Fifth Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 5th Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 6: 1-7
   
2. Psalms 33: 1-2, 4-5, 18-19
   
3. 1 Peter 2: 4-9
   
4. John 14: 1-12
   

• What would Jesus do?
  
• The early apostles must have looked at each other and said "Jesus made this look so easy".  Guided by the Holy Spirit, they had to improvise, hope for the best, and always pray that they were setting the right precedent.  Probably never realizing how long a legacy they were leaving behind them.
• Who are some really effective leaders in your Church experience?  Think outside of the box a little.  Not all leadership is brokered via official offices or titles.
  
• How do they manage to do their leading?
• What about them as persons makes them fit leaders?
• Do you see yourself in any sort of leadership?
• What graces do you desire to make you a better leader?
  

• Trust unlocks God's mercy
  
• We come to trust another person by hearing about them, watching them in action.  We gain an appreciation for their fundamental character, and from that, we gain confidence in them, usually in a positive way.
• What about God are you confident in?
• What events, stories, history gives you that confidence?
• What does your trust in God allow you to do and be that you could not without that trust?
  

• Embracing our chosenness
• Because of their rich history, the chosen people of Israel had a distinct sense that they were unique in God's plan for the world, that there were things that they were called to that no one else could do.  Yet we too are called a chosen of God as well.
• What in your past makes you feel chosen, that God has a particular purpose for you?
• What do you think that purpose might be?
• How has your sense and appreciation of that purpose changed over time?
  

• Seeing Jesus
  
• Jesus is among us in many ways, one of them is His followers.
• Who is someone who shows you some aspect of Jesus?
• Does that person inspire you?
• How has that inspiration changed you?
• How would you like to inspire others?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God calling me to lead His people?
2. What might God be hoping that I'll hope for?
   
3. What is God choosing me for today?
   
4. How might I let Jesus shine through me better?

Dyker is a person who builds dykes.  A dyke is a stone wall constructed with nothing but the skill of the dyker and the stones themselves.  This form of construction is common in regions of western Ireland and parts of Briton where the soil is poor, and stones are plentiful.

Dry Stone Walls

The old dyker stood up from his work to better savor the soft breeze.
Admiring his gradually growing wall as it coursed over the countryside.

His materials plucked from the surrounding hills and valleys.
Every stone from this place, every stone a son of this landscape.

Folks from other places think that he just piles the stones
Without any concern for their shape or size.  Be he knows better.

Glancing over the pile of stones, he spies the perfect one to be placed next,
Turns it over in his hands until he finds just the right orientation,

And sets it gently into exactly the right spot in the wall.
Knowing that this latest stone will nestle in among the ones beneath it -

Nestle into its fellow stones, and help provide a nesting place
For the next layer of stones to be gently added to the wall.

Walls just like this one have stood for centuries.
Heaving gracefully as the ground freezes and swells, thaws and shrinks.

Letting water seep through rather than build up on one side of the wall or the other
Gracefully letting the winds from the shore whisper through them.

No mortar chokes the pores of these walls
Their strength lies in the gaps between the stones.

It is in the irregularities of the stones that the wall finds is durability.
It is in the eye of the dyker that each stone finds is perfect place.

The wall protecting the herds that depend upon this land.
Sheltering the precious soil so that it can give of its strength.

In our lives as living stones, we often fail to see what we are building.
But trust that Jesus the dyker knows what is needed better than we.

Shalom!

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 4tg Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 2: 14a, 36-41
   
2. Psalms 23: 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
   
3. 1 Peter 2: 20b-25
   
4. John 10: 1-10
   

• Courage of your convictions
• Renewal happens when God calls His faithful to find new, and more authentic ways, to celebrate their core identity.
• Do you think that your family could use some renewal?
• How about your parish?
• The whole Church?
• What role do individuals play in such renewal?
• Does renewal ever end?
  

