Eighth Sunday of Easter/Pentecost ~ The Doors - Light My Fire

Well, here we are on the final day of the Easter season. This is the day that Jesus had foretold when the Holy Spirit would come upon his followers. And for those who were there that day on the first Christian Pentecost (for it was already a Jewish festival at the time), it must have been quite a confusing experience. They knew that Jesus had promised them something, but they were not quite prepared for what actually took place. They were again gathered together, as had become their custom, when the wind began to blow and what looked like tongues of fire came upon each of them. And then they were able to understand each other speaking, regardless of the language actually spoken (Babel undone, see Genesis 11.1-9). Language ceases to be a barrier to the mission that Christ has left to them. Through the Spirit, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished in the mission of Christ.

As I started this season with an irreverent take on the resurrection (see Chumbawumba on the Easter Sunday post), I decided to end with a slightly irreverent take on Pentecost. As we think about what is happening in the Pentecost story, we can imagine the disciples singing this song to the Holy Spirit - "Come on, baby, light my fire." The disciples would certainly have been lying if they had thought that they could not get much higher. But Jesus had promised them that they would do even greater things than he had accomplished.

Of course, the jury is still out on that one, though there are certainly signs that the big-C "Church," the universal church of which all Christians are a part, is finally beginning to remember what it means to be the Church. The Holy Spirit is still at work within us and we are finally starting to pay heed to the mission that Christ left us. That mission is not about building membership, but building disciples. It is not about those who are within, but those who are outside. It is not about serving those who are well, but those who are sick. It is not about finding those who are already here, but those who are lost.

Come on, Spirit, light our fire!

Seventh Sunday of Easter ~ Collective Soul - Shine

As we approach the end of the Easter season, we find that we are again breaking out of the chronology of events as outlined in the gospels. After all, if Jesus returned to heaven on Thursday and Pentecost is coming next Sunday, how can we have Jesus praying to God on behalf of the disciples? Much as Jesus' words from a few weeks ago relating his return to heaven actually occurred before his death, so these words actually come before his death. But they fit here as we continue to try to understand what this whole Resurrection thing means.

In particular, Jesus' prayer this week follows up on the events of the other gospel tales related in the last two weeks - Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit, the gift of peace, and the Ascension. It's kind of like the story arc in a good mystery novel - we had the climax of the story with the Resurrection and now we're building towards the part of the story where everything comes together to finally make sense. Along the way, hints are dropped to suggest what is to come - the coming Spirit, the gift of peace, Jesus returning to heaven, and now Jesus beseeching God for unity among the disciples. All of this points towards what is to come next week.

But let us not get ahead of ourselves. Perhaps if we feel the need for chronology, let us say that we are remembering the words that Jesus has spoken to us. We are again in the midst of expectation. Jesus has promised to send an Advocate, he has offered us a peace that surpasses any understanding the world can offer - and then he left. As we wait, we remember Jesus praying to God that we would be untied with each other and part of the divine mission that he had begun.

Turning to the song from Collective Soul (check out the full lyrics here), we could imagine the disciples responding with these words. The disciples are looking for a word or sign from heaven. They recognize the presence of love in the world around them. And then they ask to be shown not only how to speak, but how to share. Heaven let your light shine down!

The Ascension ~ Ben Harper - Amen, Omen

In the liturgical calendar, the Ascension falls forty days after Easter Sunday. Technically, that means it always falls on a Thursday, but many Protestant churches that celebrate the Ascension move it to the Sunday immediately following. Whenever it is celebrated, this is the day that we focus on Jesus' being taken up to heaven after spending some further time with disciples following the Resurrection. In some ways, the theme for the day is always about goodbyes - Jesus really is leaving this time. He has made a promise to send another, but the one whom the disciples have known, have traveled with and shared meals with, the one they call Teacher, is leaving.

This is quite a bittersweet moment for the disciples. On the one hand, this plays into the imagery of the prophets of God being taken bodily to heaven rather than dying. It is yet one more confirmation of who Jesus is and the truth of the things that he taught. On the other hand, Jesus is leaving (again) and giving the disciples a mission to carry forth in his name.

