Easter Sunday morning

Our readings for Easter Sunday Morning are:

1. Acts 10: 34a, 37-43
   
2. Psalm 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23
   
3. Colossians 3: 1-4
   
4. John 20: 1-9
   

• Finding freedom from fear
  
• This reading is Peter addressing the close friends and relatives of a Roman centurion.  The mere fact that Peter, a devout Jew was there was something of an epiphany to both Peter and his audience.  There are all sorts of barriers that separate us from those that God might want for us to minister to: class, background, culture, ethnicity, age, health, ...
• Is it the case that everyone that you serve is just like you in all ways?
• How did you get to a place where you ministered to them on a regular basis?
• Do you think that ministering to them has made you a better person?
• How?
• Given your life experience to date, what do you think might be next?
  

• Statement of purpose
  
• A life without purpose is the worst sort of existence.
• Have you ever thought about what your purpose is, why you are here?
• Do you think that we should actively seek to find our purpose, or should we be content to "let that purpose happen to us?"
• Do you think that your life purpose changes from time to time as you go through life?
• If you knew your purpose with any degree of depth, how might that change you?
• How would a statement of purpose change the way that you make decisions?
  

• Pleasing God
  
• If you think about it, everything in this life is just a means to an end.
• What is that "end" to which all of your possessions, talents, skills, relationships, experiences, honors, ravishing good looks are for?  What is it that they equip you for?
• How can you tell when/if any one of those gets corrupted and becomes an end in itself?
• What then?
  

• It's a journey
  
• My favorite part about RCIA is the Gospel readings for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays of Lent: the woman at the well, the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus.  In all three stories, Jesus patiently, gently calls forth faith from those that He touches.  Today's Gospel is no different.  We take time to truly embrace the resurrection in our lives.  Maybe our entire life.
• What is a journey that you are on these days?
• How did that start?
• Where do you think that God is taking you?
• What are you doing to further that journey?
• Who are those taking that journey with you in one capacity or another?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where can I be a source of hope for another?
   
2. Why am I here?
   
3. What really matters to me in my life?  Do my actions reflect that?
   
4. Where is God leading me to greater freedom?

Resurrection Prayer

God of resurrection ever aborning -

Make my wounds glorious in the light of your transforming love.

Take my hurts and transform my fear to compassion.

Take my losses and transform my indifference to hope.

Take my failings and transform my resentment to humility.

And in your great love call me forth from my nights into all my days.

That I too might be Your Presence to the Lazarus I meet today.

 

Shalom!

Palm Sunday

Our readings for Palm Sunday are:

1. Isaiah 50: 4-7
   
2. Psalm 22: 8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
   
3. Philippians 2: 6-11
   
4. Mark 14:1-15:47
   

• Rousing the weary
  
• No one likes a mindless cheerleader - the one who wants those around them to show enthusiasm despite the dire situation, who encourages others to look on the bight side when there is no bright side, who is out of touch with reality.  Giving others hope can be hard.
• When you or a loved one suffers a loss, what is your first response?
• Have you ever seen yourself as someone sent by God to restore hope?
• What sort of relationship must exist between you and the mourning loved one before you have the right to speak of hope to them?
• Who in your life would receive such a grace from you?
• What can/should you be doing to strengthen those relationships?
  

• Two boats and a helicopter
  
• When we see someone in need, it's often hard to know what to do, how to reach out to them. A great parable along these lines is here.  I wonder sometimes how we know to get into the boat and be God's deliverance for another.
  
• Have you ever tried to rescue someone from a dire circumstance in their lives?
• How did you know that you were the one called to step in?
• How did you know what it was that they needed most at that time?
• How did you know that they needed that most from you?
• How did you know that you were not just being an enabler?
• Where was God in that experience?
  

• Pleasing God
  
• One tenet of Ignatian spirituality is disordered attachments, those things in our life that get in the way of our devotion to God, diminish our freedom, draw us away from our true destiny, diminish us.  But such attachments rarely emerge in our lives fully formed all at once.  They have a way of "creeping up on us" a little at a time.
• How do you tell if someone, something, some habit in your life draws you toward God or draws you away from God?
• If you found that there was something in your life that consistently robbed you of your freedom, what would you likely do about that?
• How long would that process generally take?
• How might you become more sensitive to such shackles in your life?
  

• Jesus wept
  
• Luke 20: 60-61 tells us that Jesus knew the moment when Peter denied Jesus the third time, and Peter knew that Jesus knew.  I'm sure that Jesus wept for Peter just as Peter wept, that Jesus wanted to very much to reach out to His friend Peter, but they were both busy: Jesus in giving His life away, and Peter in desperately trying to save his.
• How do you find the courage to go on when you have failed in one way or another in your Christian walk?
• How did you come to believe that God had honestly forgiven you?
• What did it take before you were able to forgive yourself?
• How did you manage to truly appropriate that forgiveness in your life?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where can I be a source of hope for another?
   
