Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday – April 1

Mark 11:1-11

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!

Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Buen Camino! That is the greeting offered to the pilgrims journeying on the way to the Cathedral of St James in northern Spain, beautifully portray in the movie, “The Way.” “Buen camino” means good way. We have been following signposts on way through Lent. Liturgically and seasonally, the journey through Lent leads us to Jerusalem. Palm Sunday marks the culmination of Jesus’ pilgrimage to the holy city, as he enters the gates with shouts of praise and hope. And, one way or another, on Palm Sunday we have come to Jerusalem, too.

The story of “The Way” is spun around the journey a father takes as he finishes the pilgrimage his could not complete because of his death. This father (Martin Sheen) is asks as he sets out why he is doing the pilgrimage. Why are you on the camino? When he really cannot answer, he is told that it is only for oneself that the pilgrimage is undertaken. Only for yourself.  The camino of the main character is one of discovery of his son, himself, and oddly enough of community. (It would have been a great movie for last week, but I only watched it on Sunday afternoon!)

The questions that Martin Sheen faces in the movie can be our questions as well. Why are we on this way? Why, other than blind tradition, are we in Jerusalem with Jesus on Palm Sunday? How do we make our spiritual pilgrimage a buen camino?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hy54CpKeqk

Maybe we can even plan an impromptu movie night during Holy Week at the church to watch the movie.

March 25 Group Therapy Practiced here

March 25 – Group Therapy Practiced Here

5th Sunday of Lent

Anchor: Signposts for Renewal
Frame: How do we journey together through life and in the Spirit?

Thread: Signs Added Each Week  (I don’t know where I am, but I know I’m not lost.)

Luke 6:12-16, 8:1-3

Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Some Women Accompany Jesus

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Whenever I read about the twelve disciples, I’ve always assumed that Jesus gathered followers because he wanted to pass on his wisdom. They were there to learn. Likewise, the women mentioned in the second part of the reading followed Jesus because of his teaching, his healings, as well as his welcoming attitude for all people. The women followed because they needed Jesus.

Back in Nebraska I was a part of a covenant group for almost 15 years. We met weekly for almost all that time, despite being in different communities for much of those years. We studied scripture for worship, we planned for our churches, but more than that we shared our lives: our hopes, our worries, the times we were lost on the road, the times we could almost shout for joy. We came together because we needed each other, and we were there for each other.

It was being embraced in the heart of that group that enabled me to see that there may have been a different reason that Jesus gathered people around himself. Yes, he had things to teach and wisdom to impart. But like all of us human beings, Jesus needed to be part of a community. Even he couldn’t go through life all alone. We are created to need each other. Jesus, too.

And so finally our journey through Lent, really the whole journey of our lives, is not a solitary sojourn. We do it in community. John Wesley said that there is no such thing as a solitary Christian. Being Christian is something we have to do together.

The signpost that was our inspiration for this week is one that says, “Group Therapy Practiced Here,” emblazoned below a collection of wine glasses. For a lot of reasons we won’t use the metaphor of drinking together as our sign of community, but the idea that we come together as a group for therapy, for healing is the core of this week. The idea that Lent is something we do together might be a little new for some of us. Usually we are encouraged to do self-examination, and even the contemplation we practiced last week can be seen in a solitary fashion, and other Lenten practices are often ones left to our own discipline and benefit.

Worship is the most visible form of community we do as Christians. To be sure, many religious and spiritual traditions worship in community. We are wrapping up our journey through Lent together. The interior construction, the detours, the words connecting us to God, the silence in which we discover God we bring with us as we gather in community. We may not know where we are, but we are not lost – together.

So, how do we celebrate spiritual community? How do we support each other? How does a spiritual community differ from other kinds? And how do we invite isolated, fearful people into our community?

March 18 – Stop, Look, & Listen

March 18 – Stop, Look, & Listen

Anchor: Signposts for Renewal

Frame: How can prayer and contemplation be a signpost directing us to home, to life, to renewal?

Thread: Signs Added Each Week  (I don’t know where I am, but I know I’m not lost.)

Luke 10:38-42
 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But Jesus answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

                Children are taught to “stop, look, & listen” whenever they cross the street. It is also the instruction given when approaching an unregulated railroad crossing (one without crossing arms or bells).  It’s good advice: be sure it is safe to proceed, double sure.  For those of us on a spiritual journey, it is even better advice. We are not making sure that it is safe to cross, we are being sure that we are ready to encounter the Divine. Such is Mary’s example. She stopped what she was doing. She saw something in Jesus. She listened to what he was saying.

