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Prayer and Reflections for Holy Saturday

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Hymn text from the Holy Saturday Divine Office

Selection from Holy Week Message by Bishop Sue Harper Johnson, North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (3/28/2018)
I have found that each year I tend to focus on one aspect of Holy Week, usually one reflecting the current circumstances in my life. This year I have been fixated on Holy Saturday. Let’s face it, Holy Saturday doesn’t get much airtime in the Protestant church. No Easter vigils, baptisms, bonfires, etc. We tend to move quickly from the drama of Good Friday to the joy of Easter morning, and often use Saturday for Easter Egg hunts and children’s events.

I don’t think we are giving Holy Saturday its due. It is a day of silence and waiting, a day when the disciples must have contemplated the horror of the crucifixion, agonized over their fear and betrayal, and succumbed to the depths of despair. All must have seemed lost.

But while the disciples wandered around in a fog of despair, God was doing God’s finest work. Within the dark and silence of the tomb, God’s resurrection power was bringing life out of death. The tomb became a womb of new life and possibility. And Jesus, firstborn from the dead, laid aside his grave clothes and neatly folded up the cloth from his head. He then headed to hell to proclaim that death had been conquered. And that’s that. The mystery of the ages, the miracle of all miracles, completed in a Saturday.

Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience,
for to wait is often harder than to work. – Peter Marshall

Selection from Worship in the Light of the Cross by John Indermar
Holy Saturday awkwardly interrupts the church’s calendar. We read in Luke of the women who rest on this day in sabbath observance. But we find it hard to replicate their rest in our day.

The prior week’s preparations for palm processions, Passion Week cantatas, and/or seven last word recollections leave little time for decorating sanctuaries and making ready for Easter breakfasts and final practices of brass quartets for Sunday’s allelulias – not to mention eggs to dye and family banquets to prepare. So much to do on Saturday and so little time.

But Holy Saturday offers this advice to activist-bent individuals and congregations and denominations like my own: Don’t just do something, stand there. Sometimes, our busyness cocoons and insulates us from deep consideration of why we think our lives require constant motion. Busyness has often been a prescription for overcoming grief. Do this, do that, work your way out of it. But once the activity dies down, when exhaustion inevitably sets in, the questions and the pain remain, perhaps aggravated by delay in their contemplation.

The women in Luke [23:55-56] actively engage in the immediate aftermath of crucifixion. They follow to see where the body has been taken. They prepare spices and ointments for anointing the corpse. But instead of pressing ahead in a rush to get things done ASAP, they stop. They keep sabbath. In Luke’s terms, they rest. Luke’s word Heschazo carries dual meanings of “to keep quiet” and “to cease from labor.” The women keep Saturday’s vigil in stillness and quietness.

Reflection on Waiting by Henri J. M. Nouwen
To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according to God’s love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.

Prayer for Holy Saturday by Lisa Degrenia
Lord of the Sabbath, Lord of Hosts,
There are so many things we do not understand

Help us to trust you
even when the situation is desperate and out of control

Help us to follow you
even when the way unclear

Help us to wait and rest
even when every bit of us screams to act

Build in us a faith that perseveres
Even when we can’t see you
Or feel you near
Or understand

Your power and goodness are never diminished
Morning is coming

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Click Here for a video of an ancient homily for Holy Saturday, author unknown

Prayer for Holy Saturday © 2018 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
(by Lisa Degrenia, revlisad.com) Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Sermon Recording- Face to Face, The Thief and Jesus (Luke 23.32-43)

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thief on cross remember me paradise

Message: Face to Face, The Thief and Jesus
Scriptures: Luke 23:32-43
This message was offered Sunday, 3/18/18 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota Florida. It was inspired by the book Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire. No recording is available due to a technical error.

The opening illustration is sourced and adapted from an interview in The Guardian by Saeed Kamali Dehghan on Friday, April 25, 2014, entitled Iranian mother who spared her son’s killer: ‘Vengeance has left my heart’

In Iran, it is standard practice for families of murder victims to oversee the execution of the murderer. In May 2014, Samereh Alinejad watched as a noose was slipped around the neck of Balal Gheisari, her son Abdollah’s killer. This was her chance to have the vengeance she’d wanted for seven long years.

