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Throughout John’s gospel Jesus makes many “I am” statements. John writes this way to help his readers understand Jesus on a deeper basis then as a prophet, healer and teacher, in these statements John is directly connecting Jesus with Yahweh, the name that God is called by all people of Israel. In the book of Exodus, God (Yahweh) has a conversation with Moses from a burning bush. God commands Moses to lead God’s people from slavery to freedom and life in the Promised land. Moses asks God what name he should use when telling the Israelites what God has commanded them and God replies, ‘I am who i am.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.” ’ God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”: This is my name for ever, and this my title for all generations.‘ (Exodus 3:14-15). John’s I am statements that Jesus makes throughout his gospel are meant to link Jesus directly to Yahweh the God they have always known and worshipped.

Right at the start John wants his readers to understand that Jesus IS God and the I AM statements which follow throughout his gospel not only iterate that message but also help us to understand what that means in our understanding of Jesus and of God.

The ‘I am’ statements go a bit further than that though as they also help the reader understand God (Yahweh) now through their relationship with and the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. In today’s reading Jesus says ‘I am’ the gate. Specifically, the gate to the sheepfold and we are the sheep. Jesus is the path that we follow in order to enter into the rest, peace and refreshment that are offered in Psalm 23 that the Good Shepherd brings us to. Jesus is the one who has created a gateway through sin and death. Sin and death are no longer a closed door, an end to hope, to life, to rebirth and second chances as Jesus has become the gate which allows us passage through.

John begins his gospel with the statement, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ Right at the start John wants his readers to understand that Jesus is God and the I am statements which follow throughout his gospel not only iterate that message but also help us to understand what that means in our understanding of Jesus and of God. Jesus comes to bring about the plan of salvation which was set in place from the creation of the world, the plan to ensure that the darkness and death is not the final outcome of our lives but rather we walk through the gate which is Jesus into pleasant places of peace and rest. Amen.

Collect by St. Thomas More

Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.
Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humour to maintain it.
Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good
and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil,
but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.
Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments,
nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called “I.”
Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour.
Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy,
and to be able to share it with others. Amen.

Readings

Genesis 18:1-15

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

Proverbs 17:22

John 2:1-11

For some unknown reason, and without checking the lectionary, I was certain the Gospel for this week was based on John 20, the story of Thomas and his questions (note the Gospel does not call him Doubting Thomas) Then I thought perhaps I should check that this is the Gospel for Easter 2, for the first Sunday after Easter.

By sharing our faith/owning our faith we can bring the light of God into a world of darkness. That is why it is okay to identify with Thomas, the doubter—the questioner.

I discovered three things: Firstly, John 20 was not the Gospel appointed for the day; secondly, this Sunday’s Gospel is the story of the wedding at Cana when Jesus turns water into wine; and finally, this Sunday is now referred to as Holy Humour Sunday on the worksheet that guides those who preach, reflect or read in Church.

The joke seems to have been on me..

Holy Humour Sunday is the recovery of an ancient tradition that saw the followers of Jesus host parties, and laugh, and have joyful celebrations for a whole week starting the day after Easter. I know from Sunday mornings that Sheila has a talent for finding humour and joy in what we do on Sundays. I thought it is best to leave the “Holy Humour” for her sermon.

I, for my part, will proceed with a modified reflection based on Questioning Thomas (please note that the use of the word ‘Questioning’ here is a somewhat weak pun to honour humour. Is Thomas questioning or is he being questioned?).

I like to think of Thomas as the patron saint of whose who would like to ask questions; questions about God, Jesus, a life of faith, faith as action not just intellectual ascent to ancient credal formulas, the purpose of the church and so on. One could ask “why is there so much evil in the world?” or “why aren’t my prayers answered?” or “Does God control things like hurricanes, typhoons and volcanoes?”

Many within church communities likely have some (or even all) of these topics as questions. The problem seems to be that we may be uncomfortable asking the questions because most of us have not been taught to ask. We might find the questions unsettling or the answers vague and confusing. We need to be aware that all of our discussions about God and creation are stuck with the limits of our language and perception. We also need to be aware that many thinkers (theologians) might present a variety of opinions on the same topic.

Many of you will remember the slogan used by the parish for a lot of communications: “Come and have your answers questioned”. This slogan is also used widely in the Episcopal Church of the USA. It recognizes that within the Anglican Communion authority rests among scripture, tradition, and reason. We have been blessed with memory, reason and skill which we can use to grow in faith and our understanding in the world around us.

This problem of answers, questions, answers and more questions is likely even greater for many who have left the church and many who have not explored the church as being relevant and life giving. Do these people know that they can ask their questions in a safe place? Have these people experienced love as our neighbours? Do they see the church as life affirming and relevant to today’s world or do they view the church as judgmental, rule oriented and restrictive?

