On the Third day

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Darkness surrounds me; it’s too dark. 

I know it is dawn, for ever since I could remember, I’ve opened my eyes at first light to watch the horizon turn color as the sun rose and burned away the mists over the village.  At this moment, I remember one morning in particular – waking in my mother’s arms and listening to her heartbeat as she continued to sleep, though I grew restless and wanted to be free of her embrace, to go out and play in the stream, to watch the cattle and chase the hens.  I would think it a blessing to hear her voice now, to be caught in that embrace.  I relax and pull images from my memory, piecing together our house and shop, hearing the sounds of morning.  It doesn’t help, for suddenly I am afraid, and it is so very dark.

I feel… strangely – something does not belong, does not fit. 

I feel as if I’m suffocating. 

Something is caught around my nose and mouth, choking me.  There is a glazing over my eyes – I see, but I do not see, everything is in a fog.  My hands feel cold; I can’t move my feet.  I remember, and yet I do not.  The comforting images from home are replaced with more disturbing things.  I see people, and hear their voices; I see the streets crowded with people, soldiers.  There is heaviness and lightness.  My heart beats frantically with every breath I try to take, and I see… things.  They are those I do not wish to see, but I see them nevertheless.

I remember now.

It is the third day.

“Thank you, Father!”

The words of the prophets came to me in that moment; the dampness of tears soaks the shroud.  “So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul!”

It is with difficulty I unwind the shroud; it is like peeling an apple — the linen bands spiral and weave as they slide onto the bier.

Sitting up, I reach for the cloth someone has left on the ground and I wrap myself in it, for suddenly I am cold and shivering.

A pale light slides under a crack in the opening of this place.  Jumping down, my feet ache a bit and I notice the wounds.  Looking at the marks, I remember all of it now.  As I reach out to find the opening in the place, I notice the ragged sore on my right hand.   How the dim light shines through it!  In my mind’s eye, I see the soldier’s face as he plies hammer and nail.  For a moment, I feel sick and am near to fainting.

“Hear O, Israel!  The Lord is your God!”

I summon strength from the Father and push away the stone blocking the entrance to Joseph’s tomb.  The daylight startles me and I stagger a bit, shielding my eyes.  It is only a moment until I can focus and look upon the garden.  Someone had started to till the soil, for a rake leans against the tomb and new plants are set out in neat rows, waiting.  In time, they would yield much fruit.

My presence does not startle the laborers in the garden; they merely turn and nod a good morning.  They expect me; they are the Father’s messengers.  One of them offers a smile, and I remember his face from my childhood – a serene look with dark eyes that were merry, knowing.  I take in a long breath of good morning air tinged with earth and flower scent, and look about again, running a hand along my arm, just to be sure.

A tunic dangles from the handle of the rake, and I take the garment and draw it over my head.  It smells freshly washed, of the wind and wildflowers, like those at home.  I pick up the rake and begin tilling the soil, humming a song from childhood.  It is all so natural, so right, to do this.

The sun has barely moved over the horizon when I see her open the garden gate.

She is draped in mourning weeds, which I think strange at first, and again, I remember.  The friend of my childhood and sister in my work, the widow of my friend, she had seen what happened three days ago.  She was a witness to the humiliation, the suffering, all that I did because the Father asked me.  I am ready to call her name, but the laborers turn as if they know what I am about and shake their heads, smiling.

Mary comes to the tomb and stops short.  She drops the jar of spices she balances on a neatly folded stack of linens in her arms, and chokes back a sob.

“My Lord, where have they taken you?” she weeps.  “The Romans!  Peter was right!  Oh why is he always right?”

One of the laborers leans on his shovel and asks, “Woman, why do you weep?”

Mary looks up, frightened.  Yet I know Mary; that fear won’t last, just as that day when the wolf came into the town and she alone chased it out; when her husband took the plague and she alone nursed him to his last breath, and everyone had fled.  When people told her she was a fool to give her inheritance to us to support our work, to leave her husband’s people in Magdala to follow me.

Time passes before she gathers herself and says, “They’ve taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve laid him!”  She dries her tears with the hem of her shawl.  “Please sir, if you know, you will tell me.  He was my friend.”

“Why do you seek him among the dead, when he is among the living?”

