Scripture readings for Sunday, April 3
Psalm 150
Acts 4:27-32
Revelation 1:1-8
John 20:19-31

“Grace to you and peace
   from Him Who is and Who was
       and Who is to come,
   and from the seven spirits
       who are before His throne,
   and from Jesus Christ,
       the faithful witness [martyr],
       the firstborn of the dead,
       the ruler of the kings of the earth.”
                                    Revelation 1: 4-5
Happy Easter!
We are through with the season of Lent until next year.  Now is what we call Eastertide (or just Easter) until the day of Pentecost, May 15th.  For the next seven weeks (including six Sundays) until Pentecost, we will be exploring what it means to say that Jesus is “risen from the dead.”
Easter time comes every year to remind us of God’s renewing work in the world.  At this time, we pause to take in the fact that God is able to bring new life where there was death.  Jesus is the “firstborn of the dead,” meaning that he has broken the pattern where ‘what dies is dead.’

In fact, Easter will be our theme all year long— because it is the central reality of our Christian faith.  The main way that we proclaim that “Jesus is alive!” is by living our lives with kindness toward our neighbors.  Overcoming our human tendencies to be fearful, self-centered, and hostile is a powerful witness (the Greek word is martyr) to our neighbors about the hope that we have.
John’s gospel says that Jesus’ disciples had locked themselves in a room after he was crucified because they were afraid that the same authorities who had killed Jesus would come after them next.  To their way of thinking, the worst thing that could happen was to be abused and killed by their enemies.  They focused their energy on surviving, protecting themselves.  Perhaps the disciples would even take up swords and fight their enemies, as Peter tried to do in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas and a crowd came to arrest Jesus.
They did not realize that, just beyond the walls of the city, Jesus was alive again and speaking with one of their group, Mary Magdalene!  (John 20:18)
 
On that Sunday morning, Jesus gave to Mary Magdalene the honor of being the first person to witness what a resurrected body— a body given a fresh, new creation by God— was.
Also on that first Easter morning, Jesus appointed Mary as his first “apostle” (from the Greek word for ‘one who is sent out’) to announce his resurrection.  Jesus sent Mary to explain to the other disciples the good news, that he was on his way up, not down!  “Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17)
Mary Magdalene obeyed Jesus by announcing the good news to them as he told her to do.  However, just like us, she could not force them to give up their fear and their self-centered attitudes.  Their doors stayed locked.
But then, that evening, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you,”  and he showed them the wounds to his body which had killed him.  Seeing Jesus alive, and hearing him speak the word of Peace to them, transformed the disciples’ attitudes from fear, self-centeredness and hostility to rejoicing  (John 20:20).
While it’s nice to worship and celebrate with a large congregation, we notice in the gospels that the risen Jesus spent significant time with only a dozen of his friends.  As he told his disciples on another occasion, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20)  They were such a small group, they could feel it when Jesus breathed on them (John 20:22).  So we mustn’t ever be discouraged if our numbers are not huge: with the inspiration of Jesus Christ, we can do whatever he asks us to do.
 
Have you experienced the risen Christ?
Do you have good news to demonstrate to your neighbors because he has replaced your natural fear, self-centeredness and hostility with rejoicing?
 
These coming weeks are a time to practice telling the story: how we have met the living Son of God.
 
God can enter the prisons where we are bound and set us free... free to share our confidence in God’s life-giving Way.
“Go... tell the people
the whole message about this life.”
- Acts 5:20

We use words in church that we almost never use anywhere else— unless we’ve spent a lifetime in church, and they just became part of our everyday talk.
Maybe something good happens, and you just lift your hands and face and say, “Hallelujah!”
Or, you agree with what somebody said, and you just say, “Amen”  (Hebrew for, “OK by me !”)
Our less-churchy friends may think we’re some kind of holy rollers, for uttering such weird old words, but people who frequent worship services at least sort of know what we’re talking about.
I hope the following list of churchy terms clears up the meaning of some of the things we say but don’t necessarily understand.  Most of these words came to English usage from other languages. 
Here’s a key:  
H= Hebrew / G= Greek / L= Latin / OE= Old English / F= French
 
