8 Questions for Children of the Promise on the Fourth Sunday in Lent—a Sermon (With reference to Deuteronomy 15:1–11, Galatians 4:26–5:1 and John 6:5–14)

Jesus and his words in the Gospel is where we’ll start this morning. Gospel verse 5—Jesus

looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him…

Not really our experience these days. The nearest things for us might be our Cathedral Arts Festival and St Nicholas events. Or, might there be another example of our equivalent of that large crowd? Are there people we might be being called to feed and are we being called to feed them physically or spiritually, or both? Then, verse 5 again: 

Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”

What is it we think we don’t have enough of? What might we need to buy, borrow, create, give to feed the people around us? 

Verse 6: Jesus

said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

Is Jesus asking us a question to test us today and does Jesus intend to do something surprising, even miraculous, through us?

Verse 9. Andrew said to Jesus: 

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 

Is there anybody here who happens to be like that boy who has something which doesn’t seem to be enough but which Jesus is planning to transform and expand to feed our crowd? 

Verse 10. Words of Jesus again: 

Make the people sit down. Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.

We might not have a great deal of grass here. We have a nice lawn under the snow out there. And a beautiful grassy park at the end of our street. And we have this church and our community events—what more? What else? 

Then verse 11. 

Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.

What am I—are you—are we—being called to take, give thanks for and distribute to our “crowd?”—as much as they want? 

Words of Jesus v12. 

When they were satisfied, he told his disciples,  “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

What are the fragments, if any, we are to gather up? 

Finally. In this Gospel passage, verse 14. 

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

Do we have any signs to show? Are there new ways for us to say, “Jesus is indeed the Saviour and Lord who has come into the world?” out loud? 

As we ponder, pray and discern how we are to follow the example and instructions of Jesus—our other readings give some guidance. 

For example, look at verse 28 in the Epistle 

Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac.

What are children like that like? I find an evocative description in 2 Corinthians. : 

every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in Jesus. Therefore, through Jesus we also say “Amen” to the glory of God. 21 Now it is God who strengthens us…in Christ, and who has anointed us. He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. (2 Corinthians 1:20–22, CSB)

Children of the promise are called to demonstrate and live out that “Yes” in Jesus. 

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. Who is adequate for these things?  (2 Corinthians 2:14–16, CSB)

As children of the promise, with God’s seal on us and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we are more than adequate.  

For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.  (2 Corinthians 4:6, CSB)

So, in order to feed our crowd, we spread the fragrance of Jesus wherever we go and we shine with the the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. 

As Henry, Roman Catholic Bishop of Calgary, once told us at an Anglican clergy gathering, “If you’re saved, inform your face!”

AND. Something else from our Deuteronomy lesson that children of the promise do. Look at verse 4:

There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, 5 if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.

11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”

Obey God’s commandments and be generous with God has given us.

So, we behave and smell Iike Children of the Promise in Galatians and 2 Corinthians, and we obey the commandments of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, we worship, pray and search the Scriptures for God’s guidance in answering these 8 questions arising out of this morning’s Gospel: 

1. Who, or what, is our crowd?
2. What is it we think we don’t have enough of? 
3. How might Jesus be testing us today and does Jesus intend to do something special, maybe even miraculous, through us?
4. Is there anybody here who happens to be like that boy who has something which Jesus might transform and expand to feed our crowd?
5. What and where is our grassy place?
6. What am I—are you—are we being called to take, give thanks for and distribute to our “crowd?”—as much as they want? 
7. Do we have any fragments to gather up? 
8. Do we have any signs to tell people about? 

Finally, and back to the Gospel v11. To summarize: we take all that with which God has provided us, we give heart-felt thanks for it and we share it with those in need.

