Every year I place the various Lenten bulletin covers on my door. Helps me review and think about where we have been as a fellowship as we approach Easter. I have to admit there is this sense of accomplishment of joy when I finally place the last bulletin on the door and the cross is complete.

Jack Bernard wrote, “The key element in beginning to learn to embody the love of God is not heroic faith and determination. It has to do with whether or not we can take hold of the love of God as a power that includes us within it. The difference is between seeing life from the inside of God versus seeing it from within my own sensibilities and capacities. From inside the love of God, suffering becomes not only bearable, but a privilege of participating with Christ in his love for the world. This cannot be rationally explained or justified, but it is the fruit of a life trustingly lived in and for God who is all love.”

Dear God help me to rejoice that the cross is complete, my debt has been paid the sacrifice made. Knowing that reality helps me Father to stand with hope, perseverance the knowledge that my tomorrows are taken care of and because of that fact I can confront injustice. I have the freedom to pray for patience and grace so I may walk with those who suffer, that I may have the strength to lift up another. Thank You dear God for the cross… that it is complete! Amen!

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Tonight several men and women are helping me with our Maundy Thursday service. We will have stations where we will be asked questions regarding our spiritual walk. We will pause and consider His sacrifice for us. At one point you come to the crown of thorns. We are challenged to touch a thorn, to be amazed at what our Savior suffered for you and I.

But there will be one station not seen or used tonight. The moment where Jesus paused, got down on His knees and washed the feet of His disciples. Over the years I’ve watched how parishioners hesitate and even refuse to come because they don’t want someone touching or maybe even seeing their feet.

Now they are willing to pray, struggle with the enormity of the cross, the passion, the Walk of Sorrow but when it comes to taking off their shoes. Nope not going to happen. Jean Vanier wrote, “To wash the feet of a brother or sister in Christ, to allow someone to wash our feet, is a sign that together we want to follow Jesus, to take the downward path, to find Jesus’ presence in the poor and weak. Is it not a sign that we too want to live a heart-to-heart relationship with others, to meet them as a person and a friend, and to live in communion with them? Is it not a sign that we yearn to be men and women of forgiveness, to be healed and cleansed and to heal and cleanse others and thus to live more fully in communion with Jesus?”

Tonight just pause in your meditations, in your prayers and remember. Remember our Savior knelt to wash from our feet the filth of sin. To humbly demonstrate how to serve one another so that the world might have hope! Amen.

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I was headed for my car when I paused to see the shadow of the cross on our lawn. Every day I pass by that same spot. Every day I don’t notice the shadow every day I’m just in too much of a hurry to pause and think, and pray, and wonder about the shadow of the cross. So? Well Jesus died on that implement of execution I should remember each day, in fact, I should stand in that shadow giving thanks for His love for me.

Listen to these words from the “Liturgy of the Hours,” “Something strange is happening…God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear. He has gone to search for our first parents, as for lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him, Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: ‘My Lord be with you all.’ Christ answered him: ‘And with your spirit.’ He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’”

“Just when I thought I was lost: my dungeon shook and the chains fell off.”

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This Holy Week we will feed over 1400 children and families from our Matthew 25 project. Seven different outreaches to the poor, the homeless, children and inner-city youth will receive peanut butter, jelly, bread, soup and top ramen. Why? Well during the times when the children are out of school they don’t have the benefit of the school sponsored breakfast and lunch programs. In other words, many if not all struggle to eat. So, we provide food items that are easy to prepare and still nutritious.

I have to say of all the programs God has had me involved in over the years this one has had the most impact. If you are ever interested in helping just give the church a call and you too can bring a cup of cold water (top ramen) a piece of bread, to the “one of the least of these.” Someone’s life will be different because of you.

Andrew of Crete wrote, “Let us say to Christ: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Let us wave before him like palm branches the words inscribed above him on the cross. Let us show him honor, not with olive branches, but with the splendor of merciful deeds to one another. Let us spread the thoughts and desires of our hearts under his feet like garments, so that he may draw the whole of our being into himself and place the whole of his in us.”

Dear King and Savior may your reign become a reality through the works of our hands and our feet so that Your love may become alive in our hearts. Amen.

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I had a friend drop by today. His name is Victor. I met him in  1985 when I had first moved to Fresno to help with resettlement of the Hmong and Laotian families. He was struggling when I met him.

He was out of work, his family was out of control, he was having acute pain and he didn’t know where to turn. Then he saw a small church located in his neighborhood that had not been there before so he came in to pray. He knocked on my office door and said, “Hi Father I’m Victor and I’m in trouble.”

We were able to get him some help, training and to the right doctors. I admire Victor a lot! Nobody knows the troubles, the loss, the anguish this man has had to bear. But…he has never and I do mean never faltered in his walk with the Lord. When I stumble when I feel like having a pity party I think of Victor and I move forward.

