Re-membering Paradise

This Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent,  we will be reading the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as recorded in the gospel of Luke.  Specifically, we will be considering the two thieves being crucified with Jesus -- the one on his right and the one on his left.  The one thief is as bitter and upset as anyone might be under the circumstances -- he derides Jesus, echoing the cries of the crowd, "If you are the son of God save yourself and us!  The second thief make a curious turn -- he tells the other thief -- "we deserve this, he doesn't" and then he turns to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."  Jesus responds to this, "Today, you are with me in Paradise."  I find this a very interesting conversation, happening at a very unexpected time.  

What strikes me most deeply is that the second thief remembered Paradise. He remembered that life is greater than it often seems.  For those thieves the situation could not have been more dire: death was hours away.  Yet, one thief saw into eternity, tasted directly the grace of God. His response to Jesus was "remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus responded to him with the obvious:  "Today you are with me in Paradise."  This is the basic fact of our lives: that no matter how we feel, whatever may be happening to us, we can open our hearts and minds to eternity. Tasting eternity we realize that Paul was right when he said in Romans, "nothing can separate us from the love of God." 

As we move into Lent we are asked to become aware of our lives.  Sometimes that means that we touch deeply the pain that life brings, the grief that is a part of our human experience.  In this we are reminded that no matter our experience we have an option to feeling sorry for ourselves: we can remember Paradise, remember that at root our deepest lives are defined by the Faith, Hope and Love that we experience in Christ.  

Wishing you a Blessed Lent, 

David 

Elijah in a Whirlwind, Elisha in Tears

This Sunday, 2 Kings 2:1-14 will be our scripture.  It is a remarkable scripture -- full of fire and light -- a pyrotechnical masterpiece as Elijah, accompanied by flaming chariot and incendiary horse, is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind   This is a passage meant for Hollywood.  Take a look at the story, you might agree.  However, I find a much more tender story here.  Once you get beyond the spectacular vision of it all, you have a simple story of a younger man, Elisha, as he hopes to deal with the death of his mentor, the great prophet, Elijah.  This dilema is something we all face as we face loss in our lives.  Remembering the death of my mother 5 years ago, I remember thinking, "What will become of me?  What will life be like now?  Who am I now?" These are questions similar to those faced by Elisha in the story. 

On Sunday we will look closely at this story as we contemplate the wonder of loss and its implications for our lives.  

Blessings, 

David 

Re-imagining Lent, Re-membering Paradise

 The flowers appear on the earth, 

The time of spinging has come,

And the voice of the turtledove,

Is heard in our land.

Song of Songs 4:12

 

For the last 1000 years, Christianity, as it has reflected on the life, death and resurrection of Christ, has directed its gaze upon the death of Jesus, and the redemptive quality of this death.  “By he is stripes we are healed.”  By his suffering we are healed.  Redemptive suffering, Jesus’ on our behalf is seen as our ticket to paradise -- a paradise far off in time and space, a paradise of there (heaven) and then (the future). 

It was not always so:  for the first 1000 years of Christian history, the gaze of the early church was fixed squarely on the resurrection of Jesus.  The resurrected Christ was seen as the one who has opened paradise once and for all, for eternity, as a present reality within which we all dwell. 

This Lent we re-member paradise.  Like a quilter taking the garments of the past to make a thing of present beauty, we will examine the stories of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, and our own experience as together we re-member or patch together our faith as dwellers in paradise, the promise fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus.

Our time during Lent, which begins on Feb. 25, will be a time for examining our lives and faith in the context of paradise, the here and now reality of what Jesus called the reign or kingdom of God.