The laborer’s question distresses her even more, and she glances about frantically, bringing a new flood of tears, and I think it is too much for anyone to bear.  I shake my head at the laborer and step forward.

“Mary!”

She looks up, and her face is transformed.  The grayness of mourning is replaced by radiance.  She stumbles on her robes as she comes at me, arms extended for an embrace.  I don’t know what to do.  As much as I want to return an embrace from a friend, something deep within me says, ‘No!  Not yet.’

I was… yet I… wasn’t.

“Rabbouni!” she exclaims.

I step back and kneel so that we are eye to eye.  “Touch me not, Mary; for I have not returned to my Father.”

“The prophecies are fulfilled.  I did not dare hope – and yet, it has all been brought about as you said!  You kept your promise!”

“Mary, go to my brothers and the disciples, to Peter and John, and tell them what you have seen,” I say.

“They won’t believe me!  I can hear them now….”

“I’ve given you a mustard seed.  Just go, and see what happens.  Tell them that I am ascending to my Father, your Father, to my God and your God.  I will see all of you in Jerusalem.”

Mary reaches out to take my hands, and from the look on her face, I know she has seen the wounds.  They hold her attention for some time, until a peaceful understanding settles on her and she draws back her hands, nodding.  When she looks at me, it is the Mary of our childhood, the Mary who fed and clothed my friends and me.  She wipes her tears on her sleeve; a smile forms on her lips, and she nods again.  Slowly, meticulously, she picks up the shards from the pottery jar and pushes the costly spices to the side of the path, then takes the linens and folds them, setting them aside, knowing they would be of no use here.

“This is the Lord’s doing, and marvelous in our eyes!” she whispers.

When at last she gets to her feet, she walks to the tomb and goes in, as if to make sure, then returns, smiling.  She hurries away, and as she closes the garden gate behind her, she turns, looking back.  I raise my hand and watch as she disappears between the olive trees, going down the hill to Jerusalem.

The laborers, who have watched all with great interest, now return to their work.  It is some time before I move, for I delight in taking in the warm rays of the sun on my face, the sound of a bird greeting the new day.  There is still much I have to do, but the garden is compelling.  I take up the plants one by one and carefully place them in the rows I have tilled, patting soil about them and offering a trickle of water.  Yes, in a year, perhaps less, each of these will yield good fruit.

When I am done with this work, I will go to Jerusalem.

Copyright 2009, 2010, 2025, by Ellen L. Ekstrom.  Do not use or quote without the author’s permission.

the poor are always with us

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April 6, 2025

Lent 5, Year C/II

John 12:1-8

“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

So Jesus said to Judas after he asked why the perfumed ointment Mary used to anoint Jesus was not sold for three hundred denarii.

Judas was thinking in terms of the circumstances of his time.  Putting aside the commentary by the author of John, using the sale of the nard to help the poor would be something of which Jesus would approve because that is what the Kingdom of Heaven is about.

However, Mary was enacting a sign of things to come: preparing Jesus for burial.

Jesus’ rebuke echoes the eleventh verse of the fifteenth chapter of Deuteronomy: “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”

The disciples would have many opportunities to help the poor, but they wouldn’t always have Jesus present with them. They needed to understand what would happen at the end of the week, what Jesus had been talking about all along, and in John’s Gospel, Jesus gave them seven signs and miracles, such as raising Lazarus from the dead, that pointed to and culminated in the cross and resurrection. Reasons for they, you, and I, all of us, to be here. It’s why we proclaim ourselves Christians.

The poor are with us.

A nation that once invited the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free now deports first and doesn’t bother to ask about citizenship. Jobs are cut, people are fired, agencies gutted, and a great many of our elected leaders ignore our cries for justice and mercy; in spite of having the space and the means to convert empty buildings for housing, people are still sleeping on the streets, under freeways, in camper vans parked in rows against curbs, and here in Berkeley, not far from here, down on the western end of Virginia Street. Families who are housed line up at food banks because it takes most of their paycheck to pay the rent, leaving little for groceries. Some individuals work two low-paying jobs to cover the costs of prescriptions, food, and rent.

Justice.  Mercy.  And love. 

