SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR
Sunday, April 30
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
Acts 2:14, 36-41
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35


In the season of Eastertide, we always read the story of the walk to Emmaus, which is found only in Luke’s gospel.  It features this exchange:
“Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem,
and have not known
the things that have taken place there in these days ?”
[ which may also be translated, ]
“Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know
the things that have taken place there in these days ?”
 
And he said, “What things ?” 
- Luke 24:18-19
Do you like irony ?
The classic modern story of irony is O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.”  You may remember how the poor brother and sister wanted very badly to give each other special Christmas gifts, but had no money.  The sister cut off and sold her beautiful long hair to buy him a fine watch chain for his precious watch; he sold his watch to be able to buy her fancy things for her long hair.  Irony.
Luke the Evangelist has a rich sense of irony as he tells the story of the resurrected Jesus appearing on Easter Sunday afternoon on the road to a village called Emmaus.  Two people who had followed Jesus in his ministry were walking there from Jerusalem, discussing Jesus’ final week in the city, his condemnation, and his death on the cross.
When ‘someone’ began to walk with them and questioned them about their grief, they responded as if he were ‘out of the loop.’  I want to highlight the word which is translated, “stranger” in verse 18: it is paroikeis, meaning ‘from a nearby house— not from this house.’  In the New Testament, it is used of visitors and sojourners, neighbors and foreigners who live ‘among us,’ but are not ‘from here.’
Myself being from ‘somewhere else,’ I can appreciate this distinction.  When someone who has lived ‘around here’ all her life asks me, “You’re not from around here, are you ?,” and gives me a funny look, I realize I must have done or said something she took as strange ! 
Clopas, who asked that question on the road to Emmaus, had no idea how ironic it was, on so many levels.
First, it was Jesus who was being asked if he knew what happened to Jesus.
Second, Clopas addressed the person walking with them as a visitor...  but Jesus was the Son of the God of Israel— the same one who had asked Mary and Joseph (when he was about age twelve), “Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?”— that is, the Temple of God in Jerusalem (see Luke 2:49).  So, Jesus was actually a hometown boy from Jerusalem, not a visitor !
Third, risen from the dead as he was, Jesus knew everything on earth and in heaven.  Asking him if he knew what had been going on was super silly.
And there are many more ironies in this story.
Our lives are filled with irony, if we attune ourselves to recognize it.  We have to admit that we can see ourselves in a story Jesus told, of the man who harvested such a great crop, he planned to build bigger barns to secure his wealth for the future— but then God informed him that he would die that night (Luke 12:15-21).  Irony.
We may enjoy life more fully if we appreciate that we are all merely ‘strangers’ here.  Our reading this week from 1 Peter 1 urges us to “live in reverent fear during your time of exile...” (the word translated “exile,” paroikias, has the same root as the word Clopas used, that afternoon on the road to Emmaus when he thought the “stranger” must be from somewhere else).  I don’t believe that Peter’s original readers were literally “in exile” any more than we are.  Rather, we feel that way.
We can rejoice in the midst of life’s ironies because we are “ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [ ] our ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ....”   1 Peter 1:17-19
If we truly follow Jesus, then we, too are sojourners, strangers, as Jesus was. 
And the sooner our hearts get “strangely warmed” as those early followers’ hearts were (Luke 24:32), the sooner we can stop being the butt of irony and begin to appreciate it.
Return, O my soul (life) to your rest,
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
                                            - Psalm 116:7

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR 
Sunday, April 23
Psalm 16
Acts 2:14, 22-32
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31

