Tuesday of Holy Week-Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

Mark 11:12-14, 20-25

I know, what a strange story, that Jesus would find the need, the desire to stop and curse a tree…

The details are simple and rather matter-of-factly shared in Scripture. Jesus is hungry. He sees a fig tree in full leaf and comes to it expecting to find something for breakfast. He finds however, nothing but fig leaves (It wasn’t yet the season for figs!) Then Jesus says to the tree: “No one is going to eat fruit from you again—ever!”

He said this right in front of the disciples and they heard him.

The next morning Jesus and the disciples pass by the fig tree again. It had shriveled to a dry stick. (They are departing from Jerusalem where Jesus has just “cleansed” the Temple.)

Peter, remembering Jesus’ words and actions from the previous day, said to Jesus, “Look Rabbi—the fig tree you cursed has shriveled up!”

Jesus’ response is simple and straight forward, “Embrace this life centered in God that has been given to you. Really embrace it and nothing will be too much for you. Immerse everything you do in prayer and nothing will be impossible. And remember, always remember, when you are praying, it’s not just about ‘asking.’ If you have anything against someone, offer forgiveness—only then will you be ready to receive the forgiveness that God has waiting for you.

But what about the poor tree? Could it be that Jesus expects we followers, disciples, believers to be fruitful every day—in and out of season? What is keeping you, what is keeping us from being ‘in season’ for God’s kingdom, today?

Lord of this world, Lord of this Holy Week, help us to look deep inside. Often we don’t see or recognize the very things that are keep us from you and each other. Cleanse us. Help us to be fruitful for you kingdom. Amen.

~ Rich Greenway

Cleansing the Temple

Mark 11:15-19

Jesus enters the Temple and begins to drive out all those who were “selling and buying.” Tables and seats were overturned, animals were driven away. Jesus wouldn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. Then it was time for a teaching lesson—recalling the words of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Jesus says, “Is it not written, “My house shall be a called a house of prayer for all the nations?” Jesus’ reflection on what was actually going on in the Temple?  “You have made it a den of robbers.” 

Upon hearing Jesus’ words, the leaders of the church—the chief priests and scribes began to look for a way to kill him. Why? Was he wrong in what he had done? Could they justify the commerce that was being carried on in the Temple as holy and necessary unto the central mission of the Temple? No. They were afraid of Jesus because the people who heard him preach and teach were spellbound by him.

As we begin Holy Week, it is a wonderful time for us to take a look at our Temples. Are we, our bodies and our lives, instruments of prayer, praise, joy and peace or have others things crept in and taken up residence? Commerce, unhealthy relationships, material things, have they tiptoed into places that should be reserved only for the holy and sacred? It is so easy just not to notice as subtly ‘other things’ slither in and fester.

What better way to begin this week than by cleansing the Temple? What do we need to remove from our lives and our lives together to allow this week to be “Holy,” indeed?

Let us pray: (From: Stages on the Way-Iona Community)

If we have used your house for our purposes as if you did not mind or it did not matter,

LORD, FORGIVE US.

If we have cosseted your house in tradition, rather than hollowed it by prayer,

LORD, FORGIVE US.

If we have made it a house for one nation, or part of a nation, or for part of the Church,

LORD, FORGIVE US.

And if we can see clearly the misuse others make of your house and are blind to our own malpractices, LORD, FORGIVE US.

Kindle in us and in all your people

the desire to make

all your

sanctuaries

places of prayer, praise and worship.

We ask this for your own name’s sake.

Amen.

~  Rich Greenway

Palm and Passion Sunday

Mark 11:1-11
Mark 14:1 - 15:47

Via Dolorosa-Jerusalem

 

What a difference a couple of days can make! Jesus rides into town to shouts of “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” Palm branches and coats lined the way as Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. You could feel the energy and joy of celebration as they recognized him as the Messiah, the long awaited—Anointed One of God.

But we know the rest of the story, don’t we? We know that even as the shouts and songs of joy permeate the air, already there are clouds on the horizon, already there are others making plans to have Jesus killed.

