The Sixth Sunday of Lent-A Peasant Procession

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.
-Henry David Thoreau


When we speak of Henry David Thoreau we jump back and forth between two different images. One is the naturalist and semi-hermit on the banks of Walden Pond for a little over two years. His writings began a great line of writers and seekers of peace and direction in the wildness that Thoreau knew was the salvation of humanity.

But there is also the tax resister, the anti-slavery and anti-war protestor. As the author of Civil Disobedience, Thoreau also began a second line of thought, one that influenced Gandhi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, and nameless protestors in the streets of many cities. Today we return to the protestor, to the Thoreau who wrote that the law must be disobeyed if it requires you to do injustice to another. We make this turn to the activist on the day we tell again the story of another activist 2000 years ago.

Today is the beginning of Holy Week. Today we sing of palms and crowds as cheers of “Hosanna!” ring through the air. It is the greatest week in the Christian year. It will end in death- and life! It was the week of Passover those many years ago in Judea. A time to celebrate the possibility of liberation from slavery and oppression under the boots of foreigners. As such it was a tense time for many.

In their book, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’ Last Days in Jerusalem, the New Testament scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan argue that two processions entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, and that Jesus’ was not the only Triumphal Entry.

Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30…. In the centuries since, Christians have celebrated this day as Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week…. One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives, cheered by his followers…On the opposite side of the city, from the west, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Idumea, Judea, and Samaria, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. Jesus’ procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of empire. The two processions embody the central conflict of the week that led to Jesus’ crucifixion.

In a very real sense Borg and Crossan are reminding us of the struggle that has existed for millennia when the nation may be acting with injustice and asking its citizens to also do so. While we have often hidden the political side of Holy Week behind the spiritual struggle, we have thus done violence to the whole picture of this important week. Jesus was not executed simply because a small minority of religious leaders wanted him dead. He was executed because his leadership was a threat to the established political and governmental order. He was executed because his understanding of God and faith was not a “nation” based understanding, it was not an expression of “nationalism” as we would define that today. It stood in stark contrast to that.

Jesus spoke passionately and often about caring for the least and the lost. The image of the sheep and goats at the last judgement equated righteous actions with visiting those in sick or in prison, helping the poor, the widow, and the orphan, or giving food to the hungry. Those who do not do these things cannot call themselves “righteous.” The intertwining of the religious leaders and the governmental leaders in Jesus day was anything but righteous. He entered the Temple and challenged those who were mixing the two. He engaged in an act of civil disobedience that set the stage for many.

Thoreau was not an anarchist, even though some would like to call him that. He did not want to do away with government. He said it clearly:

I ask for, not at once no government, 
but at once a better government.

It is hard, of course, and ultimately absurd to compare the Roman government of Jesus’ day with the American government of today. We would all agree with Thoreau that we want better government, caring government, although some may want far less government than others. It is a tough time.

What is a person of faith to do? We hear the cries from both sides to this day. The issue is as raw and painful on this Palm Sunday as it was on the first. Sides have been taken; some see the government as a way of enforcing a particular religious view. It is a time of power for them. Some see government leadership, even immoral and criminal leadership as a way to get the political agenda enacted. Bring down the hard hammer of law to make sure that the ways of a particular faith are enacted and followed. They decry these actions in other faiths and then call for them to be enacted in their own faith.

It is Palm Sunday. As it has often been since the first, there are two choices we are called to decide between, especially in our modern American dilemma. Are we to succumb to the power of the gun and the loudest, wealthiest voices? Are we to bow before a government that criminalizes ethnic groups and nationalities simply because they are who they are? Are we to seek ways to enforce a particular righteousness because it is what we think is the way?

Or do we stand up, as many did yesterday, and say “Enough!”?

Hear the two processions marching this week.

One is an imperial procession pointing fingers, rattling war sabers, making a joke of truth.

The other is a peasant procession calling for change and grace, hope and compassion, safety and life.

Not much has changed in 2000 years, except perhaps today we are more able to make our voices heard.

• What can I do this Holy Week to speak for hope and life?
• How can I witness to the power of grace standing against the power of hate?
• Where is the call of God leading me to take a stand?

May I spend time this week looking within to find what may be next for me, as I follow Jesus toward the Last Supper, Calvary, and finally life breaking forth.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lenten Journey- Palm Sunday- Stopping the Wheel

We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in an essay to theologians and theological students

The question that always hovers around any discussion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is his participation in the surprisingly widespread plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. While he himself was not anywhere near being the assassin, his work with the Abwehr (German Army) as a double agent was connected with the overall plotting and planning. (It also kept him from being drafted and sent to the front.) He was involved in the plans almost from the beginning and gave it his complete support, knowing full well what the consequences would be. Many, myself included, have struggled with that position. Many debates have been held - and will continue to be held - among people who wonder if that was an appropriate thing for a Christian pastor and theologian to do.

His most famous justification for his actions is the example he used of needing to stop a runaway bus from killing many people. If it took shooting the driver, he said, it was appropriate in order to save more lives. Even if it is a sin, he said, he must risk that to stop evil. In an essay for theological students he used the quote above as a description of what he was doing. He was committed to bringing the wheels of injustice and evil to a halt once and for all.

