Living Resurrected Lives as Good Shepherds

Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year B)

1 John 3.16-24; John 10.11-18

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook page (beginning at 17:55)

 

As of today, we are done with Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. Through the remainder of Eastertide we focus instead on delving into just what it means to be a post-resurrection people. To be a people who follow the Risen Christ and seek to live resurrected lives. And, of course, as we do every Eastertide, we begin with one of the most well-known and most beloved images of that life. The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. This image tells us a lot about who Jesus is, but it also provides a model for how we are to live as those who follow Jesus—to live our own resurrected lives.

Read more!

You Are Witnesses to These Things

Third Sunday of Easter (Year B)

Luke 24.36b-48

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 18:45)

 

The disciples “were startled and terrified, and thought they were seeing a ghost” (Lk 24.37). It’s no wonder. I mean, Jesus had just died. And it had been a long day and the disciples were still trying to process what had happened the last few days. They were still trying to process what happen today. They had only just found his tomb empty that morning. In Luke’s telling, this is the first encounter the disciples have with the Risen Lord—occurring on the evening of the Day of Resurrection. The women at the tomb do not see the Risen Jesus—they are told by a couple of angels that he has risen. Then on the road to Emmaus, Cleopas and his companion have an encounter with a stranger. But they only realize after the fact that the stranger they had been traveling with was none other than the Risen Christ. When Cleopas and his companion rush back to Jerusalem to inform the other disciples what has happened, they are told “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” (Lk 24.34). Even though we have no details of how Jesus appeared to Simon Peter. So, while the Risen Christ appeared to several people, this was the first time that he had appeared to all the disciples at once. And, naturally, they are a little freaked. Even though they knew he had been raised. Even though some of their number had already experienced the Risen Christ. But then again, grief will do that to you. Your whole world is turned upside down, to the point that you can’t think straight. And in this case, how could they think straight? They were devastated by the brutal death of their friend and teacher. And now, he’s appearing to select individuals? That completely defies the understanding of death. No wonder they are freaked.

Read more!

A New Reality

Easter Sunday (Year B)

John 20.1-18

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 22:10)

 

We generally think of Easter as the end of Lent, the end of Holy Week. But the reality is, Easter is not the end of anything. If anything, it is the beginning of something completely new and unknown. We see this starkly represented by the principal characters in today’s resurrection narrative. But I’m not talking about Jesus. I’m talking about Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and the disciple Jesus loved—that would be John. The principal characters who represent us. The characters who each react in very different ways, representing the range of ways in which we can respond to the mystery that is the Resurrection.

Read more!

The Family Table

Maundy Thursday

Exodus 12.1-14; 1 Corinthians 11.23-26; John 13.1-17, 31b-35

St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 14:50)

 

What is the most sacred place you know?

 

Many will undoubtedly say, “the church, of course.” St. Thomas. St. Gregory’s. Wherever you call your spiritual home. Or maybe a magnificent cathedral you have visited. St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Canterbury Cathedral. Notre Dame. Some may feel the most sacred place is a special place in the woods. A quiet spot on the beach. A favorite mountaintop vista. There really are no right or wrong answers, no specific criteria.

 

If an extraterrestrial landed in our midst, right here and now, and tried to figure out what the most sacred place was based solely on our scripture readings, they might get the idea that the most sacred place is the family dinner table. While only our Gospel reading specifically mentions a table, all three readings imply a table—involving activities that typically occur at a dining table. In our Old Testament reading from Exodus, God gives instructions to Moses and the Hebrews about preparation for the first Passover meal. Complete with instructions on how it is to be eaten. Now, we don’t know exactly where the Hebrews ate their Passover meal before leaving Egypt on their forty-year journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Although, since the passage talks about preparing the designated meal for each family, what typically comes to mind is the image of families gathered at their own dinner tables. Not unlike Passover celebrations in nearly every Jewish home, to this day.

Read more!

Mind of Christ

Palm Sunday (Year B)

Philippians 2.5-11; Mark 14.1—15.47

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 36:30)

 

Here we are. Palm Sunday. Also sometimes referred to as Passion Sunday. A day that is a bit schizophrenic. Or, at least, that is what it has become over time. The definition of schizophrenic is “of or relating to conflicting or inconsistent elements; characterized by unusual disparity.”[1] On this day, we certainly see conflicting elements and experience great disparity, as we go from celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with shouts of “Hosannah!” to witnessing Jesus’ Passion, with shouts of “Crucify him!” And if “schizophrenic” doesn’t describe what we witness on this day, I don’t know what does.

Read more!