A trinity Jesus would expect us to proclaim and show. Further along in John’s gospel, Jesus says to his friends, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

What better way to show our love for one another and Christ than by serving the poor, sick, and marginalized? I’m preaching to the choir, aren’t I? What keeps me returning to Good Shepherd Berkeley is how we serve. Pan de Cielo is a gift.

I know about being poor.

I grew up in a housing project north of here, and my mother was one of the first in our building to receive what was called food stamps. Nowadays, people don’t bat an eyelash about food assistance, but in the mid-sixties . . . ? I used to beg my mother not to make me use the stamps at the grocery store in case one of the kids from school saw me. On Christmas Eve, one of us would quickly grab the six plain-wrapped packages left on our doorstep by a local agency. And then there were the summons to the school office, where shoes and coats were left for one of us by a PTA member.

I’ve since thanked those who sought to help my mother during those dark times and thanked God for sending them to her. What I experienced made me acutely aware of the need to assist those who require it. That includes showing love and giving respect.

Finally, yesterday, my youngest son Nicolas and I walked up to the North Berkeley BART station and stood in solidarity on Sacramento Street near Delaware with the thousands and thousands of people who are concerned, if not downright frightened, about what is happening to our country. I heard similar stories – that people were motivated to speak up and protest by what’s going on in Washington, DC, and finding encouragement from the AOC/Sanders tour and Cory Booker’s astounding 25-hour call to right action. Calls to save Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, stop the deportations, end the DOGE, and rehire those who have lost their jobs were on our lips and written on the signs many carried. I think the best one read, “Today is what HOPE looks like!”

Yes, it certainly does when it begins and continues with loving one another as Christ loves us.

Lord, thy will be done.

Uncomfortable words

| ladyelogos

Fourth Sunday After The Epiphany

Year C/I

Luke 4:21-30

February 2, 2025

Scripture source: The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Oxford University Press.

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.

Last week, the Lectionary left us leaning forward in our seats, holding our breath.

The author of the Gospel of Luke tell us that Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah:[1]

“ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because he has anointed me to bring

Good news to the poor.

“He has sent me to proclaim release

To the captives and recovery of sight

To the blind, to let the oppressed

Go free,

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He sits down.  Everyone in the synagogue is watching Jesus.  This is Joseph the carpenter’s son.  He grew up in Nazareth.  Everyone knew him.  He’d gone away to prepare for the ministry God gave him, and now he was back.  The townspeople were impressed by the reports they heard of his teaching in local synagogues.

They waited expectantly.

Finally Jesus says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”[2]

What did he just say?

Did he say what I think he said?  Jesus is calling himself the messiah?

What?  Shut the front door!

“Is this not Joseph’s son?”[3] the people asked one another, and we can imagine in not-so-subtle whispers among themselves.

The people were amazed.  After all, Jesus was the son of a carpenter.  Joseph, as far as we know, wasn’t a scribe, rabbi, or someone high up in the ranks of first-century Judean society, government, and politics.  He was just a carpenter.  Carpenters apply the hammer and lathe, a saw and make furniture and build houses; they don’t teach or prophesy.

Now, imagine after you’ve announced your plans to your family and friends, what you would say to an “Oh, you’re just a – fill in the blank” type of comment made by someone who knew you.  What would your response be?

I can think of a few replies, but they’re not suitable for general audiences.

Jesus spoke with authority.

He was ready for the naysayers who would want the things in Nazareth that Jesus did in Capernaum.  They wanted Jesus to show them what he could do and what he was made of.  After all, he was the carpenter’s son.

In a manner typical of Jesus – to use scripture to not only teach, but silence – he reminds them that in the time of Elijah God sent him to a widow at Zarephath, and no one else.  And despite the number of lepers during the prophet Elisha’s time, he only cured Naaman the Syrian.  Jesus prefaced this lesson by saying “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.[4]”

I mentioned last week that Jesus had a way of rattling peoples’ cages.  His discourse on this sabbath day in the synagogue upset everyone in attendance and they drove him out of Nazareth, to the cliff outside the town with the purpose of throwing him off.[5]  They weren’t going to put up with Jesus.

There’s no place like home.

You’ve been in this situation, haven’t you?  I have – like when I told my mother I wanted to go into the performing arts.  Her plan for me was the church.  The convent.  This was before women were ordained in Protestant denominations.  We argued for hours and came to an impasse.  Unfortunately, she died unexpectedly the following week.  We never finished the conversation.

