Mark 10:46-52

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.”

The Bible is filled with miracles like this one. Jesus makes the lame walk, and the deaf hear. God parts the Red Sea and turns water into blood. He causes frogs to fall from the sky. Skeptics say these miracles are scientifically impossible.

God made the world, so surely He has the power to create miracles. Each little baby who is born is evidence of a miracle. The story in the Bible is told by many people, and heard by even more. In its telling and in its hearing it is subject to individual interpretation by many. Aren’t there other things equally mysterious that we don’t question, the contents of the universe, the depths of human kindness, our hearts full of love? How do we measure these? Is it necessary to do so in order to know they are real?

We don’t need to understand how these miracles happened; what we need to think about is what they mean in our lives. God listens to every one of us. He will stand by us through good times and bad, but He expects us to do our part in the healing. He has power over the big miracles, but the little ones are up to us.

Holy One, help us to see your legacy of daily miracles in our lives: the cardinal who comes to my empty feeder, full of hope; the whisper of wind that sometimes feels like a kiss on my cheek; the dog that lies on my lap in surrender, with love in her eyes. Your touch is everywhere, your miracles real. Amen.

~Marcia

Psalm 133

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity” (133:1).

How simple that is! Sometimes we get caught up in all the complexities of our lives and make things more complicated and tangled up than they need to be. I keep coming back to this passage for a number of reasons. For one, it reminds me of another basic Biblical admonition, “love one another.” Simple, right? No ambiguity. “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” Yes, it is pleasant! There has been strife and war in the world since before the Bible was written down. People very likely read this passage and nod their heads in agreement: “yup, it sure would be nice to have that unity I read about in the Bible.” And then they go right back to strife, war, and tumult among nations. Peace is better. Unity is better. Love is better. Let’s keep it simple: love one another, and live in unity. How good and pleasant that is!

Lord, hear our prayers and bring peace to all nations. Amen.

~Ellie G.

Mark 10:1-16

Jesus was a radical. In this passage, both the Pharisees and the disciples test Jesus. At first the Pharisees confront Jesus asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Jesus turns the question back at them asking, “What did Moses command you?” They allege that Moses permitted this possibly as a special case. The query prompts Jesus to explain that a man shall leave his mother and father (and his village/tribe/ethnicity) and be joined to his wife. The man must accept his wife completely; they become one. Jesus sums the matter up saying, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

Consider this, if a man does not stay married to his wife and she to him, forsaking birth family and tribe, then perhaps this is a union created by humans. How many human unions are based on a need for togetherness, lust, politics, or convenience? Such unions are announced in the presence of God but are not of God. A union truly created by God, must not, perhaps cannot, be sundered. Sound radical?

The next two verses are just as radical as the disciples challenge Jesus on the same matter and he says, “whosoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her. (Note that he says “against her” and not “against God.”) This is not consistent with the customs of that time which allowed a husband to take more than one wife. The text becomes even more radical as Jesus continues, “and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” A husband divorcing his wife is controversial in the eyes of both Pharisees and disciples. A wife divorcing her husband is unthinkable and they do not even ask about it. But Jesus, radical in approach, treats man and woman alike and assigns responsibilities to each partner in a relationship..

After this exchange, Mark reports (v. 13) that “they” brought young children to Jesus that he should touch them. The disciples rebuked those that brought them (creating a parallel to the Pharisees who like the disciples saw themselves as the guardians of propriety), but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whosoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Perhaps this too is radical, too. Consider it!

Lord, as this day begins, let me be mindful of the way Jesus saw both men and women, each with rights and responsibilities toward the other. Let me see and respect the unions God has made and let me approach all with the love, curiosity, and openness of a small child—that I may see You more clearly. Amen.

~Ellie H.

  John 11:1-45

It doesn’t happen just once. It doesn’t happen just once, this miracle we are preparing for at the end of the 40 days of Lent. It doesn’t happen just once, God coming and turning death into life.

The prophet Ezekiel tells us how God’s breath causes life to rise from a valley of dry bones. The prophet Isaiah writes about a new branch rising from the stump of Jesse. And the writer of the Gospel of John teaches us that Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from death after four days in the tomb. It doesn’t happen just once, God coming and turning death into life.

Now I will admit that this last story, this story of Lazarus, is a hard one. It’s hard, because Jesus does what so many of us have wished we could do. When he is the one grieving, when he weeps at his friend’s graveside, Jesus reverses the irreversible. He cries, “Lazarus, come out!” And Lazarus lives; Lazarus rises from the grave. Who among us has not longed to do this, to bring our beloved ones back to life? Who among us does not long for one more conversation, for one more embrace?