Ten Things…

Ten things to know, pray for and do from the Bible readings appointed for the day according to the Canadian Anglican Online Lectionary on this Ember Day in Lent: 

1. Lay up God’s words in my heart and in my soul and teach them to my children (Dt11.18-19)
2. God said, “I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring.” (Isa44.3)
3. Make disciples (Mt28.19)
4. Hardness of heart grieves Jesus. (Mk2.6)
5. Jesus is praying for me/us. (Jn17.9)
6. God’s word is truth. (Jn17.17)
7. The LORD when he comes will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the (my) heart. (1Cor4.5)
8. Do not go beyond what is written. (1Cor4.6)
9. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be found in Christ. (Col2.3)
10. There are excellencies to proclaim (1Pet2.9)

Feeding Five Thousand—or Less: Thoughts in the Week after the Fourth Sunday of Lent

Jesus asks pointed questions. Always has, always will. No matter how I slice it, he gets me where I live. For example in last Sunday’s gospel, to test Philip and the other disciples, he posed this beauty: 

Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat? (John 6.5)

Simple enough. Perfectly reasonable on the surface and yet any Parish Priest, Vestry member or disciple knows it’s impossible. 

I can just see the look on his face. Eyebrows raised a little. Lips pursed and drawn to one side. Looking skyward. Waiting. Rather like the look on Stephen Fry’s Jeeves’ face when he asks Bertie one of his leading questions in the Jeeves and Wooster series. 

Jesus still asks such impossible questions. Especially when the equivalent of some hungry crowd is bearing down on me. How am I to provide for their needs? And there you are. There we are in our little Anglican (or fill-in-the-blank) churches. Jesus testing us to see if we’ve been paying attention. Reminding us that somewhere close by there is someone like that little boy—or a little girl in the crowd, a teenager or an elderly saint nobody pays much attention to in our congregation—someone with something Jesus knows the crowd, or its equivalent, needs. 

If only I, like Andrew, could see them. 

Impossible. What they have never seems to be enough and is usually not neatly sliced. But when obediently and prayerfully placed in Jesus’ hands, they become a miraculous cornucopia of blessings. More than ever you or I could ask or imagine. And once Jesus has finished doing that infinitely more thing he does so well we are left amazed—wondering what on earth to do with the leftovers. 

I’ve got to get better at listening for those questions, keeping my eyes open, handing what I see over to Jesus, doing what he says with it and preparing to deal with lots of leftovers. So do we all. You never know when The LORD—the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—might decide to rain bread and glory (Ex 16.4, 7), or some other thing or blessing he has waiting in the heavens for whoever is bearing down on us hungrily. 

What might might help me to do that? The other two readings have some pointers. Stop my grumbling (Ex 16.2, 7, 8) and do what I’m told. Live free and in the Holy Spirit (Gal 4.26-5.1, Ro 8.2) rather than letting myself be hobbled and spiritually paralyzed by fleshly desires and habits. No matter how I slice it, Lent is a good time to work at that by honing up my spiritual disciplines and fanning my Holy Spirit-given gifts into flame “by self-examination and repentance, by prayer, fasting, and self denial, and by reading and meditation upon God’s holy Word” (BCP, p612). 

Note: I realize that not many of you would have heard the gospel lesson we did at St Mary the Virgin in Regina last Sunday. Canon Claude Schroeder, our Rector, uses the BCP Epistles and Gospels during Lent. He believes that they have a important and consistent seasonal theological integrity. I’m inclined to agree. So we heard Ex16.2-7, Gal 4.26-5.1 and John 6.5-14 rather than the RCL’s readings o the day.

Gene+

A SaskLent: Snatched from the Jaws of Safety and Comfort in the Nick of Time—Again!