But I did enter the church.  That also brought up questions and arguments for my surviving family members, but that’s a story for another day. 

There are times in life when our family and friends don’t want to hear what we have to say.  In our nation the table at Thanksgiving bears this out.  They don’t want the uncomfortable words that take them out of their comfort zones.  The words that envision something new and revolutionary like Jesus taught.  But they must be said. And they must be heard.

There are times like now when we must all speak truth and stand up against hatred, racism, injustice and tyranny.  Yes, tyranny, because that is where our society is headed if we sit back and think someone with better qualifications will speak out,  because after all, we’re not politicians, legislators, or judges. 

Or president.

Our baptismal vows gives us the authority.

At page 305 in the Book of Common Prayer we are asked “Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?”  “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?” And finally, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”  And the people respond, “I will, with God’s help.”

These are basic tenets of the Christian faith; they are what Christ compels us to do.  Is it so much to ask, considering what Jesus of Nazareth gave to us?

Jesus told his family and community at Nazareth what he was called to do.

Now we must follow in his footsteps.

God, thy will be done!

©2025, The Reverend Deacon Ellen L. Ekstrom

[1] Luke 4:18-19

[2] Luke 4:21

[3] Luke 4:22

[4] Luke 4:24

[5] Luke 4:29

There’s No Place Like Home

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Luke 4:14-21; Matthew 5:1-11

(The Jewish Annotated New Testament, NRSV, Oxford University Press, c 2011, 2017)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

There’s no place like home.

Many of us go home for holidays, birthdays, and family events.  They can be fun, memorable, and awkward.  Jesus, as we heard in this Gospel,  returns to home to Nazareth in Galilee to begin his ministry.   

It was memorable.

At first, the people were impressed by his teaching in their synagogues in Galilee, but on the sabbath, while at home, Jesus went to the synagogue for worship, as he always did.  He was invited to read from the prophetic scroll handed to him, which that day was Isaiah:

“ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because he has anointed me to bring

Good news to the poor.

“He has sent me to proclaim release

To the captives and recovery of sight

To the blind, to let the oppressed

Go free,

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

When he was finished reading, Jesus sat down, as was the custom.  Everyone waited for Jesus to begin teaching.  Can you imagine the anticipation?  They’d heard of his teaching, and here he was, their Jesus of Nazareth, about to share his knowledge and wisdom.

Then he said: “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

What did he just say?

Did he say what I think he said? 

Jesus is calling himself the messiah?

In next week’s gospel, we get to hear what happens next.  Jesus had a way of rattling people’s chains and then some.

We know that he turned society upside down with his revolutionary teaching, and gave people a new way of thinking and looking at the world, of embracing faith, and most of all, how we should interact with one another.  To love God, Jesus, and one another. To care for those who are sick, lonely, homeless, hungry, and those living on the fringes of society

This reminded me of the Beatitudes, which I believe go hand in hand with this scripture from Isaiah. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

This is revolutionary, isn’t it?  No one heard this before Jesus.  Doesn’t it go hand-in-hand with today’s composite verses from Isaiah?  Everyone is included.  Everyone gets a seat at the table.  Everyone is loved by God.

Jesus tells his hometown that he will bring good news to the poor and bring justice to victims of injustice.  In the Beatitudes, he expands on this.  The Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah to deliver them, and here he was, right before their eyes.

He is right before our eyes, in our hearts, our souls, and our minds.  The message hasn’t been lost.  It has a way of showing up just when we need it the most. And we need it right now.

In April of 2009, I had the privilege of attending the “Mobilization to End Poverty” Conference in Washington, DC, hosted by Sojourners.  For those of you not familiar with this organization, its focus is on social justice. 

I saw right action and the gospel being lived out during that week, and we were sent to our congressional meetings and panels by the late, great congressman, John Lewis.  He was the keynote speaker at our opening service at Shiloh Baptist Church.  It was one of the hottest April evenings in Washington DC’s history, and the temperature went up when Congressman Lewis got up to speak.

He told us about his work in the South with Dr. King when he was a college student and told us about a conversation with his parents when he went home to tell them about what he’d done that summer – ride the buses, march for equality across the Selma bridge, and spend some time in jail.  Mr. Lewis’ parents responded by asking him, “Son, why do you want to get in the way?” 

