Living as Easter People (1)

Road to Emmaus (detail), Buoninsegna

By Chaplain Mike

We’ve had many posts here at Internet Monk commending the use of the church calendar for spiritual formation. When we follow the Church Year, we live in the story of Jesus.

  • We anticipate his coming in Advent.
  • We celebrate his incarnation in Christmastide.
  • Our mouths drop in amazement at the revelation of his glory in Epiphany.
  • We learn to walk with him to the cross during the forty days of Lent.
  • We experience the high drama of Holy Week, reliving the Passion, from the midday darkness of Good Friday to the mysterious, surprising dawn of resurrection grace on Easter Sunday.
  • For fifty days in Eastertide, we try to wrap our minds around the fact that Christ lives, and because of him, so do we.
  • We watch him pass from earthly sight to take his throne on Ascension Day, and then celebrate the birthday of the new community our risen, exalted Lord creates on Pentecost.
  • For the rest of the year, we learn to live day by day as citizens of heaven and messengers of his Good News in the world (Ordinary Time).

We have just entered The Great Fifty Days of Eastertide. Easter is not simply a day, but an entire season of celebrating the presence of the risen Christ and learning to walk in newness of life. Last year, during this season, we did a series on the Gospel stories about Christ’s appearances after the resurrection. This year, we will focus on texts that point us to the new life that is ours in him, and how we may live that out in the world.

Continue reading “Living as Easter People (1)”

Let the Easter Parties Begin!

By Chaplain Mike

This excerpt is from a sermon by N.T. Wright, “Resurrection and the Calling of the Christian,” given at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church – Roanoke, Virginia, March 2007. The message is on Luke 15 and the “Parable of the Prodigal Son,” which Wright explains is a paradigmatic story in Luke’s Gospel about the nature of the Kingdom. God and heaven are rejoicing that, through Jesus, “sinners” are hearing the Good News and receiving a lavish welcome home. However, the “righteous” are not getting it. They stand to the side and question what all the partying is about. The parable also implies the story of Jesus himself, who was cast out into the “far country” where he suffered, yet has now returned through resurrection. The Father is calling everyone to join in the festivities!

…one of the main things I want to say this morning is that we as Christians must learn how to celebrate Easter properly. We in the West aren’t good at this. I was talking to somebody over coffee who had been, for several years, living in Greece, and we were agreeing that the Eastern Orthodox do their Easter celebrations much better than we do in the West. We know how to do Lent, the forty days of fasting. Many in my denomination are taking Ash Wednesday more seriously; we’ve got purple banners and goodness knows what. And we have Lent courses for this and that; it’s a serious time and we take it seriously. Then we get to Palm Sunday, and we do the whole thing with donkeys and processions and palm crosses and so on. Then we go through Holy Week with special services. We sing the great Bach Passions, some of the finest music ever written. And we come to the Great Three Days and we do Passover meals and other Maundy Thursday activities. Then we have more processions on Good Friday, carrying the cross and following the cross and preaching the cross, and even in some traditions, kissing the cross.

Let me say, we do well to do all this. To follow Jesus through those final days of his public career, to ponder the way of sorrow and suffering, his sad journey into the “far country.” You can’t miss all that out and hope to understand and believe and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. The way of the cross is the only way to go.

But my friends, we are Easter people! We stand on resurrection ground. Easter is not only our greatest party (much greater by the way than Christmas—whatever you do on Christmas you ought to do ten times as much at Easter); Easter is the only reason we are here at all! St. Paul says in 1Corinthians, “If Christ is not raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Without Easter, Jesus of Nazareth would be a curious historical footnote. Without Easter, the world would still be divided into waiting Jews and puzzled pagans.

So why, when we get to Easter Day, do we not celebrate wildly, lavishly, gloriously, at great length, and with studied disregard for normal propriety?

I don’t know how you do it here, but in my tradition today, alas, after forty days of Lenten fasts, and three days of deep and serious concentration on the meaning of the cross, we have precisely one morning of Easter festivities. And then people disappear, exhausted by the rigors of Holy Week, the clergy go on holiday, and the only celebration that is left is eating up the remains of the chocolate Easter eggs!

No, we should make Easter a forty-day celebration. If Lent is that long, Easter should be at least that long, all the way to Ascension. We should meet regularly for Easter parties. We should drink champagne at breakfast. We should renew baptismal vows with splashing water all over the place. And we should sing and dance and blow trumpets and put out banners in the streets. And we should invite the homeless people to parties and we should go around town doing random acts of generosity and celebration. We should be doing things which would make our sober and serious neighbors say, “What is the meaning of this outrageous party?”