• Transformation all around us
  
• Most of us would wish that our enemies, any obstacles to making forward progress, limitations on what we want to accomplish ... would all just go away.  But God doesn't seem inclined to work that way.
• Think of something/someone/some situation in your life that you thought was unbearable that you now see as gift.
• How did that transformation occur?
• Do you think that could happen to anyone?
• Do you think that such a transformation could happen to anything that comes into our lives?
  

• Drawing closer to Jesus, the hard way
  
• I think that the reasonable among us would wonder why we have to suffer since Jesus did such a thorough job of it in His life.  But it doesn't seem to work that way.
• Where have you found meaning in suffering?
• Is all suffering meaningful?
• Should we seek out suffering?
  

• Living abundantly
  
• If the abundance of God is not to be found in riches, fame, power, where is it to be found?
• What would you think distinguishes a person living an abundant life from someone who is barely surviving?
• How would you like to live more abundantly?
• What's holding you back?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God calling me to renewal?
2. Where might God be hidden in my life in plain sight?
   
3. Where is there suffering in my life waiting to be transformed into a grace?
   
4. Where might God be calling me to shed somethings to make room for abundance?
   

Smelling Like Sheep

Lord, grant me the piercing sight of humility,
That I may see myself the way that You do.

Here on this earth to be Your touch, your warmth,
Your mercy to those that you call me to serve.

Moment by moment, no matter how we meet,
No matter how we part.  The touch is all.

All that I have to offer another.
What Jesus offered those who came to Him.

Teach me to close the distance between myself,
And those that I am here to love.

So that I learn to share everything with them,
Especially your throbbing heart within mine.

That I may know and accept them in the way that You do,
And learn to forget they/them and become we/us.

Shalom!

Third Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the 3rd Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 2: 14: 22-33
   
2. Psalms 16: 1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
   
3. 1 Peter 1: 17-21
   
4. Luke 24: 13-35
   

• Finding the Courage
  
• The person of courage is not someone without fear.  We have another word for those people: fool.  A person of courage faces their fears and acts to achieve what needs to be done in spite of their fears.
• When was a time in your Christian walk that was fearful for you?
• How did you move past that fear?
• Did it work out in the end?
• What did you learn from that?
  

• Showing us the path of life
  
• Most of us are where we are today in life for a number of reasons, a number of people who have influenced us along the way.  It's hard to remember to thank all of them properly.
• Who is someone that you credit with showing the way to God in one way or another?
• How and what did they show you about God?
• If someone were to closely examine your life, what would then conclude about God from that examination?
• Do you ever examine your life to see what you can learn from it?
  

• Conducting ourselves with reverence
  
• In the Jimmy Stewart movie It's a Wonderful Life the character George Bailey discovers through Divine Intervention that his life has meant something, that he has made a difference, and ultimately that he can still make a difference.
• What about your life do you think has made the most difference?
• Is there anything that you thought was really important that later on turned out to not be all that important?
• With so many things clamoring for our attention, it's hard to stay focused.  How do you tell what to put your time and energy into?
  

• In the breaking
  
• When Mary & I were dating I went to my first family party at her parent's home and I remember Mary's mother, Jean, offering me sparkling apple cider.  For nearly forty years after that, every time I went over there, Jean had a bottle of sparkling cider and for me, it became a symbol all of the love and acceptance that I have received from that family.
• What are some of the people/events/gestures/songs/... that remind you of God in your life?
• Do you ever get a chance to share those with others?
• How has that deepened for you over the years?
• How would you like for it to deepen for you in the years to come?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God inviting me forward into greater courage?
2. Where is the path of life taking me lately?
   
3. Where might God be calling me/us to pay better attention to my day to day living?
   
4. Where in my life is God calling me to deeper intimacy?
   

The Road Back

We could not wait to get out of Jerusalem.
From the nightmare of His death -
Death by fear, hatred, and worse, indifference.

All but forgotten on Calvary's grim hill.
Almost all of His friends scattered like leaves
Before the shame of such a death.

Hope flickered while He was among us.
And died with Him.
Died while the guards gambled for His last belongings.

