Resurrection 2020

Matthew 28:1-10

¹After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. ²And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. ⁴For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. ⁵But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; for he has come to life again, even as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples, "He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you."

⁸So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Prayer

This is the feast of victory for all creation, alleluia!

Loving God of earth and heaven—God of resurrection!
We rejoice in this new day you have made and given us.

Jesus has died
Jesus has been buried
Christ has been raised from the grave...
and opened the gates of heaven, alleluia!

You have brought former things to pass
And you have made all things new, alleluia!

God of resurrection!
We know there's more to come!
Easter day is only the beginning.

Praise and glory, endlessly throughout eternity,
In the name of the crucified and risen One,
Alleluia, Amen, Alleluia!!!


COVID-19

Someone on twitter said Lent 2020 had been the Lentiest Lent they'd ever lented. Every year, slow-moving, reflective Lent segues into the Day of Resurrection, a feast so splendiferous the church celebrates it for fifty days. And...? Amidst this ongoing pandemic, the world can bear no more. We think we know "the rest of the story" because we testify to God as God of life, but – for some reason – resurrection always surprises us. Still. There's more to come! Easter day is only the beginning.


The Eighth Day

Matthew 28:2 There was a "great earthquake" at Jesus' resurrection. And Matthew 27:51 tells us there was a great earthquake when Jesus died! The Greek for earthquake is the same seismic word we relate to the earth moving underneath us and around us. What would Earthquake Lady Lucy Jones say? What do we say when life becomes unsettled? When events unsettle us? What do we do?

Matthew 28:1"After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb..."

Jesus' resurrection happens on the first day of the week, a first day that's also the eighth day. Resurrection on day 8 stretches a week beyond its conventional boundaries to make that eighth day the (surprise!) first day of a new creation. (No little kid would reply "eight!" when we ask how many days are in a week.) Although the NT doesn't mandate a particular day or hour for Christian worship, most churches hold their main services on Sundays, or on Saturdays the vigil of Sunday, because Jesus rose on the 8^th day.

Two thousand years later, we still live in the eighth day theology of God's redemptive re-creation of all that's been broken, discarded, decayed—everything that's no longer alive. As we trust God's action of re-creating and redeeming, we live in hope-filled confidence the Holy Spirit will use us to help redeem and recreate.

To be resurrected? Persons, institutions, structures, organizations, ideas, nature, all need to be dead. Jesus shows us the new creation is not pristine. The risen Jesus Christ had scars and he didn't try to hide them. Isn't that incredibly comforting? Jesus had scars in his Eastered life. Isn't that another reason to trust God's apparently impossible future?

There's more to come! Easter dawn is only the beginning.


Easter is 50 Days

Even as we live every day with eighth day hope, excitement, and newness, before long we'll celebrate the 50^th day of Easter that completes a week of weeks (7 weeks of 7 days) as the day of Pentecost. Commemorating the Spirit of Resurrection filling the world, Pentecost is the third of the church's great trinitarian festivals.

But two millennia have passed since Jesus' Resurrection and since that first Pentecost recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. We look around and see hatred, poverty, and injustice. We still experience disappointments, sickness, dying, and death. Grief. Tears. We go online or turn on the TV and COVID-19 hits us hard. We know agricultural seasons of fallowness, tilling, planting, growing, and harvest cycle continuously, yet our theology tells us Easter, the historical time and place event of Jesus Christ's resurrection – that eighth day that's also the first day of the new creation – marked the end of death and dying, theoretically concluded ongoing cycles of poverty, illness, injustice.

The angel at the tomb and Jesus both tell everyone not to be afraid. They don't command or demand; they reassure us.

There's more to come! Easter morning is only the beginning.


Jesus Goes Ahead of Us

⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples, "He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you." ... ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Jesus will go ahead into places and situations before you do. Jesus will meet you when you get there? He'll already be there by the time you arrive. Going before us to prepare for our presence, our ministry there? Yes!

Jesus shows us the new creation is not pristine. The risen Christ had scars and he didn't try to hide them. How about us? Does a reclaimed riverside, neighborhood, or forest show evidence of its past? Yes, but...?

Matthew 28:7 Jesus went to Galilee before his disciples did—they would see him there because he previously had arrived.

Although we need to live – and work – without fear as God's hands, feet, voice, mind, imagination, and heart, we can trust God already has been at work in the world before God leads us to a particular situation—God has been to our future! Exactly as Jesus promises, God always goes before us before leading us there. God waits for us to get there. We call this the previousness of God, of Jesus, of the Holy Spirit: of the Triune God.

There's more to come! Easter evening is only the beginning.

Maundy Thursday 2020

The Apostle Paul recorded the chronologically earliest account of Jesus' Last Supper–Eucharistic Founding Meal.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

²³For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

²⁵In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Every year for Maundy/Holy Thursday, the gospel reading is John 13:1-17, 31b-35. Here are some excerpts.

John 13:4-8, 14-15; 34-35

⁴Jesus got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" ⁷Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." ⁸Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me."

¹⁴"So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. ¹⁵For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you."

³⁴"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

love one another – Paul G. Hammer

Jesus, how common can you get? Foot washing, bread, wine!
If you're going to be religious, at least use something special.
No, my friend, I came not to perform special religious rites
But to touch the daily life of everyone
With God's love in the commonest of things.

O.K., water, bread, wine.
But isn't foot washing a bit ridiculous?
And what about "this is my body"?
And "this cup is the new covenant in my blood"?

Foot washing is the work of the commonest servant—I came to serve.
But it points beyond to the "washing" of the cross—
God's self-giving service in me to cleanse away estrangement
And heal the distortions in people's lives.

The bread points to nourishment in that same self-giving of God
At work in my body, that is in me.
And the cup points to the new community drawn together and nourished
In my blood, that is in God's total self-giving in my death.