I did not live in that time. I do not live in a place that is anywhere near as awful as Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. We too often throw words like Nazi and the name of Hitler around as if we know what we are talking about. Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived in a time and place that was filled with and governed by evil. There was no apparent human caring in Hitler, Himmler, or Goering. The SS and Gestapo were as inhuman as any army has ever been. The whole direction of the Nazi vision was anti-religion, anti-God, anti-any life but their own. Words like compassion, kindness, or grace have absolutely no meaning in their world. We have seen far too many of such people and situations in the past century. They are still happening in parts of the world. But what we have in our histories of World War II gives us an unprecedented example of how easily and quickly an otherwise civilized society can devolve into hatred, anger, fear, and unrestrained death. That must not be downplayed or overlooked!

In reading Eric Metaxas’s biography of Bonhoeffer I have come to a deeper appreciation of what this deeply faithful and faith-filled man was facing. Metaxas makes it clear that it was not an easy decision for Bonhoeffer. He did not take it lightly. He took his faith very seriously and its role in his life was paramount. At the very end of his life he continued to exhibit a calm and a “presence” that astonished his fellow prisoners and the guards who watched them. He saw death, at the end, as a road to freedom. He was able to combine his deep faith with the needs of those around him and face the situations without any outward fear. He was convinced he was doing what was right and went ahead and did it. All the things I have talked about in the previous weeks of Lent were all combined at the end to propel him forward with certainty in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! His faith was as real as it can be!

There has been much talk in the US in the past three months about resistance and even revolution. Some have pointed to Nazi Germany in the 1930s as someplace to learn from, hence the look to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his faith. We are, at this point, far from that level of extremism. But that only makes it more imperative that those of us who feel strongly need to know what is happening and learn what potential actions we can engage in. It has been and will continue to be a time of contention, disagreement, fear, anger, and a multitude of emotions. In our country we have seen many things challenged that we thought were being taken care of- civil rights, women’s rights, the environment to name a few. We have seen a series of potential scandals and ongoing investigations, the extent of which we have never seen in our lifetimes. We watch as saber-rattling becomes the norm. We argue over walls and immigration, refugees and the Biblical idea of sanctuary cities.

Which brings us to Holy Week- the central activity of Jesus that makes clear why we Christians are to follow him. In Jesus, Bonhoeffer would say, we see God’s view of being human.

• We see in the life of Jesus the life that every Christian should strive for. 
• We see in Holy Week the suffering that Jesus was willing to undergo for humanity. 
• We see on Maundy Thursday the call to servant obedience he gave to his followers. 
• We see on Good Friday the ultimate personal sacrifice of self for others. And, to use Bonhoeffer’s quote, we see how far God in and through Jesus was willing to go to drive a spoke into the wheel of evil and injustice.

Today, Palm Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem to cheers and acclaim. The people are all on his side. They will be so- until it becomes inconvenient. Leaving aside all the theological niceties and sermon themes I have preached and we have all heard, what is there about Palm Sunday and Holy Week to challenge us in the year 2017? What is there to remind us of the direction of God’s will, the power of God’s love, the vision of how we as humans are called to live? As I go through this week I will have shorter posts each day to help me focus on how this week can guide us. In some ways, even though many churches focus on the whole Passion narrative, it is still only Palm Sunday. It is the day of hope and joy, even as we know what is about to happen. That gives us the opportunities to prepare.

In my preparations this week, even as I cheer Jesus, I know that all around are things to pay attention to- the things that Jesus paid attention to, as, for example, he drove the money changers from the Temple before retiring to Bethany.

• Where am I seeing the signs of injustice?

• How do I participate in these acts of injustice and evil, even if it is “only” by my silence?

• What are the ways I can care for the victims of injustice and evil? That is important. But if I do nothing to stand up to the evil we will all continue to be overwhelmed with more victims than we can handle.

• What are the ways I can name these signs of evil?

• How can refuse to go along with the evil

• In the end, how can I help in the actions to stop the evil?

Not easy questions, and the answers are even more difficult. But it is what Jesus did in Holy Week. Can I do anything less?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In Memory:

April 9, 1945

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

was executed by the Nazis at

Flossenburg Concentration Camp.

He was 39 years old.

Sixth Sunday of Lent: Palm Sunday: Passion Sunday

To Start the Holy Week

Palm Sunday 2014

Between now and next Sunday Christians will ponder the mystery of Holy Week. The beginnings of the Eucharist in Holy Thursday's Last Supper, the Way of the Cross on Good Friday, the day of silence on the Great Sabbath and finally there will again, as always, be the empty tomb.

A few weeks ago a line from a hymn caught my attention and it seems right to start this Holy Week with the idea I found in it. The hymn spoke of the fact that

Grace chases evil away.

I was struck by the seeming incongruity of that statement. Not because I don't believe in grace- I depend on it day in and day out. But we don't think of what happens this week as "grace." Not in the sense that grace itself is the action that defeats evil- and will continue to defeat evil in our own lives and world.