2. Where is God calling me to be His Presence in someone's life?
   
3. What matters most to me, deep down inside?
   
4. Where is God calling me to trust in His forgiveness?

Blind Alley

I conjure the shore of the Sea of Galilee in my mind's eye.
I feel the caress of a gentle breeze across my face,
The warm touch of the sun upon my upraised face.
I breath in the peace wafting in from the warming waters.
And I ask myself why I ever left all of that for Jesus.

I can't go back there.
Sure, the water is as it has always been.
The fish still teem the waters.
The sun still shines and the breezes still play across the water's surface.
But I, I  am eternally different.  I no longer see, smell, touch, taste that shore the same.

My friend Jesus has transformed my life, bit by bit.
Breathing has purpose now.
I inhale, I eat, I drink, I rest, all that I might be strong enough to serve.
Serve Him to transform the lives of others,
Give them back their birthright as our Father's children.

And yet, the very community that we seek to serve -
They have all turned against Him,
Soon, they will come after me.
And then I can only see more death, as one after another of us are hunted down and silenced.
I cannot flee, I cannot move forward, except in death.

Alone, alone I stand, head bowed in defeat.
Brought face to face with my own fear and lack of faith.
With no one to comfort me,
No one to absolve me.
Only those who would mock my love of Jesus.

I can easily imagine myself swinging from one of the lower branches of a tree that I see.
Relieved of all anxiety, hurt, guilt, and fear.
It would be a quick and silent ending.
My broken body a mute testimony of the ashes of my faith.
And I turn my gaze from there, knowing that I cannot desecrate His memory that way.

Pray for me.
Pray that I find the courage to pray for Jesus.
Pray that I might somehow make it through just one more night.
Pray that I may somehow greet the morning -
And mourn His death and the death of my hope with His followers.

Shalom!

5th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the fifth Sunday of Lent (using Cycle A for the RCIA scrutinies) are:

1. Exodus 37: 12-14
   
2. Psalm 130: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
   
3. Romans 8: 8-11
   
4. John 11: 1-45
   

• Part of the miracle
  
• God asked Ezekiel to prophesy to a valley full of dry bones that God was bringing them back to life.  God did not take His action until Ezekiel did his part.  The man born blind had to wash his eyes before he could see.
• What are some miracles of God that you can think of that required some form of human collaboration/cooperation?
• Why do you think God asks us to take a part in these interventions of His?
• How are we supposed to know when/where/how to do our part?
  

• Two boats and a helicopter
  
• Waiting for the Lord might sound passive, but I think that waiting is more about being prophetic, keenly aware of God's ongoing revelation, and being ready to move where/when and how the Spirit guides us.  A great parable along these lines is here.
• What are some unexpected ways that God has helped you in the past?
• Did you see those as help from God at that time?
• Why did you accept that help?
• Do you think that you would recognize God's hand in your life in that same situation today?
  

• Pleasing God
  
•  How do you know that what you are doing with your life this year, this week, today, is pleasing to God?
• When you were doing/saying/thinking something that was displeasing to God, how did you come to know that you were displeasing God?
• Do you ever ask God questions about how you're living?
• What sort of answers have you gotten?
• What sort of process does God use when answering you?
  

• Jesus wept
  
• We don't think about God's emotions very much, but Jesus certainly showed an array of emotions.  Although I'm still uncertain what Jesus' reactions might be to an Aramaic pun might have been.
• Do you think that God grieves with you when there is loss in your life?
• Can you imagine Jesus sitting next to you, taking your hand, and just being with you in times of distress, illness, painful decisions, grief?
• When Jesus is there with you, do you think that He ever gets impatient with you, wants to get up and be on His way, that He has more important things to do?
• Do you think that there is a resurrection on the other side of every loss?
• Why do you think that God left Jesus in the tomb for three days?
• What are some tombs that you've been in?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. How is God calling me to participate in His healing in my life?
   
2. Where is God maybe moving in my life that I'm not aware of?
   
3. How can I be more sensitive to God's leading day to day?
   
4. Where is God calling me to be present to a loss in my life?

Let Us Also Go to Die With Him

I look around at these brothers and sisters.

Each of us so very different in how we got here.

Each of us so very different in how we follow our Master.

Yet each of us devoted to this Kingdom with no palace that He brings.

We are all going to die.

Jesus wants to go back to Judea, land of the Jews,

Those with power, authority, and palaces

Who hate him bitterly for his Gospel of liberation,

Who want to silence Him so that they can cling to their traditions.

We have been freed.