His answer: he had to find a way to get in the way of injustice, discrimination, poverty, and hunger.  And that’s what he did throughout his long career. 

That’s what he commissioned us to do on that April evening sixteen years ago, and we are still taking care of that business.

That’s what Jesus invites us to do now – to be faithful in our words and deeds and to live out the gospel, and we had an example shown to us just this last week.  I’m sure you heard about it.

I invite you, my fellow Christians, to follow the recent example of Bishop Budde and speak the truth to those who haven’t heard it– or won’t — to love one another as Christ loves us and to invite those who have ears to hear, listen when we speak and show the good news. 

To walk in love more than ever.

God, thy will be done.

The Stones of humanity

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Proper 28, Mark 13:1-8

In today’s Gospel from Mark, Jesus warns the disciples of conflict to come, of suffering, and to beware of imposters.

Jesus of Nazareth is in Jerusalem with his followers and the magnitude of the Temple is awe-inspiring. One of the disciples exclaims, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” (Mk 13:1) To which Jesus replies by stating that the buildings will be brought down: “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” (Mk 13:2)

The Gospel of Mark is believed to be the first of the Gospels written, sometime around 70 CE, when the Romans attacked Jerusalem in retaliation for a Jewish revolt and The Second Temple was destroyed. It is to these events Jesus alludes to. After he is gone the disciples will have to stay vigilant in the ministry given to them by Christ in a time of turmoil.

This gospel speaks to us today.

Our democracy and our society are being threatened by people who say they’re Christian, yet everything they do and say is antithetical to the good news and teaching of Christ. The former president said during his campaign and at his inauguration that only he alone could fix it, i.e., the country. We watched as the stones of our lives were thrown down. He was an imposter – the kind Jesus warns us about. Rather than build a new infrastructure for America and give stability to its citizens with affordable health care, housing, and living wages, stones were thrown down. We woke in the morning to wonder what he’d done overnight that would put lives in peril, what ideals had he trampled on?

The stones for us are ideals that we are created equal, and that racism, sexism, and ageism have no place in our society, that we can have school programs to give our children a head start at whatever they want to do, and that they don’t start the day or go to bed at night hungry.

He was an imposter – the kind Jesus warns us about. Rather than build a new infrastructure for America and give stability to its citizens with affordable health care, housing, and living wages, he gave us discord.

As Jesus warned the disciples, he warns us now. We are called to hold fast to the good news and share it in our life and work. When stones are thrown down, we pick them up, heavy as they are, and put them back in place, ready to keep building on this experiment called the United States, and this movement started by Jesus.

A Song of Victory

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Select passages from Psalm 118, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV, 4th ed.

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
5 Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me in a broad place.
6 With the LORD on my side I do not fear.
13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
23 This is the LORD’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
27 The LORD is God,
and he has given us light.
29 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

What is God’s

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In Matthew 22:15-22, Jesus comes up against the Pharisees yet again. When asked about the legality of paying taxes to the Roman emperor, he catches them in their own trap. The Pharisees wanted to know what Jesus thought of taxation – one assumes they were hoping he’d say something against the Roman emperor, which would be treason, or something against Mosaic Law, which would be heresy. In true form, Jesus turns it around on them and asks to see a coin. Then he asks who is depicted on the coin, a denarius, and what title is there? When they give him the obvious answer – the Roman emperor and his title – Jesus replies with his famous words:

Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s. (Matt. 22:21 – NRSV)

A modern conundrum came to mind when I read this.

I thought of the Right-Wing Conservative Evangelicals and other Christians who blindly follow our current President and turn a blind eye to his less-than-Christian behavior and the disdain he has for all but those who are loyal to him. A man whose only interest is self-interest.

Why?

Why do they follow an amoral, narcissistic, mean, pathological, lying, bully and misogynist? Isn’t his behavior antithetical to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth? Jesus reached out to society’s outcasts – people we call marginalized – and sinners were among them. If Jesus were to come by Donald Trump on a road, would he say, “Friend, come, follow me,” or “Get behind me, Satan?”