It was great to have so many friends and family in Bethel’s Worship services yesterday.  The 6:30 AM service was attended by about half as many folks as usually come to the eleven o’clock Worship on regular Sundays, and then the eleven o’clock service held a lot more folks than usual !
This phenomenon is common in churches all around our land, and a variety of reasons might explain it.  We might guess that, if one only goes to church services only a few times a year, it would make sense to pick Easter and Christmas, since that’s when the Sanctuary is most beautifully decorated.  Also at Christmas and Easter, sometimes special events happen, such as having a musical performance instead of a sermon— although we in the choir were not able to get that together, this year— please pray for our choir members to get well and stay well !  On top of those reasons, with these holidays, there are family gatherings with special meals, making it more attractive to stick together with the family than on some “ordinary” Sundays.
On Easter Sunday, the church starts up its annual cycle of proclaiming that Jesus Christ is alive.
Our United Church of Christ’s Statement of Faith puts it this way:  “In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, [God] has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to Himself.”
In other words, someone who was killed almost two thousand years ago did not remain dead, but instead went on to develop his relationship with “the world.”  And, through the church, God is reaching out to all the world with this good news:  “He seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.”
Some of the benefits of joining in a serious, committed relationship with this Savior include the following:  “He promises to all who trust Him forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, His presence in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in His kingdom which has no end.” 
Awesome benefits package, eh?
So, why is it likely that our church, like most other churches in our land, is likely to return to “normal” attendance in the coming weeks ? 
Now, we hope that some of the folks who came to Bethel on Easter Sunday have other churches that they faithfully attend, other weeks.
Or, perhaps that, having been inspired by the good news and friendly greetings and hospitality they received here, they will begin to attend Bethel faithfully as their church-home.
But I am afraid it is more likely that, for many, worshiping God in Christ in a church gathering will continue to be reserved for ‘special occasions.’ 
The Gospel According to John says that the resurrected Jesus appeared to a group of his disciples on the evening of the first Easter.  However, John says, the one called Thomas was not with them, and so he didn’t get to see Jesus first-hand.  The other disciples, who had seen Jesus powerfully alive, failed to convince Thomas that Jesus had truly come back to them: Thomas wanted to see Jesus for himself, or else he would not believe.
                                               (John 20:19-29)
Maybe the folks for whom worshiping God in Christ among the gathered church is not a top priority… have not seen Jesus Christ alive with us.
 
Is there a way we could show them, something we could do to convince them that the One Who “calls the worlds into being, creates man in His own image and sets before him the ways of life and death”  is truly, personally present in our Worship?  Could we learn how to show them SomeOne Who they could personally experience, and reverently cry out, “My Lord and my God!”   ?
Over the coming six Sundays of the Easter season, I hope to rehearse with you some of the ways that we as a gathering of disciples might convince people that that SomeOne is here in our midst.
 
When the Risen Christ came back to his disciples, he gave them his Holy Spirit to not only comfort them, but to inspire them and empower them to be his body, wherever they may be.  Well, here we are.
 
For a community of Christians to fail to represent the Risen Christ convincingly would be tragic... as if the first apostles had not only lost Judas, but Thomas, too....
 
I keep the LORD always before me;
     because He is at my right hand,
          I shall not be moved.   
​                    -Psalm 16:8

SCRIPTURE READINGS
 
FOR MAUNDY THURSDAY, April 13
Exodus 12:1-14
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17 31-35
 
FOR GOOD FRIDAY, April 14
Isaiah 52:13- 53:12
Psalm 22
Hebrews 4:14-16,
5:7-9, 10:16-25
John 18 - 19
 
FOR EASTER SUNDAY, April 16
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Jeremiah 31:1-6
Acts 10:34-43
Colossians 3:1-4
Matthew 28:1-10
John 20:1-18

This week defines the Christian faith.
We worship and serve the God Who lived among us humans, the God Who loves the very people who abuse Him and kill Him. 
We worship and serve the God Who then raised Jesus from the dead, and we live in hope of being raised with Jesus.
It is useless to “explain” our God and our connection to Him except by telling and re-telling the stories of what Jesus did in this Holy Week.
On Palm Sunday, we tell how Jesus entered Jerusalem, fully aware that he will die there, this week.  Yes, the crowds treated him like a hero or a celebrity that day... but we tell this Palm Sunday story with mixed feelings, knowing that sometimes we put Jesus on a pedestal, but many times we put him on the cross.
On Thursday, we tell how Jesus gathered his disciples for their final meal together before his death.  During that meal, which we call The Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist (“Thanks!”), Holy Communion, and other special names, Jesus used words to teach his followers... but, perhaps more powerfully than words can say, he gave them the bread to remember his body and the cup of wine to remember his blood.
Some congregations have the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, nearly every time they meet for worship.  Others, like our Bethel, set aside special dates to practice the Eucharist.  This week, Thursday evening supper at Bethel will serve as a re-enactment of that meal two thousand years ago in Jerusalem.  It is food telling a story.  The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 
​                                  1 Corinthians 11:23 – 25