Iran’s Islamic penal code allows the victim’s heir – in this case, his parents – to personally execute the condemned man as retribution. By pushing away the chair Balal was standing on, Samereh would hang and kill him.

Seconds away from what could have been his final breath, Balal pleaded for his life and called out for mercy. “Please forgive,” he shouted, “if only for my mum and dad,” Samereh recalled. “I was angry, I shouted back how can I forgive, did you show mercy to my son’s mum and dad?”

Samereh clambered up on a stool and slapped Balal across the face.

“After that, I felt as if rage vanished within my heart. I felt as if the blood in my veins began to flow again,” she said. “I burst into tears and I called my husband and asked him to come up and remove the noose.” Balal now finishes serving his prison sentence.

Balal’s mother Kobra, sobbing, reached across the fence separating the crowd from the execution site. She embraced Samereh before reaching to kiss her feet – a gesture of respect and gratitude. “I didn’t allow her to do that, I took her arm and made her stand up … she was just a mother like me, after all.” The two later went to visit Abdollah’s grave.

One week after pardoning Balal, Samereh found a peace lost since her son’s death. “Losing a child is like losing a part of your body. All these years, I felt like a moving dead body,” she said. “But now, I feel very calm, I feel I’m at peace. I feel that vengeance has left my heart.”

Samereh remembers “We couldn’t sleep the night before the execution, we were all awake until morning. Until the last minute, I didn’t want to forgive. I had told my husband just two days before that I can’t forgive this man, but maybe there would be a possibility, but I couldn’t persuade myself to forgive… My husband said, look to God and let’s see what happens.”

Look to God and let’s see what happens

Luke 23:32-39  
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Jesus. 33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

Jesus is crucified between two criminals. The KJV calls them thieves. The word used in Matthew’s gospel refers to violent armed robbers. The word used in Luke’s gospel refers to one who does evil.

In Matthew’s account, both criminals mock Jesus. Luke’s account provides more detail. The leaders scoff, the soldiers mock, one of the criminals derides Jesus.

  • The leaders in verse 35- He saved others let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one
  • The soldiers in verse 37 – if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself
  • The criminal in verse 39- Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!

All three parties question Jesus’ identity. (If he is the Messiah, if you are the King of the Jews, are you not the Messiah?) Prove yourself Jesus with a display of great power. Jesus’ been hearing this demand from the beginning, starting with the devil in the wilderness. Jesus refuses the temptation yet again.

All three parties call for Jesus to save. (He saved others let him save himself, save yourself, save yourself and us) It’s an echo of the Palm Sunday “Hosannas”, which literally mean “Save Now!” Yes, Jesus will save. It is his mission. He has come to seek and save the lost. (Luke 19:10) He will do this not by saving himself, but by freely offering himself.

Luke 23:40-43
40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

What if Matthew and Luke are both giving us needed details. What if both criminals were mocking and deriding Jesus and then one changed. Why the change? Why the change from mocking Jesus to the heroism of defending him? Why the change from deriding Jesus to the self-aware humility of confession and asking for salvation?

Look to God and let’s see what happens. What did the second criminal see? In the midst of the pain, the brutality, the shouts, the death the criminal saw:

1. Jesus didn’t return hate for hate.
Jesus didn’t threaten. Jesus didn’t retaliate even though he had the right and power to do so.

2. Jesus forgiving
Verse 34 reports Jesus saying, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus was consistent in his life, in his message, in his mission. The Pharisees never accused Jesus of not practicing what he preached.

Matthew 5:43-45
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven

Matthew 9:11
Jesus said, “I desire mercy not sacrifice for I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

3. Jesus unjustly crucified
Could seeing the injustice open the criminal to seeing a greater spiritual truth- God in Jesus freely laying down his life to take upon himself the poison of the world’s sin? Could the criminal see the depth of God’s love and grace and determination to save the world?

What do you see? Look to God and let’s see what happens!
The criminal is rethinking his life in response to seeing the truth of who God is in Jesus’ words and actions. The same can be true for you.

You too can speak the words of the criminal, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” It is available for you. Jesus help me, deliver me from death, save me.

