The Second Sunday of Easter, April 28, 2019 - John 20:19-31 and Acts 5:27-32

Caravaggio: The Incredulity of St. Thomas (1603)

John 20:19-31

Jesus said “Peace be with you.”

He did not say that when we die we’ll be “at peace.”

Can we from somber calling hours that phrase erase?

A friend of mine, whose father died, was told those words;

“He’s now at peace,” if you just think, is quite absurd!

The phrase pretends that one can come to terms with death,

Not rage - the one who’s died, plus those who loved them best;

Imagining they ease that pain, some do not realize,

What’s needed then is that they simply sympathize!

No platitudes! No pap! No arrogantly you;

The one who died, of “peace,” no longer has a clue!

But if the resurrection here described be true,

It means that e’en in death, the Lord makes all things new.

This story’s weird: He walks through doors; is not the same;

And yet, he speaks in love to those who know his name;

It’s love that does not end that is the gospel here;

So love extend, through hugs, and tears, through gifts and ears.

Scott L. Barton

Doubt Flouter

Oh, why do you think that he said to them, “Peace,”

When they huddled together for fear the police

Would find them, and charge them with breaking the Law?

Well, they worried their running would stick in his craw!

And now he was back, he would give them what for!

But he knew they were scared to death; thus through the door,

This Jesus, whom not by cruel death could be changed,

Walked right in, since betrayal could not stop the range

God's grace would extend – which is what we all doubt!

So don’t limit this text, thinking Thomas it flouts;

It’s you, and it’s me who need Jesus’ kind word,

Which is why he then told them their spirits to gird,

And follow his lead towards the whole human race,

And doubt not that e’en you can bear witness to grace.

Scott Barton

(2013)

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

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Acts 5:27-32

Still, Still, Still

"You're determined to bring this man's blood upon us!"

Said the priest to disciples who would not be shushed,

Since the Spirit of God would not let them be still

About Jesus, now raised, whom e'en death would not kill;

Thus the gift of the Spirit, they had to obey,

Was forgiveness for all! They could not turn away

From the truth, which is love, and the measure of God,

Who still calls us to tell, who still pushes, still prods.

Scott L. Barton

(2016)

When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

The Resurrection of the Lord (C), April 21, 2019 - John 20:1-18 and Luke 24:1-12

John 20:1-18

Hi Qi: Do Not Hold On To Me

Resurrection Problem

It seems that John has a problem with names here:
"The one whom Jesus loved" is never named,
but is simply called, "the other disciple" - four times!
Why not, "John" (or whatever his name was)?
Then the two angels call Mary, "Woman."
Why not, "Mary"?
And Jesus does the same!
And she calls him "Sir."

Finally he names her, "Mary;"
but Mary only calls him, "Rabbouni."
Why not "Jesus"?
He calls the disciples, "my brothers,"
Again, no names.
She calls Jesus, "Lord,"
and later refers to him as "the Lord."
Again, why not "Jesus"?

John cannot seem to tell it direct;
Maybe you shouldn't tell it straight, either.
"Tell all the truth but tell it slant," said the poet.
(I could call her Emily, but that might be too familiar.)
Is that what he's doing, telling it slant?
Maybe so we won't get too familiar with it?
Don't pretend you understand. 
Proclaim, but don't explain. Yes, proclaim:
"He is risen!" "He is risen, indeed!"

Scott L. Barton
(2019)

The Bottom Line

When Mary ran to tell the news he was not there,
And others' racing speeds by John were then compared,
One wonders why this hurry is so big a deal,
Unless the rush to know, makes Easter less genteel!
They ran! They looked! And then went home, no doubt, upset
At one more insult, one more cause for deep regret.

But Mary stayed, perhaps she'd run, as well, and stopped
Outside the tomb, where running tears at gravesite dropped.
Remember how she'd cried with joy at Jesus' feet,
Because her life had changed from bitterness to sweet?
But now, her world and all she loved turned upside down,
She weeps in vain attempt to make her sorrows drown.

But then she looks. One wonders why. And suddenly, instead
Of empty tomb, sit angels where'd lain foot and head!
And then that gardener! And all ask why she weeps!
Good grief! Where have you been? Have you all been asleep?
Is what I'd ask; but Mary cooly wants to know
The whereabouts of his remains, who made her glow.

And at her spoken name, she turns, and says his, too;
And this, perhaps, is key to knowing him anew;
For not in running after, not in looking for
Him in the Gospels, or in fervent prayer galore;
But he will call your name, and you will finally see
That he still means it when he says to "Follow me."