Do you mean that this common stuff of water, bread and wine
Becomes in you the very focus of God's love for me and for the world?
That there is no excuse for my not loving my common neighbor?
Because you have shown the depth of God's love for me?

You've got it!
But it isn't a love for special occasions.
It has to be that daily love that's as common as water, bread and wine!

Wednesday in Holy Week

The second part [40-55] of the 66-chapter long book of Isaiah contains four Servant Songs; the church reads backwards and identifies the servant as Jesus Christ, though the original servant may have been the nation Israel, the writer of these words, or someone else. The lectionary schedules these during Holy Week.

• 42:1-9 Monday in Holy Week
• 49:1-7 [8-13] Tuesday in Holy Week
• 50:4-9a Wednesday in Holy Week
• 52:13-53:12 Good Friday

⁴The Lord God has given me
      the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
      the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
      wakens my ear
      to listen as those who are taught.
⁵The Lord God has opened my ear,
      and I was not rebellious,
      I did not turn backward.
⁶I gave my back to those who struck me,
      and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
      from insult and spitting.

⁷The Lord God helps me;
      therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
      and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
⁸he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
      Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
      Let them confront me.
⁹It is the Lord God who helps me;
      who will declare me guilty?

Tuesday in Holy Week

The second part [40-55] of the 66-chapter long book of Isaiah contains four Servant Songs; the church reads backwards and identifies the servant as Jesus Christ, though the original servant may have been the nation Israel, the writer of these words, or someone else. The lectionary schedules these during Holy Week.

• 42:1-9 Monday in Holy Week
• 49:1-7 [8-13] Tuesday in Holy Week
• 50:4-9a Wednesday in Holy Week
• 52:13-53:12 Good Friday

Isaiah 49:1-7

¹Listen to me, O coastlands,
      pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born,
      while I was in my mother's womb he named me.
²He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
      in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
      in his quiver he hid me away.
³And he said to me, "You are my servant,
      Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
⁴But I said, "I have labored in vain,
      I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord,
      and my reward with my God."

⁵And now the Lord says,
      who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
      and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
      and my God has become my strength—
⁶he says,
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
      to raise up the tribes of Jacob
      and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
      that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

⁷Thus says the Lord,
      the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
      the slave of rulers,
"Kings shall see and stand up,
      princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
      the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Monday in Holy Week

The second part [40-55] of the 66-chapter long book of Isaiah contains four Servant Songs; the church reads backwards and identifies the servant as Jesus Christ, though the original servant may have been the nation Israel, the writer of these words, or someone else. The lectionary schedules these during Holy Week.

• 42:1-9 Monday in Holy Week
• 49:1-7 [8-13] Tuesday in Holy Week
• 50:4-9a Wednesday in Holy Week
• 52:13-53:12 Good Friday

Isaiah 42:1-9

¹Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
      my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
      he will bring forth justice to the nations.
²He will not cry or lift up his voice,
      or make it heard in the street;
³a bruised reed he will not break,
      and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
      he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴He will not grow faint or be crushed
      until he has established justice in the earth;
      and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

⁵Thus says God, the Lord,
      who created the heavens and stretched them out,
      who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
      and spirit to those who walk in it:

⁶I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
      I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
      a light to the nations,
⁷to open the eyes that are blind,
      to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
      from the prison those who sit in darkness.

⁸I am the Lord, that is my name;
      my glory I give to no other,
      nor my praise to idols.
⁹See, the former things have come to pass,
      and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
      I tell you of them.

Lent 6A

Philippians 2:5-11

⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, [though he was] in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. NRSV

^5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

^9-11Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. MSG

COVID-19 Lockdown

With #SaferAtHome #StaySafeStayHome effective at least through April, I'll keep blogging and emailing my SS class notes to people who previously requested them (and easily can add to my mailing list).

Prayer

cf: Psalm 31:9-16 – Matthew 21:1-17 – Matthew 27:11-26

God of Good Friday, God of Easter Sunday
You've been with us during this surprising Lent
Today we join the excited Palm Sunday crowd
Will we join the crowd demanding crucify?
Will we be silent?

Our intentions and our actions have taken us all of those places
We have been sometimes faithful
      Sometimes not
We have celebrated Jesus our Savior
      And denied Jesus any place

God of Good Friday, God of Easter Sunday
You have been gracious to us
Let us be gracious to you!
Awaken our ears to the cries of this planet
These times are in your hands
Your earth is in your hands

Lover of creation in Christ Jesus
Save us in your steadfast love
Bring us to the surprise of Resurrection
      with new spirits, new hearts
      and the hope of a new earth!

In the name of the One crucified and risen for the life of the world,
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord,
Amen!


Lent

The season of Lent that leads us to Easter has been different lengths at different times. Churches that follow the lectionary for their scripture readings generally observe Lent during the 40 days – excluding Sundays – from Ash Wednesday through Wednesday in Holy Week.


Triduum / Three Days

The Service(s) of Maundy Thursday – Good Friday – Easter form a single liturgy. One of my favorite activities is creating a resurrection trilogy by attending Saturday evening Easter Vigil, Sunday Sunrise, and mid-to-later morning Sunday services. This year no one will be able to do that.


Palm-Passion Sunday

On the last Sunday in but not of Lent, many churches start worship by reenacting Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem (with palms or locally grown green branches), and continue to his arraignment, trial, conviction, crucifixion, and death. The gospels of Mark and Matthew tell us when Jesus died the temple curtain tore from from top to bottom, symbolizing the reality of the reconciliation of heaven and earth. The word for tore is one that can't be mended; in Matthew, the earth shook, rocks split open. All creation responded!