God remembering is God helping, delivering, and saving.

  • In Genesis 8, God remembers Noah and saves him from the flood
  • Genesis 19, God remembers Abraham and saves him and his nephew Lot
  • Exodus 2, God remembers the Hebrews and saves them from slavery in Egypt

Jesus remembers the criminal and Jesus will remember you. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Today you can be fully present to Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Today, every day, and on into eternity.

Look to God and let’s see what happens

  • Look to Jesus on the cross for you, for your loved ones, for your enemies, for the world
  • Look to Jesus on the cross. Look at the compassion in his eyes. Hear his voice of forgiveness.
  • Look to Jesus on the cross. Cry out, “Remember me, help me, deliver me, save me” and it will be heard and it will be so.

From Paradise Now by Steve Garnaas Holmes, adapted
Jesus, remember me.
Make me again a member of your realm.
Make me part of your healing of the world.
Remember me.
I surrender to your absolute love.
Remember me.
In your hope for the world, remember me.
Even in your suffering, remember me.
In your entering the pain of the world, remember me.
In your love, remember me.
Jesus, I bow in wonder at the expanse of your embrace
the breadth of your inclusion
the surprise of your grace

You seek and seek and seek
Including those I write off as beyond hope
the outcasts
the public sinners
the self-serving
those who collaborate with evil and oppression…

Why am I surprised?
You desire mercy not sacrifice
You are the Great Physician coming to those most in need of healing

Forgive me
Forgive me for forgetting who you are
Forgive me for forgetting my own sin
and isolation
and collaboration

Forgive me for judging
Forgive my self-righteousness
Forgive me for limiting you
when I am so desperately in need of you
I am one of “those most in need” as well
Create in me a clean heart and renew your Holy Spirit within me
Lord have mercy
Lord have mercy on us all

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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Sean and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or join us live on our Facebook page at 9am Sundays, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.

sermon © 2018 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Contact Lisa for posting and publication considerations.

Sermon Recording- Face to Face, Peter and Jesus (Luke 22, Job 1, James 1)

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Message: Face to Face, Peter and Jesus
Scriptures: Luke 22:31-34
This message was offered Sunday, 3/11/18 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota Florida. It was inspired by the book Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire

Simon Peter was The Rock long before Dwayne Johnson

  • Peter started the last supper strong and sturdy. Jesus starts talking about his death and to love as I love. Peter replies, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”
  • After the supper, when Judas and the mob of soldiers arrive in Gethsemane, Peter pulls his sword to defend Jesus. Did he make the first strike? Peter cuts off a slave’s ear. Jesus stops the fight, heals the slave, leaves with the soldiers under arrest.
  • When all the other disciples scatter, Peter and beloved disciple trail Jesus. Still solid as a rock.
  • But before dawn, Peter will crumble. Denial-Denial-Denial. Peter isn’t even able to stand up to the stares of a young servant girl.

What happened? Why do deeply faithful people blow it? Can you recover from it?

  • Sometimes we blow it because we make a self-centered choice, like Judas
  • Sometimes we aren’t prepared. We don’t have enough information. We don’t have the skills or connections we thought we did.
  • Sometimes we might be well prepared on a human level, but we aren’t spiritually prepared
    • In Mark 9:29, Jesus healed a child his disciples couldn’t. Jesus said to them, “This kind can come out only through prayer.”
    • Ephesians 6:12 say, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Sometimes we blow it because it’s the evil one at work

Luke 22:31-34. At the Last Supper, Jesus says to Simon Peter
31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33 And Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.”

Why did Peter blow it? One reason, Satan demanded to sift Peter like wheat. Satan demanded an extraordinary time of testing.

Look closely verse 31, Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat.

You ever felt this way? Life is crushing- health issues, strained relationships, financial stress, what’s safe now feels unsafe.

Satan made the same demand of Job in Job 1:9-12
9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”

God doesn’t bring the trial. God allows it. Satan demanded a crack at Job and now wants a crack at Peter. If he could break Peter, Peter the Rock, Peter the Gibraltar among the disciples, it would break the spirit of the movement.

