He is Risen by Michael Jothen
He is risen, Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead.
He has ris’n to conquer sin, He has ris’n to save us.
All good Christians sing today!
Wipe the tears of death away.
He is risen, Alleluia! He has ris’n to save us.
- Luke 23:27-29
“Salvation involves the whole person, body and soul. Salvation also includes the restoration of wholesome community among Christians. Its effects spill over into the entire social order…
No amount of good deeds in noble social action can earn divine forgiveness. The only way to enter Jesus’ kingdom is by accepting it as a gift (Luke 12:32). But kingdom people embrace kingdom values. Sixteen times the New Testament calls Jesus Savior. Four hundred times it calls him Lord.
We will not receive Christ’s unmerited forgiveness if we persist in rejecting him as Lord of our whole lives. We must ‘work out’ our salvation through lifelong discipleship that pursues purity and justice (Phil. 2:12). The God who made us for community insists that a right relationship with God is inseparable from right relationships with our neighbors.”
- Ron Sider in Churches That Make A Difference: Reaching Your Community With Good News and Good Works
This morning our priest read this beautiful prayer from the Methodist Covenant Service.
I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
exalted for you or brought low for you;
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone.”
- Isaiah 9:1
Anna’s wedding day must have been a joyous occasion, a most important day in the life of a young Jewish woman. And she almost certainly would have married as a young teenager, according to the custom of her day. It was the hope of every Jewish maiden to marry and bear children. But Anna had been chosen by God for a unique purpose. Luke tells us that she was a prophet, gifted with special wisdom and insight. Did her husband realize what a treasure God had given him?
After only seven years of marriage, Anna’s husband died. Her world was torn apart. She was only in her twenties and already a widow. Anna could have become bitter and angry at God for allowing this tragedy in her life, but instead she let her suffering draw her closer to God. Believing in God’s special purpose for her life, she devoted herself to serving him.
For many decades, Anna lived in the Temple, spending her days in fasting and prayer. She lived in a time of great political upheaval and religious corruption, yet she faithfully interceded for her people, trusting in God’s promise of a Messiah. Throughout the year, Jewish families came to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and celebrate religious holidays. Year after year, they saw Anna serving in the Temple; she had been there as long as most people could remember and they admired her devotion.
By the time she reached eighty-four years old, Anna’s physical health had no doubt deteriorated, but her spiritual senses were keen and sharp. A lifetime of diligently seeking the Lord had made her uniquely sensitive to his leading. Anna was a woman devoted to prayer, not just talking to the Lord, but listening to his voice. Like Enoch and Elijah before her, Anna truly walked with God. That is why when a certain young couple came to the Temple to dedicate their infant son, she knew immediately that this was no ordinary child.
“People with power never think about it; people without power think about it all the time.” -Thomas Friedman, quoted by Brian McLaren
“Unwillingness to hear, listen, and connect is a serious form of sin.” -Todd Hunter
“Remember that when the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.” -Richard Twiss (Rosebud Lakota/Sioux)
“The practice of Christianity, done well, is both dangerous and magnetic.” -Diana Butler Bass
“We are the survivors of the American imperial holocaust.” -Richard Twiss
“To deny that we have privilege is an abuse of our power.” -Brian McLaren
I recently finished Sara Miles’ excellent new book Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion. Sara chronicles her surprising mid-life transformation from atheist to Christian and her calling to establish a food pantry in one of San Francisco’s most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Passionately committed to the unconditional welcome of Jesus’ Table, Sara and her food pantry volunteers embrace schizophrenics, drug addicts, little children, ex-cons, and sweet old ladies alike. One particular section of the book has really stuck with me:
So I’d sit down next to people and let them talk or cry; I’d listen and put my hands on them; at some point, I’d pray aloud, without really knowing where the words were coming from. It felt homey, not mysterious. But it usually made me cry too…
If my carefully calibrated difference from others wasn’t going to be the vitally important thing about me, then my identity was going to be bound up with all kinds of other people at their most vulnerable and unattractive…
It was my own weakness, my own confusion and hunger; it was everything I couldn’t be sophisticated and together about. Of course I was going to weep, and pray, with her.
These days I find myself deeply weary of war, both the “war on terror” and the “culture war.” The second stanza of this lovely hymn resonates in my soul.
Lead on, O King eternal,
Till sin’s fierce war shall cease,
And holiness shall whisper
The sweet amen of peace.
For not with swords’ loud clashing,
Nor roll of stirring drums;
With deeds of love and mercy
The heavenly kingdom comes.
“The great Western empire of today is perfectly happy to have Christianity deconstructed into some form of neoBuddhism or whatever. Whereas, if Jesus actually rose from the dead, then Caesar in the first century and today’s Caesars should be shivering in their shoes, because this is going to make a difference in the real world.”
- Bishop N.T. Wright, The Forum at Grace Cathedral
