Coming soon...

I'm resting up after the Holy Week marathon and working on a reflection on the Triduum liturgies. As soon as it and I are ready - I'll post.


 
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 
Image: CyberFaith

Monday Morning Offering - 141

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

It's Easter Monday, Lord,

and time to look back a bit...

I'm thinking of the women who came to the tomb

expecting to find you dead

but finding that you had already risen

from the dead...

I'm thinking of the apostles

hiding in fear behind locked doors...

I'm thinking of Peter,

finally making his way to the tomb

and walking away in amazement...

I'm thinking of the two disciples

walking with you on the road to Emmaus

and not recognizing you until...

Seems like your closest friends

didn't get it right away, Lord:

even when you were right in their faces

they didn't understand what had happened...

It took time for it all to sink in...

It took time for them to understand,

to believe, to act on what they believed...

It takes me time, too, Lord...

All these years,

and the message of Easter

is still sinking in, making itself known,

making itself real in my life...

I still don't understand everything about Easter:

Sometimes I understand the dying part

better than I understand the rising part...

I want you in my life

but sometimes I hide from you

because I'm not sure what having you in my life

will cost me...

I believe you're somehow always with me, Lord,

but I'm sure I miss you lots of times

even when you're right in my face...

So this Easter Monday morning, Lord,

I offer you the ways I hope I will begin to live Easter

more this year than ever before...

I want to learn to wrap a towel around my heart

as you wrapped a towel around your waist:

I want to have a heart wrapped in your love

and ready to serve others' needs before my own...

Help me to see how my sins added

to the burden on your shoulders

on the cross:

my sins made your load heavier...

And help me learn, Lord,

that you are always just ahead of me,

drawing me out of myself,

out of my darkness into your light,

calling me to be closer to you,

beckoning me to follow where you lead

and to find you,

even though I know you

are always right by my side...

Help me to understand

when I don't understand, Lord;

to "get it" when I'm confused;

to take the time to let the Easter story sink in

to the depths of my mind, my heart, my life...

And because I so often miss you

when you walk with me, Lord,

open my eyes and ears and heart

to those in need around me

and help me to find you in them,

to serve you in them...

It's Easter Monday, Lord,

and I'm looking back:

draw me out of the darkness into your light,

always closer to your risen face shining upon my own...

Amen.

Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments

Homily for Easter 2011

 

(Scriptures for the Easter liturgy Mt 28:1-10)

This is some angel!
Definitely not a Christmas angel with fluffy wings and golden locks,
plucking the strings of a harp.
This is Super Hero Angel
who appears as a bolt of lightening,
but lightening clothed in garments as white as snow.
Think light! Think plenty of very bright light!
And this angel is strong - super strong!
Without breaking a sweat he rolls back the large stone
others had rolled into place to seal the tomb of Jesus.
And then, like a very cool Super Hero - he sits on the stone.

The guards are paralyzed in fear
so Lightning Angel speaks to the two women, both named Mary,
and he says,
“Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid…
What did you expect to find this morning?
His body? Don’t you remember?
He told you he would rise - and he has!
So now, you go tell the men, they’re hiding in fear in the city,
go tell them he’s been raised and he’ll meet you in Galilee.”

The angel told the women and sent them to the tell the men.
And on the way JESUS met the women and , as had the angel,
told them not to be afraid and, as had the angel,
told them to go and tell the brothers.

And they did.

And ever since then,
women and men have been telling men and women
not to be afraid because Jesus has risen from the dead,
just as he said he would.

And that’s what the angel, and Mary and the other Mary, and Jesus
and the brothers in hiding are telling us tonight,
“Go tell the others that Jesus has risen and goes ahead of you…”

Whom are we going to tell?
Will we tell anyone?
Or will we leave the bright, brilliant, beauty of our prayer this night
and go into hiding with what we have celebrated?

There’s a custom in the Greek speaking churches,
and in many other cultures and languages, too,
that on Easter, people greet one another by saying
“Christos aneste!” (Christ is risen!)
and the expected reply is “Alethos aneste!” (He is truly risen!).

On Easter, this greeting replaces,
“Hi, how are ya?” “Fine thanks, how’re you?”

This wonderful custom picks up where the gospel leaves off this night.
It continues the telling of the news, person to person,
that Jesus is risen.
Such telling doesn’t rely on Easter cards or Easter baskets
or Easter flowers or the Easter Bunny.
Such a telling of the good news relies on us.

It’s Easter. What’s our message?
Whom shall we tell?
Will we tell anyone?

Come Monday, we’ll be asking and telling one another
“what we did for Easter.”
We’ll speak of where we had Easter dinner
and what we ate and who was there
and of Easter baskets
and how many eggs the kids found around the house.

But consider the message that is ours to tell:
for us, Jesus laid down his life that we might have life
and have it to the full.
He is our Passover lamb, our lasting peace.
In telling and celebrating the story of his dying and rising
we learn again that we are loved by God,
we are forgiven,
we are saved,
we are redeemed.

Christos aneste! Alethos aneste!
Christ is risen! He is truly risen!

This is the news we have heard,
entrusted to our telling for over 2,000 years.
And it is good news.

Whom shall we tell? Who is waiting to hear?

Pray with me that the grace of this night
will empower and encourage us
to share with others the peace we find here at the Lord’s table
in communion with him and one another in the Eucharist.

Christos aneste! Alethos aneste!
Christ is risen! He is truly risen!



Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Easter Joy!

