It's Easter!

Read John 20:1-18  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200822613

            

            It’s Easter!  Jesus has trampled over sin and death.  And a new thing has happened.  Jesus has been resurrected from the dead.  This was not a medical procedure.  Nor was it a strange fluke of nature.  Jesus’ resurrection is a new thing.  He has a new body, one which Mary does not immediately recognize, thinking Him to be the gardener – one who makes new life sprout up.  Jesus is also a completely new human being.  In Christ, God made a new humanity possible for us – a humanity without sinful disobedience and distance and death.  Jesus does away with death and takes the consequences of our sins so that we might live in loving communion with God and others.  Mary finally recognizes Jesus when He calls her by name, and she knows Him as Rabbouni, Teacher.  Jesus has also taught us, in His earthly ministry, how to live into this new life and these new bodies and this new kingdom of God, which is now coming to earth.

            John says that Jesus was raised on the first day of the week – Sunday!  This is the eighth sign on the eighth day.  The seven signs before it in John’s Gospel are turning water into wine, healing the official’s son, healing the paralyzed man, feeding the 5,000, walking on water, healing the blind man, and raising Lazarus from the dead.  These seven signs may very well be meant to look like the six days of creation and the Sabbath day.  But what about Jesus’ resurrection?  It’s the eighth sign.  It is a new thing that God is doing in the created universe.  It is a new creation that has begun in the resurrected body of Jesus Christ.  It is the eighth day.  We live in a new time, a time when Christ has made it possible for the whole creation to take part in Jesus’ resurrection and become new.  We will live differently, better, the life of God’s kingdom.  We will one day be resurrected, as well, and have new bodies and a new life, like Jesus.  And of course, we must rejoice for this!  Thank you God!  Thank you Jesus!  Halleluiah!

            As Matt Maher puts in in his beautiful song “Christ is Risen:” Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death.  Come awake, come awake, come and rise up from the grave.  Christ is risen from the dead, we are one with Him again.  Come awake, come awake, come and rise up from the grave.

-Daniel Collins

The Way of the Cross

You might use "The Way of the Cross" as a way of participating in the passion (suffering) of Christ as we wait on this Holy Saturday. This service is taken from the United Methodist Book of Worship. Its inspiration came from the desire to imitate early pilgrims to the Holy Land, especially as they journied to those places of Christ's redemptive suffering. I invite you to prayerfully walk this journey with Christ.

1)  Jesus prays alone                     Take this cup from me
      Luke 22:39-44                        http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821228

2)  Jesus is arrested                       Have you come with swords?
      Matthew 26:47-56                  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821270

3) Sanhedrin tries Jesus                  Are you the Christ?
      Mark 14:61-64                        http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821307

4) Pilate tries Jesus                         Are you the King of the Jews?
      John 18:33-37                         http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821342

5) Pilate sentences Jesus                 Crucify him.
      Mark 15:6-15                           http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821380

6) Jesus wears crown.                    Here is the man.
      John 19:5                                 http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821410

7) Jesus carries the cross                I lay it down on my own.
      John 10:17-18                          http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821446

8) Simon carries cross                    Simon the Cyrene
      Luke 23:26                               http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821483        

9) Jesus speaks to the women.       Weep for yourselves.
      Luke 23:27-31                          http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821515

10) Jesus is crucified.                     Jesus on the cross.
        Luke 23:33-34                       http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821569

11) Criminals speak to Jesus          Today you will be with me.
        Luke 23:39-43                       http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821607

12) Jesus speaks to Mary, John      Woman, this is your son.
        John 19:25b-27                      http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821642

13) Jesus dies on the cross.             It is accomplished.
        John 19:28-34                        http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821688

14) Jesus is laid in tomb.                 There they laid Jesus.
        John 19:38-42                         http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200821717

Merciful and everliving God, Creator of heaven and earth,
   the crucified body of your Son was laid in the tomb
      and rested on this holy day.
Grant that we may await with him the dawning of the third day
   and rise in newness of life, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen

                                                            (The Book of Common Prayer)

Holy Saturday

Read Psalm 22    http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200818093

            "From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ⁴⁶And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27: 45-46 records these as Jesus' last words before his death.

            Why did Jesus quote from Psalm 22? Psalm 22 is a Psalm of Lament, a heart-wrenching, gut-twisting, soul-searching invitation for God to take this pain away, or at least make it bearable (if not understandable). On Holy Saturday, the Church continues in prayer, waiting with the women at the Lord’s tomb. We wait. We wonder. We weep. Waiting is such difficult work, ...especially when when our waiting struggles to understand the pain of death.