Ignatius of Loyola said this, “Consider that the blessed life we so long for consists in an intimate and true love of God, our Creator and Lord, which binds and obliges us all to a sincere love.”

Dear God and Father thank you for men and women like Victor. Whether loss, grief, poverty, or pain they live an example of Christian humility and faith. Together we learn that Jesus is enough. It is enough to stand, to kneel together and wait in silence before You. It is enough to be bound together in eternal love and freedom to give up our lives so others can know…You are enough. (Of course Father if it be Your will please give Victor a few small breaks). Amen.

Some of you have written me asking about the chalice I have in my office. Some time ago I blogged about this gift I received from a past member and which I have used in our special Maundy and Good Friday communion services for the last eighteen years.

To answer your questions “yes” the room has started to smell of roses and “yes” the chalice still has a substance at the bottom which seems never to leave. Why? I don’t know. First I’m a protestant and we don’t put much stock in such things. Second the chalice is made of polished marble so there is no seepage or weeping involved. All I know is it was a gift from a very dedicated Christian before his death and this interesting residue remains with a scent.

I do know roses appear in accounts from all the world’s major religions as a symbol of miraculous love at work in the world. Muslims view roses as symbols of the human soul, Hindus and Buddhists see roses as expressions of spiritual joy. Roses have long served as symbols of the Virgin Mary, the “mystic rose.”

Pastor aren’t you interested in what it is? Nope. Pastor why don’t you have some analysis done? Nope. Why not? I take it for what it is…a symbol of my Lord Jesus Christ’s passion, love and sacrifice for me and you. “While we were still your enemies, Lord Jesus Christ, you suffered and died for us, winning the victory over death for our sakes. Give us grace to lift you up as we follow the way of your cross so that all people may be drawn unto you.” Amen.

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In the front of my house is a pseudo pear tree. In other words it will never bear fruit only bloom. As you can see it has glorious blossoms in late winter early fall and you are going to think this really odd. But this tree always reminds me of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Today our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters will be celebrating the annunciation of Mary. Today we are reminded of the role Mary played in bringing the good news of our Savior into the world. Which brings me back to the pear tree. There are many people that look and sound good. But are useless to the Kingdom of God. Why? Because they never go, they never say to our God “Here am I, the servant of the Lord: let it be to me according to your will.”

The writer and spiritual leader Thomas Merton said, “The Christian life-and especially the contemplative life-is a continual discovery of Christ in new and unexpected places.” So you see each time I see that pear tree I recognize and remember Mary who said “yes” and who blossomed for our world so you and I could walk this path together.

Thank You dear God for the witness of Mary, her obedience, her courage, and may her life be an example to me today. Amen.

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Someone asked me Sunday if I could make another meeting and after hearing my “yes” asked, “how I was doing?” Before I even thought about an answer I blurted, “I’m tired. Truth is I haven’t had a day off for several weeks. With people struggling, some in hospice care, others making decisions about Long-term care, a couple of funerals, marriage counseling, doing work for our denomination, struggling with vision, and direction of our 131 year old congregation I’m wearing a little thin. Then of course you have to throw in Easter and Holy Week events, Maundy Thursday which I lead, Good Friday which I prepare and lead, then Easter. Of course I forgot about the two Bible studies I write each week and a sermon that, in this entertainment driven world and church shopping society we seek to reach, has to have some kind of dynamics or we lose people all together.” I then of course realized I had overwhelmed the other person with too much information. They were just being nice they didn’t really want honesty.

In moments like that I always return and review the words of Oscar Romero who stated, “It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No sermon says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. That is what we are about. We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that affects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very, very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the Master Builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own.”

“Be not amazed, for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified and whom you seek, has risen; he is not here…” Dear Father, allow us one more moment to bring Your words of hope that will convict, heal, raise others up. So they too can be amazed by Your love and salvation! Amen.

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Mark 15: 24 “And they crucified him.”

I wanted this inking to be stark and painful. But, when finished I was a little disturbed. I hadn’t expected the body to look so devastated, so much like a skeleton. But really? What did I expect? How should a man look that has been beaten and forced to drag his own execution up a mountain? Our Savior, our Jesus was nailed to a tree for us.

Contemporary Ugandan theologian Emmanuel Katongole wrote, “…Wherever the gospel is preached, we must remember that its good news will make you crazy. Jesus will put you at odds with the economic and political systems of our world. This gospel will force you to act, interrupting the world as it is in ways that make even pious people indignant.”

Dear God, allow your sacrifice to interrupt my daily life. Make us your people a people willing to stand up, willing to move forward in the light of the cross. “Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

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