Philippi and Philippians

Philippi was a long-time Roman colony, so like the apostle Paul himself, the people Paul addressed in this letter were Roman citizens, yet still colonials. They received a lot of freedom and privilege in return for loyalty to the empire; with their immense cultural pride and financial affluence, they would have considered humility degrading.

First Church Philippi may have serendipitously started the way Acts 16 tells the story:

Paul and his ministry sidekick Timothy went to Philippi in Macedonia, then down to the river on the sabbath hoping to find an ad hoc synagogue, because if there was no local synagogue, Jews would gather at the river to form a minyan or at least to pray together. They found Purveyor of Purple Cloth Lydia by the riverbank, and eventually baptized Lydia and her entire family. Anti-imperial heavenly citizenship begins with baptism; the HS of God creates the church out of the assembly of the baptized! So Paul was founding pastor and probably a kind of mission developer. Philippi was the first church on European soil.

Paul wrote this captivity (imprisonment) letter either from Ephesus around 52-56, or more probably from Rome around 61-62. Captivity letter? Philippians has been called the Epistle of Joy and reveals Paul captured by and captive to Jesus Christ.


Empire / Baptism

In Philippians 1:27 Paul tells the Philippian Christians to live out their baptism via their public, political lives "in a manner worthy of the gospel" as witnesses to Jesus' death and resurrection—not to Rome's or any other entity's life-negating death-dealing imperialism. Paul reminds them wherever they are, their real citizenship is in the earthbound reality of God's reign of heaven on this planet. Anti-imperial heavenly citizenship begins with baptism!


gods and God

In the Ancient Near East (ANE), gods were an ordinary part of daily life. Every city, town, and village, (almost every random mound of dirt) had its own deity. People imagined those gods demanded tribute in the form of money, food, shrines, sacrifices—human or animal ones at worst. People pictured gods being full of vanity and pretension. Aside from deities of place and function, you might find yourself interacting with a half-mortal, half-divine being who was offspring of a human and of a god. In Jesus Christ, we have a savior, a redeemer who is fully human and completely divine. Nothing halfway about him!

In The Message translation of this passage from Philippians, Pastor Eugene Peterson says Jesus "set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human." Those divine privileges would have been ones the fake gods people invented would claim. They were not attitudes or actions the God of the bible ever would have assumed. In other words, being in the image of the real God of Earth and Heaven, Jesus took on the real attributes of that God including love, mercy, service, grace, and forgiveness. In addition, being a real human and like us, inevitably subject to death, Jesus died.

In contrast to human ideas about divinity, the God of the bible especially self-reveals in the cross, in Jesus of Nazareth's crucifixion—and resurrection.


Theology of the Cross

• Theology of the cross is about God's own self-revelation, especially in Christ crucified. Theology of the cross is about God's frequently hidden, paradoxical both/and presence in the commonest things, people, and situations.

• Theology of glory is about human ideas and imaginings of how a powerful, all-knowing, sovereign God might act. Taking this further, theology of glory sometimes is about the ways humans wish God would behave? Varieties and variations of the prosperity gospel are theologies of glory.

• Martin Luther reminds us to see the fullness of God's power and sovereignty, look to the Bethlehem manger – look to the Calvary cross.

• Martin Luther, "The God who became small for us in Christ" ... small enough to die.


Philippians 2:5-11

Almost forever scholars have imagined Paul quoted a hymn from another source, but Gordon Fee, professor emeritus at Regent College, Vancouver says:

If it was originally a hymn of some kind, it contains nothing at all of the nature of Greek hymnody or poetry. Therefore, it must be Semitic in origin. But ... It lacks the rhythm and parallelism one might expect of material that is to be sung. And in any case, it fits very poorly with the clearly hymnic material in the Psalter or in Luke 1:46-55, 68-79, or in 1 Timothy 3:16b, to name but a few clear NT examples of hymns.

In any case, it's not an original by Paul but probably had been circulating around Christian circles. It now has become an "early Christian song."

Lent 5A

Ezekiel 37:1-14

¹The 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. ²He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. ³He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord God, you know." ⁴Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶I 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."

⁷So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." ¹⁰I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

¹¹Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.' ¹²Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord."

Prayer

From all the corners of the earth, come to us, Spirit of God! Breathing Life of the Divine, descend upon your people and on your land and let us live again! In the Name of the One Spirit-sent to carry new life to the entire world, Christ Jesus, your Son and our Lord, Amen!


The Fifth Sunday in Lent

This has become a strange Lent (understatement). Lent comes from an Old English word for spring, and conveys a similar sense as the music tempo Lento. During this season of lengthening days, we've journeyed to the fifth Sunday in – but not of Lent – because every Sunday celebrates Easter. Next Sunday in church we would have been having(!) a dual observance of Jesus' Triumphant Entry (surrounded by palms and cheering crowds) into Jerusalem, followed by a reading of the Passion Narrative. Los Angeles County originally banned public gatherings through Sunday 19^th April, so we definitely won't be together in person for Easter Sunday or for the second Sunday of Easter. However, every moment is Easter and the season of Jesus' resurrection is fifty days long, so hopefully we'll be back on the church campus during the Great Fifty Days.


Prophet / Seer

Sometimes we casually refer to foretelling future happenings as prophecy, but the OT differentiates between seer or visionary (roeh), who peers into the future, and prophet (nabi), who speaks truth to power.

Hebrew scripture uses at least three Hebrew words that translate into the Greek-derived English "prophet" that implies challenging the religious, political, or any establishment. Hospitals? Denominational headquarters? Libraries? County and city administrations? Nabi may be rooted in a word that means to pour down, or spring forth, so imagine the prophetic word as a stream that flows everywhere it goes. Besides roeh and nabi, Hebrew also has hozeh, with a similar feel to nabi.

