Fire is Kindled

For me, the most significant sentence in the Book of Common Prayer is the rubric at the beginning of the Great Easter Vigil: In the darkness, fire is kindled. The Vigil is observed sometime between sundown on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Sunday. Before the procession begins, the clergy make a small fire from which the new Pascal Candle is lit.

I’ve seen it done with the aid of paper and rubbing alcohol with the flame taken from a prelit candle and I’ve seen it done with a match and kindling, both methods make it less stressful and more likely for the fire to actually catch. I’ve also done it with flint and steel and this method, although time consuming and difficult, more fully fits with the rubric. The fire is kindled, it isn’t taken from something else but made from a single spark.

In the darkness, fire is kindled. In the darkness. The previous days have been dark in God’s kingdom. Through the worship of the Episcopal Church and our own personal devotions, we have witnessed the betrayal and arrest of Jesus and the trial and terrifying walk through Jerusalem to Golgotha. We’ve stood with Mary and the other women at the foot of the cross and watched the life leave Jesus before placing him in the tomb.

Jesus has died and we are left in the darkness. He didn’t vanish, he didn’t go someplace else to hang out for a couple of days, he isn’t resuscitated or awakened on Sunday morning. Jesus is dead and those who watched it happen are in shock and despair.

What now? Why did he preach and teach life and then die. Why didn’t he fight back? Who do we turn to now? What was that he said about raising the temple up?

In the darkness, fire is kindled. A small spark of hope that ignites a small flame. A new life comes to the body in the tomb. In the darkness before the dawn, Jesus is alive again: a new life, not a resuscitation of the previous life.

The mystery and scandal and revolution of Easter morning is that Jesus was dead and now he is not.

And we are invited into this new life with Jesus: a new life in the Kingdom of God here and now. Everlasting life that begins today and with the dawn of every new day so that we, with God’s help, participate in the answer to the prayer ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.

The joy of Easter is the fire kindled by the single spark of hope. Jesus has given us new life in God’s Kingdom, a life grounded in the Love of our Creator. New life created in the darkness. New life given to light the world with the eternal flame of Love.

Let us pray.
O God, through your Son you have bestowed upon your people the brightness of your light: Sanctify this new fire, and grant that in this Paschal feast we may so burn with heavenly desires, that with pure minds we may attain to the festival of everlasting light; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, pg 285)

In the Dark

On this Holy Saturday, we wait in darkness with the women and disciples. We have the privilege of knowing what’s next, but image that we don’t. Sit with them in the finality of the death of the one who preached peace and freedom, who spoke of salvation from the darkness and is now dead in a dark tomb. Sit with them in the questions of despair, in the silence of not knowing.

“Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. They took Jesus’ body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices. There was a garden near the place he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. So, because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it. After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body.”
(John 19:38-42 The Message)

Today we spend in liminal space, a holy place of dependence on the hope we only have with God. What we know is no longer and what’s is to come we know not. It is a time to just be, of letting go and not grasping for what’s next. Just be.

The Goodness of Friday

In five short days, the celebratory cheers and impromptu parade of Palm Sunday have morphed to angry crowds demanding a drama of vengeance directed by fear and produced by hate. The people who had shouted Hosanna now stand with the leaders from whom they had wanted to be rescued. They had asked for freedom but what they really want is power and revenge. They wrote the love and compassion that Jesus spoke of out of the script.

If the events of this day are so awful and horrific, why then do we call it good? Just what is good about this particular Friday?

In the beginning as God spoke this world we inhabit into being, God declared it good, very good. All that God has made is good. Even as we corrupt and defile the goodness of all things for our own will and way, God’s creative work is good.

God takes the terrifying, public display of human hate and redeems it through the personal acts of the few who, despite what is erupting around them, proclaim the glimpses of the Kingdom they witness.

The criminal who chose not to curse and mock Jesus and spoke the truth of the situation.
The captain of the Roman guard who saw Jesus’ true identity in death.
The women who refuse to leave his side.
Joseph of Arimathea who offered the dignity and respect of a traditional burial.

