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Palm Sunday
The evening before Palm Sunday is not traditionally as busy as the preparatory days before Easter. There are no big meals to plan, no eggs to decorate, and no special outfits to pick out or iron. There is no need to try to go to bed early in anticipation of an early rising for a sunrise worship service. While Palm Sunday worship can be exhilarating, shaking off the somewhat heavy mantle of Lent, and a bit special because of the token palm branch many churches offer on the way out as an object lesson for the day, there isn't much that distinguishes the day from other Sundays. That is unless you take a serious look at what this day meant to the people whose voices were the strength of the hosannahs Jesus heard that day as he reentered Jerusalem with his disciples.
What was that Saturday night like? How did people prepare to welcome Jesus, this man some were calling the Messiah? What was it like to consider that Jesus might be the one who would lead them out from under Roman rule as they gathered to celebrate the Passover and remember their escape from Egypt with Moses as their guide?
I can only imagine the energy and the hope buzzing through the crowded city as the sun went down, Sabbath services came to a close and discussions about the next day's events became the central focus for the rest of the night. How would Jesus enter the city? How many people would come out to welcome him? With so many visitors in town for the Passover would the Romans leave the crowds alone or would they try to show some extra force to keep the everything under control? What would Jesus talk about? Surely, with an audience this size he wouldn't miss the opportunity to share his message. Maybe this would be the moment he would choose to announce that he was indeed the Messiah. Maybe this Passover would also be the year that God would save the Jewish people again.
Perhaps there was even some conversation about Jesus spending some time with individual families, sharing a meal or a simple visit. He had been known to socialize with many people during his travels. He had also been known to heal those for whom there appeared to be no cures. Were there families in Jerusalem that night praying for their miracles as Jesus prepared to enter the great city? Were others ready to take this opportunity to learn what they could from this man they had heard about by word of mouth, but had never seen in person? His teachings had astonished many, and rumor had it, angered the Jewish authorities. Whatever tomorrow held, it would be a day to remember, a day to share with children and grandchildren for generations to come.
And then it was Sunday morning.
"The great crowd heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosannah! Blessed is the who comes in the name of the Lord - the King of the Jews! (John 12:12-13)."
And then it was over.
The crowds dissipated. Shops stayed open for the extra visitors in town for the Passover later in the week. People went home to feed their families and attend to the rest of their lives. As exciting and glorious as the morning had been, Jesus would likely stay in the area through the holy days and they would have other chances to hear him preach without so many people clamoring around him. Still, it was good to be a part of his arrival. Something so wonderful had not been seen in Jerusalem for quite some time. Whether or not Jesus was the Messiah, his presence could make the world better. Maybe there was still hope.
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Defining Moments
How many ways can life change as a result of unattended to choices?
Step off a curb into oncoming traffic before the light changes and we take our lives into our own hands. Wait a few moments, traffic comes to a halt and safe passage across the street is secured. Eat whatever we choose, ignore our health in every possible way and suddenly, a stroke or heart attack puts us into a hospital bed hooked up to monitors that go beep in the night. Choose to care for ourselves over the course of time, eating properly, drinking enough water, sleeping and exercising in appropriate proportions and we live long, stable lives. Spend time with people who are miserable, unwilling to examine their lives, grow as human beings or treat other people with respect and bit by bit, our lives get worn down to dimly lit nothingness. Seek out people who inspire us, share joy and peace just by being and our lives become filled with light and new life.
As we near completion of our wilderness journey, it becomes increasingly clear that faith is not a once and done decision, but a series of choices that shape our lives over time.
Discipleship was tricky business for the New testament Twelve. Called and welcomed to what became a three year apprenticeship with a carpenter's son, they signed on for what they assumed would be a glorious future filled with redemption and hope. They expected the world to change with magnificent military triumph that would bring Israel back to the full power of its past. "Now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him; and he asked them, 'Who do the people say that I am?' and they answered, 'John the Baptist; but others say Elijah, and others, that one of the old prophets has risen.' And he said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' And Peter answered, 'The Christ of God.' But he charged and commanded them to tell this to no one saying, 'The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised (Luke 9:18-22)."
Imagine their surprise and confusion as this thread was woven in and out of the tapestry of those three years they spent together. Teaching, healing, praying, public speaking, walking from town to town, living among the people, tending to their own lives and families, only to be reminded that Jesus didn't expect anything to come of it all but his own death. Who would raise him from the dead if he were dead himself? Courageous and obedient as they were, we cannot blame the disciples for not quite getting it, no matter how many times Jesus spoke with them about the future. We cannot blame them for not wanting to consider losing their leader, teacher and friend, let alone the whole hope for their people.
