Good Friday Evening at St. David of Wales
April 22, 2011
I'm guessing most of you have seen the movie the Princess Bride, where the fantastic tale of Princess Buttercup and Wesley is told as a grandfather reads his sick grandson a story.
That is what holy week is like.
In the midst of our daily lives as eventful or uneventful as they may be we are invited to live a parallel story of the last days of Jesus on Earth.
When we accept that invitation we will lead multifaceted lives.
On Palm Sunday we walked out of our regular lives and through the gates of Jerusalem. On Maundy Thursday we washed the feet of the disciples with Jesus, then we stayed awake with him in the Garden as he begged to have this cup taken from him. We watched with horror as the authorities dragged him away and we may have even felt sympathy with Peter who was willing to raise a sword to defend the rabbi he loves. We stood at the foot of the cross this afternoon and listened as Jesus forgave those who had hurt him, blessed those who hung by him, and breathed his last.
And we are the grandfather and the grandson whose presence in this story feels out of lace. What do our mundane lives have to do with the passion and crucifixion of God incarnate?
here's what:
We are tellers of the story, We are hearers of the story, and as we tell it to each other year after year, it comes alive in and through us. The story of Jesus comes alive in the context of our lives.
Last night at 3am I left the Garden of Gethsemane and drove home and brushed my teeth.
After sitting at the foot of the cross this afternoon, I went and got a burrito on Division, and ate it in the sunshine of a glorious spring afternoon.
this Holy week I have taken Adin to school, made a dentist appointment, hosted a house-guest, and done laundry. Always the laundry.
... but also this week in all the spaces between there has been the vividly real journey with Jesus.
Holy Week can feel schizophrenic and in past years I have the incongruence as proof of my spiritual failings. But this year I have been too busy to even take the time to harass myself about how a "real Christian" would spend this week. And that has turned out to be a gift I want to share with all of you-
let this story seep into all the spaces of your days, let it color the life you are already living. Tomorrow be present in whatever way you can be and let the death of Jesus become the back story to your Saturday.
Even while you do the laundry.
Then when you come back here, whether it is tomorrow night or Sunday morning, we will have the best possible news for you.
News that if you let it become the story within a story of your life, will change everything.
Monday, April 25, 2011
It is Finished
Seven Last Words Service at St David of Wales
April 22, 2011
"It is Finished" john 19:30
40 days ago more or less we smeared ashes on our foreheads and decided to walk for a time with our mortality held gently in front of us.
we are people who will die
we are people who will return to dust.
and we hold our fragile little lives so carefully.
but for the past 40 days we have walking in the company of Jesus who does not guard his life at all, but instead pours out the human life that all of heaven and earth bent to witness. He is reckless and overly generous with this incarnation.
so today it is finished
everything Jesus came to do is finished.
we need to forget for a day if we can that he will open his eyes on the 3rd day and say
“it Begins”
we need to forget because in order to get to the beginning we must stay here at the end.
it is finished.
the Jesus that I am in love with met me, and I met him.
I met him on the road to Emmaus,
I met him on the road to Damascus,
I met him by the well,
I met him on the streets of Nashville,
I met him in the bread and
I met him in the wine,
this Jesus-
the one whose laugh created the universe-
the one who breathes peace into a wounded world,
the one who walks with us now
walked the earth in a body just like ours,
and that body shifted beneath his mother’s ribcage in the night,
and that body ran in the sunlight as a boy
and that body morphed into a man as community watched
and that body touched the sick
held the children
washed the feet
broke the bread
drank the wine
and then died.
he died.
it is finished.
April 22, 2011
"It is Finished" john 19:30
40 days ago more or less we smeared ashes on our foreheads and decided to walk for a time with our mortality held gently in front of us.
we are people who will die
we are people who will return to dust.
and we hold our fragile little lives so carefully.
but for the past 40 days we have walking in the company of Jesus who does not guard his life at all, but instead pours out the human life that all of heaven and earth bent to witness. He is reckless and overly generous with this incarnation.
so today it is finished
everything Jesus came to do is finished.
we need to forget for a day if we can that he will open his eyes on the 3rd day and say
“it Begins”
we need to forget because in order to get to the beginning we must stay here at the end.
it is finished.
the Jesus that I am in love with met me, and I met him.
I met him on the road to Emmaus,
I met him on the road to Damascus,
I met him by the well,
I met him on the streets of Nashville,
I met him in the bread and
I met him in the wine,
this Jesus-
the one whose laugh created the universe-
the one who breathes peace into a wounded world,
the one who walks with us now
walked the earth in a body just like ours,
and that body shifted beneath his mother’s ribcage in the night,
and that body ran in the sunlight as a boy
and that body morphed into a man as community watched
and that body touched the sick
held the children
washed the feet
broke the bread
drank the wine
and then died.
he died.
it is finished.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)