Preparing for a Holy Week

   Just a few weeks ago, the Church gathered for Ash Wednesday and started this journey called Lent towards Jerusalem, the Cross, and Easter’s empty tomb. Now, in this the last week of Lent, we remember Christ’s Passion. It is a week of special devotion. The word ‘Passion’ comes from the Latin word patior, meaning “I suffer”. It was Athanasius, an early church theologian and later a bishop, who referred to it as ‘holy Paschal week.’ Greek and Roman worship books called it the “Great Week” because great deeds were done by God during this week.
   In the early church, only Friday and Saturday were observed as holy days. By the late 4th century the various parts of the Passion story given to us in the Gospels had been separated out, and people began commemorating them on the days of the week on which they had occurred. You’ll recognize these:

Palm Sunday: Jesus’ triumphal entrance into the city

Maundy Thursday: Judas’ betrayal and the first Holy Communion

Good Friday: The crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus

Holy Saturday: Jesus’ body rests in the tomb

Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ

   It was actually the ancient Christians in the church in Jerusalem that first organized dramatic ceremonies during Holy Week at appropriate local holy sites that had been restored by the Emperor Constantine. Visitors to the city were so moved that these ceremonies have spread from Jerusalem to churches worldwide. We celebrate many of them this coming week, as we remember and are transformed by story of God’s love and overwhelming grace.
   Epworth gathers this Palm Sunday, and then again on Good Friday, to hear the story of the Passion of the Christ. Long before Mel Gibson created the splendid, gruesome, and highly-profitable movie of the same name, the church recorded the story and set out to retell it every year that we might not forget. From the sight and sound of children waving palm branches into the room, through the placement of Jesus' body in a tomb, we will hear the account of the final hours before the stone is place and the story seems finished.
      May the grace and peace of waiting and anticipating be ours. Scott

Moses, Matthew, Paul and our own James - We All Have a Past

   I was laughing on Saturday night and then again on Sunday morning, each time James Faircloth came to me with his dry wit and jokes about how we were tempting the heavens with all of that rock and roll music played at our Best Songs Ever event. The music was amazing, the food was delicious, and the night was memorable. But, James kept coming back to me with a steady routine of jokes about all of us were in danger for encouraging Bob, Andy and the others to play Guns 'N Roses and the rest of the non-Gaither songs that were featured. James confessed that he was suffering from PTBS: post-traumatic baptist syndrome. He said his years of faithful attendance in baptist churches made it hard for him to clap to Neil Diamond or Billy Joel in a church fellowship hall.
   I need to say, James was joking. He had a great time. I could tell from the twinkle in his eyes, but not from the smile on his face. He would be a great poker player - except they probably didn't let him do that, either, growing up in those churches!

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   James' jokes about his own past prompted me to think about universal a topic it really is. Leaving things from the past in the past has a great scriptural tradition. Moses had anger-management issues. Matthew was a tax-collector working for the wrong side. Paul was an upcoming leader who used his power to hunt down and have Christians killed. Yet, all of them were used by God despite their pasts. All of us have experienced those moments when our past makes an appearance in our present. It is said that God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called. I agree. I would add that God's call is not for those with perfect pasts. If it worked that way, our pews would remain empty.
   The very same Paul mentioned above, after an encounter with the living Christ on the road to Damascus, would leave his past behind him and go on to start churches and write letters that would make up half of the New Testament. He spoke often of his past, every time referring to the new life he had in Christ. He says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." Paul would have known the passage from Isaiah 43:18 that said, "Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past."
   Unlike the jokes James and I shared over the weekend about being taught to not listen to or sing along with 'that kind' of music, I am glad we are able to come together and do a new thing now. I am glad God has forgiven our pasts and freed us for abundant futures. May the grace and peace of the very God who makes all things new be with you, Amen!

Essential Reading for Humanity

   A friend of mine once asked me to share the titles of some books that I have read and appreciated. I’ve long held that a small list of books has influenced my life significantly, based on the ways they’ve shaped my thinking, my actions, and by how often I quote them aloud or refer to them in my mind. Here they are, in no particular order, with a note about their publication. I’ve read a few books over the years, but these are the ones I return to most often.