There are two critical parts to this question/answer process. We need to connect with someone whom we can ask. We need be comfortable/brave enough to ask the questions. I think that this is a task that those of us who are members of this faith community can respond to, whether we are a questioner or an answerer or both.

The task is much more difficult with those do not participate in this community.

I think we have to listen carefully to find opportunities to invite people to question, perhaps by introducing topics with a ‘What do you think of…?’ or ‘why to people think that…?

By sharing our faith/owning our faith we can bring the light of God into a world of darkness. That is why it is okay to identify with Thomas, the doubter—the questioner. If those around us know that we have big questions and doubts it is also necessary to recognize the limits of what we can and cannot know with certainty.

You may remember the old adage ‘Talk about anything you like except politics and religion’. I say that given the problems of poverty and homelessness, war, climate change and a fragile economy, that politics and religion may be the topics most worthy of our time and consideration.

Collect

Resurrecting God,
you conquered death
and opened the gates of life everlasting.
In the power of the Holy Spirit,
raise us with Christ
that we, too, may proclaim
healing and peace to the nations. Amen

Readings

Acts 10:34-43

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

Colossians 3:1-4

John 20:1-18

Alleluia! Easter is here, the reminder of God’s love for us and for all of creation, the promise that our life is so much more then we can ask or imagine. The sign that good triumphs over evil, that life and light are more powerful then death and darkness, that God who created all things, created them for good, for joy, for peace and for beauty. These are all the thoughts that swirl through our heads at this Easter season. For us who live in this part of the world Easter is further enhanced by the signs of spring, of new life and rebirth that surrounds us. As the dark days of winter give way to the brightness of spring and the drab winter colours move aside for the abundant colour and beauty of the plants coming to life around us.

Jesus walks with us through our sorrow and pain, and we are invited to join Jesus in his walk through death into new life. This does not happen at the end of our physical life but in the here and now, in the midst of the messy, difficult lives we live, there is hope, there is new life, there is Jesus.

The story of Easter which begins at the birth of Jesus, reaches it’s zenith during Holy week as we walk with Jesus through the sham trial he endures, the violence inflicted on him, the abandonment of his friends and followers and ultimately to his shame filled death on the cross. In this we see the pain and the violence, the grief and betrayal that is echoed throughout the world around us. We know what Jesus endures just as Jesus knows what we do and when our heads are bowed with grief and sorrow, our hearts and bodies are hurting from the pain inflicted on them, we remember Easter. We remember that pain, sorrow, fear, and hopelessness are not eternal, but love is. Life is. God is. We are.

Jesus walks with us through our sorrow and pain, and we are invited to join Jesus in his walk through death into new life. This does not happen at the end of our physical life but in the here and now, in the midst of the messy, difficult lives we live, there is hope, there is new life, there is Jesus. Some days its harder to remember that that’s why belonging to a church is so needed. We need to come together to worship, and we need to be surrounded by people who will remind us of the love of God when we’ve forgotten, who will pray for us when we can’t, who will encourage us in our walk with Jesus, just as we encourage, and remind and pray for them when they aren’t able to. For the gift of Jesus, for the gift of life, for the gift of the church we open our hearts in gratitude and say, thanks be to God!

Collect

Almighty and everliving God,
in tender love for all our human race
you sent our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take our flesh
and suffer death upon a cruel cross.
May we follow the example of his great humility,
and share in the glory of his resurrection.
Amen.

Readings

Matthew 21:1-11

Philippians 2.5–11

Dramatic Reading of Matthew 27.11–54

What procession are we in?

Palm Sunday 2023

The Palm Sunday service often begins with the triumphal procession and palm branches, but ends with the Passion narrative. It is an extremely dramatic service, moving from intense joy to profound sadness. Very typical liturgy for Palm Sunday; many churches have observed this day in this way for decades. I recall it from my own youth, the shiver down the spine when the choir acted the part of the crowd in Jerusalem, crying, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” However, there has been growing concern among scholars and liturgists that a whole week existed between these two events in the last days of Jesus’ life, 5 days to be exact: have you ever wondered why and how Jesus and his followers went from jubilation to grief in such a short time?

Pilate entering the city from the west, Jesus entering the city from the east, Jesus’ entry clearly a pre-planned, counter-procession to the imperial procession. Jesus’ procession symbolized a kingdom of peace; the Roman procession, of course, a manifestation of imperial power, oppression and violence. And those two contrasting processions—between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar—present the central conflict for the events of Holy Week…

Without the Passion narrative at the end of the service, people who do not participate in Holy Week, especially Good Friday, know only the jubilation of Palm Sunday and the celebration of Easter morn; they do not experience the arrest, trial and execution of Jesus. There is a need for education about what happened between the jubilant entry into Jerusalem and the crucifixion five days later. Modern Biblical scholarship sheds so much light on these last days of Jesus’ life. Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan co-authored The Last Week, which offers a day-by-day account of the last week of Jesus’ life. In my humble opinion, it is the best writing both gentlemen have done; the book is clear and fascinating. Borg said that they wrote the book because “People don’t know the Holy Week story anymore because we have now moved the Good Friday text to what used to be Palm Sunday . . . if you go to church only on Sundays, you get the crucifixion, you get Easter, but nothing else really about Holy Week.” I highly recommend you read this book, but in this brief reflection, I will give you a crash course.