I invite you to read and reread the scripture lessons above. We read the full story of Jesus’ Passion as we begin Holy Week to help us navigate the depths and difficulty of this most holy of weeks. It would be so easy to celebrate Palm Sunday and then skip right ahead to Easter. But as the old saying goes, “Without Good Friday there is no Easter!”

There is a street in Jerusalem know as the Via Dolorosa. (More information and great pictures click on: ViaDolorosa) It marks the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion, and ultimately, his bodily resurrection from the dead three days later. It is a difficult path that remembers and helps us remember a difficult story—the story of God incarnate giving everything that we might know and live into the fullness of God’s love

This week I invite you to walk the long and difficult path from celebration to crucifixion and death and from death to Resurrection! It will have its dark moments. But I promise, there is a shining light of love that awaits our arrival on Easter morning.

A Prayer as We Begin Holy Week

      Almighty God, your Son came to us humbly on a donkey's back and now he sits exalted by your right hand.  As we enter into Holy Week contemplating his path of suffering, help us to become loyal and steadfast disciples, that we may always hear his word, follow his teachings, and live in his Spirit. Open our hearts to receive the gift of this week and prepare us for that day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord and King, to your eternal glory. Amen.

~ Rich Greenway

 



Obedience

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

                                                                                                                             – John 12:23-26

I have to be honest about something: the word obedience in the context of spiritual disciplines makes me nervous. I’m in a course this semester in which we’ve been talking about slavery. Slave masters used to find texts in the Bible that read, “slaves be obedient to your masters,” to not only justify, but sanctify the absolute inhumane practice of chattel slavery. Now every time I hear the word obedience, caution lights go off in my head.

I think obedience to Jesus has to look completely different than the example offered above. We have to remember that what was obedience for Jesus looked like disobedience to the state and religious authorities. Obedience to the risen Jesus, the living God, threatens the powers-at-be, it disrupts things as they are.

 

Christian obedience has to look different—maybe sometimes it will even look like disobedience. Like healing on the sabbath or eating with folks that others referred to as “sinners” or “adulterers”. Jesus calls us to participate in his life-giving, world-altering obedience. In our participation in Jesus’ life, by the Spirit, we are drawn back into communion with our Creator. 

~ Chris Agoranos

Aware

⁴⁶They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” ⁵⁰So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” ⁵²Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
                                                                                                       - Mark 10:46-52

I’ve never thought of awareness as a spiritual discipline, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. One of my favorite theologians, Brian Bantum, defines sin as the obfuscation of sight. In other words, he says, we cannot see and we do not know that we are blind. I find this definition extraordinarily helpful. It helps me understand how Christians could have been complicit in some of the gravest evils in history: the violent taking of land, chattel slavery, oppression of women, and the like. It’s not that these people were essentially evil, but that they were blind.

            Thinking of awareness as a spiritual discipline, then, can do some serious work for us. We might ask ourselves: Who am I not aware of? Whose voices am I not listening to? Whose pain and suffering am I not seeing? Am I complicit in the oppression of others? Am I close to those who are calling out and resisting injustice?

            These are difficult questions. They require patience and love, both of ourselves and others. I pray that we will have the courage to ask them, and I pray that as we do we are drawn into close proximity to our Creator who graciously grants sight to the blind.

~ Chris Agoranos

Follow Me

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

                                                                                                                  – John 12:23-26

            Those of us from middle to upper-class backgrounds, like myself, are sometimes guilty of attempting to construct stable, secure, self-sufficient lives for ourselves so that we can live independent of those around us. Moreover, we tend to look down upon the folks around us that are unable to find stability and security.

            Jesus, by calling us to follow him, calls all of this into question. It’s as if he says, “That life you’ve built for yourself that you love—yeah, the “self-sufficient” life you take pride in—well, if you want life with me, I’m going to need you to give all that up.” Jesus calls us out of the stability we pretend to have, into life in and with him, a life where we are, together, in complete dependence on God. In which case, those we can sometimes look down upon might have something to teach us about trusting God.