Demythologizing “Radical” Christianity (3)

Disciples, Bro. Sylvain of Taize

By Chaplain Mike

This is the third post in our series, the one in which the ol’ chaplain may find himself in a position of having to defend the appearance that he is contradicting himself or at least being inconsistent.

First, let’s review:

  • In part one, we lamented all such attempts to “adjectivize” the faith. We agreed with Jethani that evangelical leaders tend to over-correct the problem of “consumer” Christianity by strongly promoting “activist” Christianity. We appealed to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, where he countered the “radicals” in the church by recommending that they seek quiet lives of minding their own business and working hard in their given vocations as the best way of pursuing Christian love and a good witness. It’s OK to just be a Christian.
  • In part two, we once again agreed with Skye Jethani’s observation that churches tend to celebrate Christians who do extraordinary things and ignore the contributions of those who are engaged in more ordinary lives and vocations. The answer is to recover the Reformation doctrines of calling and vocation, which give dignity to every person’s calling. Even the most common task is a means through which God loves the world. There are no “first-class” and “second-class” Christians, only a variety of callings, and it is God’s job to dispense them.

Today, as the late broadcaster Paul Harvey might have said, we will look at “the rest of the story.”

Continue reading “Demythologizing “Radical” Christianity (3)”

Luther’s Easter Hymn

The Resurrection of Christ, Michaelangelo

“Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands”
(Christ lag in Todesbanden)

Christ Jesus lay in death’s strong bands,
For our offenses given;
But now at God’s right hand He stands
And brings us life from heaven;
Therefore let us joyful be
And sing to God right thankfully
Loud songs of hallelujah!
Hallelujah!

No son of man could conquer Death,
Such mischief sin had wrought us,
For innocence dwelt not on earth,
And therefore Death had brought us
Into thraldom from of old
And ever grew more strong and bold
And kept us in his bondage.
Hallelujah!

But Jesus Christ, God’s only Son,
To our low state descended,
The cause of Death He has undone,
His power forever ended,
Ruined all his right and claim
And left him nothing but the name,–
His sting is lost forever.
Hallelujah!

It was a strange and dreadful strife
When Life and Death contended;
The victory remained with Life,
The reign of Death was ended;
Holy Scripture plainly saith
That Death is swallowed up by Death,
His sting is lost forever.
Hallelujah!

Here the true Paschal Lamb we see,
Whom God so freely gave us;
He died on the accursed tree–
So strong His love!–to save us.
See, His blood doth mark our door;
Faith points to it, Death passes o’er,
And Satan cannot harm us.
Hallelujah!

So let us keep the festival
Whereto the Lord invites us;
Christ is himself the Joy of all,
The Sun that warms and lights us.
By His grace He doth impart
Eternal sunshine to the heart;
The night of sin is ended.
Hallelujah!

Then let us feast this Easter Day
On Christ, the Bread of heaven;
The Word of Grace hath purged away
The old and evil leaven.
Christ alone our souls will feed,
He is our meat and drink indeed;
Faith lives upon no other.
Hallelujah!

 

Text: Acts 2:24
Author: Martin Luther, 1524
Translated by: Richard Massic, 1854, alt.

“He Descended into Hell”

Harrowing of Hell (icon), Kroup

By Chaplain Mike

He descended into hell.

• The Apostles’ Creed

Today, we present several readings related to this most controversial article of the Apostles’ Creed, which expresses words appropriate for this Holy Saturday. I encourage you to contemplate these perspectives and discuss your understanding of this article of the faith from your own tradition and study.

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

• Luke 23:43 (NASB)

Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, ‘He ascended’ — what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

• Ephesians 4:8-10 (NKJV)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

• 1Peter 3:18-22 (NKJV)

For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

• 1Peter 4:6 (NASB)

Continue reading ““He Descended into Hell””

Saturday Ramblings 4.23.11

Your Rambler is back after a two-week hiatus. Did you miss me? What do you mean you didn’t even know I was gone? Is that any way to treat your intrepid reporter? In case you’ve forgotten, Saturday Ramblings is our chance to do a little light housekeeping around the iMonastery. Well, after two weeks off, there is quite a mess that needs to be swept up. So, grab your broom and dustpan and get ready to ramble.