The whole story of Palm Sunday is really so surprising. What most people are unaware of is that there was another procession entering Jerusalem that day as well, a Roman imperial procession entering the city from the west side, Pilate at the head of imperial military reinforcements for the garrison at Jerusalem. During Passover, the holiest celebration of the Jewish faith, Rome found it necessary to show its strength and force, in case there should be any trouble from a people longing for escape from bondage. Pilate entering the city from the west, Jesus entering the city from the east, Jesus’ entry clearly a pre-planned, counter-procession to the imperial procession. Jesus’ procession symbolized a kingdom of peace; the Roman procession, of course, a manifestation of imperial power, oppression and violence. And those two contrasting processions—between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar—present the central conflict for the events of Holy Week, for early Christianity, and for us 2000 years later.

Quite simply, we must ask ourselves, Which procession are we in? By our very presence on Palm Sunday, with our happy parade around the church waving palm branches, we are aligning ourselves with the followers of Jesus 2000 years ago, declaring that we follow the way of Jesus too. We declare with them that Jesus is Lord. Now, in Jesus’ time, that was a seditious claim, flying in the face of Pilate and Rome who claimed that Caesar was Lord. Roman imperial theology presented Caesar as the son of a god, declared Caesar divine. The way of Jesus is the way of peace and love, of justice and righteousness; the way of Caesar is the way of domination by the sword, of violence and suppression.

It is easy for us now, two millennia later, to look back and see a clear-cut choice between a violent regime and a non-violent peace movement. Rather reminds me of the late 60s when there seemed to be a black and white dilemma: “make love not war”; “give peace a chance.” But what about today? It’s harder for us to discern the Caesars of our world, more difficult to challenge the domination systems of our time because they are so complex and intertwined. If we declare Jesus is Lord today, no one in authority challenges that; our authority figures declare the same thing. The Royal family, the GG, our political leaders—they all attend church as we do and declare Jesus as Lord. Certainly we can look to places like Syria or North Korea or Russia and see injustice by unjust regimes. We long to help. We share our resources in small ways. We send peacekeepers when asked. But how complicated the situations become.

How do we discern whether we are complicit in the domination system of our time? We live in North America, Canada, one of the best places to live, peaceful, prosperous. But you know the statistics—20% of the world’s population—that includes us—use 80% of the world’s resources. We may not be consciously, directly involved in acts of injustice, but our very life style denies others basic necessities, our goods manufactured and provided by developing nations, by people paid low wages. How do I know if my investments, my RRSPs that I hope will guarantee me and mine a comfortable old age, how do I know if those investments aren’t part of the unjust system? I don’t know. I trust not. Best not to look too closely.

Jesus was sent to his death not only because he challenged Rome, and Rome’s oppression of his people, but also because he challenged the religious leaders of his time, those who controlled the synagogue, those who collaborated with Roman rulers and who thereby legitimized the domination of the Jewish people by Rome. There was complicity between the high priests and Pilate, to keep the people in line, obedient, subservient, and it was an unjust system which kept the peasant class, 98% of the population, at or below subsistence level. Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God led him to speak and act against this conspiracy between church and state. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his act the next day of cleansing the temple, left no doubt in anyone’s mind—both were staged acts of rebellion and resistance.

The extent to which we are expected to follow the way of Jesus is clearly expressed in his teachings. Many of his contemporaries, even his disciples, were hoping for a warrior Messiah who would free the Jews from bondage to Rome, just as Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. However, Jesus outlines His way, God’s way: “if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me . . . those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Such a selfless sacrifice is graphically seen in Christ’s passion and death and in the sacrifice of Christian martyrs, people called to stand up for their beliefs, but the majority of us are called to practice Christ’s way of love in our everyday lives, and that too requires that self often be denied. The scriptures contrast Jesus and his kingdom of peace and justice with those who would rule by force “all the kingdoms of this world.” His was a prophetic voice, quoting the OT prophets, calling his fellow Jews back to loyalty to God and God’s way. When Jesus says, “Follow me,” he is telling us to follow his lead, to get in line, to join the procession that Jesus wishes to lead. The Church today must retain its prophetic voice. To follow the way of Jesus is to voice the way of peace and justice, to urge our governors and our social conscience to care for the poor, to speak for the marginalized and downtrodden, to point out injustice wherever it exists. As we journey with Jesus through all the days of Holy Week, may we be called anew to seek first the kingdom of God in our own lives and in the lives of others. And may God give us the strength to trust and follow the Lord’s procession.