We know it would be the latter, because that’s who Jesus is, and that is who Jesus asks us to be. He asks us to love one another as he loves us, and oh how difficult that is at times, to love one’s enemies.

But God’s love in unconditional and not transactional. It is God’s love that makes it possible for us to live out the Good News in Christ and follow the New Commandment Christ gave us at the Last Supper, that bit about loving one another.

Especially those Christians with whom we don’t see eye-to-eye.

Not all Christians are cut of the same cloth; we do have a common thread and that is Jesus Christ. We are diverse — some of us are outspoken, others circumspect, some liberal, others conservative. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 that: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” So there’s bound to be disagreements between Christians, and that is an understatement when one considers the history of church. One would think, however, that a Christian would strive to follow the teachings of Christ and encourage others to do the same while engaged in ministry.

The Evangelical branch of Christianity isn’t as old as the Church; it came into being in the eighteenth century as a blend of Pietism, Presbyterianism, a bit of Puritanism and High Church Anglicanism. This denomination has changed considerably since that time, especially in the United States. Knowing that the word ‘evangelical’ comes from the Greek word evangelion (messenger), I’ve taken for granted that their mission was to bring the Good News into the world, and the World back to the Church, because that is what I do as a Deacon. Happily, many do, and I have had wonderful conversations with my fellow Children of God on street corners in the Financial District, and on the train platform during rush hour, walking through my neighborhood.

Never did I imagine that there were some Christians, but not all, who would embrace a man like the President and seek to push their agenda through him. I call these people Lost Sheep.

I’m giving the Lost Sheep who follow Trump the benefit of a doubt. Perhaps when he was elected and sworn into office, they prayed he would take on a mantle of leadership and grow into the role of President of the United States to become a statesman like the leaders before him; that he’d become the President for all America and not just his adoring base, that he would build on the work of Former President Barack Obama and our United States would grow and prosper. We saw the photographs of ministers crowded around him laying on hands and praying for him. It looked promising and I hoped for a change, as I’m sure many did.

But, The Dark Little Noise inside my head that argues with me sometimes, whispered, “Get off it, Ellen! You know they only wanted him in office because he would back their opposition to reproductive rights and abortion! And he only wanted their votes and money! Both want to push us back to a more conservative and restrictive time like the 1950s when White was Might! Women and People of Color knew their places!”

Hmmmmm . . . . maybe It’s right.

What I don’t understand is how they can turn their backs on Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet who wasn’t forgotten by history as so many prophets of his time were, the prophet who fulfilled the prophecies and kept his word. He was the embodiment of God’s love on Earth. He said he would rise on the third day, and he did. His message was so powerful that two thousand years later, people still turn to his teaching and way of looking at the world. They hear and accept his radical and revolutionary message for all people.

I wonder if the Lost Sheep don’t read the Gospels, else they would know this.

We stumble and fall on our respective journeys to the Kingdom of Heaven and Christ is there to help us back on our feet and point us in the right direction, remind us of God’s love. But there are those who look to the President as their messiah, not Jesus.

I have a feeling that Jesus would rebuke them in the Temple and call them ‘whitened sepulchers (tombs),’ as he did when arguing with the Scribes and Pharisees later in this Gospel at Chapter 23, verses 27-28:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Harsh words indeed, but sometimes there’s no sugar-coating, nor saying it nicely.

I think that the Gospel of Prosperity took over the Good News of Christ in Jesus somewhere, and that the mindset, ‘Yes, well, that was then, this is now’ replaced ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’

All I can do is pray for those who follow the President.

What will it take for them to say the President’s behavior and words do not comport with what Christ teaches us and say ‘NO MORE?’ Will it finally dawn on them when they are asked upon meeting Christ before the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, “I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” How will they respond? Will they say, “When did this happen?” Jesus will say to them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of my bretheren, you did not do it to me.’ (Matthew 25:42-45)

Perhaps the reality of the President’s amoral and selfish attitudes, his disdain for the people he swore an oath to defend and protect, to uphold the Constitution, will finally sink in and they will say, “God, have mercy upon me a sinner!”

I pray to God and Christ that will happen.

You Are Not Alone.

| ladyelogos

 

Today’s lesson from the Gospel of Luke (Lk. 15:1019 NRSV) gives us two parables reminding us that God loves everyone, no matter their place in society, the color of their skin, who they are, and what they do.   We are loved by God, we are made in the image of God, and we are blessed by God.  In these troubled times, it is a wonderful gift.