            Holy Saturday is also a day time reflection. We long for Easter and Resurrection, but it’s not quite time yet.  As difficult as it is, there is something healing about waiting. Sometimes, while we wait, we become bold like the Psalmist opening our hearts and souls to share the depth of our sorrow and pain. We find ourselves open to God in ways that seemed unthinkable before.

            I wonder what Jesus’ friends and family did as they waited that first Holy Saturday? Did they pray? Did they go to the Temple? Did they gather together? Scripture offers no information or insight, but I can't help but wonder. Maybe they just prayed and wondered, prayed and asked that God might somehow, someway help this awful pain go away.

             Tomorrow we celebrate. Today we wait. May the Lord hear our cries. May the Lord bless our greiving. May the Lord hold us close.

Lord of all that is and was and ever will be, wait with us on this day. Hold us close and remind us again that your love never ends. Amen.

-Rich Greenway

           

Good Friday

Read John 18:1 - 19:42  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200714249

     Our reading today is long. Take your time and read it a couple of times through. It takes us with Jesus from the Garden of Gethsemane to his betrayal by Judas and his trials before Caiaphas and Pilate. We end on a cross at Golgotha, The Place of the Skull.

     I invite you to imagine yourself on the hillside that day: the sights, the sounds, the smells. How could this have happened, the one that loved so much has his life taken in such a difficult fashion? I wonder how his mother and the other women felt as they looked on? I wonder how Peter felt as he replayed his thrice denial of Jesus over and over again in his head?

   On bookcase in my office sits a 3D imagine of the face contained on the Shroud of Turin. The face is one of heartache and despair—worn, tired, alone… I look at that face and wonder how Jesus felt that day paying a price that only he could pay.

     And I can’t help but wonder about the anguish God felt that day as his only Son gave all he had for us; real tears, real sorrow, real death.

Loving Jesus, we only know that we long to be close to you in this tender, painful moment. Hold us firmly and open us gently to the depth and breadth of your love. Amen.

Blessings,

Rich Greenway

A Servant's Heart

Read John 13: 1-17  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200625674

     I participated in my first foot washing when I was 24-years-old.  That was only 3 short years ago.  The United Methodist Church that I had been a part of since I was 8 did not practice foot washing.  While I would not have been surprised that the Baptist church that I attended prior to that did in fact practice foot washing, I was too young to remember it.

     My home church did in fact talk about foot washing from time to time (while not practicing it).  I remember this distinctly because we would talk about how smelly, calloused, dirty, and generally gross the disciples feet must have been and what a wonderfully merciful act Jesus was doing by washing their feet. In fact, as someone who has held the strong belief that feet are pretty much disgusting, my heart always went out to podiatrists everywhere when we came to this Bible passage.  I also secretly vowed to avoid this foot washing practice at all costs (great visual from the Bible but not something I wanted to be a part of).

     Yet it was on a trip to Haiti 3 years ago, when my feet were washed for the first time that I realized that I had in fact been missing the point about foot washing.  We had spent the first day of our trip to Haiti in airports and vans and were generally exhausted by the time that we arrived.  I’m sure that I had the general grossness that you feel from traveling and that I was hot and sweaty.  Yet when we first arrived we were whisked upstairs to the top of a home for orphaned boys and found ourselves in the midst of my very first foot washing service…. I was horrified.   This was partly because I was certain my feet were gross from travel but it was mostly when I met the man who would be washing my feet. That man was my Haitian prayer partner, Bill.  Bill was my age but he had grown up a child slave in the poorest slum of Haiti.  He finally escaped from this harsh life with the help of a group of Catholic nuns who brought him to live at the boy’s home that I was visiting.  Bill had become an international advocate against child slavery (his story is featured in the book A Crime so Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery by E. Benjamin Skinner), an acclaimed drummer, a full-time college student, and the full-time manager of the boy’s home where we were staying.  I felt utterly unworthy to have this man wash my feet and I imagine this must have been how the disciples felt.

      I had the opportunity to return this gesture later in the trip, not by washing another person’s feet but by massaging the feet of a 100-year-old woman covered in scabies at a medical clinic in Port-au-Prince.  Foot washing, both the act of washing someone’s feet and having your own feet washed, will teach you humility.  By washing the disciples’ feet, the Son of God, assumed the most humble of roles. In that act, Jesus called on all of us who follow him to strive to live lives as humble servants. Long before MBAs began discussing the concept of “servant leadership,” Jesus called upon his disciples to adopt this lifestyle.  “Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:16-17).  Would those who know you describe you as one who in humility seeks to serve others?