But we can’t do what Jesus did. As I mentioned several weeks ago, we almost never play the role of Jesus in these gospel stories. And besides that, it is in the natural way of things that life is limited, that bodies die and return to the earth. It is in the natural way of things that souls return to the heart of God. We cannot prevent it, and God does not prevent it, even when it happens much too soon, or much too sadly. No, it happens, and we weep by the side of the grave, and Jesus weeps with us.

Is it strange to say, then, that I trust that this odd story is somehow true? I trust that it is true, because I believe in the possibility of resurrection, which is not only for Easter Day, but for every day of the year; not only for Jesus, but scattered throughout our scriptures. Have you, too, experienced how God’s breath, God’s voice, God’s touch, can turn dryness and division and despair into strange and beautiful joy? Have you, too, come to trust in the miracle of resurrection, if only for a moment?

But let’s return to this strange story. There is something at the end I want to talk about. Because when Jesus calls out, and Lazarus emerges, Lazarus is not yet fully ready to join the living. His hands and feet are still bound with strips of cloth. And Jesus says to the crowd, “Unbind him, and let him go.” And the crowd comes forward to free Lazarus from these binding cloths that prevent him from fully entering into his new life.

Here is a place in the story where I can find myself, and this community. Because although we have not been in the grave today, we are bound as surely as Lazarus. We are bound by what the scriptures call the way of death. We are bound by fear, and false desire; by anger, and envy; by greed, and pride, and despair. We are bound; and here is the good news. The good news is that healing this kind of problem; liberating us from this kind of restraint; this is what Jesus does every day, for all of us. By his command, and with the help of all who follow him, we are freed from the ways of death, to discover a life of abundance and delight.

When we gathered on Sunday, I invited everyone to hold a strip of cotton cloth, and think of something that binds them. What in our heart, in our spirits, keeps us from the full life that God calls us to? Then as we were willing and comfortable, we bound ourselves with the cloth.  We imagined what it would be like for us if our bonds were broken, or even loosened.  We imaged Jesus helping us to loosen and break every bond within us, as he is.  And then we removed our bindings and connected ourselves to one another, instead.

What is binding you? Can you feel God and your community working to unbind you?

God, loosen and break every bond in us that keeps us from hope, from joy, from life.
Tie us instead to you, and to one another, one magnificent breathing body of love.
Amen.

Psalms 121-123

I grew up in the age of Simon and Garfunkel. One of my very favorite songs of theirs is “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Although I can’t imagine that the song has Christian origins, it is a song of comfort and support when times are tough. “When you’re weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all. I’m on your side, when times get rough …”

Psalm 121 reflects the same feelings of comfort and support in hard times, “My help will come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth … The Lord will guard you, he is by your side to protect you” (vv. 2, 5). Although the association here is supposed to be the Israeli oppression and escape from Egypt, how many times in our lives have we felt beaten down, oppressed by circumstances, and in need of comfort? This is our assurance of God’s vigilance and protection in all times of our life. As Simon and Garfunkel say, “If you need a friend, I’m sailing right behind.”

Psalms 122 and 123 tell us how to seek a relationship with the Lord. “I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the Lord’s house” (122:1). In this case it is Jerusalem, which to people of that time was the ultimate center of worship in a city of strength and importance. We are not really alone in our troubled waters when we can seek our Protector in our house of worship, as our church is a symbol of God’s strength.

Psalm 123:1 gives us our prayer:
“Lord, I look up to you, up to heaven, where you rule. As a servant depends on his master, as a maid depends on her mistress, so we will keep looking to you, O Lord our God, until you have mercy on us.” Amen.

~Barbara G.

Mark 9:33-41

“Then John said to him, ‘Master, we saw somebody driving out evil spirits in your name, and we stopped him, for he is not one who follows us.’ But Jesus replied: ‘You must not stop him. No one who exerts such power in my name would readily say anything against me. For the man who is not against us is on our side.’”

The writer of the gospel does not explain Jesus’ reasoning, but I immediately struggled and began to reflect upon the meaning of forgiveness, tolerance and love for one another. I thought about Our Lord’s Prayer: “forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I wonder about the meaning of forgiveness and the fact that Christians read the Gospels and read the Lord’s Prayer many times. It appears that the words of Jesus, even those who claim that by faith we will be saved, did not prevent many wars and the death of millions. So, forgiveness, love and tolerance must be always in our innermost hearts. Let us all unite in prayer to be always aware of the true meaning of this passage of Mark’s gospel.

~Edmond

Ezekiel 37:1-14

“Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people … I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil” (vv. 12-14).