            Jesus exposes our security and self-sufficiency for what they are—a lie. However, in so doing, we witness the good news. The good news is that Jesus calls us renounce our former ways of life so that we can live life as it was intended to lived—in union with God and the rest of creation.

 

~ Chris Agoranos

Discipleship-Life Lived In and With Jesus

 Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind^* in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,^* and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
²⁷ So God created humankind^* in his image, in the image of God he created them;^*
   male and female he created them.

                                                                                      -Genesis 1:26-27

In Jesus, the Creator becomes creature. In my last post I suggested that God created a world in which God’s creatures were in union with God the Creator. Jesus, the God-human, embodies this union so that our life with God might be restored.

Discipleship, then, is a life in which we become absolutely dependent upon Jesus and in which God is creating us anew in God’s image. Discipleship—life lived in and with Jesus—draws us, God’s creatures, back into communion with our Creator. 

In our attempts to be “like God,” we have sought to live independent from God and one another. Over the next few days we will be looking at discipleship in three inter-related ways. In each designation I invite you to keep in mind how God is drawing us out of our attempts to be “like God,”and, by the Spirit, into life with God through the life of discipleship.

~ Chris Agoranos

Jesus Steps Fully Into Creation

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…”

                                                                                                              – Genesis 3:1-5

 

As creatures of God we have limitations. We have finite knowledge of God, of ourselves and of our world. In our finitude we are weak and vulnerable. Yet, lest we be mistaken, these “limits” are good—they are essential to what it means to be human. We were created to be in union with our Creator and creation.

            You might say that the first sin of Adam and Eve was the rejection of this life of (inter)dependence for a life of independence. It was an attempt to be “like God,” and in that attempt it was both the rejection of God and of the life God created us to live.

            With that in mind, I want to invite you to reflect on the question I posed at the beginning of the week: What does it mean that in Jesus, the Creator steps fully into creation?

 

~ Chris Agoranos

           

Reflecting on Creation

 

For today’s blog post I want to invite you to spend sometime reflecting on the icon above. Friday and Saturday I will unpack some of things I think this icon can tell us about discipleship. Here are some Scripture passages to read along with this reflection.

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” – Genesis  1:20

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. – John 1:1-5

 

~ Chris Agoranos

 

 

 

Instead of praying with your eyes closed, pray with your eyes wide open while viewing an icon. Icons have often been called a "window on heaven" or a way to pray with your eyes. This ancient practice of contemplative prayer focuses on being in God's presence and letting God speak. Focus not on what is seen in the icon but what can be seen through it about God's love through what the image visually communicates.

Step 1:  Visio: Taking the image in- take a few quiet moments to look at the picture
Step 2:  Meditation: Where is your eye drawn?  Focus on this area and hold it in your heart.
            -Consider how this component touches your life
            -Consider if there is an invitation here for you today
Step 3:  Prayer. You might chose quiet prayer, or you can pray through art mediums in the room
Step 4: Contemplation - Allow your prayers to come to an end and spend some time in the presence
             of  God.

 

 

 

For a good article on Praying with Icons see:

Praying with Icons

 

Discipleship

"...unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit."
                                                       ---John 12:24

This week on the blog we will be talking about discipleship. We’ll begin by looking at discipleship a little more broadly, leading up to this question: What does it mean that in Jesus, the Creator steps fully into creation? Then, we’re going to look at discipleship in three inter-related ways. That is, we’ll look at what it means for us that Jesus says “follow me,” what it means to be spiritually aware, and what it means to be obedient.

To get us started, here is a description the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who was executed in 1945 for entering a plot to bring down Hitler) gives of the disciple:

The disciple is thrown out of the relative security of life into complete insecurity (which in truth is absolute security and protection in community with Jesus); out of the foreseeable and calculable realm (which in truth is unreliable) into the completely unforeseeable, coincidental realm (which in truth is the only necessary and reliable one); out of the realm of limited possibilities (which in truth is that of unlimited possibilities) into the realm of unlimited possibilities (which in truth is the only liberating reality).