News of His empty tomb was just too much.
Someone had done the final indignity -
Not even allowing us a shrine to remember Him by.

But then He showed Himself to us.
Not in a blinding flash of glory,
But slowly, gradually, showing us what we already knew -

Showing us what we had known, in a whole new light.
And we were able to see His life, His touch, His death -
As never before.

Victory over, and victory through death.
He had come to become our defeat at the hands of our sin
That He might show us the road back to God.

And then we knew, we could not keep this to ourselves.
The empty tomb was not a pit of despair
But a font of hope.

We needed to share that simmering joy
With our closest friends, our brothers and sisters
And in the sharing, experience His rising even more deeply.

The late afternoon glowed with new life.
The setting sun glorious as it wove through the clouds.
Jerusalem refulgent in the glory of God.

Our friends beaming with the joy
That His life, our lives, were joined.
That resurrection was ours here, now, today, forever.

Shalom!

Second Sunday of Easter

Our readings for Easter Sunday are:

1. Acts 2: 42-47
   
2. Psalms 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24
   
3. 1 Peter 1: 3-9
   
4. John 20: 19-31
   

• Courage to hope
  
• We could wish to see a diary from one of those early Christian converts.  Get a good look at "a day in the life" and see how it differed from what we have today.
  
• Do you ever wish that that your life with God was a little more full of awe rather than awful?
• What could God do that would fill you with awe?
• What role would you have in that event?
• What's stopping you?
  

• Learning mercy
  
• Not all of us are in positions of power and authority, or not at least the way that we see it.  But all of us have opportunities to show mercy towards others, opportunities to grow to be more like our heavenly father, the father of mercy.
• How would you define mercy?
• Where have you received or seen mercy given to another?
• Why do you think that mercy is such an important attribute of God?
• Why do you think that He looks to find mercy in us?
  

• Finding joy
  
• If you asked the average person "would you like more joy in your life?" you would get the predictable answer.  But no one seems to know much about attaining joy.
• How would you define the joy of the Lord?
• How does that joy differ from the usual sort of joy that we normally encounter?
• How do we become more joyful?
• Can we have joy in the midst of hardships?
• How would you share such joy with others?
  

• Second-hand faith
  
• Thomas was practical.  He knew that following Jesus when He was alive on the earth was radical.  Following Him after he had died was just nuts.  My theory is that Thomas was looking for a personal invitation from Jesus Himself.  Can you blame him?
• How much of your faith is inherited from others in one way or another?
• How was faith passed along to you?
• How are you passing it along to others?
• How has that passing your faith along been a blessing to you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. What has God given to me that I should be awed by?
2. What is God inviting me forward into greater mercy?
   
3. Where might God be calling me/us to greater courage?
   
4. Where in my life is God calling me to deeper intimacy?
   

Touching Mercy

We had grown together, learned each other's faults and strengths,
Dreams, aspirations, hopes and fears.
I could not imagine somehow living apart from these followers of Jesus.

And I could not imagine living with them either.

We had watched in awe as He stood up for the weak and downtrodden,
We saw Him stand up for reform of the Sabbath,
We saw Him touch the untouchable and save them from despair.

Looking back, I don't think I ever thought it would last.

His reckless generosity, His unbounded love
His tenderness and forgiveness
Seemed so out of place in this world.

And yet, just what we all needed.

When they hauled Him away like a common criminal
Hung Him high for all to see, and jeer, and spit upon
I died too.  Hope flickered and fell silent.  Darkness triumphed in my heart.

Better to never feel at all than to feel that pain, that disappointment again.

Yet my brothers called me back, telling me that He is alive!
But, but my heart feared yet more loss, worse than the first.
How can this be, I asked myself.

Won't they just round Him up and kill Him again?

I joined my brothers and sisters from the sidelines
Holding my misery like a shield around my aching spirit.
Until He looked me in the eyes, told me to probe His wounds, and know forgiveness.

And then I knew.  He had never really left, never would leave me bereft.

