Wednesday, March 26

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 97; Micah 7:7-15; Luke 24:28-35; 1 Corinthians 15:30-41; Psalm 99

Growing up as a child in the mainline church, I didn’t experience a whole lot of ritual. We basically had just two rituals that we observed; we had a monthly Communion service and an occasional baptism. Outside those two events, we rarely incorporated ritual into our spiritual lives. Needless to say, when I use to experience this morning’s story about the two who recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread it was difficult for me to relate to the story since Communion wasn’t really an experience for me. Instead, it was something we did on the first Sunday of the month that usually made church run 15 minutes longer than usual. As I’ve gotten older, however, I’ve realized the importance of ritual in our spiritual lives. Rituals help move us to a different place in our spiritual lives – a place dominated not by just one dimension of our being (i.e. the head) but a place where all three dimensions meet (i.e. the head, heart, and spirit). The growing importance of ritual in my life has really helped me unpack today’s story. For encountering the living presence of Christ requires one to move from a one-dimensional approach to our spiritual life into a three-dimensional approach to our spiritual life. Today I invite you to consider what role ritual plays in your own spiritual life. Think about what insights into God you’ve gained through your participation in ritual. (When I say ritual, I don’t mean Communion & Baptism – I mean every sacred act created intentionally to facilitate an experience of God). And as you perhaps consider expanding the role of ritual in your life, remember you don’t need an ordained clergyperson to help you establish and carry out a ritual. All you need is an open heart and a willing spirit. If you pursue those things you might just have an unexpected encounter with God on a level you never knew existed! Til next time…

Tuesday, March 25

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 149; Isaiah 30:18-26; Luke 24:12-27; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; Psalm 111

One of my favorite post-Resurrection stories is the one that comes to us today from the Gospel of Luke. I love it because it makes a very simple, straightforward point. It’s a point, in fact, that I made during the children’s sermon last Sunday. The point is this: throughout Jesus’ life, he seldom showed up at the times – or in the places – people expected him. For instance, folks expected “good people” to avoid tax collectors like the plague. So where did Jesus spend some of his time? With tax collectors. And others were convinced that “good people” never mixed with those infidels known as Samaritans. So who did Jesus spend time with at the well one day? A Samaritan (a Samaritan WOMAN even – gasp!). Same thing happened in the moments following Jesus’ crucifixion. Folks expected him to be predictable and remain in the tomb. And guess what? He showed up in places like the road to Emmaus! If there’s one thing we can take away from the first post-Easter stories it’s this – expect the living presence of Christ to appear at the times and places in our lives that we least expect it. This lesson is a huge challenge for us modern folks because we live such compartmentalized lives. We have our families in a box over here; we have our jobs and/or careers in another box over here; we have our faith communities in a box over here; and we have our civic and political commitments in a box over here. Each of those boxes becomes a sort of tomb that often becomes a subconscious attempt to keep our faith out of certain aspects of our lives. And then along comes Jesus once again and destroys our beloved boxes. Today, I invite you to open your eyes – and your spirits – to see if you too might have your own encounter with the living spirit of Christ. Oh that encounter may not take place on a roadside – it might occur around the water cooler at work, or in the halls at school between classes, or at home while you are working together on a project instead. Who knows! What I do know is that those encounters will occur at some point if your eyes and spirit are open to them. My hope for us today is that God’s spirit will open us to these unexpected encounters. Til next time…

Monday, March 24

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 93; Jonah 2:1-9; Luke 23:5b-24:11; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Psalm 66

In reading the Lukan account of the culmination of the Easter story, there was a phrase that jumped out at me right away. It had to do with the way the people articulated the charges against Jesus. The last portion of Luke 23:5 puts forth the charge as follows: “[Jesus] is a dangerous man, [he is] endangering the peace.” What struck me about the words is that too often in our society, Jesus is used to do exactly the opposite of that; Jesus is used to justify the status quo. So how do we reclaim this early notion of Jesus as one who endangers the peace? Simple. Put the principles around which Jesus built his life into action. I’ll give you an example of how that happened to me recently. I was in a group that had already passed a statement affirming its commitment to welcome all people into the full life of the community. The issue was raised about whether or not the group should open its doors to folks who were not “legal immigrants” in our country. Now for most folks, this discussion would have been primarily a political discussion. I didn’t see if that way, however. I saw it in another way – in Jesus’ way. All of the stories of Jesus’ reaching across human categories (i.e. the Samaritan woman at the well; the encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman, etc) crossed my mind, and I knew what my position was. It was a position that some were uncomfortable with; it was a position that endangered the peace. As I think about the recent events of Holy Week, I realize that so many times we end up putting Jesus right back on the cross through our actions and attitudes. We do this when we follow the example of the Roman and religious authorities and put our attempts to preserve the peace (what they really mean here is “preserve the status quo”) before our desire to live out the faith of Jesus. In these first days following the Resurrection, I invite you to go out and pay Jesus the best tribute possible: endanger the peace a little as you actually put your faith and principles into practice. Til next time…

Sunday, March 23

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 150; Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18; Colossians 3:1-4; Psalm 118:14-24

First things first: HAPPY EASTER!!! I hope you have a blessed day as you celebrate the new life that lies before us... Now, to other matters at hand.

As I read today’s lectionary readings, wouldn’t you know that the shortest – and by some people’s accounts most obscure passage – caught my eye today. The passage of course was the one from Colossians. Let me tell you why it caught my eye. The very first job I had out of college was teaching English at a juvenile corrections facility. As a result of my position, I spent a lot of time thinking about words and the way they shape our lives. Using that background, this week I realized that most folks think about Easter using one of two verb tenses. One group of folks think about Easter in the past tense – as a historical event, if you will – that doesn’t have tons to do with their life in the here and now. Another group goes in exactly the opposite direction. They think about Easter primarily in the future tense. These folks tend to understand Easter primarily as an event that has everything to do with them (i.e. “Jesus died for my sins so that when I die I will live forever and I will be reunited with my loved ones” – notice how many times the words “I”, “me”, and “my” were used). In the overuse of those two approaches (the “past tense” and the “future tense” tense approaches), lots of folks COMPLETELY forget about the present tense ramifications of Easter – ramifications in the here and now. Thankfully, the author of today’s passage from Colossians doesn’t let us do that. The author wrote: “If you’re serious about living this resurrection life, act like it” (Colossians 3:1 – The Message). Right here! Right now! The author goes on to add that one shouldn’t shuffle around in our day-to-day existence – absorbed only by the things at hand. Instead, one should look up and see what Christ is doing around you. In other words, experience the resurrection life here and now. The beauty of living a spiritual life in the present tense is that if you do it right, it seamlessly weaves the past tense together with the future. On this Easter Sunday, I encourage you to pay attention to what tense you are living your life: past, present, or future. Perhaps with a little help from the living spirit of Christ, you can spend a little more time in the present. Til next time…