              -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, p. 58

 

~ Chris Agoranos

The Gift of Fasting

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”  Ephesians 2:8-10

          We come to the end of our week on fasting.  The above verse helps to refocus us on why we are fasting.  We fast as a response to God’s love for us.  God so loved us that God gave us God’s son, Jesus.  We did not earn God’s love by being good people who fast.  No, God’s love comes to us as an undeserved gift.  Our fasting, praying, confession, and other acts of piety come out of response to this great and wondrous love. 

This verse also reminds us that if God provided all that is necessary for our salvation, then surely God will provide for us in out time of fasting.  And if we should fail in our fasting, Jesus knows our weaknesses and has grace enough to heal us and strengthen us in our need.  We are also reminded here that our fasting is to bring life to others through good works.  God, in Jesus, created us for good works.  Our fasting, therefore, should give life to others.  It should be connected to reaching out to our neighbors, to those in need of food, shelter, and relationship.  If these actions are what we were created for then what should we boast about?   When a girl becomes a woman, we don’t boast about how great an event that is.  We take that for granted.  So too, good works naturally flow out of us.  We celebrate that we are growing into the image of Christ and that God has used us in such a way to bring life to the world.  

Take time this week to thank God for the wonderful gift of Jesus.  Ask God to lead you to others who need life.  And may God grant to you all of your needs as you fast through this Lenten season. 

-Rev. Matt Seaton

Keeping Focused

“The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Numbers 21:5

            In this passage above, God, through Moses, had liberated the people of Israel from slavery to Egypt. God had miraculously freed Israel and made a path through the Red Sea for their departure.  God promised to them that they would have a land flowing with milk and honey – filled with all the good things of life.  God also provided food that they did not have to work for and water, which they did not have to look for.  God, in short, took care of every need they had during their journey.  And yet we have the verse above.

            What happened?  The people of Israel lost sight of where they were going.  They were off to the land of promise where they would be free from slavery.  They forgot about the difficulties of being an enslaved people.  Certainly all of these could be true but I think they became impatient.  When we become impatient we tend to exaggerate.  Notice how Israel declares they haven’t any food but then say they do have food and it’s miserable?  In their exaggeration they over look the blessings in their midst.  In their impatience, they lose sight of their destination, the Promised Land.  In their impatience they forget how difficult the Egyptian taskmaster truly was.  God has cared for them thus far and has a wonderful and prosperous future ahead of them.  They forgot that and so do we.

            At the beginning of our fasting, we are enthused and excited, much like Israel.  We find that scripture comes alive and our prayers seem to be getting first class treatment in heaven.  But then…then we realize we are fasting and that it is a commitment that takes time and won’t be over quickly.  For some, like myself, this realization takes all of five minutes into the fast and for others it takes hours or even days.  But at some point we are faced with the temptation to say, “I didn’t really mean it when I said I would fast.  I was only kidding.  God doesn’t really take our commitments seriously.”  So we give up on our commitments to God. 

            If you’re feeling like this today, don’t give up.  God has spiritual blessings in store for those who remain faithful.  Yes, if you decide to stop fasting because it has become too difficult God will still love you.  God will always love you.  But don’t give up on fasting.  Try it again but modify it.  Sometimes we try to take on too much.  Ask God what you should fast from and try it again. 

 

~ Rev. Matt Seaton

What Does Jesus Say About Fasting?

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  Matt 6:16-18     

          Often when the topic of fasting comes up in Christian circles, the question is asked or the statement made that we are never commanded in the New Testament to fast.  You know what?  They are right.  Jesus never commands that we fast.  Paul doesn’t tell us to fast.  The other lesser-known writers of the NT such as Jude or James tell us to fast.  But here is another truth the NT assumes that we will fast.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “whenever you fast”.  Jesus thinks that fasting is apart of discipleship, that it is essential to following him. 