But what wasn't lost on them was that this was a lifetime commitment, something to which they would be giving of themselves consistently and fully. "And he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23)."
And so we are called, welcomed to continue the teaching, healing, praying, public speaking, traveling from town to town, living among the people of God and tending to our own lives and our families. We are called to remember that Jesus' life and work did mean something, then and now, and will continue to through all of us who live our moments defined by this belief.
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Casualties of War
Yesterday marked the beginning of the fifth year of U.S. involvement in what has now become known as the Iraqi Civil War. The troop surge pressed into service by Bush administration policies backs a weary American army that many military experts say cannot hold out much longer. With many troops returning for third and fourth fours of duty, with much shorter breaks at home between tours, it is amazing we have kept our presence alive so far away from home for so long. But we are learning a very hard lesson in this country today: the United States is not all-knowing or all-powerful. Neither is our leadership, despite their best efforts to pretend otherwise with themselves.
What we have today is the mess we have made based on incomplete thoughts processes and poor decision-making practices. Somehow there has to be a shift away from discussions of winning and losing to making life livable again for the Iraqi people with their own resources and leadership. Somewhere amid the weapons of mass destruction, the roadside bombs and the images of tanks and artillery traveling the streets of Baghdad each night that we see on the national news, we have forgotten that Iraq is not the fifty-first state. We have forgotten that this is not our country, not our war and that the future of Iraq is not within our decision-making power to decide.
We have also forgotten what it is like to host a war on our own land. The last time we did so was during the 1860's. Next month marks the 142nd anniversary of the end of our own Civil War. We picked that fight among ourselves, only receiving help on both sides from other nations after the battles had begun. That war, like the one going on in the Middle East, was fought on main streets and family farms, on backyards and front porches, places where parties, ice cream socials, weddings and baptisms had previously welcomed human warmth, kind heartedness and generosity of spirit.
War changes everything.
My Great Great Grandfather Henry fought in that war, something I happened to discover only this week. He marched with the Michigan 4th Regiment, Company 13 Infantry to places far from home that now sound familiar to us: Antitam, Gettysburg, New Orleans. He was among the fortunate who came back to his wife and two children and went on to have two more sons, including my Great Grandfather Charles. My Grandfather William went on to serve in World War I, but he never spoke of that experience or his own grandfather's participation in a war that surely seemed far removed from our quiet lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. All my questions about what Europe was like while he was there did was cast a shadow over his face. Wars, even those in the distant past, were not discussed.
Perhaps that needs to change because war changes everything.
Our Civil War residue still lingers in race relations and regional economic development to this day. Maybe we need to each spend time looking at the old photographs of our land strewn with lifeless bodies belonging to loved ones who may be our own ancestors or the ancestors of our friends and neighbors. Reading the newspaper stories and memoirs of those whose homes became command posts and emergency hospitals may help us grasp what it was like to lose control over one's destiny to a cause that had lost its course and meaning. Visiting with these people who are not so removed from us in our own time, these people whose lives were blown apart, destroyed by cannon fire, malnutrition, disease and limited medical care, may help us feel what they felt and understand a little of what war really does to a country and its people.
Because war changes everything. We seem to have forgotten.
We have distanced ourselves so far from this war we are waging in Iraq that we no longer remember why we are there. We are ignoring the impact war waged in people's neighborhoods has on them and their children. We choose to deny the long-term ramifications that will be felt for generations to come, whether discussed or not. We have removed ourselves so far from God's intention for us that we have forgotten, are ignoring these important words from the prophet Isaiah calling us to repentance: "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:6-9)."
It is time to pay attention to what we are doing, to how our actions are affecting the Iraqi people. It is time to remember what war up close does to people's minds, bodies and spirits. It is time to decide what our faith tells us to do to help the Iraqi people govern their own country and heal their lives. It is time to help them reclaim their lives and their peace.
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Pharisees Among Us
Sometimes I wonder if we really grasp the power of technology.
I suspect that Karl Rove, Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush, is kicking himself this morning over his own ignorance of what can be dredged up from the depths of a hard drive that has no ethical or moral issues causing it to withhold information. Eight U.S. attorneys were recently fired despite excellent reviews. There have understandably been some questions raised. It appears the prosecutors were released from their work because they wouldn't follow the lead set by the Bush administration's blatant disregard for the law. The White House has denied anything but minimal awareness of the Justice Department's actions in the firings.