We remember that, during that Last Supper, Jesus' disciple Judas Iscariot left to betray Jesus.
So then, on Friday, we remember how Judas led the authorities to where Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane; how Jesus’ disciples ran away and denied knowing him; how the authorities arrested Jesus and put him on trial; and how the crowds cried out for Jesus to be crucified.  Some of you heard this story told on Sunday, in the latter part of our worship service.  We call it “the Passion,” which means suffering.
So, then, why do we call this Friday “Good Friday”? 
It certainly wasn’t a good Friday for Jesus.
In fact, it’s rather selfish for us to say that it’s a Good Friday— because it is we, mere human sinners, who benefit from the Passion of Jesus Christ the Son of God.  We might say that Jesus’ goodness to us turns his worst Friday into our Good Friday.
Perhaps this thousand-year-old poem ascribed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux expresses it best:
 
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered,
Was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior !
’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
 
What language shall I borrow,
To thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this, Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end ?
Oh ! make me Thine forever,
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love to Thee.

(O Sacred Head, Now Wounded)

Or, as Psalm 116 says,
What shall I return to the LORD
          for all His bounty to me?
I will offer to You a thanksgiving sacrifice
          and call on the name of the LORD.
Praise the LORD !            (verses 12, 17, 19)
 
The gospels tell us that Jesus was dead from Friday until Sunday morning.  That is when we Christians gather, on Easter Sunday, to re-tell the Resurrection story, how God raised Jesus from the dead.      
Come, be a part of God’s grand story !

Scriptures for Sunday, April 9, 2017:
The Palms:
Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29
Matthew 21:1-11
 
The Passion:
Psalm 31:9-16
Isaiah 50:4-9
Matthew 26:14 – 27:66
John 18:1 – 19:42
Within the Body of Christ are many persons who bring diverse voices.
Over these past several Sundays in worship at Bethel, as in churches around the world which use the Revised Common Lectionary, our gospel readings have been lengthy passages from John: the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus, the conversation between Jesus and the “woman at the well” in Samaria, the episode involving the man who was born blind, and, most recently, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from death.
Each of those stories is unique to the gospel according to St. John. 
Each of those stories is a goldmine of wonderful verses that we like to single out to memorize:
“You must be born again....”
“For God so loved the world....” 
“The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
“I was blind but now I see....”
“I am the resurrection and the life....”

Yes, I appreciate the value of a short, pithy verse.
But without its context, without its distinctive setting, a lone verse loses important meanings.  Each of the famous quotes above comes rooted in conversations about who Jesus is relative to the ancient Jewish faith, to sub-groups of the Jews such as the Pharisees, to gentiles, and to the ethnic group called Samaritans.
Two examples: “You must be born again” is a response to the Jewish notion of being blood-descendants of Father Abraham.  A major part of what Jesus was trying to convey was that Jews must surrender their interest in their natural, human pedigree in favor of the spiritual birth into the Holy Spirit.  Likewise, when we see, “For God so loved the world,” we are to understand that God’s love and the call to follow Jesus is for every kind of people, far beyond just Hebrews whose ancestors wandered the wilderness with Moses.
So that’s my brief explanation of why we have heard such lengthy gospel lessons in recent weeks.  I pray that you will be blessed this Sunday as we follow the entire Passion according to St. John.  If you go ahead and read it yourself, in advance, it might have an effect similar to reading the novel just before you see the movie.  It’s worth a try.
 
Have you ever noticed how much space the Passion story takes up, in each of the gospel books ?  The apostles must have believed that it was very important to bequeath to us all of those peculiar details.  You might try reading the St. Matthew Passion and also the St. John Passion, noting the similarities and differences.

