Above photo is of the Easter Luminarium.  Lights burned through the night anticipating the new light of Jesus' resurrection as the tomb is discovered empty at dawn.

As we gathered at sunrise to celebrate the wonder and joy of Easter morn.

Our Easter Sunday Worship Service.

Thank you to all the church members for the donation of candy, to those who stuffed the eggs after Palm Sunday's worship, those who set up and cleaned up for the event, and for the Easter Bunny who always makes time to show up for the children.

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for Holy Saturday, April 19th:  Job 14:1-14 or Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24; Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16; 1 Peter 4:1-8; and Matthew 27:57-66 or John 19:38-42.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today is the last day of Lent.  As I have mentioned consistently, Lent is different than Advent.  Advent intentionally prepares us for Christmas.  Lent’s 40 days culminate not with Easter, but with the cross and the tomb.  It is disingenuous to the reality of Jesus’ suffering and death for us to approach Lent with Easter’s assurance.  During Lent we should try to appreciate the psychological, spiritual and physical trauma that Jesus endured, and those are all mitigated if Jesus knew definitively about Easter.  So for us as Christians to spiritually approach the memory of the cross we need to try and do so as did Jesus, and that means Lent ends at Golgotha and, at least according to today’s Gospel, at the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. 

Suffering and death were as real for Jesus as for any of us – maybe even more so.  The oldest extant piece of Christian literature is 1 Thessalonians.  In this Epistle, Paul lays out a contrast that my NRSV Bible chooses not to capture.  If your Bible translation is different than this, please check the footnotes.  Paul writes, “Since we believe that Jesus died (ἀποθνῄσκω) and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep (κοιμάω).” (4:14)  You don’t need to know Greek to see that these two words are different, and yet the NRSV translates them both as died.  Paul softens the death of Christians because Jesus faced its blunt force in our stead.  We can hope in the resurrection so we fall asleep in death.  Paul realizes that Jesus did not have this luxury and so Jesus’ mortality is referred to as died.

John Chrysostom was a fourth century church father.  He once preached at a funeral that the congregation should not be mourning because they have Easter’s assurance.  I think this has its problems, but the fact remains that Chrysostom is repeating Paul’s assurance that death is not permanent for us because of Easter, but Jesus on the cross does not fall asleep into an Easter assurance.  Jesus faces death and dies so that we don’t have to die without hope.

Today we remember Jesus’ death.  His dead and scarred body is inside a dark tomb.  This is where Lent ends.  I hope Lent has offered us a space for contemplation, renewal, and a reminder of the power of faith, community, and inner peace.  As Sister Anne Curtis, the Executive Director of Mercy by the Sea Retreat Center, writes, “On the Lenten journey, we are called to trust there is something amazing to be found along the way: hope. … Lent is ‘the season of hope’ because our God does not give up on us, and it is this unwavering love that enables us to stay grounded.”  That God does not give up on us is revealed perfectly in the reality of Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death.

But … because of the reality of Jesus’ death, death is not as fearsome a foe for us as it once was for Jesus, thus we enjoy the blessing of hope.  And so, even though Jesus could not, we are able to anticipate tomorrow’s joy.  On the holiest day of the year, I invite you to come and join us for a combined Easter Sunrise Service led by Rev. Dr. Linda Rhinehart Neas and myself at 2 Prospect Street in Hatfield, across from the American Legion at 6:00am.  Our church worship Service will follow at 9:30am.  I hope these Lenten blogs have added to your Lenten journey, and I would love to see you tomorrow as we joyously celebrate the new day announced by Jesus’ resurrection.
 
If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for Good Friday, April 18th:  Psalm 22; Isaiah 52:13—53:12; Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; and John 18:1—19:42.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today’s list of readings is quite long, but today is the special day on which we should devote extra time to our relationship with Jesus.  This is the remarkable day on which we solemnly commemorate the torturous execution of Jesus, the Christ and the Son of God.  After a night of harsh treatment and abandonment, Jesus is sentenced to crucifixion.  The accounts vary, but Jesus may have been nailed to the cross around mid-morning, dying around mid-afternoon.  Many who suffered crucifixion would linger longer than these six hours, so the shortened time may indicate the compromised physical state of Jesus before the first spike ever punctured His flesh. 

Nevertheless, those six hours must have seemed like an eternity.  Crucifixion is a slow and harrowing process of execution where the victim dies of asphyxiation.  Unable to support themselves as their strength ebbs and the pain increases, the chest muscles contract and the victim cannot inhale, and death comes slowly.  This was the form of punishment the Romans used intentionally to dissuade any person who may have contemplated challenging the Empire’s authority.  For this reason, it was performed in as public a place as possible so that as many people as possible could witness the agonizing death. 