But America Online reported today that Karl Rove's emails say he knew a lot and was involved heavily with making the decision to remove the prosecutors from their positions and that the actions were politically motivated. Specifically the article said, "Emails released this week, including a set issued Thursday night by the Justice Department, appear to contradict the administration's assertion that Bush's staff had only limited involvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, which Democrats have suggested were a politically motivated purge." Although not uncommon for a president to replace federal prosecutors at the beginning of a term, there is a right way and a wrong way to handle such things. Pushing people out of jobs at which they have excelled because they annoy you, and then lying about it, would clearly be the wrong way to handle such things. It never fails to amaze me how people with power forget that they are both human and accountable. Human, because they can easily trip themselves up. Accountable, because their arrogance has made them an easy target of demands for the truth.
It is not uncommon for those who perceive themselves as powerful to feel immune to public scrutiny or remain unaware that they will eventually face consequences for their actions. As we of the Christian faith continue our journey through these forty days of Lent, we are reminded of how the Pharisees constantly fumbled and bumbled their way through every encounter they had with Jesus. Used to dealing with a populace which followed their leadership with minimal fuss, when they did come up against someone who seemed to question their authority they bristled. Jesus wasn't the first public figure lifted up by the people as a prophet or potential Messiah. He likely wouldn't be the last. The whole Jewish community longed for redemption from Roman oppression and the Temple leadership was no exception. But their job was to hold the religious culture together until the Messiah actually arrived. Any threat to that enormous task was considered a threat to the Jewish faith and the Israelite nation as a whole. Any threat to that faith was an assault on them personally as well. Who would they be if they did not fulfill their obligation to their people?
But Jesus pushed the Pharisees in ways no one else had before, even John the Baptist. He put human needs above religious law, then claimed the law and the prophets as community property, fulfilling his own call to refocus and redirect his people with God's loving kindness. Undercutting the Pharisees' authority left them feeling powerless, which in turn led them to a point of desperation so deep they cooperated in the death of their kinsman in order to preserve their religious heritage and its future.
Luke shares one memorable encounter that points to the conventions to which the Pharisees subscribed as usual practices and Jesus' attempt to help open their eyes to the larger picture. "While he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him; so he went in and sat at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, 'Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give for alms those things which are within, and behold, everything is clean for you (Luke 11: 37-41)." For all we know, the Pharisee was attempting to make a connection with Jesus, understand more about who he was and about his perspective as a rabbi. Asking Jesus about his personal hygiene habits may not have been a rude comment, but a simple dinner conversation designed to hold the meal until Jesus had time to prepare himself.
What we do know is that Jesus took this moment to raise an important issue and teach a lesson. Our actions must align themselves with our beliefs or both are rendered meaningless. Our credibility as believers, as people of faith, is destroyed if we say one thing and do another while we think no one is watching or if we think we won't be discovered in the lie. Jesus pointed out the discrepancy between the Pharisee's actions to hold the Jewish religion together at the expense of the faith of the people who embodied it. Clearly that did not sit well with the Pharisees as a group. Jesus saw what was coming, but continued his work anyway.
Meanwhile, Karl Rove has accused his critics of making the firing of the U.S. attorneys political. I'm sure Mr. Rove feels his actions were designed to serve the American people. But the distance between his actions and his words is growing. There is a good bit of space open for ambiguity and confusion, but perhaps also, some truth. Mr. Rove may be attempting to serve his country, sustaining it for future generations to come. but he is also serving his own interests as a person who perceives himself as powerful and who wants to remain so.
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On Being Spiritual
How is Lent treating you? It's a long road to Jerusalem and Palm Sunday, almost three weeks by my calculation. A clergy friend of mine once remarked that Lent would be easier if it were only four weeks long, like Advent. She was right, of course, and mainly speaking from an administrative standpoint. It is easier to get congregational investment in shorter length programming because people's lives are over-stuffed with so much already. And, culturally, we don't like thinking about scaling back and focusing in on parts of our spirituality that deal with pain and suffering, our own or someone else's.
Lent has that reputation, encouraging us to peer under the tarps we have thrown over our shame and guilt. Exploring that less cultivated side of our beliefs rarely inspires enthusiasm or excitement, kind of like a rainy day off from school. What can you do with it that doesn't feel like work? Cleaning our rooms, doing homework ahead of time or helping our parents out with some chores should not fill up precious free time. Lent fees like open territory that has been given to us, but using it well feels like entirely too much work.
Lots of people think living a faithful life anytime of the year is not supposed to be hard. If we think that God exists, cares for us and won't ever leave us, what's all the rest of this religious behavior supposed to be about? That seems to be the defining point for a number of people who consider themselves to be spiritual, but don't feel they need religious structures in order to connect with God. God being everywhere, they can connect with God anywhere. That makes sense to me. What doesn't is the caveat that they practice their own form of spirituality, but can't quite give any examples of how they do that. Hmmm. I would guess not so much. Sounds more lazy than personally creative or faithful to me.
