With Gratitude to "Due Diligence" Thomas

Second Sunday of Easter (Year C)

John 20.19-31

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

On this Second Sunday of Easter, we always get a “twofer.” Two Resurrection appearances for the price of one.

The first happens on the evening of the day of Resurrection. Earlier in the day, Mary Magdalene had come to the disciples, announcing the remarkable news: “I have seen the Lord” (Jn 20.18). But they just were not able to believe Mary. Such a thing as a bodily resurrection had never happened before, and was therefore beyond their comprehension. So, unlike Mary, they do not go out and share the good news. Instead, they hid. After all, their leader was brutally killed by the Romans. So, they fear that they will suffer the same fate.

Now, the Risen Jesus appears to the other disciples, greeting them with “Peace be with you” and shows them the wounds in his hands and his side. Presenting his risen body as proof of this new reality. Only then are the disciples able to recognize Jesus, and to rejoice at the miraculous thing that has happened. Only then are they able to experience for themselves the truth that Mary had proclaimed earlier that day.

Read more!

"No Explanations Inside the Church"

Easter Day

John 20.1-18

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

When I was in Israel in January, I noticed that several churches marking holy sites in the life of Jesus had signs by the doors that read “No explanations inside the church.” This was not so much for the visitors as a reminder to tour guides leading pilgrims through these holy places. If you’ve ever been on a tour, you know that they can be filled with non-stop chatter. Many tour guides tend to be very talkative—trying to convey as much of their knowledge about places visited as possible. The sign “No explanations inside the church” is intended to remind the talkative guides that this is a place of prayer. A holy place to be experienced in the silence of the heart rather than in the cacophony of facts and figures and historical anecdotes inundating the ears and the mind.

Read more!

Happy Birthday!

Great Vigil of Easter

Genesis 7.15, 11-18, 8.6-18, 9.8-17; Exodus 14.10-31, 15.20-21; Ezekiel 31.1-14;

Romans 6.3-11; Luke 24.1-12

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Happy birthday!

No, I haven’t lost my mind. Although at this point in our Holy Week and Easter celebrations, that is entirely possible. But I assure you, that is not the case.

During our worship services this Holy Week, we have focused on the parallels between the original Jewish Passover and the New Passover that began on Maundy Thursday, continued into Good Friday, and culminates on this most holy of nights. Today, on Easter, on this Feast of the Resurrection, we witness the culmination of that New Passover experience. The promise of our passing from bondage to freedom through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God—through the death of Jesus Christ. That culmination coming in the form of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. And we celebrate the fact that through his sacrifice for us on the cross, Jesus took our sins upon himself. And that through his death, the bondage of sin itself was destroyed. And that in his rising from the dead, the bondage of death itself was destroyed. This is the Passover—our Passover—with Christ from darkness to light, from sinfulness to redemption, from bondage to freedom, from death to life. This is the celebration of our entering into new life. So not only is this our New Passover, this is also our birthday. Our birthday into new and eternal life.

Read more!

Christ Reigning from the Cross

Good Friday

Isaiah 52.13—53.12; John 18.1—19.42

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Tonight we continue with our exploration of the New Passover—of how our Christian commemoration of Holy Week, through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Great Vigil of Easter—mirror and reframe the original Jewish Passover in a Christian context. Last night, at our Maundy Thursday service, we began our commemoration, our exploration, by comparing how what happened on that first Passover is, in many ways, mirrored in Holy Week. How the Israelites were given instructions to sacrifice lambs as a meal to nourish and sustain them as they began their Exodus out of Egypt. As they began their new life of freedom from the Egyptians through their journey to the Promised Land. How the blood of those lambs was to be placed on the doorposts and lintels as a sign to God to “pass over” the homes of his people, to spare them from death and destruction. We primarily focused on how in our Christian tradition we often talk about Jesus as being the Lamb of God. And how in his institution of the Last Supper, bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, nourishing and sustaining us in our own journey of faith. Our own journey to new life in Christ. And how through him, we obtain freedom from sin and death.

Read more!

Christ OUR Passover

Maundy Thursday

Exodus 1-14; 1 Corinthians 11.23-26; John 13.1-17, 31b-35

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

During most of the year, at the fraction—the moment when I break the bread at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer—I begin the Fraction Anthem: “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” and the congregation responds: “Therefore let us keep the feast.” And on most Sundays, I begin with the A-word and your response ends with the A-word. While the rubrics in the Prayer Book specifically state “In Lent, Alleluia (I can say that in Lent because I am using it in an academic explanation) is omitted. I intentionally don’t even use this anthem during Lent because invariably someone goes on autopilot and add the A-word. Or, truth be told, I fear that I will go on autopilot and start with the A-word.

Read more!

Preview of Coming Attractions

Palm/Passion Sunday (Year B)

Luke 19.28-40; Luke 22.14—23.56

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

In the span of a mere 45 minutes (give or take), we have gone from the Liturgy of the Palms to the Liturgy of the Passion. We have gone from Bethphage, through the gates of Jerusalem, to the Upper Room, to the Garden of Gethsemane, to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, to Pilate’s Praetorium, to Herod’s palace, back to Pontius Pilate, then on through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha. We have gone from celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to witnessing his arrest, his trial, his execution, and his burial. We have gone from shouts of “Hosanna!” to shouts of “Crucify him!”

Read more!

Be Extravagant!

Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year C)

John 12.1-8

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

                                                   

There’s nothing like a little drama at a dinner party. Mary is in the middle of performing an act of generosity and love, pouring perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiping them with her hair. Not your everyday dinner party activity. But then again, this is no ordinary dinner party. This party is a celebration of the fact that Lazarus has been raised from the dead by Jesus. And Mary’s actions are her way of expressing to Jesus her love and gratitude for giving her brother back to her and her sister Martha. Not only that, what we know, but the rest of the party-goers do not, is that this will be the last dinner party Jesus attends. The next day, Jesus will leave the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and walk from Bethany, down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, and make his final, triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And by week’s end, he will be arrested, put on trial, found guilty of blasphemy, and put to death. So, whether she knew it or not, Mary was foreshadowing that moment the following week, when Jesus’ lifeless body would be taken from the cross, and prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, before being placed in the tomb.

Read more!