                Martha, on the other hand, was overwhelmed with her busy-ness. Yes, she was performing the tasks of hospitality, performing the role her society assigned to her, and presumably to Mary as well. But in her hectic state, she did not stop, she did not see Jesus for anything but an honored male visitor, and instead of listening she talked. Much commentary of recent years has defended Martha, and truth be told in Jesus’ day Mary’s behavior would have been disgraceful and scandalous. Nonetheless Jesus says that Mary has made the better choice. She stopped, looked and listened.

                So, in the context of the Studio, how do we stop, look and listen? Our series and the order of Diana Butler Bass’ book do not sync, but her chapter on contemplation reminds us that what we are calling “Stop, Look & Listen” is really prayer. This week’s studio is about experiencing prayer.

I do not have an order but I have thought about a number of ways to experience contemplation in the context of our worship:

·         sound a gong at regular intervals, signaling one minute of silent reflection (can just interrupt whatever we are doing, even singing)

·         we need some exploration of “monkey mind,” the interior chatter that makes silence difficult

·         highlight our prayer candles – making them more visible, maybe including that in our joys & concerns time

·         have a prayer station where a few people are engaged in prayer throughout the service, and invite others to join them for a few minutes or the whole time as they feel called

·         A video featuring “Listen to the Rain” by Evanescence as a call to stop and listen

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7M3uFaJ8K4 This is an annoying video that drums in the rule for crossing the street

·         bringing Mary and Martha’s story to life

We may also look for some personal stories of the ways that people have encountered God when they did indeed stop, look, and listen; to hear in their words why (as Jesus said) Mary chose the better part.

In-Formation March 11

Signposts for Renewal

March 11 – In-Formation

Anchor: Signposts
Frame: Scripture can be a signpost directing us to home, to life, to renewal

Thread: New signs (I may not know where I am, but I know I’m not lost)

                I am told that in years past, those who knew how to survive in the desert kept a look out for a tiny sign of hope: the dragonfly. Dragonflies are water-dependent creatures, and when a dragonfly was seen it could be followed and it would eventually (and assuredly) lead you to water. Dragonflies mean that there is water nearby, good news indeed in the desert.

                Scripture (the Bible) has been like dragonflies for a lot of people. Many of us do not know the grand sweep of the biblical narratives, nor have memorized the genealogies of the forebears of the faith. But lots of people know a verse here or there, something that has carried them through a difficult time or given them words of joy and thanks in times of celebration. On Facebook I asked what pieces of scripture have acted like signposts in your life. I got three responses so far:

                Zephaniah  3:17 (Just always what tells me to go forward in tough times.)

The Lord, your God, is in your midst,

   a warrior who gives victory;

he will rejoice over you with gladness,

   he will renew you in his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing

                I Kings 19:11-12 (a reminder not to look or listen to wrong things.)

 God said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before Yhwh, for Yhwh is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before Yhwh, but Yhwh was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but Yhwh was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but Yhwh was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.

                Esther 4:14 (I am here -- "for such a time as this...")

For if you keep quiet at such a time as this, help and protection will come to the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Yet, who knows whether it was not for such a time as this that you were made queen?’

I am hoping we can find ways of lifting up the little signposts, the dragonflies,  that help us correct our course, or change direction, or head us toward home or life or hope. I’m thinking we could hand out blank cards as everyone comes in, asking them to reference a verse or passage that has been a signpost for them. Then we gather these up and read them throughout the service.

                I find it fascinating that even with only 3 responses we see quite varied examples of how scripture functions in our lives. (I also find it interesting that the 1^st 3 responses are all Old Testament!)  I know from asking similar questions that often the 23^rd Psalm is mentioned, especially in difficult or mournful times. We could bring back Bobby McFerrin’s beautiful version for his mother (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgbvHM03dMs&feature=related). I think this would be an apt time to hear from individuals for whom a passage or verse has had real meaning, and how that has affected the direction of their lives.

                If we have a “driver” skit again this week, we might have the driver seeing those kind of “Burma Shave” signs where each sign gives you just a word or two and to get the whole message you have to see all of them. We could get people to carry each sign across the front. I haven’t figured out what those signs might say yet!

                There are a couple of bible ideas I would like to confront. There is a saying that “BIBLE” means “basic instruction before leaving earth.” I believe the bible has much more to say about to how we live life here on earth than it does about the afterlife. The bible is not an escape hatch from life; it is a doorway into life in all its fullness.

                So, as far as scripture goes for Sunday, I think those signpost passages should be our focus. Therefore, I do not have a single passage to propose. Let’s ask each other what our signpost passages are.