This last point is of interest as we consider the words of the angels as written by Luke in the book of Acts. As Jesus goes up into heaven, the disciples basically stand there watching. I'm sure their mouths were hanging open in disbelief as they continued to be amazed by this one that they had followed. Two angels appear and ask, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up to heaven?" I think this is a reminder, in some ways, of the Transfiguration. At that time, the disciples who had traveled to the mountain top with Jesus wanted to stay there worshiping him instead of returning to the valley below. In the same way, the disciples stood staring, still thinking that Jesus himself is the point of all they have learned. The words of the angels come as a gentle reminder that the point of everything that Jesus had taught was to care for those in need, to feed the hungry and heal the sick - not to stand around staring up at heaven to see what is going to happen next.

I think that this song by Ben Harper really gets at what the disciples must have been feeling as they stood there that day watching Jesus go up to heaven. In some ways, the first verse includes words that could easily have been used by the disciples - "I don't know where you came from and I don't know where you've gone." This describes some accounts of the disciples to a T as they are regularly said to never truly understand what it is that Jesus is about.

The song's refrain in particular, speaks to the renewed sense of loss the disciples must be feeling as they watch Jesus go away. "Amen, Omen, Will I see your face again? Amen, Omen, Can I find the place within to live my life without you?" The disciples are still looking at this as goodbye, forgetting the promises of the other to come, the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.

But we can even find a reference to the coming Spirit in the song as he sings in the final verse, "I put your world into my veins." This is a pretty good description of how the Spirit comes into us to strengthen us. As we receive the Holy Spirit, it is like putting Jesus' world into our veins.

Official Stats

The official word is in. Julian (at his six month check-up):
weighed 16.1lbs
was 25 7/8 inches long
and is in the 50th percentile for height and weight.

On another note. He got two shots and an oral vaccine on this visit, and he did the best he's ever done. Cried a bit, but was easily comforted. So awesome! His leg was pretty much sore all night, but he's doing great this morning. Good job, buddy!

Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ Carl Thomas Gladstone - Mother Jesus

On the sixth Sunday of Easter, we focus on Christ's gift of peace to the disciples. What does it mean to have peace? Is it the absence of war, the absence of disagreements, where everyone is treated exactly the same and there are no recognizable differences? There have certainly been those who have sought peace of this kind throughout history. Ironically enough, they have also often thought that waging war was the way to get there: Peace through superior firepower, as the saying goes.

But is that really peace? Is that what Jesus meant? It seems that the peace he is referring to is something different. After all, we know from the writings following the gospels that the followers of Jesus did not have it easy. I think that our clue here is that Jesus promised peace, not safety. There is peace in knowing that one is working for a good cause. There is peace in meeting the needs of others. There is peace in saying no to violence, even in the face of death. There is peace in finding a way to live without having to destroy the livelihood of others.

This week's song has multiple layers of meaning for us. April and I began dating while we were taking a medieval female mystics class together. One of the last mystics we read that term was Julian of Norwich. She was an English anchorite attached to the church at Norwich. One of her visions was of the world the size of a hazelnut being held in the palm of Christ. She also had a tendency to use female images when speaking of Jesus, hence the title "Mother Jesus." And she is the namesake of our son.

The words of this song come out of her poetry. They have been set to music by a friend that we went to seminary with; we asked him to sing this song at our wedding. I can't think of a better way to think of peace than to remember these words - "All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well."

Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ Indigo Girls - Love Will Come to You

Well our theme for the fifth Sunday of Easter was Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus is preparing to leave, not only does he promise to always be with us, but he promises to send us an advocate. This advocate, the Holy Spirit, will come to us to strengthen us that we may continue the work that Christ began.

For this theme, I turn again to the Indigo Girls. Though I myself am a fan of the Indigo Girls, I must confess that the songs that appear both in my previous list for Lent as well as this song come courtesy of April. Whenever I get stuck finding a song to go with a particular theme, I know that I can turn to April, give her the theme and any ideas I have, and she can name an Indigo Girls song to go with it. She actually had two songs for this theme, but I settled on this one.

This song speaks to me of loss and the comfort offered by another. It speaks of the promise of love and the multiplication of that love. If we look back in Christian theology, we can find references to the Holy Spirit as the personification of the love between the other two persons of the Trinity. In fact, the Holy Spirit has even been referred to as the kiss shared by the Father and the Son. At any rate, this love spills over to humanity, that we may know something of that divine love and therefore share that love with others.