Just as we all know life is difficult, faith is work. Let me say that again: faith is work. My dad liked to say that work wasn't a four letter word, but somehow easy is a strong selling point for everything from preparing meals to preparing for a career. If something is difficult, challenging or takes effort we shy away from it. Hence the idea to skip through Lent on an Ash Wednesday prayer and a Palm Sunday hosannah. All that messy, gut-wrenching stuff in between isn't particularly pretty or fun. Those hard questions of what tempts us away from God and how we end up serving so many false gods get by passed or completely ignored because examining our lives too closely means we likely will be forced to make some adjustments to realign our faith with our actions. A bit of a bother, eh?
A bother, perhaps, but an important one. Clearing out our closets now and again is a bother, but one with benefits. It's satisfying to find your way clear of old clothes, wrinkled Christmas wrapping and magazines from decades ago that you no longer need or use. Putting back only what has a purpose in your life leaves an organized, clean space in which you can locate items quickly and easily. The sorting process doesn't take so long if you do it regularly. But leave a closet to it's own devices for a few years and you have some serious work in front of you.
Worshipping the false god of impatience, for example, can fill up a spiritual closet inside of us with anger, bitterness and resentment until it is packed to overflowing. Keeping the door shut on that mess can become a full time job. It's tempting to just leave it alone for as long as we can. But every time we curse out a driver who doesn't move fast enough for us, or tap our foot at the person fumbling for change ahead of us in line at the grocery store, or tell our own children to hurry up when they are going as fast as they can, we place ourselves for worship at the altar of the god of impatience and say a prayer that adds another burden to that closet inside of us. False gods abound wherever ill behavior makes us believe we matter more than the people around us.
Lent is the time to consider, to examine what tempts us to do other than what we know will strengthen and support our faith. Lent is the time to bring our focus to the false gods we have closeted inside ourselves, clear out the space they have occupied in us and welcome our one true God back to our freshly-cleaned spiritual spaces. Lent is the time to do some spring cleaning in our souls. It may not be glamorous, but it feels really good when we are done.
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Enough is Enough
After picking up some essentials at my local grocery store, I remembered hearing a radio ad saying that Power Ball was up to $109 million. For fun I stopped at the courtesy counter on my way out to pick up a lottery ticket. While the clerk finished helping another customer, I mentioned the jackpot total to the woman standing next to me in line. Pleasantly surprised, she added a ticket to her own purchase. We laughed about splitting the total between us. By then the clerk had returned, mentioning that earlier this month a woman had won $10,000 with a ticket purchased at this store. I thought that was pretty great, even after taxes! The clerk shook her head, saying nothing less than $50,000 would be enough to make her happy. That amount would allow her to pay off everything except her house and also allow her a little money to play with.
Both interesting and surprising, isn't it, to be confronted with someone else's bottom line for happiness.
There is a certain level of anxiety underlying these moments, as if a giant tally sheet exists somewhere, listing for all time what we hope to walk away with at the end of this game called life. If we settle for too little too quickly, everybody else will out pace us and leave us trailing in the dust of their luck and good fortune. That happiness can be placed on a monetary scale of one to who knows how many thousands or millions of dollars is another bit of proof that we believe more in the power of financial influence than the God we seemingly credit as the Source of all being. Perhaps there is a reason money doesn't grow on trees after all.
The sixth chapter of Matthew's gospel places the balance of money and faith in human lives among the important issues of piety, prayer, forgiveness and fasting. Jesus addresses each subject directly, telling his listeners that piety, prayer and fasting are to be conducted privately, between themselves and God, not displayed for show to impress others. Forgiveness, exemplified with what we now call The Lord's Prayer, when extended to others is a representation of how God also forgives us. If we choose to withhold forgiveness, we are only hurting ourselves. By not forgiving others the slights and hurts perpetrated against us we seal off God's avenue of forgiveness to us.
It is at this point that Jesus draws the crowd to consider earthly possessions. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. No one can serve two masters; for either they will hate the one and love the other, or they will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6: 19-24)." Jesus follows up with assurances on how God's divine order works, how God cares for all of creation in concrete, consistent ways: the birds are fed, the lilies are dressed, and rather well, more beautifully than
Solomon, who was rumored to be wealthy enough to have the best of everything. If God looks after the smallest of creatures and the plants growing in the fields, why wouldn't God also attend to our needs?
