as we hobble them with our disapproval.

So we label them as heroes of the dark, of the night.

By defining them negatively, we keep our distance even as we applaud their exploits.

Did any of you who saw Darkman not secretly hope that he would succeed in ridding the world of the people who had done him in?

Of course not.  Like me, you kept hoping him success all the time knowing it was vengeance-- not justice-- that fired his soul.

These dark heroes.

They are us.

We told our artists, whose antennae are most sensitive to the currents coursing in our souls,

that this is how we would like to see the universe:

One flawed person standing against many enemies and overcoming them through extraordinary endeavors.

It is night, the dusk of the 20th century.

And we have gathered here to listen to the story of a hero who swims against the tide created by these dark knights of our contemporary spirit

Literally, "swims against the tide" because water is such an important element of our gathering.

This Jesus is not Darkman but Lightman!

He is not out of his body but in it-- in it to an extent that will astound us when we ourselves experience it in our personal resurrections from the dead.

It is night, the dusk of the 20th century.

O blessed night in which we celebrate our corporate vengeance over evil!

This is no selfish adventure we share this evening.

There are new heroes here, waiting to be born of the water and the Holy Spirit.

What we do is not for ourselves alone.

Our story will not allow it.

It is never enough to create the good life just for ourselves.

Jesus will not allow it.

We have touched our hero's cloak and life will never be the same.

It is night, the dawning of a new age even as those around us turn out so many lights.

We lit a fire tonight and shared it.

That was not just a symbol.

That is what we are about as co-heroes with Jesus.

We must cast that fire upon the earth and light up the night in which prowl the contemporary Batman and Darkman.

It is night, but we are about to bless water that will bathe bodies with the anointing of life.

It is no longer dark and dangerous.

Our God has led us through the waters into the light.

We may blink but that is to our credit.

Outside this sacred assembly, our eyes are veiled.

Here, we see.

That is why we can say:

It is no longer night.

Friday of the Passion of the Lord 2013

Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

John 18:1-19:42

March 29, 2013

It is incredible, this act of tenderness, washing their feet:

Touching, caressing what was most common about them,

What was reserved usually for the lowest of slaves (someone who didn't matter.

There was nothing about them he did not love, could not forgive

I think that is what bothered Peter so much.

Peter knewCknew that, in this simple act, Jesus was reaching beyond camaraderie, beyond a simple wishing well or liking much.

Jesus loved them, him!

And that love was a black hole for Peter.

It terrified him, sucked him in and down:

YOU WILL NOT DO THIS FOR ME.

I CANNOT TAKE IT.

I CANNOT TAKE YOUR LOVE.

I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO LOVE ME WITHOUT BOUNDARIES.

IF YOU LOVE ME, STOP!

STOP NOW BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW I WILL EVER BE ABLE TO LIVE WITH IT.

I DON'T KNOW HOW I CAN BE "ME" IF YOU LOVE ME.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND, JESUS?

LOOK AT ME, JESUS.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

And then, it's Jesus' turn to speak.

PETER, IF I DO NOT LOVE YOU, THEN THERE IS NO HOPE FOR YOU OR FOR ME.

PETER, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?

I HAVE TO LOVE YOU, PETER, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE SENSE OUT OF MY LIFE AND MY DEATH.

I CANNOT DIE FOR AN IDEA OR A CAUSE.

I CANNOT DIE BECAUSE I AM ANGRY OR FRUSTRATED.

I CANNOT DIE A MARTYR, SOMEONE WHO IS LARGER IN DEATH THAN IN LIFE.

PETER, THIS IS WHO I AM, AND THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I UNDERSTAND THE WORD "GOD."

PETER, IF YOU CANNOT TAKE THIS, WHO CAN?

IF YOU CANNOT TAKE THIS, THEN WE ALL MUST LIVE WITHOUT GOD

This is the terrifying truth of this night:

This is why it's so important for all of us to be here on this night:

If you who have had your feet washed, if all of us cannot take this love without boundariesC

This black hole that sucks us in and demands some response from what is deepest and truest in usC

That forgives us in advanceC

Then we must all live without God

And that is equally terrifying to me.

I cannot live without God.

To understand that I cannot live without God is to understand two things:

I cannot live without God's love (however terrifying and life-altering that can be)

And I cannot live without youCeach of you

Somehow, they are both the sameCGod's boundless love and you.

That is what Jesus knew.

That is what terrified Peter.

That is what you and I cannot forget.....each time we break the bread and share in the one cup.