Like Jeremiah and the 66 chapters of Isaiah, Ezekiel is very much within the classical tradition of Hebrew/Israelite prophecy that brings Spirit-breathed Words from heaven to earth. All three books belong to the writing prophets whose actual words got inscribed on scrolls—contrasted with former prophets whose actions we find in books like Joshua, Kings, Chronicles...


Ezekiel

Like 1^st Isaiah (1-39) and like Jeremiah we've heard so much from, Ezekiel prophesied during the last days of Jerusalem before the Babylonian exile; along with Jeremiah and with the prophet we identity as 2^nd Isaiah (40-55), Ezekiel also proclaimed the word of God into the exile.

Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem resulted in starvation, disease, and despair. Ezekiel probably began his ministry in 592 BCE; he went to Babylon in 597 BCE in the first wave of exiles. For the next decade, Ezekiel preached sorrow and desperation to the Judeans (Ezekiel 1-24), and to the surrounding nations (Ezekiel 25-32). Ten years later, in 587/6 BCE after Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, they deported a second round of Judeans (including the king) to Babylon, and the monarchy ended. For the exiles, being cut off from the J-Temple meant being as good as dead. After news of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple reached Babylon, Ezekiel began to prophesy hope, revitalization, and restoration (Ezekiel 33-48).

Their world had come to an end. Not too different from our current situation. They wondered if the Babylonian gods had defeated their God. Or had God deserted them? [Consider the theology that literally located God's presence in a special way in the J-Temple.] How about us? Have illness, disease, climate warning, various inept administrations defeated God? Did God abandon us?

With its vivid imagery of new life, today's Ezekiel reading for Lent 5 comes from the time Ezekiel's proclamation shifted from sorrow to hope. Just as we do every year, we're moving toward Jerusalem and toward Jesus' trial, conviction, crucifixion, death—and resurrection! Unlike any year we've known, on this Sunday two weeks before Easter, Ezekiel brings words of hope for our current situation with this global pandemic.


Resurrection

The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) that provides our scripture readings pairs this famous Ezekiel dry bones passage with Jesus reviving dead Lazarus from John 11:1-45. Throughout the bible, we find countless hints or "types" of resurrection from death that foreshadow Jesus' own resurrection.

All of us everywhere have been exiled from our conventional lives; not yet having an acceptable "new normal," we particularly need resurrection for each of us as individuals, for our communities, and for our structures and institutions. We need to trust the reality of new life despite the reality of death! During this worldwide pandemic, we need to hear, we need to speak God's proclamation that assures us of resurrection from the dead, the word that brings a future.

Only God can perform resurrection; people and organizations will rise up out of their deaths when the Spirit of God restores them. However, in this passage we see how actions of the "Mortal" Ezekiel, (human one in many versions) help God's promise happen.

Divine initiative and human response interweave throughout this text. God leads Ezekiel to the valley, directs his attention and inspires his words. Ezekiel obeys and speaks God's word. As a result (with no help from the bones themselves—what could the dead do?), God gathers them together and breathes life into them. God loves digging up graves and calling forth new life!

Verses 11-14 place this passage in historical context of Israeli land and Israelite people. However, this text is renowned for applying to almost everyone everywhere in a multitude of circumstances. How about us, "mortal human ones" obeying God's command so God's promise of new life out of death's dry bones will come true?

The Word of God with the Spirit of God results in new life! This passage says prophesy/nabi 6 times; spirit/ruach 9 times. In verses 4 and 14, dabar is the word for God's word-action. In your studies you may have learned dabar is simultaneously both speech and action, just as in Hebrew, listen is both hearing and obeying.

We're in an unusual overall, literally deadly situation as we move closer to Easter; how does the story of Ezekiel in the valley of dead bones begin preparing us for the surprise of resurrection?

Cornel West: "We are people of hope. Why do we party on Friday night? Why do we go to church on Sunday?"

This Story Continues

You know the next chapter of the story of Judah and Benjamin: after the seventy-year long exile in Babylon (at the end of which Persia defeated Babylon), the Persian king gave the scribe Ezra permission to return to Palestine to re-establish Yahweh worship, and also to find officers to administer the land. After he arrived back in the land that included the city of Jerusalem, Ezra began that process.

Lent 4A

Psalm 23

¹The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
²He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
³he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake.
⁴Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

NRSV

Psalm 23

^1-3God, my shepherd!
I don't need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

⁴Even when the way goes through Death Valley,
I'm not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd's crook
makes me feel secure.

⁵You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.

⁶Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I'm back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

COVID-19 – almost the same as last week

To maintain a sense of normalcy during the ongoing Corona Virus global pandemic with its social isolation and uncertainties, I'll keep blogging my SS class notes to send to my usuals. Typically I do that Monday or Tuesday after our discussion so I can include ideas from others – or myself – that weren't in my original notes, so I can add interesting details I didn't get to share with the group, so I even can omit anything that feels semi-irrelevant this time around.

The church's year of grace has reached the fourth Sunday in (but not of) Lent. Not belonging to Lent? Because every Sunday is a little Easter. This midway point has several traditional names and practices. In the North American church, Laetare – or "Rejoice" – probably is the best known. Each Sunday in Advent and Lent has a designation taken from the opening of the Latin Introit or entrance prayer: "Laetare Jerusalem" ("Rejoice, Jerusalem") comes from Isaiah 66:10. Similar to the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete (that also means rejoice, be glad), the idea is to take a short break to lighten up before the somber season continues. As Steve V told us last year, Lent 4 is Mother's Day in the UK.


Fun One this time – Theological Comfort Food!

"The Lord is my Shepherd"—Psalm 23! Easter 4 is Good Shepherd Sunday every year; during our current Revised Common Lectionary Year A, Lent 4 is a good shepherd day, too. Besides translations and versions of the biblical text, there are countless paraphrases of Psalm 23. "The Lord is like my Probation Officer..." Did one-time shepherd King David write this psalm? That's unknown, but any sheep-tender would have known the words and imagery well.

