Author: lakewooducc

This week we heard of President Obama’s visit to Cuba. It was amazing for me to hear about it. An American president in Cuba. My whole life, Cuba has been an enemy of the US though just 90 miles from Florida. In high school we read 13 Days about the Cuban missile crisis. I couldn’t put the book down. Many of you may actually remember the conflict. The world was poised, at the edge, on the brink, of nuclear war. Now, the US president has visited Cuba. On one hand, I never thought I would see it happen. On the other, I wonder why things haven’t thawed sooner. Really? Cuba? We have relations with other communist countries and other countries with human rights records we condemn. Maybe it has taken so long because there are many Cuban exiles in the US and they exert a lot of political power.

I appreciated listening to the President’s speech to the Cuban people. He didn’t portray the US as paradise. He didn’t extol democracy as nirvana. He admitted that the US has many challenges. But the President explained that our open, participatory system allows the people to work for improvement and change. And he affirmed that changes and progress are needed in the US and in Cuba.

This week we are remembering Jesus’ life and ministry. This week, we remember his last teachings and his last days. We remember his crucifixion. Jesus’ unjust death stems from his life and teaching. He pointed people to God with no self interest involved. He encouraged God’s vision of community, inclusion, and justice, for no personal, individual gain. The gain was to be collective.

Before we get swept away by the glories of Easter, we want to remember that Jesus did not say that God’s way would be easy. A seed must die. Give up your life for your friends. Many of Jesus teachings show the cost of discipleship. They convey a path of sacrifice. Jesus died for being true to God. Others were killed for their faith. But the way of justice and peace is the very way to abundant life. Joyful life. Not simply going through the motions, in bondage to self interest, but living the good life for others, for humankind, for Creation.

I found President Obama’s trip to Cuba hopeful. I was moved to tears at his speech. Now, finally, we are beginning to act in mutuality with this small, poor neighboring nation. There are issues to be resolved. The countries have their differences and ever will. But we should be talking, visiting, playing music and baseball together, in a spirit of good will and mutual respect.

It was refreshing to see a US leader pursue peace with a former enemy without using a gun, or a bomb. And it stood in stark contrast to the bombings in Brussels. It was a bright spot, a moment of sanity, in a world that too often seems insane and inane.

Pilate let Jesus off. Herod let Jesus off. They didn’t think he deserved to be killed. It was the crowds that called for crucifixion. There are those who still call for severed relations with Cuba. May we be the crowds, the people, who cry out for peace.

Prayer
This Holy Week, remembering the death of Jesus, we pray for all the things that make for peace. Amen.

Today the world has been sent into shock again at the terrorist bombings in Brussels, at the airport and a metro station. People were going about their every day lives, lives taken by complete strangers who have no direct connection with the many who were injured and killed. This is so reminiscent of the 9/11 attacks and other attacks around the world. Strangers perpetrating violence against strangers, civilians in their every day lives, who have personally done them no harm, all done in the cause of an ideology.

In the story of Jesus’ arrest in the gospel of Matthew, when the guards restrain Jesus, one of his followers cuts off the ear of a slave. He is trying to protect his master. Defend him. But we are given these words of Jesus: “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” [Matthew 26:52] Some verses later, we are told that the disciples deserted Jesus and fled.

Undoubtedly the disciples were afraid. Would they be arrested? Would they be detained? Would they be attacked? Were their lives on the line? Fear gave them a good reason to flee. But there may be more here. Jesus tells them not to respond with violence. We can imagine that their first impulse would have been to fight back. Take on the guards. Try to set Jesus free. That may very well have been the approach that they wanted to take: That they knew how to take. That they would have been comfortable taking. But Jesus tells them to suppress that impulse and quell that response. He has shown them another way. To take up violence would be to betray everything he has lived for and everything he will die for. The disciples don’t have an immediate Plan B, so they flee. They don’t know what to do if they don’t react with violence.

It seems that Jesus’ message is still having a hard time getting through today. The first reaction, even among Christians, is still to react with violence. We see many Christians idolizing the second amendment though it is very clear that Jesus would never support taking up arms. The sabers rattle in the face of terrorism. Presidential candidates threaten to bomb the terrorists into oblivion. And they are heartily supported with the votes of many Christians.

We can well imagine Jesus weeping in disappointment and despair for we still have not grasped his transformational message. Violence begets violence begets violence begets violence. The only thing that ends violence is love.

Prayer
We pray for all those suffering the effects of violence in Brussels and around the world. We give thanks for Jesus, who has shown us how to put an end to the spiral of violence. May we continue to try to learn the way of peace from Jesus so that his death is not in vain. Amen.

There is a Holy Week litany which asks, Judas, are you here? Judas is remembered for betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and then hanging himself. There is also a stream of belief that Judas did this out of devotion and faithfulness; that it was necessary so that Jesus’ mission could be fulfilled.