These people show us the embodiment of God’s redeeming word. Time isn’t rewound, there is no do-over. In the midst of the ugliness, the goodness of God is seen and offered and shared. Through this most horrifying method of death, God redeemed the life we had co-opted for our own gain.

The events of this day reveal the ultimate goodness of God’s love for every one: God gave his life so that we may recover the abundance of life we were created for. In Jesus’ invitation ‘follow me’ we enter into the good life that begins with the letting go of, the death of, the life we think we can build for ourselves.

God’s redemptive work happens within and through the brokenness of this world. Every time, with God’s help, we choose to step out of the fray and speak love, to offer dignity and justice where there has been none, to share our vision of God’s Kingdom in the despair of fear, we participate with God in this good work.

The Goodness of this Friday is God’s goodness given to us for the redemption of all of God’s creation.

The Footwashing Way

The Thursday before Easter is called Maundy Thursday. The word Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum and refers to the mandate, the new commandment Jesus gives to love one another as he loves us.

On this day we commemorate the final meal that Jesus had with his disciples before his arrest. Many congregations also offer some sort of ceremonial foot washing as part of the service because before their final meal together, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.

Foot washing was a normal, ordinary hospitality thing in first century Palestine where Jesus lived and preached and taught. Most homes would have a place at the entrance to wash your feet before entering. People walked everywhere and wore sandals or else were barefoot. Sometimes, there would be a servant at the washing station to assist and in the ranking system of servants this was the lowest position possible.

This is perhaps why Peter is so scandalized that Jesus wanted to wash his feet. Yet, this upending of societal norms is precisely what Jesus has been teaching them all along. Life in God’s Kingdom isn’t about rank or position but about being in relationship with God and letting our God relationship transform all of our relationships.

Jesus washed even Judas and Peter’s feet, knowing they’d betray and deny him. Jesus didn’t come and die for us so that we could learn how to earn favor with God. Jesus died and rose again to show us stiff-necked humans that God isn’t transactional. God is God regardless of whether we acknowledge that or not. God loves whether we learn to love as Jesus loves or not.

All that Jesus does reveals God’s love for us. All of us. Each and every human being ever born and yet to be born (yep, even that person). We have the choice to love God or not because God gave us the gift of free will knowing a lot of God’s beloved children wouldn’t choose to love. God’s love has no strings, no conditions, no exception. Regardless of our choices and behavior, God loves us. We don’t earn it. There is no score keeping. God loves us. And when we come face to face with God’s love for us what other sane response is there than to love God?

Jesus gives us the mandate to love as he loves, to love as God loves. Loving and caring for our neighbors, sharing our resources because we want everyone to have some rather than me or even a few having it all, is how we follow Jesus. Let’s not settle for less than God’s Kingdom.

Economy of Relationship

The third test with which Satan tries to get Jesus to be less than he is a test we face every single day. Satan tells Jesus: All this will be yours if you forget who you are. And, the joke’s on Satan – the whole world, all of creation, already belongs to God, even if so many humans have forgotten their Creator.

God has already given us the good life. We don’t have to prove ourselves worthy of it. We don’t have to fight for it or claw our way to the top to get it. We just need to acknowledge and accept that we are God’s beloved children, inheritors of the Kingdom that is already here. The only immigration policy of God’s Kingdom is that all are welcome and loved. The only navigation system we need to find it is to follow Jesus on the Way of Love.

In the Temptation Story, Satan tries to coerce Jesus into being someone he isn’t, to accept less than what is already his, to be less than he is. The abundance of Life that God created us to live is a never ending supply of grace, peace, hope, and love. Why do any of us settle for less?

This story ends with Angels tending to Jesus. God’s love and provision for Jesus’ needs wasn’t a reward for a job well done, it just is. The economy of God’s Kingdom is relational not transactional. When we let life become a series of transactions: I do this for you & you do that for me, I give you this because you earned it, I get that because I deserve it, etc., we are being less than we are created to be.

The act of giving up things during Lent is to help us get rid of that which blocks our vision of God and who we are as God’s beloved Children. Lent is about improving our Kingdom vision. How has God transformed your vision in this time?