          What Jesus does say about fasting is that we shouldn’t shout from the rooftops that we are fasting.  He warns us to not advertise to others by our clothes or hygiene that we are fasting for the purpose of receiving praise and honor from our peers.  Rather, we fast for the purpose of glorifying God.  Jesus gets at the heart of the matter and asks us to look at our motives.  Unfortunately, there are many other reasons to fast that are kept secret from others.  We may fast for weight loss purposes or for our own self-gratification but under the guise of giving glory to God.  These reasons are unhealthy for the body and soul.  This is when fasting has become harmful and not helpful.  In the case of weight loss, it is better to stop fasting all together and focus upon finding ways to affirm your worth and value.  In some cases, it would be good to seek advice from a trust friend or pastor. 

          May the God who loves us purify our motives.  May God help you to gently examine your motives and free you from impure motives.    

 

-Rev. Matt Seaton

Becoming Light

“For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.” John 3:20

        

Ever notice that people don’t look happy when you tell them you’re fasting?  My friend Mike was telling me the other day of how when he told his friend Joe about fasting from movies during Lent, his friend treated him as if he was crazy!  Joe was acting as if he was taking Mike’s decision to fast from movies as a personal assault.  Mike and Joe are still good friends but Joe just couldn’t understand Mike. We don’t know what exactly caused Joe to act the way he did.  But it makes you wonder if Joe, a good Christian, has doubts about his consumption of movies.  Fasting causes others to wonder about you.  It may even challenge them and their practices and cause them to become upset. 

Fasting or other spiritual disciplines can act as a mirror both to others and us.  It can mirror back to us where the light of Jesus hasn’t been shown.  It may cause us some serious distress as we consider stopping some deed that has taken priority in our life.  Fasting can also act as a mirror to others as it challenges them too.  Mike never told Joe he had to fast from movies too but Joe acted like it.  When the light shines, the darkness takes notice.  After Mike and Joe parted that day, Joe prayed about his decision to give up movies.  He did decide that movies had taken front and center in his life.  They had crowded out Jesus, so that he could not hear Jesus.  So he too decided to give movies up for Lent. 

          May the light of Christ shine through you to the world.  May Christ’s light illuminate your life and dispel the darkness.   

-Rev. Matt Seaton

The Habit of Fasting

^“And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.”  John 3:19

       

We are creatures of habit.  Often our habits continue despite our spiritual transformation in Christ.  Yet, that doesn’t put these habits outside of the redeeming work of Christ.  They need to be redeemed, changed, and transformed but only in God’s good time.  Perhaps, when you came to Christ you were not ready or able to handle a change of habit so God let that habit remain.  The light of Jesus hadn’t shown into the deeper recesses of your soul, yet.  But now is the time that God has called you to fast from that habit.  Jesus has shown his light upon it.  God has not asked you to entirely erase it from your life but to fast from it.  Yet, you still love it.  The habit continues to carry with it the darkness from which you were saved.  It still holds sway over you but now you are ready, able, and capable to give it up – even for a short amount of time. 

When we fast, especially through Lent, we discover new habits that can replace the old ones.  If we fast from TV or Netflix, we may discover a new habit!  It could be daily bible readings, prayer, painting, drawing, gardening, or volunteering.  The list is nearly endless.  Fasting gives us opportunity for creativity, most life giving practices do.  People who live in darkness tend to stick to patterns they have always lived in and resort to what’s easiest.  But we are people of the light; people called by God to follow Jesus into his creative kingdom. 

Take some time today to think about what creative ways you can show your love for God.  Pick one of those and begin to plan on adding it to your life today! 

 

 

~ Rev. Matt Seaton

How to Succeed at Fasting

“…so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” –John 3:16b    

            We are a success-oriented culture.  We like to see numbers at the bottom line grow.  We like to see the number on the scale shrink week by week.  We check our retirement savings to see if our shrewd investment strategies have worked.  We look at reports cards to see how well our children have improved.  We love to see our team win each week (Go Duke!).  Let’s face it we love, not just like or hope for but LOVE, to succeed. 

