Holy Week

On yesterday it was my privilege to deliver the message at our community’s Holy Week Service at the Waldensian Presbyterian Church. I did not have this manuscript with me, but here is the gist of what I tried to say. As I share this with you I hope it will help your preparation for the celebration of Easter.

Then one of the criminals said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

~ Luke 23

Jesus was there on the Cross – living the last moments of life. One thing I have noticed as a pastor – and it is one of the great privileges of local church ministry - is that when a loved one is dying people pay attention. This can be a stressful and tense time, but also God can use this time to heal deep tensions and strong divisions in families. We want to be there for one another – especially at the time of death. And when someone shares his/her last words they aren’t often mundane or ordinary. These verses highlight some of Jesus’ last words.

It has often been said that Jesus wasn’t crucified on an altar between two candles but on Golgotha between two criminals. One of the criminals realized the significance of the moment – two criminals and the Messiah being crucified – side by side – together. One criminal recognized that this was not the case and said,

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom…

Jesus, my life has not added up to much – please remember me.

Jesus, I wish I had another chance, please remember me.

If I had it to do all over again, I’d be a different man, please remember me.

Jesus, I am full of regret and shame, please remember me.

Jesus, for a long time I’ve been forgotten and estranged and alienated. I am lonely, please remember me.

Jesus, I imagine, looked him in the eye and said, Today you shall be with me in Paradise.

And in that moment, when the hatred of the world was focused at one point, on Jesus, he spoke words of reconciliation. At the moment when there seemed to be no way to move forward – not for the criminal – when it was hopeless and they were approaching the dead end, Jesus Christ made a way. And this way was true for the criminal and can be ultimately true for us all.

In the moment of hopelessness, Jesus forgave the sinner and made a promise he intends to keep, Today you shall be with me in Paradise. Have you heard those words before?

This week during our noonday services the theme is ‘Those Who Stood in His Shadow.’ I hope your next step – as you reflect upon Peter and Pilate and Mary and Judas and this Criminal today – is to ask: What am I to do with this? What does this mean in my life? What does this mean for the world? How am I to respond?

There are a number of ways we could go from here – I want to head in one specific direction. Many years ago a Quaker theologian named Douglas Steere wrote a small and profound book called, On Listening to Another. In it he said one of the greatest things one person can do for another, one of the most profound ministries we each can do, is to listen to one another. To look a person in the eye, hear her words and say, I hear you. To communicate, What you are saying is important to me.

Each of us has touched by Jesus in our loneliness or our grief. Some of us have been alienated. Others of us are filled with grief or regret. No matter where we’ve been Jesus, the Messiah, can forgive us. He can embrace us. He will remember us.

Once you have received this kind of forgiveness, once you have been restored and given eternal hope – your job…my job…our job – is to do this with others. We are to be his agents of reconciliation.

I recently heard a minister tell of his experience in a Sunday School classroom of Jr. High boys…

Of course their conversation went in and out and around Scripture, football, basketball and pro wrestling. At the conclusion of the class he asked the boys if anyone could define God’s grace and forgiveness. This one boy with a kind of sheepish smile who’d been quite most of the hour said, “Well, if a cop waves you over to the side of the road for speeding and comes over and gives you a ticket because you were speeding that’s justice. If he comes over and gives you a warning and lets you go, that’s mercy. But after he waves you over to the side of the road for speeding, comes over to the side of the road and gives you a Krispy Kreme Donut, that’s grace!” (adapted from Tony Campolo’s, ‘Models on Forgiveness,’ 03.14.2010, www.30goodminutes.org)

We’ve been forgiven…we know Jesus’ reconciliation…we know his mercy…and his grace…Jesus has made us promises he intends to keep…now, go and do likewise.

Blessings,

Ande

On Prayer

As a Christian I have always had a desire for prayer. Some would call this the ‘tug of home.’ As a good baptist I felt the pressure to make prayer work in my life and so over the years I have read many books on prayer. I have several on my shelf right now and have enjoyed many others. I’ve tried Lectio Divina, literally ‘divine words’, praying with small portions of Scripture as the guide. I have enjoyed praying as Ignatius of Loyola taught several hundred years ago, systematically looking over the past 24 hours and thanking, confessing, praising and asking God for strength for tomorrow. Two years ago I ran across a great little book at the Catawba Co. Library, Praying in Color: Drawing a new path to God, written by an Episcopal math professor. This prayer is done with a clean sheet of paper in front of you and colored pencils in hand. I’ve also practiced Centering Prayer –a la Thomas Keating - for months and seen great progress opening my life to God.

You name it, I’ve tried it. I have gone from method to method and back and forth and here and there again - and then some. And all of the methods have worked to some extent. Maybe you can relate.

Several months ago I saw an interview with Gardner Taylor, who’s been a mentor of sorts for me since I met him at a conference a few years ago. He’s known as the Dean of African American preachers. He’s well into his nineties and he lives in Raleigh. In this video he was asked about his prayer life. His response was that he has learned to sit before God. As he spoke the scene shifted to him in a rocker on his front porch. Sitting. Just sitting. Before God, Gardner’s friend for more than nine decades.

It dawned on me. What if prayer can be like sitting with an old friend? I thought of old friends, people I most enjoy spending time with, and realize that we sometimes chat, we catch up, we share hopes and dreams, we share what thrills us and we share sorrow. We also eventually just sit and enjoy being in each other’s presence. No words, no expectation, no work, no pressure.

I am not sure where you are in your prayer life right now, but today take comfort in the fact that in prayer you might not have to do anything. Just show up before God, sit a while, and see what happens.

Blessings,

Ande

The Man Who Had Two Sons

There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.' … It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. In that distant country, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.

~ from Luke 15

This is how the story of the Man Who Had Two Sons begins. And we are aware of where it goes from here.

On Sunday the message will focus on this parable. It has been called one of the main boulevards of Scripture (a life-line, a thoroughfare) and the reason I want to call your attention to it today is to prepare us for a stroll here on Sunday.

We don’t know the ins and outs of why the young son went away. He wanted to prove he could live life on his own. He resented his father’s success. He tired of his domestic chores and work. He’d heard the call of the wild. He longed for wide open spaces. He resented a quiet life. We really don’t know the whys, but in his rebellion we see our own ignorance and silliness, we see arrogance even.

Yet the story is about the father. The one scorned and bruised but forgiving and welcoming. And the story is about a place the young son could leave and shame, but then could still return to as an heir. This return was made possible only because of the father’s love.

Blessings,

Ande

Growing in Compassion

from Friday, February 26

Friends,

I hope you are having a great Friday. Many of you have shared your reflections on Lent with me, from what you’ve given up to what you’ve taken on. Thank you – and I will say that, as with most disciplines, the fruit is seen with consistent and patient practice.

I am working on a slideshow for worship Sunday and have, in my head, called it, ‘Glimpses of Our Community.’ Basically on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I carried our camera around with me and when I was out and about took pictures of the things I saw. You will see some of these in worship on Sunday and as you do I’ll ask you to think about our little patch of earth and all her needs. This idea has been inspired by the following verse:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

~ Luke 13.34

Jesus looked with compassion on this city, the city that housed the Temple (the dwelling place of God) and all the religious leaders, this city that was unable to hear God’s word that he brought to them in person. Was Jesus angry about his rejection? No. Jesus wanted to shelter them under his wings and protect them and nurture them and keep them warm. The imagery of the mother hen is startling, really, isn’t it? What does this mean to you?

Today, where is God calling you to be more compassionate? Where is God seeking to give you his nurture and embrace?

I hope to see you in worship Sunday.

Blessings,

Ande