We aren’t quite done with Lent, however. We must inhabit the events of the coming days before we can celebrate Easter. We must witness Jesus’ last meal with the disciples before his arrest, the confrontation in the garden, his trial, suffering, and crucifixion, his agonizing death on the cross, and the grief of those who placed him in the tomb. Without this, Easter is just another day in which we accept less than what God gives us.

Don’t skip to the end. There can’t be resurrection without death. There can’t be new life without letting go of the old one. Don’t settle for less.

God will Catch Us

Since you are God’s Son, jump. This is the second of the three tests with which Satan attempts to get Jesus to be who he’s not, to accept less than what God gives us. From the highest point, from the top of the temple, Satan says, “Jump and God will catch you.”

There’s a big difference between jumping and falling. Yes, God promises us that when we fall, when we are in pain and suffering God is with us to bring us peace and comfort. But when we choose to jump and expect no consequences, we are not asking God to keep promises, but to do things our way.

From the highest point, we often get a false sense of security. At the top, we feel successful and that we have arrived at the place where the world says ‘well done’. And this is the very structure and vision of success Jesus comes to undo. The life Jesus calls us to live with the invitation ‘follow me’ isn’t about putting ourselves above anyone else. It isn’t about competing for a limited supply of resources.

The life Jesus calls us to isn’t about keeping God in our emergency kit to take out when we are in the worst of troubles. The life Jesus calls us to is so much more than that. It is life in relationship with God who is always faithful and loves us. We don’t have to test God’s love for us. We just need to accept the gift that is already ours. And when our identity is grounded in the God of love who created us in the divine image, we don’t need to climb to the top. We don’t need to jump to test God’s love for us because we know that God is with us always, even when we fall.

God’s love isn’t earned or proven, it IS. We are, each and every one of us, God’s beloved children and there is nothing good enough or bad enough any of us can do to cause God to love us more or less.

So often, the world around us tries to convince us to settle for less than God’s love. Fall into God’s love and know the security of who you are created to be.

A Test of Identity

As we come toward the end of this Lenten Journey and step into Holy Week, how are you doing?

Writers of the good news story, Matthew & Luke , tell us that as Jesus ended his forty days in the wilderness he was hungry and vulnerable and that Satan tried to take advantage of his vulnerability and shift Jesus’ worldview.

LIfe this last year has been so very difficult for all of us. Stating it like that seems to diminish it and makes it sound trite but know that I have lived the difficulty with you: relationships upended, financial stability disrupted, physical health threatened, feelings of isolation and abandonment, betrayal and distrust on both personal and societal levels.

And, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that In our vulnerability Jesus stands with us to keep our eyes focused by God’s Kingdom.

In the Temptation story, Satan tries to get Jesus to take his eyes off of the Kingdom. We put a lot of heavy negative connotation on the word ‘temptation’ as if the test itself were the sin, but to tempt is just that: to test or to try out. The key point is our response. When we ask God to save us from the time of trial, we are asking God keep our eyes on the Kingdom so that we make Jesus-centered and other-focused decisions and choices.

In this test Jesus is being asked to reveal his true identity – is he truly of God’s Kingdom or is he willing to accept something less for himself to relieve his own suffering.

The first test seems like a simple, even innocent, idea: you are so very hungry, so why not turn some stones into bread to relieve that hunger. I mean, a key part of Jesus ministry to come is feeding people. What’s so bad about wanting to feed himself? And, the good news writer John tells us that Jesus’ first miracle is to turn water into wine at a wedding, so changing one thing into another isn’t it either.

This temptation, this test, is about Jesus living into who he is. Satan says, “since you are God’s son, turn these stones to bread.” In other words, take advantage of who you are for your own benefit, you’re entitled, you deserve it. Go for it. And Jesus’ response puts things into proper Kingdom perspective: Life, real life, life as God intends it, isn’t about getting what we deserve or taking what we want because we think we are entitled. Life is a gracious gift from our loving Creator and Jesus doesn’t accept anything less.

Our life is a balance of physical and spiritual and we need to feed and care for our whole and holy humanness. Even if we were to feast regularly on the finest of foods, we would not be fully alive without also regularly feeding on God’s word so that we are equipped to see through a Kingdom lens.