            But how do you know if you are succeeding at fasting?  One religious group, who lived around Jesus’ time, the Pharisees had many ways to measure and quantify the quality of a person’s fast.  If you asked a person, who knew the most about fasting, they would answer the Pharisees.  But Jesus didn’t agree.  In fact he challenged them often on their views of fasting and religious observances.  They had become so concerned with measurable results they lost themselves along the way.  Their practicing of fasting brought death but Jesus came to give us life. 

What are the signs of life?  Paul, in the letter to the Galatians, writes about the fruits of the Spirit.  These signs of life are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Fasting helps us to see where we are deficient in these areas but it also helps us to grow in these areas.  Paul also tells us some great news about fasting.  The Holy Spirit is with you!  She tends to your budding spiritual fruits and helps cultivate them while you fast. 

Fruit takes along time to grow and ripen.  It won’t happen over night.  So fasting won’t be a quick fix to an impatient life.  But fasting becomes the means by which the Holy Spirit can help us where we need to grow and gives us life.  Which comes back to the question, how do you know you’re succeeding at fasting?  I answer with a question; do people know you for your fasts or for your fruits?  Are you known as a person who is generous, kind, and loving or cranky, miserly, and uncaring?  Which way of living gives life to relationships? 

May this season of fasting bring forth new life in your spiritual journey and cause others too share in that life. 

~ Rev. Matt Seaton

What is "Fasting/"

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” John 3:16a

Fasting isn’t something we like to talk about these days.  Perhaps, it’s something no one has ever really liked to talk about.  And yet, we will fast from delicious carbs like ice cream and donuts to lose weight, fast from sleeping in for a run or a bike ride or a sale at our favorite retailer, we fast from sleep to finish a project for work or school, or we even fast from lunch hour to protest at the capital.  So maybe fasting isn’t so strange?   Okay, you’re right.  We don’t usually use the word “fast” or “fasting” when talking about weight loss or exercise or work but the idea is the same but only makes sense in religious terms.  When we fast we give up a certain need or pleasure for a set amount of time but what separates fasting from all of the above is the reason. 

What is that reason?  If you answered Jesus, you’re correct!  We fast out of a response to what God has already done for us in Jesus.  The verse at the beginning sums it up well, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” God gave up or maybe another way to state it; God fasted from the presence of his son because he loves us.  God loves us that much!  Fasting doesn’t begin by contemplating how horrible we are and how we need to do something about it.  Rather, fasting begins by contemplating how wonderful God’s love for us truly is. 

If you are thinking about fasting from something, take time to think about and wonder about how truly God does love you.  Let John 3:16 be your mantra as you begin your fasting journey. 

 

~ Matt Seaton

Father, forgive them...

When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One."…

  

                                                                        Luke 23:33-35

 

 
When I was getting my Associate’s degree at a local community college my English professors gave me the best writing (and ultimately preaching) advice I’ve ever received. She wrote at the bottom of my paper, “Heidi, Life is too short. You should only write the words you cannot stop yourself from writing.” Since my professor wrote that to me over five years ago, I’ve tried to devote myself to writing the difficult words that I cannot stop myself from writing—the words that I want to sugarcoat or altogether sensor myself from writing. It’s like what the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah asserts, “If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9).

In yesterday’s blog post I wrote and used the example of the corporate sin of the American church. I think this is a major example of corporate sin, but obviously it is by no means the only guilty community. The point is that we are all complicit in a violent, God-denying, exclusive, love-crucifying world. Owning the dark pieces of the church’s story helps us own the dark pieces of our own stories so we can keep our hearts humble and honest before God and open for true repentance. Repentance means to turn around, to reorient oneself, to return home. Repentance leads us to redemption, which leads us to new life.

