Seven whole days

I had been meaning to put some stuff on my blog, but today brought special incentive. I was preaching at St. Edmund’s, San Marino, CA, and during the announcements, the most excellent rector, the Rev’d George Woodward, gave my blog a shout out. I thought maybe I should put some fresh content here. Don’t want new eyeballs to see all the cobwebs!

Alas, the top item in my blog hopper is some sundries related to Twitter. Not quite my usual fodder, which is church geekery mixed with humor/snark. On the other hand, I do post the occasional article on technology and social media, so without further delay…

A couple of weeks ago, I gave a pair of workshops on Twitter for the Episcopal Communicators conference. I promised — er, two weeks ago — to post a list of resources that I mentioned in my talk. So, if you are Twittery, this will be useful. If not, please stand by. Something else will be along soon.

First off, some current demographic data on social media: there are big differences among various social media related to male/female, urban/rural, and racial/ethnic background. Based on your intended audience, choose your platform(s) carefully. Know your audience, and provide appropriate content on the appropriate channel. Here’s some data from February 2013 from the Pew Research Center. This been nicely summarized into a lovely infographic by Media Bistro. Here’s some relatively recent info on number of users per platform with supporting links.

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A sermon preached at Christ Church, New Haven, CT on Easter Day 2013.

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.

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It would be easy to pick on the various people in the Gospels who have trouble believing in the Resurrection of Jesus. But the truth is, I have a lot of sympathy with their reaction. The scriptures use gentle words like “perplexed” to describe the reaction of the women who entered the tomb and found it empty. I can assure you, if that had been me, “perplexed” is not the word that would describe my reaction.

In the next verse following today’s Gospel reading, the disciples dismiss the witnesses of the Resurrection, because they think the Resurrection is an “idle tale.” After all, everyone knows that’s not how the world is supposed to work.

Easter has an uphill battle in our world. Not only do we have skeptics, but we have the attempts of consumer culture to take over Easter. Plenty of preachers will, this morning, be lamenting the commercialization of Easter, but I don’t mind that too much. For one thing, I love the candy. Anyone who was in the sacristy last night will have seen me dive for the jelly beans after we celebrated Easter at the Great Vigil.

But I also suspect that in stores everywhere across the country, little children ask their parents about the bunnies, the jelly beans, and the eggs, and there is an opportunity tell a tiny part of the Good News of Jesus Christ, even in Walgreens’ aisle #4.
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A sermon preached at Christ Church, New Haven, CT at the Great Vigil of Easter 2013.

The angel said, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said.”

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There is a reason our celebration on this most holy night begins before the alleluias. We begin in darkness and bless the new fire to call to mind how God brought light into the world, both at the moment of creation and in Jesus Christ. The Paschal Candle reminds us of the pillar of flame that led God’s people, and which leads us. It recalls for us the Light of Christ, the light which fills the world.

Tonight we told the history of salvation to remember how God has relentlessly loved us throughout history, again and again seeking our salvation. It’s astounding, really, how God has never given up on us, though we never quite succeed in living how we are meant to live.

Take, for example, the deliverance of the ancient Israelites. God provides for them again and again, and still they complain about how things used to be. Once they escape Pharaoh initially, they see the advancing army, and offer one of the most poetic and ridiculous complaints in history: “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” This is perhaps one of the earliest known examples of snark. It’s just the sort of thing they would have would have tweeted, if Twitter had been invented a few thousand years earlier.

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A sermon preached at Christ Church, New Haven, CT on Good Friday 2013.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (Heb. 10:14)

A few months ago, it was my great joy to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Without a doubt, the high point of my time in Jerusalem was a night spent in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It turns out that, most nights, a few pilgrims are allowed to stay overnight in this most sacred place. On the night I spent in what was once viewed as the center of the world, there were just eight pilgrims in the building, alone. We had the place to ourselves.

For some of the night, I wandered through the building with my camera, getting some photos that you simply can’t take during the day when the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is overrun by busloads of tourists. Mostly though, I spent the night praying, reading, meditating, and just savoring the silence of the place.

My first stop was to visit the Tomb of Christ — the place where tradition says Jesus was buried and then raised from the dead. During the day, you’re lucky to get 30 seconds inside the Tomb. I spent almost an hour there, in which I read one of the Gospels to myself by candlelight in this most sacred place.

When I finished, I realized I wanted to back up a bit, as it were. So I walked over to the spot tradition says Jesus was crucified and died. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it is almost impossible to separate Christ’s death and resurrection. They are close physically, ritually, and theologically.