Jesus, who sets out and knows all our paths and resting places (Ps139.2), led us here to King’s Cottage in Regina.  After a few months of wintery settling in we are now observing our first SaskLent in this new season of our lives (there are many “Sasky” things in Saskatchewan—SaskTel, Energy, Power, Jobs, Health, Sports—you name it). Our SaskLenten self-examination will be a continuation of all the self-examining (and some self denial) that the move visited upon us as we left family and friends behind, culled our worldlies by a third and began the process of discovering what it is to settle into a new church and community where we haven’t come for the purpose of assuming some “official” role. We’ve been rather SaskStripped down exposing some emotional and spiritual nerves I didn’t know I had. As those nerves continue to jangle the rest of our Lenten disciplines of repentance, prayer, fasting, reading and meditation upon God’s holy Word (BCP, p611) are making for commensurate and somewhat gnarly devotional fare.

Recently, while looking for references to Ronald Rolheiser for my previous post, I came across this quote from Goethe:

The dangers of life are many and safety is one of them. 

As I reflect on the life we’ve left behind with all its comforts, familiarities and securities I wonder if this new jangled and rather disconnected state of affairs is actually a God-given escape from a dangerously safe situation? If so, I wonder why I’ve made so many such escapes from safety and familiarity in my life? Immigrating from New Zealand in 1974, moving from Winnipeg to Calgary in 1980, from Calgary to Saskatoon and seminary in 1988, to Airdrie and our first parish in 1991, Medicine Hat and St Barnabas in 1999—and now this. I must have unwittingly faced and escaped from a lot of danger in my life. Snatched from the jaws of safety and comfort in the nick of time—again!

And not only that. Rolheiser also wrote this about how Paul, after he had been knocked over and heard the voice of Jesus on the road to Damascus

Got up off the ground and walked into his ecclesial future “with his eyes open, seeing nothing” (Acts9.8)—which is a marvelous description of all of us on the day when we made our commitments in marriage, parenthood, priesthood, religious life, or any other deep vocation, we stared ahead into the future with our eyes wide open, seeing nothing, and walked, probably with some enthusiasm, into that future. (Seeking Spirituality: Guidelines for Christian Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century, Hodder & Stoughton: 1998, pp118-119)

And so here we are. Eyes front and wide open. Looking to the future. Wondering what’s next after having just been through our personal Medicine Hat to Regina version of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter. We've been SaskStripped and immersed in SaskLenten self-examination, repentance, prayer, fasting, reading and meditation upon God’s holy Word.

It's SaskGnarly, SaskNerve-wracking, SaskExciting and very SaskGood all at once.

Gene+

Jesus is LORD! Thoughts on a Lenten Ember Day 3

Jesus is LORD! And he will remain so no matter what. Councils of the Church come and go as do General Synods. We get it right and we get it wrong. Consistently. Participating in the Councils of the Church can be discouraging.

Not long after we accepted the call to St Barnabas in Medicine Hat in 1999 I decided (I hope with The LORD’s prompting) I needed a Spiritual Director. Since I could find no one who had set up shop in The Hat and didn’t want to drive to Lethbridge or Calgary, I decided I’d just approach one of the Roman Catholic priests in town and ask if he’d take me on. Why Catholic? Because Spiritual Direction is in their DNA. When a postulant for the priesthood arrives at a Catholic seminary he is assigned a room and a Spiritual Director. So I approached Fr Wendolin Rolheiser at what was then Christ the King Roman Catholic Church. He wasn’t keen on the idea and no wonder. Catholic priests tend to deal with huge congregations. They have more than enough on their plate. Eventually, praise God, he agreed to take me on and he was excellent. A great blessing.

Why am I telling you this story? Because, in one of our early sessions he gave me a book to read that his brother, Ron, had written. “Oh, no!” I thought. Now I have to read this book by somebody I’d never heard of and I probably wouldn’t like it and I’d have to say nice things about out of politeness for Fr Wendolin’s sake. The book was Seeking Spirituality: Guidelines for Christian Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century (Hodder & Stoughton, 1998) and it was excellent! Ron Rolheiser is also a priest. He and Wendolin were born and raised in Saskatchewan. Fr Ron is now the President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, and the author of many books. He continues to write columns of spirituality and faith on his blog (http://ronrolheiser.com/en/) and for publications all over the world.