In case you missed it, your rambler was preempted for the Stations of the Cross series. As I write this on Friday night, I have just returned from walking through the Stations of the Cross at my church in Tulsa. It is one of my favorite activities of the year, though it wrings great emotion from me. Our fourteen day series of Stations here at iMonk also wrung great emotion from me, both those I wrote and those that Lisa Dye wrote. In case you missed any, you can go back and re-read them here. We will soon offer this series in book form for your personal use or use in church services.

The Japanese earthquake and tsunami. War in Libya and Iraq. Cancer. What is the answer to suffering? Pope Benedict says there really is no good answer to suffering. In a question-and-answer session for a TV program, he answered questions about suffering. I find Pope Benedict very refreshingly honest.

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Thirty Days and Counting…

By Chaplain Mike

“We learn from the Bible that Holy God plans to rescue about 200 million people (that is about 3% of today’s population). On the first day of the Day of Judgment (May 21, 2011) they will be caught up (raptured) into Heaven because God had great mercy for them. This is why we can be so thankful that God has given us advance notice of Judgment Day. Because God is so merciful, maybe He will have mercy on you.”

• Literature from Family Radio: “Judgment Day: May 21”


A little over a year ago, we published a post here at IM on Harold Camping’s prediction that the rapture will occur on May 21, 2011, to be followed by the end of the world on October 21, 2011. Did you save the date? It’s just a month away now!

Continue reading “Thirty Days and Counting…”

The Fourteenth Station: Jesus Is Laid In The Tomb

Scripture

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.  Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.  It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.  (Luke 23: 50-56. See also John 19:38-42, Mark 15:42-47, Matthew 27: 57-66.)

Meditation

It’s over. It is all over. The crowd is leaving. The Roman guards have done all they need to do. The criminals are dead. Others are responsible for the bodies now, not the Romans. They can be buried or left for the birds. It’s all the same to them.

Jesus’ body had been spoken for. Joseph of Arimathea arranged with Pilate to receive the body. Joseph is a member of the Jewish council called the Sanhedrin, a member who did not agreed with the decision to have Jesus arrested, tried and executed. He is a good and just man, a man waiting for the kingdom of God. And he is a disciple of Jesus. Was a disciple, for Jesus is now dead.

Continue reading “The Fourteenth Station: Jesus Is Laid In The Tomb”

The Death Of Jesus

I grew up in the faith in an American Baptist Church in southwest Ohio. It was, like many such churches, staunchly anti-Catholic. One thing our pastor was always hammering Catholics over was the crucifix.

“Why do they have a crucifix on their walls?” he would ask. “Jesus is no longer on the cross. That’s why we have an empty cross on our wall—to show that Jesus is no longer there.”

Baptists 7, Notre Dame 0.

For a long time I bought that rhetoric. After all, our faith is built around Easter Sunday sunrise services that celebrate the empty tomb. The resurrection is what sets us apart from all other religions whose gods stay in their graves. And come this Sunday you will find me celebrating the risen Christ with a heart filled with laughter and praise.

But let’s not rush past the cross of Good Friday. And let us not be too hasty to dismiss the crucifix. I now disagree with my Baptist pastor. Jesus is not off of the cross. In a very real sense, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world he has always been and always will be dead. And this—the dead Christ—is our hope and our salvation.

Continue reading “The Death Of Jesus”

The Thirteenth Station: Jesus’ Body is Removed From the Cross

Scripture

“Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of them pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water … Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away” (John 19:31-34, 38)

References in the Meditation to Psalm 34:20; Isaiah 53:8; Zechariah 12:10; Matthew 12:48,49; 27:57,58; Mark 15:40-45; Luke 2:25-38; 23:50-54; John 3:5; 15:5,13; 17:23; 19:25-40; Hebrews 1:3 1 John 5:6-8.

Meditation

The Maker of the heavens and earth expresses himself in paradox.  For Isaac, Abraham’s beloved son, God interrupts death so that descendents like the stars in number would come from him … so that One could come into the world, born of a virgin, to bless the nations of the earth. Yet, instead of interrupting the death of his own son, God has steered Jesus relentlessly toward it. This only son, begotten in human flesh, is cut off from the land of the living. He is completing the covenant written in blood with Abraham. Descendants will come, but not as they came to Isaac.

Here he is now, this beloved One, his body drained of its life, spent to the uttermost, still hanging on the cross he labored to carry and then labored to die upon. Mary, his mother, is nearby with the other women who are mourning. That everything could end this way … in judgment and death while still blessing nations seems … impossible.

Continue reading “The Thirteenth Station: Jesus’ Body is Removed From the Cross”