The Resurrected Shepherd

This is the fourth Sunday in the Easter season. It continues the celebration begun Easter morning. It is a spirited season, a joyful season, a season that knows something wonderful has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen. It is a season that is happy about the past, enjoys the present, yet longs for the future.

It is a season of white and gold, pink flowers, and alleluia banners. It is a season to sing Up From the Grave and read from Revelation 7. It is a season to reflect on the Good Shepherd and what it means to follow the leading. It is a good season to be a follower, a follower of Jesus, a follower of the Resurrected One.

I say this because in the following, I learn what it means to be a resurrected person. In the following, I learn the significance of death and the power of new life. In the following, I learn the meaning of burial and the walking out of the tomb. In the following of a resurrected Shepherd, I learn to trust a leading over spacious fields, through running waters, into dark caves, through open gates, and onto untrod pathways.

I may not know where I am going, but I nibble and drink along the way. I rest and gaze. Kick up my heels or stumble. Run or walk. But always following, following and trusting. The Resurrected Shepherd leads along the good way, and there I am learning to be resurrected too.

On Dying

Recently, I have been struck by the frailty and weakness of the human body. As a hospice volunteer, I sit with dying people once a week for four hours at a time. Often these people are so weak that there is no lengthy conversation or animated gestures. They are tired and sleepy, sometimes agitated and restless but always moving toward death just as we all are. The difference is that theirs is nearer than how we want to envision ours.

Being present to the dying offers a tender view on the human condition. It brings the need for an intervening Creator into focus and enlarges the efforts made by our Creator to do something about our condition. I want to believe that my tender feelings are a reflection of God’s. I want to believe that my grieving for a degraded creation mirrors in a small way that of God’s.

As I feel my own tenderness pressing outward from my center, I am forced to reflect on the big-heartedness of God. I see only a fragment of the dying, a pinhead of a dying-world picture, but God has seen from the beginning and continues to see all of it, in every place. What a massive store of tenderness to be present always to frailty, weakness, and death!

Life Follows Death

The Light follows Darkness,

Singing follows Silence,

Healing follows Brokenness,

Life follows Death.

Resurrection Day at Last

Waiting

And so we wait . . . in silence, in darkness, in brokenness.

"Do to Others?"

Throughout this Lenten season, something that Jesus said has been coming back to me. "Do to others what you want them to do to you." This has been begging a hard question for me. What do I want others to do to me? Do I always want others to be nice, to be kind, to be thoughtful? I think I do, but then I wonder about the truth.

Do I want to know the truth? Is telling the truth always nice, kind, thoughtful? Do I want to be left to my own devices without interference? Do I want what is difficult and challenging? And if so, how do I want it presented? And would others want it presented in the same way that I would?

And then there is Jesus as he calls some people "white-washed tombs" and "dirty cups." Does this mean that it's okay to be a bit rude with the truth as long as I am willing to receive the same if necessary? And then there is that scandalous scene in the temple where Jesus is throwing people's things around and brandishing a whip. I wonder if any of the disciples were thinking about "Do to others . . . in that moment of shocking behavior?

I know that we can all justify Jesus's actions here, but it doesn't negate that he said this and did that. I'm just sayin'. There is more to consider here than just a saying that serves our purposes.

On the surface, "Do to others . . . " seems a soft quote from scripture when it is convenient. But my recent experience of it says that this is not some buttery saying that is easily spread into my life. It is a hard saying that has no this-is-how-you-do-it practical applications.

Hmmmm . . . living the Lenten life . . . not so smooth.

Singing Stones

When Jesus entered Jerusalem and the people were spreading their coats and the palm branches and shouting Hosanna, some jealous persons told Jesus to tell them to stop. But instead of complying, Jesus tells those jealous individuals that if the people stopped shouting, the stones would cry out.

I love this. Jesus isn't embarrassed by all this attention. He knows that it is "fate." If I may use that ill-favored word. In his mind, it seems that the people were doing what was necessary and that if the people didn't do it, something else would. In this case, creation would praise the divine when humans failed to do so.

