Category: Posts

Corona Sabbath 5 (First Sunday after Easter)

Date: April 19, 2020
Scripture: John 20:19-31
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

Rest in peace. This phrase is on many gravestones. It is a saying that we offer as comfort in the face of death. Because we need peace when confronted with death.

In the story we heard from the gospel of John we see just that. Death. And peace. The reality of death is underscored in the exchange involving Thomas. Unless I see the wounds, I won’t believe it. The death of Jesus is real. This is not some sham death. Something staged. A trick. Jesus was really killed. Dead. To this precious mortal life.

And there is peace in the story. Three times Jesus declares: Peace be with you. The disciples are afraid, distraught, in shock. And they are given what they need most – peace. In the face of the horrific death of their dearly beloved friend they receive peace.

One of the important dimensions of our faith is that it offers us peace in the face of the stark reality of death. This is a key function of religion in general: Helping human beings deal with death.

The stories of Jesus appearing alive after the crucifixion were a way for people of that day and time to find peace in the aftermath of Jesus’ death. In a context where life after death was associated with important cultural figures, Jesus’ followers found peace in associating this pattern with Jesus. It gave his friends and followers peace to conceive of Jesus alive in a new way, his presence continuing. The stories of the resurrected Jesus show us how his friends experienced the peace which passes all understanding even after his death.

The follow up, that this eternal life was offered to everyone after death, was also a source of peace and comfort. The concept of Jesus coming back from the dead in a new way and inviting people to live eternally with him after death is a way of offering peace in the face of death.

Death is a natural, inevitable part of life. So it is important that we find ways to make peace with death. This is one of the things that our faith gives us: A way to experience peace around death.

The stories of the resurrection of Jesus and eternal life with him in a heavenly realm are a way of making peace with death; of experiencing peace and comfort around death. We may look forward to seeing our loved ones who have gone before us. That is beautiful. There can be great relief and comfort in that image. And we are grateful that our faith offers that vision of peace around death.

For some people, the concept of life after death, some kind of ongoing life does not offer comfort. It can seem too magical, unbelievable, or unscientific. If it gives you more peace to believe that when you die your individual physical life is over and you go on in the memories of those who have known you, that’s ok. If it gives you peace to think you will be cremated, buried, and become soil and return to the earth, and that is the completion of your life, then that is beautiful.

If you are at peace with not knowing what, if anything, happens after the last breath is exhaled and the body dies, that is fine, too.

If people find peace in the idea of returning to this life in another form, some kind of reincarnation, then that is wonderful. What is important is making peace with death.

I recently saw an interview with the people who made the movie “Fantastic Fungi.” The movie is about the importance of mushrooms and fungi to the health of the planet and to the health of people. In one segment, a man shares how he was told that his cancer was spreading. He was very anxious and afraid. The doctor gave him a pamphlet about a program that involved taking the drug psilocybin, obtained from mushrooms, in a controlled setting, to help cultivate spiritual peace. The man followed up and arranged for an appointment. He tells of experiencing a higher power. It gave him peace and comfort and assurance that he never could have dreamed of. And he now has peace around death, even his own impending death. He is not afraid. Again, what is important is the idea of knowing peace in the face of death.

We also know that the condition of our relationships has a lot to do with our experiencing peace in the face of death. Notice that in the story from John, Jesus challenges his followers to forgive. Forgiveness is part of creating peace in our lives and in our relationships. And this contributes to our experiencing peace around death. Our faith teaches us to live with honesty, authenticity, and humility, freely giving and receiving forgiveness. This kind of life helps to foster peace with death. So whatever our thoughts about what happens after we take our last breath, to cultivate peace around death involves how we live and the condition of our relationships while we are still breathing in this life.

Our faith involves turning “our mourning into dancing” as we are told in the Psalms. It is about experiencing transcendent peace in this life when confronted with the reality of death. We believe in a God that can never be fully known, a God of infinite love. We do not want to limit how people may experience peace around death. That peace may come in many different ways.

What is important, I think, is that we are trusting Divine Love to offer us peace when we are facing the deepest sense of sorrow and loss imaginable. Peace in the face of death. And the stories of Easter and the resurrection show us how that happened for those first century friends of Jesus. These stories show us a God of endless creativity and eternal love.

In this time of COVID-19 and the tremendous suffering, grief, and death that we are seeing, it is important for us to think about how we are associating peace and death. This disease is disrupting how people are used to finding peace in the face of death. We are used to being with our loved ones when they die. We find support in communal gatherings in the aftermath of death. We rely on traditional rituals to process our loss and grief. With the necessity of physical distancing, it is particularly difficult to find peace around death at this time.

Easter reminds us to trust that the healing will come. There is peace in the face of death. The story from John reminds us of the completely unexpected ways that the disciples experienced peace around the death of Jesus. There will be ways for us to find peace in the face of death even during this Corona time. We can trust the infinite creativity of Divine Love. Amen.

(Click HERE if you wish to see the post containing the video of this text.)

Date: April 5, 2020 Palm Sunday
Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11
Reflection: Rev. Kim P. Wells

Last weekend, I heard an interview with an EMT on National Public Radio. The man has been in the profession for over twenty years. He has dealt with many difficult situations. Part of his job is telling people when their loved one has died. He is familiar with being the one to break the news to the spouse or the parent that their beloved has died. That is part of his job and that is part of why he went into that work. He wanted to be the one to serve people in such times and to offer the tenderness and consolation that is so important in those tragic situations.

And now this EMT is in the midst of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York where there are many deaths. He talked about having to tell a family that their loved one had died of the virus. From 6 feet away. Without a hand on their arm. Without offering his shoulder to absorb their sobs. Only able to give words across what felt like an abyss without physical human touch. He said after delivering the news they all turned to go. He went back to the ambulance. Got inside. And cried. For the first time in his career. Not being able to offer physical touch as human consolation was his undoing. He said it is the hardest thing he has done in his entire professional life.

We have a health care professional in our church family who is on the front lives of COVID-19 working as a nurse in the pulmonary unit at an area hospital. One way to look at this is, How awful. Poor thing. Facing such demanding, scary circumstances! Literally putting her life on the line.

Another way to look at this is that she is doing what she has been called to do. She was called to serve in the healthcare profession, to help take care of people who are sick, to offer treatment and solace to those who are suffering. And here she is able to do just that. She has been given the opportunity to do what she was called to do, to fulfill her life’s mission, to offer the service that she is meant to give. And when it is desperately needed. How beautiful that she is able to do that.

Today we remember Palm Sunday and the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on a donkey in a procession of sorts with onlookers waving palm branches. He knew that his life was in danger. He knew the religious leaders wanted to have him killed. He could have snuck into the city for the obligatory Passover observance. He could have gone on the down low; used some kind of disguise that would have hidden his identity from the random public and from those seeking to kill him. Instead, we are told of a procession. A public event. Making a scene. The people know exactly who he is. They shout, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee!” Jesus does not retreat from being a conduit of Divine Love. He doesn’t look for the easy way out. He doesn’t play it safe. He does what he is here to do. He does what he is called to do. He lives God’s dream.

I think it is timely that the corona virus pandemic has erupted in the season of Lent. This is an introspective season. A time to reflect and reconsider. A time to be still and know. As we said on Ash Wednesday, a time to re-turn our lives to God. This pandemic is creating an opportunity for us to think about our lives, our society, our government, our economy, our values, our spirituality, our family, our faith community, and our relationships, in new ways. It is giving us time to think and process instead of being lost in our obsessive work and busy-ness. This is a time to explore and examine our inner terrain – as individuals and as a society.

It is a time to consider how we need to put the common good, the welfare of others, the health of everyone and the planet itself above self protection and personal gain. This is why Jesus went to Jerusalem. He was not going to stopped.

We are hearing a lot these days about mitigation. Mitigation is the act of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something. So, yes, we are talking about the mitigation of COVID-19; reducing the spread and severity of the impact of the of the virus. And we should be mitigating COVID-19.

But usually the concept of mitigation is applied in a different way. We want to mitigate the sacrifice we will have to make. We want to mitigate what it will cost us to get something done. We want to mitigate the inconvenience or the effort we will need to expend. We want to mitigate our personal sacrifice. Mitigate is often about reducing the seriousness or severity of the impact to our bank account or personal comfort or individual choice.

Jesus did not mitigate the personal cost to himself, the price he would have to pay, for expressing ultimate love that would threaten the current power arrangements of his day (and ours). Nurses and healthcare workers and EMTs don’t mitigate their personal discomfort when it comes to helping others.

I saw this on Twitter this week:

“My mom is a 69 year old nurse and her hospital is deploying her to the front lines next week
She called me to tell me where important documents are, if ‘something happens because this virus kills and kills quick’
Now I know how it feels to have a loved one to war”
Roland Scahill 3/28/20

“And to be clear, this isn’t a criticism of her hospital, but to point out that nurses don’t stop. Ever.
They have no fear.
They save lives.”

So, in these corona days as Lent draws to a close and we remember Jesus’ triumphant procession into Jerusalem on a donkey to meet his meet his death, we can think about how we are joyfully, wholeheartedly, sacrificially expending our lives to relieve suffering, to contribute to the common good, and to live out our life’s purpose – to love. Amen.

(Click HERE if you wish to see the post containing the video of this text.)