The warmth of His touch, His voice, His eyes
They told me that He understood my sorrow, disappointment, and fear.
Then he invited me to move beyond all of that, to hope.

Hope that I, we, any and all of us can and will make a difference.

This world is forever changed, ever charged with His Presence.
And I, I especially am an apostle to the weak, the damaged, the stricken.
Showing His strength ever in my abject weakness.

Shalom!

Easter Sunday

Our readings for Easter Sunday are:

1. Acts 10: 34a, 37-43
   
2. Psalms 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23
   
3. 1 Corinthians 5: 6b-8
   
4. John 20: 1-9
   

• Courage to hope
  
• Before this reading from Acts, God tells Cornelius to send for Peter, even though Cornelius is a Roman.  After this reading, the Holy Spirit rushes in on all present, interrupting what Peter doubtless thought was a really top-notch homily.  God loves the unexpected.
• How do you prepare and train for your ministry?
• How do you know that you have prepared enough?
• How do you "let go and let God" when you minister to others?
• Is it possible to be over prepared?
  

• Living this day
  
• It's sometimes hard to make sense of current events, the world around us, the decisions that our leaders make.  Thinking back to simpler times, we can wish that we were still there in some measure.  But the only day that God gives us to live is this day.
• What are some of the things that have occurred in your life that have led to where you are today?
• Did you anticipate where you are now back when those things were occurring?
• What are some things that you can rejoice in today because of where your life has taken you?
• Would you have it any other way?
  

• Speaking the truth
  
• Bystander syndrome happens when those witnessing some brutality do nothing, each believing that someone else will step in and set things right.  The same can be said about telling the truth.
• When you need to make decisions about controversial matters, how do you discern God's will?
• Do you think that God always has an opinion?
• Is it worth it to speak up against evil even if you don't think it will do any good?
  

• Don't rush the journey
  
• The Gospel readings for the past few weeks have all featured a journey, a gradual awakening to the new reality that was dawning in Jesus.  Easter is no different.  It is only gradually that the full meaning of the empty tomb becomes evident.  That could just mean that we are slow, or that God in His mercy is gentle in leading His people, or that the journey itself cannot be rushed.
• Have you ever looked for Jesus in some place, some position, some ministry, and He wasn't there?
• If He wasn't where/when you were looking for Him, where was he?
• How did you eventually find Jesus in that circumstance?
• Wouldn't it be nice if, when Jesus moves on to something new, that someone could stand up and announce "Jesus has left the building."
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. How can I let the Holy Spirit take over more?
2. What is God inviting me forward into today?
   
3. Where might God be calling me/us to greater courage?
   
4. Is God calling me to look elsewhere for Jesus in my life?
   

He's Gone

We barely had time to get His broken body safe into the tomb
Before the start of yet another Sabbath.

Sabbath always looked forward to the coming Messiah
Always wondering, will He come today, this week, this year?

Freedom He promised, freedom from fear, death, corruption
Freedom to finally enter that inner Promised Land.

I know in my heart that He stood, walked, prayed, sang and ate
Among us, tabernacled among us and even in us.

And strange as it is, He rejoiced in that presence and intimacy
Flesh to flesh, eye to eye, hand to hand, heart to heart.

Until one day, our people's fears screamed louder than our hope
We tore His flesh from our own midst, hung Him on a tree.

Hoping that by doing so we could cling to a restless, and false peace
By turning our backs on that flickering flame of hope.

Its after Sabbath, the taste of ashes in my mouth.  I come to honor Him
Grant Him one last dignity by anointing that body that He gave away.

There is nothing more than I can do to honor His name, His memory
His love, than to hold His shattered hand one last time.

I will never forget those eyes of love, wonder, mercy, courage.
He must have known it would end this way, and yet He gave all He had.

An now, even that one last duty is denied me, denied all of us.
There is no body to honor, no flesh to sob over, no home for Him even in death.

Peter and John will be back soon.  I must find the courage to face them.
And somehow find a way to live with a shattered heart.

Shalom!