At the end of the day, corporate and individual confession is about admitting we are blind and cannot see the world the way Jesus does. God opens our eyes through the humble posture of Confession, and we are awakened to see Jesus hanging from the cross only to discover the bloodied hammer in our own hands. There is an old hymn that states the question, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” The haunting and terrible answer to that hymn’s question is: Yes. We were there. We ARE there. Jesus is still being crucified in our world today. Yet, too often we live our lives blinded to this reality. However, if we are awakened to this unsettling reality, in that moment of drowning guilt, shame, and despair—Jesus, in struggling breaths from the cross speaks out, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

The Divine forgiveness that comes after Confession isn’t a self-justification, it doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences, it doesn’t mean that the wounds we have left on the world will disappear, especially because every healed (“forgiven”) wound leaves a scar. However, the Good News is that Divine forgiveness means that Jesus hasn’t given up on us yet. Jesus believes that you and me, the Church and our world, is still worth saving. Somehow, despite our bloodied hands, maybe we can still find new life in a desperately hopeless place. Can new life possibly come from an Empire’s cross? Or within the stone sealed grave of religious protocol? Can new life be found in the broken, illegitimate, and improper body of Mary’s son?

“If I were to define Christian perfection, I should not say that it is a perfection of striving but specifically that it is the deep recognition of the imperfection of one’s striving, and precisely because of this a deeper and deeper consciousness of the need for grace, not grace for this or that, but the infinite need infinitely for grace…”(Kierkegaard; Journal II, page 1482—written in 1851)

 

~ Heidi Johnson

Corporate Confession

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Most merciful God,

We confess that we have sinned against you

In thought, word, and deed,

By what we have done,

And by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart;

We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves

We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.

For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,

Have mercy on us and forgive us;

That we may delight in your will

And walk in your ways,

To the glory of your name.

Amen

(Prayers of Confession, Assurance, and Pardon. The United Methodist Hymnal #890)

Often when we speak these radical and countercultural words proclaiming corporate confession, we still internalize these words as individualistic confession. In light of our liturgy of corporate confession, an understanding of original sin, insofar as it is defined as the sin, error, and shortcomings that we inherit as a community is crucial.  How does, for example, the American church seem to make the same errors over and over again?

I have been asking that question daily since I started attending Duke Divinity School. Part of our curriculum as seminary students is to process and respond to the horrors and atrocities that stain the church’s history in America. Plausibly, part of the endless cycle of repeated sins, a type of disturbing resurrection, is rooted with the American church’s individualistic confessional imagination. A church that only responds to the symptoms of sins will never have to face or deal with the communal sinful heart that creates the symptoms in the world.

The absence in imagination for corporate confession reveals the church’s cultural captivity to American triumphalism and exceptionalism.  There is no tolerance in the spiritual discipline of Confession for a posture of communal or individualistic triumphalism and exceptionalism.  Both of these are postures that must be confessed, rejected, and relinquished if we truly want to follow Jesus.

 

~ Heidi Johnson

 

Forgive Us...As We Forgive...

 

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” (a section from The Lord’s Prayer)

Forgive us…as we forgive…

I realized that I’ve spent most of my Lenten devotionals focusing on the individual aspect of Confession without mentioning its corporate and communal nature. At Union Grove, we might add Confession to our weekly liturgy, but no matter the church season, we always say together The Lord’s Prayer. This means each and every week, we as a church community have been proclaiming the corporate nature of Confession each time we speak out together, “Forgive us our trespasses”

Corporate confession challenges us to see beyond our individualistic Western worldview.  This corporate confession models to an individualistic Western world a countercultural confession that does not seek out a scapegoat or frantically points fingers of blame, but instead, takes a deep breath of courage and sets off on the painful and courageous journey of communal guilt, grief, and lament as we face the sins and failures we have committed as a corporate body of Christ in the world. Both what we have done and left undone in our community and world. And even more challenging we are culpable, and therefore required to confess, all the ways we as the church are beneficiaries and enforcers of unjust systems within our world.

What are the things we are confessing as a community?  What would it look like to occupy this vulnerable space of Confession as a community?

 

~ Heidi Johnson