Freed from our own weaknesses,

Freed from the lies that we have told ourselves and others,

Freed from the fear that God only loves us when we follow the rules,

Freed to join our God in the dance of the Trinity for eternity.

I will miss my family, my village, my synagogue.

I see my kith and kin as other lights of God in this world.

I know them now as fellow pilgrims, and I pray that they too find courage in Jesus.

The boys and girls that I grew up with, are dear to me now more than ever.

Because I see them through Jesus' eyes and know their true loveliness and beauty.

I pray that I die bravely.

I pray that my martyr's death will give others courage.

Courage to know God's Presence among us in new ways,

Courage to stand for the truth rather than cling to the comfortable,

Courage to step into the family of God as His sons and daughters.

Pray for us, as we pray for you.

Shalom!

4th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the fourth Sunday of Lent (using Cycle A for the RCIA scrutinies) are:

1. 1 Samuel 16: 1-13
   
2. Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
   
3. Ephesians 5: 8-14
4. John 9: 1-41
   

• Trust me
  
• Scripture doesn't often tell us what the men and women of God are feeling when they follow God, how they came to know the will of God, how they could act so certain of their guidance.
• Do you feel that you are better at hearing and following the voice of God in your life today than you were, say five years ago?
• How do you account for that?
• How do you think that you could get even better at hearing God's voice in your life?
• What do you think that God is asking of you today?
  

• Comfort vs. comfortable
  
• None of us wants to be insecure: not knowing where the next house payment will come from, fearing that today's mail will include a medical bill that we have no hope of meeting on time, fear of layoff.  So we try to build a cushion to insulate us from the things that we fear, hoping that will bring peace.  But oftentimes, that cushion becomes a worry of its own.
• When/where do you feel most at peace?
• Is that feeling that you get in that context fleeting, or does it abide with you?
• Is that feeling realistic, or just an escape from worrisome realities?
• How could you cultivate more peace within your life?
  

• Exposé
• Traditionally, the general populace looked to the news media for daring coverage of cover ups, revealing corruption wherever it might lurk, giving the rest of us the truth, no matter how painful.  That vision has dimmed somewhat in the meantime, leaving the aching question "whom can you trust?"
  
• Where do you go to find the truth of the matter in religion, politics, culture?
• Or, like so many others, have you given up trying to find out the truth of such matters and just leave it to our leaders to do the right thing?
  
• Is it being judgemental to hold others accountable for their actions?
• Do you feel that you have to be perfect before you can hold another accountable?
• Is there anyone in your life who regularly calls you to account for your actions?
  

• Fear of change
  
• Fear clings to the familiar, the comfortable long past time to move on.
• What is a belief, attitude, practice, relationship, ministry, job that you have had to leave behind in order to draw closer to Jesus?
• How did you come to realize that such a transition was needed in your life?
• Was there anyone in your life who helped you in that transition?
• Did you find any comfort in that transition?
• If you had it to do again, would you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. How is God calling me to participate in loss in my life?
   
2. Where can I be more honest with and more trusting of God?
   
3. Where is God calling me to be more prophetic?
   
4. Where is God calling me to transcend my own limitations?

Uprooted

Begging is not an easy way to make a living.

But, in my culture, it was an honorable one.

I could even say that I supplied a needed service.

For everyone needs to give alms in order to complete the generosity of God.

And for every alms giver, there must be those to receive with gratitude.

Then I was given strange orders.

Go and wash He said, and I did as I was told.

Hardly knowing what to expect.

I'm still reeling from the fallout of that trust on my part.

Now that I can see, everything is changed.

I make my family nervous.

They don't know what to say to me, or around me.

They rejoice that I am healed,

But they cannot turn their backs on their community

Enough to really receive this gift of my sight.

My fellow beggars are envious of my great fortune.

A few joke with me that it is now my turn to give alms.

Someone else has already taken my prize spot to beg.

And I have no idea where to find an apprenticeship.

And learn a trade at my age.

The community religious leaders have questioned me.

And found my honesty blasphemous.

Leaving me to wonder when truth became the enemy of religion.

Or when healing a poor blind man became evil.

Worst of all, where can I pray now that I have been expelled.

My ties to my kith and kin are shattered.

Healing those wounds may be harder than healing these eyes.

And yet, and yet, I must move forward.

Into an undiscovered country I have never visited -

Into a promised land never seen before.

I see in the distance that this Jesus will pay for such subversion.

They will find a way to kill Him.

Not just Him, but any of us who are like Him - disruptive.

And those of us who have followed Him into this terrain, this Kingdom

We are going to have to remind each other why we are here.

What we have been saved from.

What we have been saved to.

What it really means to be able to see.

Why we are no longer afraid to speak the Good News.

What new life we have stepped into, with no way back.

Shalom!