In a recent column Rolheiser wrote about how a group of Christians were discouraged when something they’d planned didn’t work out whereupon William Stringfellow, a lay theologian and activist of the time, told them that in their disappointment he wasn’t hearing anything much

about the Lordship of Jesus. We talk as if we need to save the world, as if everything depends on us. Well, it doesn’t. In the resurrection of Jesus the world is already saved, the powers of death and darkness have already been vanquished. We, we only need to live in such a way so as to show that world that we believe this. (Read the whole column here.)

It’s true, of course. The Lamb wins. So let’s enjoy that truth as we pray through Lenten Ember Day 3 today. The Church waxes and wanes in its faithfulness. So do you and I, but never Jesus.

The Tree of Life—Thoughts on a Lenten Ember Day

Jesus is perfect. The Church is not. Yet. If you or I were ever to find a perfect one we’d ruin it by joining it someone said or wrote. I’ve experienced plenty of the imperfections and contributed to them, too. But I’ve experienced more of the goodness—quiet encounters, moments in worship, joyful baptisms, weddings and funerals—where, because of perfect Jesus, imperfect people in an imperfect institution manage to embody and deliver the steadfast love of The LORD and his grace and mercy, too. It can be grand and most often is!

I took the photograph above on my iPhone a few weeks ago while waiting for that door to be opened for Evening Prayer. The trees and the shadows of the branches seeming to grow out of the door caught my eye. I thought of the Tree of Life and the door to salvation. But when I posted it on Instagram and Facebook, Karen Brantnell, a Calgary friend, commented, “Release the kraken!  Sorry, not so spiritual, but it totally looks like that!” It’s true! There is a rather spooky element of darkness there. Which, upon reflection I realized, is a true and accurate depiction of the church. There’s light and beauty, but the light casts shadows. If I focus on the shadows—the imperfections, the failings, the people who get up my nose, who I think are wrong and who are leading people astray, I might leave slamming that door behind me or just not bother going through it at all. There’s a lot of both going on these days. 

Which brings me to Lent and Ember Day two. Pray through the darkness within and without. The tree of life was in the midst of the Garden of Eden (Gen2.9). It was pleasant to look at and good to eat. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was close by. Eve noticed it, too, was good for food, a delight to eyes and most desirable so she and Adam ate some (Gen3.6) thereby releasing the Kraken and unleashing the darkest shadows ever. You and I still encounter many things which are a delight to look at, touch and taste, and which seem so good and gratifying. The devil is still at work prowling, lying and whispering in our ears, “Did God really say that? That can’t be right. That’s not very inclusive or tolerant. You need this. Love is love, after all.” And when we yield to that temptation and we take and eat we, too, enter the shadow world of sin and death.

Gene+

Bible Prayer Points for Lenten Ember Day Three: ARM Canada Call to Prayer

Thanks to the Prayer Book Society of Canada for this image. 

That it is St Matthias Day today in the BCP calendar caught me by surprise this morning having already posted the Ember Day readings from the Daily Office in both BCP and BAS lectionaries earlier. Not to worry, they’re all good and profitable and for training in righteousness (1 Tim 3.16). 

I believe it is no accident that these readings are presented before us at this particular time. In particular this morning I was struck by the following: 

1 Cor 4.1-7 or 8. 

This reading appears for today both in Morning Prayer in the BAS lectionary and for Evening Prayer on the feast day of St Matthias the Apostle in the BCP. Two things lit up for me to pray: 

1. Paul calls us to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of God (vv1&2). Marriage between a man and a woman is one of those mysteries, a profound mystery, in fact (Eph 5.31-32). Lord, may we be faithful stewards of your gift of marriage, that profound mystery. 
2. We are also not to go beyond what is written (1 Cor 4.6). Lord, may we resist the temptation to go beyond your Word in Holy Scripture in any of our Church’s teaching and doctrine. 

