Resurrection of the Lord (B), April 5, 2015 - Mark 16:1-8

(Here's another bulletin cover from my pastor from almost 50 years ago,
Richard  L. Manzelmann, at New Hartford, New York Presbyterian Church.
I borrowed it to use in a couple of congregations over the years.
It's also nice just copied on a copier in black, on a heavy bright yellow paper.)

Conjunction, Junction, What's Your Function?
(In The Christian Century, April 4, 2006, Tom Long wrote about the awkward, "dangling" original ending of Mark, translated literally, “To no one anything they said; afraid they were for." That may very well have been intended to send us back to the beginning of the Gospel. The poem's title comes from the old PBS children's show, Schoolhouse Rock. Thanks to my daughter, Leah Barton, for remembering this phrase. 

"Ephobounto gar" it ends,
As strange an ending you'll find anywhere,
But take Mark at his word, who sends
Us back to Galilee to find him there;
I mean, the "for" connects us to
The start, because the women did not go;
They were afraid and told no one,
But Mark still has the Lord to us to show.
It's where he started out, Mark says,
Go back to the beginning, chapter one;
You'll find him where they found him then,
Now, this time, put yourself where he'd begun;
Pretend you're one of them who saw
Him by the Sea of Galilee pass by,
Pretend he calls - what do you do?
Does he, for you, move earth and sky?
Pretend in synagogue you hear him teach,
An honest preacher tells the truth!
Pretend he makes someone you love brand new,
Your hope is as it was in youth.
No resurrection scene does Mark present,
Instead, He'll meet you where you are,
Not at his tomb, but where you walk in life,
Not way back when, but here.
Not far.

Scott L. Barton

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday) (B), March 29, 2015 - Mark 11:1-11

(For my adaptation of a hymn celebrating the decision by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to open eligibility for marriage to all loving couples, please page down to the previous post.)

(My pastor from almost 50 years ago, Richard  L. Manzelmann,
 used this as a Palm Sunday bulletin cover once at
New Hartford, New York Presbyterian Church.
I borrowed it to use in three or four congregations over the years.)

Donkey Rustling

How odd that Mark spends so much time
On what seems so unlike sublime;
It almost seems ridiculous
To know such details infamous
As how he got that ne'er ridd'n colt!
Who cares? Yet maybe his revolt
Against the principalities
Includes his personality
Involved in ev'ry action where
His followers, his name declare.
The coffee hour, the ushers' list,
The anthem sung, the meals dished,
The lesson taught in Sunday School,
The need to pay the bill for fuel,
The book group some came to in Lent,
The youth on mission trip just sent,
The prelude, bulletins, and prayers,
The greeter there atop the stairs,
The new hymn that the pastor tried,
The news a faithful friend has died -
Such details of our life declare -
When done for him - that he is where
By grace we show that Jesus saves
By love, from cradle to the grave.

Scott L. Barton

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Bonus Poem: A Hymn in Celebration of the Vote for Marriage Equality in the PCUSA

(For the lectionary poem for March 22, please page down to the previous post.)

Be Thou Our Vision
A hymn based on the Irish poem, especially the first two lines of each verse, and sung to SLANE, in celebration of the decision by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) finalized on March 17, 2015, to broaden marriage to include more people, describing marriage as being between two people rather than only a man and a woman.

Be thou our vision, O Lord of our hearts,
Nought be all else to us save that thou art,
Thou our best guide for more truth and more light,
Thou, ever faithful, thy presence our might.

Be thou our wisdom, and thou our true word;
We ever with thee and thou with us, Lord;
Thy love, great Father, for each one is sure,
Thy dwelling in us, forever endures.

Riches we heed not, nor vain, empty praise,
Thou, our inheritance, now and always,
Thou, in thy speaking bring joy to our hearts,
We, in our loving, thy treasure impart.

High King of heaven, our victory won,
May we reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
No "ifs" or "buts" may to any now fall,
Thou, still our vision, O Ruler of all.

Scott L. Barton

 (The penultimate line refers to a comment, per the New York Times, by William Blake Spencer, pastor of Ocean Heights Presbyterian Church in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., who is gay and voted with his presbytery on Tuesday. “It will be the last L.G.B.T.Q. issue that we debate and fight about, and finally our welcome comes without a ‘but’ or an ‘if.’”)

