Prepare Ye

This is my sermon for Maundy Thursday, based on the lesson, John 19:23-30. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus was his mother. Watching someone die is a horribly painful and difficult thing to do. When I served as a hospital chaplain, I was with several families when their loved ones passed away. I was there when both of my parents died. It is an emotionally draining and devastating experience. Being there when your parents die is painful, but it is part of the normal course of life. But to watch your child die must be an unimaginable trauma. Then for that person to be executed must just keep adding to the pain. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus was his mother. Jesus’ mother is never named in John’s Gospel. She appears only twice, here, and at the beginning of his ministry, at the wedding in Cana. She was invited to the wedding, as were Jesus and his disciples. She told Jesus that the hosts had run out of wine. She didn’t mind w

Here is my last article for my newsletter for the ONE in Christ parish. Pastor’s Ponderings Thank you for the opportunity to serve you, and to serve God in this corner of the kingdom. I hope that these churches are in a better position now than when I arrived. I have two final requests for you all, weighing in with my final two cents. You can use them or disregard them. One is on page 5, a request to continue the internet and social media work that we started. The second is about the short and long-term steps that you will be doing. In his message, Kaj Petersen writes that the first step of the call committee is to create a profile of this parish that prospective pastors will receive. Please, take your time and be honest when you work on this. Describe the church and parish that you truly are. Do not describe the church and parish you think that you are. Do not simply tweak the profile I received seven years ago this week. You

This is Ananias' final article for the April ONE in Christ newsletter.    I know that in last month’s article, I said I knew that My Big Guy and I were moving, but I wasn’t sure of what that meant. My Big Guy was already starting to fill up boxes, and he is still doing that. But, can I tell you a secret? I’m afraid of boxes. When I was a puppy, My Big Guy left the house while he was doing laundry. I went to check on it for him, and a basket that he left on top of one of the machines fell on me and trapped me. I was scared. When he got home, he rescued me, but ever since then I’ve been afraid I would get trapped again. All of these empty boxes scare me. I’m trying to understand what this Oklahoma thing is that we are going to. My Big Guy has told me about the city and the churches he will serve, but I’m just not understanding what he is talking about. It reminds me about the Bible stories that he has been reading to me. In John’s Gospel, Je

This is the text of my message for Palm Sunday, March 25 using the Narrative Lectionary lessons of John 12:12-27, the Triumphal Entry, and John 19:16b-22, the writing of the charge against Jesus. Our lessons for today intentionally provide a clash of contexts. We continue with our Lenten readings of the Passion and Suffering of Christ from chapters 18 and 19 of John‘s Gospel. But we also celebrate Palm Sunday, and remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. They are connected because in each, Jesus is called the King of Israel. Hosanna!  Crucify!  Hosanna!  Crucify!  Hosanna!  Crucify! How did so much go so wrong so fast? It is the Sunday before Passover; Jesus enters Jerusalem, a top a young donkey, a sign of the anointed leader of Israel. It is just days after Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, and Jerusalem still buzzing about that. Now, with the Passover festival approaching, Jesus comes into the capital city. The people greet him as a potential king. Hos

This is my sermon from Sunday, March 18. The lesson from the Narrative Lectionary is John 19:1-16a. The ways of framing this theological concepts is taken from Nadia Bolz-Weber’s video, Cross , from Augsburg Fortress’ video series, animate: Faith . Why did Jesus have to die? I’ll be honest; this question doesn’t directly flow from this text. This lesson may better phrase the question of “Why do these people want Jesus to die?” I’ll answer that question after explaining why Jesus had to die. And it won’t be for the reasons that you have probably heard most of your life. Here are some of the reasons that have been used to explain why Jesus had to die. Jesus had to die because God the Father was mad at us because we are sinful and sin filled, bad and evil. God chose to punish Jesus in place of punishing all of humanity. This makes God to be a cosmic child abuser, and Jesus is an enabler in this depiction of divine wrath and retribution. This is also referred to as sacr

This is the text of my sermon for March 11, 2018, the Fourth Sunday of Lent and the 1st Sunday of Daylight Saving Time. The text is John 18:28-40. Much of my thoughts on this text were influenced by David Lose's Lenten Devotions from his website  ... In the Meantime , especially the devotions here and here . The lesson we hear today is at the heart of the telling of the Passion, or Suffering, of Jesus Christ. It is a key scene in any depiction of the last day of Jesus. I think of the various movies about the life of Jesus, and all of them feature this scene. In one of my favorite depictions, the musical Jesus Christ Superstar , the song Trial Before Pilate is one of the turning points in the play. It takes the lessons we hear today and next week, showing how Jesus is abandoned by the very people he came to. It calls back to the opening prologue in John’s Gospel, “ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ” Pilate who is used to fighting a