Mt 7.15-27

This is for St Matthias’ Morning Prayer. The following points prompted my prayers: 

1. Beware of false prophets (v15) and apostles (see the petition in the Collect for St Matthais above). LORD, help us by Your Holy Spirit to recognize false prophecy and apostles and to avoid being led astray by them. 
2. Not everyone who says, “‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (V21). It is vitally important that we discern what the true will of the Father is for our Church. LORD, Your will be done in Your Church as it is in heaven. 
3. Building our house on the rock rather than on the sand (vv 24-27). LORD, may all our building be on the rock of properly hearing Your Words and doing them well and faithfully. 

Amen!

Gene+

Lenten Ember Day One: Wednesday—Anglican Renewal Ministries Canada Call to Prayer

It begins again. Wednesday, the first of the Lenten Ember Days. The morning Book of Common Prayer readings include the final verses of Matthew 26 where Peter denies Jesus. Uncomfortable on any day, but especially on an Ember Day when I’m really trying to be faithful and to seek The LORD’s face.

Does the way I live my life make my Christianity obvious enough that no one would have to ask whether or not I am “with Jesus” (Mt26.69)? And if anyone does ask, will I have the courage to say Yes, I’m with Jesus, I know him, I believe in him and what he teaches in the Holy Scriptures?

Pray for that courage when the opportunity comes, and to answer without compromise, yet with gentleness and respect (1Peter3.15).

Gene+

Praying the Ember Day Collects and More

The Anglican Collects, or prayers of the day, are very helpful in giving shape and focus to our prayers. They can take us out of ourselves and too much emphasis on our own desires. They can also provided the perfect words when we're struggling with what exactly we want to say. They can express and articulate those sighs which have been too deep for words (Ro 8.26). The Ember Day Collects are no exception. 

Here are some Collects to pray on these Lenten Ember Days—today, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday—if you're feeling called to join ARM Canada in our Ember Days of fasting and prayer for our Church. Pray them however you feel led—slowly, silently, out loud, over and over, morning, noon, evening and night—with the Anglican Church of Canada, General Synod 2019 and the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in mind.  

First, to prepare our souls for Ember Day prayer, the Collect for Ash Wednesday, which, according to The Book of Common Prayer  "is to be read every day in Lent after the Collect appointed for the day until Holy Week."

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (BCP, p138)

Then, the Ember Day Collect "To be used at times of prayer for the whole ministry of the Church": 

ALMIGHTY God, the giver of all good gifts, who of thy divine providence hast appointed divers Orders in thy Church: Give thy grace, we humbly beseech thee, to all those who are to be called to any office and administration in the same; and so replenish them with the truth of thy doctrine, and endue them with innocency of life, that they may faithfully serve before thee, to the glory of thy great Name, and to the benefit of thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

…may it be so, indeed, for all in the Anglican Church of Canada who lead us and will be members of General Synod 2019. 

Pray the Ember Day Collect in The Book of Alternative Services: 

Almighty God, by your grace alone we are accepted and called to your service. Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit and make us worthy of our calling; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. (p395)

In addition, we have the Collects for the First Sunday in Lent, which are usually prayed through the following week: 

O LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights: Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness and true holiness, to thy honour and glory; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. (BCP, p140)  

Almighty God,
whose Son fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are but did not sin,
give us grace to discipline ourselves
in submission to your Spirit,
that as you know our weakness,
so we may know your power to save;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.  (BAS, p286)

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 40—Digging Deeper

There. Forty days. It’s all gone quiet. Spear heads wiped clean, hammers and nails put away until the next time. Jesus’ body is safely in a tomb, stone rolled into place. His seditious, maddening talk and histrionics silenced, his magic tricks stilled by rational politics.

I love the way Professor John Stackhouse describes it in The Subversiveness of Easter:

Then he is buried. Gone. Out of sight, out of mind.
Like a ticking bomb.

Heh, heh.