Spoiler Alert

Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Jeremiah 31.31-34; John 12.20-33

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 12:30)

 

I don’t know about other clergy, but for me, one of the biggest struggles of preaching during Lent, particularly as we get closer and closer to Holy Week, is figuring out how much to reveal of the story. I mean, we all know how the story unfolds. We all know how the story ends. But I struggle with not wanting to reveal too much. I don’t want to spoil the ending. Not that I can really do that, because, as I said, after 2,000 years of doing Lent and Holy Week, we know the story like the back of our own hands. Rather, I don’t want to spoil the build up to the climactic ending that is Easter. Ideally, I want the events of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday to slowly build in intensity: Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his Last Supper with the disciples, his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, his trial before Pontius Pilate, his conviction and condemnation to death, his crucifixion. All building, only to leave us with that momentary pause—that pregnant pause—called Holy Saturday. That period where we feel abandoned. Where we feel all alone. Where we feel bereft of hope. And then BOOM, Easter! Resurrection! New life!

Read more!

For God So Loved the World

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 11:55)

 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” John 3.16. Perhaps one of the best-known Bible verses of all time. So well known that even if you were to ask a non-Christian to recite John 3.16, they probably could. Part of this is likely due to the pervasiveness of the use of this verse, or reference to it, throughout our culture. While obviously part of the canon of scripture for nearly 2,000 years, it was particularly during the 1970s, 80s, and 90s that John 3.16 came to the fore of our collective consciousness, thanks to the rise in evangelicalism in America. This verse almost becoming the motto or the mission statement for American evangelicalism, thanks to Billy Graham, who was particularly active during this time, holding mass rallies or crusades, where he often preached on this verse. The popularity was so pervasive that signs that simply read “John 3:16,” or even the more truncated “3:16” seemed, and still seems, to be everywhere. On T-shirts, on signs and billboards, even graffitied on freeway overpasses. It is so commonplace that references seem to be present at every sporting event, from high school to nationally televised professional games. So, what is it about this one verse, of all the 31,102 verses in the Bible (excluding the Apocrypha), that has captured our collective attention?

Read more!

Removing Barriers and Being the Body of Christ

Third Sunday in Lent (Year B)

John 2.13-22

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 14:30)

 

Thus far this year, we have focused on the Gospel According to Mark. But through the rest of our Lenten journey, we switch to the Gospel According to John. Now to be sure, John’s Gospel is a completely different animal compared to the Synoptics Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John’s theological perspectives, his language, how he portrays Jesus, are all very different than the other three Gospels. And even some of the stories and when and how they are told are very different. Case in point: today’s telling of the cleansing of the Temple.

 

All four Gospels contain a version of Jesus cleansing the Temple. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all place the event during Holy Week following Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, just days before his crucifixion. John, on the other hand, places this critical event at the opposite end. At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. This alternative placement and other variations offer a different perspective on what Jesus’ actions in cleaning the Temple mean for us.

Read more!

Taking Up Our Cross

Second Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Mark 8.31-38

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 13:40)

 

A couple of weeks ago, when we talked about the Transfiguration, we talked about how that was a pivot point in Jesus’ life and ministry. When his focus changed from being about his ministry of teaching and healing to being about his journey to Jerusalem. The journey we make with him during the season of Lent. Well, the real shift actually took place six days before the Transfiguration, in the events we hear in today’s Gospel. When Jesus tells his disciples for the first time that he will undergo great suffering, be killed, and then rise again. The first of three Passion predictions.

Read more!

Do We Really Need To Do Lent This Year?

First Sunday in Lent (Year B)

Mark 1.9-15

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 14:00)

 

Here we are. The start of another Lenten season. The beginning of another Lenten journey. The 40-day period when we specifically focus on repenting of our sins both individual and communal; with the threefold practices of prayer, fasting, and charity; and a time that we often associate with austerity and deprivation. Looking at the last 11 months, is what we have been through so different than what we associate with Lent? Only it did not come to an end after 40 days. No, here we are at Day 340 of the official “lock down” that we have lived through with varying degrees of intensity. What seems to be a never-ending Lenten season. In fact, when we began this pandemic existence, we were in the middle of Lent 2020. Our last in-person worship was March 15^th, the third Sunday in Lent. Sure, we switched to online worship and completed the liturgical season of Lent 2020, doing Holy Week and Easter services in a new way. But it still didn’t quite seem like Lent was over. Even though we celebrated Easter, it still felt like Jesus was in the tomb. Even though we celebrated Pentecost online, there did not seem to be much of a new spirit in the land. Even though we celebrated Advent, preparing for, anticipating, longing for new birth, the celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas just was not the same. Throughout it all, there was the specter of COVID. There was the reality of a global pandemic. There was an ongoing sense that we were in a time far more akin to Lent than to Easter or Pentecost or Advent or Christmas.

Read more!