When Jesus is promising the coming Spirit, he is speaking to the divine love that will be shared with all of his followers. This divine love is still present and at work in the world, inviting and embracing, teaching us how to be with one another. Love truly does make the world go around!

Six months already?!

That's right, folks. Julian is six months old today...on Mother's Day. He is growing bigger and bigger each day. So, let's start with a one month picture to compare:



And now here's Julian's six month shot:



Can you believe this guy? He's getting soooo big. We'll get the official stats tomorrow, but he's almost as heavy as Gumbo!



Julian and his sweet dad gave me a lovely James Avery charm bracelet for Mother's Day with a monkey charm.



Although we called him Jellybean in utero and intented to keep the nickname, one day Vince called him chunky monkey. (Actually, he was singing it to the tune of Beyonce's All the Single Ladies, but that's besides the point.) The name got shortened to Monkey (so as not to scar him!), and the nickname stuck.



He'll eat anyone's toes he can get his hands on!

Fourth Sunday of Easter ~ The Cure - Lovesong

On the fourth Sunday of Easter, we look back to an earlier point in the Gospels to Jesus foretelling his departure. Though these stories take place before the events of Jesus' death and resurrection, they are retold here as we approach the Ascension - Jesus' bodily return to heaven. Though Jesus has been raised from the dead he does not remain for long. He must return to heaven. He has shown us the way, and now he must move on.

As I considered the bittersweet tone of this, I was reminded of this song by The Cure. Having gone through my own angst filled years listening to this song, I could recognize the depth of love as well as the pain of impending departure. As the refrain says, "however far away , I will always love you; however long I stay, I will always love you; whatever words I say, I will always love you; I will always love you." In these words, we hear the pain of the parting that will occur, but also the love that will not end and will continue no matter how far apart we may seem to be. This is Christ's love for us - even we we feel alone and feel that Jesus is far away from us, his love for us never waivers. Thanks be to God!

Third Sunday of Easter ~ Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - Love Like We Do

So, I recognize I have gotten a little behind here. My apologies to those of you who actually pay attention to what we do here. The last couple of weeks have been crazy. Two weeks ago, I put April and JB on a plane first thing in the morning and then preached at UCRP. Two days later, I got on a plane myself to fly to New Orleans. Got back last Sunday late in the evening and then had interviews at the seminary most of the week. But anyway, that's not why you are here.

On the third Sunday of Easter, the focus is on Jesus appearing to his disciples. This year, we read about Jesus appearing to Saul/Paul in Acts and then we read a story of Jesus appearing to some of the disciples while they are fishing in the Gospel of John. There are two great pieces to the story in John. First, we have Peter getting so excited when he sees Jesus, that he actually pauses to pull his clothes on before jumping into the sea. Though there had been rumors that Jesus had appeared to others (such as Mary Magdalene and the two from Emmaus), Peter becomes so flustered that he can't think straight. Instead of immediately jumping into the water to swim to shore, or disrobing as many would do so as not to get their clothes wet, he actually re-dresses before jumping in.

The second great thing here is the conversation between Jesus and Peter after they have eaten. Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him and when Peter responds each time that he does, Jesus tells him to care for his sheep. To express his love to Christ, he has to care for others, to continue the ministry that Jesus had begun. This same thing holds as true for us today as it did for Peter nearly 2,000 years ago.

Turning to our song for the week, I am tempted just to post the full lyrics here. At any rate, the song begins with a recognition that life is now better than the days just left behind. That could be something of understatement, from either point of view in our Gospel story. The second line is just as profound - "What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine." This speaks directly to both our inheritance in Christ and our call to continue his mission. Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, "any time...is good enough when we love like we do".

Full lyrics:
Love Like We Do
music and lyrics by Edie Brickell
(from the album Shooting Rubber Bands at the Stars)

Life is better than the days behind
What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine
No aggravation that we can't get through
A situation for the lucky few

And everyday is just a little more
Of time together to be happy for
I'm happy even when the times are rough
'cause anytime with you is good enough
when we
Love like we do

I don't believe in hatred anymore
I hate to think of how I felt before
When anger overwhelms your very soul
It's hard to realize you'll ever know
Love like we do