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck (Arrow Books, 1978)

- I've read the first section over and over again. This book is brilliant. 

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (originally published in 1945)

- A super story about heaven and hell, salvation, redemption, restoration, the communion of the saints, and how we can live even better on this side of heaven. 

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (originally published in 1942)

- Straight out of hell, this collection of fictitious letters from one demon to his nephew offers a stark look at how we are made and how the forces of evil and wickedness are working against us.

The Will of God by Leslie Weatherhead (originally published in 1944)

- This is so very good. It helps me to put words to both the good and bad of this world and find God's love for us in the midst of both.

The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary D Chapman (Northfield, 2009)

- I ask every couple I marry to read this before the wedding, but believe every person should know their own love language in order to communicate and thrive in life. 

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler (McGraw-Hill, 2002)

- This book helps to reduce tension and anxiety in order to get more done and be kinder doing it.

Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom (Paulist Press, 1970)

- This is a gift; written by an orthodox priest, it offers those who would follow a path toward the love of God. 

Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded) by John Medina (Pear Press, 2014)

- Written by a neuroscientist, this is the layperson's guide to the real science of how our brains work. Every page is filled with stories and truths to apply right away. This book is transforming.

Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr (Jossey-Bass, 2011)
- A deep look into the truth of the Gospel: we are made to rise and fail, win and lose, conquer and fail. It is an affirmation of our wins and triumphs and being exposed as vulnerable. Shouldn't be read until age 35+.

The Holy Bible 
- The true story of the God who made us and is saving us. Start with Mark and then try reading it from beginning to end. You have my permission to skip some lists and genealogies in the Old Testament your first time through.

Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger: Obama and Netanyahu

"You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, 

slow to speak, slow to anger" - James 1:19

   Little is known about the James who wrote the letter bearing his name towards the end of the New Testament. It is strongly believed that he was the same James who served as the head of the church in Jerusalem, which was home base for the movement in the first century. It is also believed that his older brother was a certain wandering Galilean teacher and miracle-worker, named Jesus.
   I wonder if this wisdom from James 1:19 could be traced back to growing up in the same house with Jesus. Did he see his older brother model these truths as they were coming up together? If so, what a splendid example of brotherly love and right-living.

   The reality of our human condition is that many people struggle mightily to listen well, to speak after thinking, and to keep our emotions in check when we differ with someone else. This has been on display this week, and in the previous months, in the conflict between two strong allies, nations who are like brothers, Israel and the United States. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited by our Congress to come and speak back in January. The main points he outlined this week before a very partisan gathering in Washington were Israel's concerns over a possible agreement between the U.S. and Iran on nuclear research. Israel is against the deal, believing such a deal threatens their security, while many around the world see the deal as a way to block Iran from going further and developing nuclear weapons. President Obama and the White House have taken offense at the very invitation of Netanyahu to speak to Congress. They cite the advantage Netanyahu gets in his own tight upcoming elections in Israel, that he offers no new alternatives to the Iran dilemma, that he is simply trading in fear, and that he has come to the U.S. to further the bitter partisan divide within our own political landscape.
   All of this is just another small piece of a terribly larger puzzle that is American politics and international relations. It is also a case study in the very thing James is talking about when he writes his letter to early Christians. For James, both Obama and Netanyahu would be wrong. One side does not want to listen any more while the other is forcing its way to the stage to speak.
   Julie and I have been to Israel; we spent 7 days there in early 2007 on a trip touring prominent Holy Land sights with a group from South Georgia. We felt the tension and believe that Israel needs to be protected. But, we also saw the ways that Israel is the perpetrator of human rights violations upon their neighbors. The entire Middle East is a complex situation. But, that could be said of a thousand topics in our world today, right?
   Life is complex. Sometimes the best we can do is to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Grace and Peace, Scott