Scott L. Barton
(2018)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

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Luke 24:1-12

He Qi: Empty Tomb (2001)

Different News Feed

Just women were the first evangelists
For what had happened on that day;
After their fear, they ran to tell the news,
And weren't believed; So now we say,
"Well, color me surprised! What's new? Like, duh!"

When Luke says Peter checked it out
And found it so, and yet he just went home,
We sometimes criticize his doubts;
But don't forget that he went home, amazed!
Which is a quality we need.

Try going home amazed this Easter day,
Since love, all fear and death exceeds!
In these, our public narcissistic times,
When pomp and bombast, anger feeds,
Be brave in love and don't hold back -

For Christ is ris'n; and risen indeed!

Scott L. Barton
(2016)

Numbers

The chances of finding that Higgs boson
Were way less than one in a trillion,
Which is a big number, as I learned recently
At Boston's Museum of Natural Science;
I mean, a tube of a trillion of the nano-beads they were displaying,
Next to other tubes of a thousand, a million, and even a billion,
Would  have gone through the stories-high roof;
So what are the chances of someone rising from the dead?
About as small as the Big Bang itself?
I really can't wrap my mind around it.
What - or who? - can convince us of such against-all-odds love?
Look at the numbers in this text:
"On the first day of the week,"
"Suddenly two men in dazzling clothes,"
"On the third day rise again,"
"They told this to the eleven and all the rest!"
The news of such love multiplies;
The chances are minute,
But resurrection goes out to the whole world,
It will not be stopped, it'll go through the roof;
And I, like Peter, am amazed
At what has happened -
And what, by God, still can.

Scott L. Barton
(2013)

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday) (C), April 14, 2019 - Luke 19:28-40

Here’s a hymn the congregation can sing, based on the old chestnut of a choir anthem, “The Palms,” by Jean-Baptiste Faure. The language has been updated in a couple of places. Your organist/pianist can use the anthem as the accompaniment, but be sure it’s the one in A-flat rather than C, which would likely be too high. Click on the image above to print it @ 8.5x11, which you can then copy on both sides and cut down the middle for a half-page insert.

Ex nihilo

It's not experience he needs;

No lack of expertise impedes

The course he takes,

Which shows he aches

To love the world in word and deed.

Take Mary as example one;

The woman who would bear the son -

A girl unknown,

A virgin womb 

Who magnified what God had done.

And those disciples whom he chose!

Inexpertly they spoke - or dozed;

Though novices,

They still were his;

Their emptiness showed where grace grows.

The donkey that he asked to ride

No rider ever was astride;

He rode the thing,

They called him King ;

His call decides what's bona fide. 

And soon a tomb as yet unused

Will bear the body crushed and bruised,

So he might rise

And show all eyes

Ex nihilo Love is infused.

Scott L. Barton

(2016)

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No Ending, Period

The little donkey demonstrated

How Jesus lived; but that sure grated

The nerves of certain Pharisees who

Were worried people might live up to

The loud acclaim they gave the rider

Whose way's our sole (and soul's) provider -

Provided that we're brave for shouting

God's mighty deeds, despite our doubting,

And show by dying in ways myriad,

That love will have no ending, period.

Scott L. Barton

(2013)

+ + +

The Very Stones

One of my first funerals, in my first pastorate,

Was for a young man barely out of high school;

One blistering July day, he died

Working in the hay mow of the neighbor farmer.

Survived by his parents and five siblings,

An older brother had died years earlier,

Hit by a car while on his bicycle near home.

The church was packed, of course,

And somehow, we muddled through.

Then we went to the cemetery:

Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,

Trusting your love and mercy,

In the sure and certain hope

Of the resurrection to eternal life.

When we were all done, the father,

Standing just an arm's length away,

Reached into his pocket,

Pulled out a pebble,

And handed it to me.

I still cry when I think about it,

Thirty-six years later.

For the previous Palm Sunday,

At the end of the sermon on this text,

I had handed out pebbles

To everyone in the congregation,

Scrounged from the manse's driveway,

And then, pretty much forgot about it,

At least until that day in July,

When a grieving father taught me

That you never know when, or how, or by whom,

The Word of God will be proclaimed.

Scott L. Barton

(2013)

After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

The Fifth Sunday in Lent (C), April 7, 2019 -Philippians 3:4b-14 and Isaiah 43:16-21 and John 12:1-8

Bassano, Jacopo: Christ in the House of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (~1577)

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Philippians 3:4b-14

Key to a Successful Life

I count it all as loss for Christ, he says,

Then calls it skubala, or rubbish, trash;

We have a stronger word than that, today,

“Bullshit,” it’s called (if I may be so brash).

