This week we will hear an Easter “swan song” scripture from John’s gospel, a final dialogue between Peter and Jesus. Right there on the beach

Jesus looks at Peter and asks, “Do You Love Me?” Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from a death by human hands. God’s mission does not die but the mission passes on, from Jesus to Peter, and now, to us. Do you love me? Is that another way of asking whether we use our resurrection faith to “rise up singing”?

Join us for the singing and paying some homage to Mothers.

Be blessed

The taxes are finished, but, then, the cats have issues. The cats’ issues get resolved and the car needs attention. The car receives attention and then the yard goes “viral”. The yard gets under control and guests want to visit, etc. The song of busy (or whatever) never seems to have any “rests”. The real kicker is misfortunate scheduling. Opportunities come up to do good things and two or three of them will be happening at the same time. The issues flow into choices that flow into consequences.

Surely, I am not singing this song by myself. In addition, then, there is Jesus, omnipresent beyond issues, choices, and consequences. How can I sing his song with all this other stuff? I need to attend the looming things, the issues, and the crisis that always occur in regular life. That is when I hear it, Jesus laughing. When he catches his breath, he says: rise up, sing it, hit the road, get going, follow me. Before I can get a word in edgewise, he says, and this is the good part, he will be right there with me. Whatever is going on it is always best to give Jesus the last word.

Whatever came up for you this last week, and I know stuff did, big and little, I hope you knew he was right there.

God turns a hopeless scene of death and crucifixion into an opportunity of new life and new relationship. The first disciples of Jesus did not become warm, fuzzy, blessed people, who had good luck. They learned to trust God, the hard way. They learned to speak up and keep moving, they learned that hope based in God’s love is beyond human destruction, it lives. They learned what was important and what was not.

The first week of this Easter season was not a good week for many people, life went on as it usually does. Somewhere a loved one is dying, medical tests come back as bad news, schedules are pushed to the limit, and bills keep coming in. Easter does not change the world around us like magic from a wishing well. Easter has within it, as a faith based on resurrection, the power to change us! When we let Jesus walk beside us, the world begins looking different. Two disciples left Jerusalem on Easter morning, they had the “walking blues”, their steps seemed like miles, and hours seemed like days, they were moving slow.

Jesus joined them on the road, their hearts were warmed and their eyes were opened to possibility, and by evening, they were walking to a different beat! The resurrection did not just happen, one time at a tomb outside Jerusalem, it happens in our lives.

Time to rise up singing.

That is great, but they miss something. Between Sunday and Sunday, Jesus seals the deal on his humanity and becomes the One who can save us. He is betrayed, he gets bullied, he suffers, and he dies. In less than a weekend he takes the ultimate test of faith—entrusting himself fully into the hands of God.

On Good Friday evil seems to win as violence rules the day. As has been said, “It’s Friday…but Sunday’s coming!” We come face to face with the violence and the arrogance of power. Sunday comes but grace is not cheap.

To keep us from missing the point, traditions developed in the church to tell the story. We observe the season of Lent, we walk the Stations of the Cross, we gather for the Last Supper, we stand at the foot of the cross. We call it a Holy Week because it is.

This Sunday, Palm/Passion Sunday, we’ll celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. There will be palms but we don’t leave it as just another winner’s parade, we move on to the rest of the story. On Thursday, April 5^th at 7:00 p.m., the whole story continues, on Thursday we’ll tell it in song, imagery and around the communion table.

Please, don’t miss the “something” that makes Easter Sunday the defining celebration of our faith.

Finally, I could silence the radio, let the computer “sleep”, get the phones quietly charging, watch the cats, glad I was home, settle down, and take a nap. Then, I heard the birds. I literally began to feel quiet sink into my soul.

Okay, God, I am all yours. Solitude.

This Sunday solitude and silence are the last spiritual practices we will focus on before “setting our face toward Jerusalem” (Luke 9:53) for Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

Blessings, Kate

One time, sitting around a quilt with “church ladies”, one turned to another and asked how she knew so much about the bible. The response was, I read and take any study offered. Then she said a great thing, “I still have questions”.  She is also the woman who knew a bible verse for every letter of the alphabet and always reported on current issues at UMW. She was eighty-five and it was apparent she had been formed and informed in her faith, I call her a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

In our worship, this fourth Sunday of Lent, scripture and study are the spiritual disciplines that are offered as a way to deepen our faith. They are windows of grace and so much more.

Most of us don’t resemble a Big Easy morning after, but, everybody has some mess. Something always needs some special attention or airing out. We’ve all got junk stored away. If I was talking about closets and basements there is an easy fix, call Merry Maids. Instead, my curiosity is for your spiritual health. How are you and Jesus getting along? What occupies your time? What fulfills you? What worries you? Where are you growing? What needs to change? We all need the state of our souls questioned from time to time.

Lent is our yearly invitation to go beneath the surface of our life. Sacrifice and “giving up something” are okay but what we really need is an opportunity to deepen our spiritual life. A chance to find or recover the joy and peace that comes from time spent devoted to God.

Our faith tradition is rich with practices to help us go deeper spiritually. Most of them aren’t complicated they just require commitment. If you are ready to renew or explore join us Sunday as our Lenten worship series begins. Throughout Lent, I’ll be leading a discussion/conversation about a spiritual practice between the worship services. Join me in my office or around the coffee pot. 

The ABC Bible Verse from last week is “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. I Cor 1:3

Speaking of work…..our most important work will be our worship focus in the coming weeks, our relationships. Get prepared to examine your love life, the love Jesus asks us to have for one another. How do we love our friends? How do we love our children? How do we love our partners? How do we love the obnoxious person in front of us at the grocery store? How do we love the neighbor who complains about everything? How do we love the child who just pushed our last button?

It is personal and very important. Someone can be loving person and not be a Jesus follower, but a follower of Christ is a loving person by definition.

Love is more than a feeling, love is a way of life, a choice, and it gets messy.

The main message of the “Advent-Christmas-Epiphany” season is that “God is with us”, once and forever. We may pack away the seasonal decorations but not the message! The baby grows up and offers us a chance to keep on growing. The message we just celebrated is about relationships, ours to God and one another. God loves us and we are to love one another. It’s a simple message and not the least bit easy.

United Methodists designate the third Sunday in January as “Human Relations Sunday”. The designation stems from the Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration. It is my personal tradition to use this Sunday to focus on race relations in the light of our Christian calling. We human beings come in different varieties, thank God, how we live in our blessed variety deserves our worshipful attention.

Does the mere mention of race relations stir up something in you? Bring it to worship.

You can read Mark 12:28-34 and John 13:34-35 in preparation.

Blessings and hoping “Christus mansionem benedicat” marks your home.

Paying attention to the special days in our Christian tradition can be a meaningful spiritual discipline. Not only are we learning and living our faith story; these celebration days offer us insight. Epiphany commemorates that God has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. The magi followed a star and found a king, not an ordinary king.

I love the symbol of the star guiding the magi and shining brightly above the earth. The light has come into our world. It is our light in the darkness, our guide, our light at the end of a tunnel, and our hope for a new day or New Year. It can symbolize many things for us. As we begin again this year, ask yourselves a couple of things. How does Christ need to shine in your life this year? Where is Christ shining in your life? What are you doing to be the shining light in someone else’s life?

Don’t miss the celebration; Christ has come for all people.