in the Palm Procession we do not have a lamb being led to the slaughter, some  pre-programmed robotic Jesus, a puppet figure on cruise control – No! we have a living, inviting and humble Jesus who chooses to make one final offer of grace and reconciliation to the people and powers of Jerusalem. Yes, it is an offer they reject but not because they are scripted by God to do so, but because for them the cost of becoming a compassionate and inclusive community under a servant king is far greater than perpetuating a system of scapegoating, shame and blame religion, unfortunately the marks of contemporary Christianity.

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I found it interesting how considering a jar of ointment can cause me to question just how I value the things of this world.  I admit I was shocked to realize that in Jesus day there was a market for an item worth a years wages and that one of Jesus’ followers had made such a purchase. I was pleased that Mary wasn’t all that extravagant in its use. In spite of his proclaimed character flaws I felt a strange unity with Judas about the wisdom of such an investment.  Like Lazarus, Judas and Mary we each make choices in how we use the resources at our disposal, our choices, most likely, won’t be remembered for a couple thousand years – but they each have consequences on our integrity and our testimony.  

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Unfortunately for us poor preachers, the authors of the Lectionary have given us Luke 13: 1-9,  a passage with two distinct and according to most scholars, unrelated messages, the last half of this passage is not meant to clarify the first part. I’m not quite convinced. we will take up the first part first.

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Ours is an age of fear and anxiety.  Who will do us in, the terrorists, the politicians, or the bankers?  We are assaulted every day with the message that “somethings gonna’ gitcha if you don’t watch out”.   Is it all going to fall apart?  Adrienne Rich, in one of his poems writes that it only takes a bit of ice on a road or a few cells dividing out of control to steal away our loved ones.  We’ve become so accustomed to the daily litany of what might destroy us that we’ve haven’t noticed how that fearfulness changes the patterns of our lives. 

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The Devil once came dejected before God and wailed, “Almighty God – I want you to know that I am bored – bored to tears! I go around doing nothing all day long.  There isn’t a stitch of work for me to do!”  “I can’t understand,” God replied.  “There’s plenty of work to be done only you’ve got to take more initiative.  Why don’t you try to lead people into sin?  That’s your job!” “Lead people into sin!” Muttered the Devil contemptuously. “Why Lord, even before I get a chance to say a blessed word to anyone they have already gone and sinned!”

We often think of temptations as doing bad things, things from the second half of the Ten Commandments, like stealing, lying, committing adultery.  These were not the kind of temptations Jesus faced in today’s reading.

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The Devil once came dejected before God and wailed, “Almighty God – I want you to know that I am bored – bored to tears! I go around doing nothing all day long.  There isn’t a stitch of work for me to do!”  “I can’t understand,” God replied.  “There’s plenty of work to be done only you’ve got to take more initiative.  Why don’t you try to lead people into sin?  That’s your job!” “Lead people into sin!” Muttered the Devil contemptuously. “Why Lord, even before I get a change to say a blessed word to anyone they have already gone and sinned!”

We often think of temptations as doing bad things, things from the second half of the Ten Commandments, like stealing, lying, committing adultery.  These were not the kind of temptations Jesus faced in today’s reading.

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Wow – Elder’s Retreat, President’s Day, Chinese New Year, the beginning of Lent and Valentines Day – all coming together.  It is mind boggling and particularly difficult to find a place to wade in for our time of worship this week. On Wednesday I thought I had prepared for today, only to learn that what I was writing was the March newsletter article.

I had begun reading the book the downstairs class has chosen, Eternal Life: A New Vision – I’ve a long appreciation for John Shelby Spong’s willingness to challenge the faddism and religiosity that American cultural Christianity has become – another of his books is Why Christianity Must Change or Die. On a website Paul Anderson suggested, primarily because they gave his book on the Gospel of John a plug, I read a piece on clergy addiction to pornography. I next read a personally insightful piece on neurosis.  How was I to know that it was all about getting me ready for this message?

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“Prayers are helpful,” A. J. Jacobs offers.  “They remind me that the food didn’t spontaneously generate in my fridge.  They make me feel more connected, more grateful, more grounded, more aware of my place in this complicated hummus cycle.  They remind me to taste the hummus instead of shoveling it into my maw likes it’s a nutrition pill.  And they remind me that I’m lucky to have food at all.  Basically, they help me get outside of my self-obsessed cranium.” 

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The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks “What is the chief end of man?”  The answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”   Something about that is unsatisfying to my mind.  Our chief end is to glorify and enjoy God?  I wonder how God thinks about what is the chief end of the human element of creation?   Were we writing a Catechism for family life would we start with the question: What is the chief end of children?  And provide the answer: “The chief end of children is to glorify their parents and enjoy them forever?” or “To improve a family’s standard of living and provide security for aging parents” ? I’ve always considered God as beyond either wanting, much less needing, our praise. It seems vain and childish.  And for us to think that God is so vain and childish as to create us for no other purpose than to give God glory seems not only a bit short sighted on our part but maybe a bit narcissistic, with an exaggerated sense of our importance in God’s economy.

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Connecting the missionary enterprise and the desire for Christian unity is not an easy one for everyone to make. It was for practical reasons that the need for Christian unity was first raised by missionaries.  Often it was simply the need to avoid wasteful and unnecessary competition in the face of enormous human and material need. Lands to be evangelized were shared and occasionally attempts were made to go further than having activities run parallel and collaboration began to occur on some common projects. One example is where Missionaries from different denominations  combined their resources to undertake a new translation of the Bible. Such cooperation inevitably led to reflections on the divisions between Christians.

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