Tomorrow we celebrate, but before that, I wonder what the forty day attempt at observing a Holy Lent has done in me. I certainly don’t feel like I’m about to go down off a mountain, like Moses. Nor do I feel like I’ve just completed a forty day battle with Satan in the wilderness, like Jesus. What has it all achieved?

First an insight from a book. In The Cloister Walk (New York: Riverhead Books, 1996) Kathleen Norris described her time with the Benedictine monks like this:

I should try telling my friends who have a hard time comprehending why I like to spend so much time going to church with Benedictines that I do so for the same reasons that I write: to let words work the earth of my heart. (p144-145)

That’s what’s happened to me, too. God’s words in Scripture and Daily Prayer have worked the earth of my heart these forty days. A holy rototiller.

Finally, an insight from THE book. Back on Day 24 the second reading in Morning Prayer was Hebrews 10 which is about how Jesus’ sacrifice was bodily, once and for all and which includes this verse:

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,  “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me” (Heb 10.5)

The writer is quoting Psalm 40.6:

Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear. 

…the original Hebrew literally means, “ears you have dug for me.”

Most of the time Leaning into Lent is the unspectacular, earthy spiritual work of making myself available and attentive so God’s words can work the earth of my heart as he digs my ears clear, so I can hear the bodily risen Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him more nearly. Year after year.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 39—Majestic Submission

Lean closer. Listen. The city hums. The occasional motorcycle from the new spring crop rumbles by. The furnace hums. Purple finches squabble over bird seed at the feeders. Cars pass. Maddy, the dog, twitches and whimpers in her dreams on the sofa. Railway locomotive diesels throb through the coulee. Life goes on around me. Most people are enjoying a holiday. Most are oblivious to what we Jesus followers are up to on Good Friday just as they must have been in Jerusalem when Jesus drank the cheap sour wine, said "It is finished" and gave up his spirit. Life went on all around as "he poured himself out to death" (Isa 53:12); so many oblivious, then and now, to the final fight to the death for their souls and ours.

Lean even closer. Listen. Nothing seems to have changed.

I don't feel the anguish that Jesus felt. My life is not in danger. I can't crank the feelings up at will. But that's not the point. It really is finished. The point is to listen to the words of Holy Scripture, and to remember and to honour Him for—to give him worth for who He is and what He completed. I remember at an Evangelical Association city wide Good Friday service a few years ago, now retired Pastor Mark Bolender called what Jesus did, "majestic submission."

When I lean close and bow, my all too frail, willful and sinful humanity is brought into distressing relief when compared to His majestic innocence and submission.

And yet, I keep leaning in—listening. What makes Good Friday so very good is the way that through that majestic submission, "God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor 4.6)

My heart cannot but glow in the face of such knowledge.

From Night Prayer:

Almighty God,
as we stand at the foot of the cross of your Son,
help us to see and know your love for us,
so that in humility, love and joy
we may place at his feet
all that we have and all that we are;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 38—Feet

I am always a little uncomfortable about allowing my feet to be washed on Maundy Thursday. I’d rather be the washer than the washee. Peter may have felt something similar when he tried to avoid having his feet washed by Jesus in John 13, one of the readings for today from the St James Devotional Guide. But he was missing the point. The foot washing Jesus was doing was not so much about hygiene as it was about holiness. Same for me.

Every year when I invited the people I served to come and have their feet washed on Maundy Thursday (always in an Anglican decently-and-in-order sort of way by which the custom was all may, none must, some should) I did so, as according to the words in The Book of Alternative Services,

that I may recall whose servant I am by following the example of my Master (p305). 

Holiness, not hygiene. As a result of that simple, moving rite one year, I received this note from an elderly woman saint in the parish:

Lent is one of the Church seasons when I quietly reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross and his crucifixion. Maundy Thursday seems to me to be almost as sorrowful a day as Good Friday. The foot-washing ceremony is something I never took part in. This year as Maundy Thursday approached several of my friends told me what a powerful service they thought the foot-washing was.  