Our Elkton community Lenten series wrapped up this past Sunday evening at Holy Infant Catholic Church with another wonderful meal and continued great fellowship, followed by a program of Scripture, music, and preaching. 
If you haven’t experienced the Catholic “folk Mass” style of worship music as their delightful guitarist-songleader Ellie Cox practices it, you have missed a really beautiful thing. 
Father Michael Mugomba’s thoughtful reflection on “sacrifice,” given in his rich Ugandan accent, he graciously provided in a written copy for everyone to take home.  He told the sad and poignant story of the girls’-school dormitory in Uganda that burned, killing many of the girls, and of brave eleven-year-old Betty, who kept going back into the building and bringing out other girls before she herself died.  “Betty was laid to rest as a hero.”  “Sacrifice leads to death or giving up life in order to attain new and abundant life.  This is what Jesus maintains: “I solemnly assure you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat.  But when it dies, it produces much fruit.” (John 12:24)  The entire Suffering, Passion, and Death of Jesus lead to the Resurrection-Victory and the cause of the Easter joy.”
Palm Sunday is upon us, which we observe at Bethel along with the Passion of Christ.  I hope you will all come out and take part together in the sacred conclusion to this time called Lent.
Be gracious to me, O LORD,
      for I am in distress;
    my eye wastes away from grief,
      my soul and body also.
I trust in You, O LORD;
      I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in Your hand;
      deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let Your face shine upon Your servant;
      save me in Your steadfast love.
Psalm 31:9, 14 – 16

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 2 
Psalm 130
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45

[Jesus] said to the disciples,
“Let us go to Judea again.”
The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Judeans were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”....
Thomas, who was called The Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” -John 11:7-8, 16

You have probably heard the popular country song that advises us to “live like you were dyin’.”  Heard against the background of our society, where people seem to be either scrambling to survive or drugging themselves to escape their fears and troubles, the song brings an inspiring message.
The disciples in John 11 seem to be following that same daredevil impulse: “If we’re gonna go, we may as well go out with a thrill!”
But when we look at Jesus at this point in John’s gospel, we see that he was not going back to Judea as a daredevil.  Rather, he was going with powerful confidence that he held the very keys of death and hell.  He went back to Judea to give life back to a dead man, Lazarus, and shortly afterward to allow himself to be killed by the authorities.  He walked into the whole situation perfectly aware of death, yet focused beyond death, on his Father’s power to give life even to the dead.
Ezekiel 37 deals with the same issues.  The prophet was responsible for speaking God’s good news about the gift of life to Israel.  But, Israel in exile was as dead and scattered as a bunch of dried-up bones lying on the ground.  The LORD asked the prophet, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel was sharp enough to not answer Yes or No, but instead, “You know, O LORD.”  The LORD then showed Ezekiel in a vision that He is the Creator of human bodies, and the One who puts breath in us.
 
While a student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary in 2008, we had a visit from Lynn Miller.  The talk he gave in our chapel worship service was called, “Resurrection Economics.”  Based mostly on Acts 4, but also on Luke 16, Miller pointed out that Jesus, and later, the Apostles, handled money and possessions as if they were looking past this life altogether.  Live like you were dyin’, indeed. 
In Luke 16, Jesus tells the story of a crooked manager who schemes to line up his next job, even as he is being fired for embezzling from the boss in his current job.  Jesus sarcastically “praises” this crook who saved his financial life by cooking the books.
Lynn Miller called our attention to the ‘punch line’ of this joke, Luke 16:11, where Jesus concludes, “You cannot serve God AND Mammon.” Mammon is the idol we worship when we are tied up in knots about our finances.  Either we serve God or we bow down to what we think will save our pocketbooks from ruin.  One or the other; not both.
Miller remarked that most people he knows are more afraid of financial death than of their bodies’ deaths.
Reading Acts chapter 4, Miller suggested that we try taking the commas and periods out of this passage— they are not in the original Greek text anyway.  When we do, we read this:
“Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions but everything they owned was held in common  with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all there was not a needy person among them for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet and it was distributed to each as any had need”            (Acts 4:32-35).

You can see in this mixture of thoughts that the Apostles’ practice of sharing was well-blended with God’s grace: their focus was on Jesus who had overcome death itself, so they weren’t sweating the small stuff.

Living with Jesus is not “liv[in’] like you were dyin’” It is livin’ like you trust the good news that God will raise you, even from the dead.
​
“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
                 and in His word I hope....”       -Psalm 130:5

                                                                                          ... really ?