Golgotha was located just outside one of Jerusalem’s city gates.  The number of people passing by would have been exponentially greater than the city’s usual population because pilgrims had traveled to the holy city and its Temple for Passover.  The humiliation of this naked spectacle only added to Jesus’ torture.  And yet all of this was endured by Jesus because of His devotion to His ministry and to each and every one of us.  On such a day as this, extra time devoted to our faith relationship is expected for it recognizes not only Jesus’ sacrifice but the fact that it was ignored by so many.

After a ministry to and for ordinary people, and especially to the extraordinary people who were different because they were despised and ostracized, Jesus dies alone.  The oldest Gospel bereft of the changes that will come later, recounts Jesus’ complete isolation.  There is not a comforting face to be seen as Jesus looks down from the cross.  The closest sympathy was from the persistently faithful but overlooked “women looking on from a distance.” (Mark 15:40)  

Jesus could not look to the side to hear words of consolation from other victims facing the similar torture.  Instead, we’re told “[t]hose who were crucified with him also taunted him.” (15:32)  And most surprising and agonizing of all, Jesus could not even look up to feel the presence of God at that cruelest of moments:  “At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

This physical, emotional and spiritual agony culminates in a visceral scream giving vent to confused emotions that cannot find words, “and [Jesus] breathed his last.” (Mark 15:37)  His dead body is then placed in a stranger’s tomb as hastily as possible because the Passover celebration is about to begin at sunset.  As I have mentioned in previous Lenten Blogs, Jesus as the Son of God experiences death in the reality of His human nature and also in the reality of the divine nature.  We can sympathize now with Jesus’ physical suffering, but it is beyond our comprehension to begin to imagine how God is affected by the reality of the death of God’s own.

On Good Friday the church sanctuary will be open for prayer or meditation or quiet from noon until 3:00pm.  People entering are asked to respect the quiet of the church and each person’s privacy.  Realizing that many will not be able to attend during these daytime hours, the faithful are encouraged to practice their own moments of sanctuary at more convenient times and places.  This is also not a day for celebrations, whether it be dinner out, a movie with friends, or whatever.  This is the solemn day of Jesus’ death.  May we treat it with the respect Jesus deserves.

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for Maundy Thursday, April 17th:  Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; and John 13:1-17, 31b-35.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Today we enter into the holiest days of the holiest week.  On Maundy Thursday we first of all recall Jesus’ Last Supper.  From the earliest days of the church, as evidenced by today’s 1 Corinthians passage, Christians have gathered for the Lord’s Supper.  Through the millennia we have remembered Jesus’ words of institution:  “‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me,’” and “‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’”  Believers continue to gather in remembrance of Jesus, but in that act something mystical happens, as well.  We don’t only remember what Jesus once did at the Last Supper.  Rather, we share in the mystery of Holy Communion, that Jesus is present in a special and powerful way within and among us still today as Jesus gathers with us as church. 

Holy Communion is not history.  It is sacrament, and sacrament is derived ultimately from the Greek word for mystery.  This is reflected in our Prayer of Thanksgiving upon receiving Holy Communion:  “Almighty God, we give you thanks for the gift of our Saviour’s presence in the simplicity and splendour of this holy meal.”  Before our eyes there is only an ordinary table, and common bread and drink, but in these simple offerings is all the divine splendour of Holy Communion – with Jesus Himself and with each other.  Accordingly, this evening, the church comes together on the night of Jesus’ Last Supper and we repeat those holy words of institution and just like the disciples in the Upper Room we will share in the mystery of Communion.

The three Synoptic Gospel link Communion to the Last Supper, John, as reflected in today’s Gospel selection, chooses a different narrative.  John moves the language of Communion from the Last Supper into the heart of Jesus’ public ministry.  It is not reserved for the few at the end of Jesus’ lifetime.  It is shared with the multitudes in the middle of Jesus’ ministry.  John has the longest account by far of the Last Supper, but no mention is there of Communion. 

Instead, there is Jesus’ “new commandment.”  The word maundy originates from the Latin mandatum, meaning command.  This new commandment (mandatum) gives this day its liturgical title of Maundy Thursday.  In the Johannine tradition, the culminating message of Jesus’ life is loving, humble service, which Jesus exemplifies by taking on the role of a servant and washing the feet of His disciples.  In reference to this act, Jesus says, “‘I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.’”  In many churches, this is followed quite literally on Maundy Thursday.  The clergy will wash the feet of representatives of the people.  However, this “example” is not limited to the liturgical act of washing feet.  It is the day in and day out example of humble service unto others.  Jesus explains:  “‘I give you a new commandment (mandatum), that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’” 

I have to wonder if John’s treatment of the Last Supper is in response to the tradition shared in the Synoptics.  If the mystery that Jesus even shared with His betrayer Judas is limited to an in-group and becomes a sign of a limited inclusion, might not John’s transport of Holy Communion language out to the masses in the miracle of the loaves be a corrective?  And might not Jesus’ final lesson of humble service moderate the possibly exclusive tendency of Communion so that believers are not recognized only by who sits at table but by who serves and therefore loves one another in Jesus’ name? 