Satan’s not going to repeat Job’s hell of losing everything- family, health, wealth, home, reputation. Satan chooses a different tactic for Peter- sift him like wheat.

3 Parts of Wheat
Straw = stock on which the heads of grain grow
Chaff = husk that holds the kernels
Wheat = Nutritious kernels themselves, the part you can eat

Get to that kernel, you have to sift it. That means 1. Threshing it and 2. Winnowing it

You can beat the heads of wheat with a stick. But for larger production you need

  • Threshing floor- a large, circular, flat, hard area to scatter the wheat.
  • Then an ox to pull a sledge- a large piece of wood (3×5 feet) with stones or iron spikes inserted into the bottom. This cuts and crushes and breaks the wheat all at the same time.
  • After that, the winnowing = using a large pitchfork or basket to throw the threshed grain into the air. The chaff will blow away and the good kernels fall to the floor.

Peter’s on the threshing floor

  • Do I grab a sword and fight? No, Jesus rebuked me for that in the garden.
  • Do I testify on his behalf? A lot of good that would do. I’m a fisherman and they’re influential, educated leaders.
  • Do I just watch and listen so I can rally the disciples in the morning?

Peter’s spotted and questioned again and again and again. The grinding of the sledge. Denial- Denial- Denial.

Peter hears the rooster crow. Peter turns his head and sees Jesus looking at him. Now it’s the winnowing. It’s all up in the air. Peter wants to catch everything that’s been flying out of his mouth and try again take a stand. It’s too late. He’s already falling.

The cutting, crushing, breaking, everything up in the air, the falling

It’s a time of extraordinary testing. We will face it, too. The good news is we can make our way through it and come out the other side stronger and better for it, just like Peter. How?

31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Seeing Peter fail and fall, the Savior utters no words.

  • No “I told you so.”
  • No shaking of the head in disappointment
  • No lowering of the head in disgust

Jesus’ look is sympathetic, compassionate. It is a look of one who knows what it’s like to fall under the threshing of Satan. Jesus has been there, too. For forty days in a barren wilderness. He knows how crushing it is, how hard, how painful, how ruthless the adversary.

Jesus also knows God works it for good, for victory. Jesus shares that victory with us.

Why do deeply faithful people blow it? Sometimes it’s the evil one at work. Can you recover from it? Yes, yes and yes. God doesn’t bring the trial. God allows it. God works it for good.

31 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

James 1:2-4
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

Quote by John R. Wimmer in his book Blessed Endurance
The rejoicing we find here is not a shallow, syrupy, or optimistic refusal to admit that problems exist; instead, it is the realistic recognition of struggle bolstered by the decision to rejoice in knowing that God is working to bring us through strife to greater spiritual depth. James proclaims that suffering may be considered as joy when the encounter produces the spiritual virtue of steadfastness. And steadfastness, when allowed to flower into fullness, produces the most attractive bloom of all qualities: Christian maturity.

Peter is a smaller man now, without the thick husk that once surrounded his life. He is broken and he is bare. The chaff and the straw have been blown away. The good, heavy wheat remains and is collected for use.

In the time of testing, Jesus will see us through. We will be stronger and better for it.  Hold on to hope.

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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Sean and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or join us live on our Facebook page at 9am Sundays, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.

sermon © 2018 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Contact Lisa for posting and publication considerations.

Sermon Recording- Face to Face, Judas and Jesus

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Message: Face to Face, Judas and Jesus
Scriptures:  Matthew 26:14-16
This message was offered Sunday, 3/04/18 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota Florida. It was inspired by the book Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire

Holy Week is so special, most of the days have a name

  • Palm Sunday- The day Jesus entered Jerusalem to shouts of “Hosanna” and a crowd waving palm branches (Matthew 21:1-11; Luke 19:29-44; Mark 11:1-11; John 12:12-19)
  • Fig Monday – The day Jesus cursed the fig tree for not bearing fruit (Matthew 21:18–22; Mark 11:12–14 and 11:20–25)
  • Tuesday is unnamed. It is the day Jesus turned over the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple, was confronted by the Jewish leadership, and witnessed the widow making her offering in the temple treasury
  • Maundy Thursday – The day Jesus gives a new commandment, a new mandate, a new mandatum. “Love one another just as I have loved you.” (John 13:34-35)
  • Good Friday- The goodness and love of God seen in the death of Jesus
  • Holy Saturday, sometimes Silent Saturday- Jesus is in the tomb
  • Easter Sunday- The resurrection of Christ