How has spending more time reading and reflecting on God’s Word this Lent strengthened you? Are you discovering your true identity as Kingdom people, beloved children of God? Is your vision changing?

We’ll spend the next two days talking about the other two tests of Jesus’ identity before we return to Jerusalem on Thursday for the final meal Jesus has with his closest followers. For today, let’s pray together with Jesus:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge! You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.”

The Way of Life and Peace

The readings for Palm Sunday: http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/HolyWeek/BPalmSun_RCL.html

I find Palm Sunday to be a day of emotional whiplash. We begin the service with a joyous parade to celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and as we settle into our seats we transition so quickly to betrayal and death that I think we miss out on details of the entry that can teach us so much.

I get it – we do the whole week in one hour because we don’t expect everyone to attend all of the Holy Week services. So, please indulge me as I situate us in the moment and don’t rush ahead to what’s next. We’ll get to the final meal, arrest, and death soon enough.

Jesus’ itinerant ministry has reached far and wide in three years. His name is recognized and people travel from all over to hear him preach. People seek him out to heal their loved ones and friends. The religious leaders don’t know which is the greater threat to their power – stopping him or letting him continue. People who have been marginalized and told they aren’t worthy to be a part of a community have found belonging with Jesus while people in societal privilege are uncomfortable with his teachings.

Jesus’ closest followers have struggled to understand that the power of God’s kingdom isn’t the same as political power or societal privilege. They, too, even after living with him for three years, still expect the success of this ministry they’ve given up everything for to be measured by worldly standards instead of the ways of God’s Kingdom.

The story of Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem is told to us by all four of the good news writers: Faithful people from all over are gathering in the city of their faith for The Feast, Passover, the meal which God has instructed them to do every year in remembrance of God freeing them from the oppressive power of the Egyptian Pharaohs.

Throughout his preaching and teaching, Jesus has told them that if they follow him, they will be free.
Free from those who think power and control are more important than relationship and love.
Free from our own egos that tempt us to seek retaliation rather than reconciliation.
Free from having to prove ourselves worthy to be loved because God loves us unconditionally.
Free from the competitive nature of this world that says we have to fight for all we can get because God has already given us the gift of everlasting life, the good life we are created for, here and now.
Free from the impossible task of measuring up to the world’s ever changing standards because in God’s Kingdom we are all heirs to all that God has.

They’ve been promised freedom. They’ve been promised life and peace. And yet, this man they want to believe in has no army, no weapons, no wealth. He must have something up his sleeve, right? He’ll save them. He says he can.

Jesus enters Jerusalem not with a pre-organized parade of religious leaders and government officials riding with him in the fanciest of carriages through the main gate, but on a simple donkey, unannounced, and through a side entrance. The so-called parade was a grassroots event of the people who recognized him and wanted to elevate him by the standards of the world’s view of leadership. With their coats and palm branches they attempted to create the pomp and circumstance the world would expect of a great leader.

These well-meaning folks chanted and sang, “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest!” Even seeing his less than spectacular entrance into Jerusalem, they still expected this man to operate in the same way as the current people in power over them.

And the anti-climatic ending to this final entry as the good news writer Mark tells it is almost comical, if it wasn’t so very tragic. “Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. After he looked around at everything, because it was already late in the evening, he returned to Bethany with the Twelve.”

Jesus knows this isn’t the climax of the story, that his entry and the days to come will be considered an utter failure by the world’s standards. Seen from a Kingdom view, however, it is triumphant because it upends every single world standard they knew then and that we know now … because that’s the whole point!

Following Jesus to the cross and beyond isn’t about the world’s standards. It isn’t about fitting Jesus into our way of doing things. We follow Jesus to learn to live as Kingdom People here and now, living the good life God created us to live.

When we rush past the story of this final entry, this Kingdom Triumph, we lose the opportunity to ask ourselves about where and how we set our own standards and expectations on God; to consider when do we try to make God into our own image instead of living into the image of God in all of us.