This makes me think that there is something "innate" in all of creation that knows when something significant is about to happen or is happening, and that if humans fail to recognize it or acknowledge it, the "innate-ness" of the other will fill that void.

Just thinking out loud here. If the stones had begun to cry out as a result of human silence, I wonder if anyone would have noticed, would have heard, would have wondered at the meaning of singing stones.

The Divine Has Become Human

Oh, happy day! The Divine has become Human. There is a great mystery when considering that the Creator of All became a created being, that the Creator of humankind dipped into humanity and became a human being, that the Creator of Magnificence became less than Divine. Amazingly awesome and wonderfully beautiful. Oh, happy day! The Divine has become Human.

Joseph Dreams

Joseph was a bold man to act on a dream. This is one very good reason to pay attention to dreams. What message might God be trying to give to the sleeper? Will God say something that I might not want to hear in the daylight? What night time whispering might change the world when I awake?

Of His Kingdom There Will Be No End

“You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

The idea of a never-ending kingdom is intriguing, but mysterious. I love the wording in this message from Gabriel. It is full of anticipation!

Icon of the Annunciation

The willingness of Mary to accept the words of Gabriel amazes me. Oh . . . to be so open-hearted!

Forty Words for Forty Days: Day 2-Sick

Sick is a something-is-wrong word. A word that says something is askew. Out of place. Not quite right. Unwell. The body can be sick. The mind can be sick. The heart can be sick. And the spirit can be sick.

The truth is that much of what we do, think, feel, and say is sick. Not quite right. Often askew. We’d like to believe that we are a well and healthy people. But national and global news tells me otherwise. Something is wrong.

The world is sick. Our minds are sick. Our hearts are sick. Our bodies are sick. And our spirits are sick. We are soul sick. One of the problems with being sick is that there is no self-cure. We need something outside of ourselves to get well. We need a healer. Jesus is that healer.

My reflective question for the day is “What is sick in me and will I invite the healer to make me well?”

Icon: http://www.fisheaters.com/sickcalls.html

Saint Brigid of Kildare

I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us.

I would like an abundance of peace.

I would like full vessels of charity.

I would like rich treasures of mercy.

I would like cheerfulness to preside over all.

I would like Jesus to be present.

I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us.

I would like the friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts.

I would like myself to be a rent payer to the Lord;

that I should suffer distress,

that he would bestow a good blessing upon me.

I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings.

I would like to be watching Heaven’s family drinking it through all eternity.

Saint Brigid

Jesus is Born

Icon: http://ihor5.freeyellow.com/mjicon.html

4th Century Fresco of Christ

This fresco of the bust of Christ with an alpha and omega dates from the late 4th century. It was discovered in the Catacomb of Commodilla on the Ostian Way in Rome.

Info and Art from http://www.religionfacts.com/jesus/image_gallery/4C_bust_of_christ_beard_commodilla.htm

Pantocrator

Pantocrator

Sustainer of All

I love this icon because it represents the divinity and the humanity of Christ. As you view the icon, you'll notice that the face is asymmetrical. If you hold a mirror vertical to the face and over the nose, you will see two different faces for each side. Thus, this icon images the two natures of Christ, his humanity and his divinity.

Icon: http://www.factsplusfacts.com/resources/pantocrator01.htm

Moon Manna

Approaching darkness
Entering quietly
Sitting serenely
Gazing heavenward
Eyes closed
Heart open
Hoping in the moon
Merciful moon

A touch
A soft falling
Glistening star-flakes
Drifting from above
Resting on my brow
Nourishing my heart
Moon manna
Merciful moon

Poem: Lisa D Barnes

Photo: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Canvas/9460/newstylelarger/sun.html

The Three Visitors by Rublev

This painting represents the three who visited Abraham in the land of Canaan. It is an icon of the Trinity. The two figures on the right, Jesus and the Spirit, look to the Father.

The visual perspective invites the viewer to come to the table and participate with the three.