Handy-Dandy Churchy Word List
From our Worship bulletin:
Prelude (F): Music played before the service.
Invocation: (L) “Calling-in”: we ask God to make His presence felt among us.
Introit (F): when the choir starts our worship.
Postlude: Music played after the service.
Scripture: (L) “writing”: for Christians,
                        words that come straight from the Bible.
hymn: (G) a song sung to God (rather than about God). 
                   Or, God’s words to us !
Lord: (OE) the boss, the one who’s in charge. When
         used toward God or Jesus, the ultimate Boss.
    Note: when it is capitalized like this— “LORD” –
it is substituting for the Name, “Yahweh.”  In Hebrew, “Yahweh” means something like “I WAS–I AM–I WILL BE.”  This is what God told Moses when Moses asked Him what His Name is; in the Ten Commandments, it is the Name that no one should “take in vain.”  
tithe: (OE) “10%” – of income or possessions
pastor (L): the “shepherd” of this flock, working for
          the Good Shepherd, God in Jesus Christ.
doxology: (G) “praise-words”:  We tell, in a song,  
                                how we feel about God.
anthem: (G) Literally, “a flower”: in practice, ‘a pretty, ornamental thing.’  
                     In a worship service, it’s a song presented as a special gift.
sermon: (L) “Better than a sleeping pill” (only half kidding!).
                  Actually, it originally meant “speech” or “conversation.”
                  What the preacher preaches.
benediction: (L) “good- saying”: a positive note to go out on:
                             the pastor blesses the people.
bless / blessing: (OE) to wish someone well,
                                     or pray that God will do good for them;
                                     the opposite of “curse.”
 
Related churchy words:
Hallelujah: (H) “Praise Yah!,” as in ‘Yahweh’ (see LORD, above).
                      The Greeks didn’t have a letter H,
                so in Latin and Greek they wrote “Alleluia” when they copied this.
Hosanna!: (H) “O Save (us)!” What people yell when the hero rides into                             town to rescue them from trouble.  
                      This is a good Palm Sunday word.
gospel: (OE) “God-talk” or “good talk”: it translates
                     the Greek word evangelion, meaning Good News.
Communion: (L) “in common”: what people share:
                   in the church: a ‘meal’ we have together as the Body of Christ,                        to remember Jesus—usually, a little bread and a little juice.
Redeemer: (L, OE) Someone who pays, so another can be set free from                                      jail or debt: in church, a title for Jesus.
redemption: the price which the redeemer pays.
salvation: (L) “getting rescued” from any bad situation— including hell.
Savior (L, OE): a title for Jesus Christ, who rescues us from eternal death.
Maundy (Thursday)(L, OE): from Latin, mandatum, “command”:
                                       Jesus said, “Eat this bread
                                       Drink this cup… Do this in remembrance of me.” 
                                       That’s an order, for all who love Jesus.
Good Friday: The day when Jesus was crucified.
          In human terms, it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Friday.             We can only call it “good” because of the amazing grace of God: 
           it’s GOOD for Jesus’ followers to remember
            how much God loves the world.
Passion (H,G): We use this term in church to refer to the suffering and                                     death of Jesus Christ. 
                        This is the time of the Jewish Passover,
                         which in Hebrew is Pesach, and in Greek,
                           the holiday we call Easter is Pascha.
Holy Week:  this week ! 
Worship, pray, and share your faith in fellowship, remembering the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

​This Thursday, March 17th is the Feast Day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.  Most folks in the U.S. know nothing about St. Patrick’s Day except that he was Irish, and if you don’t wear green you get pinched.
In truth, St. Patrick may be only a legend, not a real person, but his story offers us some colorful tips for living the Christian life.

This eight hundred year old illustration from a hand-written book shows St. Patrick meeting the High King of Ireland.  Instead of green, he is wearing a blue cassock.  “And yes, if it looks like Patrick is stabbing the king in the foot with his staff, that’s exactly what happened at their first meeting…. ‘According to tradition, St. Patrick later asked the king why he didn’t cry out when his foot was accidentally pierced.  The king replied that he thought being silent was a sign of Christian forbearance.’” http://huntingtonblogs.org/2013/03/wearin-o-the-blue/
Another legend of St. Patrick holds that he personally chased all snakes out of Ireland.  This story has a symbolic meaning: when Patrick converted Irish people to faith in Jesus Christ, the effect was to drive out the devil- the serpent.  Christ and his followers fulfill God’s curse on the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”  (Genesis 3:15)  
Perhaps the best lesson St. Patrick and the early Christian missionaries to Ireland teach us is to spread the good news of Jesus Christ through authentic, one-to-one friendships. 
According to legend, Irish raiders captured the teen-aged Patrick from his home in the Isle of Britain.  In Ireland, he slaved for cruel Irish masters.  It was during his time as a slave that Patrick began to be serious about his own Christian faith.  After seven years of slavery, he was able to escape and make his way back to Britain.  But his real adventure was just getting started: he felt God’s call on his life and became a priest.  Then he felt that God was calling him to return to Ireland— the same place where he had suffered as a slave— to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity.
By the grace of God, Patrick was able to forgive the people who had enslaved him and abused him: he came to see them as his brothers and sisters in God’s love.  Patrick and other early Christian missionaries to Ireland lived as friendly neighbors among the native Irish, daily demonstrating their faith through their kindness, honesty, and holy living… rather than ‘preaching at’ their audience.  Today’s formula for their approach goes something like this:  Make a friend; be a friend; lead your friend to Christ.  The missionaries’ ‘Celtic method of evangelism’ succeeded, and Ireland’s devotion to Jesus stood as a beacon of hope to the world throughout the “dark ages” of Europe, for hundreds of years afterward.
                              †                 †                 †
This coming Sunday is known as “Palm Sunday.”  One week before Easter each year, we remember how Jesus entered Jerusalem as people lined the streets, waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna!”  Give a thought to what “hosanna” means.  In ancient times of war and oppression, ordinary folks looked for a ‘strongman’ to rescue them: “hosanna !” means “save us !”  Just like many foolish people today, some of them imagined that a powerful leader would solve their problems.  Few, if any, saw that Jesus’ only power was from God, and that his victory lay beyond the cross.
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!  
Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”                     
                                                                                       (Luke 19:38)