Wednesday is one of my favorites. Spy Wednesday, the day Judas betrays Jesus. (cue the James Bond music)

Matthew 26:14-16 NRSV
14 One of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

Jesus chose Judas to be one of his closest disciples- one of the twelve. They were together for three years, yet it seems Judas never placed his trust in Jesus. He never crossed the threshold of faith.

How could this be? All that time in the very presence of Jesus, all he heard, all he saw.
How could this be?

  1. He had no choice. Judas was predestined to betray Jesus. No, we believe in free will
  2. Judas was driven by his own agenda- driven by greed, driven by power
  3. Maybe it was something more subtle. Judas was just being practical.

Judas was the disciple with the head for business. Jesus put him in charge of the money. When the woman with the alabaster jar anointed Jesus with costly perfume, Judas complained about the extravagance. “You should have sold that perfume and given the money to the poor.”

Judas was being practical in thinking of himself. He often kept some of the money he was to watch for himself, so the extravagant gift was money out of his pocket

When the tide of popularity began to turn against Jesus, Judas started looking ahead, taking precautions to protect himself, socking away a little more money here and there. Just in case.

To Judas, he wasn’t being greedy, it wasn’t stealing, it wasn’t a betrayal. He was just being practical. “I’ve left everything. I’ve done so much. I earned that money. I need to take care of myself.”

Then Jesus starts confronting the religious leaders, people with influence, people with power. The leaders are like a huge pot of stew- bubbling with hate, jealousy, and paranoia. Judas gets wind of what’s cooking- the leaders are plotting to kill Jesus. Judas’ mind starts calculating- if they kill Jesus, they’ll come after his followers next.

To Judas, his shift in loyalties wasn’t a power grab, it wasn’t a betrayal. He was just being practical.  “If Jesus was determined to dig his own grave, I’ll just help him with the shovel. He’s asking for it. It’s inevitable. I need to look out for myself. There’s no dishonor in jumping from a sinking ship. And the thirty pieces of silver? Well, that’s just a life preserver, a little something to keep me afloat until I land somewhere.”

So on Spy Wednesday, Judas makes the deal with the Jewish leaders

Now it’s Thursday, time to celebrate the Passover

A time to look back-back to the nation’s deliverance from four hundred years of Egyptian slavery. A time to look forward— forward to the time when the Messiah will bring peace, freedom, and salvation.

Jesus and the disciples gathered around a low-lying table to celebrate the feast. They recline on padded mats, propping themselves on the left arm, leaving the other free to handle the food.

Each type of food reminds them of the nation’s first Passover.

  • The bowl of herbs, vinegar, and salt is a reminder of the bitter years of slavery
  • The flat cakes of yeast-less bread are a reminder of their hurried departure
  • And finally, there is the roasted lamb, a symbol of deliverance.

What broke Pharaoh’s oppressive fist that first Passover was a final, climactic plague—
a visit from the angel of death to kill every firstborn son. To spare the Jews from that fate, God instructed them to kill a lamb and sprinkle its blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes outside their homes. When the angel of death saw this evidence of faith, it passed over that house and traveled on to another.

Tonight, heaven will be preparing its Passover Lamb- an innocent lamb, without spot or blemish. Jesus’ blood will mark a wooden cross outside the city. A perfect, once for all sacrifice. All Jerusalem will behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

What God in Jesus was choosing to do was anything but practical

Earlier in the upper room, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, teaching them a final lesson about love and serving. Two of those feet belonged to Judas. Dusty and calloused. How could Judas bear it? How could Jesus? What Jesus was choosing to do was anything but practical.

Jesus has so much to tell his disciples. But so little time. A hush falls over the room as he speaks, “He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.”

Many things have been said against Jesus. Never once did But the Pharisees accused him of not practicing what he preached. In these last minutes with his betrayer, the Savior lives his own words from the Sermon on the Mount,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

It is anything but practical

Now it is time for Jesus to unmask his betrayer. “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.”