The psalms or the psalter is the hymnal of the synagogue. The psalter was the hymnbook for John Calvin's Geneva Reform. The psalms probably are the Old Testament book most Christians know best. As we've mentioned, technically each week's psalm is our (ideally sung) response to the first reading that's generally OT, but during the Great 50 days of Easter it's from the Acts of the Apostles.

Many scriptural narratives originated in an agricultural setting.

• Abram/Abraham left Ur in Chaldea because of the land God promised: "Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.'" Genesis 12:1
• God commanded Moses, "Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey..." Exodus 33:3a Milk and honey is a sign of the fullness of God's reign in justice and righteousness for all creation
• In the gospel of John, Jesus announces, "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me." John 10:14
• ...but Jesus of Nazareth lived and ministered in a mostly urban, completely colonial context. A well-tended garden or field grows into a city.
• Land is central in both OT and NT; land is central to our existence—well-stewarded land is necessary for our individual and corporate well-being.

We call our church leaders pastor, the Latin word for shepherd. The senior pastor I used to serve with told me whenever he thought of that congregation's founding pastor, he always remembered "pastoral" means "rural." Although green pastures and dark valleys are countrified imagery, we can translate those meadows and canyons into our recent or current psychological and physical realities; sometimes into wonderfully green fields and disappointingly devastated neighborhoods.

Most hymnals have three or four musical settings of Psalm 23. What one do you especially like? My all-time favorite uses the tune Resignation from Southern Harmony; I especially love Randall Thomson's choral arrangement. By the way, I no longer blog YouTube links because videos come and leave YT with the speed of lightning.

How would you express the ideas in this psalm for your current life?

What's in your 6-course dinner?

Please be well and stay well! Stay tuned for Lent 5!

Lent 3A

John 4:5-42

⁵So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. ⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw water,

and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." ⁸(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." ¹¹The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"

¹³Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." ¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." ¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." ¹⁷The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, "I have no husband'; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"

¹⁹The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem."

²¹Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

²⁵The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us."
²⁶Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."

²⁷Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?" ²⁸Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹"Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?"

³⁰They left the city and were on their way to him.

³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something." ³²But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." ³³So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?"

³⁴Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵Do you not say, "Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. ³⁶The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, "One sows and another reaps.' ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

³⁹Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I have ever done."

⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed because of his word.

⁴²They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."

COVID-19

To maintain a sense of normalcy during the current Corona Virus global pandemic, I'm blogging my SS class notes to send to my usuals. Typically I do that Monday or Tuesday after our discussion so I can include ideas from others – or myself – that weren't in my original notes, so I can add interesting details I didn't get to share with the group, so I even can omit anything that feels semi-irrelevant this time around.

Gospels Review

During most of this year of grace, from Advent through Reign of Christ, we'll hear from Matthew's gospel, but today we take an excursion for a story that's only in John and not in any of the synoptics. As we've learned, synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke view Jesus' life and ministry in a similar way: syn=coming together (synagogue, synthesis, synod, synopsis, etc.) + optic=about the eye (optician, optometrist, optimism, etc.). I often refer to John as the "rogue, outlier gospel that almost didn't make the canonical cut." Canon refers to a kind of gold standard or measurement.

John is the latest of the four gospels, most likely written down by a community gathered around John the Beloved Disciple, who probably was the youngest of the 12/13; tradition says John is the one without facial hair in Leonardo's Last Supper painting. The gospel according to John probably brings us the most realized eschatology—the right here and right now of the reign of heaven on earth.

Besides other unique literary material along with a few narratives common to all four gospel writers, John draws upon at least two written sources: Signs and I Am. The "I am" of verse 26 is the “I AM” of the sacred name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14) and the first instance of I Am in John.

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at Jacob's Well

This encounter between Jesus and the unnamed woman demonstrates and embodies John 3:16, "God so loved [the entire] world," not solely one particular group. Jesus and the woman both know all the cultural, historical, and religious reasons they should not have anything to do with each other. Gender, ethnicity, cultural conditions, and religion all come together to forbid it; as John 4:9 informs us, "Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans." Pastor Eugene Peterson's The Message reads, "Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans." We know the cultural and social status of Samaritans in the Jewish world from Luke's parable of the Good Samaritan. From the perspective of most Jews, a "good Samaritan" would be a contradiction.

This incident happens during the midday desert heat, when the area probably would be isolated. Water is essential; water is life. The village well was a community gathering place where people went from necessity; a place where they well may have exchanged gossip and scuttlebutt.

For starters, this Samaritan woman is not a prostitute or a hooker or a harlot, not a street walker, a whore or a "lady of the night." She doesn't have a shady past. Jesus does not call her to repentance. We don't have the rest of her story, but she could be living with someone she had to depend on; she may have been in a succession of levirate marriages with a series of brothers after her first spouse died. In those situations, the woman was not always technically considered the brother's wife.

Although Jews and Samaritans shared the same founding history, they didn't share anything else. However, Jesus and the Samaritan woman meet at Jacob's well, a geographical icon of their common heritage. The woman claims kinship when she says to Jesus, "...our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it."

• Scripture often uses water as a code word and symbol for the Spirit of God flowing out toward us, with God choosing and embracing us first.

• In 4:6 Greek "well of Jacob," is Jacob's spring –  a live spring fed the well with fresh running water.

• John 4:7 "Will you give me a drink?" Jesus didn't ask the Samaritan woman a literal question or directly command her; it was more of a rhetorical question, a polite exchange that recognized the other.

• 4:19 "I see you are a prophet" confesses trust in Jesus; John's gospel connects seeing or vision with faith, with believing. This outsider Samaritan woman is the first witness in John.