This night prior to Good Friday is also the night of Jesus’ capture in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the subsequent desertion and denial of Him by His closest followers.  This is also a part of tonight’s worship Service.  The brightly lit church gradually grows darker and ends in darkness.  The Bible, the living, still-speaking Word of God is slammed shut at the end of our worship to symbolize the unbelievably tragic fact that Jesus has been hauled off by armed guards, to then be tortured and interrogated through the night, only to face the cruelty of everything that will follow on Good Friday.

I invite you to join us for our Maundy Thursday Service at 7:00pm this evening at the Hatfield Church as we remember the significant events of Jesus’ last days and share in Jesus’ continuing presence among us. 

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for Holy Wednesday, April 16th:  Psalm 70; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Hebrews 12:1-3; and John 13:21-32.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Sometimes the biblical stories leave me scratching my head.  If they weren’t surrounded by their biblical aura, I think we would be more honest in admitting that sometimes there are obvious inconsistencies.  It’s been a long, long time since I watched the first Indiana Jones movie, and I may have this wrong.  However, I remember being confused about a plot line.  There was some Nazi submarine, I believe, and Indiana Jones caught a ride on it as an unsuspecting traveler.  I remember wondering how he survived all the time while the submarine was submerged.  I may have remembered this completely incorrectly, let me know if I did, but I didn’t feel any guilt about recognizing the inconsistency.  People of faith can feel differently about the exact same thing when it comes to the Bible, but the Bible’s inspiration isn’t in the literal, unassailable factual nature of each word and episode.  It’s in the overarching biblical message, in the interpretation of the words to get to the still-speaking Word.

In today’s Gospel, for example, Jesus reveals that one among them will betray Him.  For later, let’s keep in mind that all the disciples look at one another uncertain as to whom it could be.  Then Peter asks the Beloved Disciple to ask Jesus for particulars, and Jesus does just that.  Judas is undeniably outed.  At this point, the story becomes confusing.  Judas leaves the table and we’re told, “Now no one at the table knew why [Jesus] said this to [Judas]. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’; or, that he should give something to the poor.”  There is confusion, then clarity, and then confusion inexplicably returns.  This is an inconsistency in the story.

To read the Bible as a person of faith is not to focus on such discrepancies any more than it is to act as if they are not there.  Even if there were the problem I mentioned above about Indiana Jones, that example of inconsistency does not define the entertainment value of the entire movie.  So what else might be going on here when we don’t need to shy away from our confusion or let it dominate our reading? 

Let’s go back to the held-thought that after Jesus utters those fateful words that one of His closest followers, one of His disciples, will betray Him, we read, “The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.”  There is no indication of feigned incredulity.  Judas is not separated out from the others.  We are expected to hear that everyone at table is taken aback, that they all wonder what other disciple is the betrayer.  No one, read Judas here, admits that he would act as the betrayer. 

This all changes when according to the mythical language of 2,000 years ago “Satan entered into [Judas].”  If some supernatural fallen angel is allowed to overpower a mere natural Judas, then there is no moral compunction here.  Judas is not responsible for what he will do; Satan is.  In the 1970’s terrorists kidnapped Patty Hearst and during those 19 months Ms. Hearst became allied with her captors in an example of brainwashing and Stockholm Syndrome.  Her sentence was eventually commuted and she was even pardoned for her role as an accomplice to her captors.  It was determined that they were responsible for her actions, not Patty Hearst.  This is why I do not favour the scapegoat of Satan.  Judas is responsible for his actions.

And this is where it gets interesting when the still-speaking Word of God invites us to imagine and dialogue with the text about what it was that turned Judas’ ambivalence into action.  The Gnostic Gospel of Judas takes this text in a wholly different direction and presents Judas as the hero in this tale.  Judas was Jesus’ confidante.  I don’t see this as plausible, but neither is it warranted to make Judas into a caricature of pure, calculating evil.  When Jesus outed Judas, did He out Judas to himself?  When Jesus saw something in Judas that Judas had not yet admitted, was that the tipping point for Judas? 

Does Jesus confront us with ourselves, even our hidden selves that we would rather not engage?  Dialoguing with the text in an open and honest fashion moves us away from the black and white of religious extremism and all the hatred and harm it conceives.  Zealots will point out and attack the sins of others without a tinge of self-examination or conscience.  Maybe Jesus offers another lesson.  Jesus knew what Judas would do, but I see Jesus as hoping against hope that Judas will reconsider.  I find Jesus’ hope not as naïve, but idealistic in the best sense of the word.  And I find in Jesus’ hope the source of hopefulness.

Tomorrow is Maundy Thursday and Holy Week enters its holiest days.  I invite you to our worship at 7:00pm at the Hatfield Church.  Maybe this extra time with Christ will open a dialogue of faith, and will let us peer more deeply into ourselves, even our hidden selves, and into our relationship with Jesus.

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.