The Fifth Sunday in Lent (B), March 22, 2015 - John 12:20-33

The Word on My Coffee Cup

The word that's on my coffee cup

On Southwest Air while flying up

Above, in letters large, says, "Lift,"

The smile that it evokes, a gift;

How clever, as it says that I

No coffee benefit up high

Can have until I raise my glass -

No matter what my flying class!

So, Jesus, till he's lifted high,

No benefit can me supply,

Because, by definition, he

Can only save when I'm set free

From fear of losing everything,

And love, and not to self still cling.

It seems to me his kind of style

Still lifts me up - and makes me smile.

Scott L. Barton

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

The Fourth Sunday in Lent (B), March 15, 2015 - Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21

Keith Haring, Altarpiece: The Life of Christ, 1990.
Bronze with white gold leaf patina.

 Lifted Up

Oh, how bizarre! - I'm sure you cry -
To read this text, where lifted high
Above the ground is some old snake
That Moses made for Israel's sake!

First, why on earth did Yahweh choose
To send those snakes, when they abused
The generosity God showed
When freedom on them, God bestowed?

Who knows? And yet a remedy
For lack of faith is what we see
God gives whenever we are blind
To how God wants to be defined.

It also seems a funny thing
The praise of Christ who's killed to sing,
Since dying seems less victory
Than something contradictory.

Why would it that this faithful man,
Condemned to death, be some game plan
For how the world might finally see
The love that sets all people free?

Who knows? And yet, it matters not
The things that up God's sleeve, God's got!
Love backed not down, and thus displayed
Extravagance God shows today.

When snake or Son are lifted high,
The thing to see in your mind's eye
Is God who always demonstrates
The saving grace which God creates.

Scott L. Barton

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

+  +  +

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Bonus Poem: Remembering the Alamo

(For the lectionary poem for March 8, please page down to the previous post!)

Remembering the Alamo, March 6

In December, eighteen thirty-five,
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous month and year
When in old San Antonio
The capture of the Alamo 
Was made by Texians with a cheer;
In two month's time, Jim Bowie came,
And with Bill Travis, 'twas their aim
To hold the fort through think and thin,
Though Houston, newly in command
Of Texas forces, thought a stand 
With too few troops would do them in.

And yet, the fort's defenders stayed;
Though few in numbers, not dismayed,
They readied for a new attack.
By February twenty-third,
The charging Santa Anna heard
His forces' gunfire given back;
Some eighteen hundred Mexicans
(Some say, six thousand fighting men)
Assailed the Alamo's small band;
For thirteen days the battle raged,
While those inside, a fight they waged
For lives of freedom and their land.

So thus they lived, and there they died,
A scant two hundred men defied
The odds; and freely stood their ground;
Among them, one more famous came,
A Congressman of frontier's fame,
Thus Davy Crockett's name resounds. 
By March the 6th, the wall was breached,
And Santa Anna sought to teach
Young Texas its revolt, it end - 
No prisoners that day did he take; 
His point to Texas thus to make -
Yet vict'ry would defeat portend.  

March 6 became the famous day
"Remember the Alamo" they'd say;
In six more weeks, the tide had turned.
At San Jacinto, Houston's troops
With Alamo-remembered whoops,
O'er Santa Anna, vict'ry earned;
Thus, independence was secured,
While famous words were then ensured
To make us feel right and proud.
Yet death, for Crockett and the rest,
Calls not for whoops, but to resist
Wherever calls for war are loud.

Scott L. Barton

The Third Sunday in Lent (B), March 8, 2015 - Exodus 20:1-17 (see also 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 [e.g., God's foolishness wiser than human wisdom] and John 2:13-22 [think of Jesus driving out the market idea of God])

Greco: Christ Expelling the Money Changers in the Temple (1600)

Lent 3: The World's Economy and God's

The thing about markets is this:
You get what you pay for;
The more you pay, the more you get,
The wise all know the score.
But watch that you don't read this text
As if it's tit for tat, 
As if the nature of our God
Is, "You do this, and I give that." 
The only God who's worth the time
Of day is One who gave; 
The only reason this God had
To free our forebear slaves 
Was just because that's how God is,
Who gives a heav'n for you;
So focus not on third and fourth
Removes as parents' due;
That line's a set up for the next
To make you drop your jaw -
The thousandth generation get
God's steadfast love! The law
We need to know is how for us
God wants the very best!
You get the world when you find out
By love you are possessed.

Scott L. Barton

Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.