After a day and night of prayer and meditation, I realized that pride had kept me from the foot washing. Because of my hammer toes and rotten looking feet, I had never wanted anyone to see them. 

At the Maundy Thursday service, I was still ambivalent about having my feet washed. Images of Jesus washing his disciples feet flooded my thoughts and I said to myself, “Do it.”  

As my feet were being washed, a feeling of great humility came over me. As they were being dried, I felt a great desire to wash another’s feet. While doing so, I was filled with ecstasy and great emotion. I felt myself to be in a more spiritual realm. My soul was filled with wonderment and love. I was at the foot of the cross; a more fervent believer than ever before. 

That’s what observing Holy Lent on Maundy Thursday can do.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 37—Spy Wednesday

Because His enemies were watching Jesus, looking for an opportunity and pretext to seize Him, this day is traditionally known in the West as Spy Wednesday (Holy and Great Wednesday in the East). It is marked by the great contrast between the betrayal of Judas and the devotion of Mary of Bethany. (Excerpt From: Patrick Henry Reardon. Spring 2016 The Daily Devotional Guide by Patrick Henry Reardon. The Fellowship of St. James. iBooks.)

I’m watching Jesus as I lean into my Holy Lent spiritual disciplines, too. Not to seize him, but to apprehend him. I’m watching how he behaves and listening to what he says, especially when he was under such stress in the week leading up to his crucifixion. I'm not watching to see if I can catch him out, but to see a life well lived.

I see the “great contrast” to which Reardon refers in the St James Devotional Guide reading from Matthew 26; a contrast between the “beautiful thing” the woman did, and Judas’ betrayal. I know I am capable of both, depending on which way I choose to lean.

Judas, the “bad guy,” has been vilified through the ages for his treachery, but at the time, so was the woman who did the beautiful thing. The disciples were indignant and accused her of being wasteful with such expensive ointment. Doing the right thing isn’t always well received.

Knowing the right thing is not always clear, especially when someone is under stress. The disciples quarrelled about who would be the greatest (Lk 22.24-30), they fell asleep when Jesus was praying his agony in Gethsemane (Lk 22.39-46), Peter said he didn’t know Jesus when he was challenged by a servant girl (Lk 22.56), somebody lost it and cut a servant’s ear off (Mk 14.47), Jesus himself cursed an innocent fig tree when it didn’t provide a snack when he was hungry (Mk 11.12-14). It was a traumatic, shambolic time for all concerned.

St Paul catches catches something of the contrasts at play in Wednesday’s reading from the CofE’s shorter devotional liturgy, Prayers During the Day

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. (I Corinthians 1.18, 22-25)

…a veritable maelstrom of foolishness, power, wisdom, weakness and strength swirling around all the participants as the unthinkable stumbling-block that was to be the crucifixion approached.

No wonder no body except Jesus knew what to do.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 36—Tuesday in Holy Week Oil Check

Patrick Henry Reardon, in his St James Devotional Guide notes for the day, observes that

In the lectionary tradition of Eastern Christians, the evening services for Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week are called the Bridegroom Service, its name being derived from the following reading from the Gospel according to Matthew. 

The reading to which he refers is The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Mt 25.11-13) in which the behaviour of the wise and foolish ones are compared. The foolish young women took no extra oil for their lamps with them when they went out to meet the Bridegroom. The wise ones did. The Bridegroom was delayed and all the young women, foolish and wise, became drowsy and slept. When he finally did arrive, the foolish young women were dismayed to find their lamps were going out. Because they then had to go to buy oil they missed being admitted to the marriage feast.

We usually hear this passage during Advent when the call is to be ready, lamps full, for Jesus’ return. It works for Lent and Holy Week, too.

The Gethsemane Window in St Barnabas, Medicine Hat

Although drowsiness and sleep doesn’t appear to be a problem for Jesus in the story about the young women, it will be later during his desperate prayer at Gethsemane. “So, could not watch with me one hour?” he said to Peter. Ouch!