Most of us have heard this story before. The Prophet Ezekiel stands in a valley full of dry bones and God asks him, “Mortal, can these bones live?” Ezekiel replies, “O Lord God, you know.” But Ezekiel’s uncertainty gives way to action as he speaks the words that God gives to him. Ezekiel prophesies, and as he prophesies, sinews, flesh, and skin come over the bones, and breath fills the lungs of the people. A mass grave becomes a living multitude through the power of God.

This story must have been powerful for its original audience: Israelites in exile in Babylon. Their culture, their religion, their homeland, and their lives were all in danger. Their future looked hopeless, like a valley of dry bones. But Ezekiel spoke to them of God’s promise of renewal and return. Many years later, followers of Jesus must have remembered this sacred text as they began to trust that Jesus had found new life.

Have you ever had a dry time, in which all hope seems gone? Have you travelled to a valley of bones with someone that you love? Has your heart been broken by reports of the suffering of strangers? God promises us, more than once, that this is not the end of the story. Even dry bones can live.

God, we call to you from the grave. Pour your spirit on us, and help us live.
Put your spirit within us, and help us hope. Amen.

~Hannah

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

“If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing … And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love.”

I rejoiced when I saw this reading for April 5 because it is such an eloquent expression of the essence of the Christian faith. What it means to be a Christian is to live your life with love, love of neighbors and enemies, as well as self.

If only the whole world could live by this mantra what a wonderful place it would be: without wars over religion or territory; without persecution of people of color, gender, religious preference; without laws that favor one group to the exclusion of others. Ah yes, but we humans are all the product of millions of years of evolutionary adaptation for survival by competing, hunting, and fighting with enemies to protect territory and relationships. The Christian faith is truly a difficult one to live up to, but as a familiar saying goes, “it only takes one person to change the world,” and we must all strive to do our part to contribute to changing the world by living as Jesus taught us.

Oh God, you know how hard it is to live our lives totally with love. Give us the will to improve the way we live our lives and to more fully follow your Son day by day. Amen.

~Tom R.

1 Corinthians 12:27

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

In the past year I’ve had the good fortune to visit two cultures foreign to my familiar Christian upbringing. In May I toured Turkey and witnessed over 3,000 years of history, including the Greco-Roman oracle at Didyma. In Istanbul I heard the mesmerizing Muslim call to prayer four times a day. Then in June I went to my nephew’s wedding to an Indian Sikh woman, and participated in the colorful ceremonies and wore a salwar kameez and then a sari at the festivities. How rich it was to be exposed to such diverse religious traditions.

But it made me wonder whether my allegiance to Christianity was warranted. How could it make sense that the Muslims were devoted to their prophet Muhammad, and that the Sikhs were devoted to their single Formless God? How could I be sure that Christ is the “right” answer if other people came up with a different answer to who their savior is?

After wrestling with these questions, I came to this answer. Instead of doubting Christ’s place in my heart, I feel energized by it. I am confident that His messages are trustworthy and truthful. I feel that He is part of a much bigger universe of knowledge and understanding that is still to be revealed to us. There’s a lot of mystery, a lot that is unknown, but that’s fine with me. Because, to paraphrase the scripture, I am a part of the body of Christ. And it’s great to belong.

Gracious God, thank you for the rich diversity you have brought to our Earth. Please give us the wisdom to appreciate and celebrate both our similarities and our differences. Amen.

~Maureen

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ … the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor.”

In this passage, Paul is using the human body as a metaphor for the church. When I read the passage, it struck me in a very physical, biological way.

If we extrapolate to our own bodies, I’m sure everyone can come up with an example of a “weak” or “less honorable” part. We can easily identify with an illness or an injury that led to a state of misery or an attitude or situation that made us unhappy. Just as I do my best to take care of myself, I typically fall short of my expectations. So our church and the wider church can also come up short of expectation. The church is, after all, a body with many parts.

What does the church gain from the weak and less honorable parts? The gifts of service, humility, acceptance and forgiveness; a reminder that we can’t easily remove from the church body a person, problem, or idea that we find disagreeable or challenging. If we do, the body will have to compensate somehow.

To extend the metaphor, this doesn’t give the church a free pass on all behaviors, ideologies and wrong-doing. Prayerful, thoughtful medicine and procedures are sometimes required for overall health and longevity.

Thinking of the church in this visceral sense was an interesting exercise and made me find a more personal empathy toward our congregation and the wider church. Just as I need to work on being forgiving of my body and personal intentions, I need to be forgiving of the church. It is an organic chimera of individuals that all have a place in the body, each contributing to the whole.

~Rhonney