I used to think, when I was a girl, that I couldn’t go to church because I wasn’t good.  The girls I played with went to Sunday School and catechism on Tuesday afternoons, they received First Communion and were confirmed.  I stayed home on Sundays watching ‘Davy and Goliath.’ That was my catechism and Sunday School.  And it introduced me to the beautiful Lutheran hymn, ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God.’  We didn’t go to church for reasons I would learn much, much, later.  And it wasn’t until I was an adult that I got the message about God’s love.

A sinner who repents is more welcome into the Kingdom of Heaven than ninety-nine of God’s children who do not need repentance.

It is never too late to turn to God and begin a relationship that will last for an eternity.

This good news was radical and revolutionary when Jesus first spoke these words, and I invite you now to come back with me and hear them.

Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them.  The society in which Jesus lived and carried out his ministry from God was hierarchical:  you had a place and you stayed in it.  Very rarely did you move up or laterally.  The Pharisees and Scribes took offense at the tax collectors and the sinners who had joined the crowds to hear Jesus’ teaching – what were these sinners doing with good and righteous people?  And because they were present, what did that make Jesus?   Well, he responds to criticism by throwing out a parable or two.  We know that parables were used extensively by Jesus, and they are short, allegorical stories illustrating a truth or principle.  Jesus offered parables that were of everyday life; incidents that anyone in the crowd could relate to and understand.  At this time, Jesus tells of the lost sheep and the lost coin.

A shepherd discovers that one of his sheep has gone missing and leaves the rest of the flock out in the field, unprotected, while he searches for the lost one.  He searches high and low until he finds and brings it back, rejoicing and inviting friends and family to celebrate with him.

In the parable of the lost coin, a woman sweeps the house and searches for the one coin out of ten that is lost.  Her diligence in lighting lamps and sweeping, perhaps looking in every corner, under the tables, beds, and benches is rewarded when she finds the coin.  One can imagine how good she felt – you know the feeling when you find the loose change between the cushions of the sofa.  Maybe that fifty-nine cents was what you needed to make the exact fare for the bus or train.

To a society where everything is black and white, right and wrong, what the First Century Palestinians and Judeans were hearing was astonishing.  A slave was loved as much as a Pharisee, or a rich silk merchant?  A Roman soldier?  Jesus has taken the rules and flipped them on their heads, daring people to think about this new ideal of relationship, a revolutionary way of thinking.

We look back at this with centuries of interpretation and practicality, yet many of us still struggle with Jesus’ teaching.

Let’s ponder this anew:

“. . . I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Lk. 15:7)

“. . . There is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Lk. 15:10)

Does this mean that God dismisses or ignores the righteous?  After all, hasn’t Jesus said there’d be more joy in heaven over that one sinner who confesses than those who lead righteous lives?

No.

We’re creatures with frailties and prone to trip over our mistakes and whatever comes out of our mouths.  We have tendencies to think about ourselves and judge others.  We were given free will and we tend to misuse it.  I can’t think of a day when I didn’t do or say something that I knew was wrong and I said, “Forgive me, Lord!”

My favorite prayer is the Trisagion, which means ‘thrice holy,’ also known the Jesus Prayer.  It is simple and to the point:

“Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us (me).”

The form I use adds the verse:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.”  

The last verse is said to have been inspired by Luke 18:9-14, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector – a Parable for another day.

If we do our very best to live a righteous life, one that leads us to live out the Gospel and obeys the New Commandment, we have a place at the table.

When we stumble and fall in moments of weakness, and we confess our sins and do our very best to not repeat our errors, we will also have a place at the table.

It will be a table where everyone is welcome.

Ellen+

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Few Words on the Trinity

| ladyelogos

Trinity Sunday.
Three knowings:
The Spirit suggests it;
Jesus encourages and defines it; and
God enables it.
What is ‘it?’
How the Gospel is revealed to you and how you enable it by right action in living out Christ’s words and deeds.

I think this is all I need to say on a subject that volumes have been filled with.  It is how I understand a mystery and how I embrace it.

c 2018, The Rev. Deacon Ellen L. Ekstrom