At the mention of a traitor in their midst, the disciples begin to ask, “Is it I?”

“It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.”

It was customary for the master of the feast to put bits of lamb onto a piece of unleavened bread, dip it into the bitter herb sauce, and hand it to his guests. And it was customary to offer the first piece to the most honored guest. Jesus hands the bread to Judas . . . to take . . . and to eat. Jesus honors Judas. Jesus offers bread to lips whose kiss would betray him. It is anything but practical.

The dramatic moment is not only an unmasking of the traitor but a final offer of salvation. Does Judas feel regret? Does he question his choice? There’s still time to choose another path, but he doesn’t.

“What you are about to do, do quickly.”

With those words, Jesus acknowledges Judas’ choice. They would both go their separate ways to separate trees.

Judas makes the practical choice.
The choice Jesus makes is anything but practical.
What choice will you make?

*****************
I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Sean and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or join us live on our Facebook page at 9am Sundays, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.

sermon © 2018 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Contact Lisa for posting and publication considerations.

Palm Sunday Sermon, Jesus the King (Luke 19, Zechariah 9)

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Palm Sunday by William Hemmerling

Message: Jesus, The King
Scriptures: Luke 19:29-44
This message was offered Palm Sunday, 3/25/18 at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota Florida.

Jesus enters Jerusalem a king
King Solomon entered Jerusalem the same way when he claimed his father’s throne. King David’s throne. The prophecy of the promised Messiah-King was well known

Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he

Jesus enters Jerusalem a King
He’d been offered a crown before but now he was finally accepting it.

  • The devil offered Jesus a crown 3 years earlier if he’d bow down and worship. Jesus refused to worship anyone but the Lord God his Father
  • Jesus taught and fed a crowd of over 5000. They wanted to crown him king on the spot. Jesus withdrew to a mountain by himself instead. It wasn’t time.
  • Now it’s time. His crown will be a crown of thorns.

Jesus enters Jerusalem a King
Not on a proud Arabian stallion. Not on a mighty, Roman war chariot, but on a donkey, a young donkey, a colt. An animal so small it had never been ridden. An animal so small it probably struggled up the hill to Jerusalem under his weight, so small Jesus’ legs were probably dangling, almost touching the ground, laughable.

Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus enters Jerusalem a King on a donkey, a colt, and it’s borrowed.

  • He borrowed the donkey like he borrowed a boy’s lunch to feed the 5000
  • Like he borrowed the boat so he could preach to the pressing crowd by the sea of Galilee
  • Like he’ll borrow an upper room to have the last supper and borrow a grave for his dead, tortured body
  • Even in death, Jesus has no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:20)

Jesus enters Jerusalem a King
King of Kings, Lord of Lords and the king of vulnerability, the ruler of humility, the monarch of meekness. Meekness is not a doormat. Neither is humility. It is power under authority.

Through Jesus, all things came into being. He is the Word of God spoken in Creation. (John 1) Yet he laid aside his infinite power placing it under the authority of the Father to be one of us, one with us, so we could be one with him.

Jesus enters Jerusalem a King
A weeping king. These are not quiet tears. Luke describes it as convulsive sobbing. Jesus knows what’s coming-

  • The blessings and praise turning to cursing and “Crucify Him!”
  • The waving hands turning into fists of punishment
  • The cloaks on the road turning to grave clothes on his corpse

Jesus is a weeping king
He doesn’t weep for himself. He weeps for Jerusalem. He weeps for us.

Jerusalem will be destroyed in less than 40 years and so many other cities down through time. He sees the

  • Starvation- people resorting to eating their leather belts and sandals
  • People taken into slavery
  • Bloodshed and tortured cries at the hands of oppressors
  • People barely escaping to a new land

Jesus is a weeping king because so many do not recognize their time of visitation from God. Instead of running to Jesus, rejoicing with palms, shouting with excitement like little children…

  • They complain about the disruption
  • They label Jesus dangerous, a pretender
  • They cling to their earthly power and position

Jesus enters Jerusalem a King
He also enters this place, this moment. How will you welcome him?