• 3:23-24 worshiping God in spirit and truth does away with the idea of a fixed, physical, institutional temple or other gated zone that might exclude individuals based on gender, ethnicity, or behavior. "Truth" here isn't about verifiable data or facts, but about a wide and broad sense of purpose and direction.

• 4:26 Jesus said to her, "I am [he], the one who is speaking to you." Jesus makes this first I Am statement in John not to insiders, but to an outsider: God so loved the world (including God's primal people Israel, of course).

• 4:28 Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city." Jesus never received the water he asked for, and the woman even leaves her water jar behind!

• John 4:29, "He cannot be the Messiah, can he?" carries the same rhetorical tone as Jesus' asking for a drink of water.

• 4:42 Only instance of the word Savior in John's gospel

• This year on the Day of Pentecost we'll hear a direct and highly resonant connection with today's gospel narrative:

John 7

³⁷On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" ²⁹Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Stay tuned! Stay safe!

Lent 1A

Matthew 4:1-11

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. ³The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." ⁴But he answered, "It is written,
    'One does not live by bread alone,
      but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

      ⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
    'He will command his angels concerning you,'
      and 'On their hands they will bear you up,
    so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

⁷Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
      ⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; ⁹and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." ¹⁰Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
      'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
¹¹Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Where we are: There are several ways to describe and organize the Christian year; one way begins by saying the church's year of grace just finished an approximately 3-month long section as we moved from Advent, with darker and shorter days into Christmas and through Epiphany, with more light and longer days, all of which emphasized Jesus as light for all, God as God of all creation and all people. That season also was about us as light to the world!

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the start of the season of Lent that's 40 days long—excluding Sundays. Lent was one of the church's earliest observances, apparently beginning with only a few days, gradually expanding into our current 40 days. There's no "right or wrong," but churches that observe the Three Days-Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, generally count Lent from Ash Wednesday through Wednesday in Holy Week; others go from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday evening.

"Lent" comes from an Old English word for spring and refers to days getting longer, similar to the music tempo Lento or Slow. As a time of repentance and overall slowing, last year Pastor Peg observed Lent is a kind of spring cleaning for each of us. If you don't slow down, dust and cobwebs will relocate themselves rather than leave! Lent brings a special opportunity for confession and repentance; more than anything it's a season to confidently live bathed in grace as we confess, repent, and move in a new, better, direction. Historically Lent was the time of preparation for baptism, with baptisms at the Easter Vigil on Easter Eve or very very early Easter Sunday morning.

We're in Matthew's gospel year. In Matthew's, Mark's, and Luke's lectionary years, the first Sunday in but not of Lent features Jesus' wilderness temptation. This temptation narrative is that important! Jesus goes from his baptism in the wilderness of Judea [Matthew 3:1] alongside the Jordan River [Matthew 3:5-6] into a deeper level of wilderness [Matthew 4:1]. Matthew 4:1 begins with the word "Then" that didn't get into our Sunday worship bulletin.

Then is immediately after Jesus' baptism. We need to remember Jesus did not receive our trinitarian baptism into his death and resurrection, yet his baptism by John still related to turning-around repentance and newness for the entire people of God and like ours, that baptism was identity-forming and affirming. A few weeks ago in the trinitarian theophany (demonstration, showing-forth/revealing of the three persons of the Trinity) of Jesus' baptism, God the Father declared Jesus Beloved Son.

Matthew's gospel emphasizes Jesus as the new liberator Moses and the new King David. Today Matthew brings us Jesus as the new Israel. Like Moses and like God's people Israel, Matthew's Jesus is called out of Egypt [Matthew 2:15] and goes through a wilderness testing time that necessitates his complete trust and reliance on God's gracious provision.

In his interactions with the tempter [devil, prosecuting attorney, etc.] Jesus quotes scripture he has learned being raised as an observant, synagogue-going Jew. Jesus quotes from the Pentateuch book of Deuteronomy with its guidelines and instruction for living faithfully in community; Deuteronomy is supremely about the neighborology word about the neighbor we often talk about, particularly during Luke's lectionary year.

Transfiguration 2020 year A

Matthew 17:1-9

¹Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. ⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." ⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

On Transfiguration we bury the alleluias! Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with ashes that remind us of our own death and mortality. Lent is 40 days, from Ash Wednesday through Wednesday in Holy Week, excluding Sundays that are "in but not of" Lent because each Sunday is a little Easter. Lent is a truly penitential season where many people discipline themselves in meaningful ways such as giving up a food they enjoy, a habit they don't want, taking on an activity to benefit others. No alleluias during Lent because of repentance and an overall low-key sensibility.

The western protestant church celebrates Transfiguration on the last Sunday after Epiphany. For Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some Anglican churches, Transfiguration is on August 6^th. Many Orthodox churches observe Transfiguration for an octave of eight days; the church long has noted particularly important festivals in octaves, so Transfiguration is that important! Some RC churches observe Transfiguration on the Second Sunday in Lent.

All three synoptic gospels – Mark, Matthew, and Luke – include similar accounts of the Transfiguration—metamorphosis in Greek.

One way for explaining the church's year of grace is to consider Advent through Transfiguration a big section that especially reveals God in Jesus as God of all, God for all, with the light of Christ reaching everywhere it shines.

Similar to Jesus' Baptism a few weeks ago, the Transfiguration famously brings us a Trinitarian theophany, a simultaneous revelation/showing forth of all three persons of the godhead.

Throughout OT and NT, we experience creation as the setting or venue for God's historical activity. In Judaism, mountains often were arenas of God's self-revelation.

Traditional and valid interpretations of this event include:

1. You can't stay on the mountaintop forever.
2. The party needs to end because you need to go back to the daily rhythm of life with its public witness out in the world.
3. You can't contain God or put "god in a box." Martin Luther talked about a domesticated god.
3. God is not a place god of one particular locale; God is God of all places, all people, everywhere.