Lord, you know that, like the disciples, I yearn to be considered great by others.  Grant me a servant’s heart that I may discover that trust greatness is found in humility and service to others.  Amen.

Freedom through the Lamb

Read Mark 14:12-25

The Last Supper is one of the most famous scenes in the Bible.  People take pilgrimages to the Upper Room to see where Jesus and his disciples may have eaten this meal.  Famous artists throughout the centuries have interpreted the story through paintings and sculptures.  As we ponder this story we may remember the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the dramatic announcement that one of the disciples will betray Jesus, the love Jesus shows as he prepares his disciples for the journey ahead.  Yet as we dig into the meaning of these important elements of the story, we may easily overlook the importance of the story’s setting.  The story begins: “On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed…”  The Last Supper is not just the last meal before Jesus’ death, it is (importantly) the Passover Meal.

            The Passover is a holy time in the Jewish Faith.  It remembers the miraculous deeds of God that freed the Hebrew people from Pharoah’s bondage in Egypt and led them through the parted sea into freedom.  The Passover Meal commemorates the night of the final plague against Egypt, when the first born of every house was killed – but the houses with doorposts covered in the blood of a sacrificed lamb were “passed over”, their first born children spared.  The very next morning after this plague Pharaoh freed God’s people.  So the Passover is a celebration of freedom, of new life.
            It is not a coincidence that Jesus’ death and resurrection happen during the Passover celebration.  Throughout the Christian tradition, we have identified Jesus as the Paschal Lamb - the one who was slain to take away the sins of the world.  Just as the Passover lamb’s blood saved the Hebrew people from death, we believe that Jesus’ blood saves us from death.  Just as the Passover paved the way for the Hebrew people’s freedom, we believe Jesus frees us from our slavery to sin.  Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God has “passed over” our sinful ways and has given us the new covenant, a new way of living – abundant life that leads to eternal life.
            As we remember the Last Supper and the final hours of Jesus’ life, let us remember that we are often trapped in slavery like the Hebrew people were enslaved under Pharaoh.  We are trapped in slavery to sin and death, and only Jesus – our Paschal lamb – can free us from its clutches.  This Holy Week, may you realize your bondage to sin and may you find hope and healing as you follow the Paschal Lamb out of slavery into life abundant.


Blessings,


Laura Johnson

Why did Judas betray Jesus?

Read Mark 14: 10-11; 17-21; 43-46  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200418212

     All four Gospels record Jesus’ words at the Last Supper that one of the disciples will betray Him.  Before arriving at the Last Supper, Judas has already agreed to betray Jesus to the chief priests.  In fact in John’s Gospel (John 13:27), following the meal Jesus sends Judas away, saying “Do quickly what you are going to do.”

     Why did Judas betray Jesus? This question has been debated for nearly 2,000 years. Some have speculated that Judas was a Zealot who began following Jesus anticipating that he would lead an uprising against the Romans.  When it became clear that this was not in Jesus’ immediate plans, Judas disappointed, betrayed Jesus, hoping that this would in turn inspire him to start the uprising. Judas is also portrayed sometimes at being at odds with either Jesus, the disciples, or both.   Still there are others who will claim that Judas knew exactly what he was doing in betraying Jesus and was seeking to help Jesus reach His full glory through His death and resurrection (see the extracanonical text, The Gospel of Judas).    
     We do not know Judas’ full motives but the Gospels do tell us that a desire for money was among his motives.  John reports that that Judas “kept the common purse (of the disciples) and used to steal what was put into it (John 12:4-6).” Matthew also tells us that Judas approached the chief priests and asked “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” (Matthew 26:15).  Mathew also tells us in this same verse that the chief priests paid Judas thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus.  Adam Hamilton writes that thirty pieces of silver was about five weeks’ wage for an average worker.     
     In the betrayal of Judas, never truer perhaps is Paul’s warning “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10).” Jesus also regularly preached about the struggle human beings have with the desire for wealth (Matthew 19:16-26, Luke 12:13-21). This struggle with wealth is still with humans today.  One example of this struggle being the greed and gluttony that played a large role in the recent economic crisis. 
     I know that the temptation to acquire more things is one that I regularly struggle with in my efforts to follow Jesus. Eventually, the love of money comes into conflict with our love of God.  Slowly, Judas came to rationalize his taking from the common purse and his betrayal of Jesus.  Do you ever find your faith in conflict with your finances?  Are you willing to give as God calls you to? Are you honest in your business dealings?  Your tax return? Do you ever compromise your values in order to make the sale? Close a deal? Get a raise?