  • With cursing or a confession of faith
  • With contempt or excitement and rejoicing
  • By crucifying him by clinging to your earthly power and position
  • or by rejoicing and welcoming him, by crowning him King of your heart

Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Palm Sunday Prayer by Lisa Degrenia
Blessed Are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe.
In Jesus, you rule and reign,
Not as a tyrant, but as a humble servant
Riding on a borrowed donkey
Washing feet
Suffering from injustice

Open our hearts with this truth
Take your throne

Open our lips with shouts of praise
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!

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I’m excited to now offer mp3’s of my Sunday messages. A huge thank you to Sean and my brothers and sisters at Trinity United Methodist Church, Sarasota for all their help in making this possible. If you’re ever in Sarasota, please drop by for worship Sundays at 9am or 10:30am, or join us live on our Facebook page at 9am Sundays, or drop by during the week for a chat or small group. You and those you love are always welcome.

sermon © 2017 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Contact Lisa for posting and publication considerations.

Soft and Steadfast, a prayer based on Hebrews 3:7-14

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Hebrews 3:7-14, The Voice

Merciful One, soften my heart

Save me from hardheartedness
From evil and deceit
From mutiny and unbelief

Turn and return me
From wandering away
From petrifying slowly

Make my heart pure
Open to you
Wanting what you want

Make my heart true
Confident in you
Holding fast

Make my heart noble
Quick to listen
Rejoicing in your direction

Jesus
Heart of my heart
Keep me soft and steadfast in your nail scarred hands

Extended quote by John R. Wimmer, Blessed Endurance
The words joy rejoice as they appear in James and First Peter do not mean what they seem at first glance. The rejoicing we find here is not a shallow, syrupy, or optimistic refusal to admit that problems exist; instead, it is the realistic recognition of struggle bolstered by the decision to rejoice in knowing that God is working to bring us through strife to greater spiritual depth. Yes, it may be tough if not impossible to rejoice when suffering, but such joy will not take the form of emotional jubilance or elation.

James proclaims that suffering may be considered as joy when the encounter produces the spiritual virtue of steadfastness. And steadfastness, when allowed to flower into fullness, produces the most attractive bloom of all qualities: Christian maturity.

Authentic Christian maturity, then, is a steadfastness that we attain not by denial. It is a quality that, like any other kind of maturity, accrues with age, hard work, and a lot of bruising experience. It is the ability to redirect our thoughts beyond immediate woes in order to realize the spiritual growth that results from tests of faith.

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Prayer: Soft and Steadfast © 2017 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please contact Lisa for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Quotes: Deny Yourself

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Quotefancy-217426-3840x2160Matthew 16:24-26, Mark 8:34-37, and Luke 9:23-25 (NRSV)
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

Self-denial is not a mask for self-contempt, but the necessary means for achieving self-mastery; for self-mastery makes possible our self-giving and self-fulfillment. Sin is not wanting too much, but settling for too little. It’s settling for self-gratification rather than self-fulfillment. -Scott Hahn

You will soon be asked to let go of some part of your false self, which you foolishly thought was permanent, important, and essential! You know God is doing this in you and with you when you can somehow smile and trust that what you lost was something you did not need anyway. In fact, it got in the way of what was real. – Richard Rohr 

Follow me. One of the most compelling sentences in the Bible. Two words, when spoken by Jesus, create a sense of power and mystery and awe. To follow is to enter into the unknown, to give your life over to another. We rarely want to do this. Yet at the same time it is exactly what we desire: to be led into a better place, a better world, a better life. – Daniel Wolpert, Leading a Life with God

Following Jesus does not mean imitating Jesus, copying his way of doing things. If we imitate someone, we are not developing an intimate relationship with that person. Instead, following Jesus means to give our own unique form, our own unique incarnation, to God’s love. To follow Jesus means to live our lives as authentically as he lived his. It means to give away our ego and follow the God of love as Jesus shows us how to do it. – Henri J. M. Nouwen, A Spirituality of Homecoming

The point of following Jesus isn’t simply so that we can be sure of going to a better place than this after we die. Our future beyond death is extremely important, but the nature of the Christian hope is such that it plays back into the present life.
~ N. T. Wright, Simply Christian

Lord, spare me from my wishes, that I may be free for you.
Spare me from my little self, that I may be my divine self.
Spare me from my life, that, dying, I may become yours.
– Excerpt of a prayer entitled Spare Me by Steve Garnaas-Holmes. For more on the ideas of denying our “little self”, ego, and false-self click over to another reflection by Steve Garnaas-Holmes entitled Deny Yourself. 