Grace- the free, unencumbered gift from God.

If we have to earn it,

it isn't grace.

If we have to pay for it,

it isn't grace.

If we have to be good enough to deserve it,

it isn't grace.

How does that chase evil away? How does that defeat evil?

Then it came to me, evil wants us to think we are powerful
or have to be good
or earn the love of God.

Evil wants to undermine the idea that God loves us
just as we are.

In the depth of our soul we know that we can never be good enough, or strong enough, or wise enough to get the love of God

by our own actions.

As a result we end up pursuing control, looking for power.

The Evil One tells us that God will destroy us
or turn us out of paradise.

Grace calls BS on the words and works of evil.

Grace simply says

Come on in. I'm right here.

Let THAT sink in as you go through this Holy Week.

Holy Week Begins

Instead of the usual Palm Sunday thoughts, here is the video I put together a couple years ago on the anointing of Jesus' feet just before the week begins.

But the image of Palm Sunday is real:

Link Urban Christian News

Palm Sunday Video Meditation

No words can be added. Ponder and pray.
"Why Me, Lord?" by Kris Kristofferson



So help me, Jesus, my soul's in your hands.

Palm Sunday

As he approached Jerusalem the walls rose ahead of him. Walls for protection. Walls for boundary setting. Walls for politics.

The green of the palm trees stood in colorful contrast to the tan-gray walls.

The blue of the sky gave a framework over and around it all.

The people lined the street. Some were in the trees. Children ran along beside the donkey and between the disciples accompanying him.

But he was alone in the middle of all the noise and hub-bub. The palms laid in front of him got brushed aside by all the movement.

Was he smiling? Was he praying? Was he periodically looking toward heaven wondering what in God's Name he was doing this for.

He passed the garden at the bottom of the hill, rounding into the valley before making one last ascent to the Golden Gate ahead of him. Olive trees ancient already gave a brief shadow from the strong spring sun.

He was triumphant. Or was it an illusion? Was it an act of what we now call "guerrilla theater" or was it a defiant throwing down of palm leaf gauntlets?

Here I am.

I Am.

The Third Sunday of Advent

(Image from FreeFoto.com)

The joy of the Advent Christ be with you all.
And also with you.

He comes to liberate prisoners,
and to open the eyes of the blind;
to lift up those who are ground down,
and to pour love upon believers;
to watch over homeless refugees,
and stand up for widow and orphan.

Even the arid wilderness shall be glad,
and the desert blossom like the rose.

PRAYER
Holy God, Source of abundant love, peace and joy, we worship you with grateful, happy hearts. As we continue our Advent journey, help us to trust you more fully, to enjoy you more freely, and to serve you more eagerly. Let all our preparations be focussed on going to meet you as you speedily come to us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen!

--from Resources by Bruce Prewer, Uniting Church in Australia

Making Stones Shout

Unknown, Getty Museum
Ottonian, Regensburg, about 1030 - 1040
Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment

The Sixth Sunday of Lent

Palm Sunday, 2009

Making Stones Shout

Everyone loves a parade. Especially a parade featuring a celebrity. Last year we saw many such spectacles in an election campaign, although the "parades" had a lot more security that this one. Everyone can get into the mood, the swing of it. Everyone gets excited and starts cheering, even when they may have no idea what's going on.

It can be called an example of "mob psychology." It can go either direction. Reading recently of the riots around the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968 showed that unfortunate truth on both sides of the aisle.

Today it is going in Jesus' way. The wave of joy and expectations is real and overwhelming. But there lurks the other side. It is always there. It is what Jesus is parading against though few if any on the road to Jerusalem knew it that day.

The other side, the dark side, the evil side, whatever we wish to use to describe was there. It could be seen in the spies and religious officials in the crowd taking notes. It could be seen in the need for beggars on the edge of the crowd to be there looking for alms and food. It could be seen in the Court of the Gentiles where all nations were allowed to come and pray- and be required to buy their way in God's presence.

It could also be seen not far from the crowd. Pilate and Herod and the forces of occupation; military hardware and armaments there for "peacekeeping;" the wealthy and the aristocrats doing what they could do to keep others from getting even a piece of what they had; Satan or Evil seeking souls to use to bring this parade to an end.

Today we fall into line.Yet after all these years of thousands of Palm Sundays, Passion Weeks, and Easters we know that the line gets tougher to follow in the next five days. We know, if we are honest, that the Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was right- the line dividing good and evil runs through the center of the human heart.

My friend and colleague Christine on her liturgy blog, Freshly Squeezed Liturgy, started a litany for today with this call and response:

Today we have cheered you on as our champion and hailed you as our hero.

Forgive us tomorrow when our enthusiasm wanes.

Today we believe stones will shout against the fear and injustice and oppression of our world. Today we may even have trudged through winter storms and flooded towns to attend church. Tomorrow we will crawl away in embarrassment for what we dared think possible today.

It is a long week ahead if we take the time- and risk- of walking with Jesus. It is a long week ahead if we expect Easter to come out of nowhere when no one dies. Only in death, the death of our human expectations and controls and fears, can there be a resurrection.