Lord forgive me for the times that I have played the part of Judas by compromising my faith for the sake of having more.  Help me to remember that the value of my life is not determined by the abundance of my possessions but my life is found in You.  Help me to desire to serve you with all that I am and all that I have.  Amen.

** Drawn from the work of Adam Hamilton in 24 Hours that Changed the World: 40 Days of Reflection. Abingdon Press (Nashville, TN), 2009.

Blessings,

Lindsay Collins

Honoring the Lord

Read Mark 15:3-9

Throughout the Gospel of Mark the disciples try to “protect” Jesus from people who are outside their circle of companions.  They try to prevent people from bringing little children before Jesus (10:13).  They reprimand someone for casting out demons in Jesus’ name because this person is not “officially” his follower (9:38).  They continually push people away from Jesus, people who somehow appear “unworthy” of Jesus’ attention.  Yet Jesus continually draws all people to himself.

We find Jesus in our story today days before his death, fellowshipping with disciples and friends in the house of Simon the Leper.  Suddenly an unnamed woman, presumably a relative of Simon the Leper, approaches Jesus with an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.  In a gesture that resembles the anointing of a King, the woman breaks the jar and pours every last drop of the expensive perfume on Jesus’ head.  She lavishly dotes on Jesus, recognizing him as her King and preparing his body with honor for the death that awaits him.

It is an understatement to say that the disciples completely miss the point.  Again they try to “protect” Jesus from unworthy people and scold the woman for her seemingly wasteful actions. How could she do such a thing when so many hungry people could benefit from the perfume she just wasted?  Jesus, however, commends her costly service and lifts her up as an example of faith.  “She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial,” Jesus says (14:8).  “Unworthy” as she may be in the eyes of the disciples, she has done what she could to honor her Lord.  She is our model of faithfulness.

As we approach Good Friday and remember Jesus’ death, I encourage you to consider what lavish thing you can do to honor the Lord.  Perhaps you can give your time to meditate on the Passion narratives in Scripture, or you can spend your Thursday and Friday nights attending one of the worship services here at Union Grove.  Perhaps you can give more of your heart to Jesus, devoting yourself more fully to His Kingdom.  May you find a way to honor the Lord today, and may you be blessed as you offer your love and devotion to the God who draws all people to Himself.

Blessings,

Laura Johnson

Palm Sunday & the Triumphal Entry

 Read: Mark 11:1-11 http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=200275716

     Palm Sunday is on April Fools Day this year – how appropriate! The story begins with Jesus instructing two of the disciples to go hijack a brand new colt for his entry into Jerusalem. As Jesus himself anticipates, the disciples get caught scene is Jesus riding this colt into the city. But the hijacked colt isn't the biggest prank.

     The biggest prank is the triumphal entry. If this is a King, why isn't he riding something better than a hijacked colt? Where is the army? Where is the power that is going to overthrow Rome? And then there are the crowds. Laying out coats, branches, singing songs, and shouting "Hosannah, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord." And yet, they don't really know what kind of King they are welcoming, they don't know what kind of blessing they will receive, and they don't yet know how this week will end.

     If April Fools Day is about the unexpected, the prank, the fool, and the ultimate surprise then what better way to start Holy Week. Let us be both shocked and surprised as we journey with Christ and with one another this week.

Blessings.

Andy Keck

An Invitation to Holy Week 2012

     Several years ago I overheard as someone complained a bit about all the readings we do in worship on Palm and Passion Sunday. "Why did we need to read so much? We have all week to read about Jesus' betrayal, arrest and crucifixion."
     The "complaintee" laughted and said, "Here's the problem, many of the folks who are here this morning will not be back until next Sunday, Easter. If all they hear and read about is Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday, they will miss the rest of the story. And you can't really have Easter without the rest of the story, without living through Good Friday."

     From Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with shouts  of “Hosanna,” to the taunts of the Roman soldiers and frenzied cries of the crowd, “Crucify him, crucify him!”—this is quite a week to remember and experience.  And I pray you will do just that,...EXPERIENCE, this week, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
      We will be sharing a devotion each day, an invitation to journey through the Stations of the Cross, and several other stories and insights as we walk this holy and sacred week together. I hope you will also share your thoughts and insights on our blog.
        Join us as we worship, and pray throughout the week, remembering Jesus’ holy acts of love as we prepare to receive Easter morning and Easter’s gift of new life.
     May your Holy Week be filled to overflowing with God's love, forgiveness and new life!

Blessings,

Rich Greenway