Other ideas:

1. In Matthew 17:1, "Six days later" comes after Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ of God, after Jesus' rebuke of Peter as satan; Transfiguration reveals Jesus full of light as Son of the Excellent Glory, as today's second reading 2 Peter 1:16-19 names God the Father in 1:17.

2. In Luke's account, they've just finished Succoth, the Feast of Booths – Tabernacles – Tents when people re-enacted God's protection during their wilderness wanderings in the exodus desert (Leviticus 23:39-43). Those temporary structures provided shelter from the elements yet people remained exposed to nature, so it's possible Peter, James, and John imagined offering hospitality and protection to Moses and Elijah because their memory of Succoth was so fresh.

3. Late Trappist monk Thomas Merton suggested not only Jesus was transformed, the disciples with him also received a transfiguration that helped them recognize the divine presence in all persons, in all creation.

Verse 17:5 During this literal seeing-with-their-eyes vision of Jesus full of brightness, dazzle, bling, and splendor ("glory," as Pastor Peg emphasized in her sermon) the voice from heaven commands not look at him, but Listen to him! In the Hebrew way of life, to listen is to hear is to obey. Alexander observed how calmly matter of fact the Father's announcement of Jesus' sonship is, without the type of unwelcome intrusiveness we get from too much current advertising.

Moses represents the Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant; Elijah represents the voice of the prophets. Both appeared on the mountain with Jesus we know as the ultimate word of God, the definitive interpreter of The Law and the Prophets. Listen to Jesus! and don't listen to any other cultural, consumer, economic, ecclesiastical voices evokes the Barmen Declaration [1934] from the Confessing Church in Germany in the wake of the idolatry of nazi national socialism:

Barmen Declaration 8:11: "Jesus Christ, as he is attested to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God whom we have to hear, and whom we have to trust and obey in life and in death."

• We can consider Baptism of Jesus and Transfiguration bookends for each other.

• We can pair the unknown mountain of Transfiguration and Calvary Mountain where Jesus was crucified, with both revealing an aspect of God's essence.

Epiphany 6A

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

¹¹Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. ¹²It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" ¹³Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" ¹⁴No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

¹⁵See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.

¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Matthew 5:21-24; 43-45

²¹"You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not murder'; and "whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' ²²But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, "You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire.

²³So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

⁴³'You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous."

This is Matthew's gospel year in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) that gives us our Sunday scripture readings. The synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke all view Jesus in a similar manner (syn=together, as in words like synthesis, synoptic, synergy, synod, synchrony; optic=eye, as in words like optical, optician, optometrist, optimistic, optimal), yet each gospel account has distinctive themes. Matthew especially presents Jesus as the new Liberator Moses, as the new King David. Matthew never lets up on justice and righteousness.

We're still in the season of Epiphany that especially emphasizes Jesus as light, savior, and reconciler of all creation, not solely for the Hebrew or Israelite people. Epiphany means revealing, showing forth, shining out. Last Sunday we talked about us as light to the world, us as salt of the earth. Yes, in John's gospel Jesus calls himself light of the world, but we're in Matthew where Jesus announces us as salt and light!

We can consider Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew (Sermon on the Plain in Luke) a spelling-out of the Ten Commandments. This would have been our third Sermon on the Mount week, but last Sunday we celebrated Jesus' Presentation in the Temple because February 2^nd was a Sunday. With new members being received again today, we didn't program all four of the appointed scriptures, but after we heard the passage from Matthew in Sunday School I read part of the first lection and four verses before.

The Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant [Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5] God gave the people through Moses mirror God's nature and provide working papers for living together as community and out in the world beyond the gathered church. In our Deuteronomy reading, via Moses God insists the word of life is so close by it is in our heart and in our mouths; it is part of us. The NRSV translation says we can observe the word, but better ones say we can do God's word. In his Message translation, late Pastor Eugene Peterson says… Just Do It!!! Moses presents stark if-then contrasts of life/death // blessing/curse.

Matthew's gospel never lets up on justice and righteousness. God created us in the divine image, so God's attributes of justice and righteousness are among characteristics that reflect our divine nature. For us as people of God, justice and righteousness, love and forgiveness for all – including our enemies – permeate everything we are and everything we do. The commandments and the sermon on the mount are paths to shalom and wholeness for all creation. Everything is relational in both vertical (toward God) and horizontal (toward our neighbors) directions. Jesus calls us to treat everyone as a significant other, to practice the neighborology we especially talked about during Luke's lectionary year.

Epiphany 5A

Matthew 5:13-20

¹³"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

¹⁴"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

¹⁷"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

On the first Sunday of Advent Matthew's lectionary year started again. Matthew is one of the three synoptic gospels that view Jesus in a somewhat similar manner. Matthew never lets up on justice and righteousness; Matthew particularly presents Jesus as the new liberator Moses, the new king David.

So far in Matthew: the first sentence announces a new genesis/new creation; genealogy that includes non-Jewish foreigners; Jesus' birth; visit of magi from the East; Holy Family's flight into Egypt where they become refugees from injustice and danger; Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River by his cousin John the Baptist; 40 days of wilderness desert solitude and temptations; Jesus calls disciples Peter, Andrew, James, and John.

Last Sunday was February 2^nd, so we celebrated Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Churches that didn't observe Presentation/Candlemas heard the familiar blessed are beatitudes that open Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as the New Moses.

We're still in the Ordinary Time season of Epiphany that emphasizes Jesus as light of the world, redeemer for all creation everywhere. Next Sunday will be the last Sunday after Epiphany, then it will be Transfiguration, followed by Lent's season opener Ash Wednesday. Today is about us as light of the world – people who radiate like a city on a hill! – and about us as salt of the earth.