If you have been to Calvary Chapel there, you’ll be able to picture it. There’s an Altar over the spot where it is believed our Lord’s cross was placed at his death. On either side of the Altar, glass panels reveal ancient outcroppings of stone, the top of the spot we know as Golgotha. It is stunning.

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A sermon preached at Christ Church, New Haven, CT on Maundy Thursday 2013.

This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. (Ex 12:11)

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As we dive deeply into the great mystery and awe of these Three Holy Days, we begin with a reminder of how it all started. For the precursor of this night includes not just a final meal among friends in a room in old Jerusalem, but a hastily eaten meal in ancient Egypt. The biblical chronology varies, of course, so whether or not the Last Supper is a Passover meal depends on which account you read. In any case, the association between these three days and on our forebearers’ exodus cannot be missed.

By the time Exodus was written, the Hebrew word pesach was so well known it required no explanation. It meant not just “passing over” as we often think today, but something even more ancient, “compassion.” This is not only the passover of the Lord, but the compassion of the Lord. The deliverance of God’s people comes by way of God’s compassion for them.

What captivates me about this association is the commandment to eat in haste. To be ready to move. The image gets me because, at first glance, it seems to foreign to what we are doing here tonight. These liturgies are lengthy, complicated affairs. Before we gathered here tonight, diagrams were drawn, manuals were written, and rehearsals were held.

But there is a way in which what we are doing has everything to do with the commandment to eat in haste. Imagine, if you will, the scene for those in ancient Egypt. Knowing as they do, that they are about to be rescued and delivered, knowing that something wonderful but also perhaps terrifying is around the corner, knowing all this — they eat a meal. God tells them what to eat, how to cook it, and makes sure they are ready for their deliverance.

Eating this way, in haste, is not like a thoughtless fast food meal. Quite the opposite. To eat a feast as if one is on the move is to take nothing for granted. It is to eat every bit with purpose, savoring every taste. This is how we are meant to gather tonight. We are to do everything here with purpose, with intention, savoring every sight, word, smell, touch, and taste. We are on the move, spiritually if not physically.
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A couple of days ago, Palm Sunday, I preached at Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati. A few people asked me about my sermon text, which I didn’t have, since I preached without notes. As best I can remember, this is what I said.

Also, up through Palm Sunday, I had been putting a scripture, an image, and a prayer here every day. I’m not doing that in Holy Week, obviously. If you like that sort of thing, head over to the most excellent blog of Penny Nash, which you should be following in any case. Anyway, my sermon is below.

When the Centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly, this man was innocent.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On a spring day some 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem, two processions entered the city.* From the east comes a haphazard procession of people who believe the world can be different. They are carrying branches, and their leader rides a donkey. It’s a protest of sorts. It’s a procession of hope. From the west comes a Roman army, marching with weapons and armor. It’s a procession of fear. When these two processions collide, events spin out of control, and the Passion we remember is the result.

Each of the four Gospels tells the Passion story in a slightly different way. St. Luke takes great care to point out that Jesus was innocent. While other Gospels have the centurion saying Jesus is the Son of God, it is Luke who puts the word “innocent” into the centurion’s mouth. In Luke’s version, Pilate does every possible thing to get Jesus out of condemnation, but events are out of control.

Luke is also the only Gospel which tells us that the sun was darkened as Jesus died. For Luke, the Passion — this collision — has cosmic significance. The Passion is the result of a cosmic collision between hope and fear. The Cross reminds us this collision. Over twenty centuries, we Christians have gotten in wrong much of the time.

Too often, we reduce the Cross to a bumper sticker. “Jesus died for our sins.” “With the Cross, the debt of sin is paid.” These are merely caricatures, and like good caricatures, they are true but show only a partial and distorted picture. We have to know more of the complexity of the Cross to understand it.

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From the morning readings of the daily office: “Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he.”

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From the gospel for the daily office: “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”

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From the evening psalm for the daily office: “Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

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From the morning psalms for the daily office: “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness; let your faithful people sing with joy.”

Photo: The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, at evensong during the Lambeth Conference in 2008. Today we give thanks for the ministry of the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as he is enthroned, as well as all his predecessors. Photo by yours truly.

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From the gospel reading in the daily office lections: “I am the good shepherd… And I lay down my life for the sheep.”

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From the gospel of the daily office for the Feast of St. Joseph: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

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