All we have gained and saved and held so close,

They’re, all of them, a trivial amount;

It’s not too often that we face this truth

About the things of life that really count.

A cyclone hits, tornado, or a flood,

And homes and memorabilia all are lost;

And people ought to fall and not get up,

To contemplate what’s gone, and all its cost.

Instead, they’re thankful they got out alive!

“We have each other - what could matter more?”

How will you do? What’s up ahead? - “Who knows?”

At such a time they cannot love ignore.

Paul realized that all he’d gained was dross

Compared to knowing Christ, which set him free,

And so he promised he must live to love;

The goal, to love as Christ, became his key.

Scott L. Barton

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

+  +  +

Isaiah 43:16-21

Then and Now

With Israel in captivity,

It must have been quite hard to see

How Yahweh, who had split the sea,

Could once again a savior be.

The poet said, "Forget all that,

The LORD, who for you, went to bat,

Because, in love, had you begat,

Will now, for you, go to the mat!

"And though, the metaphor be new,

Now, desert rivers will break through;

So you should never misconstrue,

All tried and true, my love for you."

Isaiah thus reminds us how,

Words change, yet still can be endowed

With what is true, if we'd allow

Our God to speak, if then, then now.

Scott L. Barton

(2016)

Thus says the Lord,

who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

who brings out chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished,

quenched like a wick:

Do not remember the former things,

or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

The wild animals will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches;

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

the people whom I formed for myself

so that they might declare my praise.

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John 12:1-8

Extravagant 

 

These last three weeks,

We seem to be on the theme of extravagance -

Extravagant care for that lazy fig tree,

Extravagant welcome for that lazy brother,

Extravagant defense for that lazy...

Wait! (You say.)

Hold on here!

You don't mean that Mary....

Well, didn't Martha seem to think so?

And once again, she's serving;

I wonder what she's thinking of her sister this time?

And Judas certainly wants to give a good impression,

That he knows the value of a buck,

Talking as if Mary hadn't really earned

That perfume she'd bought.

Maybe Judas was even sweet on Mary!

But he found her unstealable,

Since she was only sweet on the One

Who points the way

To extravagant death,

Which points the way

To extravagant love.

Scott L. Barton

(2013)

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

The Fourth Sunday in Lent (C), March 31, 2019 - Joshua 5:9-12 and 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 and Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

He Qi: Prodigal Son

in "The Art of He Qi”

Joshua 5:9-12 (vss. 1-8 added at the end to show more of the context)

  

Meal on the Plains of Jericho

It doesn’t say just what was the disgrace

Of Egypt that the LORD then rolled away;

But it’s implied the social status of

Ancestral slaves would be no more conveyed -

Life now was new, for what was past, was past!

It meant the parents’ tragedies were gone,

And would no more define just who they were -

Which well we know’s more eas’ly said than done.

And thus, the sons and grandsons of those slaves

Were circumcised so all would surely know

They were the LORD’s! They’d hold their heads up high;

In confidence, the LORD who saves, they’d show.

It meant the manna was no more, because

The people now could stand on their two feet;

The passover they kept that day declared

No other god can with the LORD compete.

Scott L. Barton

(When all the kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them, because of the Israelites.

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites a second time.” So Joshua made flint knives, and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth. This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the warriors, had died during the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt. Although all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people born on the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the Israelites traveled forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the warriors who came out of Egypt, perished, not having listened to the voice of the Lord. To them the Lord swore that he would not let them see the land that he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. When the circumcising of all the nation was done, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.)

The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.

While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

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2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Meeting with the Pastor Nominating Committee

Jeff Curtis asked me in the interview

Which verse of scripture meant the most to me;

I said the one where everything is new,

And where, in Christ, we're from the past set free. 

What made this verse pop then into my head - 

One I believed, but never called it “best?”

Perhaps in worship, I had often said

Those words, which now, in being asked, expressed.

The “old” means when you think you have it planned,

A place for everything, all in its place;

Out of the blue, then, on the other hand,

God's newness will be right before your face. 

Paul calls us to be reconciled to God,

That is, be acclimated to the news

Which, in our daily life, we find quite odd:

You cannot stop the love which God pursues.

Scott L. Barton

(2016)

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Prodigal Son, Prodigal Dad

Prodigal son, prodigal dad,

I call him that because he's glad!