When we smash the week to come into an hour, we miss the lesson that enables us to see the Way of the Cross as the Way of Life and Peace. We stay bound by our own expectations and standards instead of letting Jesus set us free as Kingdom People.

Beloved children of God, don’t rush past the events of this coming week. Spend time walking with Jesus in the days before his death. Let Jesus shape your ideas of power and privilege. Participate in all of the Holy Week services, either in person if you are safe to do so or online. Don’t go straight to Easter because there can’t be a Resurrection without first being death. We can’t live in the freedom of the new life of Easter without allowing what comes before to transform our worldview to a Kingdom view on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Kingdom Crazy

So I know a few of you think that after yesterday’s post that I’ve lost my marbles. How can any sane person equate chores and spirituality? And what does washing dishes or doing laundry have to do with our Lenten Journey?

In one of my pre-Lent posts, I asked us to consider Jesus’ question, “do you want to be well?” and throughout our journey together, we’ve pondered questions and ideas all intended to retrain our eyes and ears – and hearts and souls – to experience our lives from a Kingdom view. We’ve worked at pealing back the layers to remember our created purpose, to (re)connect to the image of God in each of us, and (re)discover that we are the way God has chosen to reveal Kingdom Love and Kingdom Light on earth as it is in heaven.

Every aspect of our lives is an inseparable combination of physical and spiritual. As much as we like to think we can segment ourselves into family/work/play/other, we can’t. Everything influences and affects everything else. The way we view and the attitude with which we approach even the simplest and most common of tasks like sweeping the floor both affects and is shaped by our most complex relationships and vice versa.

For example, if I see cleaning as a mundane task beneath my abilities or intellect and I hire someone to clean for me, do I view that person as a human being or as a tool to use as I need? Do I even stop to consider this person as I go through the routines of my day leaving a trail to be cleaned up behind me? But, if I see cleaning as a valuable task reflecting the holiness of God’s Kingdom and I hire someone to clean for me, I see this person very differently. I am more aware of the work they do for me and more than likely I’ll not leave as big a mess.

As we step into the last week of our Lenten journey together, how are you seeing and hearing differently? Are you more aware of the signs of God’s Kingdom all around you? Are you more aware that you are a signpost of the Kingdom?

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the day we celebrate Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem before his arrest and crucifixion. We will sing praises to God and joyfully proclaim that Jesus is Lord. This day of extraordinary events is meant to shape and direct our ordinary as we follow Jesus in God’s Kingdom every day.

Kingdom Work

Have you ever prayed while sweeping the floor? As I hear most folks, including myself, talk about the necessary tasks we must do to keep our homes clean, we speak negatively. These are the things that prevent us from doing the other things, stuff we must do before we can do what we want to do. And these tasks are never ending, so it feels almost futile to make the bed that’s just going to get slept in, sweep the floor that’s just going to get dirty, wash the dishes that just end up back in the sink.

Do you think it’s possible to reframe our necessary chores as tasks for the upkeep of God’s Kingdom? Do you think it’s possible to approach these tasks as forms of prayer or to see them as part of the regular rhythm of restoration and new beginnings of God’s Kingdom?

When our faith ancestors tell the story of creation, they said that God put people in the garden to tend the garden, keep it in order, and care for the animals that lived in it (See chapters 1 & 2 of the book of Genesis).

In the letter to the Romans, Paul says, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”

As we look at the daily tasks of our life (I use household chores as my example because most everyone of us as some sort of living space to tend to regardless of the paid work we may do but the idea of all work being kingdom work applies to paid or volunteer work as well1) from a Kingdom viewpoint even the simplest of tasks becomes an act of giving thanks back to God for the life God breathes into us.

Each time that we clean and restore that which has become dirty or out of order, we are participating with God in the rhythms of the Kingdom. Every day is a new day. Every clean dish is ready for a new meal. Every load of laundry restores the purpose of our clothing.

Let God’s love color the way you approach everything you do. Give thanks for the tasks you do knowing God has entrusted you with Kingdom work. We are God’s beloved, created in God’s image, equally physical and spiritual.

1An excellent resource of the Theology of Work is the Theology of Work Project.  Check it out!