When we think of Judas as a betrayer, the case can be made that Judas betrayed Jesus because Jesus did not fulfill Judas’ expectations of a Messiah. Perhaps Judas was looking for more of a political rebel as a Messiah. More of a fighter. Someone who would take up arms and challenge Roman rule, then set himself and his friends up in positions of power. Then, when Jesus did not meet Judas’ expectations, Judas betrayed him. That is the customary view. And it has insights for us, even if we don’t see Judas that way.

We may feel that our faith is not strong. That is does not make enough of a difference in our lives. Maybe we feel that we are not making enough of a difference in the world. Perhaps we wish we were closer to God. We may have these disappointments because we feel our expectations are not being met. But maybe the problem is our expectations. Maybe what we think we want is not what is best for us, or what is needed by the world, or what is truly consistent with the way of Christ, or fitting for our circumstances. Maybe we are disappointed because what we are hoping for is not what we need.

Our faith could be offering us wonderful experiences, amazing new life, and exciting transformation, but we could be missing it all because it is not what we are looking for or expecting.

This Holy Week is a time to let ourselves be surprised and stunned by Love.

Prayer
It can be very hard to follow. We want to lead. We want to be in control. We think we know best. This Holy Week, may we open ourselves to the leading of Divine Love even when it leads us to the cross and beyond. Amen.

Jesus leads a peace procession in the streets of Jerusalem. Evidently even then, there wasn’t peace. The parade culminates at the Temple. This should be the locus of God’s peace in the world. This should be a place of serenity, devotion, and reverence. You know the hushed feeling of awe you get in a sacred space. Even in our little church open to the world, there is a sense of reverence. The Temple should have been a holy place of peace where you know to speak in hushed tones.

In the Palm Sunday account, when Jesus and the peace procession get to the Temple, what occurs is surprising. Instead of a candlelight vigil or a prayer service, we are given the story of Jesus driving out the money changers and overturning their tables. It’s as if things go from a peaceful demonstration to a riot. We know that line can be thin. An orderly market is thrown into chaos. This is one of the few stories we have of Jesus literally upsetting things. He disrupts the functioning of the Temple. Obviously, some people will not be happy about this. Surely the money changers were not thrilled with following their coins all over the ground and collecting their pigeons and other animals from hither and yon. The Temple officials would not have been happy about the disruption to their business and their income. They would not like the upset of the sacrifice system from which they benefitted and were fed though at the expense of the masses. To bring peace, Jesus uncovers the corruption of the sacrifice system. The peace of God and bilking the believers do not go hand in hand.

This episode shows us Jesus getting right to the heart of things. Follow the money. In religion, in society, in politics, in our personal spending, Jesus shows us that what is going on with the money is what is going on. It reveals people’s true commitments and intentions.

If you want to know more about yourself and what you care about, look at your spending and your budget. To know more about an organization, look at what is done with the money. When investigating political candidates, see where the money comes from and what the person’s policies are around money. Want to know more about a church or religious institution, look at the budget and finance statements. And if you can’t get access to the figures, someone does not want you to follow the money because it leads to the truth.

Prayer
May we align ourselves with Jesus’ procession of peace even when it disrupts our financial assumptions and conventions. May we follow the money and see the truth exposed. It is only through honesty that we can rid ourselves of the corrosive effects of greed which prevent God’s peace. Amen.

Palms. We are told they were used to line the path for the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem. His was a parade of peace. He did not enter the city as a military conqueror, though that is what some people would have liked. Jesus entered Jerusalem as the embodiment of peace, of hope, of reconciliation, of a new future. And not only a new future, but a different future. A future in which the oppressed do not apply the tactics of the oppressor to reverse the situation. Jesus comes into Jerusalem as a symbol of a reality in which violence, harm, and pain are not used as weapons against others. Jesus is leading the way to a reality in which the innate dignity of every person is honored and the creation itself is revered as the self-disclosure of God.

The palm tree is quite unique. It provides food through the nuts and date. Oil can be made from the palm. The fronds can be used for making baskets and for roofing and other practical applications. The trunk and the crown are home to countless insects, birds, and other flora and fauna.

Then there is the symbolic nature of the palm tree. It is associated with tropical warmth, the beach, vacation. Can you remember driving south on I-95 from the frozen north, eagerly seeing that first palm tree by the side of the highway in South Carolina? With global climate change, maybe they are in North Carolina now. But the palm tree is a symbol of tropical paradise especially for those from temperate climes.

So we see that the palm is really a very fitting symbol for the new reality that Jesus is pointing us to: a reality of peace, lived in harmony with one another and with nature. Paradise.

Prayer
May we keep focused on the kind of community and world that Jesus shows to us. May we be disciplined and keep ourselves from the allure a self-centered, greedy, violent society. May the palms around us remind us of Paradise and peace. Amen.