Words Twice a Week 4.15
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Some thoughts on some of the lessons for this Sunday, Third of Easter -
Acts 3.12-19
+ Luke takes a step back. Last week we read about how the community had come together and thrived. If this was a movie, words would come on the screen saying “One week earlier…” Luke suggests it is the same power active in both of these stories – Peter and John healing the man, and the community coming together. Would we say that it is the same power that brings us together today? Or something else?
+ vs 13-15 – kind of an odd little interjection, as Peter makes clear to the listeners that Pilate had decided to release Jesus but the crowd was really responsible for his death. Doesn’t really sound designed to win them over!
+ Peter says they acted in ignorance, but that only works once. From now on, they know. We know; so can we still turn to God and repent?
+ note that in vs 12 Peter addresses “You Israelites” and in vs 19 “My friends”. Are those two different groups? Does “Mr friends” extend the scope? Where are we in the story?
+ Two views of Jesus – the people view (viewed) Jesus as someone to be rejected and killed; God views (viewed) Jesus as a suffering servant to be raised. “Faith in Jesus’ name” makes the difference.
+ The people who saw were astonished, but misinterpreted what had happened. Are we astonished? At what? How do we interpret it? Riffing off a piece by Buechner, if you are not astonished now and then, check to see if you are still alive!
+ human messengers are conduits of God’s power, not the source. Sure, but do we sometimes act as if it were the other way around? Particularly in “age of celebrity”? Do you have a favorite “human messenger”?
+ Luke links the story to the past (noting the prophets), but says the “locus of divine activity” has shifted from the Temple to the name of Jesus. Where do we look for the “locus of divine activity”?
+ I like this observation from Text for Preaching – the listeners must address their brutalizing failure. Wow. Do we have a “brutalizing failure” we need to address? (You bet!) And while the story is particularly addressing the crucifixion, the question extends beyond that. And just a reminder, it was not “they” in any sense of the word who crucified Jesus, it was/is “us”.
+ extending to vs 19, “so that God will send the Messiah” – the resurrection is not the final climax of God’s activity, it is a beginning.
A prayer for the week -
God of Ultimate Meaning and Truth,
so many of the events of this day confront us
with the brutalizing failures in our past.
As we turn to Jesus, the locus of divine activity in our reality,
forgive us, teach us, guide us into the light of your love,
and especially help us heal where we have harmed.
We are your children, help us live as such.
We ask, trusting in the power of his name.
Psalm 4
+ this just sounds like a mixture to me. Here is one possible structure that clarified it a bit (for me, anyway, not to say this is the only way to look at it, but it works for me.)
+ a prayer of someone in deep distress, someone who has been accused
vs 1 request prayed to God. And no beating around the bush – just help me, God, like you did before.
vs 2 complaint addressed to the adversaries
vs 3 a confident word to the adversaries – God will answer and help me
vs 4-5 a little interlude in which the psalmist seems to encourage others in similar predicament towards silence, sacrifice, and trust, somewhat contradicting the psalmist’s own behavior!
vs 6 ???
vs 7-8 God has answered, brought peace.
+ vs-1-3 trouble is a part of life, but God’s powerful fidelity is the ultimate truth.
+ then here’s little idea that might resonate – coming out of vs 4 “ponder it upon your beds” – there was apparently sometimes a practice of people in a dispute sleeping in the Temple, and perhaps the priests observed their sleep (was it troubled, was it peaceful?) and drew conclusions.
1 John 3.1-7
+ We are like children, John says. When we see our Parent, we will know how to live.
+ sin is lawlessness. But does that still leave room for exploration and innovation and discovery. A line from W Paul Jones about Cervantes – “whose Don Quixote is a world classic, with Quixote symbolizing the courageous person who lives by imagination in a world intent upon imprisoning its citizens in narrow literalism.”
+ one commentary lists 9 possible points. A little more helpful maybe is this idea –
vs 1-3 address being children of God, and note it is both actualized and future/unrealized. “we are, we will be”
vs 4-7 address living as children of God, and what one writer calls a “hard practicality” John says here, “Do not sin”, while before 1.8, and 2.1 he had said everyone sins. “If we say we have no sin…” Perhaps he is talking more about orientation than particularity. The child of God is not stuck in habitual sinfulness, but is inclined toward doing right.
+ the term “child of God” may have struck people in a patriarchal society more forcefully than it does for us, at least those of us in a slightly less patriarchal setting. A piece on the radio this morning about the female Biblical scholar who had broken with the church which said she should be submissive. And there is the really cute scene in The Cotton Patch Gospel where the boy Jesus in the temple says to Joseph – “I must be about my daddy’s business – Joe” and kind of winks at the audience. What do/did you call your dad?
+ and a note that in some early cultures religion and morality were not necessarily linked. Religion and various priests interceded with various gods for protection and well being. Morality was the sphere of philosophers. Judaism, of course, brought the two together forcefully.
+ a line from Henri Nouwen that really should have been in last week’s Words, but seems to fit here as well - Jesus sees the evil in this world as a lack of trust in God’s love. He makes us see that we persistently fall back on ourselves, rely more on ourselves than on God, and are inclined more to love of self than love of God. So we remain in darkness. If we walk in the light, then we are enabled to acknowledge that everything good, beautiful, and true comes from God and is offered to us in love.
Luke 24.36b-48
+ what is the “this” they were talking about? If they were talking about Jesus having risen, then why were they so surprised when he appeared? Did they think he had simply risen to heaven and did not expect his to be a reality on earth? What do we think?
+ and again, the thought from last week with Thomas, that we have never experienced “Jesus crucified, dead, and buried.”
+ seeing, and offered the chance at least, to touch and they are still disbelieving. What pushes you over the line from disbelieving to having faith?
+ a couple of weeks back we asked “If the answer is The Christian Gospel, what is the question?” It had something to do with Jeopardy. Would “What is vs 46-48?” be correct?
+ What are we witness to?
+ what was “Resurrected” Jesus like? 1) not a spirit, 2) a mystery – more than just a resurrected body, but a new life. And not just an “immortality of the soul”. Christians do not believe that the spirit or the soul escapes into a spirit world when we die, although that’s often kind of what we think and say!
+ understanding comes through the scriptures. Jesus interprets the scriptures, and the scriptures explain/interpret Jesus. Persistent question – where did/do you learn about Jesus?
+ the importance of meal fellowship in Luke’s resurrection stories – where do you see that playing out – in the Eucharist, in church potlucks/dinners, in coffee hour, in meals with the homeless? What’s most important in your experience?
Then here is a “bonus”(?) thought (alert: this is going to contradict some formal liturgical practice. Reader be warned!) – a paragraph on worship practices from Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – the author has been talking about how it’s important for readers to be prepared and maybe prepare the congregation by giving a brief introduction to the lesson -
“Notice that there is no reason to cite the passage being read. It will probable appear in the day’s bulletin, but even if it doesn’t, the important thing is to have the people listen, not distract them with information they don’t need at the moment. The custom of having people follow along in pew Bibles (or their own) [or the printed order of worship, or the screen - computer or Jumbotron!] privatizes what should be a communal happening and, in these days of varied translations, can create a liturgical Babel.” Thoughts?
That’s what I got for now -
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