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 13
Psalm 126
Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:1-13
John 12:1-8

Thus says the LORD, … 
         you have burdened Me with your sins;
         you have wearied Me with your iniquities.   (Isaiah 43:14, 24)

Don’t we hate it, when people bring up unpleasant things from our past ?
In my experience, when someone drags somebody else’s dirty laundry out into the sunshine, the owner of the dirty laundry will usually react in some of these ways:

> “That’s not my laundry !”
 
> “What were you doing in my laundry room !?!”
 
> “Hey !  I know about your dirty laundry,
          and I’m going to drag it out for everyone to see, too !”
 
> “I was just getting around to washing that !”
 
> “My old laundry has nothing to do with my current laundry:
           my current laundry is all clean.”
 
> “Somebody else soiled my laundry:
           they ought to wash it for me.”
 
> “I’m so ashamed of that old stuff:
            Please help me throw it away where nobody else will see it.”
[Ten years ago, I attended a church conference where one of the featured preachers said the following comical line: “Some of you knew me twenty-five years ago: for the sake of the kingdom of God, PLEASE don’t tell what you know !” ]
 
> “Do you think we could make some money
             if we went on TV or online with all this filthy laundry ?”
 
> “Everybody has dirty laundry !  Why make a big deal about mine ?”
 
> “I’m outta here !”
 
Even though we know that God knows everything we have ever done, we may still react in some of the above ways when our old sins come to light. 
Whether another person drags my dirty laundry into the sunshine, or whenever it occurs to me that God knows all about every shameful thing I have ever done, I am eternally thankful that God gives us a good way to deal with our human situation: forgiveness and a fresh start.
Thus says the LORD, …
“Do not remember the former things,
           or consider the things of old. 
I am about to do a new thing;
           now it springs forth,  
                     do you not perceive it ?”     (Isaiah 43:14; 18-19)
We must admit that worldly-minded people do not practice such forgiveness and fresh starts: they may not forgive us or give us another chance: if we are to live in the world of true forgiveness and real fresh starts, we will have to make up our minds, that the only life we really care about is our life in Christ.
As I studied this week’s gospel lesson (John 12:1-8), questions came to me which led me to ultimate matters of forgiveness and fresh starts.
† The four gospels include four stories of a woman anointing Jesus with precious ointment: did this happen three or four times with different women, or what ?  (Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; Luke 7:36-50; and John 12:1-8)  The four stories have many things in common with one another, but they also have points which differ. 
For nearly all of the past two thousand years, Christians have made a big deal out of the woman in the story: they latched onto the comment in Luke 7:37 that she was “a sinner.”  They spilled vast amounts of ink and put up enormous walls of stained glass portraying her as a repentant prostitute whose makeup was smeared with her tears.  They attached the name Mary Magdalene to her, borrowed from the next passage in Luke (8:3).  From the name Magdalene, they even coined a word for overly dramatic displays of emotion, which is still in use today: “maudlin.”  I believe that those Christians were totally wrong in all this.
Though I take the Bible very seriously, I am thankful that our salvation does not depend on understanding why these four Bible stories are so similar and yet so different from each other.  I am also thankful that our salvation does not depend on grasping the “dirt” in this woman’s story.  In spite of whatever dirty laundry she may have had, Jesus blessed her and gave her a good name to last for all time.  That’s what I want for myself.

† Matthew, Mark, and John present this story as a major trigger for Judas: following this incident, Judas soon went and made a deal to hand Jesus over to his enemies who wanted to kill him.  When the day comes and we “know fully, even as we are fully known,” I wonder whether we will meet Judas in glory, forgiven for his misunderstanding and other sins… as I myself hope to be.