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.  (Mt 26.40-41)

The disciplined self examination, prayer, fasting, almsgiving and reading and meditating on the Word of God of a Holy Lent keeps me awake, temptation resistant, lamp full of oil, and flesh strengthened. It just works.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 35—Is It Nothing?…Monday in Holy Week

It’s Monday in Holy Week. This is the day when when

Jesus returns to Jerusalem from Bethany, where he spent the night. In fulfillment of prophecy (for example, Malachi 3.1-5), he purifies the Temple. There is mounting tension between Jesus and those who are plotting his death. (Patrick Henry Reardon, The St James Daily Devotional Guide for the Christian Year, Vol 20, Number 2, Spring 2016)

This the day when Holy Lent’s trajectory starts a descent into darker territory.

Why would anyone volunteer to allow himself to take the spiritual slide into the darkness, injustice, suffering and betrayal of Holy Week? Who wants to lament if circumstances aren’t particularly lamentable, when life is pretty good? Jesus didn’t want to go there. He said as much during his awful night of fear in the garden of Gethsemane. "Take this cup from me!” he pleaded (Mt 26.39, Mk 14.36, Lk 22.42, Jn 12.27). If Jesus, the Son of God, didn’t want to go there, even once, why should I, every year in my Holy Lent?

Not that my Holy Week is any where near what Jesus had to endure. But here’s the thing. A Holy Lent observed, especially in Holy Week, exposes me to what Jesus went through. I’m not required to crank up my feelings and try and squeeze a tear out or throw dust in the air. That wouldn’t be real. But if I can just be present to the Scriptural account of the events and the Daily Prayer liturgies, if I read the words, pray the prayers, listen and lean in to it, open hearted, then I’ll be available should Jesus choose to light something up he wants me to notice. It’s happened in the past—usually when I’m not expecting it, sometimes embarrassingly and in public. It may not happen this year, or next year, or ever again. That’s up to him.

What bothers me is the possibility of falling in with those to which A Song of Lamentation, the opening canticle in Passiontide Morning Prayer, refers

1 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? •
Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
2 Which was brought upon me, •
which the Lord inflicted
on the day of his fierce anger.

I don’t want it ever to be nothing to me.

Gene+

Leaning Into Lent: Day 34—for Such a Time as This

My times are in your hand. (Ps 31.15) 

I prayed in Evening Prayer yesterday. There’s another important reminder that comes from taking the time to lean into Lent each year. Try as I might to organize my time for efficiency and productivity, my calendar is actually God’s. It was God who chose when I was to be born, knows how long my time on earth will be and what I’m for. Like Esther, I was born who I am and when, exactly and specifically, for “such a time as this” (Esther 4.14) and no other. My times are, indeed, in God’s hand, so taking some of that time to step aside and lean in to Lent is to

call upon the Most High God, the God who fulfils his purpose for me. (Ps 57.3)

When I do that God’s purpose for me is much more likely to happen. God has I plan for me, I don’t know what it is—that’s the point—otherwise I’d probably try and improve on it. I’d best just keep leaning in to Lent if I want to know what’s good for me.

There are also some things I do know about what I’m for. I was created to worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. I was created to obey him and to follow Jesus. So, I go to church and participate in a worshipping community.

I also know my purpose is to pray for and serve others—especially others whose times are difficult.
Organized praying using daily prayer liturgies help me to keep placing my times in God’s hands.

For example, the Church of England offers an abbreviated form of Daily Prayer which “provides a framework for a daily Quiet Time and Bible Study” called Prayer During the Day which includes these prayer points during Passiontide:

¶ The suffering Church
¶ The oppressed peoples of the world
¶ All who are lonely
¶ All who are near to death
¶ All who are facing loss

If ever there were people who need to know their times are in God’s hands, it would be those living through such hard things. Perhaps my Lenten leaning prayers at just such-a-time-as-this will help them to know it.

Gene+