Posts from March 2013

Good Friday at The Table The halls of heaven ring empty. The sapphire, carnelian and amethyst gleam for no one. The great mountain, the holy throne sit untouched. You won’t find the All-Merciful at this remove, nor the storehouse of the powers that raise the dead The Glorious One is not here, but far outside the fortress, favoring the tents of the forgotten. The Loving One has gone out into the silence of those who have been cut off, into…

Jesus, prophet of justice, knows the wrath of the mighty. Jesus, lamb of God, hears them sharpening their knives, and chooses gentleness. Even with his death rising on the horizon, he gathers with his beloved to celebrate the Passover, the great feast of liberation, the celebration of God’s overthrow of the powers of oppression; and he sings the song, the song of dawn sung in the night, the song prisoners sing, the song that will lead them out, that will…

Our community has lived in the question “who do you say Jesus is?” over the last 5 weeks.  We hope you have moved toward greater clarity in answering this question for yourself and for watching over others in love as they seek answers for themselves.  Very soon, our celebration of Easter Sunday will bring this series to a close.   We walk intentionally toward that day but not before we pause to attend both Maundy Thursday March 29 6:30pm in Fellowship Hall and Good Friday 7:00 pm in…

No one can do this homework for you.  Every generation has to be converted anew and the Gospel has to ever be preached in new contexts and cultures in ways that are good news to that time and people.  Yes, institutions and denominations are necessary and somehow inevitable, but when they imagine that they can prepackage the message in eternal formulas and half-believed (half-experienced?) doctrines and Scriptures, they often become their own worst enemy.  Too many people join a club…

Who Do You Say I Am? by AGAPE (Dave Scherer) Verse 3 He’s my brother my brother my brother brother And there will never be another for love he suffered so that we know Love-the subject of every song that he wrote   Turned death into life turned Evian to Pinot Hung with the lepers in the spot not lectures But he taught through stories the glorious hero  Homeless refugee like Sarai and Abram They tried to detain him and…

Jesus practically begs for some trust from his disciples, even after they’ve witnessed his miracles and heard his profound teaching.  He eventually puts this question to them:  “Who do you say that I am?”  Don’t give me your theologies.  Who is the Jesus you know?  That’s the only Jesus that can really touch you and liberate you.  Finally Peter responds (Mark 8.29) ” You are the Christ!”  “And Jesus gave him strict orders not to tell anyone”  (Mark 8.30)  Why?…

Who Do you say..I am? verse 2 by AGAPE (David Scherer) Person A thinks the savior is love It’s Jesus who frees us so grace is enough When she isn’t right.  She lives her life as if it’s like She’s really been forgiven by the living Christ Person B can’t seem to find the love path. Reads about the blood bath thinks the Maker loves wrath.     She doesn’t see the cheek get turned When she sees all the kids on…

When we consider who Jesus is, what sort of king do we desire?  Do we yearn for a king who is the king of outcasts, the poor and the oppressed?  Do you want to follow a king who has as his mandate to bring down the powerful and raise up the oppressed.  It is one thing to “say it” is another to understand the transformation this would require for our own lives and the life of our community.   This…

Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them  with her hair.  Jesus said, “She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.” John 12. 3,7 Welcome her gift,      the deep desire            that in this time you do what is in you to do. Let her touch you      so closely,           arouse you…

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.                    – John 12.3 Despite all desire and its loveliness,          — a giving away. In the sight of those who criticize,          —a pouring out. Amidst the stench of death and violence,          —the aroma of life. Among those who do not understand,          —tenderness. Though there are those who divide and separate,          —a…

“Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price,and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”  (John  12.3) What Mary performs here is the gesture of absolute extravagant giving. It is the deed of contemplation. Nothing has prepared this act. But still, the ointment is there. It is present in the house of the contemplative, who has renounced everything for…