Jesus nails the problem. We are anxious because we believe money will solve our problems. Money is the world's loudest language: money talks. Money cushions us against impending disaster. Money protects us from the pain of loss. Money soothes what ails us. Money gives us control and power in a world that makes us feel out of control and powerless. Because money is tangible we trust it to be for us whatever we need or want it to be. But if we attempt to deceive ourselves into believing that we can love money and serve God, we are wrong. Eventually, the two paths will diverge and we will be forced to make a choice. Loving money has a way of distracting us from our true purpose in service to God like nothing else. Just like piety, prayer and fasting, faith in God isn't meant to be displayed in public ways to show off for other people. If our faith is in money, instead of God, it will show up very clearly, very quickly, in ways we cannot hide, especially if we think someone has outstripped us in accumulating what we love most.
Jesus understood uncertainty and anxiety as part of the human condition. What he does with these words is convey the full measure of what God's presence among us means. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day (Matthew 6:33-34)." When we put serving God first our needs are attended to and we can put our priorities in order. We don't focus our attention on worry or an elusive happiness based on material wealth that can slip away as easily as a thief in the night. We look to God who shows care for all of creation in loving detail. God makes sure we have enough.
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Til Death
Anna Nicole Smith was finally buried in Nassau, The Bahamas, today, three weeks after her sudden death at age thirty-nine. News reports indicate that her mother's last minute push to be allowed to bring her daughter back to her native Texas for burial were denied. The only certainty at this, the end of Ms. Smith's tumultuous life, is that her final resting place will be next to her twenty-year-old son, Daniel, who died only six months ago while visiting his mother after the birth of his sister, Danielynn. The rest, the cause of her death, the paternity of her daughter and the management of her massive estate, are left for science and the courts to decide. A bystander to today's media frenzy, an American tourist waiting for shops to open for business across the street from where Ms. Smith's funeral was held, was surprised at the furor surrounding her death. The woman pondered aloud that Ms. Smith wasn't a president or a queen, and in fact, she was a nobody. I'm sure Anna Nicole Smith's family, friends and fans would disagree. I am none of the above, but it is clear to me that she mattered to a lot of people who will miss her. It is also sad that her daughter will never know her mother. That said, I am sincerely hoping the media will let Anna Nicole Smith rest in peace and give us a new focal point for our attention.
What draws our collective attention in this country is fascinating to me. Celebrities and outrageous behavior represent far too much air space on news broadcasts and entertainment programs. Brittany Spears' personal and professional life has not defined the importance of quality education in our schools. No Hollywood couples' relational status determines the price of bread at my local market. Details of Paris Hilton's most recent birthday party does not contribute to peace in the Middle East. This is to say, as numerous other people have said before, that while we are allowing ourselves to be distracted by so much foolishness, there is a whole bunch of other stuff going on in the world to which we should be paying attention. In a way we should be grateful Jesus lived, died when he did because I'm not so sure he would have made the evening news, let alone the Bible, if he had lived in today's drama-hungry, paparazzi-infested media climate.
Considering Jesus' life, his work and the culture in which he found himself, it is even more amazing we in the twenty-first century know anything about him, especially as much as we do. Jesus' locally-focused world centered on contained communities and the oral tradition. People didn't often leave their hometowns in search of fame, fortune or adventure. Limited resources, limited choices and assumptions about how life was and was supposed to be were the invisible fences that held people in check. There was also that little thing called the Roman army, which was pretty effective at keeping people in their place.
But somehow, against heavy odds, we know about Jesus' life and his death, and we know how the surrounding community responded. Luke's gospel gives a stark account of betrayal, torture and brutality. Many of those closest to Jesus deserted him. Those who did stay to the end were left feeling helpless and hopeless. "And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, 'He saved others; let him save himself. If he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!' The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering vinegar, and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself (Luke 23: 35-37)!"
Jesus wasn't the only person crucified that day or that year. Effective as a deterrent against political uprisings, Rome used this particular form of execution as often as necessary to prove the point of its own power. But Because Jesus was a public figure, a celebrity in his own way, we do know more. It was to Rome's advantage and the advantage of the Temple authorities, to use that horrible day's events for all they were worth to keep all those people who had hoped on Jesus as their Messiah under their control. Hopeless people are easier to manage. What is truly remarkable, indeed, miraculous, is that the rest of the story got through. Jesus did rise from the dead. Despite all the Roman power and coersion to the contrary, that one piece of information made it into the best-selling book of all time. Someone was paying attention.
So, despite the barrage of intimate information about Anna Nicole Smith, Brittany spears and various Hollywood types, there are other, extremely important things going on to which we must pay attention and on which we must act while we can. We have more choices, more opportunity, than most people can ever dream of. Our faith is calling us to remember how Jesus lived, died and rose to new life. Our faith is calling us to remember, pay attention and act.
