For They Were Afraid

The Gospel of Mark starts with Jesus' baptism, there is no birthday story, no background, just jumps right in with his baptism, driven into the wilderness to be tempted, proclaims, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." Plucks Simon and Andrew up which they mend their fishing nets, heals Simon Peter's mother-in-law and she immediately gets up and serves them. (How many times does Mark use immediately?) And the next morning gets up early and while everyone is searching for him, he is heading to the next town. It is like a big movie opening that grabs everyone's attention and it doesn't slow down.

Did you ever watch Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail? There was to be this final battle of King Arthur with his forces and the God's blessing and just as the battle commences, modern police show up and arrest everyone and the movie is over and we are left scratching out head, "What just happened?" The end of Mark is just as confusing, for we read the original final eight verses of the Gospel. Three women, waiting for sunlight, finds the stone rolled away and a young man dressed in white sitting where Jesus' body should be and told not to be afraid, but go and tell the disciples that Jesus is risen and going ahead of them to Galilee. They leave, they flee, the get the "H-E-double hockey sticks" out of there. And they don't say anything to anyone, not a single word, not a peep, because they are afraid. End of Story! Two other communities or writers added to it eventually because they needed more.

But let's stay with this story, this gospel. The writers and the hearers didn't believe that was the end. How could it be, because we are hearing it so somebody must have said something eventually, right? This gospel was written about 30 years after these events taking place. The writer or writers didn't think they needed more than Jesus predictions of his death and resurrection and the word of the three women who was told by the messenger, maybe an angel. Even though it abruptly cuts off with no explanation, Mark's gospel story sustained the early Christians and inspired others to share the story of Jesus and of God's love.

We can all relate to being afraid at times or all the time, and unsure and wondering if this is the end. Can we relate to having the story unfinished but still buying into it? Whether we are talking about Jesus' resurrection, Jesus second coming, or universal healthcare which someone mentioned at our Maundy Thursday Supper about what would like coming kingdom would look like. Do we have a strong enough faith to believe in the goodness of this world and creation? Do we have enough hope not just that the world can get better, but will get better? Do we have enough love for God, the world, our neighbors, and even those who may consider us their enemies? Faith, hope, and love will remain, Paul the Apostle tells us, and the greatest of these is love.

God is good! (All the time!) All the time! (God is good!) We are here because there is something more than bad news in our world, in our future, and he who dies with the most money wins. We are here because we believe in Spring and life comes back. We are here because we have found some connection, some community that helps us get up and move forward. There is a God of love, whose image, every person in this world is created from. Each and everyone a miracle and blessing. We are here because we have found in Christ, in his teachings, in the healings and miracles, in the death and resurrection, and in the ongoing covenant through the body of Christ, the church, love, grace, and a call to do justice.

On this Easter Sunday, let us worship the Lord of Life, against whom the powers and principalities that divide the human race, oppress it, starve it, harm it and the world in which we live cannot and will not prevail. Amen?

Great is your Faith

Who knows about the passenger ship St. Louis during WWII? It was a ship filled with mostly German citizens, who were Jews trying to flee the Nazi regime that was supposed to go to Havana, Cuba. When it arrived in Cuba, the government changed its mind and the ship went up the East Coast of the United States, looking to dock and save the 937 passengers from what was going on during the Holocaust. Cables were even sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt but went unanswered because of the "American First" propaganda was strong in our nation. During our trip to Washington, DC and the Holocaust Museum, as we were talking about it the night before, I mistakingly told the youth that Anne Frank and her family were on that ship sitting in the New York harbor just out of reach of safety before they were turned back to Europe. The Frank family did apply for refugee status here in America, but were denied, again, because people and leaders didn't think or act that their lives mattere

Going up the Mountain

Who heard of St. Anselm? He was a Bishop in the 11th century who put the final nail in the coffin of the theology that says that Jesus died to pay a debt to Satan so we can be released and go to heaven. Yes, for the first thousand years, most Christians thought Jesus died to pay a ransom to Satan to free us. St. Anselm thought if God was truly God and no one could stand against HIM, then nothing was owed to Satan. Then how this goes is that the debt wasn't owed to Satan but to God. St. Anselm lived in a world dominated by the church and kings, nobles, and a time when honor wasn't about doing the right thing, but who had the power. And because we weren't God, we didn't have the power, so we were slaves, servants, chattel to God whose very existence was an affront to God, until Jesus paid for our very lives and souls and then, then we had a chance to get into heaven. This fermented and grew until it became the individual quest for salvation that was removed from our worl

Water and Spirit

In our New Century Hymnals, in the front we have different services for us to follow, on page 31, we have the Service of Baptism. On page 33, it has a series of questions for those the parents and sponsors/godparents who are asking for their child/children to be baptized. Here are some of the questions: Do you desire to have your child baptized into the faith and family of Jesus Christ? Will you encourage this child to renounce the powers of evil and to receive freedom of new life in Christ? Will you teach this child the they may be led to profess Jesus as Lord and Savior? For you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ's disciple, to follow in the way of our Savior, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ as best your able? Do yo promise, according to the grace give to you, to grow with this child, in the Christian faith, to help this child to be a faithful member of the church of Jesus Christ, by celebrating

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