News 04/10/2020

 

John 19:16B-42

 

So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.'” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”  And that is what the soldiers did.

 

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

 

After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

 

Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”

 

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

 

Reflection

 

It is a core Christian conviction that one who bore the fully realized presence of God was reduced to an object of ridicule, torture, and death.

 

This trauma lurks at the center of the Christian faith, it invites deeply unsettling questions about the nature of discipleship, and it generates the central paradox of Christian living. God died. God died horribly. As followers, imitators, understudies of Christ—people who have volunteered to take Christ’s work on—what is our relationship to mortality and martyrdom? In the face of the structures of injustice that sought to do away with Jesus, are we supposed to die horribly, too? And what, in terms of reverence and worship, does it mean for Christ to be so thoroughly abused?

 

These are questions too broad to be answerable in a devotional, but the irony of the execution of the Divine and the fact of Christ’s embodiment seems especially urgent in these trying times. And so the physical Jesus’ oneness with us material creatures, the puzzlement of his weakness and perishing, deserves some reflection.

 

There is an important link between the healing ministry of Jesus and the redemptive moment of the cross (here I am drawing from Theodore W. Jennings Jr.’s Transforming Atonement). Jesus’ earthly ministry was one that annihilated cultic and physical boundaries between the clean and unclean, rich and poor, sick and well. Jesus violated cultural and religious directives about associating with unclean people. He worked a ministry of materiality that created better conditions for suffering people physically (not just metaphysically). He invited work with and about bodies into the history of redemption, not shaming them for their ailments or explaining them away, but working directly for their fulfillment and healing. On the cross, an instrument designed to dehumanize by reducing people to mere flesh, the glory of God manifest in Jesus takes on that suffering and, in ways so confounding that we’re still arguing about it, does not transcend the fact of his embodiment. He receives the shame of the humiliated, the violence of the oppressed, the vulnerability of the injured, and in doing so recognizes their dignity and affirms their ultimate worth. By being reduced to mere body, the Divine asserts the entitlement of bodies to reverence and care. Jesus erases taboos. Jesus finally and completely proclaims that there is a physical and material character to redemption, one exhibited by his healing and solidified by his death.

 

On the cross, Jesus joins in solidarity all those who have been reduced by the powerful merely to their bodies. Today, Jesus suffers and dies alongside all them anew. Jesus is present with and bears burdens alongside all those who are battling COVID-19, all those who are needlessly dying because the powerful do not think that stable and affordable healthcare is a valid priority, all those who are without proper shelter or financial resources, all those who are working overtime in high-risk positions, all those who are trapped inside with abusive partners or parents. In Christ’s subversion of glory we know that the at-risk and the vulnerable or joined by God over and against the powerful. In Christ’s destruction of boundaries we know that our working for them (even passively through recognizing truth and taking adequate health precautions) is an essential task of discipleship. In Christ’s mission of healing we know that their physical (not just spiritual) redemption is our priority.

 

Christ joins us in radical solidarity by taking our vulnerability onto himself and ultimately promising transformation and redemption not in spite of it but within it. Today, we are exposed to sickness and pain. The cross shows us that our physical vulnerability is not a problem but an ordained reality and a transformative possibility, that our materiality matters. We deserve care, safety, and peace, and we will continue to work for it not apart from reality but because of the reality of Christ.

 

If you are mourning a loved one, know that Christ mourns with you. If you are battling illness of any kind, know that Christ battles it, too. If you are doing the work of healing, know that it is of ultimate significance. And if your corporeal self is placed at risk because of the avarice or hubris of those with more comfort or power than you, know that the Christ of the cross exposes the fallacy of exploitation and promises a new world is coming.

 

A Prayer

 

Redeeming God, in Christ you make your ultimate concern for us known—not because of what we could be, but because of what we are. Fortify our hearts in this difficult time. Join us in our struggles and mourning. Enlighten us as we once again explore the troubling mystery of the cross. In the name of Jesus, our leader, savior, and brother we pray. Amen. — Rev. Wesley Snedeker

“IN THE GARDEN: THEN AND NOW”

John 20:1-18

In reading from John’s Gospel for the Easter sermon, I am struck by John’s understanding of the perfect purveyor of the message.

