4th Sunday of Lent - Year A (John 9, 1-41)

Last week we looked deep into Jacob’s well with the woman of Samaria.  This week we look into the flame of the paschal candle.  (It is no accident that they stand next to each other in many churches, just as last week’s Gospel stands next to this one on these consecutive Sundays in Lent.)  In this flame is that same light first created when God said “Let there be light”.  Here are the sun, moon, and stars.  Here are fireflies and florescent creatures of the deep.  Here is the pillar of flame that led the people of Israel through the dessert.  Here is the sacrificial fire of the Temple.  Here is the burning coal that touched Isaiah’s lips.  Here is the fiery furnace and the fiery chariot.  Here is the miraculous light of Hanukkah and here is the star that guided the magi.  Here is the light of revelation to the gentiles.  Here is the light that came into the world to scatter the darkness and to make the blind to see. 

3rd Sunday of Lent - Year A (John 4. 5-12)

Imagine, if you will, that you have the ability to look deep down into the well frequented by the Samaritan woman.  What might you see?

First you would see the primordial waters of creation, that chaos over which the Spirit brooded and over which God spoke the Word of creation.  There too the Red Sea through which God's chosen move to new life and by which the forces of slavery and death are overthrown.  Forty days and forty nights worth of unrelenting rain are contained here.  Leviathan swims and the ark floats.  There are rivers here too, of course.  Not only the Jordan, but the river Ezekial saw flowing out of the temple, the river of the psalmist beside which the righteous flourish, and the river flowing from Jesus pierced side. 

This wonderous well in which we find and from which we drink the waters that quench all thirsts is found in every baptismal font. 

2nd Sunday of Lent - Year A (John 3: 1-17)

The recent controversy over a book by a prominent Evangelical pastor would suggest that many, if not most Christians, are not interested in the salvation of the world but only in their own personal salvation. Even if universal salvation is too heterodox for most Christians, you would think that it would be something for which Christians might earnestly hope. Theologians might debate how verses 14-16 relate to verse 17, but it seems clear that, at least according to the Gospel of John, God has a much bigger picture in mind than most of us do. The dying and rising of Jesus, the lifting up of the Son of Man, has as its purpose, the salvation of the whole world. 

1st Sunday of Lent - Year A (Matt 4: 1-11)

The season of Lent is a call to the dessert. The traditional Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are proven ways in which the Christian can make room for grace. Prayer, especially those forms of prayer characterized by listening, opens our minds and hearts to the word God wishes to speak to each of us. Fasting helps us, to use modern psychological lingo, rid ourselves of our dependence on all the ways we numb ourselves through “self medication”. Almsgiving reminds us that all we have belongs to God and that no discipline can call itself Christian that does not somehow involve love of neighbor. Silence, emptiness and mutual dependence are the essence of life in the dessert.
Like Jesus, we will be tempted to turn our backs on this discipline. We all here those voices that tell us we deserve the $5.00 latte, that we don’t have time for prayer and that the panhandler will only buy cheap wine with the money I give him. Fortunately for us, the salvation of the world does NOT depend on our ability to say a resounding no to the temptations we face. In fact, nothing depends on us observing Lent at all except that perhaps, the abundant grace so freely given to us, might find a little extra room in our hearts.

9th Sunday after Epiphany, Transfiguration - Year A (Matthew 17:1-9)

The intent of placing the Transfiguration account on the last Sunday after Epiphany in the Common Lectionary is, I suspect, twofold. First it is itself an Epiphany story, a revelation of divinity. Secondly, it serves as a kind of “pep talk” prior to our collective entrance into the rigors of Lent. My current reflections on the text, however, have taken me to a slightly different but not unrelated place, the liturgy.
I think that the Transfiguration account can serve as a model for Christian worship.

1. The faithful gather in the presence of Christ and in company with the communion of saints.
2. This gathering is a kind of homecoming in which the faithful rejoice in the goodness or rightness of the worship event.

3. Ultimately, however, our human desire to domesticate God and our worship is upended by the divine voice spoken in scripture and sacrament.

4. Worship is not about the worshiper.

5. Comfort gives way to awe, with the word awesome carrying the full weight of meaning it had before it was commonly used to describe chewing gum flavors.

6. We cannot stay on the mountain.

7. The silence enjoined on the disciples prior to the resurrection has been replaced with the Great Commission.