To say it as might Dr. Seuss,

Son 1 thought 2 had cooked his goose!

And then begrudged the fatted calf

Was cooked instead! It makes me laugh

To know that Jesus with a smile

Knew God, the Dad, the extra mile

Goes, falling on the neck to kiss

Each son or daughter whom he's missed.

Scott L. Barton

(2013)

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:

“There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

The Third Sunday in Lent (C), March 24, 2019 - Isaiah 55:1-9 and Luke 13:1-9

Isaiah 55:1-9 The poem is a rendering of the Isaiah text. Click on the image above for the hymn, put to the tune, MELITA (“Eternal Father, Strong to Save”). The last two lines of the poem below are the refrain for every verse of the hymn. Free for congregational use, formatted to be printed on 8.5x11 bulletin insert paper (sideways, two per sheet). For Heaven's Sake Ho, everyone who thirsts, come drink, Though you be poor, come now and eat! With all your money, do you think Your spending makes your life complete? Just listen up, and you will see The food that's good which I will give; Incline your ear and come to me, Filled with delight, so you will live! My steadfast love for David shows My love for you will never end, And people everywhere will know You're blessed, and run, and you befriend. Now seek, so that the  LORD, you find, Forsake the wrong in mind and deed, Because the LORD is always kind, And pardons all who come in need. I'm not like you in thoughts and ways, For heav'n's sake, I'll never stray. Scott L. Barton Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;  and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,  and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,  and delight yourselves in rich food.  Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live.  I will make with you an everlasting covenant,  my steadfast, sure love for David.  See, I made him a witness to the peoples,  a leader and commander for the peoples.  See, you shall call nations that you do not know,  and nations that do not know you shall run to you,  because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found,  call upon him while he is near;  let the wicked forsake their way,  and the unrighteous their thoughts;  let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,  and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts,  nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways  and my thoughts than your thoughts. + + + Luke 13:1-9 Fig Tree I think, perhaps, we miss the point If we think God condoned The cutting of that fig tree which The vineyard grower owned; For note the gard'ner said to him, "Then YOU can cut it down;" He must have said it with a grin, And not some judgment frown, Since first, the owner'd said to him That HE should do the deed; But Jesus' gard'ner knew the owner's Nature supersedes The "Fix yourself right now - or else" View we think others need; Thus, we can cut some slack for all, Since God's love none exceeds. Scott L. Barton (2013) At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

The Second Sunday in Lent (C), March 17, 2019 - Philippians 3:17-4:1; Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; and Luke 13:31-35

He Qi: Look Towards the Heavens

(from his book, "The Art of He Qi")

Philippians 3:17-4:1

 

Tactic

I like how Paul

Calls them his joy and crown;

A better move

Than saying, “Settle down.”

Scott L. Barton

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

+  +  +

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

The Big Delay

Oh, why did Abraham believe,

When God said, what was up God's sleeve,

Was Abraham would have an heir -

And of the promise, had a prayer?

It's so important here to see

The promise long-delayed as key

To what this text to us declares:

That Abram's yearning now compares 

To all our hopes for justice, peace,

While faith, though questioning, not cease.

The stars, God's generosity, declare,

And still, unceasing love, God dares.

There's still a vision for this time,

It speaks of peace, and does not lie,

If it seems long, we still need wait,

For come it will, and not be late.

Scott L. Barton

(2016)

(The concluding four lines is the message of Habakkuk 2:3. Remember that this Gen. 15 promise of God's to Abram wasn't the first; it was given way back in chapter 12 and by chapter 15 still has not appeared. So Abram questions God, wondering if God really, really meant it. Holding in tension that problem of unresolved promise is always the nature of this faith of ours. But "standin' on the promises," as the old hymn goes, is the only way to live and so invite such promise into being.)

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,”

+ + +

Luke 13:31-35

Blessing

It has been said that fear, not sin's

The curse of human life,

It surely seems that that's behind

The things that cause my strife;

And so it was, those Pharisees,

Who said to Jesus, "Scram!"

Were worried that his love, unchecked,

Would make their city damned

By Herod, since he was, all knew,

The ruling King of Fear;

But Jesus said to tell that fox

What we still need to hear,

That is, that resurrection is the end

("The third day" is his clue)

And what I think that means, when by

Our fears we seem pursued,

Is that the mother hen still calls

Her brood upon her breast,

So all our fears, allayed, we now

Might bless, as we are blessed.

Scott L. Barton

(2013)

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 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! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”