Icon of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, "Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.'"

- Mark 16:1-7

A story some 2,000 years old - and yet the words ring so true today.

We are still afraid and need to hear the angel's message... we are still among those seeking Jesus, crucified and risen... we still have questions about his life, his death, his rising... we are still afraid but often joyful... Jesus continues to meet us "on our way" - whether we recognize him or not... the Lord still goes ahead of us, always, and yet never leaves our side... and, still, others are waiting to hear from us the great news that Jesus is risen from the dead!

Happy Easter to you all!



Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Holy Saturday

The Dead Christ by Mantegna (click on image for larger, more detailed version)

On Holy Saturday the Church waits at the Lord's tomb, meditating on His suffering and death. The altar is left bare, and the sacrifice of the Mass is not celebrated. Only after the solemn vigil during the night, held in anticipation of the resurrection, does the Easter celebration begin, with a spirit of joy that overflows into the following period of fifty days.


Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Homily for Good Friday 2011

Crucifixiion by Georges Roueault

(Scriptures for today's liturgy)

When I stand at the foot of the Cross,
under its wings, his outstretched arms,
dare I look up into the eyes of him
who loved me so much?

When I stand at the foot of the Cross,
do I seek its shadow,
hoping to hide my sins
pinned with him to his tree of suffering?

When I stand at the foot of the Cross,
and drops of his blood caress my cheeks,
do I feel the rain of mercy
he showers upon me?

When I stand at the foot of the Cross,
what do I see?
what am I afraid to see?
what do I try not to see?
And do I see how from the Cross
he sees me,
with love in his eyes?

When I stand at the foot of the Cross,
what do I pray?
Does my heart find the words I need to say?
the words I want to say?
Do my lips find the courage
to speak my soul’s need for his mercy,
my desire for his pardon,
my hope for his forgiveness?

When I stand at the foot of the Cross,
do I see in his tired body
the strength I need to live the truth?
Do I see in his blood
the life for which I thirst?
Do I hear in his last gasp
my first breath of hope
for life for ever?

When I stand at the foot of the Cross,
do I see all those gathered there with me?
Do I see sinners like myself
and saints who need him just as much as I do?

Do I see all humankind of every race and time
standing with me, me with them,
all of us one in our need
for the love, the mercy, the life
offered in the body and blood of our Brother, Jesus,
Lord and Savior of us all?

When I stand at the foot of the Cross,
do I look up and turn my face to his
and let his eyes meet mine
and come to know in the depths of who I am
that I am loved,
I am forgiven,
I am saved,
I am redeemed?

When we stand at the foot of the Cross,
do we see Jesus, the Lamb of God,
our Passover, our lasting peace,
Jesus who takes away our sins,
who takes away the sins of the world?

When we stand at the foot of the Cross,
under its wings, his outstretched arms,
let us dare to look up into the eyes of him
who has loved with the gift of his life,
who has loved us with an everlasting love
that we might live
in everlasting peace.



Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

For Prayer and Reflection: Good Friday afternoon

Here are links to three offerings of the Stations of the Cross:

From the Passionist Fathers

From Beliefnet

From the Order of St. Benedict


And here's a fine reflection on the Seven Last Words by William Storey.  

Reflection for Good Friday Afternoon

Meditation on the Crucifixion by Mimi Ess (be sure to click on image for larger version)


While Meditating Upon the Passion

I long to be the teardrop
Rolling ever so slowly down your cheek
Searching the curves and creases of your most holy face
Lightly kissing moisture upon your dry lips.

I long to be the air that becomes your breath
Bought with your agony as you push up to draw me in,
Absorbed into your body offered to the Father,
Flowing mercy from your wounds,
Exhaling love upon the world.

I long to be the cry
Welling up from the depths of your soul
Blinded by the night that envelops it.
Rushing to meet you as the all-consuming pain
draws you deeper into the darkness,
Finally bursting forth a helpless scream,
The cry of God - to God -
For mercy.

I long to be the last beat of your heart,
Suspended there in time
Until the Father grants you life anew
And then -
Captured there in eternity,
A prisoner of Divine Love.


- Brenda Stinson



Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

What Jesus saw...

What Our Savior Saw from the Cross by Tissot
(click on the image for a larger, clearer version)


Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments 

Oh, Jesus, do not go...

Agony in the Garden by El Greco

Do not go into the garden,
Oh! Jesus,
do not go into the garden before dawn!

But if I do not go into the garden in the dead of night,

who will lead you to the sunrise of Paradise?
I will go into the garden in the dead of night.

Do not let them bind your hands,
Oh! Jesus,
do not let them bind your hands without a word!

If I do not let them bind my hands like a thief,
who will break open the prisons
in which you languish?
I will let them bind my hands like a thief.

Do not hang on the cross,
Oh! Jesus,
do not hang on the cross 'til you die!

If I do not hang on the cross like a bird,
who will protect you from the flames of hell?
I will hang on the cross like a bird.

Do not let your heart be pierced,
Oh! Jesus,
do not let your heart be pierced by executioners!

If I do not let my heart be pierced like a ripe fruit,
from whom will you drink the blood and water
that will heal you?
I will let my heart be pierced like a ripe fruit.

Do not to into the tomb,
Oh! Jesus,
do not go into the tomb that they have dug!

If I do not go into the tomb
like a grain of wheat,
who will lift from your coffins your lifeless bodies?
I will to into the tomb to sleep there.

- The Days of the Lord


Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments