Invited Into New Life

Easter Day

Acts 10.34-43; 1 Corinthians 15.1-11; John 20.1-18

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 31:45)

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

On this Easter Day, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with others who, like us, rejoice at the good news of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. With others who, like us, have experienced the Risen Lord in our own lives, either directly or indirectly. I am not just talking about standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those who are in the pew next to us as we gather in this place. I am also talking about those across the ages who have experienced the Risen Lord. A broad array of individuals too numerous to count, with backgrounds and life experiences as varied as they were and are. A living demonstration of the opening statement Peter makes in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality.” Expressing Peter’s new understanding that God’s salvation is not just for a select few, but is extended to all. Peter’s understanding, and this reality, is woven throughout our readings for this day. This understanding is an integral part of the tapestry our faith tradition. This understanding is an integral part of our individual and collective experiences of the Risen One.

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New Beginnings

Great Vigil of Easter

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 1:02:05)

 

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

New beginnings are often exciting. At least, I think they are. Of course, I grew up in a military family in which new beginnings were a way of life. We had new beginnings in the form of moving to a new duty station anywhere from every three months to every three years. Each bringing with it a new home, a new school, new friends, new experiences, and new opportunities. In some ways, it was a chance to start life anew, with a clean slate.

 

Admittedly, not all new beginnings are exciting. Especially when necessitated by a less-than-positive event such as the loss of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, or a tragic life-changing situation. But even then, new beginnings can and often do have a silver lining. Sometimes, in the midst of what life can unexpectedly throw at us, a new beginning can, in the fullness of time, prove to be just what is needed for us to move on. Providing an opportunity for a new life and change of pace that can ultimately be beneficial in the healing process. A way of resetting so as to put the past behind us and to chart a new course into the future.

 

Easter is the religious equivalent. The chance for a new start in our lives of faith. Hopefully one that has been shaped and informed by the Lenten disciplines we engaged in through the preceding 40 days. An opportunity to follow the new path that was charted during the Lenten season, leading to renewed and strengthened relationship with God.

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What is Truth?

Good Friday

John 18.1—19.42

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 31:15)

 

“What is truth?”

 

These words are Pontius Pilate’s response to Jesus during an exchange about whether Jesus is the King of the Jews. His response to Jesus’ comment: “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” It’s hard to know Pilate’s intent asking Jesus, “What is truth?” Was this merely a rhetorical question? Was it a genuine attempt to ascertain the truth? And if so, whose truth? Or was it a mocking inquiry designed not to further, but rather to shutdown, conversation? We cannot be entirely sure as to the truth surrounding this question, “What is truth?”

 

Although there is something interesting about the placement of this exchange within John’s account of the Passion Narrative. Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus and his famous utterance of “What is truth?” comes virtually at the midpoint of the Passion Narrative. Mere coincidence, or intentional on John’s part? Again, we cannot know for sure. Although it was not uncommon for the authors of the Gospels to structure their writings so that central themes are positioned at the center of the written text. A literary device to further highlight the central point of the story.

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Palm/Passion Journeys

Palm/Passion Sunday (Year B)

Mark 11.1-11; Mark 14.1—15.47

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook page (beginning at 38:45)

 

You may have noticed that during the season of Lent, I frequently use the term “Lenten journey” as a way of characterizing our experience. A reminder that as we move from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, we are not just marking days off the calendar as a countdown to Easter. If we are doing Lent appropriately, we are making a journey as people of faith. This journey occurs on several levels. Symbolically, this journey is one we take with Jesus as he “turns his face toward Jerusalem.” As he shifts his focus from his public ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing, to beginning to make his way toward Jerusalem and the events and experiences we just heard in the Passion Narrative. But this 40 days is more than just recalling the story of Jesus’ journey as he draws closer and closer to Jerusalem. This is also a spiritual journey that we make, individually and as a community. A journey in which, through our own Lenten disciplines, we seek to draw closer to God. A journey in which we seek to strengthen and deepen our relationship with God and with Christ. Bringing us closer to the One who stands in solidarity with us. With the One who loves us so much he would do anything for us, including being willing to die for us.

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Drawing All People

Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year B)

John 12.20-33

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 21:55)

 

Throughout our Lenten journey, we have been traveling with Jesus as he makes his way toward Jerusalem and to his Passion. At this point in the journey—just one week before Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week—Jerusalem is on the horizon. Although in a bit of scriptural disconnect, Jesus is a week ahead of us. Our Gospel reading for today takes place immediately after Jesus has made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem—what we now refer to as Palm Sunday. As we join the scene, there is a flurry of activity on multiple fronts—much of it behind the scenes of the Gospel passage.

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God Loved the World in This Way

Fourth Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Numbers 21.4-9; John 3.14-21

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook page (beginning at 21:50)

 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that every one who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Undeniably one of the most well-known passages from all of scripture, at least in our own age. The mere mention of its citation—John 3.16—calling to mind the entirety of the passage for Christians and non-Christians alike. The passage that Martin Luther called “the gospel in miniature”—a summary of the entirety of the gospel in one verse. And yet, we actually got it wrong.

 

Now, I certainly don’t mean to imply that this passage is incorrect. God did indeed love the world. God did indeed give his only Son as a means of salvation. God did indeed give his only Son so that we might have eternal life. All that is most certainly true. It’s just not the entire truth. So, this passage is not so much wrong as it is incomplete. Partly because it is taken out of context—which I will get to in due course. And partly because many, upon hearing this verse, focus on and emphasize one part of the verse: the last phrase, which reads, “so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” For many, this has become a statement of exclusivity as opposed to inclusivity. In the mouths of many, this verse becomes more of a warning than an invitation. If you do not believe as I do, you will not be saved, you will not attain eternal life.

 

As we will see when we take a deeper dive into the context of Jesus’ statement, all this will be redeemed.

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Tearing Down Barriers

Third Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Exodus 20.1-17; John 2.13-22

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook page (beginning at 23:40)

 

Our readings for today, particularly our Old Testament reading from Exodus and our Gospel reading from John, present the full arc of our relationship with God, particularly as represented in and manifest through religious institutions. This arc does not just represent the history of where we have been in our lives of faith and how our faith has been formed and influenced—maybe even manipulated—by the religious institution writ large. These stories represent and—with a little digging—reveal the arc of our faith development past, present, and future.

 

For purposes of exploring this arc, we will use the Gospel as the present moment—the moment which our faith history has been building toward, and the moment which dictates where we go from here, individually and as the people of God. For it is what happens here in the Temple in Jerusalem in roughly the year 27 that forever changes how God relates to his people and to how we relate to our God.

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