Maybe you're heard Kari Jobe's song, We Are

Every secret, every shame
Every fear, every pain
Lives inside the dark
But that's not who we are
We are children of the day

We are the light of the world
We are the city on the hill
We are the light of the world
We gotta let the light shine
Let the light shine
Let the light shine.

By the way, I no longer link to videos because YouTube content changes so rapidly. You easily can find some good performances of "We Are."

This week continues Jesus' sermon on the mount he began by proclaiming attributes or characteristics of people who follow him. These qualities are gifts of grace rather than "be-attitudes" as some suggest, yet having them makes demands for our response—what we do because of who we are. In that sense, the beatitudes are how we are to be, how God calls and enables us to live. Unlike Luke, who has Jesus giving a similar talk on a plain or level place, as part of his "Jesus the new Moses" Matthew parallels Moses receiving the Ten Words of the Sinai Covenant by having Jesus preach on a hill. In real life, Jesus probably gave this or a very similar talk many times so it reached different audiences that could have been his twelve main followers, a mixed group of a few hundred women, men, and young people, a spontaneous gathering of ten or so curious people... flash mob, anyone? As we've discussed, we're welcome to speculate on anything scripture doesn't clearly state, and we sometimes need to be imaginative to contextualize scripture for our own lives.

Over the past few weeks we've talked about light. The song "We Are" calls us Children of the Day. We can parallel that with the OT "Children of Israel/Jacob" and the NT "Children of Abraham": offspring, descendants, people who carry a particular DNA and therefore those traits. We are stardust, we are golden...

Having talked about light over the past few weeks, we focused on salt. The word salary we get paid derives from salt. In some places and times, salt has been a form of currency you can exchange for desired goods or services. Like gold, salt is a fungible currency that has intrinsic value rather than value arbitrarily declared by the government (as happens with paper bank notes or federal reserve notes).

Salt is an easy and interesting topic. Salt adds some of its own flavor, but even more, salt brings out other flavors in the dishes we add it to. Making ice cream. Salting sidewalks to melt ice or so ice won't form. Similar to ways we use sodium chloride, the particular salt Jesus references, we can sprinkle or pour happiness, prayers, concern, gifts, recognition, services, and other graces to people and communities we encounter in ways we use salt. A whole lot at once might be overwhelming, so it's often wise to begin with a few shakes.

verse 20: ...unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees...

Though they often get a bad rap, in this context consider scribes and pharisees good leaders who wanted justice in the community, who tried to keep the commandments to the letter, did everything possible to make the world around them a better place.

Presentation–Candlemas

Luke 2:21-40

²¹After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

²²When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³(as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), ²⁴and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

²⁵Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. ²⁷Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, ²⁸Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

²⁹"Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
      according to your word;
³⁰for my eyes have seen your salvation,
      ³¹which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles
      and for glory to your people Israel."

³³And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. ³⁴Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed ³⁵so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

³⁶There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

February 2^nd famously is Groundhog Day in this country. Other February 2^nd events include the Presentation of Jesus and the Purification of Mary in the Jerusalem Temple. Today is Candlemas—a word similar to Christmas, but rather than Christ's Mass it's Candle's Mass, a day to bless candles for the coming year. In addition, today is St Brigid's Day, and Imbolc falls on approximately February 01, 02, or 03. Imbolc is one of the cross-quarter festivals in Celtic spirituality, in the nature practices of some pagans. Cross-quarter refers to the mid-point between seasons, and conveys a sense of special things happening in creation during those mid-points.

The church's year of grace still is in the season of Epiphany when we celebrate Jesus as light, redeemer, savior for all people everywhere, all creation; Candlemas is a specially festive day of light. Although on Advent 1 we began RCL (Revised Common Lectionary) year A that features Matthew's gospel, today for Presentation-Purification-Candlemas we hear from Luke.

Because it's also appointed for the First Sunday of Christmas in Luke's lectionary year C, so you may have heard it a few times, today's gospel reading brings us a very Jewish Jesus with his parents fulfilling the requirements of the ceremonial (sacrificial, ritual) religious law that Luke refers to as "Law of Moses." Please take note that in this passage law doesn't refer to the Sinai Covenant of the Ten Words or Commandments. Although all the gospels and everything about Jesus is about Jesus as light, savior, redeemer, of all the world, unlike Mark, Matthew, and John, Luke doesn't get very specific about that kind of universalism until the book of Acts, his volume 2. People often cite Acts 10:10-15 when Peter is told no food is off limits, but Acts generally expands into universal salvation as the narrative unfolds. However, here at the outset of Luke, we hear Simeon announcing "...salvation ... in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

Luke uniquely brings us three canticles or New Testament psalms; each of these has a particular place when we pray the Liturgy of the Hours / Divine Office / Canonical Hours.

• Luke 1:46-55 Magnificat – Mary's song in response to the angel's announcement she will become the mother of Jesus. This canticle belongs in Evening Prayer or Vespers, typically sung at nightfall. On Saturday, March 7^th we'll sing Holden Evening Prayer because the LA Marathon will run past the church building on Sunday morning. Come to church at 5 for Vespers, followed by supper, bible study, and dessert bake-off!

• Luke 1:67-79 Benedictus – John the Baptist's father Zechariah's song in response to the news of his son's upcoming birth. We sing or chant this canticle at Morning Prayer, a variable format that generally combines elements of Lauds and Matins.

• Luke 2:29-32 Nunc Dimittis – Simeon's song in response to recognizing the presence of the savior of the world before him. Nunc Dimittis is the canticle for Compline or night prayer, and we sometimes sing or pray this canticle as we conclude the Eucharist. Martin Luther and John Calvin both include the Nunc Dimittis in at least one of their Eucharistic liturgies.

From the actual bible text we know the ages of some characters in scripture, but as Pastor Peg pointed out there's no mention of Simeon's age, but most artists illustrate him as an old man, probably because Anna really is quite old?