 

Ladies, an interesting thought: Jesus chooses a woman, Mary Magdalene, to take the first news of the resurrection back to the other disciples.

 

This is a good moment to consider the fact that, in all four Gospels, Jesus entrusted such marvelous news and responsibility to a woman, of all people. This charge is both remarkable and ironic, given the lamentable status of women in communities of faith then, and frankly, ever since, despite Mary’s faithful abiding, and her witness to the rest.

 

And that’s not the only marvel, for Jesus talks with Mary “in the garden,” alone, as one single man, to one single woman, a quietly intimate, heartfelt conversation. If we stop to think about it for a minute, not as 21st-century readers who have experienced at least a measure of progress for women, we realize that this intimate conversation, in a very secluded place, must have shocked John’s earliest audience.

 

At this crucial moment in the Gospel story, in salvation history, a woman, Mary Magdalene, represents that bright thread of hope that runs through the Scriptures like a vein of indestructible gold: God’s trust of the small ones, the ones on the margins, the ones without voice, the prophets whom God lifts up to shine like the sun.

 

When we gather to celebrate the Resurrection this Sunday, let’s marvel at not only the story, but John’s recollection of Mary Magdalene as the perfect apostle to carry the first resurrection message.

 

Join me, won’t you? — Dave

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ALLELUJA IN ALL PLACES OF OUR LIVES!

A SERVICE FOR Easter Sunday

April 12, 2020

Welcome and Announcements

 

Passing of the Peace

 

Call to Celebration

 

We come to this place, seeking Jesus in the familiar story of our faith.

 

Do not meet us only here, O Living Christ, but surprise us with Resurrection power in all the places of our lives!

 

We gather together to sing and pray the story we know by heart, a story of loving triumph and powerful grace.

 

This story of “Alleluia!” means great joy for the One who lives and the ones who witness to this new life in all the places of our lives!

 

We rejoice and thank you for the life of your son, resurrected by the power of your loving, vibrant Spirit.

 

Let this same Spirit fill all the places of our lives, that we may know the truth of resurrection for the rest of our lives!

 

We join our hearts in song and sing “Alleluia! Gracious Jesus!” for Christ is living and so are we!

 

Alleluia indeed!

 

Unison Prayer of Invocation

Good News God, your angels appeared to the faithful women of Jesus’ company, bringing them news more wonderful and awe-inspiring than they could imagine –

 

Christ is Risen!
Surely your angels can interrupt our lives, too,
breaking into our losses and sorrows
and offering a message of tremendous joy to change our lives!
Come this Easter morning, we pray,
and fill us with the joy of the women disciples,
the first witnesses to your resurrection,
that our lives may also be renewed in hope and glory.
Let us roll back the stone of the grave
and sing Alleluia once again!
In Christ we pray, Amen.

 

Gospel Scripture John 20:1-18

 

Message “In the Garden: then and now”

 

Offering Invitation

We are witnesses to the power of the Holy Spirit and the glory of God, and now we turn in thanksgiving to share the good news of forgiveness and grace to all the world. Let these our gifts be a living testimony to those who most need the healing grace of Christ this morning, cornerstones of faith and joy for the entire world.

 

Unison Offertory Prayer
O God, you have become our light and our salvation – let these gifts open the gates of joy to all who hunger and thirst for your holy presence on this and every day. May they bear the gifts of Alleluia which we hold so dear, and give away with great joy. We pray in the name of our Risen Savior, Jesus the Christ! Amen.

 

Prayers of the People

 

Silent Prayer

 

Lord’s Prayer

 

Benediction in Unison
Do not look for the risen Jesus here only, in the confines of our “Safer at Home” existence. We will seek the risen Jesus on the roads and in the streets, in all the pathways and byways of our lives. Do not seek comfort in the familiar, but dare to risk the unfamiliar. We know that Resurrection makes all things new! Do not cling to all the old, expected notions about God, Jesus, Spirit, but go forth and celebrate this truly new Good News. Because Christ lives, new possibilities are ever before us! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia and Amen.