“Denying yourself” in its Jewish context means resting in the righteousness of Jesus and denying yourself of the righteousness that comes from performance of the law.
– Simon Yap, What is the meaning of “denying yourself”? 

Yap invites us to consider Leviticus 16:29; Numbers 29:7; Leviticus 23:32; Leviticus 23:27; Leviticus 16:31.

What we are all searching for is Someone to surrender to, something we can prefer to life itself. Well here is the wonderful surprise: God is the only one we can surrender to without losing ourselves! The irony is that we actually find ourselves, but now in a whole new and much larger field of meaning. – Richard Rohr

In the spiritual life, the word ‘discipline’ means ‘the effort to create some space in which God can act’. Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you’re not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied… to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planned or counted on. -Henri Nouwen

Extended Quote from Steve Garnaas Holmes
To deny yourself is not to punish yourself, or to take on misery. It’s not to live in denial, to turn your back on who you are, but the opposite. We falsely see ourselves as finite, discreet individuals, separate from the world, in danger at any moment of disappearing back into the abyss. It’s not the real truth, but an image of our “self” that the ego uses to manage our consciousness. And we believe it. We spend our lives—mostly unconsciously— protecting that little “self,” and in particular its power, security and esteem. (Hence Jesus’ temptations in the desert.) It’s what St. Paul calls “the flesh.” He doesn’t mean our body; he means something even smaller, contained within our body, limited by our fears and appetites.

But we aren’t such little “selves.” We are part of something infinite. By the life of Holy Spirit in us we are members of the infinite Body of God, who dwells in us and we in God. We are sustained not by our own protection of our little lives but by the life-giving fountain of grace welling up within us to eternal life, flowing with perfect, infinite compassion.

To “deny ourselves” is to deny whatever fears keep us from loving fully. It is let go of our self-centeredness, to say no the illusion, to transcend our ego, to abandon our little skull-caged, death-leashed bit of fear and desire and instead become the infinitely alive and loving children of God we truly are. As those who embody God’s love we give of our lives for love; we are not afraid even of death, because we trust that with love and grace God overabundantly renews life in us. So we follow Jesus out of our selves and into infinite life: without fear we take up our cross, practice compassionate self-giving and join Jesus in loving the world into its newness. You are love; you are Beloved. Deny anything less, and love without limit.

Extended Quote from Nadia Bolz-Weber
Sermon on Losing Your Life and How Jesus Isn’t Your Magical Puppy
This saying of Jesus that we are to deny the self and lose our life to gain it has been abused and perverted. Perverted into messages like “If you want to be a follower of Jesus you must deny your Queerness, pick up your cross of heterosexuality and follow him.” Or “deny your dignity and pick up your cross of continued domestic abuse and follow him.” Or “deny your experience and pick up your cross of trusting religious authorities to tell you what to believe.”

I wanted to convince you that when Jesus says deny yourself, that maybe it’s really denying the self that wants to see itself as separate from God and others. Deny the self that believes that spirituality is a suffering avoidance program. Deny the self that does not feel worthy of God’s love. Deny the self that thinks it is more worthy of God’s love than it’s enemy is. Deny the self that thinks it can do itself. Deny the self that is turned in on the self.

Because I really want you to know that dying to that false self no matter how painful, will bring you real life.

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Click here for another incredibly honest and faithful sermon on the “deny yourself, take up your cross” passage by Nadia Bolz-Weber, entitled “A Sermon on Addiction and the Problem with our Me-based Solutions.”

Click here for a reflection on how denying yourself intersects with social justice by Steve Garnaas Holmes.

For quotes on “taking up your cross”, click here

For more information on the scripture translation, art and the use of this post in other settings, please leave a comment